What I'm Playing in Indianapolis
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Deck selection can be a lot of fun or a lot of stress depending on who you are. For some there are many variables to consider before registering a deck and for others the choice is made as soon as they learn of an event. “Oh, I only play Horde rogues.” and “The only deck I have built is Blue Mage so I’m running that.” are real phrases I’ve heard before. Some people live like that, they don’t live at the mercy of the meta and they are blissfully content to just show up with 60 cards that have been together for months (or years), give it the old college try, and see what happens. On the opposite end of the spectrum are people who are constantly tinkering, trying to next level the competition until they next level themselves. These are the ones who show up to an event and say, “Yeah I ended up rebuilding this last night. Testing didn’t go well so I changed everything at midnight before I crashed.”
I’ll never really be able to relate to either of these people. I respect them and have plenty of friends in either category that do well at larger card game events. That’s just not me. But that’s not to say that I don’t have my own weird quirks that include mild faction loyalty, the need to stand out, and the tendency to force certain cards into places they aren’t always needed. Nobody’s perfect! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Just around the corner looms Reborn Circuit Indianapolis, a Classic WoW TCG event and the first ever Reborn Circuit event. Okay, another one of my quirks is showing here.. did you catch that? Indy is a month away, not right around the corner. But I’m already thinking about it! Planning for it. What will everyone else play and how should that inform my deck choice?
What Everyone Else is Playing
I’ll start with my assumption about everyone else’s assumption about the Classic format (assumptionception). First off, everyone will think there are three pillars of the format class-wise: Warlock, Hunter, and Mage. And I can’t disagree here. In Classic I think Warlock is kind of like Tier 0 and Hunter and Mage are Tier 1 with a few other classes snapping at their heels. Next, except for specific decks, people will generally favor the Horde. But this doesn’t mean we won’t see Monster (Tyrus) and Alliance (Jihan, Simon) make an appearance. These are known quantities. And while they are incredible decks, they don’t worry me too much unless they are also piloted by people who haven’t lost their skill over the years.
What does worry me is that there will be some decent players at this event. Tanner Mounce, an Indy local with a lot of solid finishes will be there. Bryan Hedrick who won the 2013 Teldrassil Realm Champs is planning to show up. I’m riding up there with Phil Stacy who placed Top 4 at 2013 Feralas Realm Champs and won KY States (a big deal in our area) in 2011. Nathan Cole is running the event and possibly playing - I know he tends to brew and attack from odd angles like he did at SCG Cincinnati. And a lot of the people showing up from Kentucky probably have a real chance of running the tables as well. The general Indy crew I’m not too familiar with, but what do each of the players I mentioned seem to have in common, except for maybe Nathan? They like to play it safe and choose the ‘best deck’. There’s not much to net deck from around the web in terms of Classic lists, but I am pretty sure everybody will try. And I think this will put them on decks with bad midrange matchups where I can go over the top of them. So that’s where I’ll start.
What I’m Playing
So I have a pretty broad archetype laid out. I want to build a midrange deck, a deck that plays the control role in the aggro matchups and the aggro role in the control matchups. And ideally one that goes over the top of everyone else in the room. But before I get too far into working on lists, my quirks are going to kick in. I never finished describing them earlier so I’ll go ahead and do that:
1) Glory to the Alliance! That’s right, I played a Paladin in D&D, Gnomes are my favorite WoW race, and the Alliance is my favorite WoW TCG faction. My second favorite is Monster.
2) I’m a deck hipster. There’s really no good way to say it. I think it’s objectively cooler to win with a deck that nobody knows about than one that is widely known. I did it at the 2013 KY State Champs with Mistress Nesala, and given the opportunity, I’ll do it every event I attend. Like a moth to a lamp.
3) I have some pet cards that I can’t stop using. Taretha’s Diversion.. Poach.. Edwin Vancleef.. These are hard for me to say no to and that’s just a few from the list.
