Sideboard


Intro:

Young war hero Angus "Mac" MacGyver has an extraordinary knack for unconventional problem solving and an extensive bank of scientific knowledge that he believes can best be put to use Destroying life totals, both of which come in handy when he creates a clandestine organization of 60 cards within the United States government to tackle high-risk missions and tournaments around the world.

Looks may be deceiving, but be assured MacGyver is the real deal and poised to make a splash in standard. With potential Turn 3 win built into a shell that can go 12 rounds, this deck knows that the best jam is free jam, and that's exactly what improvising a win with budget MacGyver tastes like. Free jam baby all day.

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Deck-Talk:

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There are a lot of card choices in aether revolt standard to pair with improvise and artifacts. I picked mono red aggro for the consistency, and the deck that came out is Spicy, Fast, Powerful and Deadly.

We are playing 16-18 lands, which might seem scary to some people, but relax and let me walk you through it. Renegade Map acts as an additional land, allowing us to keep 1 land + map hands without worrying. Also, we have added consistency in the fact that we only run basic mountains. In addition to the lands we have 12 zero mana artifacts that act as mana sources for our 12 improvise creatures. This combination can enable explosive starts, including T1 enraged giant, and POTENTIALLY TURN 3 WIN (5x zero mana artifacts 1 land 1 giant, followed by drawing another giant = T1 4 damage, T2 8 damage, T3 8 damage = 20).

The deck really gets humming around 2 mana, assuming that we were able to play a few 0 mana artifacts. At this point we should be able to cast about anything in the deck, and quite possibly cast everything in our hand. Filling the board with our artifacts early will allow us to spit out our hand onto the board each turn and activate our Lupine Prototypes. Setting up a big turn 3/4 by playing a lupine turn 2 and following it up with either; a Key to the City to get it online and its damage through, or casting an Enraged Giant either to attack with the lupine, or by tapping the lupine himself, are really strong plays that pressure your opponent's life total.

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Deck Advantages:

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--Good vs Single type removal i.e. Fatal Push which kills Lupine Prototype yet does nothing against our 6 CMC improvise creatures.
--Good vs decks hoping to control the board through 1 spell a turn, either with a big creature, a counter spell, or a kill spell.
--Destroys land stumbles, 3 color decks watch out.
--Fast pressure can cause opponents to lose value on their cards in order to control the board NOW, I.E. using a lighting axe and discarding a land, instead of say a Fiery Temper or Prized Amalgam.
--Haste threats and very large evasive life total chunking give this deck tempo advantage, often out aggroing other aggro decks even when they are on the play, Cathar's Shield is also strong in a race as it adds vigilance.
--The deck Attacks from multiple angles at a very aggressive pace that doesn't gas out, which most decks are not geared to handle.
--Pressure can throw off combo decks, and the multiple was our cards have to be evasive with damage means planeswalkers go down easy. Sweatworks Brawler + Bone Saw on T2 is a good way to tell sahali combo they are not going to win on T4, even with a heart of kirin out.
--Amazing ammo engine with Renegade Map + Key to the City + Improvise spells, as well as Bomat Courier, all of which provide potential cards in just the right way so that we can keep Lupine Prototype active as well.

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Cards of note:

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-Lupine Prototype -- Huge beater, Easily attacking on Turn 3 and is great with 0 mana artifacts and Key to the City / Lightning Axe.

4x Sweatworks Brawler / 4x Enraged Giant -- These guys consistently come down on turns 2 and 3, respectively, and can come down as early as Turn 1! They both chunk for tons of damage, are both great at getting damage through blockers, and both love improvising and equipping Bone Saws.

4x Freejam Regent -- Everyone likes Herald of Anguish, and hes a great card, but Freejam is the man! This guy costs 1 less than his black demon cousin, which is a really big deal when your doing improvise math, and on top of that he has fire-breathing meaning he can swing for an easy 8 chunk no problem. They got thopters? we got keys. Consistently 3 mana for a 4/4 flyer, often 2 mana, pretty sweet with a Cathar's Shield on, hidden gem right here.

