Now that Ascent Ontario has come to a close, we as a community can all come together and admire the success of our peers in the form of their Day Two Decklists. However, just looking at the top 32 decklists won’t tell the whole story. There is one deck that had the record to make it to Day Two, but just barely missed getting in due to tiebreakers. So we here at Luxera’s Map wanted to showcase this decklist by Sponsler377, and give it the recognition it deserves.

View the deck on Shout

Material Deck

• Spirit of Water

• Zander, Prepared Scout

• Zander, Deft Executioner

• Zander, Blinding Steel

• Luxera’s Map

• Cloak of Stillwater

• Poisoned Dagger

• Grand Crusader’s Ring

• Tariff Ring

• Wind Resonance Bauble

• Fire Resonance Bauble

• Orb of Regret

Digging into the material deck, we see what is a fairly standard Water Zander package. Zander, Deft Executioner, the new level two added to the game via Proxia’s Vault, provides a significant improvement over the former level 2 the deck had to run. Giving the deck a card back upon leveling up, as well as the option to grab a Thieving Cut (or post board Shroud in Mist) can greatly help with ally matchups.

One other thing to note is the lack of a Water Bauble in the main. Having played against this deck many times against one of my locals, I can tell you firsthand that Water Allies is one of your stronger matchups (especially post board). Improving your Wind and Fire matchups for game one is far more important for this build.

Main Deck

The Luxem Package:

• 4 Lightweaver’s Assault

• 4 Luxem Sight

• 3 Uncover the Plot

• 3 Gleaming Cut

• 2 Excalibur, Cleansing Light

Not too much to say here! If you aren’t familiar with Water Luxem Zander, the way you generally win is a three step process;

1. Get to level 3

2. Get out of your opponent’s range with Luxum Sight

3. Kill them slowly with Lightweaver’s Assault

Uncover the Plot will help you turn that corner by giving you another way to reveal cards from your memory. Gleaming Cut helps you draw your hand back after getting to level 3. Excalibur will help you answer anything that might stand in your way!

The Floating Memory:

• 3 Fast Cure

• 4 Idle Thoughts

• 4 Drowned Cut

• 4 Chilling Touch

• 4 Intrepid Highwayman

• 2 Fracturize

Sporting a cool 21 Floating Memory in the deck, it’s clear getting to level 3 with cards in your hand is a top priority.

Some notable inclusions are:

Idle Thoughts, which combines excellently with Zander level 1, allowing you to stack cards you don’t want to see on the top of your deck, then Glimpsing them to the bottom with his On Enter ability.

Drowned Cut, which helps you deal with weaker allies, particularly in the Fire Aggro matchup, where Crimson Tear, Hasty Messenger, Clumsy Apprentice, and other flimsy allies can put pressure on you.

The Rest:

• 4 Dungeon Guide

• 3 Thieving Cut

• 4 Tide Diviner

• 2 Nia, Mistveiled Scout

• 3 Frostsworn Paladin

• 3 Frostbind

• 4 Gawain, Chivalrous Thief

For the rest of the cards, I’ll have a brief summary of each of them, and why they are important in the deck

Dungeon Guide is one of the most important cards in the deck, and simultaneously one of the most unintuitive in the deck. As Zander, you want to keep cards in your hand while you get your ultimate form of level 3. So using Dungeon Guide to level up instead of Floating Memory troubled even some of the most seasoned players in the past. However, what makes Dungeon Guide so important in the deck is that while it might not save you cards, it does net you an extra materialization, which can be as good as gold in a deck that runs Luxera’s Map and Orb of Regret. Finding your Luxum Sight and Lightweaver’s Assault is insanely important, so having even a single extra turn to search them out can be the difference between a win and a loss.

Thieving Cut helps you kill allies *AND* replaces itself. Talk about a win-win! With Zander, Deft Executioner giving you extra Preparation Counters (as well as being able to pull it from your graveyard so you can play it again) gives this card a very passive buff from the power level it was in the last format.

Tide Diviner helps you dig for the cards you need, and can put Floating Memory in your graveyard. The 1/1 body is just an extra little perk.

Nia, Mistveiled Scout is a very interesting flex card. A 1 / 3 body can help you pick off smaller allies, but its main use is in its effect. Seeing your opponent’s Memory can give you vital information, but forcing players to pay 1 more for impact cards is what really helps here. It can do anything from force your opponent to unbalance a Gildas, make their next champion cost one more, or force an Erupting Rhapsody player to pay just a little more on their combo turn.

Frostsworn Paladin is one of those rare cards that is solid no matter when you play it in the game. In the early game it can help you keep ally builds at bay. Late in the game it can give you an annoying body your opponent has to deal with, and even replace itself if you have extra Floating Memory in your graveyard!

Frostbind is one of those awesome cards that your opponent always has to play around, and can win the game by itself if they don’t respect it. Essentially always an auto include for control water builds.

Gawain, Chivalrous Thief was one of the most hyped cards revealed from FTC, and now finally has a chance to shine in this list! Against slower matchups, this card can rip away pivotal pieces that your opponent is unfortunate enough to have to place in their memory. Fear a Fireball? Tear it away. A combo piece in Erupting Rhapsody? Gone! Even just taking a card away from an aggro deck can be quite strong. I’m happy to see this card finally have a home.

Sideboard

• 2 Shroud in Mist

• 2 Water Barrier

• 1 Nullifying Lantern

• 1 Scepter of Lumina

• 1 Water Resonance Bauble

• 1 Safeguard Amulet

Not too much to say about the sideboard, it covers the matchup spread very well. You want to put Shroud in against aggro, Barrier in against combo, Lantern in against Fire/Erupting lists that use the graveyard, and Scepter, Bauble, and Amulet against many water builds.

Unfortunately like I mentioned before, this deck just *barely* missed out on day 2. But that doesn’t take away from the pilot, or the deck itself. Thank you to Weebs of the Shore for providing us with this decklist, and Sponsler377 for creating and playing the deck at Ontario! I encourage everyone to try this list out, once you get the hang of it, it’s fun, good, and your opponents will hate you. The trifecta!