Around the Web: Decklist Daze and Twenty Knights
bdm | November 14, 2008 | 12:20 amBlightning Beatdown we barely knew ya… It seems like every offbeat decklist I am seeing in the wake of States/Provincials/Champs is sporting a playset of Wilt-Leaf Liege. I am not sure if this deck is actually good but it is certainly exciting to look at — a White Weenie deck that is sporting Planeswalkers, Tower Above, and Flame Javelin. An excerpt of the round by round from the blog entry over on Brainburst:
“We take turns laying and removing threats, but eventually my knights start to stick and I make a dent in his life total. My opponent hits his fifth mana source and plays a Demigod. He debates whether or not to hold it back as a blocker, but ultimately decides to let the avatar swing. He hasn’t seen any of my deck’s Flame Javelins yet and has misjudged my reach. I Javelin him at the end of his turn, and Javelin him again at the start of mine. My knights charge in for the win.”
The emphasis is mine. You certainly could not blame the opponent for not expecting eight points of direct damage to be lobbed at him. Not sure about the Tower Above or only playing 20 lands — even with four mana Knights and the White Orchids — but the Kinsbale Cavalier certainly changes the combat math quite a bit.
Twenty Knights
Vermont States
jTho — 3rd place
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Steward of Valeron
4 Wilt-leaf Cavalier
3 Wilt-leaf Liege
1 Kinsbale Cavalier
3 Lashout
1 Tower Above
2 Spectral Procession
2 Naya Charm
4 Flame Javelin
4 Incinerate
1 Ajani Vengeant
2 Sarkhan Vol
1 Elspeth, Knight Errant
4 Plains
4 Vivid Meadow
4 Jungle Shrine
3 Battlefield Forge
3 Wooded Bastion
1 Brushland
1 Rugged Prairie
Sideboard:
2 Ajani Vengeant
3 Chaotic Backlash
4 Relic of Progenitus
2 Naya Charm
4 Guttural Response
I was talking with Jake Van Lunen tonight — apparently the Pro Tour San Diego winner is going to start blogging here soon — and he liked the idea of the deck enough to retool it for some MTGO action this evening. Here is Jake’s quick and diry update. You may notice that much of the fun and whimsy has been stripped from this version. Such are the ways of the Magic pro:
Up All Knight
Jake Van Lunen
4 Unmake
4 Windbrisk Heights
2 Ajani Goldmane
4 Spectral Procession
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Stillmoon Cavalier
2 Wilt-Leaf Cavaliers
3 Mutavault
9 Plains
4 Rugged Prairie
2 Knight of Meadowgrain
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Kinsbaile Cavalier
4 Knight of the White Orchid
4 Sigiled Paladin
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Ajani Vengeant
I played against a Mono-White Knights deck at States in Round 5 at States, and he was running Light From Within to make his dudes even bigger!
Jake’s list seems better, though, mostly because of Spectral Procession and the Planeswalkers; my opponent had Paladin en-Vec (which just isn’t that exciting without a Jitte) and ORings.
Luis
The pro reccomends TWO kinsbaile cavaliers! that’s interesting… Gotta say, i think these are two completely different decks. Jakes version is a knight deck, the original is a knight of the white orchid deck, the deck doesn’t function without it and is able to go with a 20/20/20 setup because of it. In Jtho’s blog on tcgplayer.com he says he’s probably going to take out the cavaliers, replace kinsbaile with the 4th liege and replace the wilt leaf with wooly thoctars.
I agree, these decks are very different. the 20/20/20 has more tricks, removal, and is more flexible in what can and can’t be put into it. a good aggro deck with access with both white and red removal makes it a force to be reconed with. the remake has good cards, but seems too slow with only 4 removal and the rest small creatures that can be answered pretty easily. first strike and exalted are amazing, but don’t realy do that well if the opposing decks are answering everything you have or gets bigger creatures to go in for the kill. It looks pretty much like a knight deck thats trying to be a white weenie. my say is stick with the original and go nuts from there