Synopsis
I think Temur Beatdown could be a deck because there are now two great manadorks.
Two years ago, the deck had Rattleclaw Mystic and Elvish Mystic to Ramp out creatures like Stormbreath Dragon and Savage Knuckleblade.
This year, they ramp out Woodland Wanderer and Glorybringer, and attack a bit better (sadly no Crater's Claws to finish the game).
The Goal of Temur Beatdown is to be as resourceful with mana as possible while ramping out cards that will disrupt the opponents own curve. The turn Mardu vehicles would like to play Gideon, we are often ready to play Glorybringer.
The opponent will have to stop to answer our mana dorks if they do not wish to stare down a 6/6 Vigilance Trample on turn 3. The curve of this deck will create a snowball effect that punishes the opponent to play the wrong answers at the wrong time.
Some card explanations:
Tireless Tracker: This deck can generate alot of mana and needs something to do with it later in the game. Tireless Tracker is a great manasink. The deck can also play a Tireless Tracker into land on turn 3 consistently.
Kiora, Master of Depths: At first this card was Arlinn Kord. The issue with Arlinn Kord though is the card must be played before a Glorybringer hits play. This subjects it to a heart attack (it does not survive the attack via Heart of Kiran). Kiora has the benefit being cast before a Glorybringer and surviving a Heart of Kiran, or being played after to untap a Glorychaser. Kiora has other synergies with the deck. Being able to untap a Channeler Initiate and hold mana open for Harnessed Lightning can mean the difference between taking a whole lot of damage and simpler combat step.
Glorybringer: Glorybringer seems great on paper. If they don't have the removal spell for it, it will start eating creatures and planeswalkers. It's great against Mardu's planeswalker plan, and can survive an Oath of Chandra, and is incredible with Kiora backing it up.
Channeler Initiate: This little bugger makes the deck tick. He's a great blocker for little dorks and Gideon tokens, and creates inertia. The biggest issue with it is it does not survive that pesky Walking Ballista trigger.
Woodland Wanderer: Anyone that played Bant Planeswalkers last season can tell you this card is a house when used in conjunction with Servant of the Conduit. Channeler Initiate doubles this synergy. He can tangle with the Gods and Gideon, and survives an Avacyn. He's great on defense and attack. A solid creature overall.
Oath of Nissa: Oath of Nissa adds a great amount of consistency to the deck - it helps you dig to that 4th color for Woodland Wanderer, find a manadork early game, and a bigger threat later.
Attune with Aether: Attune works with Oath of Nissa to add consistency to the gameplan. I stole this idea from everyone's favorite standard combo deck.
Incendiary Flow: Mediocre removal - could be anything to suite the metagame.
Mangelhorn: This card seems great versus vehicles and Temur Tower. It may be also relevant against kitty combo if it were not for the fact that they will most likely blink their Oath of Chandra and kill you anyway. It's the best deck for a reason.
Harnessed Lighting: Best removal spell in the format. Teams up with Glorybringer to bring down bigger threats.
Cards that will prevent this deck from being a competitive deck:
Avacyn - Nothing is worse that an Avacyn in response to Glorybringer. It just pound for pound beats this card.
Fatal Push - this card will slow the deck down significantly, and disrupt the 4th mana for Wanderer
Oath of Chandra - this is yet another unbeatable card :/
Gideon Emblem - Gideon Emblem allow other Gideons to swing past Wanderer. It also allows Heart of Kiran to block Glorybringer.
Walking Ballista - this thing is another answer to initiate on curve. thankfully it affects their tempo equally as much. To play around it, just play Servant first and hope you find a Mangelhorn or Harnessed Lightning to answer it before playing the Initiate.
Cards that are missing from the deck:
Aggressive two drops: The deck could go different ways - in the current build, we wish to run manadorks. This is another territory altogether ie Lambholt Pacifist, Voltaic Brawler, etc.
Heart of Kiran: Heart of Kiran would be fantastic in a different build (jund perhaps).
