April 1st - SOM/MBS White Weenie

Kicking things off for this month, we have former Rusty writer (and now Premium StarCityGames Writer) Ari Lax!


Block Constructed right now is almost a real format.

You have a spectrum of powerful control decks, some tap-out style (Tezzeret) and some not (Neurok Commando). You have a couple of midrange Rock decks, either based on a two for one (Mono-Green Poison aka Viridian Corrupter the deck) or a grinding engine of removal (Glissa). You have a fish style deck (UB poison) and even a ramp deck (Grand Architect). All of these are reasonably balanced against each other, though Tezzeret might be a bit stronger if you can properly grind out the aggressive decks.

And then you have Affinity.

I said almost.

For once, White Weenie is actually a real threat. Everyone else is trying to play cards normally while you are playing 0 mana 3/3s. 

Ari Lax's Block WW | The Rusty Machete

22 Creatures:  
4 Memnite
4 Signal Pest
4 Glint Hawk
4 Phyrexian Revoker
4 Leonin Relic Warder
2 Mirran Crusader

18 Spells:  
4 Origin Spellbomb
4 Glint Hawk Idol
4 Tempered Steel
4 Chimeric Mass
2 Mox Opal

20 Lands:  
16 Plains
4 Inkmoth Nexus

15 Sideboard:  
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Divine Offering
2 Revoke Existence
3 Indomitable Archangel
1 Consign to Dream
1 Shelldock Isle
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
1 Doomsday
1 Chain of Vapor
1 Trickbind

Most of the cards are pretty obvious as you just want all the cheap, good artifact guys, but here are some of the less obvious ones.

The Mirran Crusaders are realistically just flex slots that shore up the issue of “What happens if they play all the Viridian Corrupters?”.

There are a lot of builds without Inkmoth Nexus for budget reasons, but the card is unreal and worth the investment. If you have a Tempered Steel in play, your mono White deck can rapidly go from 0 to 10 on someone.

Chimeric Mass looks clunky, but it fills the role of a cheap artifact for Glint Hawk, a low end beater with Tempered Steel, and a late game finisher even if its not great at all of those. It also combines with Glint Hawk Idol to make you very Wrath resilient, outside of Creeping Corrosion which is a sideboard card at best.

Leonin Relic Warder is the only really off theme card, but its basically a Shriekmaw in this format. It also is clutch in the mirror, where Tempered Steel would otherwise make games lopsided.

Myrsmith looks like it would work here, but realistically it doesn't fit the curve well and one toughness guys are awkward in a world of Contagion Clasp and Mortarpod. I had a couple in the sideboard, but have been extremely unimpressed with them even when they are good.

Looking at the sideboard, you want to max out on Mirran Crusaders for the mono-Green match up, but beyond that it's fairly flexible. Revoke Existance and/or Divine Offering deserves a slot, likely Revoke for the mirror where it answers Tempered Steel. Indomitable Archangel is solid against the RG plan of kill all your stuff and also is completely dominant in the mirror post-board. Hero of Bladehold is interesting, especially as Go for the Throat is bad against the rest of your deck and making them leave it in for it is a valid way to fuck with them. Beyond that you can try random removal like Arrest or Tumble Magnet.

Matchups:

Mono-Green:

They are going to win by playing three or more Viridian Corrupters in a game. You are going to win by attacking them. Tempered Steel is your best card. Watch out for Putrefax and Mortarpod/Clasp and Revoker their Tumble Magnets.

Tezzeret:

You crush them. Revoker whatever they play, including their mana (Sphere of the Suns). Tezzeret in general is easy to beat as you can Relic Warder their 5/5 blocker or just fly over and kill it. They also don't have an answer to Tempered Steel.

Mono-Red:

Bash crash etc. The card to watch for out of the board is Into the Core, but there isn't too much you can do here. Just play your cards and crush.

The Mirror:

Try and hold your Relic Warders if possible so you can beat a Tempered Steel. Chimeric Mass for the biggest number is another good trump. Other than that, just jam and make good trades.

Realistically, this won't stay the best deck in the long term. Unlike last block, Wizards actually made the hate for an artifact deck this block and there are enough bombs and Wraths that a spiteful deck can be made. Still, your deck is insane, and you can and will crush people for no good reason.