Team Highlander

Warm Wurm LD

This hopefully will explain the evolution of the R/G Light LD deck that I took to the last Highlander Type 2 tourney and came second. It should also show where I think the deck is going to for the Scottish Nationals and beyond.

First, Here is the deck listing.

3 x Winters Grasps
3 x Argothian Wurms
3 x Avalanche Riders
3 x Githu Slingers
3 x Cradle Guards
3 x Acridian
3 x Wall of Draw
3 x Bolt Catchers (Birds of Paradise)
3 x Goblin Bombardment
3 x Lifeline
2 x Elvish Lyrists
1 x Viashino Heretic
1 x Shard Phoenix
4 x Parch
2 x Rancor

3 x Wasteland
4 x City of Brass
1 x Volraths Stronghold
7 x Forests
5 x Mountains

SB:
3 x Lifeforce
3 x Choke
3 x Root Maze
3 x Repopulate
2 x Scald
1 x Defence Grid

As we can see, the SB is utter pish. But I have had good SB cards pointed out to me from other players (Thanks Clark, Craig and Silas).

How It Did.

Match 1 : Lackey Sligh.
I went up against Lackey Sligh first. This was a difficult matchup. Lackey Sligh has such a good mana curve that it can handle LD no problems.
Game 1:
It did what it usually does, burned me to death and beat me with pups. Never saw an Acridian the entire game.

Game 2:
I get a good mana base, and grasp a few lands. He is stuck on 2 while I am at 4. I drop a wurm, he says those magic word "It's In". He draws no land. Next turn its avalanche rider, Rancor on the wurm and come in for 10. Ouch. He goes, no land draw again. I Volraths my dead riders and drop them again to secure the win.

Game 3:
Well, the god draw was in the house
Forest, BOP
Mountain, BOP, Wall of Draw
Wasteland, Waste your wasteland, Drop the wurm.
He does the right thing, and bounces it to the library. However, after two more tries, he receives the mana screw and dies.

2-1

Apart from the first game, I never really got hurt bad by the deck, I think the early LD took him out of his stride. I know in game 2 he was stuck at 2 lands with 2 Ball lightning's in hand. Oops.

Match 2:
Green Stompy with a splash of Red
This seemed to be a mirror match of sorts, however , he had Weatherseed Treefolk in deck and a main deck Defense Grid.

Game 1:
3 Cradle guards in 5 turns kinda puts a crimp on your opponents life. I Win

Game 2:
He gets an early Weatherseed and his own Argothian, I am mana screwed, ouch.

Game 3:
He gets a turn 3 Wurm, I sac a land, drops it, I sac. This goes on for 5 turns, I keep drawing land, he keeps dropping the wurm, I am stuck on 4 , praying for any sort of fatness to arrive. Then he plays citanul flute.
I draw the wurm.
It is soon dropped, he stares at it. I waste one of his treetop villages.
NO WURM FOR YOU SON.
Next 4 turns I topdeck LD and that was game.

2-0 4-2

Match 3:
Clark Swan with the other LD deck.
Yup, living death, only this time it had a bit more LD than me. This match report is short, as both were exactly the same.
Survival, Oath, Avalanche riders.
No land for me.

4-4

Match 4
Iain's clear the board, fireball you for lots U/W Deck.
Now, I had playtested an earlier version against Iain an he told me that he doesn't like LD. Good.

Game 1:
Grasp, Grasp, Avalanche, Wurm, Avalanche. Hmm, methinks this is game.
Side in Choke, Rootmaze and scald.

Game 2:
He caps me, I Say goodbye to my Wurms. <sob> But out comes my trusty shard phoenix. I get it issuing 2 per round, he wraths, fairie conclave for 2, I recur the phoenix. He drops the disk, faerie for 2. Recur the phoenix. I am at 9, but he is at 2 or 3.

Cheesy fireball for 9.

Bugger.

Game 3:
He caps out 2 wurms and a shard phoenix. Hmm, methinks he dislikes our recurring buddy.
This was almost the repeat, except I get avalanche riders going on. I drop him slowly to 1. He never sees a red source of mana, he had 3 fireballs in hand. I win.

3-1 6-5

What I Learned.
Well, I think that a light LD base is just not enough to force through a wurm. Heavy LD seems to be the way to go. But I am unsure as to the direction.

Possible Deck for Sunday
3 x Winters Grasp
3 x Stone Rains
2 x Lay Waste
3 x Raze (when I am ahead)
2 x Destructive urge.
3 x Avalanche Riders

2 x Argothian Wurm
2 x Lightning Dragon
3 x Wall of Draw
3 x Cradle Guard
2 x Llanowar Elves
3 x BOP

3 x Abundance
2 x Elvish Lyricist
1 x Viashino Heretic
3 x Eldaramis Vineyard

4 x City of Brass
3 x Wastelands
1 x Volraths Stronghold
3 x Treetop Village
4 x Forests
7 x Mountains

22 Lands, 40 Spells, 62 Cards.

We have 16 LD spells, Two of them reusable. The destructive urges + a fat trampler = LD on tap. With also some fat to back it up with. Abundance should help stabilise the draw, the Vineyards will power up the Treetop villages. Some Volraths recursion and we can get the Avalanche Riders back. What do you think. Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Jason Walter
Aka 'Some Scrub'
Star of many Tourney Reports