Wolf Run Redeemed!

I played in another FNM tournament tonight at Knightfall Games, scoring 3-0 and taking clear 1st place. Before the tournament I was stressed because I was having trouble settling on what deck to play. Minutes before the tournament I decided I would run a Wolf Run deck highly similar to the deck piloted by the MTG World Champion, Junya Iyanaga (you can find the deck here). I made small changes to the mainboard of the deck, adding another Slagstorm to deal with hexproof creatures (which proved prescient) and a couple of Beast Within because, well, personally I can't play a deck with zero removal. As usual I made my own sideboard catered to the players/decks I usually encounter (4 Ancient Grudge, 2 Beast Within, 4 Combust, 2 Thrun, the Last Troll, 2 Garruk Relentless, and 1 Tree of Redemption).
This deck was highly efficient all night and has caused me to temporarily re-evaluate Wolf Run's place in the metagame.  Out of the 7 games I played, I only lost 1 game to some kind of Mono-Red deck using Kudoltha Rebirth and a ton of really fast creatures. I just didn't draw a Slagstorm in time. I crushed Adam B's U/R Delver deck in round 2 with timely Slagstorms and Thrun, the Last Troll. I have said this before to some of you, but I will say it again: Thrun is simply the best creature in Standard right now. He is a veritable beatstick against most decks. He can't be countered, he beats Hero of Bladehold, and he can easily block most of the Titans. He just wins games against control decks and aggro decks alike. Because of Thrun's apparent supremacy, I run 1 Thrun mainboard (+2 Green Sun's Zenith to find him) and 2 more in the sideboard. I bring in multiple copies after sideboarding against Blue decks. Just for your info, dear reader, the best way to deal with Thrun in Standard right now appears to be cloning him with cards like Phantasmal Image or Phyrexian Metamorph (the Legendary rule causes both Thrun and his clone to die immediately). He can also be effectively removed by forcing the opponent to sacrifice him with cards like Liliana of the Veil or Tribute to Hunger. I often wonder if the fact that Thrun is called "the last troll" means Wizards will never print another Troll. I think that would be cool.
In the third and final round I squared off against Austin piloting a U/W deck. Austin's idea was to utilize Invisible Stalker combined with various artifacts to enhance his power (Silver-Inlaid Dagger and Inquisitor's Flail, for example). I found this deck somewhat odd since Melanie and I had discussed Invisible Stalker deck over lunch today. One game came really close, but I literally topdecked an Ancient Grudge for the win and closed the tournament.
Tomorrow is the weekly Modern tournament at Guardian Games. Should have a good turnout and I'm brewing Martyr Proc. See you then!