The Rock is an old archetype played in all kind of formats. And funny enough it also shows up in cube draft. The Rock are most often G//, but can also splash a single blue or red card (most often Gifts Ungiven).
The Rock is a midrange/control deck that wins through card advantage and undercosted green creatures. This archetype likes to play creatures that gain life when they come into play or when they leave play, and recur these creatures over and over again, to gain a big advantage.
Top Picks
Recursive Components: Genesis is one of the most important spells in this kind of deck. Genesis allows you to utilize other spells in the deck, and are thus important for the deck to be successful. Oversold Cemetery can serve a role like genesis, but aren't as good because it's not a creature, and because it requires four creatures in the grave to work. And because it doesn't work from the grave as genesis. Eternal Witness another key card because it can recur a removal spell, chumpblock, and return again to recur another spell. Eternal Witness is really shining in this kind of deck, and an early Eternal Witness is certainly a reason to look towards "The Rock". Regrowth, Restock, and other cards that can reuse cards from the graveyard. Deadwood Treefolk reuses creatures as well.
CIP or LP Creatures:
Creatures with abilities when they come into play or when they leave play are the key of the rock. The basic idea behind this deck is to reuse these creaures abilities over and over again. See below.
Ravenous Baloth, Spike Feeder, Loxodon Hierarch, Kithen Finks:
This group of creatures are important to win versus aggrodecks, as they trade with another creature, and gain you some life in the process. Then they come back later to do the same thing all over again.
Nekrataal, Bone Shredder, Shriekmaw, Dark Hatchling:
These creatures are mostly important versus other midrange decks or aggrodecks. They obviously serve the role of trading 2 for 1 or killing a creature, chumping and waiting in the grave for a revival.
Farhaven Elf, Yavimaya Elder, Yavimaya Dryad, Sekura-Tribe Elder:
Important for the deck to manafix. This deck can use all the mana it can get, and these cards help to gain some mana acceleration early, and can later be used repeatedly to thin the deck for lands.
Other Creatures:
In this section the deck really want to play various robust creatures like Spirit Monger, Phantom Centaur, Troll Ascetic or other hard to kill creatures. These creatures play a two-sided role of either going in the red zone against control decks, or staying on the defense against aggro decks.
Removal: Pernicious Deed, Wrath of God, Damnation, Nevinyrral's Disk:
Various mass removal spells are very welcome in the rock. It will mostly hurt the opponent more than you to clear the board, because your key spells can be reused from the grave.
Terror, Swords to Plowshares, Putrefy, Mortify, etc:
The deck have access to the best possible removal, and as in all other decks this kind of spot removal are very welcome.
Draw Spells: Harmonize: Really good in this kind of deck... Nothing more to say. Gifts Ungiven: If you have the possibility to splash this card, then do it. This deck is where you can abuse Gifts in the best possible way. Gifts for Genesis, Ravenous Baloth, Eternal Witness, Shriekmaw just hurts (a lot).
Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Liliana Vess and other tutors:
Almost gives itself - ofcourse useful in a deck with so many keycards to make the strategy work.
How to play the deck:
Basicly the deck is all about trading creatures and spells earlygame, while it manaramps, gain some life, etc. In this first phase of the game it generally don't gets 2-for-1 so often, but more 1-for-1's while it chumpblocks with sekura's, Bone Splitters, Ravenous Baloths and other creatures.
Later in the game maybe after a resolved mass-removal spell, the deck will switch to recursing the cards from it's graveyard and will basicly use the entire graveyard as one big toolbox. If you don't have time to do this you should use a Spirit Monger, Troll or similar to stabilize the board and wait for your key-cards to show up.
Weaknesses:
Graveyard hate beats this deck. And if your opponents pack some the match will be a lot harder, but not unbeatable. If your opponent managed to remove for instance a Genesis and Eternal Witness from the game, you should focus in using your resources a lot more tight than usual. Don't use your Terror on the critter, but save it until you have a bigger problem. If this happens to me i usually switch to an ultra aggressive style, because the deck most often will have a problem in the long run, without those key cards.
I think this post is a bit heavy on the graveyard. I've had plenty of rock decks where Eternal Witness or Restock have been only cards that used the graveyard. This makes the "graveyard hate beats this deck" comment a little suspect. Many rock decks just win off the back of solid creatures, the occasional two for one, and some lifegain/removal.
I think this post is a bit heavy on the graveyard. I've had plenty of rock decks where Eternal Witness or Restock have been only cards that used the graveyard. This makes the "graveyard hate beats this deck" comment a little suspect. Many rock decks just win off the back of solid creatures, the occasional two for one, and some lifegain/removal.
True you can still win without a dedicated graveyard-reusage, but imo the deck will shine when it can utilize the graveard.
And Eternal Witness + Restock is enough to reuse the entire graveyard, so that should be enough.
