This deck doesn't need Strangleroot Geists. The great thing about Rancor is that it makes threats out of everything. The only problem I ran into was not drawing enough threats to deal with constant board wipes. So I'm playing 3 Elvish Visionaries instead. See why below
The haste on Strangleroot Geist is the only good part about it, but what does it do anyways? 2 damage before your opponent throws down a Blade Splicer and stops it dead in its tracks? Doesn't seem very useful. Why not just play the Visionary and dig through your deck? The visionary will do just as much damage with the Rancor on it as well. Plus, Geist isn't always playable; in Naya, the Visionary will always be playable.
Other than that, I am running 4 Huntmasters, and 2 Sword of FaF. I dropped the Borderland Rangers to make room, but I might change that because I do like getting more land out for those games where a miracled bonfire for 6+ would be nice.
The deck is strong, and very powerful against a lot of matchups. I do fine against delver. However, with the recent surge of MBC, Esper, and other artifact control, I think this deck is going to be a little stifled until M12 and Scars rotate out. Those decks just have way too many ways to deal with our deck. Hopefully we also get some nice creatures in RtR
I'm not giving up on this deck even though I did shoddily at the IQ. Just means I'm going to playtest more and maybe modify a bit here and there.
I've toyed with Oketra's Monument as well and I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it in the BW since it doesn't help Gifted Aetherborn get out quicker.
T2 Lone Rider ---> T3 Essence Extraction is a pretty neat play, even though Lone Rider isn't rotation proof you can still pick him up for super cheap if money is why you're trying to keep it rotation proof.
Other great finishers and threats are going to be Angel of Invention and Gisela the Broken Blade (not rotation proof)
It comes in matchups with a lot of targeted creature hate, cards like Fatal Push can hit a lot of our threats. I am not 100% sure I need 4 copies of the card however. Sideboard is kind of a WIP still at this point.
Firstly, I just want to echo what was said about Driven // Despair. This card is nutso if you can get a grip of snake or scarab tokens on the board. Every game I've played, I've been able to net some serious card advantage with either side. It is the perfect card for the "go-wide" strategy to pressure our opponents and sometimes just close games outright.
Second, Claim // Fame is also an amazing recursion card and one of the strongest cards you can splash for in Red. Being able to reanimate a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons who is a prime target for removal but is important to us as a vital engine, Channeler Initiate, or Exemplar of Strength can make amazing plays with all the three -1/-1 counters they drop when they come on board. The haste end is also very good for throwing onto pretty much anyone. Claim // Fame is one of my favorite cards coming out of this set.
I also really wish I could fit Abrade and Soul-Scar Mage into this list, but I feel like that's a completely different deck than this one. Also the mana really isn't there if we want to really support 3 colors opposed to just a splash of red.
Anyways, enough of that. Here's my current decklist. Sideboard is kind of a mess but I feel like I only have a vague idea of what will be ideal in our sideboard and I will only learn more about that as I playtest. Let me know what you think, I'll be taking this to my first FNM in a long time hopefully in a week after release and hopefully have results to share:
3x Ammit Eternal
2x Banewhip Punisher
4x Channeler Initiate
2x Crocodile of the Crossing
2x Exemplar of Strength
4x Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons
3x Obelisk Spider
2x Soulstinger
2x The Scorpion God
Land (23)
4x Blooming Marsh
2x Canyon Slough
2x Evolving Wilds
5x Forest
2x Ifnir Deadlands
2x Mountain
2x Sheltered Thicket
4x Swamp
3x Fatal Push
2x Splendid Agony
Sorcery (5)
2x Claim // Fame
3x Driven // Despair
Enchantment (3)
3x Nest of Scarabs
3x Dissenter's Deliverance
3x Prowling Serpopard
1x Claim // Fame
4x Hapatra's Mark
2x Stinging Shot
2x Destined // Lead
Other notable cards with similar effects: Mer-Ek Nightblade, Tuskguard Captain
2x Dragonlord Atarka
2x Icefall Regent
4x Thunderbreak Regent
4x Rattleclaw Mystic
1x Foe-Razer Regent
Planeswalker (2)
2x Sarkhan Unbroken
Enchantment (3)
3x Frontier Siege
2x Crater's Claw
Instant (14)
2x Draconic Roar
2x Sarkhan's Triumph
2x Dragonlord's Prerogative
4x Atarka's Command
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Silumgar's Scorn
4 Frontier Biouvac
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Mystery
3 Island
2 Mountain
4 Forest
3x Haven of the Spirit Dragon
Why?
She's an 8/8 for 7, which is absolutely massive just to start off. Seven mana is not at all hard to hit for GR decks, especially with cards that can pull her out easily like See the Unwritten. Her ETB effect is very powerful, allowing you to kill pretty much every relevant creature in Standard as it enters. If it hit players, the card would be way way way too good.
2nd would be Silumgar, followed shortly by Dromaka and then Ojutai. I think Silumgar has some serious potential in an unexplored UBx deck. Dromaka is a nice kick in the face of UB, but that's basically it. Ojutai is decent, but he's not very formidable when it comes to his body. He dies in every fight. I understand that the deck will build around him and make him work, but I think there are just better cards for doing what Ojutai does.
Kolaghan ~could~ see some play in a Jund dragon deck, but only in the board against decks with lots of copies of the same creatures and Planeswalker cards (see Abzan)
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
What do you guys think about this card? Honestly, I think this card could see some play in black decks with Gray Merchant. Exploiting a creature to pull a Gary into your hand seems very, very strong. Not to mention the value of an effective tutor and it's value in deckbuilding. Add in his two devotion, strong blocking body WITH Deathtouch... and I think this card could make some definite waves.
What do you guys think?