WGDX vs Flash/Ichorid/StacksShop decks

Version 1.0

By fury


The following article will try to argue on the Worldgorger archetype. It will complete the dicemanx's article on TMD, by considering three main current archetypes : Flash, Ichorid and Stacks/Shop. Nowadays, the metagame is very diversified, so Dragon has to counter a lot of hate : the graveyard one, the mana denial one, the classic disrupting one, and the prison one. I know that a lot of people think that Dragon is unplayable in tournaments nowadays; but the recent results show the exact opposite. I will continue to analyse the WGD archetype, because it's very pleasant to play, and very interesting to build.


Our working base will be the WGDX list (with some minor changes), in so far as we show the advantages of this build. My point will focus on the sideboard, considering the Oath sideboard has some weaknesses I will explain further.


« WGDXv2 »

Instants (15):
4 Intuition
3 Read the Runes
1 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
4 Force of Will
1 Vampiric Tutor

1 Entomb

Sorceries (8):
3 Deep Analysis
2 Thoughtseize

2 Duress
1 Demonic Tutor

Enchantments (7):
3 Necromancy
2 Animate Dead
2 Dance of the Dead

Creatures (5):
4 Worldgorger Dragon
1 Eternal Witness

Artifacts (9):
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault

Basic lands (2):
1 Island
1 Swamp


Lands (14):
3 Bazaar of Baghdad
2 Underground Sea
1 Tropical Island
3 Forbidden Orchard
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand


I included one land more (12 is not enough against mana denial decks), and found a place for Entomb, which accelerates the tempo if no hate is present. Indeed, WGDX weakens his combo engine when it tries to enter hate removing spells, so it needs to keep a speed instant strategy to win quickly. 3 Bazaar seems to be enough, because in WGDX the discarding issue is only critical when Dragon tries to win instantly. I tried 2 Thoughtseize and 2 Duress to adapt to the aggro metagame, but I'm not convinced it's a definitive choice.



1) Analysis of the metagame :


After the restriction of Gifts Ungiven, the metagame has been more diversified, though it became more aggressive on the whole. Despite this diversity, the main played decks are now Flash, GaT Ichorid and Stacks/Shop decks. How WGDX can find a place among this environment ?


The GaT archetype has been deeply studied by dicemanx, I won't came back on it. To sum up the point, Dragon must correctly set up his ressources to win the attrition war against GaT. I didn't test it, but I would consider that adding 3 Xantid Swarm in the WGDX sideboard will, on some way, improve the GaT matchup.


The Flash archetype is very fast, but needs the graveyard to win, and have few ways to draw cards if its beginning hand has been managed by the opponent. The rise of Ichorid reduced the capacity of Flash to achieve a lot of top8., because of Leyline and Chalice at zero.


Ichorid, especially in Europe, has become a nightmare : most of the decks pack Leyline of the Void, main deck or in the sideboard. On some events, Leyline is more used than Force of Will ! And even with Leyline on the table, Ichorid can manage enchantments before dredging and killing in a few turns. Unlike the common idea that Ichorid is easy to play (nearly no spell to cast !), this archetype needs a well knowledge of stacking the effects, and properly using the Cabal Therapy, the Streetwise or the Dread return. For now, some very good Ichorid players are rising, and win matchs even with a lot of graveyard hate on the opponent's table. Some players begin to let Leyline out to find others solutions against Ichorid.


Ichorid is the main factor which explains why Vintage has become more aggressive and less combo. That's why some AggroShop, Goblin, MUD and Stacks decks rose again a few months ago. The main issue of these archetypes is either to lock the opponents (UbaStacks, Mono Stacks), or to be aggressive (AggroShop,Gob). The last major Tournament in France showed that an aggressive artifact list is very relevant in the metagame nowadays (The main french Vintage tournament, Clichy, shows a Stacker at first place [Serge Metz]).


