Hey guys, sorry for the HUGE delay in updating the build. I had some pretty good feedback when I first posted the deck and for that, I am thankful. Kevin and I have done a massive amount of play testing and contemplating on the direction this deck should be headed. When KTK launched, we already had our eyes on two cards and they have really put this deck into position for blowouts. These cards being Temur Ascendancy and Villainous Wealth. The whole concept of the deck has modulated quite a bit. What was a ramp/mill combo with the alternate win con of monster beat down is now a ramp/wealth strategy with the same alt win con. Villainous Wealth is often cast for 15+ by turn 5, sometimes 4. We have access to more mana accumulation and more efficient creatures than ever before. Genesis Hydra, Hornet Queen, Eidolon of Blossoms, and Temur Ascendancy ensure that removal decks that try to one-for-one you all day will quickly lose steam. Don’t be discouraged by the hate early game because you will draw into more creatures than they can deal with; creatures that make other creatures; creatures that draw you cards; creatures with haste; creatures with huge devotion, and eventually a massive wealth. My copilot described it perfectly… This deck is resilient up until a certain turn, then it reaches a sort of critical mass between t4 and t8 where it plays 6-7 creatures and still creates enough mana for a 15+ villainous wealth. We have done away with the Prophet of Kruphix and Phenax, God of Deception strategy. While you could easily mill for lethal in a turn, the consistency and advantage we gain by the ascendancy and additional creatures is much more valuable. This is because of several reasons. First, phenax was never a creature. Second, prophet always had a target on her head and unless you untapped with her, she was just a waste of 5 mana (5 mana in this deck is much more effectively spent as you often draw a card off of what you play). Third, our draw engine is much more consistent with more enchants and creatures with 4+ power.
The sideboard is completely different as we have lost several cards to the rotation and certain archetypes have become more popular. Here are the suggestions for how to board against the most popular archetypes.
Abzan/Mardu Midrange
In: 2 Hornet Queen 3 Clever Impersonator
Out: 2 Polukranos, World Eater 1 Villainous Wealth, 2 Kiora's Follower
In this matchup, polukranos is probably just going to be answered immediately and his ability is not as important because it will take much more mana to kill your opponet’s midrangey creatures. By the time we have enough mana to monstrous poluk for more than 5, we need to be casting a huge wealth anyway. The addition of the queen in this matchup is for efficiency. They will be on a one-for-one pace and queen makes it harder on them to keep up. Impersonator is just a nice way to get extra value out of your own creatures or cast a t4 sarkhan after your opponent taps out for one on t5. Midrange plays scary things, so why not take advantage of them for ONLY 4 MANA???
Mono Red:
In: 4 Doomwake Giant, 4 Nylea's Disciple
Out: 3 Arbor Colossus, 2 Polukranos, World Eater, 2 Kiora's Follower, 1 Villainous Wealth
The huge creatures are not as important in this matchup as staying alive is. If we can keep our draw engine strong and keep their gobblin tokens and other chumpy creatures at bay with doomwakes and keep our life total above zero with disciples, we can often win the attrition battles and close out with a wealth.
Control:
In: 2 Hornet Queen, 3 Clever Impersonator, 1 Hydra Broodmaster
Out: 4 Arbor Colossus, 2 Polukranos, World Eater
Much like the midrange match, anticipate the hate. By this, I mean don’t play into board wipes. The queen is still for efficiency and flying over Elspeth tokens to deal planeswalker damage. The impersonators are for cloning planeswalkers or making more HORNETS! And the whip is for recursion as it is likely that your yard will have a few unfortunate casualties.
There are many more matchups that I am not listing, but use your own intuition and you will have a solid chance against any of the tier one decks around.
In conclusion, if you like to pay unfair magic, accrue copious amounts of mana, use that mana to play numerous fatties and cast your opponent’s entire deck, please sleeve up and give it a go. Most importantly, have fun and please give feedback!
