Grixology 101
Hello everyone, and welcome to Grixology 101. Some of you here were involved in the discussion started by my last article, but for those of you that weren't, let me give you a short run through.
Grixis (or Red, Black, and Blue) is a potent color combination that gives us access to the best removal, the best counter magic, and the ever-present and all-powerful Thoughtseize. My last article discussed the tools available to the colors, along with some the shortcomings of them (i.e. the lack of good draw power, life gain, and mana fixing). With the release of Journey Into Nyx, Grixis got another piece to its competitive puzzle in the form of Mana Confluence and Keranos, God of Storms. With Keranos drawing cards and Mana Confluence fixing our mana issues, it is my opinion that Grixis has the potential to be extremely competitive in the format, and over the past few weeks, it has been my mission to prove it.
FNM Results
I have seen some very promising results with this deck, placing top 3 for the past couple weeks, and obtaining first place last week just before Game Day. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to Game Day. I really wanted to talk about this deck's performance there, but I guess I will settle for some FNM run throughs. So before I get into that, let's look at the deck and do a card-by-card breakdown.
Creatures:
AEtherling
: Does he really need an explanation? He is a beast against control if you can get him to resolve.
Keranos, God of Storms: I love this guy. He draws cards, removes creatures, or wraps up the game for me. It is rare for him to get active, but he never needs to be.
Stormbreath Dragon: This guy is a lot of fun. he is great against control, great against any white based deck, and is a fast clock. I am never sad to see this guy.
Mogis, God of Slaughter: I find Mogis to be great against aggro. It is 2 damage every turn unless they start sacrificing creatures, And I am perfectly happy either way. He is a bit underwhelming against any deck with Sphinx's Revelation, but that is why we have a sideboard.
Removal:
Devour Flesh
: This is surprisingly an amazing card. It kills those nasty hexproof creatures like witch stalker and Gladecover Scout while also giving us a means of dealing with Blood Baron of Vizkopa.
Dreadbore: This is an overall great kill spell. it is only 2 mana, and can kill a planeswalker.
Hero's Downfall: An instant speed Dreadbore?! Sign me up!
Anger of the Gods: quite fitting with the flavor of the deck, if you ask me. It is the best board wipe available to us, and it is actually very effective. the "exile" clause is definitely important. it means no death triggers for Voice of Resurgence,
Xathrid Necromancer
, or Athreos, God of Passage. it also stops Chandra's Phoenix from coming back, and the ability to kill multiple creatures with one spell is just great value.
Ratchet Bomb: I absolutely love this against aggro, and it can also provide me with a way to remove Detention Spheres in the control matches. It is great utility, a pseudo board wipe against some decks, and all around useful.
Counter spells:
Dissolve: Pretty self explanatory. It is a hard counter that can set up a Keranos reveal or just make sure we draw what we need.
Syncopate: This is a very useful counter that exiles, which can be relevant against the U/W decks that run elixir, or just as another counter for an annoying card.
Counterflux: because sometimes you just need to say "no!"
Planeswalkers:
Jace, Architect of Thought: A well known planeswalker that is absolutely amazing. his +1 fends off aggro decks, his -2 gives us card advantage, and his ultimate might as well read "you win the game"
Other Cards that annoy my opponent:
Thoughtseize: Take the threat before it becomes a threat. And gathering information is great. Rakdos's Return: Empty your opponent's hand and deal either a bunch of damage to him or kill their planeswaker (assuming you haven't used a Dreadbore or Hero's Downfall already).
Utility:
Underworld Connections: basically just a card advantage engine. it does come at a cost, but losing 1 life now could prevent 10 damage later.
Elixir of Immortality: never run out of answers, and gain some life. this is a life saver.
Izzet Charm: Can you say utility? a counter, a removal spell, and a digger all in one for the low cost of 2 mana at instant speed? this card is great!
Firemind's Foresight
: No one ever sees this coming, but I promise it is worth it. there are so many valuable things to search for in your deck, and this is just a great "toolbox" kind of card. I can't begin to describe to you the number of times this card has saved me.
