All things Wolven

Standard Deck Help forum

Posted on March 26, 2016, 12:26 p.m. by clayperce

If you want to talk about Wolves and Werewolves in Standard, you're in the right place!

If you're looking for other formats, please drop by Werewolf EDH for Commander or Modern Wolves for Modern.

  • You're 100% welcome to post here asking for help on anything Wolven, though you may want to set up a separate thread as well, in the Standard Deck Help forum.
  • Please don't hesitate to post your deck in large format (it makes it easier for others to find the decks that are asking for help).
  • Here's the syntax for a large format deck ... just copy-and-paste, replacing the "gruul-wolves-soi" part with the "slug name" from your deck's URL: 
    [[deck-large:gruul-wolves-soi]]

FNM (6 Jan 2016)

  • 1st Place (3-0): just-another-jundyard-dog-rec-12-5 by VexxValentine ($$$$)

FNM (23 Sep 2016)

Game Day (13-14 Aug 2013)

FNM (29 Jul 2016)

FNM (15 Jul 2016)

FNM (8 July 2016)

  • 1st Place (3-0): deck:naya-wolves-and-humans-bring-on-the-pain by snarlmkiv (Naya, $$)

Tues Standard (5 July 2016)

FNM (1 July 2016)

FNM (25 May 2016)

FNM (6 May 2016)

GAME DAY (30 Apr - 1 May 2016)

FNM (29 Apr 2016)

FNM (22 Apr 2016)

Some great posts that will otherwise be totally buried as the thread grows ...

Want to add a note about the thread to your deck description? Just copy-and-paste this:

... the [All things Wolven](http://tappedout.net/mtg-forum/standard-deck-help/all-things-wolven/) thread!

Want to add a subscription button to your deck description? Just copy-and-paste this:

<a class="btn btn-default" href="/subscriptions/subscribe/67/62030/?return_url=/mtg-forum/standard-deck-help/all-things-wolven/">Subscribe to the All things Wolven thread</a>

We look forward to reading your comments and looking at your decks! Good luck (and good skill) on your builds!

P.S. No worries if you just want to lurk. Please just click the Subscribe button here or underneath the Comment window. Thanks!

Subscribe to this thread

clayperce says... #1

AverageBoss,
Thanks for you insights on post #90!

Axinoim,
I like KMC Hyper Matte Clear Sleeves. The back side isn't totally clear (it's a little opaque), but they're just my favorite sleeves anyway.

March 31, 2016 5:24 a.m. Edited.

clayperce says... #2

Everyone,
At the risk of sounding like a public service announcement ...

For anyone going to Prerelease events this weekend, please take a few minutes to read the Release Notes on the Werewolf cards.

Because we've been studying these cards since they were first spoiled, I think we're going to be able to help out a bunch of new (and returning) players who are playing with Werewolf cards for the first time this weekend. And it's important we help them out correctly :-)

One area that's been a little tough for me in playtesting is keeping track of how many spells have been cast each turn, so the cards Transform correctly. Since maintaining board state is a shared responsibility, this is one for us to watch, even if we don't happen to be playing the cards :-(

Thanks!

March 31, 2016 5:34 a.m. Edited.

NotSquishedYet says... #3

clayperce, on a budget of one off-topic comment per day here, do you know if the Hyper Matte Clear sleeves physically perform differently from the colored ones? It seems like they would be made of a different material, so I am curious.

March 31, 2016 5:29 p.m.

JonRock says... #4

Axinoim for sleeving my Werewolves my plan currently is to use the checklists in the decks themselves and have all my wolves sleeved in some clear sleeves(I believe I have seen some KMC sleeves that would work for this) and just grab them from my deckbox like tokens when their played, not only will this save me the pulling out the cards from sleeves each time they flip, it should also mean that as long as I'm not playing decks against each other I don't need a copy of each Werewolf for each deck I build with them in it, just a playset of each.

