Temur gets to make use of all of them, and we get the hottest new planeswalker, Arlinn Kord to boot. Not only that, but with Crackling Doom rotating, Sarkhan Unbroken is looking to get a lot better.
A first draft of the deck, going conservative with the card choices, is:
The deck is built such that it can attrition most other decks out on the ground. Kiora in the side can be called on to turbo charge this side of the deck. Thunderbreak serves to shore up our air game while also giving us the full benefit of Roar. The manlands give us an excellent game against control, which is made better by access to blue counters in the sideboard.
Past the obvious, there are some neat interactions with Pulse and Den Protector, which along with Radiant Flames, makes the aggro matchup much better. Evolving Wilds and a mix of Instants and Sorceries make Cultivator's Delirium fuelled deathtouch relevant earlier in the game, making him a true threat after he does his job ramping us.
Builds previous to this might have run Roast in place of Firecraft, but I think being able to kill X/5 on the ground is going to be less relevant going forward than killing X/4 in the air. Firecraft also provides some reach to finish off our opponents, as the deck is fundamentally aggressive.
I think other potential new cards that could find a spot are Sin Prodder and Tireless Tracker. Both cards look sweet, particularly the latter in this style of deck.
Main issue with the deck is the 11 ETB tapped lands, not including Battle and Shadowlands. In testing, this hasn't been a huge issue, but it is a price of going Temur over straight GR. To alleviate this, cutting Evolving Wilds and some number of manlands (replacing with basics and pain lands) is an option.
Thunderbreak, Den Protector, and Deathmist as my testing has gone so far with a list very close to this are very powerful with Arlinn Kord (and realistically on their own are good as well). I've been testing Lightning Axe just because with Den Protector the lack of madness cards doesn't hurt as much and a universal five damage to a creature as an instant is really the best kind of removal red can hope for. I'm also running Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, which for the most part has worked out pretty well. I'll post my list when I get a chance.
You get Wandering Fumarole and Lumbering Falls. As many as 8 manlands, and perhaps the two best of this most recent cycle. With Advocate, these actually become pretty serious threats which are hard to deal with, especially for control. It is a cost, as it slows down the mana, but attacking with a 6/3 Fumerole or a 5/5 hexproof Falls is pretty sweet.
I played 2 gameday events at different stores with a Temur-Dragons (midrange) list. Both were highly competitive. The first event I played (Saturday) with a list really out of touch with the current meta (played awful mana dorks and focused too much on getting planeswalkers in the field). That night I got a grip of how to better answer the meta and I came with a different strategy:
I dropped the 2 haven of the spirit dragon I used to run since I got enough recursion with pulse of murasa. Fork in the road helped to get the right colors and also giving the deck a possible target for pulse of murasa in case my creatures got exiled (plus the 2 evolving wilds).
Then I opted for playing the early creatures as a type of removal (forcing early exchanges) so I could get to play the more expensive dragons and close the game with those and a mix of manlands. I got second place because I got a draw against WR eldrazis (googles), I didn’t really know the deck and I didn’t sideboarded properly, but I had a great deal of fun and I think that the deck is in a great place right now. Here’s my list:
I played 2 gameday events at different stores with a Temur-Dragons (midrange) list. Both were highly competitive. The first event I played (Saturday) with a list really out of touch with the current meta (played awful mana dorks and focused too much on getting planeswalkers in the field). That night I got a grip of how to better answer the meta and I came with a different strategy:
You place a land in the graveyard with Fork in the road which gives you a target for pulse of murasa in case your creature was a victim of declaration in stone, also it thins your deck a little and its 2cmc. The meta as I see it is either 1) full aggro really low to the ground and since humans quickly can get over 2 defense (that's why I opted for 3 fiery impulse because it can become irrelevant rather quickly); or 2) full control, so avoiding to miss your land drops is rather important. Although Nissa, vastwood seer holds a lot of value it is terrible against a bunch of 2/3 and 3/2 creatures and if it doesn't get exiled you just limited your options at not being able to fire a draconic roar and a fiery impulse that turn. I like it better on the SB against control decks -which are less likely to exile it.
Interesting list. I tend to agree that Traverse is probably going to be a lot better than Fork. I think neither really belongs in the list though. I think you want to be casting a creature or a removal spell on T2, not casting Fork. Top decking it is feels bad man.
