Magic the Gathering - Dragons of Tarkir Landslide Charge Event Deck Review

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Many players weren't a fan of the Khans of Tarkir Event Deck. The Fate Reforged Clash Pack was full of value, however. Now that Wizards is only making Event Decks every other set, it's once again time for a new Event Deck with Dragons of Tarkir. Landslide Charge isn't perhaps the huge value that the Clash Packs have been, but it is a playable Constructed deck.

The cover card of this deck is Thunderbreak Regent, a Dragon from Dragons of Tarkir that has attracted a great deal of hype. First of all, being a Red Dragon has driven up his price due to casual appeal. But he's a pretty solid creature for Standard, as well. The Regent is a 4/4 flyer for 2RR (2 colorless, 2 Red) that deals 3 damage to any player that targets it or another Dragon with a spell or ability an opponent controls.

The Regent is therefore a bit tricky to remove. It's obviously best used in a Dragon-centered deck. With the various Dragonlords from Dragons of Tarkir seeing play, it's not hard to see Regent seeing a good amount of play for the foreseeable future.

Let's take a look at the deck list:


Creatures (23)
4     Elvish Mystic
4     Heir of the Wilds
4     Fanatic of Xenagos
2     Golden Hind     
2     Mogis's Warhound     
1     Yasova Dragonclaw     
1     Boon Satyr     
1     Savage Knuckleblade     
1     Polis Crusher     
1     Mistcutter Hydra     
1     Surrak, the Hunt Caller     
1     Thunderbreak Regent

Non-Creature Spells (12)
2     Wild Slash     
2     Lightning Strike     
2     Temur Charm     
2     Roast     
1     Arc Lightning     
1     Crater's Claws     
1     Stubborn Denial     
1     Outpost Siege
    
Lands (25)
10     Forest         
5     Mountain         
4     Evolving Wilds         
4     Frontier Bivouac         
1     Temple of Abandon         
1     Island   
     
Sideboard (15)
2     Arc Lightning     
2     Rending Volley     
2     Disdainful Stroke     
2     Encase in Ice     
2     Abzan Beastmaster     
2     Reclamation Sage     
2     Act of Treason     
1     Stubborn Denial

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Chase Rares & Creature Spells

The two "chase" rares in the deck are the aforementioned Thunderbreak Regent and Outpost Siege, the latter of which has seen tons of Standard play. Most of the time you'd use the Khans ability for some pseudo-card draw. But the Dragons ability is pretty good if you're playing a more creature-based deck. It's a strong card that many Red Deck Wins variants have used.

While many of the other rares in the deck aren't currently worth a ton of money, there are tons of playable cards. Boon Satyr, Mistcutter Hydra, and Polis Crusher are all from Theros and rotated out of the Standard format in October 2015. The Hydra continues to see play in sideboards in Modern and Legacy, due to its protection from blue. The Satyr has seen plenty of play in the past, mostly in mono-Green Devotion, but other cards have pushed it out of those decks. Polis Crusher is really only useful against Enchantments, but is excellent in the right match-up (for example, taking out an opposing Courser of Kruphix.)

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The other rares in the deck are more recent and all fairly useful. Yasova Dragonclaw has become quite popular in Commander, and is pretty useful in other Constructed decks, as well. Her ability to steal opposing creatures for only 3 mana is extremely powerful. Even though the power of the opposing creature must be less than Yasova's (usually 4), that's most of the time going to be useful enough. A repeatable Act of Treason effect is pretty strong.

Crater's Claws is a X burn spell that has being seeing a lot of Constructed play. With the amount of mana ramp available in this deck, between the 4 Elvish Mystics and 2 Golden Hinds, it's possible to burn a player for a great amount of damage. There are also a ton of creatures with power 4 or more in the deck, so the additional 2 damage that the card's Ferocious effect provides should happen more often than not.

Besides the Temple of Abandon, the last two rares in the deck are Savage Knuckleblade and Surrak, the Hunt Caller. Knuckleblade is a 4/4 creature for only 3 mana and has 3 abilities, one of which is its ability to gain haste for a single Red mana. It can also dodge removal for 2U (2 colorless, 1 Blue) by returning to your hand. Also, for 2G (2 colorless, 1 Green) Knuckleblade can gain +2/+2 until end of turn. It's a powerful creature that activates Ferocious and go head to head with most creatures.