2) The adaptation of Dragon


In this environment, Dragon has to deal with a lot of things. First of all, the hate is always present, especially with Leyline of the Void or Extirpate. Ichorid achieves to deal with Leyline, and sides cards to pass through. I think Dragon can do it too. Then, as the metagame is now very fast, Dragon must slow down the opponent's strategy by playing cards which will reduce the opponent's tempo, especially against faster combo decks like Flash or TPS. The third point of WGDX is to manage the mana denial and prison lists, so that it can combo off with enough ressources to kill. Spheres, Wasteland, Crucible, Smokestack should be managed too. Finally, despite the fact that Dragon easily manages aggro decks, it should be able to kill annoying creatures as we can find some in Fish decks.



Some of these considerations were managed by the Oath side, which has a strong surprise effect, doestn't need the graveyard, and pressures the opponent quickly. But the Oath plan has some weaknesses :


All these considerations lead me to suggest the following sideboard, which is more multi-purpose :


3 Chalice of the Void

1 Stroke of Genius

1 Chain of Vapor

1 Echoing Truth

4 Reverent Silence

2 Kataki, War Mage

3 Xantid Swarm


The main issue of this sideboard is to keep the dragon combo and to manage the hate with a minimum of cards, assuming the metagame becomes more aggro.


Let us analyse it, by the light of the considerations we pointed.


a) 3 Chalice of the Void : it is used to slow down the opponent, and to cut the power of some low mana curve decks. At zero, it stops mana acceleration and all the pacts of Flash. My tests show me that Flash loses 1-2 turns with a Chalice at zero on the table, and cannot often safely combo out. At one, Chalice counters Brainstorm, Duress, Extirpate (but this doesn't allow to combo off), Ancestral Recall, Chain of Vapor, and so on, forcing the opponent's to find another solution. To sum up, Chalice is very multi-purpose, and may also counter key spells like Flash, Oath, Time Walk, and so on.


b) 1 Stroke of Genius : the kill, no more to say



c) 1 Chain of Vapor, 1 Echoing Truth : bounces are efficient to manage a permanent which denies victory (Platinum Angel, Orb of Dream) and may be used to slow down the opponent too.


d) 4 Reverent Silence : the main change of this sideboard is the fact that Green is more used in this Dragon build. In WGDX version, the 2nd and 3rd game were very difficult against gravehate or enchantment destruction (which will happen against Ichorid). I chose here to keep the dragon combo, but with a strong way to clean out the hate. Reverent silence allows to destroy Leyline of the Void at turn one by fetching a Tropical Island, and playing Reverent Silence for free. Without Leyline on the table, Dragon can combo off quickly. This strategy is very efficient against decks which cannot counter, like Ichorid.


e) 2 Kataki, War Mage : in order to clean out the artifact hate, and killing the main pieces of all Shop decks, I include two Kataki War Mage. It's very efficient against any Stacks deck, making Mishra's Workshop useless, and destroying the synergy of the prison lists. Unlike Oath, Kataki doesn't need to wait for an activation to annoy the opponent, and he has to choose what permanent threats he will keep on the board. Moreover, with a cheap mana cost, Kataki can easily be cast, at the same time as Reverent Silence to totally clean out hate (but it's rare that both Leyline and artifact locks are present at the same time).



f) 3 Xantid Swarm : Another weakness of the WGDX build is to let the opponent play during the turn. Keeping the Dragon strategy at game two needs to manage split second spells like Trickbind or Extirpate. The only way to combo off safely is to disrupt the opponent's hand, or to attack with Xantid. I also made this choice, because Dragon has not enough disruption against control decks like Control Slaver. With an opponent's hand with full of counters, Dragon will have difficulties to win the attrition war. Thus, Xantid can avoid a mass countering capability of the opponent, and may be reanimed to make pressure on the opponent. Do we need Abeyance to avoid Tormod's Crypts' ability ? Normally, Kataki should have cleaned it up away, or it can be bounced with Echoing Truth or Chain of Vapor, or also can be stopped by Chalice at zero. But I wonder if Xantid, which needs a turn to be efficient, would not be replace by Abeyance or Orim's Chant in the future. This 3 slots would be variable given the metagame.


At this point, we can see that the sideboard is more multi-purpose than the Oath one, though it plays less on the surprising effect. I would like to add some Fire/Ice, to manage annoying creatures (Meddling mage, Magus of the moon, gorilla shaman), but I have not space for it. I count on the fact that Fish and aggro decks are slower than the Dragon combo, if WGDX manage correctly the hate. In a metagame with a lot of Fish, I would add Fire/ice instead of Xantid Swarm.


