From what we've seen so far, what do you think we'll see in the upcoming standard after rotation? I think the easy guesses are:
G/x Goodstuff
Key cards: Fetches, Sylvan Carytid, Courser of Kruphix, fatties
Strategy: Play the best combination of creatures and removal, get the most out of the fetches.
Comments: Green has the easiest mana fixing with Caryatid and benefits the most from fetches, so this deck could be 3 or 4 colors to play whatever it whats.
W/x Control
Key cards: Scrylands, End Hostilities, Elspeth
Strategy: Use a combination of spot removal, strong blockers (Courser?), and board wipes at 3 & 5 CMC to delay until Elspeth or another finisher.
Comments: BUG control was the best control of Theros block constructed, but the best sweeper and finisher are in white so it is the control base. Black and red are the most likely splashes, for Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrows.
MGD
Key Cards - Nykthos, Courser, Polukranos, Nissa, Genesis Hydra
Strategy - Ramp into fatties
Comments - Could exist in various splashes for new cards, but the base is still the same as it was in last standard.
MRD
Key Cards - Rabblemaster, Fanatic of Mogus, Stormbreath Dragon
Strategy - Early game aggro into late game devotion strategy.
Comments - Could add another color, but red aggro will always exist and the top of the curve was all Theros
BUG Delver
Key Cards - Satyr Wayfinder, Nyx Weaver, Pharika, Sidisi, Phenax?
Strategy - Put things into the graveyard, get value for doing so (reanimation, tokens, delve)
Comments - Basically Sultai's thing. Depends heavily on support printed in Khans and amount of hate; could be a Tier 2 deck or the best deck in the format if a degenerate Delve card gets printed.
W/B tokens
Key Cards - Launch the Fleet, Raise the Alarm, Brimaz, Agani Steadfast
Strategy - Put a lot of 1/1 tokens on the battlefield, use anthems to buff them up. Might work best in Abzan or Jeskai colors, might use Sorin/Elspeth.
Comments - Competing with MRD as the aggro deck of the format. Has good planeswalker support, but needs some Khans cards to be a Tier 1 aggro deck.
Any other likely strategies? Am I overlooking the potential for MUD and MBD to stick around, or a different base for a control deck?
I've tried mono red devotion in block, not much has changed for that deck since block and the answers to that sort of strategy are greater out side of it. It is not fast enough to beat decks like naya (who was capable of turn 4 elspeths), and it's not fast enough to get under bug's removal before they stabilize (now their removal is a lot better). A red devotion deck based on stormbreath dragons as the top end really doesn't work now. I think mono red will either be a straight agro deck very similar to rabble red from the last pro tour or a big red deck playing things like fated conflagration and sarkhan, the agro version it probably better. It's possible we see a r/b or r/w version as well.
I think the bug deck is probably going to be more of a jundish kind of deck, just playing the best creatures and removal spells. Not a synergy based list that you have outlined above. It's possible that that works out, but we would need at least one really good delve card for this to work. Even if we do get the delve card, you're playing a lot of cards that aren't really playable on their own such as wayfinder, commune, phenax, etc... It's a lot of enablers for almost no gain. I think the bug deck will look a lot like the one from block constructed buffed with cards from khans such as the charm. Sidisi could still work in the bug deck as a huntmaster of sorts, I haven't tried her yet, but it's possible. If you have sidisi and prognostic sphinx on the board you can stack the abilities so that the sphinx sbility resolves first and keep caryatids and such on the top so you mill them with sidisi for the 2/2. Sidisi is another synergy with sphinx just like courser is.
Mono green devotion is not nearly as consistent as it once was. Burning tree emissary was a HUGE part of that deck being able to play a bte into a voyaging satyr or an activation of nykthos was huge. Now you have to play things like the archer and swordwise centaur for 2 devotion on turn 2, then play the satyr or whatever, allowing for a turn 4 use of nykthos at the earliest whereas before it was turn 3. I really don't think this deck can survive post rotation, it's just going to be too slow now and get eaten alive by things like anger and end hostilities since it can't get going as fast as it could before.