Surrak, the Hunt Caller is a 5/4 Human Warrior for 2GG (2 colorless, 2 Green) with a Formidable ability that gives a creature Haste during each combat phase on your turn. Gathering the 8 necessary power to activate this ability is fairly easy with this deck, especially with his own 5 power, so he can often give himself haste. Another cool thing about his ability is that you can play your "mana dorks" such as the Mystic and Golden Hind in your first main phase, give them haste during combat, and tap them for mana during your second main phase. He's solid as a one-of, especially in this deck.

The rest of the creature line-up is rounded out by Fanatic of Xenagos, Heir of the Wilds, and Mogis's Warhound. The Fanatic is a strong creature that has not seen as much play as some expected. The Fanatic is a strong creature that has not seen as much play as some expected. It's always going to be a 4/4 when it hits the field, whether its tribute is paid or not. In this deck, he's very powerful and will often have haste.

Heir of the Wilds is very often going to be a 3/3 when it attacks due to all of the creatures in this deck that are either power 4 on their own or can be with their effects (like the Fanatic.) Also, having Deathtouch means that larger creatures may not want to block it. The Heirs and the Fanatics work well together as a team.

The 2 copies of Mogis's Warhound are basically in the deck to help guarantee Ferocious by giving another creature +2/+2 when it's Bestowed. You'll rarely play him as a 2/2 for 1R who must attack every turn if able. When you go about improving the deck, these are probably the first two creatures to go, probably in place of 2 more copies of Savage Knuckleblade.

Non-Creature Spells and Mana Base

Besides Craters' Claws and Outpost Siege, the non-creature spell lineup is headlined by Wild Slash from Fate Reforged and Roast from Dragons of Tarkir. While Wild Slash doesn't look exciting, it's a Shock that can stop damage from being prevented; it has been seeing plenty of Standard play. Roast can deal with big creatures such as Siege Rhino, which is one of this deck's worst nightmares as a 4/5 wall. It's even become quite a popular removal card in Modern.

The other non-creature spells are 2 Lightning Strike, 2 Temur Charm, 1 Stubborn Denial, and 1 Arc Lightning. It's just enough burn to deal with most chump blockers and the last points of damage. If you find you need more, there's plenty to turn to in the sideboard. There are 2 more Arc Lightnings and 2 Disdainful Stroke for additional counter-magic. Also, you have 2 Rending Volleys to deal with specifically white and blue creatures and 2 Encase in Ice to deal with red and green creatures.

Two copies of Reclamation Sage help with artifact and enchantment removal if you need it. Two of Act of Treason help you deal with stealing big creatures from your opponent to guarantee swinging in for major damage. Lastly, there are 2 copies of Abzan Beastmaster if you feel you need extra draw power.

The mana base is fairly solid, as well, with 4 copies of Frontier Bivouac to provide all three colors of mana for the deck. It would be better with 4 copies of a fetchland like Wooded Foothills instead of the much slower Evolving Wilds.

Improving the Deck & Conclusions

Landslide Charge is a pretty decent start to a Temur (red/green/blue) deck, although it does have a lot of Theros block cards like Fanatic of Xenagos in it. But this deck could be improved fairly quickly. My first inclination would be to remove the 2 Mogis's Warhound for 2 more Savage Knuckleblade (as mentioned early), and moving the Polis Crusher to the sideboard for a 4th copy of the Knuckleblade. The Mistcutter Hydra is probably better off in the sideboard, as well. Ashcloud Phoenix would be a better option for this deck. Another creature to consider would be Rattleclaw Mystics in place of the Golden Hinds for more consistent mana ramp.

Overall, Landslide Charge is a pretty good Event Deck, and as it's one that is typically selling for under retail, not a bad investment if you plan to play in your local Friday Night Magic and need a deck that just needs a few tune-ups to be fun to play while also being reasonably competitive.