Constructed

Introducing the Grixis Swedge

By Sam Blitch ⋅ December 3, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅

A wedge is an interesting shape in the realm of Magic. The wedge comprises of a color and its two enemy colors, making the wedge on the color wheel as opposed to the typical shard. In this case, we are talking about the Grixis Wedge, using black, green, and white as our colors. Grixis Wedge has a lot of power to it, so let’s look at some of the great card options we have.

• Baneslayer Angel – Well here’s a card that doesn’t need much introduction. It’s powerful, it’s ridiculous if it sticks on the field, and it races Progenitus.
• Noble Hierarch – Mana is a good thing, being able to access two different colors that you need is a great thing, but adding exalted to make your guys even more powerful when they attack is an excellent thing.
• Maelstrom Pulse – The whole reason we’re playing a Grixis Wedge anyways, this card is a prime example of great removal. When I play with it, I always seem to two for one my opponent, knocking out two of my opponent’s… Anything! Planeswalkers, artifacts, enchantments, creatures, the works.
• Knight of the Reliquary – This card has received a lot of praise with the invention of landfall. Being able to sacrifice a land to play a fetch land, then sacrificing the fetch land and playing another land is extremely powerful. Especially when you float the mana from the land you’re sacrificing originally, giving yourself a free mana from Knight. He also really makes the next two cards powerful. (I’ll just ignore the fact that this guy grows big, fast, and then beats your opponent like a drum.)
• Lotus Cobra – Please, do we really have to explain this? You play the Cobra, play a land, and get free mana. Use him in unison with Knight for, say, a turn four Baneslayer with mana left over for whatever you want.
• Emeria Angel – Land, bird, land, bird, land, bird. It’s an easy cycle. You play a land and get a bird. Turn four with a knight out; you can get 2 additional birds minimum. Turn five, you can get up to four more birds before playing your Baneslayer or whatever.
• Elspeth, Knight-Errant – You can make a soldier, send your massive Knight of the Reliquary flying, and hopefully in the course of 5 turns give all of your creatures indestructibility. Good day.
• Garruk Wildspeaker – Let’s make a creature, let’s accelerate mana, and let’s play overrun. At worst, this is an overrun with suspend one for 2GG.

Those are your big hitters, the cards that can really mess with your opponent, but there’s one card missing, one that makes this deck archetype all the more worthwhile. Behemoth Sledge.

Behemoth Sledge equips to any guy you want to fling at your opponent. By turn four, you should have out at least one Noble Hierarch. This is by no means a card you rush out onto the field. But after your Knight of the Reliquary gets pumped up and your Elspeth is sitting out there feeling neglected, you pump the Knight with +3/+3 and flying, give it a sledge, get one or two pumps of exalted, and watch your opponent groan as you cause a sixteen point life swing. There are times when this card makes creatures better than Baneslayer, and it’s always a good feeling to race Baneslayer and win.

Ok, now that I’ve whet your palate, let’s look at the deck. I do note that this deck is extremely similar to what Lucas Blohon from the Czech Republic ran for the Team Competition at Worlds.

Testing against The Gauntlet

Match 1 – Bushwhacker
Game 1 starts off quickly for my opponent, Lynx and Guide versus a Knight on turn 3. Elspeth from my opponent takes chunks out of my life with the pumping of Lynxes, but a double Ranger play after I destroy Elspeth just spells Good Game.

Sideboarded:
-2 Path to Exile, -3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, -1 Garruk Wildspeaker
+3 Wall of Reverance, +2 Martial Coup, +1 Maelstrom Pulse

Game two my opponent quickly conceded after Hierarch into Cobra into Borderland Ranger appears on my board versus a Lynx and a landscrewed opponent. He scooped before I could play my Baneslayer.

The third game could have been won, and would have been a lot more impressive if I had. The game is rapid for both of us; Lynx, Ranger, and Skyfisher to replay the Ranger for my opponent, and a turbo Baneslayer, Knight, Sledge, and a hand of Maestrom Pulses for me. I have a sledged Knight and Baneslayer out, swing with both thinking that I’ll be out of range for his big turn, but a Elspeth along with well placed dual lands clinch him the victory because I got a bit greedy. In retrospect, I would have held the Baneslayer back, just taking out Elspeth. Baneslayer would have kept my head above water, and the next turn I could have Maelstrom pulsed his Lynxes, making any moves hopeless. If not for a large misplay on my part, Boros would have lost to this deck, even when it had the nuts hand and draw.

Match 2 – Jund
Game one goes by very quickly, my opponent gets landscrewed, unable to find a red source as I drop Hierarch, Knight, and Baneslayer. He concedes without much trouble at all.

Sideboarded:
+3 Acidic Slime, +1 Mold Shambler, +2 Martial Coup
-3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant, -1 Garruk, -2 Lotus Cobra

Game two, a hand of 2 lands, Hierarch, Knight, Acidic Slime, Coup, and Ranger makes me very happy. I drop the land and the Hierarch, he drops a Savage Lands, I drop Ranger, he drops Leech, I drop another land and Knight, he plays Blightning and I pitch a land and a Pulse. The next turn, I leech his Savage Lands, putting him in a slight land hole. He recovers on the draw, but I draw another Leech and he concedes.

I don’t think that the Jund matchup was all that good just due to the fact that Jund kind of didn’t have land in either match. If Jund had the nuts though I think I still may have pulled it off.

Match 3 – Lightsaber
Game one is interesting. The mirror is really called the mirror for a reason. I play land and Hierarch, he plays land and Hierarch, I play Knight, he plays Knight, I turbo out Baneslayer, so does he. I play another Baneslayer, he paths one of mine. His game drops quickly though. On his turn, he plays one and swings. I let it through, and on my turn I pulse both of his Angels. [Editor Note: This is a play mistake as the Maelstrom Pulse should have removed his own Angel as well, unfortunately that was overlooked.] An unanswered Angel is a scary thing, and my opponent was soon made quick work of.

Now this match isn’t really a mirror, Pulse is a big difference and that game shows just how big it is.

Sideboarded:
-4 Path to Exile
+2 Martial Coup, +2 Day of Judgement

Game two is good for him, and bad for me. He plays creatures out the nose, quickly getting out Baneslayer, and while I have a knight, I’m lacking any real creatures, getting land. It goes on like this for a few turns, the life totals equaling something like 10 to 28 in his favor, and then I draw Coup. My opponent almost fell over as I wiped the board of his great field position, taking control with a series of 6 tokens. An Elspeth from me makes the total grow, and a Baneslayer from me later equals the concede.

One thing I find is that this deck can make remarkable come from behind victories if you bring in all the ways that you can gain life and wipe the field. Life Gain is a tempo swinger that I think has been long overlooked, looking instead at field control or cards that generate two for ones. The life gain, it’s a powerful tool, especially if you use that life as a resource.

Grixis Swedge, hitting the nail on the head every time.