Rhonas the Indomitable: If you are running Heart of Kiran, you better be running this guy. I can only imagine the other builds people will make with Rhonas and Hazoret, but this is not that deck.
Blossoming Defense: I think this card may be a necessary evil to fight removal.
Chandra: Chandra seems great in the deck, and may still end up in the main deck.
Walking Ballista: Walking Ballista is another manasink creature that could replace a flex spot such as Incendiary Flow.
Verdurous Gearhulk: The card seems phenomenal and probably should be in the deck.
Sideboard meta is tricky with a new set, but the rundown is:
Mardu: Assuming the Mardu player doesn't play planeswalkers in the face of Glorybringer, they will most likely stay more aggro than control. Magma Spray can shine here. Negate can be brought in to counter Gideon, and Mangelhorn can be brought in for more artifact hate.
BG: The deck is fairly weak to BG - things like Tamiyo help play the midrange game a bit better.
Temur Tower: Negate, Manglehorn, Bristling Hydra, Prowling Serpopard could all come in. Watch out for Mind Control effects.
Saheeli: Just about all the sideboard could come in depending on how the opponent sideboards. Authority of the Consuls help protect against the combo and thopters. Negate counters removal and counterspells. Tamiyo could come in to play the value game.
Is boarding Rest in Peace vs jund version of death's shadow worth it?
I've been removing 3 Phantasmal Image for a Path to Exile, Blessed Alliance, and a Negate; and an Engineered Explosives when I am on the draw for a Spell Queller or Geist.
Rest in Peace seems amazing in theory, but it has a serious timing discrepancy. If it is in your opening hand, a large amount of time it's going to get the discard. If you draw it too late, they would have already traversed for their death's shadows.
I will be going to an RPTQ and my choices of decks are grixis control, grixis delver, or monou tron. I feel most comfortable with grixis delver at the moment so that will probably be my choice.
The maindeck is your usual kevin jone's special (I'm debating mana base right now - I have 3 fetchable black sources and a darkslick shores and I'm debating a fourth fetchable black source).
I've laid out a sideboard plan for a majority of the decks out there and would love a critique on it.
I have been delving into the set for a BG Aggro deck - as to stay away from the slower big brother of BG Delirium without a metagame to tune the deck. This could change over the weekend, but for now, I have been happy testing with this deck.
It has gone though quite a few changes over the past few weeks and this is my current version.
Notes so far:
Gnarlwood is lukewarm when it can't block - I do not think this will be *most of the time, and the card is really good at roadblocking versus bant, and great as an aggressive creature against gw tokens. It will be sided out against control/spirits. I trimmed it down to three and I think this number is correct.
Collective Brutality did not belong in maindeck - at first I thought it would be great against aggro, but it was only okay, while bricking most of the time versus spell decks. These will be in the sideboard as some number 1-2. They are still good at stripping countermagic out of hand, or gaining life in a pinch.
I did like the one of dead weight - but I think these will be far better in the board.
Skysovereign has been fantastic versus planeswalkers - and has not been too shabby versus creatures as well.
Smuggler's Copter can either be the best card in the deck, or the worst depending on the moment. It is most of the time, really good. The time it is not good is when I wish it was another creature, or I run out of creatures (doesn't happen a lot with scrapheap scroungers).
Mindwrack Demons have been added to fight Smuggler's Copters/ turn on delirium, and just be a fantastic beater when Verdurous Gearhulk comes down. It has some ugly weaknesses to Spell Queller, but what can one do - can't beat them all.
I may be adding a third Hissing Quagmire over the 6th Forest to improve the mana quality.
Ruinous Path vs To the Slaughter: Right now I have Ruinous Path in the main - it has the sorcery spell type (helps with delirium), and hits any target. The deck has a weakness to Tamiyo's -2 however, and I think To the Slaughter could be justified should this be a metagame consideration. The deck rarely gets to 8 land before the game finishes.
Scrapheap Scrounger is amazing in a race, but terrible versus aggro when I am behind. I have considered adding the 4th Advocate over this card, but thus far it has been very admirable at turning on delirium, and great coming out of the yard to turn on a vehicle.
