Zendikar Launch Party Report (Predatory Urge FTW)

October 4, 2009 | Posted by Dee

Yesterday, I went to a Zendikar Launch Party. The tournament was sealed deck. Here was my card pool.

Zendikar Sealed Card Pool

Green (17)

White (13)

Blue (16)

Black (14)

Red (11)

Artifacts (4)

3 Expedition Map
1 Stonework Puma

Lands (9)

How would you have built my deck?

Deck Building Analysis

Green was awesome so I knew it would be one of my main colors. It had a lot of playables, three bombs (Gigantiform and two Predatory Urges), fatties including the trampling Baloth Woodcrasher, pseudo removal (Turntimber Basilisk), mana fixing, mana acceleration, and two Grazing Gladehart to help me stay alive until I get my fatties on the board.

White was too shallow with only four good cards.

Blue could’ve been a main color. It had eight good cards including three flyers and two Paralyzing Grasp.

Black was also a good candidate for main color status. Like blue, it had eight good cards including two removal spells and two big creatures to enchant with Predatory Urge. Late in the game, Crypt Ripper can get pretty insane with Predatory Urge.

Red was not going to be a main color. Like white, it was too shallow.

Here’s what I ran.

GBwr Predatory Urge Midrange

Creatures (12)

Spells (11)

Lands (17)

I almost had blue as my second main color instead of black. But black had better creatures for Predatory Urge. Also, it had better removal. It was a close call though since blue had evasion. Which color do you think is better?

Also, I definitely misbuilt my deck by trying to splash for Magma Rift. Splashing two colors proved to be too risky and unstable for my manabase and Magma Rift is not even that good. Plus, cutting the red allows me to play Timbermaw Larva.

If I was to do it all over, I would go:

+1 Timbermaw Larva
+2 Forest
-1 Magma Rift
-2 Kazandu Refuge

Turntimber Grove might have been good but I didn’t want too many tap lands. My deck seemed pretty controlling and Turntimber Grove is much better in an aggro deck. And if I play Larva, then Turntimber Grove cuts into my Forest count.

I possibly should’ve played 18 land since I had seven landfall cards. Plus, during my games, I often wanted to draw land. But I’m not sure what I would cut. I think my weakest cards are Quest for the Gravelord, Khalni Heart Expedition, and Vampire Lacerator.

Round 1 vs Mono White

G1: The battlefield developed into a creature stall, but she broke it with Shepherd of the Lost enchanted by Celestial Mantle. She hit me once and went up to 34 life. However, the vigilance of her flyer allowed me to kill it with a surprise Gigantiform on Turntimber Basilisk along with landfall to lure it.

She couldn’t deal with Gigantiform.

G2: She had a fast start. I tried to stabilize with a couple of blockers but I didn’t have anything for her flyers.

G3: We drew this game because of time. I was pretty lucky to get a draw from this match since she probably would’ve won this game. The battlefield was stalled again especially with her Conquerors Pledge and she was only two mana away from playing Iona, Shield of Emeria. My deck can’t beat a 7/7 flyer that keeps me from playing black spells. Even Gigantiform would not have been enough since she had enough blockers.

Matches: 0-0-1
Games: 1-1-1

Round 2 vs Green/White

G1: I took some early damage from his cheap aggro guys. But then I stabilized with fatties and two Grazing Gladehart that gained me 12 life. He couldn’t find anything to deal with my big creatures.

G2: He had a great start with T1 Steppe Lynx and T2 Kazandu Blademaster. I was mana screwed and took a lot of early damage. He adding to my screw with Mold Shambler on a land. Then, he played Territorial Baloth. I was forced to drop to only three lands by playing Magma Rift on his fatty. The rest of my hand and draws were expensive spells and I soon lost.

After this game, I realized my mana base was too unstable and sided in the Timbermaw Larva and two Forests package.

G3: This was a game of two big misplays. I started off with a T1 Quest for the Gravelord and T3 Turntimber Basilisk. He played Timbermaw Larva T4 with three Forests on the battlefield. My hand was two lands and Journey to Nowhere.

I had choice. I could trade creatures and save Journey to Nowhere or I could use Journey to Nowhere on his creature. I elected to use the white enchantment. The better play was to trade creatures since that would put two counters on my black quest. Also, Journey to Nowhere can deal with River Boa, which I saw in a previous game.

Sure enough, he played River Boa and my Turntimber Basilisk was neutralized. Then, to make matters worse, he enchanted Boa with Gigantiform.

I thought the game was lost since I did not have many outs to an 8/8 trampling regenerator. However, he misplayed by tapping out. I topdecked Hideous End to destroy his big threat. Boa was his only real threat on the battlefield so I was able to finish him off with Crypt Ripper and Vines of Vastwood.

Matches: 1-0-1
Games: 3-2-1

Round 3 vs Green/White

I won both games pretty easily. My opponent had only been playing Magic The Gathering for one and a half months. It seemed like he didn’t have enough creatures and his creatures were small. Plus, I didn’t see any removal. My fatties and removal easily dominated the battlefield.

Matches: 2-0-1
Games: 5-2-1

The tournament had over 8 players. I didn’t get the exact count but there seemed to be 10-12 players. However, the store only had three rounds of swiss and then a cut to top four. I think they should’ve run one more round. The person I beat in round two went 2-1 and didn’t make the top four.

I was the second seed with my 2-0-1 record. The top seed went 3-0 and the other players in the top four went 2-1.

Semifinals vs Green/White/Blue

G1: He had the advantage with Sky Ruin Drake but I started to come back with Zendikar Farguide. The race was close to a tie, but I broke the tie by drawing two Grazing Gladehart and lands.

G2: I had a T1 Lacerator but he played Cliff Threader T2. I opted to race him since I had Grazing Gladehart in hand. Gladehart kept me from dying. I gained eight life with it. Then, I played bigger guys and drew enough removal to win the game.

Matches: 3-0-1
Games: 7-2-1

Finals vs Blue/Black

We split the prizes with each of us getting five packs. Then, we played for fun.

G1: He had a good start with a T3 Umara Raptor that grew to 3/3 because of a T4 Nimana Sell-Sword. However, I had a T4 Vastwood Gorger because of a T3 Greenweaver Druid. Then, I neutralized his flyer with two Gladeharts. Man, those guys are good

I played a couple more fatties ftw.

G2: He had another good start with T3 Vampire Nighthawk, T4 Windrider Eel, and T5 Crypt Ripper. However, I gained 6 life with a Gladehart and traded Nimana Sell-Sword for his Crypt Ripper.

Then, I played Zendikar Farguide and enchanted it with Predatory Urge. My 3/3 mowed down his team and I won with fatties.

Matches: 4-0-1
Games: 9-2-1

Filed Under Zendikar Sealed