Unfortunately I did not make it out to the PTQ in Pittsburgh last week; neither the length of the drive or missing valentines day appealed to me too much. Had I gone, however, I would have gotten to see a friend of mine from the area do pretty well with a deck that is not really on anyone’s radar right now. Click here to see the top 8 decks from that tournament.

Andrew Wagner ended up getting third in the tournament, losing in the semifinals with this deck:

Main deck
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Burrenton Forge-Tender
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Kataki, War’s Wage
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Spectral Procession
4 Path to Exile
2 Oblivion Ring
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Chrome Mox
4 Mutavault
1 Eiganjo Castle
15 Plains

Sideboard
2 Rule of Law
2 Jötun Grunt
3 Icatian Javelineers
3 Pithing Needle
2 Relic of Progenitus
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
2 Kataki, War’s Wage

I caught up with Andrew over Facebook to ask him about his deck. Andrew said that he picked the deck because he is stubborn and does not like to play well established decks. Despite how well he did (6-0-1 in the swiss), Andrew does not think the deck is a great pick right now because it hasunfavorable matchups against some popular decks. Here is how he evaluated the matchups:

Strengths: Can beat all the aggro and combo decks on the back of maindeck and sideboard hate. This deck is loaded with cards to beat red decks (Burrenton Forge-Tender, Jitte, Kitchen Finks, Path to Exile) and combo (Ethersworn Cannonist, Rule of Law, Jitte and Path against Elves).

Weaknesses: You are playing bad cards like Isamaru, and you can’t really beat any of the control decks in the format. Icatian Javelineers in the board hypothetically helps the Fae matchup. Rock decks are pretty tough as well, and Jotun Grunt is in there to get rid opposing Life From the Loams and shrink Tarmogoyfs. The main deck Liege is a nod to Raven’s Crime.

Andrew lost to Bant Aggro in the top 8, a deck that Mike has been posting about recently on his site. If he played it again, which he wouldn’t, he would get rid of the Chrome Mox and put another Oblivion Ring in the main.

Despite Andrew’s lack of enthusiasm for his deck choice, white weenie looks like it could a great gap deck at some point in the season if Faeries or Bant should become unpopular.

~WillPoP

PS: Knight of the Reliquary + Scapeshift = Nombo or Combo?