3) Other possible adaptations I didn't test


Some people already argue on that. Dragon may also build a sideboard with an aggro strategy, like packing in Tarmogoyf. The Tarmogoyf build looses speed, and somehow needs the graveyard to be full effective. I'd rather adopt the Oath sideboard if I choose a total« graveyardless » sideboard plan. But the Tarmogoyf solution should be tested ; according to me, the build is quite different from a WGDX approach.


Another idea, mainly debated here, is to forecast a B plan with another kill than Dragon. The Sundering Titan option, with Tinker, is quite interesting, but is difficult to make explosive, as Tinker is restricted. Of course, Sundering Titan may be reanimate, but don't forget we find a way to an alternate strategy which maked a little use of the graveyard, or a surprising strategy to avoid the classical dragon hate.


The last idea I would test is a Fish transformal sideboard. We saw some ideas like this on other archetypes in France, and last year, a famous french dragon player, Stéphane Tichadou, tried it with success. The point is to side out WGDs and reanim spells to enter Meddling Mage, Aven Mindcensor, Jotün Grunt and Dark Confident. It's a defensive choice, which could find a place in an environment where combo has difficulties to go through.



4) Tests, Matchups and Side tables


In the following tests (ten dozen of games for each test, on average), I assumed that Dragon lost the first game, and the opponent's deck sides in mass graveyard hate like Leyline of the Void, Extirpate and bounces (Echoing Truth, Chain of Vapor mainly). For the Dragon player, the point is to side in correctly to increase the chances to pass the combo despite the hate. My results are nearly the same as the Oath sideboard, except for Ichorid : Dragon hadn't enough time to activate Oath against Ichorid, and that's why, as Ichorid is very common in France, I suggest another way of thinking the WGDX sideboard.


A preliminary consideration on tests : as I play Dragon much better than the archetypes I tested against, I always imagine the best solution against Dragon. The statistics may be biased on that way. I only want to give an idea of the matchups, it's not a scientific working paper :)



a) WGDX vs Ichorid


(i) Main considerations for game 1 :


Ichorid is very fast and can goldfish in 3 turns. Normally, WGDX can also win in 3 turns easily, but it has to face the disruption of Ichorid. First of all, Ichorid has 40% chance to have Leyline in its opening hand (it's actually more than that, because of Serum Powder, nearly 50%). But Ichorid doesn't start without Bazaar of Bagdhad ; this reduces the probability to reach a Leyline at the same time (nearly 20% chances to have both, including the Serum Powder effect).


Moreover, Ichorid gains tempo with Chalice of the Void, Cabal Therapy and Unmask (if played). Game 1, WGDX loses if Leyline reaches the table, in so far as Dragon has not enough time to Cunning Wish a bounce to combo off (Cunning Wish : 2U ; Bounce : U or 1U ; discard+reanim = 1B or 2B ; this may be done at turn 3 or 4, and it's, generally speaking, too late against Ichorid). If there is no Leyline, but Chalice, WGDX has few chances to combo, as artifact acceleration is totally neutralized. On some tests, I won with WGDX in 2 turns with Chalice at zero on the table, but it's a quite rare configuration (beginning hand : 2 lands, .Read the runes, Intuition, Worldgorger Dragon, Animate dead, Animate Dead)


The last Ichorid disruption, Cabal Therapy and Unmask, may annoy Dragon in its combo. But the random effect of Therapy, and the cost of Unmask didn't make a real difference, the main issues for WGDX are Leyline and Chalice, according to the tests.


All these considerations lead me to find a 60/40 statistic in Ichorid's favor, which can be 70/30 if Ichorid begins each game 1. The Ichorid build is really amazing against a powerful classic T1 archetype.


