The introduction of another new set in the Standard format gets people to again brew deck strategies for the new cards, in the particular the new batch of Theros Gods. Each of these celestial beings has a certain deck archetype to work around and the God that will be on the spotlight for today is Keranos. And on what deck should he fit in? Of course the recently popularized Red burn.

Here is the list:

Creatures
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
2 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
4 Young Pyromancer

Spells
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
4 Counterflux
2 Searing Blood
1 Mizzium Mortars
2 Divination
2 Turn/Burn
4 Magma Jet
4 Skullcrack
4 Lightning Strike

Lands
5 Island
7 Mountain
2 Izzet Guildgate
2 Mutavault
4 Temple of Epiphany
4 Steam Vents

Here are the card-by-card explanations:

Chandra’s Phoenix – The recurring beater for standard burn deck builds. You just have to dodge Magma Sprays and Last Breath though.

Young Pyromancer – The ideal two-drop for the archetype which garners you free creatures from your burn spells. For best use, you should cast him on your second turn.

Keranos, God of Storms – The star of the deck, that which would not require you devotion to get his uses. It requires a turn before you get the trigger but the bonus damage and card draw is just too good not to consider.

Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius – The Izzet Guild leader is your resort in late games when you get to run out of burn spells to throw or cards to utilize. The 5/5 body of a flyer and at times can activate Keranos into a creature are the traits that decided me to add this Legend to the list.

Chandra, Pyromaster – This planewalker does much to get a slot in the deck. She can return Phoenixes back, kills off X/1 critters and can ‘Stun’ a blocker to get your attackers through.

Counterflux – It is the best counterspell in the format and the deck needed one to stop big spells and walkers.

Turn/Burn – I’ve chosen to have only two in the deck for scenarios wherein a fatty threat gets through early and is racing my burn damage. Plus, Turn can mini-combo with Chandra’s +1 ping damage.

Mizzium Mortars – The one-of sorcery is again a support to deal with early critters that I don’t want my burn spell to waste on.

Divination – The card drawer to get your spells and hand full, and another bonus trigger for Young Pyromancer.

The land distribution is slightly favored to Red and with only two Mutavaults. The Blue Red Temple is now out in the set so that means a big boost on the consistency of the card draws while the irrelevant cards are being scryed to the bottom.

There is no definite sideboard plan yet, as we wait for other new decks to rise on the coming weekend of release of Journey into Nyx to Standard. A few card options would be Negate, Magma Spray, additional Mizzium Mortars and maybe Frostburn Weirds.

That is about it for this deck tech on Keranos, God of Storms. Until the next post.