Most of the time we’re going to talk about tournament decks on this blog. Decks that have performed well in a tournament, usually making top 8 or top 16 at a championship level tournament. Occasionally we will focus on decks that come from top tier players, playtesters or members of the R&D team. The next Regional Championship is this weekend at Everfree Northwest so let’s get right to business and talk about a deck. Today we’re going to focus on a deck that I had a lot of fun with in playtesting for Canterlot Nights, Princess Luna and her friends attacking some Villains. Since the release of Canterlot Nights I’ve had a few times to play around with the deck, made a few changes given the current metagame and I’ve still been impressed with the deck but more importantly I’ve had a lot of fun with the deck.

Princess Luna, Princess of the Night

It’s Alive x2

Parasprite Pandemic x2

Ponyville in a Bottle x2

Ancient Research x2 (Starting)

Lost in the Crystal Caves x2

Applejack, Element of Honesty x1

Bright Blub, Seasoned Strategist x3

Spring Forward, Companionable Filly x2

Lady Justice, Judge & Jury x2

Twilight Sparkle, All-Team Organizer x3

Twilight Sparkle, Noted Speaker x2

Twilight Sparkle, Ursa Vanquisher x2

Princess Luna, Mare In the Moon x1

Blue Jay, Warbler x3

Forest Owl, Novice Assistant x3

Eagle, Scouring Raptor x3

Fluttershy, Monster Tamer x1

Back Where You Began x3

Critter Cavalry x3

Nurture With Nature x2

Staring Contest x2

Royal Guidance x3

Ahuizotl x2

Nightmare Moon x1

Queen Chrysalis x3

The major focus of the deck is Villains and their ability to disrupt opponents. Princess Luna, Princess of the Night allows you to successfully defeat your own Villains without much effort. The deck relies on some of the mid-game to late-game strategies to successfully outscore your opponents. It is not a control deck by any means but it also isn’t a deck that will outrush your standard Blue or Yellow deck in the early turns. Surviving the early onslaught with the help of your Villains should be enough and then the faster but leaner aggressive strategies will have trouble dealing with your larger Friends.

The deck has some fun and powerful interactions. Princess Luna, Princess of the Night; Princess Luna, Mare in the Moon; and Fluttershy, Monster Tamer all have very favorable interactions with your own Villains. One of my favorite interactions is Twilight Sparkle, Noted Speaker and Critter Cavalry. Mix Twilight Sparkle, Noted Speaker with any combination of Spring Forward, Lady Justice, Forest Owl and Critter Calvary and it’s very hard for your opponent (or your own Villains) to win a face off. The deck runs the standard Purple movement cards to help keep faceoffs on your own schedule and keep your Villains causing your opponents the maximum interference.

One of the mistakes I see deck builders make is the insistence on running three copies of every card they’re planning on running. It is true that you want redundancy as much as possible to successfully score 15 points before your opponent. However that redundancy doesn’t always have to include actual card redundancy. An overly aggressive strategy like Blue/Yellow will want to run as many multiples as possible because it’s relying on hitting your one and two cost characters on the first few turns. However a deck like this wants to win in the middle turns. Allowing yourself the flexibility as a deckbuilder to have a powerful card like Fluttershy, Monster Tamer but not clog your hand with unplayable cards will open your deck’s usefulness against all comers. Cards like Lady Justice or Twilight Sparkle, Ursa Vanquisher are often just as effective with one copy as they are with two copies. Reducing your reliance on a specific card is something I recommend players out there try out, you’d be surprised with the results.

I hope you enjoy the deck, look for some other decks in the days and weeks to come.

The link from our friends at Ponyhead.com

http://tinyurl.com/mmwwnfx

Trevor McGregor