battlefield thaumaturge only takes 1 colorless off of fused spells
Yea if you only target 1 creature. So you would turn 1 creature and burn another for 3 mana on turn 3. Then block the turned creature with Battlefield and get your 2-for-1. Turn//Burn costs 1 less for each creature it targets.
Well I think I may have stumbled upon a competitive U/R tempo deck. Unfortunately rotation is only some weeks away. I've been doing really well with the deck. Green/x creature decks used to be the bane of U/R but I've been pounding them pretty regularly with this deck. I've also been doing well against mono-black. Mono-red aggro has been about a 50/50, as is U/W control. Jund Planeswalkers can be a difficult matchup but I haven't played it enough. Anyways, at the very least, this deck is a blast to play and I suggest playing it before rotation. I think post-rotation, it will still be playable, but needs a solid replacement for Young Pyromancer (which seems hard to do). Every creature in this deck has to be answered or it will get out of hand quickly (except for early game Chimeras which is why there's only 2). Quicken, Divination, and Steam Augury keep your hand full and dig towards your biggest blowout card in Hour of Need (and even more with Battlefield Thaumaturge). Steam Augury has been pretty sweet as long as I don't draw both in one game. I've considered dropping to one and maybe adding another removal or tempo card. Void Snare is straight ballin in this deck. I think this card is heavily over-looked atm, but I think that will change after rotation. It's such a massive tempo swing hitting large and small creatures to Planeswalkers and enchantments, especially if you've already stuck one of your creatures. Void Snaring and then swinging with Golbin Rabblemaster + a battlefield or young p for 8-10 damage has won me many a game. End of turning HoN for 1-3 tokens on turn 3-4 is the obvious nut draw. Don't forget 3rd turn turn//burn with thaumaturge in play. This deck absolutely burns any deck that can't interact with it. Anyways, I could go on, but I think the deck speaks for itself. There are many more large and small interactions in the cards than I've discussed.
I've been doing very well with this deck in testing. Green decks were the bane of U/R for a long time, but I've been winning the majority of Green/x creature based matchups pretty easily (though the Bant/Junk Walkers is a little trickier cause of the excessive removal). I've also been doing well against Mono Black and Control. Every creature in this deck is a must answer threat. Otherwise we will get immense value from the creature. Rabblemaster is an army of his own, as is Young Pyromancer. Thaumaturge is not immediately threatening when it hits play. But he will be in the next couple turns. Chimera is awesome to drop in the mid-game or later and I think 2 is the perfect amount. Obviously the nut draw in the deck involves Thaumaturge and Hour of Need. But even without that, beating down with Pyro and Rabble using Void Snare, Turn//Burn, and the other removal to screw their tempo hard has won me the most games. Void Snare has been stellar, and I've been saying that a spell of this nature is what UR tempo needed to compete. Some better cheap cantrips would have been nice in M15 but alas it wasn't to be. That said, the Divination, Quicken, and Izzet Charm all help to find Hour of Need or one of our creatures as soon as possible. Steam Augury reloads the hand hard and usually gets you at least one more game-winning threat. And it makes our beloved Chimera that much sweeter. It's too bad Young Pyro is rotating soon, but I really recommend Izzet fans to give this deck a shot before rotation. It is an absolute blast to play, and is easily the most fun I've had with any deck this standard (and I've tried everything from mono-black to control to creature swarm). But nothing is as fun as tempo, and this reminds me of playing UR aggro/tempo in Modern. I've been thinking about adding more card draw in the side for the Control and Mono-Black matchups. Or perhaps a Keranos.
I would try to jam Illusory Angel and some combination of Battlefield Thuamaturge and Hour of Need (and some Turn//Burn). Hour of Need is great with Ornithopter, as is the Illusory Angel. Void Snare and Shrapnel Blast seem like a pretty dynamic "removal" package (and Void Snare enables Angel on Turn 4). Izzet Charm seems considerable as well since you can dig for your "combo pieces" a bit in addition to its other modes. What's disappointing is that Green and Black have such better card drawing spells over Blue.
