I have been fascinated with the deck brews in Arena as posted by my friends and in the Magic: the Gathering groups in FB. One of which that caught my attention lately was the Standard Auras deck that they called as GlitterBrute. I have been thinking to compose a version for local tournament use.

Here below is the build reference for now.

4 Arcanist’s Owl
4 Gingerbrute
4 Inquisitive Puppet
2 Locthwain Gargoyle
3 Shambling Suit
4 Steel Overseer
4 Stonecoil Serpent

4 All That Glitters
3 Mystic Forge
4 Scrabbling Claws

4 Idyllic Grange
20 Plains

Sideboard
3 Dance of the Manse
4 Glass Casket
4 Golden Egg
1 Locthwain Gargoyle
3 Take Vengeance

We have known that there are several versions of the Adventure deck in Standard and the first one I have discovered was the Golgari version with Murderous Riders, Lovestruck Beasts and Foulmire Knight. What followed was the Selesnya G/W deck version that still utilizes the Rare March of the Multitudes to generate a huge army and Venerated Loxodon to pump up the team.

Today’s blog post looks upon at a third version of this Throne of Eldraine mechanic and the colors are Red and Green or the Gruul guild in Ravnica. The adventure creatures included are Rimrock Knight, Bonecrusher Giant and of course the Edgewall Innkeeper for the card draws.

Here below is an example decklist. It finished at a 8-2 record in the Mythic Championship VII Qualifier Weekend.

Maindeck
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Edgewall Innkeeper
4 Lovestruck Beast
4 Once Upon a Time
4 Pelt Collector
4 Questing Beast
4 Rimrock Knight
2 Zhur-Taa Goblin

2 Embercleave
1 Collision/Colossus
3 Domri’s Ambush

2 Fabled Passage
10 Forest
8 Mountain
4 Stomping Ground

Sideboard
1 Domri’s Ambush
1 Embercleave
1 Lava Coil
2 Redcap Melee
1 Robber of the Rich
1 Shifting Ceratops
1 Shock
1 Skarrgan Hellkite
1 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Veil of Summer
1 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
1 Zhur-Taa Goblin

In the recent results of the Fandom Legends tournament, there is one interesting decklist that was piloted by Piotr Glogowski a.k.a. Kanister as its username in Magic Arena. The deck can be called a variant or just a new deck tech for the card Arclight Phoenix and is going for the Mono Blue route. The main strategy is just simple: mill yourself. I was not able to check its final record in the tournament but nevertheless it was interesting to see this type of deck in the current Standard format.

Here below is his complete decklist as sourced from MTG Top 8 website:

Maindeck
16 Island
4 Watery Grave

4 Arclight Phoenix
4 Merfolk Secretkeeper
4 Narcomoeba

4 Creeping Chill
4 Discovery / Dispersal
1 Maximize Altitude
3 Mission Briefing
4 Opt
4 Radical Idea
4 Unsummon
4 Drowned Secrets

Sideboard
2 Aether Gust
3 Ashiok, Dream Render
3 Disdainful Stroke
3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
3 Mystical Dispute
1 Negate

The Throne of Eldraine set has this invisible mechanic of creatures and permanents having a triggered effect after you have drawn your second card for the turn. I had this as a limited deck strategy when I played in the local ELD Prerelease last Friday night. The build was on Temur colors and I have thought if it is still possible for the Standard version. The immediate base colors would be Izzet (Blue-Red) but it may be possible for a third color.

After sorting on the set’s card list, here are the only notables:

Steelgaze Griffin – a Common 2/4 Flyer for five mana and would not that impactful and too slow to our planned build.

Irencrag Pyromancer – I already saw its use in Izzet Tempo decks on MTG Arena and a playset will definitely be included in the deck. Free Lightning Bolts are just too good to not consider.

Mad Ratter – a 1/2 body is maybe vulnerable but having endless 1/1 Black Rat tokens for free can easily overcome unprepared opponents in a short time. I might consider this as more of a sideboard card against Green Stompy decks with the tokens’ role as chump blockers.

We decided to only consider the two cards from the set as the final components of the deck, and that

The deck will be similar to that of the Izzet Tempo build. Below is most likely how it will look like.

First of are the creature lineup:

1 Cavalier of Gales
4 Crackling Drake
4 Irencrag Pyromancer
3 Goblin Electromancer
1 Mad Ratter
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun

I am implementing again my one-of favorites but also a threat on its own. Mad Ratter maybe is the least of the three in terms of power level can produce decent 1/1s to gum up the board of just win with a hoard of them.

Next below are the Planeswalker of choice:

1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
3 The Royal Scions

The Royal Scions is an auto inclusion here but I don’t want a playset as I can still draw them from the cantrip spells. Chandra is another optional card that can be used to flashback your instants and sorceries. Again, she can also produce pressure on her own if left unchecked.

The instants and sorceries are as follows:

4 Discovery//Dispersal
4 Opt
4 Thrill of Possibility
4 Shock
2 Lava Coil

Almost twelve cantrip spells and six spot removals might be the ideal number for your spells lineup. Take note that with the pyromancer in the battlefield, every cantrip acts like a Lightning Bolt to clear the opponents’ board of threats and also a burn to the dome if needed.

The total non-land card list is 36 and we have 24 lands for mana sources. We have a playset of Steam Vents and Temple of Epiphany for mana fixing and the rest will most likely be basics and one of those Blue Castle, Castle Ventress.

Overall, the major change comparing to the Izzet Drake or Phoenix build would be the Irencrag Pyromancer which equivalents firepower feature of the deck. While it might be not removal resistant unlike the recursion of the phoenix, there are still adjustments in post-board for certain matchups that the deck experience difficulty. I will sort those out once the Standard metagame somewhat stabilizes.

That is a wrap for now. Until the next blog post and thanks for reading.  

October 4^th will be the date that Throne of Eldraine is legal to play in Standard and other formats of Magic. That means we barely have a week to complete the planned Standard decks that the team is building. I decided to build a decklist for the Mono-Red Aggro as it is the first expected deck for my card pool to build. Unfortunately, I think I have not placed my preorders just yet as I lack funds to prepay for them. I guess we’ll just try our luck in the Prerelease for now.

Here below is the decklist:

4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Runaway Steamkin
4 Torban, Thane of Red Fell
4 Scorch Spitter
2 Rimrock Knight

4 Shock
4 Skewer the Critics
4 Slaying Fire
1 Fling
1 Red Cap Melee
3 Light up the Stage
3 Experimental Frenzy

18 Mountains
4 Castle Embereth

Me being a fan of a few one-of spells had decided to implement it again here. Expect that my sideboard would also look the same and I will post it once I will get a total review of the metagame. I am not in particular of the creature curve but this version relies more on straight burn plan. I might get to stick a few creatures late game, especially Torban which makes the damage from spells more effective.

Bonecrusher Giant is the best card advantage 3-drop here as you can just deal 2 and then cast the 4/3. Also, we still have the frenzy and Light up the Stage for gas. I am doubtful though to cut the enchantment to just two as we have a higher mana curve unlike before that we swarm with one-drops and two-drops.

Anywho, we will still be playtesting this build once completed so it will still be subject to edits and updates.

That is about it for now. Until the next blog post and good luck on your pulls on this coming Prerelease.