This ain't your mama's Wolf Run Bant...
Card Choices:
Mainboard
4 Thragtusk - Kind of goes without saying, he has been the biggest, baddest beast on the block (always avoid annoying alliteration) for quite some time and even though there are actual hate cards that can efficiently(?) deal with him, he is still a house and I will slam some Tusk until the day Wizards pries him from my cold dead fingers... or he rotates.
4 Voice of Resurgence - To anyone who thinks this is simply an anticontrol card, this may seem like an odd inclusion, but he operates a lot like Thragtusk in the early turns if you think about it. He comes down, blocks, maybe kills an attacker, then leaves a blocker behind. Sure, he doesn't grant you life upon entering the battlefield, but between him and the token he grants you can save at least 5 life going into turn 4 where you can possibly sweep or play Thragtusk (if you were able to Farseek) and be at 15-25 life; not too many aggro decks can come back from that. And of course, it's fantastic against any random control deck you might face. I do understand that the meta is evolving around this little guy, but I don't even care about
Pillar of Flame
becoming the go to removal spell for red because that's less burn coming at your face and your opponent isn't using that 1 mana to progress their board. This guy is worth every penny you spend on him, so buy them now if you need them.
2 AEtherling - The piece de resistance, the main event, the granddaddy of them all... Ok, that might have been a bit hyperbolic, but this guy IS sick. He is near impossible to race and even harder to kill. This card was heavily pushed by WotC and I get the sinking feeling that The Autumn of Everlastng Control may just be upon us. I for one am hopeful.
4 Azorius Charm - The card is just good and all 3 modes are things you may want to do during a game: Need more life late game? attack and Kessig Wolf Run your guy and gain a million. Need to survive to the midgame? take out an attacker and Time Walk their draw. Just need more cards in general? Cycle it. I would not recommend going below 4 copies, but you may be able to get away with 3. I truly believe the fact that this is actually 12 cards wrapped into 4 slots is a major reason why I'm having so much success with this deck. Just a good card.
4 Farseek - This deck does not function without Farseek. Do not go below 4 copies. You have been warned. I'm not sure I really need to say anything more than that, but just to reiterate, Supreme Verdict can be too slow without the option of being able to hit it on turn 3; the aggro decks in the format are far too aggressive and you need to be at a decent life total going into turns 4 and 5 if you want to be able to get to the late game. Farseek helps to ensure that scenario plays out as often as possible.
2 Oblivion Ring - Not Detention Sphere are you crazy? No, I run this because, aside from random token decks, this and Detention Sphere are almost identical. Obviously, playing this makes us more susceptible to our opponent's Detention Sphere, but on the flip side, their Detention Sphere is more susceptible to us as well. Plus mine combos well with the next card in my list.
2
Renounce the Guilds
- Yup, this card is good. You can win some pretty outrageous games just because they can't use their Falkenrath Aristocrat or Cartel Aristocrat or Boros Reckoner, etc. It just hits such a wide range of good cards, I can't see not playing with it, at least until rotation.
2 Selesnya Charm - I wasn't sure I really wanted this effect, so I stayed away for a long time, but after a few games, I decided to give it a go when I was losing due to not getting through blockers or Azorius Charm not doing enough by itself to stop early aggression. I have liked it so far; even won more than a few games that I may not have without it, so I think 2 copies is fine and 3 might just be the ticket.
3 Sphinx's Revelations - Lifegain? Check. Card draw? Check. Instant speed? Check... I really don't know what WotC was thinking when the created this card (I'm glad they did), but I know they didn't put as much thought into the cards that are supposed to stop it because it is just as big of a house as ever. I could entertain the idea of going up to 4 copies, but you are trying to win off of AEtherling, so chaining these isn't as necessary as ounce before. Obviously, Sire Of Insanity is annoying, but not unbeatable; the only card that worries me is a Slaughter Games hitting them, but even that isn't the end of the world when you have AEtherling.
