We're right in the thick of previews for Dragon's Maze, and we already have quite a few fun cards to work with. One of the cards that caught my eye was Surprise Wurm, a.k.a. Advent of the Wurm. I happen to be rather fond of 4-mana 5/5s. In fact, I still have seven Emperor Crocodiles as well as play sets of Iwamori of the Open Fist and Imperiosaur somewhere in my collection. You see, it used to be that a 5/5 for 4 came with a drawback. Now it comes with . . . flash and trample? Yes please. Here's the deck I put together to take advantage of the flashy fatty.

"Selesnya Surprise"

• Creatures (21)
• 2 Armada Wurm
• 2 Gyre Sage
• 3 Arbor Elf
• 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 4 Centaur Healer
• 4 Loxodon Smiter
• 2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

• Spells (15)
• 3 Rootborn Defenses
• 4 Advent of the Wurm
• 4 Selesnya Charm
• 4 Call of the Conclave

• Lands (24)
• 11 Forest
• 9 Plains
• 4 Selesnya Guildgate

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Sundering Growth
• 3 Triumph of Ferocity
• 3 Growing Ranks
• 4 Purify the Grave
• 3 Oblivion Ring

Buy This Deck

The Creatures

Gyre Sage is very easy to evolve in this deck. Call of the Conclave and Centaur Healer can bring it up to 3/4, Loxodon Smiter can take it to 4/5, and Surprise Wurm can make it a 5/6. Armada Wurm can even evolve it twice, jumping it straight up from 3/4 to 5/6 in one shot. Aside from becoming gigantic, Gyre Sage can also give you extra mana with which to cast an Armada Wurm a turn early. It can also single-handedly make up for missed land drops—as long as you can keep casting creatures with it.

Call of the Conclave is fine as a creature that murders various 2/2s and trades with Flinthoof Boars and Hellriders, but it really becomes valuable in this deck thanks to populate. Normally, a 3/3 isn't a great draw on turn five or six, but with Trostani, Selesnya's Voice on the battlefield, that 3/3 is suddenly the key card you needed to win the game.

Centaur Healer presents a stumbling block for aggressive decks. It's usually big enough to kill any of your opponent's creatures, and combined with the 3 life you gain when it enters the battlefield, it can easily set your opponent back a turn or more.

If Centaur Healer is a stumbling block, Loxodon Smiter is a brick wall. Some aggressive decks are playing Mizzium Mortars in the sideboard just to deal with this guy, but if your opponent doesn't have one of those in hand, he won't be pushing a lot of damage through any time soon.

Advent of the Wurm is a solid creature, and its only drawback, if you can call it that, is being a token. Although that makes it more vulnerable to things like Azorius Charm, it also means you can populate it with Trostani or Rootborn Defenses to make more and more Wurm tokens. If you are able to populate your Wurm even once, your opponent pretty much has to have a Supreme Verdict or Terminus to avoid losing the game in short order.

Trostani, Selesnya's Voice makes like very difficult for aggressive decks. With her 5 toughness, she survives basically everything, and the life-gain and extra creatures you generate from her abilities is usually far too much for your opponent to overcome. She can be a problem for control decks as well. Since she doesn't attack and probably won't be blocking, Azorius Charm can't target her, leaving precious few ways to stop her from making a board full of Wurms.

Armada Wurm gives you a late-game threat that's not easily dealt with and can win all on its own. After your opponent casts a board wipe, you can often once again present lethal damage on the board with just an Armada Wurm. Azorius Charm or another removal spell will only buy one turn, and Lingering Souls won't do much of anything thanks to trample.

The Spells

Rootborn Defenses can easily end games if used properly. The best-case scenario, of course, is to laugh off a Supreme Verdict and populate a Wurm token, but it can be quite effective in a number of other situations as well. For example, you could populate a Centaur token and then block and kill a Hellrider and a Flinthoof Boar with your indestructible 3/3s. It can even just be a second, less-expensive copy of Surprise Wurm if you've already cast one.

The Sideboard

Triumph of Ferocity gives you a lot of draw power against control decks. If you have any creature on the board at all, it will probably the biggest, so the Triumph will give you more cards to work with, helping you deal with the card advantage your opponent generate through spells such as Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation.

Oblivion Ring gives you an answer to planeswalkers and things that don't die to Selesnya Charm. Although it's slower, you might need it to stop something like Falkenrath Aristocrat or Tamiyo, the Moon Sage.

Sundering Growth gives you some great value if you come across anyone playing artifacts or enchantments. Not only do you get a Naturalize, it will often come with a 3/3 or 5/5 creature at no additional cost. Now that's a bargain.

Growing Ranks is especially powerful against other midrange decks. They don't have the speed to kill you before you start populating, and they don't have the board sweepers and heavy removal necessary to stop you from having things to populate. When you start making 5/5 Wurm tokens every upkeep, your opponent will probably be losing the game soon.

Playtesting

American Control – Game 1

I drew a third Surprise Wurm, played my Guildgate, and attacked for 1. I ended my turn, and my opponent played Glacial Fortress and passed.

I drew a Forest, played it, and passed the turn. My opponent cast Think Twice at the end of my turn, and I cast Surprise Wurm in response. He cast Sulfur Falls and ended his turn.

