As I mentioned earlier this week, NLG Dandenong in Melbourne, Australia will be hosting the Eternal Masters Weekend event featuring tournaments in Vintage, Legacy and Australian 7 Point Highander.
Today I want to discuss the deck I will be running for Highlander (not the final list but should be pretty close). The asterix next to some card names represents the amount of point those particular cards are worth.
The deck is a blue based control deck which utilises a lot of counter magic and Blood Moon/Back to Basics to control the opponents game until you can either attack for the win or combo with Kiki-Jiki/Splinter Twin and Pestermite/Deceiver Exarch. As it runs majority basic lands the idea is to capitalise on opponents greedier mana base.
Lands (23)
[4] Mountain
[8] Island
[1] Volcanic Island
[1] Steam Vents
[1] Desolate Lighthouse
[1] Sulfur Falls
[1] Misty Rainforest
[1] Polluted Delta
[1] Scalding Tarn
[1] Arid Mesa
[1] Flooded Strand
[1] Bloodstained Mire
[1] Wooded Foothills
Permanents (16)
[1] Jace, the Mind Sculptor*
[1] Dack Fayden
[1] Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
[1] Back to Basics*
[1] Blood Moon
[1] Splinter Twin
[1] Sensei's Divining Top*
[1] Vendilion Clique
[1] Nimble Obstructionist
[1] Magus of the Moon
[1] Snapcaster Mage*
[1] True-Name Nemesis*
[1] Torrential Gearhulk
[1] Pestermite
[1] Deceiver Exarch
[1] Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Instants/Sorceries (21)
[1] Fiery Confluence
[1] Ponder
[1] Preordain
[1] Gitaxian Probe
[1] Brainstorm
[1] Stifle
[1] Spell Snare
[1] Spell Pierce
[1] Lightning Bolt
[1] Counterspell
[1] Remand
[1] Izzet Charm
[1] Mana Drain*
[1] Miscalculation
[1] Negate
[1] Mana Leak
[1] Electrolyze
[1] Exclude
[1] Cryptic Command
[1] Mana Confluence
[1] Force of Will*
Sideboard (15)
[1] Red Elemental Blast
[1] Blue Elemental Blast
[1] Ceremonious Rejection
[1] Dispel
[1] Relic of Progenitus
[1] Null Rod
[1] Submerge
[1] Hibernation
[1] Propaganda
[1] Anger of the Gods
[1] Energy Flux
[1] Glen Elendra Archmage
[1] Sower of Temptation
[1] Venser, Shaper Savant
[1] Mindbreak Trap
As you can see I have lots of one pointers so I can spread them across the deck evenly. Some big issues this deck faces are ones that run lots of basics. Burn can be difficult if I can't keep up with the counterspells and Mono Green Ramp can be tricky too as I have to be sure on what I am countering. If I can get either of those opponents into top deck mode I should be fine.
Sideboard options for Burn are pretty much Dispel, Blue Elemental Blast and Anger of the Gods.
Sideboard for Green Ramp are submerge, Hibernation and Propaganda, maybe an Anger of the Gods depending on whether they reply more on mana dorks or on mana rocks (artifacts).
There has been know to be a few Workshop and other artifact based decks about so I also have Ceremonious Rejection, Null Rod, and Energy Flux to help against that style of play.
While this is not the final cut, hopefully it can give some of you a gauge of our national format and maybe some of you in the rest of the world would like to give it a go.
