Over the course of the weekend, the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game held its North America Continental Championship and was filled with surprises and twists.
I arrived in Vegas with what ended up being a not-so-awesome deck choice in the form of a Core Death Wish deck. While the addition of Heroic Throw and Edge of Oblivion to deal with pesky Vuzdins was strong, what ultimately did me in was the prevalence of the Emek Priest deck. Powered by Searing Light and Divine Fury, my plethora of armor sat there helplessly as the unpreventable damage rolled in.
Emek the Equalizer represented 47 different decks over the course of the weekend. With the hasty beats of the Shadowfiend and the brutal flip of forcing players to discard at the most inopportune time, there was no secret to why it was so popular.
But if you have been keeping up with the reports from Nationals, you know the surprise that dropped on Vegas.
Krazal the Eggregator showed up in force. I believe Tim the Enchanter said it best when he said “LOOK AT THE BONES!”
While only one Bunnies deck made top 8, you couldn’t go more than a round or so without your opponent asking “Did you see the bunny deck?”
The first true “combo” deck that the WoW TCG has seen completely breaks what has become standard deck building rules by running 40 quests and relying on Unending Breath with the Easter promo card to repeatedly cycle through the deck in order to create an army of 1/1 spring rabbits in which to devour their enemies.
The challenge with playing against the bunny deck is that it is completely non-interactive once the combo begins. If Unending Breath gets to the board unaffected there is almost nothing you can do since you cannot counter quest effects.
One friend lost when the combo deck player responded when he played Vuzdin to try to blank Breath on turn 3.
With the upcoming European Continental Championships coming up in a couple of weeks, I feel as if their meta game has been severely altered. At NACC, the Bunnies deck was a surprise. But now that it is out and people know how fast it can win, you really only have the options to play the combo or a deck that counters the combo.
Our first thoughts as we discussed the deck on the drive home was that Rogue had the best chance of disrupting the beat down.
With the quest “Junkboxes Needed” and “Poach”, it had the best chance of disrupting the early combo and following it up with a Shuriken of Negation after turn 4. Without Unending Breath on the table the Bunny deck poses no other threat and the Rogue player can bide his time until he is ready to win.
It will be interesting to see how Cryptozoic responds to the rise of this new deck, especially since the classic format is just as strong, replacing Unending Breath with the turn one drop of Aquatic Form.
While I was only able to manage a middle of the pack performance, most of “Team Utah” was able to push ahead into Day 2 with a few folks in the top 75, a couple in the top 32, and Warbull (Drew Walden) rocking the day and pulling out a 2nd place victory with his powerful and consistent Warlock deck. He ended day 1 tied for the best record, with a 10 and 1 performance.
Cryptozoic put on a great weekend with plenty of things for everyone to do, whether it was trying your luck against Alexstrasza or playing in the League format for more than your share of extended art cards, foils, and tokens, or winning one of the numerous Savage Raptor loot cards passed out through the events.
Here’s to next year!
The Winning Bunny Deck List
Hero: Turane Soulpact
Master Heroes:
1 Alexstrasza the Life-Binder
Allies: 20
4 Krazal the Eggregator
4 Dreadsteed
4 Swift Hawkstrider
2 Wooly White Rhino
1 Tul’zin
Abilities: 4
4 Unending Breath
Quests: 40
4 Uncatalogued Species
4 A Hero’s Burden
4 Under the Shadow
4 For Great Honor
4 Tirion’s Gambit
4 Capture a Mine
4 Dr. Boom!
4 The Fel and the Furious
2 A Question of Gluttony
3 Mystery Goo
3 A Rare Bean
Drew Walden’s 2nd place Warlock Deck
Hero: Jeremiah Karvok
Master Heroes:
2 Kel’thuzad
Allies: 32
4 Broderick Langforth
1 Skumm Bag’go
1 Sardok
1 Mias the Putrid
4 Dreadsteed
4 Hesriana
3 Vuz’din
4 Dethvir the Malignant
3 Munkin Blackfist
3 Cairne, Earthmother’s Chosen
2 Thrall, Warchief of the Horde
Abilities: 16
3 The Promises of Darkness
3 Summoning Portal
4 Tuskarr Kite
4 Lesson of the Nether
2 Victimize
Locations: 4
4 Undercity
Quests: 8
4 Dark Horizon
4 For Great Honor