(ii) Sideboard considerations for game 2 :


The main issue for Dragon is to manage Leyline, without weaken its speed. So we have to side in Reverent Silence. Chalice is not as annoying as in game 1, because Ichorid will enter enchantement destruction and lands, and thus will be slower. This will advantage WGDX in some ways. The challenge for the Dragon player is to destroy Leyline in the first two turns, and then combo off, with backup (Force of Will) if there is a multicoloured land on the table (some Ichorids side in Chain of Vapor).


The side table against Ichorid may be as followed :


-2 Thoughtseize

-2 Duress

-1 Deep Analysis

-1 Cunning Wish

+4 Reverent Silence

+1 Chain of Vapor

+1 Echoing Truth


Of course, this strategy is efficient if the Ichorid player expects Leyline in each game 2 and 3 he plays, which is commonly admitted in most tournaments. The main surprise is in the fact that Dragon doesn't side in Leyline against Ichorid, and in the fact that the side of Ichorid is useless against him, unlike slowing itself down. Otherwise, the Oath plan is obviously better to manage 2/2 tokens, Ichorid and the dread return creatures, though it's difficult for the Oath plan to put out a creature before being dead.....


To conclude, the statistic for game 2 is 65/45 for WGDX. Game 3 is about 55/45, and generally speaking, WGDX may side in Kataki to clean out Chalice and block Ichorid to get time. For game 3, if Ichorid anticipates that Dragon won't side Leyline, and keep an explosive option, WGDX still has his chance, in so far as it keeps the quickest way to manage Leyline and combo off next time. I'll show that in the educational games at the end of this article.


b) WGDX vs Flash


(i) Game 1 considerations


Flash is faster than WGDX. Its speed mainly results from the use of pacts, and its setup for the combo is easier than the Dragon one. Flash costs 1U, and only needs a free graveyard (not locked by Leyline or Samurai of the Pale Curtain), and Protean Hulk in hand.


The cons of the Flash combo is that if countered, Flash has difficulties to start again. Moreover, with Leyline on the table, or Ensnaring Bridge, or Chalice of the Void at 2, Flash must find a solution before comboing. And as it doesn't have a strong draw engine, it loses a lot of tempo, despite its tutors. WGDX has an advantage on that, in the sens that it can fill again its hand if most of its threats have been countered.


Game 1 is slightly in favor of Flash, I find a 55/45 ratio. If Flash plays Leyline main deck, its statistic rise dramatically at 65/35, because Dragon hasn't time to manage it, and Flash combos off quickly even with one card less in his opening hand.


(ii) Sideboard strategy :


The main issue of the game 2 is to neutralize the pacts for Dragon, and to enter graveyard hate and Leyline management for Flash. I assume that the Flash player always wants to deal with Leyline in game 2, and as Dragon player, we try to pass through the Flash combo. But unlike Ichorid, Flash sides in more threats on the Dragon combo, like bounces or sometimes Extirpate. WGDX must face all this, without weakening its main engine.


Sideboard table :


-1 Cunning Wish

-1 Intuition

-1 Force of Will

-1 reanim

-1 fetch

+3 Chalice

+2 Reverent Silence


It's very difficult to side against Flash, because if the diversity of the post-side threats the Flash player will keep in game 2. I choose to keep out some Force of Will, because I assume, as Dragon player, that Flash enters managing tools, and thus is less explosive. The first 2 turns will be critical to duress or thoughtsize his hand. With such a sideboard table, I find a 55/45 matchup in favor of WGDX, provided that Flash only sided in Leyline and bounces.


Game 3 is a real bluffing exercise, because it depends on what WGDX did see in the opponent's hand and board on game 2. Extirpate may be sided in by Flash, so Xantid should be entered. I didn't test the 3rd game against Flash, but I think it should be quite balanced, or a narrow advantage to Flash.


Comparing to the Oath plan, my sideboard seems to be weaker against Flash. It is. But don't forget that a sideboard should be build against the whole waiting metagame, and not only for one archetype. I assume that in a more combo metagame, my sideboard should be adapted.


c) WGDX vs Shop decks


(i) General considerations :


Shop Decks are very diversified, but we may distinguish among several types : Prison decks (Stacks), combo decks (MUD/Staff) and aggro decks (ShopAggro, MonobrownAggro). What are the strength of each type ?


