WOE Brewing Season- 20 Deck Concepts

The different deck concepts I'm planning to test this season

A lot of my high level brewing happens in this window between full spoiler and set release. I follow a fairly standard process of:

1. Create list of cards that stand out to me from the set

2. Create a list of deck concepts and what new cards they’ll feature

3. Start stepping through that list top to bottom, generating a bunch of decklists for each concept.

This article is going to cover step 2. Obviously, what I actually test will change as the season goes and I get new ideas and learn things about the cards set. However, I have been surprised how good these lists tend to be and I usually get through 80% of the decks on these lists and they represent ~70% of the decks I will test. That being said, this list is longer than normal, usually it is closer to a dozen concepts to test.

I will not have decklists for these, more descriptions of the concept and key new cards. I will build decklists for them when I’m closer to testing them. The majority of these are evolutions of existing decks I am familiar with and want to see if a new card or two can help take them to the next level or in a different direction that is a meaningful improvement.

Rakdos Kroxa

Sub-concepts:

• Torch the Tower

• Rankle’s Prank

I play a lot of Rakdos Blood/Kroxa decks. They can at times be best deck in the format, but frequently sit just below good enough. It’s a balance of low curve, efficient interaction, and long game value from Kroxa, which is a winning formula, but can fall just short with other decks being able to go over the top.

Torch the Tower

Part of the strength of the deck is similar to Rakdos Sac, always being able to turn on revolt for Push. What if we lean into this more by adding Torch the Tower as another extremely efficient one mana removal. To help keep Torch’s Bargain online, we’ll want to pair with Hopeless Nightmare, which fits with the decks attrition gameplan.

Rankle’s Prank

Here I’m thinking about taking the deck in a different direction. 4 Kroxa and 4 Bankbuster seem like a great pairing with Prank as cards that allow you to takeover the game after a prank on turn four has left both players with no creatures, no cards in hand, and lower life.

Dimir Bargain

There is a chance Gadwick’s First Duel will be amazing in this deck. Stage one fits with the gameplan of slowing down opponents pressure, the scry sets up key cards, and then copying Demonic Bargain is a game winning play.

Getting the balance right in this deck is very difficult and there are plenty of times when you are in topdeck mode and the Duel may prove bad there, but definitely worth testing.

Orzhov Yorion

Sub-concepts:

• Ashiok Bargain combo

• Regal Bunnicorn

When Rite of Oblivion came out, I started brewing a bunch of Orzhov game object decks and posted some good results. However, I just couldn’t quite get the decks to where they needed to be. Specifically, they lacked in ability to close, so there would be some percentage of the games where you would take over the game, but take too long to close and give your opponent a chance to turn the game around.

There are two new exciting options to help with the closing problem as well as Hopeless Nightmare, which is a perfect card for these kind of decks in general.

Ashiok Bargain combo

(Edit: Turns out this Ashiok/Aetherflux Reservoir combo does not work. Need to have the 50 life in the first place to be able to use the alternate cost)

The idea here is we have the traditional Treacherous Blessing build. Enhance it with Beseech the Mirror as another high value way to sac Treacherous Blessing. But then run four of the new Ashiok and one Aetherflux Reservoir to find off Beseech with Ashiok in play to hit the opponent for 50.

This is the kind of closing combo the deck needs, with pieces that are fine on their own (Beseech and Ashiok, the Reservoir is terrible on its own, but one card in 80).

Regal Bunnicorn

This is going to take a fairly different build, but these kind of decks create a ton of game objects and can get the opponent to hellbent. A huge two mana creature can really help close out the game. It can also pressure the opponents sideboarding, where they need to keep in removal that lines up poorly against the rest of the deck.

The problem is Bunnicorn does not support the rest of the decks game objects and Yorion gameplan, so need to figure out how to get the balance right.

GB Midrange

Sub-concepts:

• Dreadknight

• Wurmlet Artifact

• Food

This one I wrote about in detail here. Basic idea is that GB Midrange was hurting for a good two drop and Mosswood Dreadknight or Tough Cookie have the potential to fill that role.

