Soldiers & Vampires

Whew... Finally got back up to 1747... Hopefully by the end of the year I can finally crack 1800... and get another box!

Pro Tour: Austin starts today as well! AWESOME!!!

Peter & Chong have been playing around with Soldiers, Vern’s been playing around with Vampires, and I’m still playing around with 5CC, Cascade Control, and Jund Agro. I love control but I’m not a huge fan of Grixis Control. Everytime I see a Grixis Control deck list, I like what I see, but it’s just missing one thing… the best creatures in the format: Bloodbraid Elf.

The Standard Meta is still developing, but I think the only Tier 1 deck out there is probably Jund Agro because it did so well at the SCG $5K in Philadelphia. Nothing against Boros Bushwhacker or those Naya Zoo decks, but until they consistently do well, they’re not Tier 1, but there’s nothing wrong about being Tier 2 either.

Back to Soldiers and Vampires. Peter was disappointed on how his Soldier deck performed, granted he didn’t ever play test it but that’s his fault. We’ve been playing Magic and he’s been busy, congrats on the new job by the way!

Vern’s been trying to find a consistent, strong Vampire build. He’s got an innovative piece of technology in his deck: Ad Nauseam and a good collection of creatures and spells with either lifelink or that can gain him life, to offset the life lost by Ad Nauseam.

I think Soldiers and Vampires are just a few card away from being format defining, plus Zendikar is the only set that’s been released so far from this block. When Lorwyn came out, Fae was just okay. It needed Bitterblossom, from Morningtide, to give it card and creature advantage, as well as crazy synergy. Remember what Kithkin was like all the way back when it was just Lorwyn? You probably don’t because that’s when most of just started playing again. But Kithkin really needed Spectral Procession, from Shadowmoor, to give it the ability to set off a potential turn 4 Windbrisk Heights, plus it gave it another creature advantage card (besides Cloudgoat Ranger) to regain tempo after a Wrath of God, plus it gave Kithkin creatures with evasion!

Even though Vampires and Soldiers isn't what most of hoped that it would be, I think we just have to wait and see what the other two sets are going to give us first. So hold on to your Soldiers and Vampires!