Combo was the name of the game this past weekend. After thirty-seven players duked it out for six rounds of Swiss, we had five combo decks left standing – Elves, ANT, Oozing (we’ll break down this deck later), Sneak Show, and Reanimator. Two Miracle decks and a Death and Taxes deck rounded out the rest of the Top 8, but with the first round of the Top 8 featuring the Death and Taxes deck pitted against of the Miracles decks, it was basically combo matchups the rest of the way.
The surprise combo deck of the Top 8 was definitely the “Oozing” combo deck. This was a deck developed in the wake of the interaction between Shallow Grave and Griselbrand (the original thread for it on the Source is located here). Let’s take a look at the decklist:
| Creatures (5) 1 Griselbrand 1 Necrotic Ooze 1 Triskelion 1 Phyrexian Devourer 1 Putrid Imp Spells (40) 4 Buried Alive 4 Entomb 4 Shallow Grave 2 Exhume 2 Reanimate 4 Brainstorm 4 Lotus Petal 4 Dark Ritual 3 Gitaxian Probe 3 Ponder 3 Cabal Therapy 3 Thoughtseize Lands (15) 4 Underground Sea 4 Polluted Delta 1 Island 3 Swamp 2 Misty Rainforest 1 Verdant Catacombs | Sideboard (15) 4 Phyrexian Obliterator 4 Desecration Demon 2 Master of Feasts 2 Necrotic Ooze 3 Echoing Truth |
The original incarnation was Tin Fins, a combo deck that looks to bin Griselbrand, reanimate it, draw a ton of cards, then kill your opponent with Tendrils of Agony or reanimating Emrakul. Oozing is a similar approach, but instead of reanimating an Emrakul or storming out your opponent, it seeks to cast Buried Alive, throwing Phyrexian Devourer, Triskelion, and Necrotic Ooze into the graveyard. Once the Necrotic Ooze is reanimated, you can exile the top cards of your library to add +1/+1 counters to the Ooze with Phyrexian Devourer’s ability and then shoot them at your opponent with Triskelion’s ability. Best of all, since the ability is free, you can basically dodge any sort of removal on your Ooze like Lightning Bolt or Swords to Plowshares since you can respond to everything they do by exiling more cards and killing them. If you happen to have a combo piece in your hand, you can bin the Putrid Imp instead and by reanimating the Necrotic Ooze, you can discard a remaining combo piece to get the combo going. If you have the Necrotic Ooze in hand, you can just simply hardcast it (it is only four mana after all!). The other option is just reanimating Griselbrand on turn one and riding that to victory, but that seems to be the dullest of the kills this deck can spawn (other than Putrid Imp beats I guess).
Another neat thing about this version of Oozing is the transformational sideboard. Why try to fight the hate when you can just sidestep it? Phyrexian Obliterator or Desecration Demon powered out by a Dark Ritual seems like a faster way to end the game too.
With two graveyard based strategies in the Top 8 along with a small handful of other graveyard based decks in the metagame (check out our metagame breakdown if you haven’t already), it may be time to brush off the ol’ Tormod’s Crypts or Rest in Peaces. Just be careful of any Helm of Obediences that may be thrown back at you if you choose to play Rest in Peace…
Be sure to join us at our next AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series Event in July! At Pop Culture Paradise!
AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series:
July Event
Date: July 27th
Round 1 Start: 12:00pm
Location: Pop Culture Paradise, 715 S. Forest Ave., Tempe, Arizona
Entry Fee: $15
Prizes:
1st Place: 1 Revised Bayou
2nd Place: 1 Flooded Strand
As usual, more prizes based on attendance.
Decklists will be required.
To view the Legacy Series Points earned per placing, view this link: http://bit.ly/azmppoints
To view your standing in the Points Race: http://bit.ly/azmpstandings
For more details on the rest of the AZMagicPlayers.com 2014 Legacy Series, please visit this link: http://bit.ly/azmplegacyseries