The Nationals Metagme-Sen'Zir

Getting back to Constructed today, we're going to start taking a look at some of what I consider to be the Tier 2 decks. For any people who really like these decks, keep in mind when I say a deck is Tier 2, I don't mean it is worse than the Tier 1 decks. It's just not as popular.

Today we're going to take a look at a deck that has spent the majority of its time flying way below the radar despite being a very solid deck with the numbers to back it up, Sen'Zir mid-range.

This deck hasn't made any top 8 appearances so I'm just going to use a recent Regionals top 8 decklist.

2 Bestial Wrath
3 Trophy Kill
3 Wing Clip
3 Master of the Hunt
4 Scout Omerrta
4 Waz'luk
4 Gellrin
3 Taz'dingo
3 Hur Shieldsmasher
2 Moko Hunts-at-Dawn
4 Hootie
3 Chops
4 Thunderhead Hippogryph
4 Fury

2 Lord Alexander's Battle Axe

4 Torek's Assault
4 Chasing A-me
4 Kibler's Exotic Pets

This deck has a lot of raw power in it. There's a lot of efficiency early on, backed up by sheer, brute force in the later game. It doesn't have much in the way of tricks. This deck has one goal and one goal only, smash face. Coincidentally, it does that very well. This deck's biggest strength tends to be its ability to overwhelm the control decks that are geared to handle the cheaper Alliance rush decks. This deck is far more resilient in the face of the weenie hate that continues to pop up because it's guys are bigger and have Ferocity. Throw in Bestial Wrath and Sen'zir's flip ability and getting rid of one Fury can pose problems.

The deck is not without its weaknesses though. I played a deck similar to the Sen'Zir builds in a local tournament a few weeks ago, but I played Azarak for Warmaster Hork and Hidden Enemies on Debros. The deck has a lot of power, but the thing that I disliked most was that it never felt like I had any control over the deck. Let me explain that. When I played the deck, it felt like whether I won or lost was almost entirely decided by my draws. I didn't have much room to really play the deck. I hope that this point is coming across the way I intend because it's a little hard to put into words.

Let's take a look at some matchups.

Phadalus-From my experience, this mathup really comes down to how well your opponent plays Phadalus. If they play well, you're going to have some problems. The problem for Sen'Zir here is that the entire game is basically dictated by Phadalus. As a Sen'Zir player, you can't start trying to make a bunch of 2-for-1's with your bigger allies thinking you'll eventually run them out of cards and your big guys can take over. They simply don't run out of cards, so your strategy is basically to race. This is where the skill of the Phadalus player comes in. If they know how to control your aggression while maintaining their own, your only chance is to draw significantly better than they do. You don't get as many attacks as they do so you can't waste any of them. Where you will spend 5 resources to play 1 big guy, they will spend 5 resources to play 3. The fact that they play so many guys (and more importantly that their 2's trade with your 5's) this is a very tough matchup for Sen'Zir.

Pagatha-This matchup is better for Sen'Zir. Pagatha doesn't particularly like big allies or ferocity. Most Pagatha decks are better suited for handling swarms of small allies and for good reason. But turns 5 to 9 are really Pagatha's weak point. When the heavy hitters start to come out but before Spirit Healers and Fel Armors really kick in . This deck handles Lok'helar slightly better than most because of the Ferocity and a Bestial Wrath on Fury can let him attack.

Telrander-This matchup is the reason Wing Clips are in the deck. One well-timed Wing Clip will end the game. This matchup is almost a pure race with neither deck really caring much what the other is doing (outside of the aforementioned Wing Clip). As a Sen'Zir player you have to understand here that you can't get caught up in trying to remove the early ally rush because that's what they want you to do. If you spend your early turns focusing on the allies, then you won't have time to kill them once they get all Feral'd up. Make smart trades when you need to (such as a Taz'Dingo for a Jeleane) but your big guys need to be going to the face. With Frost Traps in the board this matchup becomes easier games 2 and 3.

Bulkas-I'm going to be honest, many of these Tier 2/Tier 2 matchups I haven't tested very much. From my experience in this one, it seems to favor Sen'Zir. Bulkas is another control deck that was really designed to beat up on the rush decks. The signature card of the deck, Cruelty, is more of a mild annoyance than anything. Hur Shieldsmashers main help make sure there's no annoying armor soaking up your damage. The deck isn't particularly designed to handle such big allies and most with Ferocity. If they manage to get the Ranged weapon + Wraith Scythe + DD Breastplate going, you could be in trouble, but a Hur Shieldsmasher can put a quick end to that.

Gorebelly-This one seems like it favors the Gorebelly deck a little bit. It has enough of an early rush to put Sen'Zir in a hole and then finish it with the one big turn. Much like Telrander, I think that Sen'Zir has to simply race here and make a good trade or 2. But again, the big guys have to go the dome. Wing Clips are big in this match, and I think I would try to save them for the Heroic Strike turn and hope they are relying on Rak and not Mortal Strike. This matchup and Telrander make me think if I were playing this deck I might want to find room for Frost Traps. The hero doesn't attack much and the one turn of no attacks can be enough to win a close game. It would also be solid against Phadalus.

Azarak-This deck is similar to Bulkas, but I think this one is slightly better vs. Gorebelly. It doesn't have much in the way of answers to Mortal Strike, but it also has Wing Clips for the Rak turn, Frost Traps to slow things down and it can bring its ranged weapon online sooner than Bulkas. With any support the ranged weapon can pose a problem because it can take out your allies without them getting to deal any damage back. A lot of the allies are big enough to survive one hit with a Blackcrow, which is very nice and the Ferocity also means they will at least get one attack in before they get taken out. Basically, you just want to play all your guys and swing with them. Frost Trap is decent here as it stops the Rapid Fire turn, which can drag the game out some, but don't overestimate that ability. Azarak can win without Rapid Fire, so don't think shutting down that turn is the same as shutting off a Mortal Strike.

Grennan-Grennan has a definite trump card in this matchup. Stone Guard Rashun is definitely a problem. He shuts off your ferocity, which essentially just makes your guys overcosted. If you don't remove him quickly he can single handedly win the game for your opponent. One of the problems in this matchup is they have almost as much beef as you with early beaters thrown in. This matchup is probably close, but I would think that the slight edge goes to Grennan because of SGR.

Nimaaus-Normally, this is where I just say that this deck is very similar to the Shaman deck and this matchup plays much the same way. Unfortunately, this is one of those times when that's not true. Hammer of Justice is a significant thorn in your side against a Paladin rush deck. Used on a Moko or Fury it can effectively soak up 10 damage, which will often be enough to let them finish you off before you finish them. This is also one of the times that Consecration tends to be worse than Chain Lightning since it can't take out a Fury, but the added effectiveness of Hammer of Justice slightly helps that.

Tomorrow, I would like to talk some more about drafting before I finish up the week with more Constructed analysis.