Adjusting My Bloody Junk

I discussed a few changes in the comment section of the TCGplayer article about the titular deck, Bloody Junk. Got to try some of them tonight and get some more games in with the deck.

The first round of changes was: -1 Sigil of Distinction, -1 Protean Hydra, -1 Scute Mob, -1 Birds; +1 Swamp, +1 Plains, +2 Path

Testing Vengevine Naya

Evan’s been pretty excited about Vengevine, as many are, and wanted to plug it into Boss Naya as soon as he saw it. For tonight’s session he got the list together, swapping out 2 Rangers, a Scute Mob, and Ajani Vengeant. Ajani seemed fine to swap out, as you can’t just go piling more 4′s in the deck without cutting some. Evan used the same reasoning in trimming some Rangers and this reveals one of the problems with Vengevine. His competition is extremely stiff. Not only is the new Mythic not as good as Bloodbraid Elf, neither is Ranger (though he’s much closer), but Vengevine probably requires you to lose some amount of one or both of these cards and he happens to work slightly better with the slightly worse option. Naya decks are facing a real clustercuss at the 4 spot, especially since Ajani Vengeant, while completely cuttable for the purposes of exploration, provides the deck with a different and effective angle of attack. It will all take some sorting out, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Vengevine ended up stuck on the bench.

Breaking Block: Where Should I Wedge This Stick? Part 1

When you approach a deckbuilding exercise, for instance Pro Tour San Juan at the end of May, you are going to spend a lot of time poring through spoilers and brainstorming new creations. Sure, there’s a wealth of 2-set information to use as a jump off point, but the influx of cards from Rise of the Eldrazi and metagame influences from players who aren’t weaned on MTGO queues means that you and your team will have to figure out a lot for yourselves. It’s an exciting time, but also an overwhelming one.

You may prefer to play a certain kind of deck all the time, in which case your job is a lot easier. Just find the best tools available to that strategy. Probably though, your goal is a comprehensive (or as close as you can get) understanding of the new metagame and a reasonable prediction of what the best deck is going to be. To that end, you can, of course, bash your head against a brick wall. Eyeball cards that seem good and groups of cards that seem synergistic and throw best-estimate lists together. Throw them against each other and you’ll see what sticks out. Accentuate the strong parts, refine the numbers, sand off the soft masses. Decide these are the decks people will be playing. Then set about trying to beat those decks.