Werewolves Forever

     I experimented with a zero-spell werewolf deck the past couple of days.  The results were mixed.  Sometimes I won with an overwhelming advantage.  At other times, I was craving Moonmist and Full Moon's Rise.  As such, I decided to put back those two spells and to make other changes as well.

     Here is the new list:

     Creatures: 24

     4 Reckless Waif

     4 Wolfbitten Captive

     4 Mayor of Avabruck

     4 Daybreak Ranger

     4 Immerwolf

     4 Huntmaster of the Fells

 

     Planeswalker: 1

     1 Garruk Relentless

     Spells: 11

     3 Ranger's Guile

     4 Moonmist

     4 Full Moon's Rise

 

     Lands: 24

     3 Kessig Wolf Run

     4 Rootbound Crag

     5 Mountain

     12 Forest

     Sideboard: 15

     1 Increasing Savagery

     4 Wolfir Avenger

     2 Wolfir Silverheart

     3 Ground Seal

     2 Gnaw the Bone

     3 Blasphemous Act

     The first thing one notices is that the land count has been upped to twenty-four to reliably reach four to five mana each game.  There are two key tricks to this deck.  One is casting Mayor of Avabruck and then following it up with Moonmist to provide an instant power boost and a 2/2 wolf token.  The other is to cast Immerwolf and once again follow up with Moonmist to lock in the transformation the werewolves undergo.  Other than being able to perform the tricks, cards like Increasing Savagery, Blasphemous Act, and Wolfir Silverheart require lots of mana so twenty-four lands is the right number.  The second thing to note about the manabase is that the deck is predominantly green splashing for red.  This enables the powerful sideboard strategies that require double-green mana.  In the future, Stomping Grounds and Cavern of Souls will further strengthen the manabase while ensuring that the right colored mana is available when it is needed.

Finally, a third Kessig Wolf Run is there as a mana-sink and as a utility land that also functions as endgame reach.

     Coincidentally, there are twenty-four creatures also.  With the exception of Immerwolf, they are all werewolves and thus eligible to receive the bonuses from Full Moon's Rise.  Reckless Waif and Wolfbitten Captive pressure control players who usually adopt a draw-go style of play.  Against beatdown, these two can trade with the opponent's creatures to preserve life points and slow down the attack.  Mayor of Avabruck pumps each werewolf and together with Full Moon's Rise can inflict huge amounts of damage.  Immerwolf is another useful tribal lord in that it pumps wolves whereas the Mayor doesn't.  Daybreak Ranger is mainly a defensive card but it can also become a fearsome force when necessary.  This card is good in creature matchups and deals with pesky flyers like Restoration Angel and Olivia Voldaren.  Huntmaster of the Fells and Garruk Relentless are the answers to Supreme Verdict, Sever the Bloodline, Mizzium Mortars, and Terminus.  They provide a pack of wolves ready to resume the battle after a mass removal spell wipes out the first wave of werewolves.

     As for the spells, it has been mentioned that Full Moon's Rise protects against control decks packing mass removal but this enchantment also does double duty in that it grants trample to each werewolf.  This ability ensures that chump-blocking is not an option the enemy enjoys.  In effect, this answers Lingering Souls and other cards that create 1/1 tokens like Sorin, Lord of Innistrad.  As with Rise, Moonmist also has additional value beyond fog-ging an alpha strike.  It can be a combat trick to save either Mayor or Huntmaster from removal.  Lastly, Ranger's Guile protects the pack from Detention Sphere and Sever the Bloodline.  This instant spell is loads better than Sundering Growth because it retains tempo.

     Regarding the sideboard, I have targeted certain strategies as popular and dominant so those are the ones the deck is prepared to handle.  The first is aggro which is usually comprised of Red Deck Wins (RDW) or Zombies.  The plan is to use Gnaw the Bone to gain life and make time for Wolfir Silverheart to come online.  In the event of tokens or a swarm strategy, Blasphemous Act works in concert with Full Moon's Rise to decimate the other side of the table while preserving the pack from destruction.  The second is control which is a good matchup for this deck but one can never have enough threats for that kind of strategy.  So there is Wolfir Avenger to flash in during the opponent's end turn and get him to use countermagic.  The Avenger's regeneration is also relevant against Supreme Verdict so this creature is more than an adequate threat to bring in.  The third is reanimator which should be shut down by Ground Seal and overran by the pack.  Last but not least is Increasing Savagery to be employed in the mirror match.

     I hope that this design is more effective than its predecessors.  If it's not yet obvious, I really love werewolves and hope that they help me take down tournament after tournament.  Even when they don't, they are really fun to play with as they mess up combat math and get my opponents to read cards they don't usually encounter in high-level play.