March 31, 2016 8:53 p.m.

clayperce says... #5

NotSquishedYet,
I use clear and black, and the guy who first introduced me to KMC Hyper Matte uses purple, and I've never noticed a difference. After months of play, they all still feel and look great. Of course that's like the least scientific analysis ever, so please treat with skepticism. :-)

March 31, 2016 10:55 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #6

clayperce,

Interesting. I use purple as well. :P I must agree with that.

Mind hopping over for a look at my newly updated format-flagship deck? Once I've got it hammered out at least rotation proof, if not post-rotation, I think it could take one of the top spots in your Wolven Gauntlet. Thanks in advance! ;)

deck chart

A Hundred Hands, A Thousand Swords

Standard* NotSquishedYet

SCORE: 3 | 5 COMMENTS | 894 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

March 31, 2016 11 p.m.

clayperce says... #7

For those of you working on CoCo decks,
DaftVader mentioned this article in a deck comment, and I wanted to pass it on to the wider audience.

The summary: "I'd want 22 hittable creatures at the very least before putting Collected Company in my main deck. This gives a 5% chance of missing completely, a 21% probability of hitting one creature, and a 74% probability of hitting two creatures."

DaftVader,
Thanks!

March 31, 2016 11 p.m.

Kizmetto says... #8

as someone who works at my lgs, i swear by kmc brand.

gonna read that CoCo article :) cheers for sharing.

March 31, 2016 11:06 p.m.

Kizmetto says... #9

ah wonderful about the stats for coco , 22 min is good to know. im running 24 in my deck, how many creatures are other coco werewolves deck running?

March 31, 2016 11:11 p.m.

Kizmetto says... #10

May all your prereleases yield arlinn kord!

April 1, 2016 8:43 p.m.

Axinoim says... #11

What is everyone thoughts about Stoneforge Masterwork in a Werewolf deck?

April 1, 2016 9:03 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #12

o.0 I don't think anyone thought of that. It's a great idea! Maybe part of the cult-standard transformational sideboard, for game 2?

April 1, 2016 9:05 p.m.

Axinoim says... #13

NotSquishedYet,

I'm about to try Stoneforge Masterwork out now; my deck thus far.

deck chart

(Gruul) Werewolf Tribal SOI

Standard* Axinoim

SCORE: 4 | 10 COMMENTS | 813 VIEWS | IN 4 FOLDERS

April 1, 2016 9:16 p.m.

Kizmetto says... #14

I was running Stoneforge Masterwork in my original draft and certainly made an impact, but dropped it as the deck evolved in to the Collected Company shell. In non-CoCo decks i think its a fantastic card. Human buff + werewolf buff = +2/+2 per werewolf on the field? for 1 mana? Cripes, put that on Moonrise Intruder  Flip!

April 1, 2016 9:18 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #15

Unfortunately it only counts +1/+1 per creature, but the Werewolf type means that it IS guaranteed +1/+1 for each other creature you control.

April 1, 2016 9:23 p.m.

Axinoim says... #16

If I could get my werewolves to flip more I'd be running Neglected Heirloom  Flip

April 1, 2016 10:37 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #17

If you're running Duskwatch Recruiter  Flip, you can probably spend a turn drawing cards since the Heirloom doesn't flip back.

April 1, 2016 10:45 p.m.

Axinoim says... #18

Omfg... I feel so dumb right now... I've been flipping wrong this WHOLE damn time!

I thought it was reading, "At the beginning of YOUR next upkeep"...

OMG! It's EACH upkeep!? My whole world just changed :x

Ps: Don't tell nobody guys...

April 1, 2016 10:52 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #19

XD Enjoooooy!

April 1, 2016 11:03 p.m.

Axinoim says... #20

Well I must say; flipping Breakneck Rider  Flip into Neck Breaker  Flip with a Ashmouth Blade  Flip equipped, it becomes an 8/6 with trample and first strike.

Yes, yes it does end games quickly...

April 1, 2016 11:33 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #21

If you need a deck to test yours against, I've got one in need of testing. I posted it earlier (on this page) in this thread.

I just recently made a lot of changes to the list posted, and if someone and/or everyone can try a game or two against it, that would be great. As it is, it should provide a fairly good testing match-up.

April 1, 2016 11:42 p.m.

