My Favorite Decks from Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar

First, I’m not a big fan of the “four-color cards I like” decks. I like more streamlined themes and decks, where not-so-obvious cards shine. What we mostly got here was mostly just good stuff. Sure, there’s synergies, but those come after you have cards you would still play in many decks without them.

First, a couple of deck techs they made:

Christian Calcano was featured a couple of times, so I think his deck is pretty well known by now.

Its a blue-black aristocrats deck and can kill seemingly out of nowhere.

Sam Black is one of the better known deckbuilders nowadays and here’s a good one. I think it had the best win percentage of all the decks in the tournament, even though it didn’t make it to the top 8. I was thinking about something similar, but I don’t think I would have ever arrived to this (especially [scryfall]Elvish Visionary[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Planar Outburst[/scryfall], which actually seems pretty out of place):

BR Dragons by Hao-Shan Huang (8-2)

Okay, so this is just a new version of a deck I really like from a couple of PTs back. Still, this stood out from the decklists as pretty unique. [scryfall]Draconic Roar[/scryfall] is probably pretty strong right now, as everyone is playing at least [scryfall]Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy[/scryfall] and it doesn’t even have to kill the target to do damage to a player, so you can fire them off at that [scryfall]Siege Rhino[/scryfall]. Damaging planeswalkers “for free” also seems strong.

[deck]
[creatures]
3 Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Hangarback Walker
[/creatures]
[spells]
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Ruinous Path
2 Despise
2 Roast
3 Complete Disregard
2 Foul-Tongue Invocation
4 Draconic Roar
2 Murderous Cut
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Blighted Fen
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodfell Caves
5 Swamp
4 Mountain
1 Cinder Glade
2 Smoldering Marsh
[/lands]
[sideboard]
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
3 Duress
2 Dragonmaster Outcast
2 Read the Bones
2 Crux of Fate
1 Outpost Siege
3 Radiant Flames
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

Big Red by Eduardo Lopes (7-2-1)

Many of the Atarka Red decks had a sideboard plan of bringing in some bigger stuff. This deck just foregoes that and moves into the more midrangish space for all the games. I would at least think about playing [scryfall]Ire Shaman[/scryfall] in lieu of [scryfall]Abbot of Keral Keep[/scryfall] in this one.

[deck]
[creatures]
3 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Mardu Scout
2 Goblin Heelcutter
4 Lightning Berserker
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Draconic Roar
2 Fiery Impulse
4 Wild Slash
[/spells]
[lands]
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
20 Mountain
[/lands]
[sideboard]
3 Arc Lightning
3 Outpost Siege
4 Roast
2 Hangarback Walker
2 Touch of the Void
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

BG Ramp by Victoriano Lim (7-3)

Doesn’t seem like a deck that would work to me, but apparently it did. At least somewhat. It does seem a bit fragile against [scryfall]Abzan Charm[/scryfall] and it doesn’t seem to hold that well against the aggressive red decks, but I guess those weren’t really that popular after all.

[deck]
[creatures]
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Oblivion Sower
4 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
[/creatures]
[spells]
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Explosive Vegetation
3 Languish
3 Despise
3 Crux of Fate
1 Nissa’s Renewal
3 Complete Disregard
2 Hedron Archive
[/spells]
[lands]
6 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Jungle Hollow
4 Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
1 Sanctum of Ugin
1 Spawning Bed
1 Mage-Ring Network
[/lands]
[sideboard]
2 Feed the Clan
2 Ruinous Path
2 Ultimate Price
1 Greenwarden of Murasa
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
3 Transgress the Mind
4 Hangarback Walker
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

BR Aggro by Tomoharu Saito (7-3)

In some ways I’m a bit disappointed with this deck, because it lacks many of the cards one would hope to see here, like [scryfall]Forerunner of Slaughter[/scryfall], and where are the two-drops anyhow… Still, my favorite color combination with a nice aggressive stance. What’s not to like?

[deck]
[creatures]
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Flamewake Phoenix
3 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury
[/creatures]
[spells]
2 Roast
4 Duress
4 Fiery Impulse
2 Draconic Roar
4 Murderous Cut
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Swamp
4 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Smoldering Marsh
[/lands]
[sideboard]
4 Self-Inflicted Wound
4 Hangarback Walker
3 Outpost Siege
3 Radiant Flames
1 Kolaghan’s Command
[/sideboard]
[/deck]

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