The first Regional Championship tied to the upcoming Pro Tour in Chicago in February 2024 is underway in Lille, France. Players who managed to win a Regional Championship Qualifier event were eligible to play. This Regional Championship in particular features 675 players prepared for battle, all playing for glory and their chances at Pro Tour or even 2024 World Championship invites. Players brought their best Pioneer decks to the table, with Rakdos Midrange and mono-green devotion as the most popular decks in the event.
Interestingly, some players decided to stray from the beaten path and bring decks that were relatively underrepresented. For example, one player brought none other than Gruul
Bard Class
Bard Class
(Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability.)
Legendary creatures you control enter with an additional +1/+1 counter on them.
{R}{G}: Level 2
Legendary spells you cast cost {R}{G} less to cast. This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay.
{3}{R}{G}: Level 3
Whenever you cast a legendary spell, exile the top two cards of your library. You may play them this turn.
combo to the event, utilizing a handful of new cards. Not only that, but they also began the tournament undefeated after round four! Does this deck have more going for it than it’s given credit for?
Maximizing Bard Class
Bard Class acts as an engine that this whole deck is built around. It’s an Enchantment that you can “Level up” by investing mana into it in order to gain additional effects. At the start, Bard Class is a two-mana Enchantment that allows your other Legendary Creatures to enter the battlefield with additional +1/+1 counters on them. This is a decent effect, but the real payoff lies with Level two. If you pay an additional two mana to get Bard Class to Level two, every legendary spell you cast costs a green and red mana less to cast, though this only reduces specifically colored mana you pay.
This may not sound like a big deal, but when a large percentage of the legendary Creatures in the deck cost exactly one red and one green mana, you can play a lot of your cards for free. In some games, if your hand is chock-full of legends and you don’t have more Lands in hand, it can be correct to simply dump all those legends into play, especially if they have Haste. A lot of the time, though, it will be stronger to wait until you can get Bard Class to Level three and really go off.
Level three lets you exile the top two cards of your library and play them that turn every time you cast a legendary spell. When combined with Level two, if you have even a couple legends in hand, you can keep chaining spells together, since presumably some of the cards you exile with Bard Class will be legends you can play for free. If you have
Birgi, God of Storytelling
Birgi, God of Storytelling
Whenever you cast a spell, add {R}. Until end of turn, you don't lose this mana as steps and phases end.
Creatures you control can boast twice during each of your turns rather than once.
in play, you even net mana every time you cast a spell. At some point, you will find a way to give your entire team Haste, such as with
Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei
Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei
{R}: Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn.
{3}{R}{R}: Create a 5/5 red Dragon Spirit creature token with flying. Activate only if you control an attacking modified creature. (Equipment, Auras you control, and counters are modifications.)
, and can attack the opponent for a ton of damage.
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The Supporting Cast
Now that we’ve gone over what makes Bard Class so powerful in this shell, it’s time to go over the cast of legends that this deck makes use of. The two best legendary Creatures that can be played for free off of Bard Class at Level two are definitely
Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard
Hajar, Loyal Bodyguard
Sacrifice Hajar: Legendary creatures you control get +1/+0 and gain indestructible until end of turn.
and
Ruby, Daring Tracker
Ruby, Daring Tracker
Haste (This creature can attack and {T} as soon as it comes under your control.)
Whenever Ruby attacks while you control a creature with power 4 or greater, Ruby gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
{T}: Add {R} or {G}.
. Hajar is a two-mana 3/3, which is already decent on rate, but it also helps protect your entire team of legends from board wipes. Ruby, Daring Tracker is a fantastic addition to this deck from Wilds of Eldraine, acting as a Hasty mana dork that gets a decent buff if you control a Creature with power four or greater.
Thanks to Level one of Bard Class, it’s easy to play Hajar or Birgi and have them enter the battlefield as four-power Creatures to make Ruby an even bigger threat. Beyond Hajar and Ruby, this deck plays some other legends that work well with Bard Class, such as
Gallia of the Endless Dance
Gallia of the Endless Dance
Haste
Other Satyrs you control get +1/+1 and have haste.
Whenever you attack with three or more creatures, you may discard a card at random. If you do, draw two cards.
and
Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll
Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll
Pack tactics — Whenever Targ Nar attacks, if you attacked with creatures with total power 6 or greater this combat, attacking creatures get +1/+0 until end of turn.
{2}{R}{G}: Double Targ Nar's power and toughness until end of turn.
, to round out the Creature portion of the deck. Importantly, none of the cards in the deck have more than one of the same mana symbol in their casting costs, which lets this deck utilize
Jegantha, the Wellspring
Jegantha, the Wellspring
Companion — No card in your starting deck has more than one of the same mana symbol in its mana cost. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
{T}: Add {W}{U}{B}{R}{G}. This mana can't be spent to pay generic mana costs.
, a nice tool to have in attrition matchups.
Interestingly, though, Bard Class doesn’t just work well with legendary Creatures. Rather, it works well with all legendary spells, allowing you to play
Oath of Nissa
Oath of Nissa
When Oath of Nissa enters, look at the top three cards of your library. You may reveal a creature, land, or planeswalker card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast planeswalker spells.
for free off of Level two as well. Additionally, the high density of legendary Creatures this deck plays allows the deck to make use of
Mox Amber
Mox Amber
{T}: Add one mana of any color among legendary creatures and planeswalkers you control.
. Mox Amber is a very strong mana accelerant, helping you cast multiple spells in one turn as well as get to Level three of Bard Class ahead of schedule. The whole goal of the deck is to make winning with Bard Class as consistent and trivial as possible.
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Strengths and Weaknesses
Of course, some games you will not have access to Bard Class. If you don’t draw the powerful Enchantment or someone gets rid of it from your hand via
Thoughtseize
Thoughtseize
Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.
or from the battlefield via Enchantment removal, things get a lot trickier. This deck is fully capable of winning by simply casting efficient Creatures and beating down. Still, thanks to the deck’s all-in focus on Bard Class, the deck lacks interaction of its own. Fighting through roadblocks like
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life.
without Bard Class can be quite difficult.
The nice thing is that some decks like Rakdos have a difficult time removing Bard Class once it hits the board, so outside of Thoughtseize, the gameplan of getting to Level three of Bard Class can still be effective. Also, even playing a pile of efficient, Hasty Creatures can be enough to win against some of the slower decks in the format. Cards like Hajar and Ruby hit hard and getting to use Mox Amber to cast multiple spells in a turn can help win a race.
Ultimately, this deck can absolutely run hot, and the addition of Ruby to the archetype gives it a better shot at playing a fair game without Bard Class. Still, the games where you stick a copy of Bard Class and the games where you don’t are night and day. If you aren’t afraid of playing some polarizing games, this deck can still be an effective choice.
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