Axinoim says... #22

NotSquishedYet,

A Hundred Hands, A Thousand Swords is a really good deck. +1 from me! I went 1-3 against it.

Match One:

Pretty straight forward and even. To win it, your deck kept drawing Silumgar Sorcerer and Reflector Mage. Keeping my board clear for Hanweir Militia Captain  Flip and a Bounding Krasis to keep swinging freely.

Match Two

This one went to my deck, (Gruul) Werewolf Tribal SOI. I won it by being able to get my werewolves out. Pretty simple. Had 3x Solitary Hunter  Flip; 1x Moonrise Intruder  Flip, 1x Breakneck Rider  Flip and 1x Gatstaf Arsonists  Flip. Your deck wasn't getting zip, nothing in the means of removal. Got mana screwed in the early game didn't help either.

Match Three

And, the winner was!? ~Ding-Ding-Ding~ A Hundred Hands, A Thousand Swords!

My deck got mana screwed so bad in this one, ask me how bad. Couldn't play my first card until turn 5! Your deck had 1x Hanweir Militia Captain  Flip and 1x Cleric of the Forward Order out by turn 2 turn and just drilled until turn 4. Make way for Woodland Wanderer who has +3/+3 counters now... fml. Played Geier Reach Bandit  Flip on turn 5, nope, your next turn Reflector Mage. My turn, couldn't play anything thanks to Reflector Mage. That was game, swung on Turn 6 & 7 for 11 damage each. That'll kill anyone.

I would suggest adding more removal cards in your Main or Side. Against Aggro Decks anyways. Once I was able to get my creatures on the field there was very little your deck could do about it. Most bodies of your creatures are 2/2 or less.

  • Whirler Rogue did help to rebuild the board after a sweep in Match Two. But at best only bought one extra turn.

  • Orbs of Warding was dead in hand. My deck doesn't run any burn spells in Main.

In the end, I was happy with how my deck played. Can't help getting mana screwed in Match Three, those things happen. I didn't sideboard either deck in this playtest. I could have sideboard in, Display of Dominance and Rending Volley to help me out M2 & M3. I'll have to give these another playtest with sideboard in next time.

A Hundred Hands, A Thousand Swords will be added to my list of decks to playtest against, really liked this one.

April 2, 2016 9:10 a.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #23

Good to know. Great feedback, all of it. Thanks!

What do you think of Sigarda, Heron's Grace taking the Mainboard spot of Orbs of Warding? I think I still want 2 Orbs available, but she works too.

Maybe Cryptolith Rite to get yours off the ground, if you don't already have it?

Glad you like it. I will probably do my own playtests and see how they go. ;)

April 2, 2016 2:35 p.m.

darklord987 says... #24

R/G Werewolves [SOI]

Working on my own deck. I managed to trade for 80% of the deck and I the rest preordered. I also got several other werewolves so I can change the deck as I change it. If someone could help me create a sideboard that would be wonderful. All feedback, changes, etc. are very appreciated!

Thanks, Matt

April 4, 2016 10:12 a.m.

Ryjo says... #25

I need an opinion of 2 cards in a -midrange werewolf deck. Which is better, Pack Guardian or Gatstaf Arsonists  Flip? The Arsonists are strong and if they flip (which may have a good chance of happening since it is a late game card), they are much stronger than the Guardian. The Guardian, while weaker, has flash, which means I can pass my turn without casting spells to trigger my werewolves, and then play Guardian on the opponent's turn. It also has the ability to create another creature when it enters the battlefield.

April 4, 2016 1:43 p.m.

darklord987 says... #26

Ryjo I think Pack Guardian is way better. The card can create both a 4/3 wolf and a 2/2 wolf at instant speed. Two surprise blockers can really help change the board state really quickly. The problem with Gatstaf Arsonists  Flip is it is just a 5/4 that flips into a 6/5. If you want a 5 drop that fits the deck I really like Wolf of Devil's Breach. The card has a strong late game advantage which is nice.