Prison decks have a lot of synergies between their permanents to denial the opponent. Smokestacks, Crucible of Worlds, Sphere of Resistance, are together to lock the opponent's strategy. On the contrary, this type of Shop decks kills slowly comparing to a combo deck like WGDX. Combo decks (mainly MUD/Staff) are faster and base their strategy on mana acceleration and Metalworker. The rest of the deck is very annoying with Jester Cap, Spheres, Smokestack, Mindslaver. Finally, Aggro decks use big brown creatures to kill quickly with fewer means to lock the opponent.


(ii) The WGDX sideboard strategy


In game 1, WGDX have a favorable matchup if it begins. Indeed, it needs a few ressources to start the combo, and it rare when Stacks locks in one turn. Moreover, WGDX may disrupt an annoying lock piece before comboing. For MUD, the deck needs time to setup the Staff combo and the infinite mana, and may also disrupted or countered by Dragon. And for Aggro Shop, the lack of locks comparing to the other archetypes is in WGDx's favor.



Thus, the first WGDX statistic against Stax, MUD or AggroShop is between 50 and 60. Some decks which already include gravehate main deck may have a better result against WGDX, like 50/50 or 55/45.


As all these types massively use artifacts, the WGDX strategy is obvious : cleaning the board with Kataki, War Mage, in order to have ressource and tempo to combo off. Chalice at zero also avoid Tormod's, and reanimating a welder is very efficient to make a mess in the opponent's board.


Sideboard table example :


-2 Thoughtseize

-2 Duress

+2 Kataki War Mage

+2 Chalice


This side configuration drastically improves the match-up, especially if we compare it to the Oath Plan. The goal of Dragon is to find Kataki quickly, then the job is nearly done. Only Tolarian Academy or Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth may save Shop decks. WGDX keeps the Force of Will to counter annoying Chalice, Spheres or fatal lock pieces. Game 2 is more favorable to WGDX, with a more stable 55-60 statistic.


5) Some educational games


These games are for illustration only. I simplified them to show the Dragon strategy against the 3 archetypes I studied. These game reports won't be so detailed as the dicemanx's ones, but my point is to show in general the behaviour of WGDX against Ichorid, Flash and Shop.


a) WGDX vs Ichorid game 2


Ichorid, in the first game, killed Dragon with a broken hand : Leyline of the Void, Bazaar of Baghdad, Chalice of the Void, Golgari Grave Troll, Golgari Grave Troll, Street Wise, Cabal Therapy. he won the toss and killed Dragon in 3 turns.


WGDX begins with this opening hand :


Flooded Strand

Worldgorger Dragon

Reverent Silence

Mana vault

Deep analysis

Force of Will

Island


This kind of hand may manage Leyline and draw in the first turns, in order to accelerate the setup of the combo. A Chalice at zero should not be too annoying.


Ichorid begins with the following mulliganed hand :


Bazaar of Baghdad

Cabal Therapy

Ichorid

Leyline of the Void

Reverent Silence

Dryad Arbor


Ichorid still has Leyline and a way to manage the opponent's one, all this with bazaar. No dredge, but a playable Cabal Therapy if needed.



Turn 1 :


Ichorid put Leyline into play.


WGDX :


In hand : Worldgorger Dragon, Deep analysis, Force of Will, Island

In play : Tropical Island (tapped), Mana Vault


In the first turn, Dragon tries to develop his ressources to achieve victory. He's able to vanish Leyline very early, which allows him to combo off in few turns.


Ichorid 's turn :


Ichorid :


In hand : Reverent Silence, Narcomoeba, Serum Powder, Dryad Arbor

In play : Bazaar of Baghdad (tapped)


Ichorid could Cabal next turn, but he doesn't know what his opponent is playing (WGDX was wise enough not to show his deck in game 1). Moreover, he doesn't know if his opponent may not cast Leyline later, so he decides to keep his Dryad.


WGDX : 19 life ; Ichorid : 26 life.


Turn 2 :


WGDX :


At this step, WGDX could draw 2 more cards, but he'd rather keep B open to cast Vampiric in case of an Unmask or a Cabal Therapy.