I have tested against the following - uw spirits, bant goodstuff, br control, esper control, br aggro, and gw tokens. Next up on the chopping block is sultai delirium, emrakul ramp, possibly vehicles. If anyone has suggestions on what to test against, let me know.
I've been toying with a casual dragon commander deck that mills as many cards as possible into the library and then reanimates all of the creatures/dragons.
Here is a list that I've found:
Some of these are more effective than others - I'm looking for a sheer numbers kind of cards per mana cost.
I'm looking for other cards that have this effect. Any suggestions?
Could someone point to a solid sideboard strategy for humans? I'm playing Yuuyu's Bant Company list but don't know cards to take out against:
Gw tokens
Bant company
Bw control
Rites
Ramp
Jace, Vryn's Prodigy doesn't have fetches, but I think that epiphany at the drownyard may turn him into a beast.
Turn 2 Jace, turn 3 epiphany leads to a turn 4 jace flip, about where we want to be.
It is clear that white is the most powerful color in standard, and we now know what we need to beat it.
This deck is not built correctly, I guarantee it, but it showcases what epiphany and jace may be able to do going forward:
Red Blue Dragons allows you to play with previous cards without investing too much into an unknown format.
Originally a deck advocated for by Jeff Hoogland at the beginning of Dragons of Tarkir, it has been given some great tools for dealing with a bevy of 5 toughness creatures. Getting to play the best burn spell and best counterspell (assuming you kept a hand with a dragon in it - you did, didn't you?) is quite strong.
There are obvious issues to be addressed - namely tangible virtue, card advantage, and dealing with removal spells - but these are holes that can be covered up by a correct sideboard.
Tireless Tracker would need further testing, but I imagine this card is going to be a great source of pressure and card advantage. The gitrog monster is in here to go nuts later in the game with traverse the ulvenwald and drownyard temple. Mindwrack demon helps set up some insane card drawing with the monster and is a huge threat on both offense and defense. Deathcap cultivator accelerates us into this card sooner. Grasp of darkness seems like premium removal against the vampires and the dragons, while ob nixilis reignited comes down for further assurance.
Other cards to include in some number - den protector, catacomb sifter, any egregious removal, kalitas, traitor of ghet.
Tireless Tracker would need further testing, but I imagine this card is going to be a great source of pressure and card advantage. The gitrog monster is in here to go nuts later in the game with traverse the ulvenwald and drownyard temple. Mindwrack demon helps set up some insane card drawing with the monster and is a huge threat on both offense and defense. Deathcap cultivator accelerates us into this card sooner. Grasp of darkness seems like premium removal against the vampires and the dragons, while ob nixilis reignited comes down for further assurance.
Other cards to include in some number - den protector, catacomb sifter, any egregious removal, kalitas, traitor of ghet.
There are still humans yet to be spoiled, but one thing that has stood out are the seeds in magic origins. Weapons trainer and iroas's champion work well with the tempo play bone saw, allowing for some pretty explosive turns. Add a few more lords like consul's lieutenant and thalia's lieutenant, abbot of keral keep to help hit land drops or even bone saw (*laughs manically*), and a great aggro removal spell in declaration in stone, there may be a formula for something fun/budget friendly to play with that first post rotation FNM.
I give you Bone Saw Aggro:
I'd like to make a corner case discussion for how three color shard manabases will be built going forward.
Before the new reveal lands were spoiled, I was using evolving wilds as a base to create a shard manabase.
A good way to evaluate the number of reveal lands should be played in a given deck would be to count the amount of each instance a card can be revealed.
In the list below, there are 10 forest/plains sources, and 12 forest/mountain sources. Because of this, I chose to play more Game trail than Fortified Village.
I believe these manabases will be split between the Zendikar duals and Innistrad duals, depending on the amount of basics that will be run in the deck. Nissa, Vastwood Seer will be glue that holds these type of manabases together, theoretically.
