So for those of you that were following the SCG open in Houston you may have came to the conclusion, as many others did, that Tannon Grace was actually playing the better deck list than Robert Berni. Berni got very lucky against Grace in game 3 of their top 8 match, both of them had mulled to four, and Berni dropped a Genesis for 2 and hit, then drew well off the shuffle allowing him to take it, but I and many other's feel that the Shaman's in Grace's list allow the deck to snowball in the mid-game and essentially go off in a way that feels very similar to G/B constellation.
Both player's indicated that Nissa was an under-performer for them, which got me thinking about a good replacement. I came up with
Flamerush Rider
. I've found that dashing him in and creating a token copy of Arbor Colossus, Shaman, or Whisperwood can speed the deck into a win much faster, and hopefully before your opponent can drop that wrath effect.
As far as a copy of Arbor goes, swinging with two 6/6s rather than just one is obviously advantageous. A copy of Shaman helps pump your creatures and allows more card draw off Shaman's ability. Copying Whisperwood makes your opponent think twice about how blocks are announced because you can sac the token, rather than the actual Whisperwood in the event that any of your creatures might get killed in combat.
Another change I've found to help out with this deck's gameplan is the addition of the Temur Sabertooths. I dropped one Whisperwood and one Rattleclaw for the Sabertooth, so that I can buy back a Genesis, a post-monstroused Polukranos, or a manifested Crater's Claws or Nykthos. Also, whenever you drop a Flamerush for it's hard-cast cost if I only have one red mana source out, with a Genesis hit, or it's about to be killed, Sabertooth allows you buy it back to be able to dash again.
Give it a shot, and let me know what you think.