I've been thinking about a token deck too. But it can't be just straight tokens imo, there's cards that make tokens when something happens to non token creatures like spirit bonds and abzan ascendency. It makes me think that the deck will be abzan colors and sort of prolong their creature's lifespan by having them either turn into spirits after death or make new ones when entering to eventually kill the opponent. This deck also gets to play some really strong creatures with fleecemane lion, brimaz, the abzan khan, and they get aggressive starts with elvish mystic, soldier of the pantheon, sunblade elf, and possibly things like tormented hero and gnarled scarhide (althougth I don't think the mana will be good enough to be able to play them turn 1). This seems like a strong proactive deck that can grind out wins against control and other midrange strategies.
Right now the biggest decks on my radar are:
Mardu control
abzan midrange
bug midrange
g/r monsters (possibly splashing white for Elspeth like in block, maybe black for garruk but the other white cards you'd want are easier to cast than the other black cards: downfall vs banishing light)
g/b midrange (best deck for sign in blood and garruk imo)
rabble red
mono black aggro
bant creatures that are hard to kill (brimaz, fleecemane, soldier of the pantheon, the 6/6 trampler, sphinx etc...) I haven't built this yet, but the idea of this deck just seems good and you get 2 sets of fetches for courser in bant colors, so I want to try it.
When I was playing block I was messing with mono blue devotion and it was pretty close to being competitive, all it really needs is just one or 2 good 2 mana creatures that cost uu. So that's something to look out for. It did get absolutely thrashed by anger and drown though, so it's probably not going to work unless these hypothetical enablers are really good.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention that I'm also working on a uwr deck that I think could be good, narset is just nuts imo. It would get to play end hostilities and sphinx (narset having huge synergy with it). You also get access to keranos, Elspeth, Chandra, sarkhan, etc... we just need a good 2 cmc removal to make this work imo, it also depends on what the charm looks like.
If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
I've tried mono red devotion in block, not much has changed for that deck since block and the answers to that sort of strategy are greater out side of it. It is not fast enough to beat decks like naya (who was capable of turn 4 elspeths), and it's not fast enough to get under bug's removal before they stabilize (now their removal is a lot better). A red devotion deck based on stormbreath dragons as the top end really doesn't work now. I think mono red will either be a straight agro deck very similar to rabble red from the last pro tour or a big red deck playing things like fated conflagration and sarkhan, the agro version it probably better. It's possible we see a r/b or r/w version as well.
I think the bug deck is probably going to be more of a jundish kind of deck, just playing the best creatures and removal spells. Not a synergy based list that you have outlined above. It's possible that that works out, but we would need at least one really good delve card for this to work. Even if we do get the delve card, you're playing a lot of cards that aren't really playable on their own such as wayfinder, commune, phenax, etc... It's a lot of enablers for almost no gain. I think the bug deck will look a lot like the one from block constructed buffed with cards from khans such as the charm. Sidisi could still work in the bug deck as a huntmaster of sorts, I haven't tried her yet, but it's possible. If you have sidisi and prognostic sphinx on the board you can stack the abilities so that the sphinx sbility resolves first and keep caryatids and such on the top so you mill them with sidisi for the 2/2. Sidisi is another synergy with sphinx just like courser is.
Mono green devotion is not nearly as consistent as it once was. Burning tree emissary was a HUGE part of that deck being able to play a bte into a voyaging satyr or an activation of nykthos was huge. Now you have to play things like the archer and swordwise centaur for 2 devotion on turn 2, then play the satyr or whatever, allowing for a turn 4 use of nykthos at the earliest whereas before it was turn 3. I really don't think this deck can survive post rotation, it's just going to be too slow now and get eaten alive by things like anger and end hostilities since it can't get going as fast as it could before.
I've been thinking about a token deck too. But it can't be just straight tokens imo, there's cards that make tokens when something happens to non token creatures like spirit bonds and abzan ascendency. It makes me think that the deck will be abzan colors and sort of prolong their creature's lifespan by having them either turn into spirits after death or make new ones when entering to eventually kill the opponent. This deck also gets to play some really strong creatures with fleecemane lion, brimaz, the abzan khan, and they get aggressive starts with elvish mystic, soldier of the pantheon, sunblade elf, and possibly things like tormented hero and gnarled scarhide (althougth I don't think the mana will be good enough to be able to play them turn 1). This seems like a strong proactive deck that can grind out wins against control and other midrange strategies.