I 4-0 a 40+ person FNM and 3-1ed game day then lost in top 8. Top 8 game, he is playing dragons. I crush him game 1, then I get land flooded game 2. Game 3 - he draws a duress off the top - he has been saving a kozilek's return while I've been saving my atarka's command. Either of us are dead on the back swing, but his duress forces me to atarka's command, and he casts kozilek's return. I have a man-land to get him down to one, and need a beastcaller, advocate, or another atarka's command to finish him off, but alas, polluted delta off the top.
The Tajuru warcallers were quite good, but it was definitely correct to trim them to make room for elvish visionary.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar was insane, while Nissa, Vastwood Seer was mediocre. mina and denn, wildborn was mediocre as well.
Vile Redeemer was terrible, while sylvan messenger was insane.
If I had to run it back, I would remove Vile Redeemer for another Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen; I would remove Mina, Vastwood, and a Tajuru Warcaller for 2 more Sylvan Advocate and 1 more Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Channeler Initiate
3 Tireless Tracker
2 Manglehorn
4 Woodland Wanderer
4 Glorybringer
3 Kiora, Master of the Depths
4 Attune with Aether
1 Blossoming Defense
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Incendiary Flow
5 Forest
2 Mountain
1 Island
4 Aether Hub
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Cinder Glade
2 Negate
2 Manglehorn
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
1 Plains
1 Prowling Serpopard
2 Bristling Hydra
3 Magma Spray
2 Authority of the Consuls
Synopsis
I think Temur Beatdown could be a deck because there are now two great manadorks.
Two years ago, the deck had Rattleclaw Mystic and Elvish Mystic to Ramp out creatures like Stormbreath Dragon and Savage Knuckleblade.
This year, they ramp out Woodland Wanderer and Glorybringer, and attack a bit better (sadly no Crater's Claws to finish the game).
The Goal of Temur Beatdown is to be as resourceful with mana as possible while ramping out cards that will disrupt the opponents own curve. The turn Mardu vehicles would like to play Gideon, we are often ready to play Glorybringer.
The opponent will have to stop to answer our mana dorks if they do not wish to stare down a 6/6 Vigilance Trample on turn 3. The curve of this deck will create a snowball effect that punishes the opponent to play the wrong answers at the wrong time.
Some card explanations:
Tireless Tracker: This deck can generate alot of mana and needs something to do with it later in the game. Tireless Tracker is a great manasink. The deck can also play a Tireless Tracker into land on turn 3 consistently.
Kiora, Master of Depths: At first this card was Arlinn Kord. The issue with Arlinn Kord though is the card must be played before a Glorybringer hits play. This subjects it to a heart attack (it does not survive the attack via Heart of Kiran). Kiora has the benefit being cast before a Glorybringer and surviving a Heart of Kiran, or being played after to untap a Glorychaser. Kiora has other synergies with the deck. Being able to untap a Channeler Initiate and hold mana open for Harnessed Lightning can mean the difference between taking a whole lot of damage and simpler combat step.
Glorybringer: Glorybringer seems great on paper. If they don't have the removal spell for it, it will start eating creatures and planeswalkers. It's great against Mardu's planeswalker plan, and can survive an Oath of Chandra, and is incredible with Kiora backing it up.
Channeler Initiate: This little bugger makes the deck tick. He's a great blocker for little dorks and Gideon tokens, and creates inertia. The biggest issue with it is it does not survive that pesky Walking Ballista trigger.
Woodland Wanderer: Anyone that played Bant Planeswalkers last season can tell you this card is a house when used in conjunction with Servant of the Conduit. Channeler Initiate doubles this synergy. He can tangle with the Gods and Gideon, and survives an Avacyn. He's great on defense and attack. A solid creature overall.
Oath of Nissa: Oath of Nissa adds a great amount of consistency to the deck - it helps you dig to that 4th color for Woodland Wanderer, find a manadork early game, and a bigger threat later.
Attune with Aether: Attune works with Oath of Nissa to add consistency to the gameplan. I stole this idea from everyone's favorite standard combo deck.
Incendiary Flow: Mediocre removal - could be anything to suite the metagame.
