The Decklist:
4 Karn, the Great Creator
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Blood Moon
4 Chalice of the Void
4 Chrome Mox
3 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Trinisphere
4 Magus of the Moon
4 Simian Spirit Guide
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Legion Warboss
4 City of Traitors
4 Ancient Tomb
11 Mountain
Sideboard
4 Faerie Macabre
3 Eidolon of the Great Revel
1 Winter Orb
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Trinisphere
1 Walking Ballista
1 Mycosynth Lattice
1 Liquimetal Coating
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Tormod's Crypt
For the PTQ, I played -4 Faerie Macabre -1 Winter Orb +4 Leyline of the Void +1 Helm of Obedience in the sideboard.
Why is it good?
With the rise of various Dark Depths strategies, as well as Wrenn and Six four-color strategies, I decided that playing 8 Blood Moon effects is very effective. I'm already annoyed about losing to Lands, so being able to have a great matchup against that deck is nice. Ensnaring Bridges in the main help against Hogaak and Dark Depths. Trinisphere is still the strongest play on turn one when going first. Most of the bad matchups for this deck were on the downswing, with the exception of Sneak and Show that you just have to accept losing to.
I don't understand lists that play fewer than 4 Magus of the Moon. Lightning Bolt is a common card, but that doesn't mean a turn 1 Magus isn't good a lot of the time. I also think with the rise of Force of Negation you can play Magus instead of Blood Moon on turn 1 given the option to have a better chance of it resolving. It also helps after sideboard when players rely on Force of Vigor to get out of Blood Moon lock.
I didn't play any Fiery Confluence. The sweeper effect could be easily replicated by Ensnaring Bridge. Wrenn and Six is keeping Death and Taxes to minimal numbers. The damage to players is also rarely important now that you have more robust win condition in Karn. I did miss having some artifact removal against Pithing Needle and other Karn decks, so I could see going back to playing two copies of Confluence somewhere.
I'm still not sure about some of the sideboard choices. I rarely wished for anything besides Bridge, Lattice, and Coating. I think the Crypt, Spyglass, and Ballista are worth having, but the 4th Trinisphere should probably be main. Winter Orb is nice to have sometimes but is a luxury. The Helm of Obedience is similar. You can play Leyline without Helm. Eidolon gets the nod over Scab-Clan Berserker because it is slightly cheaper and doesn't need to hit to be on. It also works against decks like Elves, but does have some liabilities in some more interactive matchups where your other hate cards aren't as effective.
I also think this is one of the best decks at exploiting the London Mulligan. My decision point for the event was to mulligan until I had a turn 1 play. This actually didn't lead to as many mulligans as I thought it would. Maybe I was running hot which makes the main event performance a bit more disappointing.
The Games
R1 Bye
R2 Bye
2-0
R3 BG Depths - I have enough Blood Moon effects to ignore the Thoughtsieze and Duress, and win easily both games.
3-0
R4 Eldrazi Aggro - My hand is turn 1 Chalice on the draw, but this doesn't line up well with his deck. I win a game two with multiple Moon on the play. Game three I manage to stick a Blood Moon but die to a couple of Endless Ones and Eldrazi Mimic with my hand too full to deploy Ensnaring Bridge effectively
3-1
R5 4 Color Control - I win easily because all my cards force him to Force of Will or Force of Negation, and eventually the card advantage comes back to me. I did steal a game one by going for turn 1 Rabblemaster instead of Blood Moon and the extra early damage was worth at least a turn later on.
4-1
R6 BG Depths - I win game one with Chalice and Blood Moon. Game two he's able to Duress my Blood Moon and gets out the combo the turn before I can draw another. Game three I have Ensnaring Bridge and two Magus of the Moon in play. He has Elvish Reclaimer and a Mox so he's able to still cast some spells. Eventually he shows me 3x Abrupt Decay from his hand before I'm able to draw another lock piece and I die.