Blue Devotion

I outlined a bunch on different ways to build U Devotion here. Sleep-Cursed Faerie is an extremely promising add to the deck. It being a faerie, wizard, flier, can support any of Spell Stutter, Wizard’s Retort, and Lofty Denial as a two mana counterspell.

Ward makes it a tough to remove devotion source of devotion that can play an active role in the late game.

Cleansing Wildfire

I’ve played a bunch of Cleansing Wildfire decks, some lean more Ponza, some more on Cleansing Wildfire as ramp with indestructible lands. In any of these Irencrag is going to be a big add as these decks try and go bigger with four and five drops. Also, Fires of Invention even plays well with Irencrag’s ability to flip into an equipment as you’ll often have plenty of extra mana sitting around for Activated abilities like the Equip cost here.

Dimir Midrange

Sub-concepts:

• Traditional

• Faeries

• Likeness Looter

• Yorion Archfiend Beseech

I’ve been mostly playing Dimir Midrange recently as I outline here. For the traditional build discussed there, I do not think much will change beyond adding an Irencrag and maybe a The End or two. This list is fairly tight at this point, so will be difficult to change much without shifting into a different direction.

A Faerie version of it is interesting to me with Faerie Dream Thief and Sleep-Cursed Faerie, two each of Faerie Fencing and Ego Drain and some Spell Stutters. Or maybe just Sleep-Cursed and Spell Stutter.

Likeness Looter is a card I am interested in trying as a card that is a relevant two drop, particularly if I have graveyard synergies, but can be a Trespasser or Sheoldred late game.

The most radical change would be going Yorion and changing out Sheoldred’s for Archfiend and Beseech the Mirror to be able to pull off Archfiend combo. You want to go Yorion here so that you run Omen of the Sea and other enchantments that will fuel both Yorion and Beseech.

Simic Food

I drew up a Simic Food list, it needed one more playable and I non-ironically said to myself “this list could really use a three drop that creates food and deals with Sheoldred.”

Still Goose Mother seems quite strong and it is worth trying some kind of Simic Food list. It is just going to really struggle like all non-combo Simic decks with its lack of interaction or speed.

UW Stubborn Artifact

I think Stubborn Denial is one of the best cards in the format, so I am always looking for new homes for it. Which got me thinking, Bunnicorn is potentially a two mana card that would turn on Ferocious, which would be huge as essentially all the other Ferocious enablers cost three.

So now I am in UW, which got me thinking we could use Ingenious Smith as another potential two mana Ferocious enabler that would also play well with Bunnicorn’s desire for game objects.

Temur Transmogrify

No new cards here, but I was thinking about adding Irencrag to the Flip the Switch versions of Izzet Transmogrify, which got me thinking what if we just add Growth Spiral instead to keep it at instant speed.

Rakdos Phyrexian Anvil

I describe the deck here. I put it down because I just could not get the Mono-Green matchup to where I wanted it so wanted to wait for some new answers. The End will hopefully be a big add on that front, so will test a version with four The End in the board.

Rakdos Cat-less Sacrifice

I keep trying to get Rakdos Sac without Cat/Oven, Mayhem Devil, or Anvil to work. Basically just lots of Village Rites and Threaten effects. The deck can do powerful things but constantly runs into A+B problems of Sac Fodder and Sac Outlets (i.e. the feeling when you have two Village Rites and two Deadly Dispute in hand with nothing to sacrifice and then draw a Corrupted Conviction). Lord Skitter’s Butcher provides either Fodder or Outlet depending on what you need. It will likely be too slow, but I will give it a try.

Rakdos Creativity

I like the idea of something that looks a bit like Rakdos Midrange, but instead of Sheoldred as top end you are Transmogrify-ing/Creativity-ing for Atraxa as a way to more confidently put the game away. Flick a Coin is potentially a big add for making this type of deck happen, especially given its value as a Revolt enabler as a more fair use case for it.