Mangelhorn: This card seems great versus vehicles and Temur Tower. It may be also relevant against kitty combo if it were not for the fact that they will most likely blink their Oath of Chandra and kill you anyway. It's the best deck for a reason.
Harnessed Lighting: Best removal spell in the format. Teams up with Glorybringer to bring down bigger threats.
Cards that will prevent this deck from being a competitive deck:
Avacyn - Nothing is worse that an Avacyn in response to Glorybringer. It just pound for pound beats this card.
Fatal Push - this card will slow the deck down significantly, and disrupt the 4th mana for Wanderer
Oath of Chandra - this is yet another unbeatable card :/
Gideon Emblem - Gideon Emblem allow other Gideons to swing past Wanderer. It also allows Heart of Kiran to block Glorybringer.
Walking Ballista - this thing is another answer to initiate on curve. thankfully it affects their tempo equally as much. To play around it, just play Servant first and hope you find a Mangelhorn or Harnessed Lightning to answer it before playing the Initiate.
Cards that are missing from the deck:
Aggressive two drops: The deck could go different ways - in the current build, we wish to run manadorks. This is another territory altogether ie Lambholt Pacifist, Voltaic Brawler, etc.
Heart of Kiran: Heart of Kiran would be fantastic in a different build (jund perhaps).
Rhonas the Indomitable: If you are running Heart of Kiran, you better be running this guy. I can only imagine the other builds people will make with Rhonas and Hazoret, but this is not that deck.
Blossoming Defense: I think this card may be a necessary evil to fight removal.
Chandra: Chandra seems great in the deck, and may still end up in the main deck.
Walking Ballista: Walking Ballista is another manasink creature that could replace a flex spot such as Incendiary Flow.
Verdurous Gearhulk: The card seems phenomenal and probably should be in the deck.
Sideboard meta is tricky with a new set, but the rundown is:
Mardu: Assuming the Mardu player doesn't play planeswalkers in the face of Glorybringer, they will most likely stay more aggro than control. Magma Spray can shine here. Negate can be brought in to counter Gideon, and Mangelhorn can be brought in for more artifact hate.
BG: The deck is fairly weak to BG - things like Tamiyo help play the midrange game a bit better.
Temur Tower: Negate, Manglehorn, Bristling Hydra, Prowling Serpopard could all come in. Watch out for Mind Control effects.
Saheeli: Just about all the sideboard could come in depending on how the opponent sideboards. Authority of the Consuls help protect against the combo and thopters. Negate counters removal and counterspells. Tamiyo could come in to play the value game.
I've been removing 3 Phantasmal Image for a Path to Exile, Blessed Alliance, and a Negate; and an Engineered Explosives when I am on the draw for a Spell Queller or Geist.
Rest in Peace seems amazing in theory, but it has a serious timing discrepancy. If it is in your opening hand, a large amount of time it's going to get the discard. If you draw it too late, they would have already traversed for their death's shadows.
The maindeck is your usual kevin jone's special (I'm debating mana base right now - I have 3 fetchable black sources and a darkslick shores and I'm debating a fourth fetchable black source).
I've laid out a sideboard plan for a majority of the decks out there and would love a critique on it.
Here is my sideboard and the current plan:
burn
out: 4 delver, 3 probe
in: 2 dispel, 2 countersquall, 1 collective, 2 magma
dredge
out: 3 bolt, 2 spell snare, 1 collective, 2 leak
in: 3 surgical, 2 magma, 2 countersquall, 1 izzet
affinity
out: 2 leak, 1 collective, 1 probe, 1 pyromancer, 1 thought
in: 1 ee, 2 magma, 1 vandalblast, 1 izzet, 1 kolaghan's
infect
out: 2 snare, 1 thought, 1 probe, 2 leak
in: 1 izzet, 2 dispel, 2 magma spray, 1 kolaghan's
death's shadow
out: 2 electrolyze, 1 kolaghan, 1 leak
in: 1 ee, 1 collective, 2 countersquall
jund:
out: 4 delver, 2 bolt
in: 2 countersquall, 1 ee, 1 kolaghan's, 1 painful, 1 collective
abzan
out: 4 delver, 2 bolt
in: 2 countersquall, 1 izzet, 1 kolaghan's, painful, 1 collective
lantern control
out: 4 bolt, 2 terminate, 1 murderous, 2 snare, 1 probe
in: 1 ee, 2 countersquall, 2 dispel, 3 surgical, 1 vandalblast, 1 painful
elves
out: 2 snare, 2 mana leak, 3 probe???