Sideboard:
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver: I actually don't like this too much against aggressive decks. I think I prefer it against control simply because it comes down early and it's ultimate can win the game.
Dispel: another 1 drop counter for the control decks or R/W burn
Jace, Memory Adept
: also great against control. he is a fast way to win, and at the least draws me some more cards.
Duress: basically another Thoughtseize for the control and R/W burn match ups
Stormbreath Dragon: Some decks just can't deal with him. so we bring in some more!
Slaughter Games: oh how I love this card! strip away the ways your opponent can win!
Pithing Needle: another answer to walkers, and it can also pin down Mutavault and, I am desperate, an opposing
AEtherling
.
Counterflux: more counters for control decks
Anger of the Gods: for the really fast decks
Essence Scatter: just another means to help with troublesome creatures like
Witchstalker
or Blood Baron of Vizkopa.
Well, there you have it! The offspring of my hard work and determination!
Back to FNM Results:
My first time piloting this deck, I had 4 rounds of FNM, And I went undefeated, obtaining first place.
Round 1: Naya Midrange-- This was a pretty easy match. All of his creatures (other than his Xenagos, God of Revels and Nyx-Fleece Ramdied to Anger of the Gods. I thought his Xenagod was going to be an issue, but it really doesn't do anything when you counter all of his things or kill them when they enter. I beat this guy 2-0.
Round 2: American Control-- Again, an easy match. He did have some threats that are hard for me to deal with, but Thoughtseize and Counterflux are great for dealing with those things. I was able to follow up a Thoughtseize with an
AEtherling
for the win. It was pretty great. Game 2 is where it got even easier. more Counterflux, Slaughter Games and Duress made the game much more fun. I also brought in 2 more Stormbreath Dragon, and I won by resolving a turn 5 Stormbreath Dragon. Control matches are very favorable to me. another 2-0
Round 3: Brave Naya-- This was a good friend of mine. He recently switched from his usual selesnya aggro deck to brave naya. I was stuck with an Anger of the Gods in hand with no second red source, and he had 2 Voice of Resurgence on the field. I attempted to Dreadbore one of them, but he used a
Brave the Elements
. his next turn he played 2 Fleecemane Lion and he had 1 mana open and 1 card in hand. I top decked a Mountain, and went for Anger of the Gods. he didnt have another
Brave the Elements
, so I won that game. Game 2 was a little easier. he kept a slow hand and his deck couldn't beat a turn 5 Stormbreath Dragon. Another round going 2-0
Round 4: Mono Black Aggro-- This was surprisingly more difficult than I initially anticipated. I was able to pull off game 1 with 1 life left! A timely Anger of the Gods saved me there. Game 2 I lost due to mana screw. It was really unfortunate. I was hoping to go flawless through the whole night. Oh well, I couldnt really complain. Game 3 was very intense. He had a few creatures on board, and I had a Stormbreath Dragon on defense. he bestowed a
Gnarled Scarhide
on my dragon so it couldn't block. It was a great play. He knocked me down to 4 life. he was at 11 life with 2 cards in hand. I swung with the dragon (which had 6 power from the scarhide) monstroused him to make him 9 power, and the dragon dealt 2 damage from the 2 cards in my opponent's hand. How's that for exactsies?! This round I went 2-1
After the whole night was over, I received several congratulations from friends and people who work at the store for my successful build. No one was expecting something so different and effective. And first place on my first time piloting the deck feels pretty darn good!
So here I have proven that Grixis can be competitive, and is especially good, in my opinion, in a control dominated format. I felt like I was in the driver's seat the whole time against that American Control deck. The fast aggro decks are a bit more difficult to deal with, but this deck can easily be modified to perform better against those kinds of decks. With the tools available, I wouldn't be surprised to see a deck like this make it into the top 8 of a few tournaments.
For those of you that were involved with my last article, you know that this article is a bit late. For that, I apologize. Since the writing of this article, I have played in a couple FNMs, placing top 3 every time. This is the most fun I have had playing a deck in this season of standard.
Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my Grixis Lesson! As usual, I would appreciate any feedback/constructive criticism you have for me. I would also like to hear about your success with a Grixis deck if you have had any.