Right now the biggest decks on my radar are:
Mardu control
abzan midrange
bug midrange
g/r monsters (possibly splashing white for Elspeth like in block, maybe black for garruk but the other white cards you'd want are easier to cast than the other black cards: downfall vs banishing light)
g/b midrange (best deck for sign in blood and garruk imo)
rabble red
mono black aggro
bant creatures that are hard to kill (brimaz, fleecemane, soldier of the pantheon, the 6/6 trampler, sphinx etc...) I haven't built this yet, but the idea of this deck just seems good and you get 2 sets of fetches for courser in bant colors, so I want to try it.
When I was playing block I was messing with mono blue devotion and it was pretty close to being competitive, all it really needs is just one or 2 good 2 mana creatures that cost uu. So that's something to look out for. It did get absolutely thrashed by anger and drown though, so it's probably not going to work unless these hypothetical enablers are really good.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention that I'm also working on a uwr deck that I think could be good, narset is just nuts imo. It would get to play end hostilities and sphinx (narset having huge synergy with it). You also get access to keranos, Elspeth, Chandra, sarkhan, etc... we just need a good 2 cmc removal to make this work imo, it also depends on what the charm looks like.
The BUG list you are talking about is what I'd call a G/x goodstuff deck. Basically pair Sylvan, Courser with the best removal and creatures from any combination of colors and you have a deck. Last standard it started off with MGD, quickly diverged into G/r Monsters and then split into Jund Monsters and finally went back to MGD with M15. This standard we are likely to see wedge and shard variants, plus 2-color combos until someone finds the best mixture. BUG Delver is a deck in the same colors as BUG goodstuff, but instead of focusing on raw power it focuses on graveyard synergy. Basically, I see it as competitive because it just pushes the Courser+fetches synergy even further.
Judging from the creatures we've seen so far, I think MGD can stick around. The biggest loss isn't Burning-Tree Emissary, but Garruk. However, I still think that a devotion based strategy is most likely to work in green, the color of ramp. Those two cards are really the only Ravnica cards lost, a much lower loss than other devotion decks. Instead of ramping into crazy Garruk turns it might settle for slightly less crazy See the Unwritten turns, or something else entirely. It might be a deck that revolves around Generator Servant and Rattleclaw Mystic to pump out Sagu Maulers and Scuttling Doom Engines. Or maybe we'll a few really good GG cards that let the deck stay mono-green.
I do think cards like Abzan Ascendancy are what will push token strategies over the top. That card in particular acts as both an anthem and a way to survive board wipes. I also agree that the deck has plenty of token generators; I personally think a deck would be fine with just Launch the Fleets and Raise the Alarm. Then fill the rest of the slots with tough creatures like Anafenza, Brimaz, Fleecemane, maybe even a few gods (Pharika, Athreos). My guess is that it will be the fastest aggro deck in the format once people figure it out after hearing the MRD isn't as well equipped as I thought.
On Jund Walkers and Mono-B aggro: I left the first out because it relied on Ravnica removal that may not see equivalent replacements. Things like Abrupt Decay, Mizzium Mortars, Golgari Charm, Rakdos's Return, Vraska, Ultimate Price, Dreadbore. It just seemed like too much was taken out. I think a similar deck may emerge, but I'm not sure it will be in those colors (Abzan?). Mono-B aggro may emerge, but it was overshadowed a little by other aggro decks in standard and block constructed (red in standard, Naya in block).
I'm thinking Mardu midrange will become a deck to beat. Black is a very strong splash color because of thoughtseize. The three combined have a very strong planeswalker pool that mostly synergize with each other. I'm working on a W/R list that uses Anger of the Gods and End Hostilities to keep the board as clear as possible for Sarkhan and/or Elspeth to finish the job. Ajani makes both of them into even greater threats.