In hand : Vampiric Tutor, Necromancy, WorldGorger Dragon, Force of Will

In play : Island (tapped), Mana Vault (tapped), Tropical Island, Mox Jet


Ichorid :


In play : Bazaar of Baghdad (tapped), Narcomoeba, Dryad Arbor

In hand : Golgari Grave Troll, Unmask.


Ichorid has a strong turn 2 for a second game, with a lot of dredge and aggressive pieces. Normally, he will kill next turn, though the side has been slowing down his goldfish (Oxidize, Contagion).


Turn 3 :


WGDX:


This game is a run to the victory, once Leyline has been cleaned up. Ichorid is very aggressive, but WGDX can find a solution in a few turns to win. Note that some Ichorid enters Chain of Vapor, and WGDX should be aware of that when he wants to start the combo.


b) WGDX vs Flash game 2


This pretty tough game will show that Flash is very aggressive and WGDX needs all his power to counter it. Flash enters 4 Leyline post-side.


WGDX begins with this opening hand :


Intuition

Polluted Delta

Chalice of the Void,

Mox Pearl

Sol Ring

Deep Analysis

Thoughtseize


This hand is pretty nice against Flash, because it allows a mana acceleration and a lock against pacts. Moreover, WGDX may disrupt the opponent in the first turn.


Flash begins with this broken opening hand :


Pact of Negation

Merchant Scroll

Mox Jet

Force of Will

Flash

Summoner's Pact

Tropical Island


If Flash begins, he wins in the first turn with double backup.


Turn 1 :


WGDX :


In play : Undeground Sea (tapped), Mox Pearl (tapped), Sol Ring, Chalice of the Void

In hand : Deep Analysis, Intuition


Dragon has blocked the explosive hand of Flash, and had bought time to setup his own combo. Note that WGDX prefers to remove Force of Will on Thoughtseize instead of Flash, to stop mana acceleration and pacts with Chalice of the Void.


Flash :


In play : Underground Sea

In hand : Pact of Negation, Merchant Scroll, Summoner's Pact, Mox Jet, Flash, Tropical Island


Flash cannot play anything else for now.


WGDX 17 life ; Flash 19 life


Turn 2 :


WGDX :


In play : Underground Sea (tapped), Sol Ring (tapped), Mox Pearl, Chalice of the Void

In hand : Force of Will, Deep Analysis, Deep Analysis


Dragon wants to make pressure on Flash to win quickly, as there are no gravehate. Moreover, He has a way to counter during the opponent's turn, and to draw with Deep Analysis.




Flash :


In play : Tropical Island, Underground Sea (both tapped)

In hand : Demonic tutor, Pact of Negation, Summoner's Pact, Mox Jet, Flash


Flash wanted to fetch a bounce to remove Chalice, so that he would combo off next turn. Dragon knows that Flash has only one tutor in his hand (he doesn't know about Demonic Tutor), so he counters it.


Dragon 16 life ; Flash 19 life.


Turn 3 :


WGDX :


In play : Underground Sea, Sol Ring, Mox Pearl (all tapped), Chalice of the Void

In hand : Duress, Mox Sapphire.


WGDX continue to dig his deck to find an animate to win. We could regret not to have drawn a land to play duress, but Bazaar will give a new way to dig.


Flash :


In hand : Pact of Negation, Summonner's Pact, Flash, Protean Hulk, Flash

In play : 2 Underground Sea, Tropical Island (all tapped)


Flash continues to setup his combo very quickly, and is favored by a good top deck. Normally, next turn he will win.


WGDX : 16 life, Flash : 18 life.


Turn 4 :


WGDX :


WGDX knows that Flash will win next turn after having successfully cast Demonic Tutor. There's a little chance he draws a bounce, so WGDX tried to start the combo.


c) WGDX against UbaStacks 5C game 2


WGDX has a good matchup against this archetype, provided he can manage the UbaStacks threats wisely. After side, UbaStacks enters mass gravehate, and Dragon an artifact hate : Kataki. We assume here that Dragon won the first game, So UbaStacks begins the 2nd game.