in: 2 dispel, 2 magma spray, 1 collective, 1 ee, 1 izzet
merfolk
out: 2 mana leak, 2 snare, 2 probe
in: 1 ee, 1 izzet, 2 magma spray, 1 kolaghan's, 1 collective
titanshift
out: 4 bolt, 1 terminate, 1 murderous, 2 electrolyze
in: 2 dispel, 2 countersquall, 1 collective, 3 surgical
ad nauseam
out: 4 bolt, 2 terminate, 1 murderous, 2 electrolyze, 1 thought
in: 2 dispel, 2 countersquall, 1 ee, 3 surgical, 1 kolaghan's, 1 collective
sun and moon
out: 4 bolt, 2 terminate, 1 murderous
in: 1 ee, 2 countersquall, 1 kolaghan's command, 3 surgical
if creatures:
out: 1 terminate, 2 bolt, 2 snare
in: 1 ee, 3 surgical, 1 kolaghan's
bantdrazi
out: 2 snare, 1 thought, 1 collective
in: 2 magma spray, 2 countersquall
bant knightfall
out: 2 snare, 1 probe, 1 collective, 1 kolaghan's
in: 2 dispel, 1 ee, 2 magma
tron
out: 1 terminate, 1 murderous cut, 1 collective brutality,
in: 1 kolaghan, 2 countersquall
grixis control
out: 4 delver, 4 bolt, 1 terminate
in: 1 brutality, 2 countersquall, 2 dispel, 2 surgical, 1 kolaghan's command, 1 painful truth
It has gone though quite a few changes over the past few weeks and this is my current version.
3 Evolving Wilds
6 Forest
2 Hissing Quagmire
8 Swamp
3 Gnarlwood Dryad
4 Grim Flayer
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Sylvan Advocate
2 Tireless Tracker
3 Mindwrack Demon
3 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
3 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Grapple with the Past
4 Grasp of Darkness
1 Ruinous Path
1 Dead Weight
1 Collective Brutality
1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
2 Lost Legacy
2 Noose Constrictor
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 To the Slaughter
3 Transgress the Mind
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Notes so far:
Gnarlwood is lukewarm when it can't block - I do not think this will be *most of the time, and the card is really good at roadblocking versus bant, and great as an aggressive creature against gw tokens. It will be sided out against control/spirits. I trimmed it down to three and I think this number is correct.
Collective Brutality did not belong in maindeck - at first I thought it would be great against aggro, but it was only okay, while bricking most of the time versus spell decks. These will be in the sideboard as some number 1-2. They are still good at stripping countermagic out of hand, or gaining life in a pinch.
I did like the one of dead weight - but I think these will be far better in the board.
Skysovereign has been fantastic versus planeswalkers - and has not been too shabby versus creatures as well.
Smuggler's Copter can either be the best card in the deck, or the worst depending on the moment. It is most of the time, really good. The time it is not good is when I wish it was another creature, or I run out of creatures (doesn't happen a lot with scrapheap scroungers).
Mindwrack Demons have been added to fight Smuggler's Copters/ turn on delirium, and just be a fantastic beater when Verdurous Gearhulk comes down. It has some ugly weaknesses to Spell Queller, but what can one do - can't beat them all.
I may be adding a third Hissing Quagmire over the 6th Forest to improve the mana quality.
Ruinous Path vs To the Slaughter: Right now I have Ruinous Path in the main - it has the sorcery spell type (helps with delirium), and hits any target. The deck has a weakness to Tamiyo's -2 however, and I think To the Slaughter could be justified should this be a metagame consideration. The deck rarely gets to 8 land before the game finishes.