4-2
R7 Hogaak - I have turn one Blood Moon game one, but he has the basic Swamp in his hand. I can't get a Bridge out in time before he kills me. Game two I have turn one Chalice and turn two Moon and easily win. Game three I have another early Blood Moon but he is able to fetch the Swamp first. I also have Faerie to exile a Bloodghast and a Vengevine, which delays his Hogaak by a turn. This lets me play Ensnaring Bridge and hopefully stabilize, but he also has Alter of Dimentia and easily mills me out with Hogaak and Bridge From Below
4-3
I hate losing matches in the deck building phase, but that is exactly what happened round seven. If I had played Leyline over Faerie, I would have easily won the last game. I decide to change to Leyline for the PTQ on Sunday.
R1 Jeskai Mentor - Game one is turn one Trinisphere, turn two Chandra and he concedes. Game two I stick a Rabblemaster for a couple of turns and force him to use his hand to answer all my follow ups while the three goblin tokesn slowly kill him.
1-0
R2 Blue Painter - I've been thinking about playing a Blue version of the Karn / Ancient Tomb decks, so it was cool to see one in action. I lose game one after he starts with turn one Defense Grid and I play Chalice on 0 thinking he was Mystic Forge deck. He followed up with Painter Servant and Grindstone and I was dead. I win game two with a turn two Karn. Game three he has a nifty The Antiquities War, which lets him attack my Karn. I still have two Chalice on 1 in play, but he draws Echoing Truth to bounce them and win before I can get another Karn in play.
1-1
R3 Dredge - Game one he has turn one Looting. I have turn one Trinisphere. His slow dredge plan doesn't find a Narcomoeba until I already have enough goblins to double attack through his triple Bridge From Below. Game two I have turn zero Leyline and turn one |Chalice for one and he concedes
2-1
R4 Blue Painter with Thopter Sword - Another Blue Ancient Tomb deck. I punt game one by letting him attack my Karn with Painter and Tribute Mage, thinking he would be dead if he activated Ancient Tomb but I had done my combat math wrong and he had the City of Traitors to punish me. I win the next two games with Karn and Blood Moon however.
3-1
R5 Lands - Game one is easy with Blood Moon and Chalice on one. Game two he manages to win with a Pithing Needle on my Chandra and then Force of Vigor on my Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge. Game three is really long and drawn out, but I eventually get too many lock pieces in play and he can't find enough answers.
4-1
R6 Lands - Game one is the weirdest game all weekend. He starts with Exploration and Wasteland. I had kept a one land hand, and decide to go for turn one Chalice on one. He wastes my Ancient Tomb, and then we play draw go for several turns. I'm discarding to hand size trying to find any mana, he's trying to find a Depths to go with his Stage but can't Gamble or Crop Rotation. He gets a Wrenn and Six up to 10 counters but I eventually find a couple of lands and a Mox for Blood Moon. Eventually I kill him with some goblins. Game two isn't that interesting as I get a few lock pieces in early and he has to dig for Force of Vigor with Sylvan Library and Life from the Loam dredges. There is a judge call here where the opponent, floor judge, and head judge all tell me the opponent only has to put one card back with Sylvan Library when he dredges with the second or third draw on the turn. This isn't how it works, but the HJ refuses to give me any supporting rules or documentation for his ruling. It ends up not mattering but was still very frustrating to see. It's a ruling that is easily accessible on the Gatherer page for Sylvan Library and not nearly as complicated as they all made it seem.
5-1
Looking Forward
I was overall very happy with the decks performance. I would play it again without many changes. I found the game play to be very intriguing, despite not a whole lot of decisions they all mattered quite a bit. I would definitely play Leyline in the sideboard and 4 Trinisphere in the main.
I'm not sure what my next Magic event will be before MagicFest Oklahoma City in December. Maybe I'll play some Arena again after taking a few months off. I may also start writing about Magic Theory again, with a focus on Old School.
Thanks,
Ty
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