So now that you know a little bit about me, the good, the bad, and the ugly, here’s some of the decks I’m looking at running for the Reborn Indy event:
Hero: Gyro of the Ring
4 Lady Bancroft
4 Ashnaar Frost Herald
4 Woodsie Leafsong
4 Dimzer the Prestidigitator
4 Magni, the Mountain King
3 Adam Eternum
3 Lord Kurt’alos Ravencrest
3 Edwin Vancleef
4 Poach
4 Poison the Well
4 Deadliness
3 Tuskarr Kite
2 Carnage
2 Felsteel Whisper Knives
4 A Question of Gluttony
3 Eye of the Storm
3 Junkboxes Needed
2 Taretha’s Diversion
Sidedeck:
3 Archdruid Fandral Staghelm
3 Devious Dismantle
2 Burn Away
2 Purloin
Pros: There’s a lot to like about this deck. We get easily leveraged sweepers like Poison the Well and Carnage, efficient targeted discard in Poach and Junkboxes, and the value card Deadliness that keeps your opponents off their top end. On the ally side of things, all of our threats are pretty chad and unusually sticky. We pass the Dethvir Test™ with Adam and Edwin and just have a ton of really proactive allies.
Cons: We’re soft to certain forms of control and especially hosed by Blizzard. We have slow draws against aggro decks with a good start. We don’t interact that much with combo decks. We aren’t doing some incredibly broken linear thing which is often a good plan in Classic.
Hero: Lanthus the Restorer
4 Lady Bancroft
4 Ashnaar Frost Herald
4 Magni, the Mountain King
3 Adam Eternum
3 Lord Kurt’alos Ravencrest
3 Edwinn Vancleef
3 Woodsie Leafsong
3 Weldon Barov
4 Bottled Life
4 Avatar of the Wild
4 Hibernate
4 Gift of the Earthmother
3 The Natural Order
3 Tuskarr Kite
3 Report to Goldshire
3 Defias Brotherhood
3 Eye of the Storm
2 Taretha’s Diversion
Sidedeck:
4 Nature’s Focus
3 Natural Reposession
2 The Scourge of Lordaeron
1 The Natural Order
Pros: Plenty of main deck equipment/ability hate. A lot of good targets for Gift of the Earthmother. Access to the cleanest ally removal in the format in Hibernate. The ability go wide and make spot removal look silly or go tall and make damage-based sweepers look silly.
Cons: Vulnerability to Hesriana. No way to get back in the driver’s seat against an aggro deck or a tempo deck like Blue Hunter that keeps your board clear while pressuring you. Light on ally interaction where it doesn’t involve combat.
Hero: Mistress Nesala
4 Sardok
4 Hesriana
4 Edwin Vancleef
3 Dreadsteed
3 Harpy Matriarch
3 Commander Ulthok
4 Poach
4 Poison the Well
3 Banish to the Nether
3 Tuskarr Kite
2 Carnage
3 Miniature Voodoo Mask
2 The Last Relic of Argus
2 Voidfire Wand
4 What Illidan Wants, Illidan Gets
4 You Are Rakh’likh, Demon
3 Eye of the Storm
3 Junkboxes Needed
2 Taretha’s Diversion
Sidedeck:
4 Devious Dismantle
3 Extract of Necromantic Power
2 Victimize
1 Harpy Matriarch
Pros: Some of the best disruptive elements in the game. Good sweepers. Great targeted discard. Access to Miniature Voodoo Mask. Monster allies shore up Rogue/Warlock’s weaknesses.
Cons: 25 health and little healing or protection. Leans heavy on just a couple of win conditions. No Stash ally to pair with Tuskarr Kite. Fails the Dethvir Test™ with only Edwin as a way to kill him. No game against ally-light decks.
No Promises
I can’t 100% promise I’ll be on some midrange pile looking to leverage Poach and Edwin Vancleef, but there’s a good chance. Like when the weatherman declares a 20% chance of rain. I’ve tested all these to varying degrees and they have aspects that I like and other aspects that I don’t like. We do still have a month between us and Reborn Indy. But I’m not going to squander it! How about you?