The Tim Trainwreck Special

This week I want to discuss a new deck that my friend Tim built recently. Tim is one of those people that is a genius at deckbuilding and always plays strong lists that have innovation and power.

I playtested with Tim piloting it against all of my other decks: Calderaquin, Merfolk, and Warp World. All of these are solid, if not strong, so it seemed like a decent challenge. I got blown out. It was a slaughter, with the exception that if I could Warp in time I could steal a win once in a while.

After playtesting, I decided to try out the Tim special for myself the list is as follows:

4 Putrid Leech
4 Rhox War Monk
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Bloodbraid Elf
2 Chameleon Colossus
1 Lord of Extinction

2 Path to Exile
4 Doom Blade
4 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Captured Sunlight
2 Behemoth Sledge
3 Garruk Wildspeaker

The land base for this deck looks like a typical 5 color control deck, so I don't think I'll post it. After testing the deck all afternoon, we started FNM feeling good

Round One:
I lose the roll and keep a hand that is a bit removal heavy, but has good mana and a Leech. My opponent drops Island and passes.

I drop the Leech next turn and swing a few until he hits 5 mana and Traumatizes me. That's about it, Leech literally gets in for 20 damage.

Game two was more interesting. My opponent gets Traumatize into Haunting Echoes and gets every card except one Path, two Lords of Extinction, and 7 lands. I still get the win with Lord and the Finks from the previous turn since he fails to draw mill.

Round Two;
I get blown out by Treefolk of all things! He gets unanswered Leaf Crowned Elder both games and I lose to kinship triggers firing every turn. Crazy matchup where I'm probably favored, but lack removal. This is important later on in the night.

Round Three:
I'm playing against my friend Kyle who was 2-0 at this point. My tiebreaks must be amazing.

I know his deck well, 4 color blood. This is very winnable for me because my lifegain is superior and some of his cards are less effective against me.
He gets there in game one after I draw 5 straight lands, and I get him in game two after he draw 5 straight lands. Strange times in magicville.

Game three takes forever. I play something, he answers. He plays something, I answer. We finally get close to time and I pull ahead off of Captured Sunlight into Putrid Leech. We go to 5 turns, and just as it looks like I might get the win, he topdecks Finks to gain life and block. I was dissappointed since I probably could have taken it eventually, but oh well.

Standing at 1-1-1 was not optimal.

Round Four:
Paired against one of my best friends Adam. I don't have much trouble as he gets mana screwed to hell and dies. Fin

I talk to Tim at this point and find that he's gone 4-0, beating the treefolk deck in the finals. I was a little bummed that I didn't perform as well, but I was glad the deck took first anyway. It's a potent little burrito and I look forward to playing more with it soon.

Comments on the list welcome!

- Ken