I like Phoenix over Chandra to continue putting high pressure on them. There's a decent chance removal heavy decks will have pissed away their removal on earlier threats by the time Flame-Wreathed makes his debut. Also, I like Zarek for tapping down a blocker, and untapping a land can actually be pretty useful for this deck. Good call on the Skullcracks. For counters, I have a couple Essence Scatter, 2 Negate, and a Counterflux. But I will probably change these around a bit. Mizzium Mortars is also good in the side.
I like the idea of the deck, I'm going to have pick up some Mana Confluences to test it out. The only card I'm not sold on is Flame-Wreathed Phoenix. It would be an awesome card if it didn't suffer from the tribute mechanic going on the stack. One thing that sticks out to me is how good Harness by Force is out of the sideboard against Monsters and MBD with Thaumaturge. The only downside with Thaumaturge is I haven't been able to figure out a way to make use of the heroic trigger, and in all honesty that's probably a different deck with a different color splash.
I didn't know that's how tribute worked. So if I cast F-Phoenix, someone can doom blade it, before I can get it's "return from graveyard" ability? That kind of sucks. But I think it is the only card that does what it does at the 4 drop slot. I want another flyer (sometimes hasty) that can't be blocked to push through damage. I can't think of any other worthy fliers at the 3 or 4 drop spot, but I'd def be open to hear some ideas. And it almost has to be answered if you curve into it well (and get your early turn licks in).
Yes, I also have 2 Harness by Force in the sideboard, and although I haven't used it yet, I foresee it being an utter blowout when it's cast. G/X already will have trouble if we get Hour of Need online, and Harness would solidify the beats even without Hour.
I completely disregarded Thaumaturge's heroic ability. I'm running a couple Mizzium Skin's in the side for removal heavy matchups, so it is redundant there.
I also have a Curse of the Swine in the sideboard for any decks with multiple troublesome creatures. Also stocking 2 Rapid Hybrids. Gridlock could be good against Weenie decks and pushing through damage. I also have a couple Jace, Architects in the side, but not sure if necessary yet. Could be right to stock more aggressive 1 or 2 drop creatures in the side for control matchups. I feel like Pheonix and Storm will really shine late game in that matchup.
The other nice thing about playing Hour of need, is that if you have it in hand, top-decking your 1 drops actually turns into not being a bad thing.
Control seems like it will be the hardest matchup. Otherwise, I think we out race most aggro decks, especially if we curve out.
Sideboard is still in progress, but I'm sure you guys can think of the some of the good cards to throw in. I've gotten turn 1 creature, turn 2 Battlefield Thaumaturge, turn 3 Hour of Need for 2 4/4 fliers at opponent's end step quite a few times now. It's basically the best thing you can do in standard against decks not playing removal. If timed correctly, even an opponent holding up with removal can only get one of the 2 (or 3) 4/4 fliers (but we're talking around turn 4 or 5 now). If you've gotten your licks in with the early beaters and fliers, the single 4/4 swinging along with whatever else can be enough to end the game that turn. Not to mention turn 2 Thumaturge into turn 3 fused Turn//Burn is big time against creature decks. Now, I know the best decks are playing removal. I've won a lot of games going just the beat down route. The one drops beat in early. Curving into Chandra'a Pheonix, Flame-Wreathed Pheonix/Ral Zarek, then Stormbreath finish off the game. It races any creature based decks fantastically with all the fliers. What was normally a bane for me in G/X is now a pretty easy matchup as we are prepped to put them in the red zone when they finally get a big dumb creature on board. You don't need to rely on Hour of Need to win. But it can straight up blow out opponents from no where if you do go down that path. And you can force your opponent to play around it to your advantage. Another nice play is having 4 mana out including Mutavault and EoT or block phase Hour of Need Mutavault (without Thamaturge). This has been the most fun I've had playing U/R in a while. It feels Boros Burn-esque in the early game with beat down from 1 drop, 2 drop Zealot, and Chandra's Phenoix. But then you just start going bigger with Flame-Wreathed, Stormbreath, and Hour of Need instead of burn to finish off the game. Still not decided on running Judge's Familiar or Rakdos Cackler instead. I like that Judge's Familiar can stave off removal or create awkward scenarios for opponent. Will probably depend on matchups. I tried Young P early on and really tried to make him work, but you need to be playing a certain amount of instants/sorceries to make him worthy of inclusion. Going the higher creature route and pushing through early damage, and having targets for quick Hour of Needs is just flat out better than trying to force Pyromancer. Although I am testing out another brew with Pyro, Thaumaturge, Hour of Need, and a lower curve, but it's not nearly as good as this (yet).