WGDX begins with this opening hand :

Force of Will

Necromancy

Polluted Delta

Ancestral Recall

Necromancy

Forbidden Orchard

Vampiric Tutor


It a correct hand against Stacks, but with some weaknesses : only one piece of the combo, a Force of Will which cannot be used without pitching Ancestral Recall, and no mana acceleration. Nevertheless, WGDX keeps this hand.


Stacks begins with this (mulliganed):

Trinisphere

Mishra's Workshop

Black Lotus

Crucible of Worlds

Wasteland

SmokeStack


This is a very explosive hand, with a lot of lock pieces, 3 heavy threats.


Turn 1 :


UbaStacks :


In play : Crucible of Worlds, Mishra's Workshop (tapped)

In hand : Wasteland, Smokestack


UbaStacks will destroy one opponent's land each turn. Fortunately, WGDX was able to counter the Triniphere ; if not, Stacks would have locked the opponent in one turn.


WGDX :


In play : Swamp

In hand : Read The Runes, Necromancy, Necromancy, Forbidden Orchard, Vampiric Tutor


WGDX chose a basic land to avoid Wasteland, and will be able to reach Kataki and cast it next turn.


UbaStacks 20 life ; WGDX 18 life.


Turn 2 :


UbaStacks


WGDX taps swamp for Vampiric Tutor (-2 life) and chooses Kataki War Mage.


In play : Crucible of Worlds, Smokestack, Wasteland (tapped), Mishra's Workshop (tapped), Tormod's Crypt

In hand : nothing


Stacks continues to lock the opponent by doing board advantage. Moreover, there is a gravehate permanent which prevent WGDX to combo off.


WGDX :


In play : Swamp, Forbidden Orchard (both tapped), Kataki War Mage.

In hand : Necromancy, Read The Runes, Necromancy


WGDX wants to balance again the board, by dropping Kataki. This will force Stacks to choose what to keep on the board. UbaStacks can manage Kataki by two means : Triskelion or Tolarian Academy, but with no cards in hand, WGDX will have time to combo off.


UbaStacks 20 life ; WGDX 16 life.


Turn 3 :


UbaStacks :


In play : SmokeStack(1), Wasteland (tapped), Mishra's Workshop, token 1/1

In hand : nothing


Stacks chooses to keep SmokeStack to annoy the opponent's mana base, even if there is a little chance that WGDX combo off next turn. He assumes that no piece of the Worldgorger combo is setup, so he prefers to keep the opponent's permanents under pressure. Moreover, the 1/1 token helps him to win the permanents war.


WGDX :


In hand : Necromancy

In play : Swamp, Kataki War Mage (all tapped), Island


WGDX runs quicker with the Black Lotus acceleration, but is still late on the permanents run. A attrition war begins, in favor of UbaStacks5C, which had a very broken beginning hand. I stop the analysis here, because the game is very long, but for your information, WGDX wins after a serie of topdecks and sacrifices of permanents (and some Uba's mistakes).


This game shows that WGDX may balance the permanent war against any Stacks deck, though the beginning hand was not explosive. Of course, the attribution war is generally speaking in favor of UbaStacks5C, but if he's not winning enough tempo, WGDX can combo off quickly, removing the annoying lockpieces of Stacks.


6) Conclusion :


This article was trying to think about the Worldgorger archetype and his adaptation to the current aggressive and very diversified metagame. The tests show, despite the empirical limitations, that WGDX has a strong combo and draw engine which achieve quickly to victory. The sideboard is for evidence in constant evolution, but my sideboard choices allow to manage the main Dragon challengers.


Of course, the player skill, the random first hand, the mulligan choice, the opponent's mistakes, the influence of the metagame environment, all this has an impact on the WGDX choice. A Dragon build needs a real good knowledge of the Magis rules, a lot of bluff, thinking, anticipation and rationality to achieve victory. The WGDX strategy is quite complex, compairing to some archetype like Flash or Ichorid, which are more simple to build.


This is the charm of the WorldGorger archetype, and its complexity explains that it is so few played in tournaments. But statistics show that some good players make results with such a build, even in a very annoying metagame. We hope the community will still try to work on this archetype, and to my mind, I consider that the Worldgorger build has not been totally studied and a lot of new things should be tested now.


Thanks for reading,


fury