True you can still win without a dedicated graveyard-reusage, but imo the deck will shine when it can utilize the graveard.
And Eternal Witness + Restock is enough to reuse the entire graveyard, so that should be enough.
When we talk about "The Rock" we talk about a slightly different deck.
The main idea is to have hard-to-deal-with creatures backed up by removals and recursion. You take solid creatures like Call of the Herd, Juzam Djinn, Troll Ascetic, Spiritmonger, Albino Troll etc. and early small acceleration to play them early. Black fixes the holes by providing spot removal, light disruption and recursion. With creatures as solid and so many answers the deck is a good performer against all kinds of strategies, therefore it's called "The Rock".
Also the recursion can be black. It can easily be a Beacon of Unrest as well.
Rock is one of my fav archetypes especially with the U or W splash. Don't ask me how but the other nite I picked up Deed, Disk, Damnation, Genesis, Baloth, Garruk, among others...that deck was nigh unstoppable.
Also, though the mana can be hard, Weatherseed Treefolk is great in this deck, and Deadwood Treefolk does a decent Genesis impression. I love rock strategies.
Good review! Rock is my most common archetype. Easy to draft, easy to play. I see it as a versatile deck with an answer to any other archetype, although any strong control provides a tough match-up.
All Suns' Dawn is also a wrecking ball in Rock because you are basically guaranteed three cards, and even four or five with a few hybrids or a U/R splash.
All Suns' Dawn is also a wrecking ball in Rock because you are basically guaranteed three cards, and even four or five with a few hybrids or a U/R splash.
Yes All Suns' Dawn is very good. Don't know why it slipped my mind.
The same with the Solemn Simulacrum - it's propably because i don't own one.
His cost is too hard to play in any other deck, and even in a rock deck it'll usually come down at turn 5 or so, where it's not so impressive. I think there are better monocolored and multicolored options. If rock is drafted very regularly though, it can have a place.
Yes, Solumn Simulacrum is a high pick is most archetypes for me. Utility personified! For four mana you get a mana fix and ramp, a chump block, and it cantrips. Good with blink effects too. I like Liliana Vess in Rock, and Garruk is very good too. Liliana I think saw a fair bit of contructed play in Doran Rock with Ohran Viper and the likes.
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom: The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray). The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it. The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
The Rock is an old archetype played in all kind of formats. And funny enough it also shows up in cube draft. The Rock are most often G//, but can also splash a single blue or red card (most often Gifts Ungiven).
The Rock is a midrange/control deck that wins through card advantage and undercosted green creatures. This archetype likes to play creatures that gain life when they come into play or when they leave play, and recur these creatures over and over again, to gain a big advantage.
Top Picks
Recursive Components:
Genesis is one of the most important spells in this kind of deck. Genesis allows you to utilize other spells in the deck, and are thus important for the deck to be successful.
Oversold Cemetery can serve a role like genesis, but aren't as good because it's not a creature, and because it requires four creatures in the grave to work. And because it doesn't work from the grave as genesis.
Eternal Witness another key card because it can recur a removal spell, chumpblock, and return again to recur another spell. Eternal Witness is really shining in this kind of deck, and an early Eternal Witness is certainly a reason to look towards "The Rock".
Regrowth, Restock, and other cards that can reuse cards from the graveyard.
Deadwood Treefolk reuses creatures as well.
CIP or LP Creatures:
Creatures with abilities when they come into play or when they leave play are the key of the rock. The basic idea behind this deck is to reuse these creaures abilities over and over again. See below.
Ravenous Baloth, Spike Feeder, Loxodon Hierarch, Kithen Finks:
This group of creatures are important to win versus aggrodecks, as they trade with another creature, and gain you some life in the process. Then they come back later to do the same thing all over again.
Nekrataal, Bone Shredder, Shriekmaw, Dark Hatchling:
These creatures are mostly important versus other midrange decks or aggrodecks. They obviously serve the role of trading 2 for 1 or killing a creature, chumping and waiting in the grave for a revival.
Viridian Shaman, Indrik Stomphowler, Wickerbough Elder, Angel of Despair:
Again good cards to ensure the deck have answers to everything.
Farhaven Elf, Yavimaya Elder, Yavimaya Dryad, Sekura-Tribe Elder:
Important for the deck to manafix. This deck can use all the mana it can get, and these cards help to gain some mana acceleration early, and can later be used repeatedly to thin the deck for lands.
Other Creatures:
In this section the deck really want to play various robust creatures like Spirit Monger, Phantom Centaur, Troll Ascetic or other hard to kill creatures. These creatures play a two-sided role of either going in the red zone against control decks, or staying on the defense against aggro decks.
Removal:
Pernicious Deed, Wrath of God, Damnation, Nevinyrral's Disk:
Various mass removal spells are very welcome in the rock. It will mostly hurt the opponent more than you to clear the board, because your key spells can be reused from the grave.