Yea Lightning Strike. Font is like a 2 drop. You can drop it turn 2 or cast it turn 5 and still leave mana open for Dissolve. I just don't like tapping out turn 3 for Divination, and Quicken is basically just filler.
Anyways, I was playing more with that build and it's (obviously) still a little too underpowered in the format. Black can wreck your hand and gets better card advantage with Connections. Green/x now has better card advantage with Courser and whatever else they combo it with. There's just no way to keep up with a lot of decks consistently in that type of U/R build. What I am interested in, is building around Hour of Need. But I think that card would just be better in a mono blue deck anyway.
So, I'm going to be taking UWR to the next event. It's been testing well and has nice options out of the sideboard. I have 2 Stormys and 2 Chimeras in the side. The plan is to side those in, expecting mono-black and Esper to be siding out their spot removal for game 2. Also, you can fight back against Boros Burn (and other hyper aggro strats) much better than Esper with access to Warleader's Helix, Nyx-Fleece Ram, and AotG. I'm playing 2 Helix main deck, 3 Nyx-Fleece in side, and 2 or 3 Angers in the side. Anger permanently rids of Chandra's Pheonix (unless they burn it themselves in response). The problem I'm having is whether of not to run Aetherling main deck. I probably should. But I hate playing the card, and might keep it in the sideboard. Also considering running a singleton Ral Zarek and Kernos in the main, but still undecided.
So I was brewing the other night, and this is where I ended up. I was doing pretty well in the limited testing I did on the dirty Cockatrice. I was frequently getting into the opponents red zone and always hoping for a Stormbreath to finish off the deed. So I ended up shoving 2 more in. He's so good as finisher, especially in this deck. And you're pretty much always going to want 2 because the first one's gonna eat removal. Font of Fortunes has worked well in this deck as another 2 drop that you can crack at instant speed at opponents end of turn. There's so much spot removal now that I think I want 2 Mizzium Skin's maindeck. It can also dodge Domri's minus. Chandra is great and I'm glad I finally gave it a chance after reading memans report.
The deck does a lot of incremental damage with Pyro, Muta, and Chandra in the early/mid game. Stormbreath and Guttersnipe get the final damage in. You usually just need a late game Guttersnipe with a burn spell and instant to back him up for final damage points. I like having 2 of him in here cause I'm not concerned about banking my whole game on him anymore. I like having 6 scry lands for filtering draws and hitting land drops to get to 5 mana.
I'm going to take this or my UWR control deck to the next FNM depending on how further testing goes.
Thanks for the good report thememan. I just shoveled out some serious dough last week to build a U/W/R control deck, but I'm now considering going back to the original U/R tempo game plan after reading your report haha. I just wish there were a better one drop. I really don't think I could run Familiar, but having Time of Need to get some extra value later does seem decent. How often did that scenario come up for you? Do you think you're going to stick with Familiar moving forward?
I've been playing Keranos as x1 with U/W/R in cockatrice. He's surprisingly good in aggro match ups, which I previously thought he would be too slow for. But if you control board until you can crap him out, they can never out top-deck you for the rest of the game.
Another thing I was thinking about with the creature-centric build: are there enough 2 to 3 mana creature drops with greater than 3 toughness? Being able to wipe out everything on the other side of the board and keeping yours with Anger of Gods would be epic. Only creature I can think off the top is FrostBurn Weird.
Thing is, the question then fundamentally becomes: is this better than MUD? What does it do differently?
I think it could work if it was tweaked enough.
I think what would differentiate it is having removal/burn (esp Turn//Burn) and an extremely resilient threat in Chandra's Pheonix. And having some stronger finishers/threats in Stormy, Ral Zarek (and Jacey poo), Keranos, and just maybe Niv-Mizzet(!?).
I have a few lists I want to play around with, so if Dakra doesn't work out then no biggie. One of the lists I really want to test out is a straight up Counter/Burn list:
If anything else it looks fun to play on paper. Beating people to death with Elemental tokens and Mutavaults with counters open is good livin. I'm going to have to wait until JOU is released on Modo for me try it because that's where my Mutas are. :/
Oh, it's so epic beating down with elemental tokens and mutas with counters up. Unfortunately, it just doesn't happen very often. Especially when the only target for opponents removal is poor Young Peezy :(.
