The Rock, the black‑green archetype that gave rise to the Midrange category in competitive Magic and the parent of decks like Jund and Abzan, remains one of the most competitive strategies in Premodern. Its goal, as it has been since the printing of Pernicious Deed, is to try to answer everything: have a decent matchup against many strategies, but not be excellent against any of them, at least in Game 1.In practice, however, it is a bit different. The Rock is a fair deck, built around one‑for‑one trades, card advantage, and focused on clearing the board and dropping bomb after bomb to take over the game. It has the tools to handle everything, but it shines mainly against archetypes that aim for a natural progression of the game. It is disadvantaged in games where the opponent can simply "go over the top" with some combo — where even if the targeted discard works, this version lacks an efficient clock to close games before the opponent recovers — or generate so much value that the Rock cannot keep up.The DecklistMaindeckOur ideal start involves playing a targeted discard spell to gain information and decide how to proceed. Duress is the best option in Game 1, while Cabal Therapy tends to be more efficient in Games 2 and 3 depending on the matchup.The early game consists of literally putting walls on the board to hold off Aggro while they generate value for us, either through the extra draw from Wall of Blossoms or the ramp from Wall of Roots to start dropping bombs as early as turn three. When they are no longer useful, we can sacrifice them to Cabal Therapy.By "bombs" here, I mean fair and healthy creatures: Ravenous Baloth and Blastoderm are our mid‑game threats. Both have synergy to hold off Aggro, and Blastoderm dodges almost all removal in the format, making it an efficient threat in Midrange mirrors and Control games.Krosan Tusker ensures land drops in the early game with an extra draw and turns into a threat when the game goes long.Nantuko Vigilante is a great meta call in the format today. Besides being another threat on board, its Morph ability does not use the stack and cannot be responded to. Unless the opponent has a Stifle to counter the trigger, it will always destroy an artifact or enchantment when we pay the cost.Genesis and Volrath's Stronghold recur the creatures we have sacrificed, cycled, or lost in combat, giving us inevitability in the late game.Pernicious Deed was for many years the pillar of The Rock in competitive Magic and has reclaimed that position in Premodern. The enchantment is the most versatile sweeper in the format and can answer any category of permanent within a mana value scope, allowing us, for example, to preserve our higher‑cost creatures while clearing the opponent's board.Smother handles early‑game threats, buying us a few more turns in the same slot where we also have another answer against Phyrexian Dreadnought. Diabolic Edict is more efficient against individual threats or creatures brought back by Reanimate and other ways to cheat mana costs.Treetop Village complements the threats as a 3/3 that dodges sweepers and interaction on the opponent's turn. Grindy games are often decided by how many turns players can attack with manlands or activate utility lands without the opponent destroying them. To gain an advantage, we have Dust Bowl.SideboardNaturalize and extra copies of Nantuko Vigilante add to the already extensive artifact and enchantment interaction in the maindeck. Necessary against Stiflenought, Enchantress, and Replenish.Plaguebearer handles Phyrexian Dreadnought indefinitely, acting almost as a lock piece against that archetype. It also comes in against matches where some opponent spell creates many tokens, such as Hunting Pack in Iggy Pop's Sideboard.Engineered Plague is the classic answer against most go‑wide decks. Goblins and Elves are the most common, but naming "Human" or, depending on the list, "Soldier" or "Rebel" against White Weenie also works.Ravenous Baloth adds to the ways to hold off Aggro, especially Sligh and the recent Gruul versions with Quirion Dryad.Tormod's Crypt and Gaea's Blessing interact with graveyards against Replenish, Iggy Pop, Reanimator, and other archetypes aiming to close a combo with Survival of the Fittest. Blessing also serves as a safeguard against Brain Freeze.Sideboard GuideMono Blue StiflenoughtINOUTSlighINOUTGoblinsINOUTElvesINOUTMono Black MidrangeINOUTEnchantressINOUTAzorius ReplenishINOUTGruul DryadINOUTIggy PopINOUTTerrageddonINOUTReanimatorINOUTWrapping UpThat's all for today!If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!Thanks for reading!
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