Terror, Swords to Plowshares, Putrefy, Mortify, etc:
The deck have access to the best possible removal, and as in all other decks this kind of spot removal are very welcome.
Draw Spells:
Harmonize: Really good in this kind of deck... Nothing more to say.
Gifts Ungiven: If you have the possibility to splash this card, then do it. This deck is where you can abuse Gifts in the best possible way. Gifts for Genesis, Ravenous Baloth, Eternal Witness, Shriekmaw just hurts (a lot).
Vampiric Tutor, Demonic Tutor, Liliana Vess and other tutors:
Almost gives itself - ofcourse useful in a deck with so many keycards to make the strategy work.
How to play the deck:
Basicly the deck is all about trading creatures and spells earlygame, while it manaramps, gain some life, etc. In this first phase of the game it generally don't gets 2-for-1 so often, but more 1-for-1's while it chumpblocks with sekura's, Bone Splitters, Ravenous Baloths and other creatures.
Later in the game maybe after a resolved mass-removal spell, the deck will switch to recursing the cards from it's graveyard and will basicly use the entire graveyard as one big toolbox. If you don't have time to do this you should use a Spirit Monger, Troll or similar to stabilize the board and wait for your key-cards to show up.
Weaknesses:
Graveyard hate beats this deck. And if your opponents pack some the match will be a lot harder, but not unbeatable. If your opponent managed to remove for instance a Genesis and Eternal Witness from the game, you should focus in using your resources a lot more tight than usual. Don't use your Terror on the critter, but save it until you have a bigger problem. If this happens to me i usually switch to an ultra aggressive style, because the deck most often will have a problem in the long run, without those key cards.
My Tribal cube
My 93/94 old school cube
My Artifact cube
My Hearthstone Quiz App for iOS
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
True you can still win without a dedicated graveyard-reusage, but imo the deck will shine when it can utilize the graveard.
And Eternal Witness + Restock is enough to reuse the entire graveyard, so that should be enough.
My Tribal cube
My 93/94 old school cube
My Artifact cube
My Hearthstone Quiz App for iOS
I said "or" not "and."
My secondary "cube".
Really out of date cube thread with pictures.
The main idea is to have hard-to-deal-with creatures backed up by removals and recursion. You take solid creatures like Call of the Herd, Juzam Djinn, Troll Ascetic, Spiritmonger, Albino Troll etc. and early small acceleration to play them early. Black fixes the holes by providing spot removal, light disruption and recursion. With creatures as solid and so many answers the deck is a good performer against all kinds of strategies, therefore it's called "The Rock".
Also the recursion can be black. It can easily be a Beacon of Unrest as well.
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
Current EDH Decks:
G Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
B Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
GU Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Also, though the mana can be hard, Weatherseed Treefolk is great in this deck, and Deadwood Treefolk does a decent Genesis impression. I love rock strategies.
Currently 62/265 cards.
No mention for my main man Doran, the Siege Tower? He is my most loved card in Cube...
All Suns' Dawn is also a wrecking ball in Rock because you are basically guaranteed three cards, and even four or five with a few hybrids or a U/R splash.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
Yes All Suns' Dawn is very good. Don't know why it slipped my mind.
The same with the Solemn Simulacrum - it's propably because i don't own one.
My Tribal cube
My 93/94 old school cube
My Artifact cube
My Hearthstone Quiz App for iOS
His cost is too hard to play in any other deck, and even in a rock deck it'll usually come down at turn 5 or so, where it's not so impressive. I think there are better monocolored and multicolored options. If rock is drafted very regularly though, it can have a place.
The list on cube cobra
Read my blog on cube - Latest post June 2nd 2022
Not a must have.
But yeah it's good.
My Tribal cube
My 93/94 old school cube
My Artifact cube
My Hearthstone Quiz App for iOS
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
Current EDH Decks:
G Multani, Maro-Sorcerer
B Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
GU Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
True, this card's a house, especially in a Rock deck that can abuse these effects by making them repeatable.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!
NorCal Crew Collective Cube on Cube Tutor
My 2009 Cube Draft Article - "With The First Pick..."
2009 Official Cube Power Rankings
2010 Official Cube Power Rankings
2014 Official Cube Power Rankings
Silent Edge's Tidbits of Wisdom:
The Lewis Theory - When the presence of a single card makes every other card in your deck better (see Lewis, Ray).
The Rubber Edict - You'd rather have it and not use it, than need it and not have it.
The Shotgun Wedding - Don't commit early unless you absolutely have to.
Twitter: @archplus3
Nope. I think it's a damn fine card for Rock.
My 630 Card Powered Cube
My Article - "Cube Design Philosophy"
My Article - "Mana Short: A study in limited resource management."
My 50th Set (P)review - Discusses my top 20 Cube cards from OTJ!