I'm also a lot less of a fan of Pulse in a list without Den Protectors.
Without any extensive changes, I'd be interested in getting Tracker up to 3x. It has been one of the best cards for me in later builds of this Temur deck (and subsequently the Naya deck I shifted to from here).
Interesting list. I tend to agree that Traverse is probably going to be a lot better than Fork. I think neither really belongs in the list though. I think you want to be casting a creature or a removal spell on T2, not casting Fork. Top decking it is feels bad man.
I'm also a lot less of a fan of Pulse in a list without Den Protectors.
Without any extensive changes, I'd be interested in getting Tracker up to 3x. It has been one of the best cards for me in later builds of this Temur deck (and subsequently the Naya deck I shifted to from here).
Well yeah... First of all this list was made with one day of feedback and I think it has a lot of potential for improvements, I didn't mean to sound as if fork in the road would break the meta. Second, I didn't have enough copies of traverse the ulvenwald to add them to the deck, so I can't give an empiric assessment of the card under a tournament environment (I will try it as soon as I get 2 more copies). Third, I played pulse MB to be able to deal with the huge amount of damage the aggro decks can deal before I could stabilize the field (you don't always get the draws you want and missing a removal spell is real, that's why I needed to push for quick exchanges between creatures as in "yeah block the sylvan advocate and kill it so I can get it back with pulse or buy enough time to play dragonlord atarka). Finally, just because fork in the road costs 2cmc doesn't means that I played it 2nd turn, on the contrary, usually I got something like this:
And of course there where several different plays. In one scenario against humans I had to gave my opponent back a 2/1 critter with the pulse at the end of combat phase to bait him into playing it in his 2nd mainphase, I gained life, he played the creature, then next turn I cleared the field with the radiant flames I was holding two turns ago.
I'm just saying that gaining life while playing removal is a good strategy against the faster aggro decks which are so predominant and difficult to face in a typical midrange build. Pulse is not the only solution, but it worked for me as I could actually push while defending the field.
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Deathmist Raptor + Den Protector
Thunderbreak Regent + Draconic Roar
Sylvan Advocate + Manlands
Temur gets to make use of all of them, and we get the hottest new planeswalker, Arlinn Kord to boot. Not only that, but with Crackling Doom rotating, Sarkhan Unbroken is looking to get a lot better.
A first draft of the deck, going conservative with the card choices, is:
4 Den Protector
4 Deathcap Cultivator
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Thunderbreak Regent
Planeswalkers (4)
3 Arlinn Kord
1 Sarkhan Unbroken
Spells (10)
4 Draconic Roar
2 Pulse of Murasa
4 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Cinder Glade
3 Lumbering Falls
3 Game Trail
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Wandering Fumarole
6 Forest
3 Rending Volley
1 Stratus Dancer
1 Tears of Valakut
3 Negate
3 Radiant Flames
2 Kiora, Master of the Depths
2 Gaea's Revenge
The deck is built such that it can attrition most other decks out on the ground. Kiora in the side can be called on to turbo charge this side of the deck. Thunderbreak serves to shore up our air game while also giving us the full benefit of Roar. The manlands give us an excellent game against control, which is made better by access to blue counters in the sideboard.
Past the obvious, there are some neat interactions with Pulse and Den Protector, which along with Radiant Flames, makes the aggro matchup much better. Evolving Wilds and a mix of Instants and Sorceries make Cultivator's Delirium fuelled deathtouch relevant earlier in the game, making him a true threat after he does his job ramping us.
Builds previous to this might have run Roast in place of Firecraft, but I think being able to kill X/5 on the ground is going to be less relevant going forward than killing X/4 in the air. Firecraft also provides some reach to finish off our opponents, as the deck is fundamentally aggressive.
I think other potential new cards that could find a spot are Sin Prodder and Tireless Tracker. Both cards look sweet, particularly the latter in this style of deck.
Main issue with the deck is the 11 ETB tapped lands, not including Battle and Shadowlands. In testing, this hasn't been a huge issue, but it is a price of going Temur over straight GR. To alleviate this, cutting Evolving Wilds and some number of manlands (replacing with basics and pain lands) is an option.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Sure you get a man land but that shouldn't really matter if your running the ole megamorph combo
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I'm just not a fan of temur tbh. The deck always feels weird and never knows exactly what kinda deck it wants to be.