Scrapheap Scrounger is amazing in a race, but terrible versus aggro when I am behind. I have considered adding the 4th Advocate over this card, but thus far it has been very admirable at turning on delirium, and great coming out of the yard to turn on a vehicle.
I have tested against the following - uw spirits, bant goodstuff, br control, esper control, br aggro, and gw tokens. Next up on the chopping block is sultai delirium, emrakul ramp, possibly vehicles. If anyone has suggestions on what to test against, let me know.
Here is a list that I've found:
Some of these are more effective than others - I'm looking for a sheer numbers kind of cards per mana cost.
I'm looking for other cards that have this effect. Any suggestions?
Gw tokens
Bant company
Bw control
Rites
Ramp
Specifically I am unsure what to take out.
Turn 2 Jace, turn 3 epiphany leads to a turn 4 jace flip, about where we want to be.
It is clear that white is the most powerful color in standard, and we now know what we need to beat it.
This deck is not built correctly, I guarantee it, but it showcases what epiphany and jace may be able to do going forward:
3 blighted fen
4 choked estuary
4 sunken hollow
4 submerged boneyard
5 island
4 swamp
4 jace, vryn's prodigy
1 possessed skaab
1 sphinx of the final word
4 epiphany at the drownyard
2 clash of wills
2 dead weight
1 anticipate
1 compelling deterrence
3 grasp of darkness
1 ultimate price
1 ruinous path
1 to the slaughter
2 scatter to the winds
2 languish
1 silumgar's command
2 dark petition
1 from under the floorboards
1 ever after
1 oath of jace
1 ob nixilis reignited
1 pick the brain
2 negate
1 kalitas, traitor of ghet
2 dragonlord silumgar
2 virulent plague
1 languish
4 self-inflicted wound
2 duress
Originally a deck advocated for by Jeff Hoogland at the beginning of Dragons of Tarkir, it has been given some great tools for dealing with a bevy of 5 toughness creatures. Getting to play the best burn spell and best counterspell (assuming you kept a hand with a dragon in it - you did, didn't you?) is quite strong.
There are obvious issues to be addressed - namely tangible virtue, card advantage, and dealing with removal spells - but these are holes that can be covered up by a correct sideboard.
4 wandering fumarole
2 drownyard temple
2 haven of the spirit dragon
4 highland lake
6 island
4 mountain
4 thunderbreak regent
4 jace, vryn's prodigy
4 draconic roar
4 silumgar's scorn
4 fiery temper
4 lightning axe
2 avacyn's judgment
2 nagging thoughts
1 just the wind
This is my take on a collected company humans deck:
2 knight of the white orchid
3 anafenza, kin-tree spirit
4 thalia's lieutenant
3 duskwatch recruiter
4 tireless tracker
4 bygone bishop
2 den protector
1 nissa, vastwood seer
1 sigarda, heron's grace
2 stasis snare
2 declaration in stone
4 canopy vista
4 fortified village
4 tranquil expanse
4 forest
8 plains
1 declaration in stone
4 archangel of tithes
2 hidden dragonslayer
2 hermit of the natterknolls
1 archangel avacyn
3 lantern scout
4 hissing quagmire
4 foul orchard
6 forest
4 swamp
3 drownyard temple
4 sylvan advocate
4 tireless tracker
4 mindwrack demon
2 the gitrog monster
2 to the slaughter
4 traverse the ulvenwald
2 transgress the mind
3 oath of nissa
Tireless Tracker would need further testing, but I imagine this card is going to be a great source of pressure and card advantage. The gitrog monster is in here to go nuts later in the game with traverse the ulvenwald and drownyard temple. Mindwrack demon helps set up some insane card drawing with the monster and is a huge threat on both offense and defense. Deathcap cultivator accelerates us into this card sooner. Grasp of darkness seems like premium removal against the vampires and the dragons, while ob nixilis reignited comes down for further assurance.
Other cards to include in some number - den protector, catacomb sifter, any egregious removal, kalitas, traitor of ghet.