A Token subtheme is present in there, too. Rabblemaster is a crazy card that I personally feel is strong outside of aggro, and also gets better alongside the walkers in these colors.
Are we just gonna ignore affinity? I mean ensoul artifact is one of the best cards in the format, and it's not losing much post rotation, though izzet charm and judges familiar leaving will hurt.
I'm thinking Mardu midrange will become a deck to beat. Black is a very strong splash color because of thoughtseize. The three combined have a very strong planeswalker pool that mostly synergize with each other. I'm working on a W/R list that uses Anger of the Gods and End Hostilities to keep the board as clear as possible for Sarkhan and/or Elspeth to finish the job. Ajani makes both of them into even greater threats.
A Token subtheme is present in there, too. Rabblemaster is a crazy card that I personally feel is strong outside of aggro, and also gets better alongside the walkers in these colors.
In short - Mardu superfriends.
Sorin should shine in that deck too. Not sure if it's a tier 1 deck, but I'm certainly going to give it a spin.
I do think cards like Abzan Ascendancy are what will push token strategies over the top. That card in particular acts as both an anthem and a way to survive board wipes. I also agree that the deck has plenty of token generators; I personally think a deck would be fine with just Launch the Fleets and Raise the Alarm. Then fill the rest of the slots with tough creatures like Anafenza, Brimaz, Fleecemane, maybe even a few gods (Pharika, Athreos). My guess is that it will be the fastest aggro deck in the format once people figure it out after hearing the MRD isn't as well equipped as I thought.
The fastest deck that is also most consistent is probably going to be rabble red, maybe w/r soldiers (I'm going to be testing out both). the abzan strategy is alittle more grindy, while giving you free wins off of turn 2 lions and such.
On Jund Walkers and Mono-B aggro: I left the first out because it relied on Ravnica removal that may not see equivalent replacements. Things like Abrupt Decay, Mizzium Mortars, Golgari Charm, Rakdos's Return, Vraska, Ultimate Price, Dreadbore. It just seemed like too much was taken out. I think a similar deck may emerge, but I'm not sure it will be in those colors (Abzan?). Mono-B aggro may emerge, but it was overshadowed a little by other aggro decks in standard and block constructed (red in standard, Naya in block).
Yea I kind of agree with you on jund, on the surface it looks bad. They don't have a catch-all answer anymore, that answer is in w/b making junk walkers and mardu control seem better. The only big thing it seems to have over mardu and abzan colors seems to be being able to play ramp with the red walkers and play garruk. They also get 2 sets of fetches which might be important card selection with courser. It's worth testing but I think abzan and mardu strategies will be better.
Another big thing is that jund's unconditional creature removal in hero's downfall and silence the believers costs double black while utter end is 2wb, which seems easier to cast. Even sultai charm and crackling doom seem easier to cast because those decks will be wanting to fix their mana for those kind of spells anyway, and double black in jund will be awkward because of double green for courser and double red for Chandra/sarkhan/stormbreath. They do get 2 sets of fetches as I said before, but it still seems like it's harder to cast those spells.
Mono black agro was actually the only agro deck that existed in block (heroic is more combo-centric and inconsistent). It's a good agro deck because it has disruption on it's creatures and a lot of bestow allowing it to power through sweepers like drown in sorrow and anger of the gods. Mardu skullhunter is a big gain for that deck imo.
Naya in block was r/g monsters that splashed white for Elspeth and banishing light, it was just a very fast ramp deck.
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If MTG is a part of your life, the formats are like relationships:
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Are we just gonna ignore affinity? I mean ensoul artifact is one of the best cards in the format, and it's not losing much post rotation, though izzet charm and judges familiar leaving will hurt.
Depends on what the Jeskai bring. Supposedly they have a focus on artifacts and equipments. Cheap prowess creatures may give the deck more consistency, but we haven't seen anything playable from them yet.
Are we just gonna ignore affinity? I mean ensoul artifact is one of the best cards in the format, and it's not losing much post rotation, though izzet charm and judges familiar leaving will hurt.
