Headed to Alabama for work. Was able to sneak out one night to a local store. I had a list from playing standard online but wasn’t sure if the shop would have those cards.
But they did! I bought the deck and a pack of sleeves for something like $150. I sold the deck to Card Kingdom afterwards for about $120 in store credit. I also went 3-0 with the deck, so I was slightly ahead on the prize payout. I calculated that I was able to show up, buy a deck and play for ~$30. Pretty good value! Magic!
You’ll see the list is pretty much 4-ofs. I’ve since seen some different builds that now use something like Mayhem Devil, to combo with a Citadel activation. Also have now seen Doom Whisperer to help when going off (surveil). Both seem like good plans, but splashing red takes out some of the budget friendly nature of the deck. Here’s the list:
Citadel Explore
| Mana (23) 9 Forest 4 Woodland Cemetery 6 Swamp 4 Overgrown Tomb Support (12) 4 Gift of Paradise 4 Bond of Flourishing 4 Path of Discovery Combo (5) 4 Bolas’s Citadel 1 Heroic Reinforcements Monsters (20) 4 Jadelight Ranger 4 Merfolk Branchwalker 4 Seekers’ Squire 4 Wayward Swordtooth 4 Wildgrowth Walker | Sideboard (15) 2 Vraska’s Contempt 4 Tishana’s Wayfinder 4 Duress 4 Deadeye Tracker 1 Murder |
Small shop, small number of players; 4 of us so we played round robin.
RD 1 vs. Bolas.dec, 1-0, 2-0
Bolas Raver, Bolas other stuff. I won in 2 games. G1 was just aggro aggro aggro, while he basically had lands and planeswalkers. He was able to play Nicol Bolas GP and kill a guy, then he died.
G2 was similar, except I put in more dudes.
RD 2 vs. Junk 2-0, 4-0
I don’t remember all the cards, but he played a guy that fetches another guy. We got into a stalemate and both games I top deck Citadel and go off.
RD 3 vs. Phoenix 3-0, 6-1?
G1 /G2 I forget I think he killed me quick one but maybe not. Same kind of stale mate war, he durdles a while. But after board the Deadeye Tracker does work keeping stuff out of the yard, and that makes the difference in a grind. In the final game I gained a ton of life via the Branchwalkers w/ active Citadel, and he was attacking with lots of Saheeli tokens at a time, since I kept hitting lands.
All in all, a fun time out. Support your LGS! Super blast to play, 10/10, would Explore again.