The Deck of the Week this week is a new version of the Caw Go deck Brian Kibler introduced to us a while back. Caw Go gained Sword of Feast and Famine from Mirrodin Besieged and wasted no time taking advantage of it by adding four Stoneforge Mystics to the main deck, thus making the transformation into Caw Blade.

Caw Blade has made quite an impact in Standard already. Ben Stark won the Pro Tour in Paris the other week wielding the white equipment fetcher and the Besieged sword and the deck is already exploding in popularity, just check the Magic Online Daily Events. Here the list Ben Stark’s ran at Pro Tour Paris:

Caw Blade by Ben Stark

CREATURES (8)
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Stoneforge Mystic

PLANESWALKERS (7)
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3 Gideon Jura

ARTIFACTS (2)
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sylvok Lifestaff

INSTANTS (9)
4 Spell Pierce
3 Mana Leak
1 Deprive
1 Stoic Rebuttal

SORCERIES (8)
4 Preordain
4 Day of Judgment

LANDS (26)
4 Celestial Colonnade
4 Glacial Fortress
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Scalding Tarn
5 Island
4 Plains

SIDEBOARD (15)
4 Oust
2 Banslayer Angel
2 Divine Offering
2 Flashfreeze
1 Negate
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sword of Body and Mind

The deck is pretty similar to the original Caw Go, but don’t be fooled, the adjustments that were made added a ton to the deck.

Stoneforge Mystic allows you to put a ton of pressure on your opponent early, especially against another control deck. By fetching Sword of Feast and Famine, and using Stoneforge Mystic’s ability to sneak it into play past your opponent’s counter magic you can proceed to play your spells, disrupt them via discard, and put them on a respectable clock all while still being able to leave counter mana up on their turn.

Against Valakut Ramp being able to take the role as the aggressor changes the match up dynamically. Rather than having to grind out a long game and control it the entire time you can put them on a clock while still countering their ramp or threats and forcing them to discard whatever is left over. Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of Body and Mind are also pretty good answers to Thrun, the Last Troll and Gaea’s Revenge making sure you don’t end up as the control player who is awkwardly holding a full grip of Flashfreezes while getting beaten down by a Troll.. (at least not as often)

Against aggressive decks like Boros and Kuldotha Red Stoneforge Mystic can fetch up Sylvok Lifestaff to equip itself and it’s Hawk friends which is absolutely nuts against them. At the very least it gets you to Day of Judgment and Gideon Jura mana.

The fact that Stoneforge Mystic allows you to do all this has many players describing it as the white Bitterblossom. Caw Blade will surely be around to stay. Of course some adjustments will need to be made going forward. Preparing for the mirror will obviously need to be taken into consideration and there will also be a lot more players looking for ways to beat it now that it’s clearly a deck to beat.

In terms of adjustments Sun Titan is starting to get the nod (at least on Magic Online) as it allows you to recur your threats or blockers, and bring back any destroyed equipment. Cutting Day of Judgment and other cards that aren’t spectacular in the mirror could also be a good place to start. And then there’s Tumble Magnet, additional Divine Offerings, and main deck Baneslayer Angels which are all cards that have also been suggested.

Bonus:

Since we didn’t have a Deck of the Week last week we will talk about another deck that is hitting the competitive scene right now: Caw Blade! Err, I mean Extended Caw Blade!

That’s right! So pick up your Stoneforge Mystics and Sword of Feast and Famines now before it’s to late and they start skyrocketing in price (hint: it’s already too late). Stoneforge Mystic and quite of bit of the Standard Caw Blade shell made it’s way to Extended and won itself a Magic Online PTQ the other day. Here’s the deck list that won the Pro Tour Qualifier on 2/20/2011:

Extended Caw Blade by _SipItHolla

CREATURES (12)
4 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Vendilion Clique
1 Mulldrifter

PLANESWALKERS (2)
2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

ARTIFACTS (2)
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Body and Mind

INSTANTS (13)
4 Cryptic Command
4 Mana Leak
2 Spell Pierce
3 Path to Exile

SORCERIES (6)
4 Preordain
2 Day of Judgment

LANDS (25)
4 Celestial Colonnade
2 Glacial Fortress
2 Mystic Gate
4 Seachrome Coast
4 Mutavault
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Arid Mesa
4 Island
3 Plains

SIDEBOARD (15)
2 War Priest of Thune
2 Sower of Temptation
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Kor Sanctifiers
2 Day of Judgment
1 Journey to Nowhere
2 Baneslayer Angel
2 Burrenton Forgetender
1 Spell Pierce

Now besides the lack of Squadron Hawk the Extended Caw Blade list is fairly similar to the Standard list. Like Faeries, Caw Blade uses Mutavault to bring the man-land count up to eight. The additional man-lands, Kitchen Finks, and Vendilion Clique help Stoneforge Mystic have more creatures to attach it’s Blades to. Also cards like Cryptic Command and Path to Exile are welcomed awesome additions to the deck.

I’m sure Caw Blade will be a popular Extended deck in the future. Not only is it a powerful and winning option (two lists in the Top 4 of the last online PTQ) but the deck is so similar to the Standard list it will be easy for a lot of players to make some swaps and play the same deck they sleeved up for their FNM and Star City Games Open Series and play it in Extended.

So what do you guys think of Caw Blade? Make sure to leave your thoughts and comments below!