4 Supreme Verdict - I see a lot of control decks dropping below 4 copies and I just can't see this as being a logical step with the way the meta is headed right now. Granted, it is mediocre vs Junk Rites, but it still isn't terrible and after game 1 I can bring in
Purify the Grave
Dissipate and Terminus to try and stop the Unburial Rites shenanigans. It's just so integral to stymieing the aggressive starts a lot of the best decks in the format have. If we had a better way to set up the top of our library, Terminus would probably get the maindeck nod.
4
Think Twice
- This is by the far the most flexible slot in the whole deck. Personally, I like them; they draw upwards of 8 extra cards during a game and they can be easily sided out against hyper-aggressive lists. Feel free to explore this slot and let me know if you find something better.
*Something worth mentioning, this deck runs so many cantrips that in any given game your deck size is probably closer to 35-45 cards, since, logically speaking, every card that draws extra cards makes your deck smaller by that many cards. Example: you play a game, casting and flashing back 2
Think Twice
and casting a Sphinx's Revelation for 5 cards. Win or lose, you were actually only playing a 51 card deck, since the 3 cards you cast took 9 cards out of your library. Just a little bit of magic theory for ya.
1 Kessig Wolf Run - Wouldn't really be Wolf Run Bant without it, but it also helps to make your other creatures more like AEtherling by giving them the ability to get around blockers for huge chunks of damage. I have been going between 1 and 2 copies and as of of right now, I feel 1 copy is sufficient. I mulliganed a bit too much at 2 copies for my liking. Not to mention, it's awfully hard to cast Voice of Resurgence off of a Kessig Wolf Run.
Sideboard
4
Centaur Healer
- This is to stop hyper-aggression in it's tracks. I know it doesn't trade with Boros Reckoner and Searing Spear kills it and it doesn't combo very well with
Renounce the Guilds
, but the 3 life plus the fact that they usually burn it down to kill it, sometimes resulting in a 2-1 in your favor is still fine. That's less burn coming at your face or your Voice of Resurgence/Thragtusk and I can get on board with that. And it's not like you didn't gain 3 life if you have to use
Renounce the Guilds
in the following turns.
2 Dissipate - Sometimes (not often, lol) you play against a control deck. They tend to play counters mainboard (even if they are bad right now) and as a result they can get you in game one if they rip enough of them. It is also decent against Junk Rites, though
Sin Collector
out of the sideboard is annoying.
2
Purify the Grave
- This is by far my favorite option of all the hate cards against Junk Rites. One copy takes out both sides of an Unburial Rites without even touching said Unburial Rites. It isn't a permanent, so Abrupt Decay can't stop it (which also means Acidic Slime can't stop it) and it is cheap; a paltry 1 white mana to cast and another to flashback. Feel free to insert your graveyard hate of choice here. I am only running 2 because Junk Rites can operate outside of the graveyard and that is usually the route they take after boarding, so being stuck with too many graveyard effects can result in a loss.
2
Renounce the Guilds
- Sometimes you want to have the full playset at your disposal. This comes up vs The Aristocrats most often, but Jund is another match you may want at least 3 and possibly 4 depending on their decklist.
2 Syncopate - Basically the same principle as Dissipate though it can be clunky on a land light draw (not too often, since the decks you're going to employ this against will usually be tapping most of their mana).
3 Terminus - Against certain matchups (Naya aggro/blitz, R/G aggro, The Aristocrats) you want as many sweepers as you can get. Against some other matchups (Junk Rites, in particular) you want to have a sweeper that doesn't turn on Unburial Rites or undying. This is where Terminus fits in. It can sweep early if you're lucky or it can simply be wraths 5-7. If I were playing black I would heavily consider Merciless Eviction in it's place, though the inability to play it early would probably be enough to say no.
That concludes the decktech to my version of Wolf Run Bant. If you like to play control, love slamming Thragtusk and think AEtherling is the bee's knees, then I highly suggest giving this deck a try. Feel free to comment and give suggestions; I'm always open to trying new cards and synergies.
P.S. Did I mention this deck has game vs every tiered strategy in standard as of right now? Because that's pretty important ;)
