Sand Strangler Graduates to Main Deck!

Stephen King said it.

William Faulkner said it first.

Kill. Your. Darlings.

Which darlings, you ask.

How about the automatic three-of (if not four-of) at the Ramunap Red four? Hazoret the Fervent.

Cut Hazoret? Are you crazy?

Hazoret the Fervent versus Whirler Virtuoso

As a red mage, have you ever faced off against Whirler Virtuoso? If you haven't, it sucks. It's just really hard to bust through, even though you have one of the best offensive threats in the format.

Now imagine -- assuming sufficient Desert power -- Sand Strangler against Whirler Virtuoso.

Smoosh, right? Smoosh.

When essentially half of the format is Energy decks, Sand Strangler over Hazoret main deck starts to make more sense.

Pro Tour Hall of Famer Ben Stark executed on exactly this plan, finishing in the finals of Grand Prix Atlanta with a new look at Ramunap Ruins.

For reference: Desert Red, by Ben Stark

Wait a minute! Don't I just suck in the mirror now?

While cutting Hazoret -- one of the most important cards in the mirror match -- certainly costs you percentage in the mirror, Ben counterbalanced with the duo of Sand Strangler and Glorybringer.

Remember: Sand Strangler and Glorybringer are two of the most frequently sided in cards in Red Deck mirrors.

So while you lose some Hazoret points, you get back some "free" sideboard creature points.

... And it's not like Ben's deck can't side in a bunch of Hazorets after boards.

But mathematically? There is more Energy than Red right now. Ben's metagaming was simply masterful.

New Decks Aplenty

Desert Red was cool, but it wasn't alone.

This week Patrick and Mike tackle such instant classics as:

• Esper Approach of the Second Sun
• U/G Electrostatic Pummeler (with four copies of Bristling Hydra, for Mike)
• Grixis builds aplenty

Check out "Masterfully Metagaming Sand Strangler" and you too may just become a metagame master!