Kessig Wolf Run Update

October 11, 2011 | Posted by Dee

Updated Nov. 21, 2011: An unorthodox Wolf Run Ramp deck won the 2011 World Championships. It had zero planeswalkers, Beast Within, Viridian Emissary, and Wurmcoil Engine. Instead, it played burn spells, Sphere of the Suns, and Inferno Titan. Check it out.

My last post was about the new Kessig Wolf Run ramp deck. I did some more testing and changed some more cards based on what I learned from the matches.

Garruk Relentless just wasn’t good enough even against creature decks and it’s pretty subpar versus control. Garruk, Primal Hunter was much better in testing even though it cost one more mana. It’s not bad against creature decks and it’s very solid against control so I went back to a full set of the M12 planeswalker.

I found myself wanting more Beast Within to fight control so I brought back the third copy and moved Slagstorm to the sideboard. With the full set of Garruk, Primal Hunter back in the main deck, this was an easy move to make since the planeswalker provides 3/3 tokens to trade.

Here’s the new list along with a new sideboard card.

Kessig Wolf Run Ramp Deck

Creatures (15)

Spells (19)

Lands (26)

Sideboard (15)

Yes, the main deck is only one card off of the original list. That’s what I get for messing around with the numbers lol. Still, I’ve been happy with the one card that is different (Incinerate instead of Beast Within). Also, I think the sideboard changes make the deck better. Thrun wasn’t cutting it and Surgical Extraction has been testing well.

Also, I added Autumn’s Veil as a suggestion from @norbert88. @PimpinBeebles suggested the 2/2 split between Surgical Extraction and Autumn’s Veil. That’s been working out well so far.

Surgical Extraction is great early in the game because it doesn’t cost any mana. Autumn’s Veil is solid late game. It not only stops counterspells but it protects your creatures from Doom Blade and Dismember. This is very important especially when you’re setting up an alpha strike with Inkmoth Nexus.

Surgical Extraction has applications against the reanimation of Solar Flare (Unburial Rites, Sun Titan, Snapcaster Mage) while Autumn’s Veil is better than Surgical Extraction against blue decks that don’t use the graveyard that much (UW Control, UB Control).

Finally, I added two Incinerate to shore up the aggro matchups and cut two Ancient Grudge. I barely saw any Tezzeret and I didn’t play against Tempered Steel at all.

Click the links below to buy cards in this deck on eBay. eBay has great prices to save you money.