TL;DR

Pack Guardian is great and is an instant speed blocker. If you rather play Gatstaf Arsonists  Flip over Pack Guardian I recommend playing Wolf of Devil's Breach instead.

April 4, 2016 2:15 p.m.

darklord987 says... #27

I am running 4 Scourge Wolf in my deck and noticed that I tried making the deck trying to trigger Delirium. Do you think I should make the deck not based around Delirium in order to play better cards? For example, should I play no Avacyn's Judgment and replace it with Fiery Impulse instead? I am also cutting Evolving Wilds which was only played for Delirium.

April 4, 2016 2:28 p.m.

Ryjo says... #28

darklord, I will say that Scourge Wolf is a good card, especially if you get delirium. But i think delirium is something your build towards, probably using madness or milling effects. Fiery Impulse is, in my opinion the better spell for a deck because it is more effective in the decks that lack madness.

April 4, 2016 2:36 p.m.

Ryjo says... #29

darklord987, I will say that Scourge Wolf is a good card, especially if you get delirium. But i think delirium is something your build towards, probably using madness or milling effects. Fiery Impulse is, in my opinion the better spell for a deck because it is more effective in the decks that lack madness.

April 4, 2016 2:36 p.m.

clayperce says... #30

All,
Just in case you haven't already seen it: Melissa DeTora's article on Human and Werewolf tribal, including a spicy Arlinn-Thopter brew.

April 4, 2016 2:54 p.m.

Argy says... #31

darklord987 the way that I view Delerium is that it is a nice bonus, but any deck that tries to force it usually weakens itself.

Evolving Wilds is the best example of this.

It's a fairly weak card unless you're playing three colours, but people throw it in just to try to get another card type in their Yard.

April 4, 2016 3:09 p.m.

AverageBoss says... #32

I have found Tormenting Voice will help you out alot more on the delirium front (and in general) than Evolving Wilds will.

April 4, 2016 3:27 p.m.

darklord987 says... #33

So Argeaux would you recommend removing Evolving Wilds and Avacyn's Judgment?

April 4, 2016 3:28 p.m.

Argy says... #34

Avacyn's Judgment is a good card in its own right so it could stay, depending on the build.

Taking Evolving Wilds would probably be a good idea.

April 4, 2016 4 p.m.

whatskraken says... #35

I played RG at my prerelease, as I pulled an Arlinn Kord  Flip. I went 4-1 and received another Arlinn Kord  Flip in one of the prize packs. I built a deck around wolves as a result: London Calling. (I don't know how to make it larger).

April 4, 2016 4:23 p.m.

clayperce says... #36

whatskraken,
Congrats on cracking some Arlinns!

There are a bunch of good formatting tips in the Formatting tips page, linked at the bottom of T/O Comment windows. But the TL;DR for big decks is like this:

[[deck-large:london-calling]]

deck chart

London Calling

Modern whatskraken

SCORE: 1 | 1 COMMENT | 26 VIEWS

April 4, 2016 4:35 p.m. Edited.

clayperce says... #37

All,
I wanted to bring some attention to InsanityMuffin's budget build. I thought it was really cool to see what can be done for <$20! You can check it out at ...

deck chart

Budget Wolves

Standard InsanityMuffin

SCORE: 1 | 5 COMMENTS | 93 VIEWS

April 4, 2016 5:12 p.m.

AverageBoss says... #38

At my prerelease, I went undefeated. However, I did not pull a single werewolf or werewolf support card (Moonlight Hunt, Howlpack Resurgence) out of either my draft or win packs.

I did however pull an Archangel Avacyn  Flip (and a 2nd Mythic) out of my first booster pack. Now that I wound up with one I am tempted to make a W/R deck with her and Goldnight Castigator while avoiding werewolf and vampire cards (since I am already doing dedicated decks for those). Completely lost on that front.

April 4, 2016 5:33 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #39

Thoughts on Vessel of Nascency? At the prerelease, I think I could say it outperformed Arlinn Kord, though that's only because it fetched her or the mana to play her. Do not underestimate digging 4 for delirium for fun and fetching any permanent you need.

