As Standard winds down for the season, it seems like things are settling into a pretty stable meta. Well, that is usually what I would say at this time, but we have seen some pretty spicy meatballs rolling around and this week I present an U/R Zombie Emerge deck that pushed into the Top 4 of Grand Prix Denver. The key cards are Fevered Visions, Kozilek's Return, and Elder Deep-Fiend. These three cards are all extremely powerful and work extremely well together. Fevered Visions forces your opponent to play their hand out quickly. If they are a fast deck you can easily wipe their board with Kozilek's Return and if they are a slow deck then Deep-Fiend will be completely back breaking. The zombies are extremely hard to answer, can block Smuggler's Copter, are great Emerge targets that can be re-deployed from the graveyard post sweeper with all the extra lands you draw. This deck is super tricky, has a lot of ways to draw cards, fill the graveyard and operate at instant speed.
U/R Zombie Emerge ? Kaladesh Standard| Andrew Wolbers, 4th at Grand Prix Denver
- Creatures (17)
- 1 Wretched Gryff
- 4 Advanced Stitchwing
- 4 Elder Deep-Fiend
- 4 Prized Amalgam
- 4 Stitchwing Skaab
- Instants (10)
- 3 Fiery Temper
- 3 Lightning Axe
- 4 Kozilek's Return
- Sorceries (6)
- 2 Tormenting Voice
- 4 Cathartic Reunion
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Fevered Visions
- Lands (23)
- 6 Island
- 6 Mountain
- 1 Highland Lake
- 2 Sanctum of Ugin
- 4 Spirebluff Canal
- 4 Wandering Fumarole
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Ceremonious Rejection
- 1 Dispel
- 4 Galvanic Bombardment
- 1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
- 1 Nahiri's Wrath
- 3 Negate
- 2 Weaver of Lightning
Match 1: B/R Aggro
Match 2: G/W Humans
Match 3: U/W Midrange
Match 4: Mardu Vehicles
Match 5: Naya Aetherworks
Maybe this Andrew Wolbers guy is someone we need to keep an eye on. His deck is really hard to play but is super sweet. I made a lot of mistakes and still did well! I had a few big blow outs (hello G/W Humans person), but generally speaking the deck had powerful cards and did powerful things. Emrakul, the Promised End was still a card that seemed difficult to interact with and that is a problem, but every other opponent seemed under powered. Even typically problematic cards like Ishkanah, Grafwidow and Aetherworks Marvel seemed manageable. The one card I didn't like much was Wretched Gryff and I think you could get away with playing a Chandra, Torch of Defiance in its place. That would help accelerate your game against Emrakul decks, would buffer your life total and serve as an extra source of card advantage. I also did not like the Jace, Unraveler of Secrets, in its place I would want a Summary Dismissal.
Until next week, GLHF friends. May you smite thy enemies with a Golden Axe!
— Andrew Boswell
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