Pia Nalaar -- This poor lady just isn't as strong as a lot of other 3 cmc options, but her hidden strengths lie with her ability to pump, and more importantly her ability to remove blockers from the equation. Both of these abilities put tons of pressure on defenders and can cause your opponents to leave back more blockers then they normally would, which opens the 'door' to Key to the City sending your fatties through for unblockable damage.

4x Renegade Map -- This unassuming artifact is amazing, it smooths out low mana hands, speeds out improvise cards, helps you get your hand on the board for Lupine Prototype, and also lets you get an extra card into your hand for your Lightning Axe and Key to the City. Great card, 10/10.

4x Bomat Courier -- This guy has haste, he can improvise, he can net you cards, and he can activate both Fiery Temper and Lupine Prototype. Works great with Bone Saw and Key to the City. Often when cast mid game he can provide a 2 for 1, forcing your opponent to kill him on their turn after you've already stacked a card under him and swung for 1.

4x Key to the City -- This card gets damage through, either with your creatures or by turning on Fiery Temper. Also provides massive card cycling and potential card advantage. Great used often, and even worth it to target opponents creatures when you have none just to enable the draw on your upkeep. Combining the key with improvise creatures allows you to tap it without discarding a card, ideally allowing you to spit your hand out and then restock the following turn. Can also help turn on Lupine Prototype to attack each turn, while also making sure his damage gets through. Key is the key to the deck.

- Implement of Combustion -- Early-game improvise enabler. Mid-game Sahali-combo blocker and easy way to get hand on the board for lupine prototype. Late-game that extra point of damage or that extra card (which can be used to fuel Lightning Axe or Key to the City).

Example strategy:

-Turn 1: Play a 1 mana artifact if you have one. Usually your not going to want to throw your 0 mana artifacts onto the field until your ready to use them to improvise, this gives your opponent less information and time to react when you go off. Exceptions would be if you have a Sweatworks Brawler or Enraged Giant that you can cast on Turn 1, in which case, please proceed to beat down. Another exception is if you fear a spell like Negate, in which case establishing your Cathar's Shields and Bone Saws early is a good idea. Last exception is if your hand looks a little slow, playing Ornithopter and Bone Saw and equipping them giving you a turn 1, 1/2 flyer (very meh but all the damage helps and playing orni early is an o-k blocker). keeping your artifacts back will also allow you to have extra ammo for keys and axes, or an explosive surprise lupine activation.

Turn 2: This is a fun turn, usually the only decision to make on this turn is weather to play Key to the City or a threat first (sometimes the choice is Freejam Regent !!). In most decks you would want to add a threat to the board first, and that's not a bad play, but the key to mono red improvise is right in front of us. Key to the City on turn 2 means that every improvise creature we cast has the potential to net us a card. MacGyver's strength lies in it's ability to improvise a solution over and over. Establishing a loop with our Key to the City where we are either activating every turn to improvise and draw, or cycling through our draws while pushing damage through feels crazy strong. Sense our spells cost so little mana it is easy to pay 2 mana for key to the city to draw an extra card on Turn 4, ideally drawing into an Enraged Giant whom we can cast for 1 mana and potentially make unblockable, given enough artifact enablers (and guess what, we are gonna do it again next turn).

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Top Ranked
  • Achieved #22 position overall 7 years ago
Date added 7 years
Last updated 6 years
Legality

This deck is not Standard legal.

Rarity (main - side)

12 - 2 Rares

8 - 8 Uncommons

20 - 8 Commons

Cards 58
Avg. CMC 2.10
Tokens Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders STD, Decks I Like, SWEET, HoneyCupp, STD budget, Mono-Red, mono red affinity, Fun Decks, deck builds, MTGO - Need Cards
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