If you don't like Temur as some sort of general rule, I'm unsure why you are posting in this thread.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
3 fork in the road
2 pulse of murasa
I dropped the 2 haven of the spirit dragon I used to run since I got enough recursion with pulse of murasa. Fork in the road helped to get the right colors and also giving the deck a possible target for pulse of murasa in case my creatures got exiled (plus the 2 evolving wilds).
Then I opted for playing the early creatures as a type of removal (forcing early exchanges) so I could get to play the more expensive dragons and close the game with those and a mix of manlands. I got second place because I got a draw against WR eldrazis (googles), I didn’t really know the deck and I didn’t sideboarded properly, but I had a great deal of fun and I think that the deck is in a great place right now. Here’s my list:
1x Cinder Glade
2x Evolving Wilds
4x Forest
3x Game Trail
2x Island
2x Lumbering Falls
3x Mountain
3x Shivan Reef
2x Wandering Fumarole
3x Yavimaya Coast
Planeswalker (2)
2x Sarkhan Unbroken
2x Dragonlord Atarka
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
2x Icefall Regent
4x Sylvan Advocate
4x Thunderbreak Regent
1x Tireless Tracker
Instant (11)
4x Draconic Roar
3x Fiery Impulse
2x Negate
2x Pulse of Murasa
Sorcery (5)
2x Burn from Within
3x Fork in the Road
2x Clip Wings
1x Dispel
1x Dragonlord's Prerogative
2x Naturalize
2x Negate
3x Radiant Flames
2x Roast
1x Nissa, vastwood seer
1x Tireless Tracker
Spicy Temur Walkers list in this article.
Uh. Why Fork in the Road over Traverse the Ulvenwald? Nissa, Vastwood Seer would also seem reasonable to just MD.
You place a land in the graveyard with Fork in the road which gives you a target for pulse of murasa in case your creature was a victim of declaration in stone, also it thins your deck a little and its 2cmc. The meta as I see it is either 1) full aggro really low to the ground and since humans quickly can get over 2 defense (that's why I opted for 3 fiery impulse because it can become irrelevant rather quickly); or 2) full control, so avoiding to miss your land drops is rather important. Although Nissa, vastwood seer holds a lot of value it is terrible against a bunch of 2/3 and 3/2 creatures and if it doesn't get exiled you just limited your options at not being able to fire a draconic roar and a fiery impulse that turn. I like it better on the SB against control decks -which are less likely to exile it.
I'm also a lot less of a fan of Pulse in a list without Den Protectors.
Without any extensive changes, I'd be interested in getting Tracker up to 3x. It has been one of the best cards for me in later builds of this Temur deck (and subsequently the Naya deck I shifted to from here).
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Well yeah... First of all this list was made with one day of feedback and I think it has a lot of potential for improvements, I didn't mean to sound as if fork in the road would break the meta. Second, I didn't have enough copies of traverse the ulvenwald to add them to the deck, so I can't give an empiric assessment of the card under a tournament environment (I will try it as soon as I get 2 more copies). Third, I played pulse MB to be able to deal with the huge amount of damage the aggro decks can deal before I could stabilize the field (you don't always get the draws you want and missing a removal spell is real, that's why I needed to push for quick exchanges between creatures as in "yeah block the sylvan advocate and kill it so I can get it back with pulse or buy enough time to play dragonlord atarka). Finally, just because fork in the road costs 2cmc doesn't means that I played it 2nd turn, on the contrary, usually I got something like this:
Turn 1 fumarole tapped, turn 2 fiery impulse forest, turn 3 duskwatch recruiter, land, then eat two damage without blocking, turn 4 draconic roar then fork in the road, turn 5 sylvan advocate, loose all creatures, then at the end of opponents turn pulse of murasa getting back sylvan advocate, then resolve a Dragon, and at 7 lands, play advocate and push with a manland...
And of course there where several different plays. In one scenario against humans I had to gave my opponent back a 2/1 critter with the pulse at the end of combat phase to bait him into playing it in his 2nd mainphase, I gained life, he played the creature, then next turn I cleared the field with the radiant flames I was holding two turns ago.
I'm just saying that gaining life while playing removal is a good strategy against the faster aggro decks which are so predominant and difficult to face in a typical midrange build. Pulse is not the only solution, but it worked for me as I could actually push while defending the field.