| Rogue Elephant: An Introduction | by Paul David Jones on 12/05/2010 | Rogue Elephant: An Introduction
For those a bit confused by Lorwyn, the phrase Rogue deck has been used in Magic circles for years and doesn’t often mean a deck built around the Rogue creature type. Most tournament players research into popular decks, look into what pros play and build whatever seems to be winning the most games, this is known as ‘Meta Gaming’. The players will then play-test the deck to get a feel of it, tweaking it to suit their individual style of play, these decks will get generalized into a deck-type. The meta game not only means you know what the strongest decks are, but it means you have a good idea what you will come up against. Meta gamers retune sideboards to what they expect to be playing against. For example, if a lot of people in your local FNM are running mono-black vampires, a white player would benefit heavily from celestial purge.
However, not all players meta game, many still build their own decks from scratch utilizing original ideas. Most of the time those decks aren’t as strong as what the world champions are playing (hence them being world champions), but you can still come out with a strong deck that has one major advantage and its where the term rogue comes from - they never see you coming. If you manage to catch your opponent off-guard and get yourself a game win, odds are their sideboard won’t have inefficient answers to your questions while you can side in your ass-whoopin’-meta-bashin’ sideboard of ultimate doom. As I mentioned earlier about the meta-game, it’s what everyone is playing so its something even a rogue needs to understand, know thy enemy.
Also, I know I said everybody plays what’s popular, but remember that everyone also deck builds. Sure, you may see 70% of people playing whatever they found on Google that had the best win rate, but that leaves 30% playing their own thing, some times even the most dedicated meta-gamers will show up now and then with a rogue deck. Even if it’s a typical Jund deck that ramps into a Karthus, it’s gonna hurt. You should be prepared for people who are also playing their own concoction, and you may even find a rare mirror match, trust me, it happens. Expect the unexpected, or you might just get trampled by a rogue elephant.
I intend to explore the world of magic with you, through the eyes of a rogue. Each article will take a look into examine the deck concepts which I develop and probe for upsides and downsides to the deck, discussing effective methods and unfortunate mistakes. The first idea I’d like to discuss is a Standard deck that I built just after Zendikar release. It’s been a staple of Magic for many, many years and yet seemed to be forgotten, although has seen a small comeback since just before the release of Worldwake, White Weenie.
White weenie is generally easy to build, select the most efficient low cost creatures you can and put them in a deck, which differs greatly from my usual ‘ramp and drop a threat’ approach. This was a new direction for me, so I thought it’d be a good place to start.
This is the initial draft of the deck:
Creatures
4x Steppe Lynx
4x Knight of the White Orchid
4x Elite Vanguard
4x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Kor Skyfisher
4x White Knight
Enchantments
4x Honor of the Pure
Land
18x Plains
2x Emeria, the Sky Ruin
Spells
4x Brave the Elements
4x Harm's Way
4x Path to Exile
Sideboard
4x Devout Lightcaster 3x Mark of Asylum 4x Celestial Purge 4x Day of Judgment
First trial run I came 2/2 in a 4 round FNM, not the greatest run. I found that my hand was often clogged up with too many spells to get my opponents life down quick enough. I’d also constructed a sideboard to punch Jund and Vampires in the face, since they seemed to be what everybody was playing when I first thought of the deck. Unfortunately, since I had ordered the majority of my deck off ebay, by the time I got to play the deck everyone had new decks too try, including a few White Weenie decks.
My deck seemed to lose out in the mirror match due to either not drawing honor the pure (and my opponent having 2 or 3 on field), or my opponent dropping a Conquerer’s pledge.
The sheer amount of first strike made it strong against a lot of decks, and a ball lightning running at you seems a lot less intimidating when your Kazandu Blademaster steps in the way.
In short, the deck had issues burning out, and when drawing to many spells, clumping. I tried it again, ditching the far too slow Emerias and the Paths. I found that Path to Exile, aswell as the aforementioned clumping, often helped my opponent accelerate ahead of me. Ditching them proved beneficial. I also added in 2 Conquerer’s Pledge to the main board and an Emeria Angel to the sideboard. The next 2 weeks my result was 3/1 and 3/2, with the game losses leaving my opponents on around 2 life, showing that the changes were effective to say the least. I found that the deck stalled a lot less, and the Pledge meant that I could survive the late game. Harm’s way shown incredible potential, allowing me to avoid trading off 2/2 first strikers with the 3/3s of Jund, or redirecting my opponents damage to unblocked critters to save me their trouble next turn.
 
I see your Lightning Bolt...and raise you!
Another card I’ll stand by is Brave the Elements, this card is an essential toolbox for White Weenie. Despite hearing again and again that I should ditch this card, I found it was the strongest card in the deck. A fair few friends advised me to sideboard this card, and I could never understand why. Do I want it against a control deck? Yes! Do I want it against a creature deck? Yes! Even against combo I’d play it. Whether you’re throwing all your guys as blockers and using it to save from trading off, dodging a maelstrom pulse or making your army unblockable, this card will do the job! I also found that main decking White Knight really paid off, and often resulted in anyone playing black calling me dirty names, which is always refreshing to hear from Jund players. The Devout Lightcasters in the sideboard really done the job, I ended up taking out the Celestial Purges and just running the Lightcasters.
 
Sprouting Thrinax? You call that a 2 for 1?
If I were to rebuild the deck again there are a few changes I would implement. A few more bombs would be added, as discussed early, a bomb is required to avoid the deck running out of steam, whether it’s a hefty Baneslayer Angel or a mob formed under a Conqueror’s Pledge. Personally, I’d like to give Emeria Angel a run, with the use of fetch lands like Arid Mesa and bouncing land with Kor Skyfisher, its an efficient bomb at a low, low price. No prizes for guessing the next addition, fetch lands. Anyone who knows Steppe Lynx knows that its more than worth paying that one life to deliver a mighty wallop to your opponents by utilizing landfall, and not even costing you a spell slot.
 
We go together like Rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong
So hopefully this has given you some idea or interest into going rogue, and once I’ve sorted my next concoction I’ll get right on to you. |  Comment on this article.
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The Week Ahead
Tuesday - Casual, EDH & more at West Coast Gamers (7:15pm)
Wednesday - FNM at The Gaming Crypt (7pm)
Friday - Standard FNM at Cleator Gaming Club (7pm)
Saturday - Peasant Vanguard at Workington Gaming Group (11am)
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