April 4, 2016 6:02 p.m.

darklord987 says... #40

Vessel of Nascency is by far the best vessel in the set. Vessel of Nascency is one of the closest things we can get for a tutor in standard (next to Tamiyo's Journal). Vessel of Nascency and Arlinn Kord  Flip do two completely different things making them hard to compared. Honestly, it is nearly impossible to replace her. She is a key card when it comes to competitive werewolf decks.

April 4, 2016 6:06 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #41

That's true. She is indispensable, but the Vessel supported her and helped out a ton when I didn't have her.

I think it's worth putting in the standard 2x Arlinn and 2-4x Vessel.

April 4, 2016 6:15 p.m.

darklord987 says... #42

After a lot of your guys feedback I think I managed to make a very strong deck. Here is the experimental deck:

Here are some final things I want to hear some feedback on:

  • How is the sideboard? What is good or bad about it? How would you change it?

  • I am scared of Orbs of Warding and Tamiyo's Journal. Do you think I should keep Naturalize just because of the rare occurrence of those artifacts?

  • Should I replace Scourge Wolf with something else due to me not having delirium? Is Lambholt Pacifist  Flip a better option?

  • Do you think there are two many 3 drops in the deck? Should I remove/replace some of them?

  • After looking at [this article] (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13197&writer=Melissa+DeTora&articledate=4-4-2016) I saw her use 3 Evolving Wilds. Should I run 3, 2 or none? It just seems important to be running some due to the deck having many cards with and .

April 4, 2016 6:28 p.m.

AverageBoss says... #43

I would personally drop Evolving Wilds. You can also probably go down to 22 lands.

You might look at Moonlight Hunt. It is 1 mana more than Fiery Impulse but it is significantly stronger and can kill things easily that Temper cannot even scratch.

Also, you can easily and safely run nothing but the 2 and 3 drop werewolves (you would want 25 or so), as long as you bring Collected Company.

That way you are playing your spells and creatures on your opponents turn, while simply transforming and attacking during yours for the most part.

Even in my non-CoCo werewolf deck, I am running 13 3 drop cards pretty effectively in test games, so it is doable.

April 4, 2016 7:15 p.m.

Cranthis says... #44

Hunted by the Howlpack

My standard werewolf deck is almost where I think its as good as it will get, while still sticking to the theme. Special thanks to clayperce for pointing the way for me to figure a few things out.

April 4, 2016 8:21 p.m.

whatskraken says... #45

Personally, I think Vessel of Nascency is practically an auto include in any soi limited deck. However, I think Arlinn allowed me to win more.

April 4, 2016 8:25 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #46

That's the thing - It gets you Arlinn more consistently.

Is it just me... or were there a metric ****ton of Arlinns opened at the prereleases? It feels like she was printed a lot more than usual as a Planeswalker.

April 4, 2016 8:43 p.m.

Kizmetto says... #47

ah you too? yeah there was heaps of arlinn's pulled, 3 of my friends got her as a promo. im sad.

April 4, 2016 8:54 p.m. Edited.

AverageBoss says... #48

Might have to to with how the packs are assembled. There is a dedicated slot for a DFC card independent of the other cards. So every X packs should yield a Rare or Mythic DFC in addition to the packs normal Rs/Ms (that is why I got a 2nd Mythic with Avacyn).

So if we can figure out the distribution rate per box of DFCs, we can figure out the chances of pulling an Arlinn / Avacyn / Thing. Of course this may already be known and I might just be out of the loop.

April 4, 2016 9:05 p.m.

NotSquishedYet says... #49

BOO YAH. Wolves just became much more playable to the common man!

I'll check up on it. It's not known in public, at least. I'll probably be splitting a Box with a friend soon after the official release, so I can probably put up the numbers if you're interested.

April 4, 2016 9:26 p.m.

AverageBoss says... #50

Actually, I just found this:

"So, to recap: one out of every eight packs might contain two rares and/or mythic rares, one of which will be double-faced. And, if you're super-duper fortunate, it might even contain a foil. That's a thing that is possible."

Source

That is pretty awesome.

April 4, 2016 9:31 p.m.

Please login to comment