I was looking at the crap rares in my Khans of Tarkir opened booster packs pile and came upon a card and wondered if I could make it work in a Standard deck. The card I am referring to is Retribution of the Ancients. Too bad it just missed Simic’s Evolve ability.

The nearest archetype that I have found for the card to be utilized was the Heroic deck. The popular builds are placed on White and Blue mana base but in this version, we will use Black as the second color. Referencing from various WU Heroic builds, here is my initial list of White Black Heroics:

Creatures
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Hero of Iroas
2 Eidolon of Countless Battles
1 Abzan Falconer
4 Phalanx Leader
2 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer

Spells
4 Defiant Strike
2 Feat of Resistance
4 Gods Willing
1 Launch the Fleet
4 Ordeal of Erebos
1 Ordeal of Heliod
4 Raise the Alarm
2 Retribution of the Ancients

Lands
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Mana Confluence
1 Windswept Heath
7 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

The list looks to be built on an easy replacement of Blue Ordeals to its Black counterpart, changing Temples and adding Caves of Koilos but this build is slightly different.

First of all is the inclusion of four Raise the Alarm to make sure you have at least two creatures to pump by turning three on your Phalanx Leader’s Heroic trigger. In the same way, that loads up your Retribution of the Ancients wherein you have now sources to remove +1/+1 counters. The alarm also benefits your Eidolon of Countless Battles which you can hard cast with no remorse.

Maindeck removal might be irrelevant but access to Black opens up your sideboard to a lot of discard choices like Thoughtseize to support Ordeal of Erebos and decent spot removals like Dark Betrayal and Murderous Cut. Your other option might be Sorin for control decks and Hushwing Gryff for Constellations and Siege Rhinos. I won’t list a specific sideboard plan for now but I think you already get the idea.

Wrapping up, the deck should look decent enough in the Heroics archetype line though don’t expect it to be at par with its White Blue cousin. Each list has its pros and cons and I just wanted Retribution of the Ancients to have a spot in Standard. Again, your comments and suggestions on this build are very much welcome so just hit them in the comment box below.

Until the next post.