No, it costs 3 if you target two creatures, lol. Read my first reply again.
Yea if you only target 1 creature. So you would turn 1 creature and burn another for 3 mana on turn 3. Then block the turned creature with Battlefield and get your 2-for-1. Turn//Burn costs 1 less for each creature it targets.
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Spellheart Chimera
4 Hour of Need
1 Izzet Charm
1 Negate
2 Quicken
2 Steam Augury
2 Stoke the Flames
4 Turn//Burn
1 Mizzium Mortars
4 Void Snare
4 Island
1 Mana Confluence
3 Mountain
3 Mutavault
4 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Epiphany
1 Cyclonic Rift
2 Dispel
2 Essence Scatter
1 Jace's Ingenuity
1 Mizzium Skin
3 Negate
2 Shock
1 Turn to Frog
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Battlefield Thaumaturge
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Spellheart Chimera
4 Hour of Need
4 Void Snare
2 Quicken
3 Turn//Burn
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Stoke the Flames
2 Izzet Charm
3 Divination
2 Steam Augury
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Epiphany
1 Mana Confluence
3 Mutavault
4 Island
3 Mountain
Side
2 Shock
1 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Negate
1 Dispel
1 Mizzium Skin
2 Essence Scatter
1 Mizzium Mortars
1 Harness by Force
1 Cone of Flame
2 Other things
I didn't know that's how tribute worked. So if I cast F-Phoenix, someone can doom blade it, before I can get it's "return from graveyard" ability? That kind of sucks. But I think it is the only card that does what it does at the 4 drop slot. I want another flyer (sometimes hasty) that can't be blocked to push through damage. I can't think of any other worthy fliers at the 3 or 4 drop spot, but I'd def be open to hear some ideas. And it almost has to be answered if you curve into it well (and get your early turn licks in).
Yes, I also have 2 Harness by Force in the sideboard, and although I haven't used it yet, I foresee it being an utter blowout when it's cast. G/X already will have trouble if we get Hour of Need online, and Harness would solidify the beats even without Hour.
I completely disregarded Thaumaturge's heroic ability. I'm running a couple Mizzium Skin's in the side for removal heavy matchups, so it is redundant there.
I also have a Curse of the Swine in the sideboard for any decks with multiple troublesome creatures. Also stocking 2 Rapid Hybrids. Gridlock could be good against Weenie decks and pushing through damage. I also have a couple Jace, Architects in the side, but not sure if necessary yet. Could be right to stock more aggressive 1 or 2 drop creatures in the side for control matchups. I feel like Pheonix and Storm will really shine late game in that matchup.
The other nice thing about playing Hour of need, is that if you have it in hand, top-decking your 1 drops actually turns into not being a bad thing.
Control seems like it will be the hardest matchup. Otherwise, I think we out race most aggro decks, especially if we curve out.
