Flyrates AKA X Marks The Spot
SYNOPSIS:
I have a silly fetish for Favorable Winds (thanks for dealing with it). No, this is not a treasure deck. The [X] refers to the concentration of effects on a specific nexus point. I am looking for ideas, suggestions, and more badassery that I may have not discovered.The template of this deck is, at its core, a mono blue flyers variant for standard, using Favorable Winds as a Glorious Anthem effect. The curve caps out with 1 5 mana drop (many 4 drops).
Over some edits, I realized a couple things about flyers in standard right now:1. Most of the good flyers are in blue. However, you can definitely make a case for white and black. I haven't tried too many of those, but I'm game.2. Most of the good flyers are pirates.
I would have left this as a strictly casual deck, but I feel there may be a moment in standard right now to brew some moonshine.
GAMEPLAN/STRATEGY:
Play a fast-pace, mono blue flyer aggro assualt to soar your way to victory.
Attempt to go faster than mono red and threaten life totals of mages looking to race or control you out. The gameplan is made possible by playing a glut of anthem effects based on a hyper-specific creature archetype: the flying pirate.
CREATURE PACKAGE:
You will notice there are 6 non-flyers in the deck. This may be too many. Lannery seems good. Pia Nalaar and Admiral Beckett Brass -- I'm not sold on either of these yargling yodelers.
ANTHEMS (+1/+1 effects)
All anthem effects boost a specific creature type, all meant to maximize the damage a flying creature will do. Very few decks are ready for the curiously, absurd and intentional amount of static enchantments and artifacts that serve as boosters. And very few decks are built to defend 15+ damage in the air on turn 6.
OTHER CARDS
Tempo play can really make or break an opponent that is trying to put out an aggro-fire. The 2x Timestream Navigators, combined with the tapdown plays of the 3x Dreamcaller Siren, amass to a total of 6 cards that may potentially Time Walk you into back-to-back attack phases.Of course, your opponent will try to kill your flyers. Enter Siren's Ruse, and Siren Stormtamer. These snags make your board state a bit more unmanageable.
There are a few combinations of great lines to play, but a prospective version may go as follows.
- Turn 1: Siren Stormtamer.
- Turn 2: Warkite Marauder (or Favorable Winds). Swing for 1.
- Turn 3: Favorable Winds and Siren Stormtamer. Swing for 5.
- Turn 4: Swing for 7. On opponent's turn, drop a Dreamcaller Siren. Tap 2 of their creatures. You will notice Dreamcaller Siren comes down as a 4/4
- Turn 5: Swing for 11. If possible, repeat step 4 with another tapdown.
WHAT IS WORKING
- the advantage: the absurdity of this strategy in standard is a key benefit, and one reason i like Favorable Winds in general.
- The 17 core flyers: I'm pretty happy with these filthy floaters, for the most part. Not married to anything but my wife.
- The curve: playing so low to the ground (while doing your best not to touch it) feels good.
WHAT IS NOT WORKING:
- the curve: because of all the anthem effects, a turn 3 or 4 kill is hard to get (may be impossible, given this list). By that logic, this aggro deck is looking for kills in the mid-range, which means you need to tempo control the opponent a bit. The conundrum is a little awkward. It is possible to get out-board-statededed.
- Fell Flagship. There may be one too many of these Fell-ows. They lack the true stopping power to commit fell-onies. Seem like filler.- The good admiral. We all know he sucks a big fat ship. Figured he might be worth something, as a 3/3 anthem. The jury is out on this outlaw still.
Notable tools not seen in the deck (sphinxes, and other glaring omissions:
WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR:
Peer review and critique. Spot upgrades and testing (if you want to sleeve up!). Feedback that will help me be a better brewer, while attempting to embrace the core themes of 1) Favorable Winds-themed deck and 2) the streamlining (or ultimate rejection) of the anthem-stacking concept, which appears to be more successful than strictly-Favorable Winds variants.Thank you for your help, I am curious to see if a deck like this could flirt with tier 1.5 decks.
+1 if you like the #noNetDecks lifestyle.