Depends on what the Jeskai bring. Supposedly they have a focus on artifacts and equipments. Cheap prowess creatures may give the deck more consistency, but we haven't seen anything playable from them yet.
Ghost blade isn't a bad start. And howl of the horde coupled with shrapnel blast is a cool 15 damage that seems entirely doable in my experience.
I also think RUG walkers will likely replace Jund. Not sure what black brings to the table post rotation, but Kiora, Xenagos, Nissa, and Sarkhan plus ramp and courser seems pretty legit
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Modern: UWR Breach, UWB Esper control
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
Are we just gonna ignore affinity? I mean ensoul artifact is one of the best cards in the format, and it's not losing much post rotation, though izzet charm and judges familiar leaving will hurt.
Depends on what the Jeskai bring. Supposedly they have a focus on artifacts and equipments. Cheap prowess creatures may give the deck more consistency, but we haven't seen anything playable from them yet.
Ghost blade isn't a bad start. And howl of the horde coupled with shrapnel blast is a cool 15 damage that seems entirely doable in my experience.
I was mostly talking about artifact creatures and Jeskai creatures with Prowess, which haven't had much. Ghostblade and howl are options that might make the deck viable though. It might be faster than other aggro decks, but without the same consistency. I don't like the calling affinity though, just like I don't like called any self-mill deck a dredge deck. I've just been calling the deck UR Scissors.
Are we just gonna ignore affinity? I mean ensoul artifact is one of the best cards in the format, and it's not losing much post rotation, though izzet charm and judges familiar leaving will hurt.
Depends on what the Jeskai bring. Supposedly they have a focus on artifacts and equipments. Cheap prowess creatures may give the deck more consistency, but we haven't seen anything playable from them yet.
Ghost blade isn't a bad start. And howl of the horde coupled with shrapnel blast is a cool 15 damage that seems entirely doable in my experience.
I was mostly talking about artifact creatures and Jeskai creatures with Prowess, which haven't had much. Ghostblade and howl are options that might make the deck viable though. It might be faster than other aggro decks, but without the same consistency. I don't like the calling affinity though, just like I don't like called any self-mill deck a dredge deck. I've just been calling the deck UR Scissors.
I'm still hoping for a great card with rock art and a great card with paper art :p...
Strategy: Play the best combination of creatures and removal, get the most out of the fetches.
Comments: Green has the easiest mana fixing with Caryatid and benefits the most from fetches, so this deck could be 3 or 4 colors to play whatever it whats.
Strategy: Use a combination of spot removal, strong blockers (Courser?), and board wipes at 3 & 5 CMC to delay until Elspeth or another finisher.
Comments: BUG control was the best control of Theros block constructed, but the best sweeper and finisher are in white so it is the control base. Black and red are the most likely splashes, for Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrows.
Strategy - Ramp into fatties
Comments - Could exist in various splashes for new cards, but the base is still the same as it was in last standard.
Strategy - Early game aggro into late game devotion strategy.
Comments - Could add another color, but red aggro will always exist and the top of the curve was all Theros
Strategy - Put things into the graveyard, get value for doing so (reanimation, tokens, delve)
Comments - Basically Sultai's thing. Depends heavily on support printed in Khans and amount of hate; could be a Tier 2 deck or the best deck in the format if a degenerate Delve card gets printed.
Strategy - Put a lot of 1/1 tokens on the battlefield, use anthems to buff them up. Might work best in Abzan or Jeskai colors, might use Sorin/Elspeth.
Comments - Competing with MRD as the aggro deck of the format. Has good planeswalker support, but needs some Khans cards to be a Tier 1 aggro deck.
Any other likely strategies? Am I overlooking the potential for MUD and MBD to stick around, or a different base for a control deck?
I think the bug deck is probably going to be more of a jundish kind of deck, just playing the best creatures and removal spells. Not a synergy based list that you have outlined above. It's possible that that works out, but we would need at least one really good delve card for this to work. Even if we do get the delve card, you're playing a lot of cards that aren't really playable on their own such as wayfinder, commune, phenax, etc... It's a lot of enablers for almost no gain. I think the bug deck will look a lot like the one from block constructed buffed with cards from khans such as the charm. Sidisi could still work in the bug deck as a huntmaster of sorts, I haven't tried her yet, but it's possible. If you have sidisi and prognostic sphinx on the board you can stack the abilities so that the sphinx sbility resolves first and keep caryatids and such on the top so you mill them with sidisi for the 2/2. Sidisi is another synergy with sphinx just like courser is.
