So here we are, a few days away from the pre-release events we all know and love. I've already preregistered to compete in all six events at Legends. I'm playing the first two events as Selensya, then one as Izzet, then two more as Azorius, then the last one as Golgari. I'm looking forward to seeing what all comes in the guild packs. I'm also looking forward to playing with as many of the new cards as possible. The cards I'm most looking forward to playing with are pretty much the ones you'd expect. I want to play with the new planeswalkers, though Vraska looks a lot more fun that the new version of Jace. I like the new guild charms and the new guild keys. I'm curious to see what kinds of fun ways we can break those kinds of cards. I think there's a few new versions of Delver decks I want to explore, as well as new token decks. My personal favorite in the format right now is the Token deck.
So, as I'm sure the few people that read this blog are aware, I'm a huge fan of token strategies in almost any format. They're just fun to me. They usually offer great card advantage when pitted against point removal, and they're less of a blow out against sweepers. Also, they have the most efficient anthem effect in the game at the moment in the form of Intangible Virtue. There are a few different ways to go with the over all strategy at the moment and numerous color combinations, but I think my favorite right now is Junk. Selensya is offering some awesome token generators as well as some great support spells, so I love G/W tokens, but then you're missing out on the opportunities offered by splashing for another color. Of the token support that I think has the most to offer at the moment (and that will improve with Gatecrash in another three months) is Black. By adding black we get access to some point removal, some Golgothi cards to go with our Selensya base, and even more importantly, the mana to flashback Lingering Souls and to play Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. So here's the decklist I come up with as a rough draft.
Creatures (8)
4x Arbor Elf
2x Doomed Travelor
2x Trostani, Selensya's Voice
Planeswalkers (6)
2x Vraska the Unseen
2x Garruk the Relentless
2x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Spells (22)
4x Intangible Virtue
4x Lingering Souls
3x Gather the Townsfolk
3x Call of the Conclave
4x Selesnya Charm
3x Oblivion Ring
2x Abrupt Decay
Lands (24)
4x Evolving Wilds
4x Temple Gardens
4x Overgrown Tomb
4x Isolated Chapel
2x Forest
2x Plains
1x Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Gavony Township
This is a rough draft and I still haven't decided if I want to up the land to 25 to help support the three colors, or if I want to change the count of Abrupt Decay and Oblivion Rings. The sideboard will vary quite a bit, but I think it's safe to say the remainder of the playset of O-rings and Abrupt Decays will be in there, as well as the new version of Naturalize. I feel like there's also an American Tokens deck that's possible, but not sure how it is positioned. I think it'd be more of a straight forward aggro deck and less mid-range, but the card pool is very interesting. Tokens does have some problems in the current meta, but I don't think there are so many weaknesses as to make it improbable for this to be a competitive deck. On the plus side, most of those weaknesses are in red, which will partially limit the number of decks that support them. However with the number of multi-colored decks that are going to be running rampant in the coming months, I really doubt that there will be a shortage of these cards in the format. Then again, I feel that way about the hate cards for any deck type. Thanks to the abundant manafixing in the set, there's going to be no shortage of hate from all colors spread around in splashes into other decks.
In closing, as I've said, I think Token decks are going to have a wide range of options to choose from. I'll fully expect to try Junk tokens first myself, but American Tokens has a lot to offer as well. I will probably at some point attempt to build both of these decks and playtest them thoroughly. I'll post again later this week with my idea of the American Tokens deck.
SD13
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