[Masters] 12 Strategize (Ixtun)

23/08/2022

Welcome back to this Control meta, ugh I mean Project meta.
So this deck tries to abuse cheap card draws with our namesake card Strategize and its cousins Catalyze and Crafty Occultist alongside echo cards or discard synergy cards like Unstable Form, Herald's Song and Privilege of Rank.

What else we do besides that? That's the fun part, we don't. (Well, not actually)

Ok so down to the card choices, our echo package has Unstable Form which is just a good card in general, the other two cards I have 3 copies of, Herald's Song and Privilege of Rank, synergize with each other well enough, also have great synergy with our other cards in the deck when compared to other options such as Cliffside Porter and Skycrag Scalebreaker.

Why am I playing this deck? First Varbuk, Hand of Anarchy is really good in the meta since it kills a variety of threats like Alessi, Combrei Archmage, Katra, The First Seal, Rolant, Iron Tyrant and opposing Varbuks, and most importantly relics like The Creation Project, and occasionally Sling of the Chi and Blueprints. Addition meme points for using Unstable Form to transform said mono-faction units to multi-faction ones.

Second, Garden of Omens is insane because it is an unconditional Relic Removal with Melt Down and the other 2 modes are relevant and important to this deck. The 1-of End of the Story is mainly for Resurface to wrath the board.

Last but not least, assuming a normal hand, Rizahn, Greatbow Master is fully charged up when you are playing him. The summon kills most problematic units and helps stabilize against aggro. It is even more insane if you get double damage from Catalyze, which is more often than you may think.

Next part, market choices:
Tomb of the Azuremage is one of the best finishers for this because the high number of spells from our discard / card draw and sites. It usually deals from 10 to 25 damage when you successfully connect. However, getting rid of the Face Aegis with a Garden up is very tricky.
Vision of Austerity is the market relic removal to go for in this relic meta, it is excellent when it does the job. And when it doesn't you just don't have to grab it.
Turn to Seed is just an all-purpose unit removal. It also goes through Aegis if you have Garden up.
Korovyat Palace is just another finisher if you don't have enough spells in void for lethal, it usually sets up for a large board, or at least draws 2 and fogs for a turn.
Skycrag Tome is a more recent addition, it guarantees your 4th power undepleted and fixes for most of your important cards.
Echo cards, you only have 4 Jennev Merchants in your deck, so I generally don't recommend grabbing Echo cards from the market that was previously swapped in, unless you absolutely need to.

So Matchups,
This deck is very strong against relic focused decks like Totas, Rats. or Beacon. Against Combrei Control, be careful of Builder's Decree and Equalize and set up Face Aegis for key moments. Hold Relic removal if they are in the FTJ version.

Against random midrange decks, try to hold up two board wipes for a full kill. Turn to Seed is usually the star of the matchup since it removes a set of threats from their deck. Remember you can tutor for End of the Story with your Garden. Identify whether you have inevitability and plan accordingly.

Against Katra don't be afraid to use your wipes early to kill off units for Katra ramp. Again, Turn to Seed is really good against the deck, but you may reserve it for other threats like Huntmaster Vikrum or Tasbu, the Forbidden since Varbuk, Hand of Anarchy can take care of Katra pretty easily.

Against The Creation Project, you mainly want board wipes and Varbuk, but it is generally tough to play around Stand Together. When they don't have it, the matchup is quite beatable.

And now the worst matchup, Feln Dredge / Self Discard, mainly due to the newly released Direwood Pack having Aegis and growing out of range easily. Haunting Scream from market also represents a large reach that is annoying to deal with when we opt not to play counterspells. Your best bet against this matchup is to stack up Unstable Forms and wipe the board, then set up Rizahn as early as possible.

That's it, and hope you will have fun blowing out players with double damage Hailstorm and Rizahn, Greatbow Master.

Related decks
Jennev Version 12 Strategize aka Jennev Echoes
Old Version of this deck 12 Strategize aka Ixtun Echoes

Check out my other decks
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