Red/Green Werewolves (46th Place out of 399 Players)

May 15, 2012 | Posted by Dee

Last week, I saw this tweet:

I’ve played Werewolves a lot so I was interested in David’s take on the deck since he did well in a high profile tournament. He placed in the money two weekends ago at the Starcitygames Standard Open in Providence.

I asked to see his decklist. He sent me his list and a tournament report. I had a few questions about his list and he answered them.

Thanks a lot to David for his time and for giving us knowledge and technology about his deck. Check out his deck and writing below.

RG Werewolves by David Nunez
Creatures (27)
Spells (9)
Lands (24)
Sideboard (15)

Tournament Report by David Nunez

Round one, I played against a Naya Ramp Pod deck and won the first game with a Terror of Kruin Pass that his Primeval Titan couldn’t block. Game two was when I first saw Birthing Pod. I rode a Mayor and Kessig Wolf Run to victory after he cast Day of Judgment.

Round two was a Red/Green mirror. After losing game one, I ripped the miracle and hit for exactly thirteen lethal damage in game two. The round actually went to time as he had a Batterskull and a Phyrexian Metamorph copying it, but I swung for over 50 damage in my first turn of time, which killed him even though he was at 36 with an undying Strangleroot Geist.

My round three opponent was a really good guy. He was playing Esper Control. I came out of the gates pretty quickly in games one and three, and our games were full of Black Sun’s Zenith and Timely Reinforcements.

My first match loss came in round four against a Naya deck. He showed me most of his list afterwards. He was doing a lot of cool stuff with flickering and just played solid cards.

Round five I was again against Esper Control. Game one was a quick win, but games two and three I had to mulligan to five. It is undeniable that I was super lucky to play a creature on turn one, followed by a Mayor every turn, and then a Moonmist for the last few points to win the match.

Round six I played against a Reanimator deck, which was pretty scary because I had no cards in my sideboard to help me out. In game one I was able to kill Griselbrand with a Moonmist. Game two, he reanimated Elesh Norn on turn four even after mulliganing to five. In game three, I watched Elesh go into his hand off a Tracker’s Instinct. I swung in and he took everything rather than blocking with any one of his three mana makers. Then, he hardcasted Elesh on the next turn at three life.

Luckily for me, double immerwolf meant none of my four creatures died, and I had the Brimstone Volley in hand.

Round seven was actually the only one where I played against a Delver opponent. I playtested with another Delver player a lot during the semester, so I definitely was more comfortable with the matchup. It’s interesting to note that Insectile Aberration is a Human Insect, so they transform back when you Moonmist.

After winning the second game, I extended my hand, which I consider common courtesy, but it became clear that he wanted nothing to do with that, so I filled out the match slip. I’m not going to name him here. If you are really motivated you can figure it out, but I care a lot more about the people I’m playing with than winning, and the people I was there with felt that sort of behavior is uncalled for.

Round eight I played against the eventual winner of the tournament, Dustin Taylor. Clearly he is a very solid player and was much more used to the pressure than I was. The play that I am most proud of over the weekend was in game two. He passed the turn to transform his Daybreak Ranger and my other Werewolves, but I had the Brimstone Volley on upkeep.

Round nine, I was matched up against Aharon Verno’s Solar Flare deck. When I realized in game one that he had main deck Ratchet Bombs, it was pretty clear that things were not going to end well for me. However, playing with him was a lot of fun, and I’m really happy for him with his 15th place finish.

So in summation, I was 6-3-0, with losses in rounds 4, 8, and 9. Maybe I was just really lucky throughout the day, but I would suggest that tight play, the rogue nature of the deck, its aggressive style, and its synergy were also factors. I was really happy with my 46th place finish, as top 64 won their entry fee back. Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to the Mana Core store for helping build a solid community and for their Standard tournaments on Tuesdays.

3 Questions from Dee

Why only 2 Caverns?

I wasn’t sure how good Cavern would be. I only had a couple of matches during the day where I could have been Mana Leaked, so I didn’t fully get to test it. I wanted enough basic lands that my Rootbounds would come into play untapped, and I really like Kessig Wolf Run, both flavorwise, and because it gives you extra reach. But Cavern definitely is something that could be a four of.

Regarding the sideboard, what matchups do you like Instigator Gang, Moonmist, Brimstone Volley, Revenge of the Hunted, and Daybreak Ranger?

Daybreak Ranger was a four of in the board because my creatures don’t allow me to deal with fliers. Instigator gang is a bit of a pet card of mine, so when I took it out of the main, I put it in the board.

Moonmist is the nuts in a lot of situations, but if your opponent is Red/Green with Huntmaster, it can be a liability. I definitely brings me a lot of joy to swing with reckless abandon with Moonmist to make their blocks bad or to save you from their all-in counter attack.

Brimstone Volley is the only burn card, and when you are worried about your interactivity, it can be nice to have the fourth one. I felt like the “pun intended” underdog, so Revenge of the Hunted was a miser’s card that I would board in. In a lot of situations the card is bonkers, because it can eat their whole team and help you punch in for a ton.

What changes would you make to the deck?

The main deck is very much stuffed to the gills, although a case definitely could be made for more Caverns. It may be something that only I think, but I’m sick of Swords and Scars block as a whole, so I won’t be changing too much until M13.

The main cards that I’ll lose with rotation are the eight dual lands and Naturalize in the sideboard. For me, the next Providence Open in October represents a great opportunity to go rogue, as it’s a week after the release of Return to Ravnica.

Filed Under Standard 

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One Response to “Red/Green Werewolves (46th Place out of 399 Players)”

  1. Dilan on May 26th, 2012 4:55 pm

    Green’s Sun Zenith maybe?





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