4 Judge's Familiar
2 Ash Zealot
4 Battlefield Thaumaturge
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Ral Zarek
4 Turn // Burn
4 Hour of Need
3 Izzet Charm
4 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Abandon
3 Mana Confluence
4 Mutavault
4 Island
4 Mountain
Side
2 Skullcrack
2 Harness by Force
2 Essence Scatter
2 Negate
1 Counterflux
1 Mizzium Skin
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Ral Zarek
2 Ash Zealot
Sideboard is still in progress, but I'm sure you guys can think of the some of the good cards to throw in. I've gotten turn 1 creature, turn 2 Battlefield Thaumaturge, turn 3 Hour of Need for 2 4/4 fliers at opponent's end step quite a few times now. It's basically the best thing you can do in standard against decks not playing removal. If timed correctly, even an opponent holding up with removal can only get one of the 2 (or 3) 4/4 fliers (but we're talking around turn 4 or 5 now). If you've gotten your licks in with the early beaters and fliers, the single 4/4 swinging along with whatever else can be enough to end the game that turn. Not to mention turn 2 Thumaturge into turn 3 fused Turn//Burn is big time against creature decks. Now, I know the best decks are playing removal. I've won a lot of games going just the beat down route. The one drops beat in early. Curving into Chandra'a Pheonix, Flame-Wreathed Pheonix/Ral Zarek, then Stormbreath finish off the game. It races any creature based decks fantastically with all the fliers. What was normally a bane for me in G/X is now a pretty easy matchup as we are prepped to put them in the red zone when they finally get a big dumb creature on board. You don't need to rely on Hour of Need to win. But it can straight up blow out opponents from no where if you do go down that path. And you can force your opponent to play around it to your advantage. Another nice play is having 4 mana out including Mutavault and EoT or block phase Hour of Need Mutavault (without Thamaturge). This has been the most fun I've had playing U/R in a while. It feels Boros Burn-esque in the early game with beat down from 1 drop, 2 drop Zealot, and Chandra's Phenoix. But then you just start going bigger with Flame-Wreathed, Stormbreath, and Hour of Need instead of burn to finish off the game. Still not decided on running Judge's Familiar or Rakdos Cackler instead. I like that Judge's Familiar can stave off removal or create awkward scenarios for opponent. Will probably depend on matchups. I tried Young P early on and really tried to make him work, but you need to be playing a certain amount of instants/sorceries to make him worthy of inclusion. Going the higher creature route and pushing through early damage, and having targets for quick Hour of Needs is just flat out better than trying to force Pyromancer. Although I am testing out another brew with Pyro, Thaumaturge, Hour of Need, and a lower curve, but it's not nearly as good as this (yet).
Anyways, I was playing more with that build and it's (obviously) still a little too underpowered in the format. Black can wreck your hand and gets better card advantage with Connections. Green/x now has better card advantage with Courser and whatever else they combo it with. There's just no way to keep up with a lot of decks consistently in that type of U/R build. What I am interested in, is building around Hour of Need. But I think that card would just be better in a mono blue deck anyway.
So, I'm going to be taking UWR to the next event. It's been testing well and has nice options out of the sideboard. I have 2 Stormys and 2 Chimeras in the side. The plan is to side those in, expecting mono-black and Esper to be siding out their spot removal for game 2. Also, you can fight back against Boros Burn (and other hyper aggro strats) much better than Esper with access to Warleader's Helix, Nyx-Fleece Ram, and AotG. I'm playing 2 Helix main deck, 3 Nyx-Fleece in side, and 2 or 3 Angers in the side. Anger permanently rids of Chandra's Pheonix (unless they burn it themselves in response). The problem I'm having is whether of not to run Aetherling main deck. I probably should. But I hate playing the card, and might keep it in the sideboard. Also considering running a singleton Ral Zarek and Kernos in the main, but still undecided.
The deck does a lot of incremental damage with Pyro, Muta, and Chandra in the early/mid game. Stormbreath and Guttersnipe get the final damage in. You usually just need a late game Guttersnipe with a burn spell and instant to back him up for final damage points. I like having 2 of him in here cause I'm not concerned about banking my whole game on him anymore. I like having 6 scry lands for filtering draws and hitting land drops to get to 5 mana.
I'm going to take this or my UWR control deck to the next FNM depending on how further testing goes.
3 Chandra's Pheonix
2 Guttersnipe
1 Spellheart Chimera
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Turn // Burn
2 Magma Jet
4 Searing Spear
3 Izzet Charm
3 Dissolve
2 Syncopate
2 Mizzium Skin
2 Jace, Architect of Thought
4 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Steam Vents
1 Izzet Guildgate
3 Mutavault
4 Island
5 Mountain
1 Spellheart Chimera
2 Counterflux
2 Negate
3 Essence Scatter
1 Dispel
2 Mizzium Mortars
I've been playing Keranos as x1 with U/W/R in cockatrice. He's surprisingly good in aggro match ups, which I previously thought he would be too slow for. But if you control board until you can crap him out, they can never out top-deck you for the rest of the game.
I think what would differentiate it is having removal/burn (esp Turn//Burn) and an extremely resilient threat in Chandra's Pheonix. And having some stronger finishers/threats in Stormy, Ral Zarek (and Jacey poo), Keranos, and just maybe Niv-Mizzet(!?).
Oh, it's so epic beating down with elemental tokens and mutas with counters up. Unfortunately, it just doesn't happen very often. Especially when the only target for opponents removal is poor Young Peezy :(.