4 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
3 Yosei, the Morning Star
4 Hokori, Dust Drinker
2 Kentaro, the Smiling Cat
4 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
2 Sensei Golden-Tail
4 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
2 Pithing Needle
4 Honor-Worn Shaku
2 Konda's Banner
4 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Blessed Breath
4 Cloudcrest Lake
2 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
1 Eiganjo Castle
15 Plains
Sideboard:
4 Hisoka's Defiance
2 Pithing Needle
4 Hand of Honor
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
4 Ghostly Prison |
  Deck
X.
Description of deck by it's Mike
Flores:
What do you get when you take a White Weenie
deck, add some counters and Meloku? Apparently you get a Grand Prix
Championship-winning list!
More than "just" a White Weenie deck, Deck-X breaks
Honor-Worn Shaku, "the paddle," in much the same way Tsuyoshi Fujita did
back at Pro Tour Philadelphia. Consider even a simple execution with this
card:
Turn 1: Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Turn 2: Umezawa's Jitte
Turn 3: Honor-Worn Shaku; tap Shaku, tap Jitte to untap Shaku, tap Shaku;
equip Hound of Konda
With a "regular" White Weenie draw, you could end up
with a stray mana and one less the next turn. Scarier for a Gifts Ungiven
deck are the games where Deck-X can play turn four Yosei. Consider the
above draw. Without even making a fourth land drop, Fujita could tap his
three lands, tap and untap his Shaku for Isasamaru and Jitte, and have six
mana of Yosei. With a fourth land, Fujita would be threatening Blessed
Breath.
I don't think the Gifts Ungiven deck can win even 30% of
games, said Brian David-Marshall, magicthegathering.com Tournament Center
reporter on-site in Taipei. "They have to kill the Yosei... and then
they're tapped out for Hokori."
Deck-X was not designed to purely race aggressive decks,
but it can still get a nice beat going with Konda's Banner. Attaching
Konda's Banner to Meloku allows the deck to go Glorious Anthem with his
team of Illusion tokens. Because every creature in Deck-X is Legendary,
Fujita could attach Konda's Banner to any of his White Weenies, setting up
a Crusade- or even Death Pit Offering- level boost for his Foxes, Spirits,
and Samurai. Most people might not play Kentaro, the Smiling Cat or Sensei
Golden-Tail at all, but with Konda's Banner, those Samurai can be pretty
good together.
Like the Solution in Tokyo, Deck-X looks a little
under-powered. It doesn't have the complete lockdown capability or massive
card advantage engine of Gifts Ungiven. It doesn't have the robust mana
acceleration of Kamigawa's green decks. With no Charge Across the Araba,
it doesn't even have the pure rush capability of a "real" White Weenie
deck. What Deck-X does have is a curious combination of answers and tempo
that make it a powerful metagame foil, ideal for the three bye metagame of
a Gifts Ungiven-dominated Grand Prix.
Deck-X might not be able to loop infinite Fogs or
Mutilates, but it can hold a lead against a tapped out opponent with
Hokori and Blessed Breath. Though it lacks access to the rock solid
Sakura-Tribe Elder and Kodama's Reach suite played by every green deck,
Deck-X's combination of Honor-Worn Shaku and Hokori expresses a classic
“Prison” synergy, allowing Fujita tons of operable mana while the opponent
– even one with Forests in play – is stuck untapping only one land per
turn. Though it doesn't have all the efficacy of a pure rush White Weenie
or Black Hand deck, Deck-X can post a Counter-Sliver offense, protecting
its board with cards like Hisoka's Defiance, holding small leads instead
of giving them up against sweepers like Hideous Laughter or Kagemaro.
Will Deck-X lose some potency now that it's out of the
bag? Of course! The fact that this week was probably the first time you
had heard of it is a testament to its surprise value… but that doesn't
mean an unprepared Gifts Ungiven deck will be any better able to beat it. |
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