Mono green devotion is not nearly as consistent as it once was. Burning tree emissary was a HUGE part of that deck being able to play a bte into a voyaging satyr or an activation of nykthos was huge. Now you have to play things like the archer and swordwise centaur for 2 devotion on turn 2, then play the satyr or whatever, allowing for a turn 4 use of nykthos at the earliest whereas before it was turn 3. I really don't think this deck can survive post rotation, it's just going to be too slow now and get eaten alive by things like anger and end hostilities since it can't get going as fast as it could before.
I've been thinking about a token deck too. But it can't be just straight tokens imo, there's cards that make tokens when something happens to non token creatures like spirit bonds and abzan ascendency. It makes me think that the deck will be abzan colors and sort of prolong their creature's lifespan by having them either turn into spirits after death or make new ones when entering to eventually kill the opponent. This deck also gets to play some really strong creatures with fleecemane lion, brimaz, the abzan khan, and they get aggressive starts with elvish mystic, soldier of the pantheon, sunblade elf, and possibly things like tormented hero and gnarled scarhide (althougth I don't think the mana will be good enough to be able to play them turn 1). This seems like a strong proactive deck that can grind out wins against control and other midrange strategies.
Right now the biggest decks on my radar are:
Mardu control
abzan midrange
bug midrange
g/r monsters (possibly splashing white for Elspeth like in block, maybe black for garruk but the other white cards you'd want are easier to cast than the other black cards: downfall vs banishing light)
g/b midrange (best deck for sign in blood and garruk imo)
rabble red
mono black aggro
bant creatures that are hard to kill (brimaz, fleecemane, soldier of the pantheon, the 6/6 trampler, sphinx etc...) I haven't built this yet, but the idea of this deck just seems good and you get 2 sets of fetches for courser in bant colors, so I want to try it.
When I was playing block I was messing with mono blue devotion and it was pretty close to being competitive, all it really needs is just one or 2 good 2 mana creatures that cost uu. So that's something to look out for. It did get absolutely thrashed by anger and drown though, so it's probably not going to work unless these hypothetical enablers are really good.
EDIT:
Forgot to mention that I'm also working on a uwr deck that I think could be good, narset is just nuts imo. It would get to play end hostilities and sphinx (narset having huge synergy with it). You also get access to keranos, Elspeth, Chandra, sarkhan, etc... we just need a good 2 cmc removal to make this work imo, it also depends on what the charm looks like.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
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The BUG list you are talking about is what I'd call a G/x goodstuff deck. Basically pair Sylvan, Courser with the best removal and creatures from any combination of colors and you have a deck. Last standard it started off with MGD, quickly diverged into G/r Monsters and then split into Jund Monsters and finally went back to MGD with M15. This standard we are likely to see wedge and shard variants, plus 2-color combos until someone finds the best mixture. BUG Delver is a deck in the same colors as BUG goodstuff, but instead of focusing on raw power it focuses on graveyard synergy. Basically, I see it as competitive because it just pushes the Courser+fetches synergy even further.
Judging from the creatures we've seen so far, I think MGD can stick around. The biggest loss isn't Burning-Tree Emissary, but Garruk. However, I still think that a devotion based strategy is most likely to work in green, the color of ramp. Those two cards are really the only Ravnica cards lost, a much lower loss than other devotion decks. Instead of ramping into crazy Garruk turns it might settle for slightly less crazy See the Unwritten turns, or something else entirely. It might be a deck that revolves around Generator Servant and Rattleclaw Mystic to pump out Sagu Maulers and Scuttling Doom Engines. Or maybe we'll a few really good GG cards that let the deck stay mono-green.