I drew Centaur Healer, played my Plains, and attacked with my Wurm and Pilgrim. My opponent killed the token with Azorius Charm and took 1. I passed the turn. He played a Glacial Fortress and cast Jace, Architect of Thought, activating his +1 ability before passing the turn. I cast Surprise Wurm during his end step.

I drew a Forest, played it, and dropped Jace to 1 before passing the turn. My opponent put a Hallowed Fountain into play tapped and cast Supreme Verdict. He activated Jace's +1 ability again and ended his turn. I cast my third Wurm during his end step.

I drew a Plains and killed Jace with my Wurm. I cast Centaur Healer, played the land, and passed. My opponent played a land and cast Augur of Bolas, getting nothing, and passed the turn.

I drew a Guildgate, played it, and attacked with both creatures. A Searing Spear killed Centaur Healer, and my opponent dropped to 13. I ended my turn. My opponent played a land and passed the turn.

I drew my last copy of Advent of the Wurm and attacked with my token. My opponent cast Restoration Angel, flickering Augur of Bolas. He found an Azorius Charm and cast it, getting rid of my Wurm. I passed the turn. My opponent attacked for 4 with his creatures and then cast a second Augur of Bolas, grabbing a Pillar of Flame. He passed the turn, and I flashed in another Wurm token.

I drew Gyre Sage and attacked for 5. My opponent soaked up 3 damage with Augur of Bolas, and I cast Gyre Sage before passing the turn. My opponent cast Searing Spear on my Wurm and then targeted it with Pillar of Flame. I saved it with Selesnya Charm, and he passed the turn.

I drew a Plains and attacked with my Wurm. My opponent flashed back Think Twice to draw a card and then took the 5. I ended my turn. He played a land and passed.

I drew an Arbor Elf and attacked again. My opponent blocked with Restoration Angel, taking 1. He cast a Searing Spear to kill the Wurm after combat, and I played my Elf and passed. My opponent played a land and passed back.

I drew a Plains and passed the turn. My opponent simply drew his card and passed back. I drew Loxodon Smiter and cast it, evolving Gyre Sage. My opponent cast Restoration Angel during my end step, flickering the Augur but missing an instant or sorcery. He drew his card and ended his turn.

I drew Trostani and cast her, but she was countered by Dissipate. I attacked with the Smiter, and my opponent blocked with both of his creatures. I killed the Angel and passed the turn. My opponent played a land and passed.

I drew Centaur Healer, played it, evolving Gyre Sage, and attacked. My opponent dropped to 2, and I passed the turn. He cast Think Twice, flashed it back, and conceded.

Sideboarding:

−4 Selesnya Charm

−2 Arbor Elf

+3 Triumph of Ferocity

+3 Oblivion Ring

Game 2

My opponent played Glacial Fortress and passed the turn. I drew Oblivion Ring and cast Centaur Healer. My opponent killed it with Searing Spear during my end step.

He played Glacial Fortress, cast Augur of Bolas, finding Searing Spear, and passed the turn. I drew Loxodon Smiter, cast Centaur Healer, and passed the turn.

My opponent played a tapped Hallowed Fountain and passed the turn. I drew Selesnya Guildgate, played it, and attacked with the Healer. My opponent killed it with Searing Spear, and I cast Triumph of Ferocity and passed the turn.

My opponent killed my Pilgrim with Pillar of Flame and passed back. I drew a Forest, played it, and cast Loxodon Smiter. I cast my other Avacyn's Pilgrim as well and ended my turn.

My opponent played a land and passed the turn. I drew Rootborn Defenses and Loxodon Smiter. I cast Call of the Conclave to make a 3/3 and then attacked with my Smiter. My opponent blocked with Augur of Bolas. I passed the turn, and he attempted to kill Loxodon Smiter with Searing Spear during my end step. I saved it with Rootborn Defenses, making another Centaur.

My opponent cleared the board with Supreme Verdict, and I drew another Loxodon Smiter. I cast it along with an Arbor Elf and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Think Twice and passed the turn. I drew Rootborn Defenses and Avacyn's Pilgrim and then cast Call of the Conclave. I attacked for 4 with my Smiter and passed the turn. My opponent flashed back Think Twice during my end step.

On his turn, he cast another Think Twice before passing again. I drew a Guildgate and Triumph of Ferocity. I played the Guildgate and attacked with the Smiter and the Centaur. My opponent dropped to 5, and I cast Avacyn's Pilgrim and passed the turn.

He flashed back Think Twice during my end step and then played a land and used Snapcaster Mage for flashing back Supreme Verdict. I cast Rootborn Defenses, and he conceded.

Wrap-up

This deck doesn't go down easily, and Rootborn Defenses proved to be an awesome card to have access to. With creatures that are large enough to stand in the way of aggro decks and present a serious clock for control, this strategy is fairly well-positioned against both archetypes. Although Angel of Serenity may present a problem, four main-decked Selesnya Charms should at least stop you from dying to it. A card I would keep my eye on is Voice of Resurgence. If the price on that card comes down enough to fit into a budget deck like this one, I would be eager to include it, most likely replacing two Gyre Sages, an Arbor Elf, and a Call of the Conclave. I'll also be looking forward to see what else Dragon's Maze has in store for Selesnya. If you're a fan of populating giant Wurm tokens, or if you just want to have the biggest creature on the board almost all the time, give this deck a shot.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @MTGCannon, or simply leave a comment below.