4 hissing quagmire
4 foul orchard
6 forest
4 swamp
3 drownyard temple
4 sylvan advocate
4 tireless tracker
4 mindwrack demon
2 the gitrog monster
2 to the slaughter
4 traverse the ulvenwald
2 transgress the mind
3 oath of nissa
Tireless Tracker would need further testing, but I imagine this card is going to be a great source of pressure and card advantage. The gitrog monster is in here to go nuts later in the game with traverse the ulvenwald and drownyard temple. Mindwrack demon helps set up some insane card drawing with the monster and is a huge threat on both offense and defense. Deathcap cultivator accelerates us into this card sooner. Grasp of darkness seems like premium removal against the vampires and the dragons, while ob nixilis reignited comes down for further assurance.
Other cards to include in some number - den protector, catacomb sifter, any egregious removal, kalitas, traitor of ghet.
There are still humans yet to be spoiled, but one thing that has stood out are the seeds in magic origins. Weapons trainer and iroas's champion work well with the tempo play bone saw, allowing for some pretty explosive turns. Add a few more lords like consul's lieutenant and thalia's lieutenant, abbot of keral keep to help hit land drops or even bone saw (*laughs manically*), and a great aggro removal spell in declaration in stone, there may be a formula for something fun/budget friendly to play with that first post rotation FNM.
I give you Bone Saw Aggro:
4 battlefield forge
4 needle spires
6 mountain
8 plains
3 kytheon, hero of akros
4 consul's lieutenant
4 thalia's lieutenant
4 weapons trainer
4 abbot of keral keep
4 iroas's champion
1 stoneforge masterwork
2 declaration in stone
3 gideon, ally of zendikar
Before the new reveal lands were spoiled, I was using evolving wilds as a base to create a shard manabase.
A good way to evaluate the number of reveal lands should be played in a given deck would be to count the amount of each instance a card can be revealed.
In the list below, there are 10 forest/plains sources, and 12 forest/mountain sources. Because of this, I chose to play more Game trail than Fortified Village.
I believe these manabases will be split between the Zendikar duals and Innistrad duals, depending on the amount of basics that will be run in the deck. Nissa, Vastwood Seer will be glue that holds these type of manabases together, theoretically.
Example List:
4 needle spires
2 canopy vista
3 cinder glade
3 game trail
2 fortified village
1 plains
4 forest
3 mountain
2 battlefield forge
1 den protector
2 tireless tracker
3 nissa, vastwood seer
4 thunderbreak regent
3 mina and denn, wildborn
1 goblin dark-dwellers
2 dragonlord dromoka
2 dragonlord atarka
4 exquisite firecraft
4 draconic roar
4 rending volley
3 radiant flames
2 goblin dark-dwellers
2 pulse of murasa
4 surge of righteousness
I hope this is enough to cause a discussion as to how to build these manabases, and what others have found.
4 thornbow archer
4 gnarlroot trapper
4 beastcaller savant
4 dwynen's elite
4 elvish visionary
2 sylvan advocate
4 shaman of the pack
1 nissa, vastwood seer
1 mina and denn, wildborn
2 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
2 tajuru warcaller
4 atarka's command
1 nissa, voice of zendikar
Lands
2 swamp
1 mountain
2 forest
2 hissing quagmire
4 llanowar wastes
4 bloodstained mire
4 wooded foothills
2 polluted delta
1 cinder glade
1 smoldering marsh
2 eyeblight massacre
3 sylvan messenger
1 whisperwood elemental
1 vile redeemer
4 self-inflicted wound
4 transgress the mind
The Tajuru warcallers were quite good, but it was definitely correct to trim them to make room for elvish visionary.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar was insane, while Nissa, Vastwood Seer was mediocre. mina and denn, wildborn was mediocre as well.
Vile Redeemer was terrible, while sylvan messenger was insane.
If I had to run it back, I would remove Vile Redeemer for another Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen; I would remove Mina, Vastwood, and a Tajuru Warcaller for 2 more Sylvan Advocate and 1 more Nissa, Voice of Zendikar.