I do think cards like Abzan Ascendancy are what will push token strategies over the top. That card in particular acts as both an anthem and a way to survive board wipes. I also agree that the deck has plenty of token generators; I personally think a deck would be fine with just Launch the Fleets and Raise the Alarm. Then fill the rest of the slots with tough creatures like Anafenza, Brimaz, Fleecemane, maybe even a few gods (Pharika, Athreos). My guess is that it will be the fastest aggro deck in the format once people figure it out after hearing the MRD isn't as well equipped as I thought.
On Jund Walkers and Mono-B aggro: I left the first out because it relied on Ravnica removal that may not see equivalent replacements. Things like Abrupt Decay, Mizzium Mortars, Golgari Charm, Rakdos's Return, Vraska, Ultimate Price, Dreadbore. It just seemed like too much was taken out. I think a similar deck may emerge, but I'm not sure it will be in those colors (Abzan?). Mono-B aggro may emerge, but it was overshadowed a little by other aggro decks in standard and block constructed (red in standard, Naya in block).
A Token subtheme is present in there, too. Rabblemaster is a crazy card that I personally feel is strong outside of aggro, and also gets better alongside the walkers in these colors.
In short - Mardu superfriends.
CMy Peasant CubeC
On Cubetutor
Some decks that I think will be Tier-2 (meaning that can often do well at FNM and very rarely place in big events, but not in significant numbers):
Sorin should shine in that deck too. Not sure if it's a tier 1 deck, but I'm certainly going to give it a spin.
The fastest deck that is also most consistent is probably going to be rabble red, maybe w/r soldiers (I'm going to be testing out both). the abzan strategy is alittle more grindy, while giving you free wins off of turn 2 lions and such.
Yea I kind of agree with you on jund, on the surface it looks bad. They don't have a catch-all answer anymore, that answer is in w/b making junk walkers and mardu control seem better. The only big thing it seems to have over mardu and abzan colors seems to be being able to play ramp with the red walkers and play garruk. They also get 2 sets of fetches which might be important card selection with courser. It's worth testing but I think abzan and mardu strategies will be better.
Another big thing is that jund's unconditional creature removal in hero's downfall and silence the believers costs double black while utter end is 2wb, which seems easier to cast. Even sultai charm and crackling doom seem easier to cast because those decks will be wanting to fix their mana for those kind of spells anyway, and double black in jund will be awkward because of double green for courser and double red for Chandra/sarkhan/stormbreath. They do get 2 sets of fetches as I said before, but it still seems like it's harder to cast those spells.
Mono black agro was actually the only agro deck that existed in block (heroic is more combo-centric and inconsistent). It's a good agro deck because it has disruption on it's creatures and a lot of bestow allowing it to power through sweepers like drown in sorrow and anger of the gods. Mardu skullhunter is a big gain for that deck imo.
Naya in block was r/g monsters that splashed white for Elspeth and banishing light, it was just a very fast ramp deck.
Standard/Block = The on-again, off-again holiday fling
Modern/Vintage/Legacy = Stable, homely. A ***** after absence/misreading
Limited/Sealed = Heart breaking free spirit
Commander/Cube = Agreeable, needy and expensive
Pauper/Peasant = Sweet, kind, practical, but shy and boring
Depends on what the Jeskai bring. Supposedly they have a focus on artifacts and equipments. Cheap prowess creatures may give the deck more consistency, but we haven't seen anything playable from them yet.
Ghost blade isn't a bad start. And howl of the horde coupled with shrapnel blast is a cool 15 damage that seems entirely doable in my experience.
I also think RUG walkers will likely replace Jund. Not sure what black brings to the table post rotation, but Kiora, Xenagos, Nissa, and Sarkhan plus ramp and courser seems pretty legit
Legacy: UW RiP/Helm, UR Sneak and Show
I was mostly talking about artifact creatures and Jeskai creatures with Prowess, which haven't had much. Ghostblade and howl are options that might make the deck viable though. It might be faster than other aggro decks, but without the same consistency. I don't like the calling affinity though, just like I don't like called any self-mill deck a dredge deck. I've just been calling the deck UR Scissors.
I'm still hoping for a great card with rock art and a great card with paper art :p...