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Written By - Thomas NeilsonFebruary 22nd, 2023
Hosted by Nerdz Cafe in Woodstock, we saw 12 pilots battling it out in this Battle For Glory. Sh'Lara drew the most attention in the tournament with 4 players picking up various builds of the deck. Viviana also had an impressive performance, Potentially, too impressive. Whilst a few frequent fliers made the finals, we also saw a few interesting rogue decks finding impressive placements.
Top 8 Placements
Tournament Overview
Return Of The Firebird
Return Of The Firebird
Previously underrated Warlord Sh'Lara showed up in explosive fashion, true to the Mystic Fire archetype. One of these lists was heavily centered on Bounty synergies, whilst the other three were tried and true Mystic Fire Midrange. The best performing Sh'Lara list made 5th place, just scraping the top 4 final stage cutoff.
The sudden appearance of Sh'Lara is more likely a flash in the pan, but the strength of the archetype can't be understated. One notable strength of the deck is it's matchup against Onoskelis, as one of the few decks in the game with the power to out-grind the powerhouse of Fallen Control. I personally experimented with the addition of a Viviana, The Festival Royalty package into my Sh'Lara list, and I wasn't the only one to include the package into a deck. The ability to find Welcome To Alburdunn and Alburdunn's Mayoral Announcement helped to simplify matchups against the aggressive decks in the metagame, but the 7th place Sh'Lara list used the more standard Raginmund, Exile Of The Ashborne to good effect. Whilst the Viviana package isn't the stock guardian option, I was happy to run it and would argue it as a useful side grade to the standard guardians of Serenasada or Raginmund.
Top Tiers and Rogue Lists
Top Tiers and Rogue Lists
Sharn and Onoskelis making the top 8 is hardly a surprise, and whilst Sh'Lara hasn't shown up recently, it's last appearance was in first place so seeing the Phoenix in the top of the roster is equally unsurprising. Castiel also hasn't seen the highest play rates, but is another A-tier option for tournament play and a competitor that can easily find its way to the top 8.
Two of the lists that made top 4 are a touch more interesting however. AJ piloted Marianas to 2nd place, with a more midrange version of the deck focusing on the draw power of Majik Wishing Well, powered up by Path To Middiogin Majik. The deck also abuses the recently released Kessler, The Void Walker Warlock, using either Gone But Never Forgotten or Blessed By Brackus Waters in combination with any Bounty warrior with Shockwave to easily trigger Kessler's Void Hollow Perish effect. Whilst the more aggressive ancient-relic centric Marianas builds can theoretically take advantage of the same powerful bounty tools, the midrange version seems to have a bit more holding power in the midgame. It's ultimately a touch early to say whether the list is a powerful meta contender, or just a rogue list with a top tier pilot and a favorable tournament metagame.
One list that has seen a touch more historic play however, has been the Mal'ady Mausoleum combo deck which found a 3rd place finish. This version of Mal'ady draws much more support from the Grimm package pieces, and the various generic Undead pieces, rather than Mal'ady's archetypal Putrid synergies. The deck looks to abuse Mal'ady's Putrid Mausoleum by looping Sir Grimm Crimson, The Undead Prince and Across The Soul River Styx for infinite effect damage. This placement has put a good amount of additional viability behind the list as a reasonable sidegrade for undead builds. The list still lacks the level of consistent placement and popularity of Mortis, but has proved itself as a genuine metagame contender.
Welcome To Alburdunn
As previously mentioned, my Sh'Lara list utilized the Viviana, The Festival Royalty package to stave off early aggression, and generate utility with Alburdunn's Trader District. The package found more success however, in aggressive Sharn lists which were able to pair Sharn's early aggressive power with a terrifying amount of stall potential.
Alburdunn's Mayoral Announcement as a campaign promo has reignited interest in the Guardian, with Announcement providing a mist for Effect Damage as well as a tutor, Welcome To Alburdunn providing a mist for Battle Damage, and Alburdunn's Trader District as a free cantrip which allows decks to shuffle Mayoral Announcement and Welcome back into deck to loop and reuse.
Two of these Sharn Viviana Boars Aggro lists appeared in the tournament, and both made the top 4 final stage, leading to a mirror match resulting in both players using Alburdunn's Trader District to loop Welcome To Alburdunn to stall out the game, until one player was able to fight through negates to resolve The Twilight Gardens to break the loop.
The combination of the archetype's power alongside the potentially problematic gameplay has scored Alburdunn's Trader District a speedy emergency addition to the SRL watchlist. We'll have to see how and if the package gets addressed tomorrow, but Viviana has certainly gotten her revenge against Serenasada as the strongest Bounty Guardian, even if just for a few days.
Depending on how the package gets adjusted, it's apparent that players should give a little more respect to the Festival Royalty, and it's very possible that Viviana will remain a powerful option for any warlord.
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