During this past standard I have been playing with a slightly different version (read, watered down) of Temur energy. I never had any real success as my local meta consists mainly of U/R spells/control and Rumanap Red. With the release of Ixalan, I have decided to revamp my deck. I took a look at some of the decently performing decks and decided on taking a part of the Jund Gods shell and mixing it with Temur energy to create a hybrid of sorts while still maintaining an energy sub-theme. This is what I came up with...
Attune with Aether is the best 1 drop for this deck. Gives off the rip and lets you color fix...what's not to love?
Harnessed Lightning is our removal of choice. Target something small and keep the unused energy banked for a later time or use all your banked energy and take out something big...whatever the situation calls for.
Glimmer of Genius helps us with card filtering and gives us card draw/advantage. If you have enough mana to cast this, then chances are you will probably send any scried lands to the bottom. This helps us keep our hand full to deal with our opponents threats.
Abrade is here because Gearhulks. It can also take out things like Dynavolt Tower or God-Pharaoh's Gift or whatever pesky artifacts you find in your current meta. The 3 damage can also take out smaller creatures if need be.
Longtusk Cub is a staple in most, if not all energy decks. This is a removal magnet because if left unchecked this thing can get really nasty really fast.
Servant of the Conduit another premier 2 drop for this deck give you on a 2/2 body that can tap for any color mana by paying . Such a versatile card that can act as color fixing, ramp, or just get in for early damage and block late game once you don't need him.
Heart of Kiran is another 2 drop and while it doesn't fit in an energy theme, it does provide another purpose...air support. Every creature in the deck, minus an un-pumped Cub or Servant of course, can crew the Heart. In my testing I find playing this on turn 2 is an optimal play. With a little bit of luck this can start swinging in for 4 damage as early as turn 3.
Rogue Refiner in the 3 drop slots fills a couple roles. First and foremost...it provides energy that the deck relies on. Second, it adds some measure of card draw to the deck which can give us a slight advantage over our opponent. A 3/2 body is also relevant.
Deathgorge Scavenger is the first of the Ixalan cards that made its way into this deck. A 3/2 body is decent, but its ETB and attack triggers are great. Most of the time you are exiling a creature when it comes in to gain 2 life which is very helpful, especially against the Rumanap Red match-up or other fast aggro/burn strategies. Exiling a non-creature card is also relevant as the +1/+1 bonus can help it survive against smaller creatures in combat. On a side note, the exile ability says A graveyard, which means your as well. This is good to know if you are playing against a Scarab God as you can choose to exile your own creatures to reduce graveyard targets.
Rhonas the Indomitable is another impactful card. An deathtouch, indestructible 5/5 for is just plain beastly and the 4 power clause is really easy to hit. This card makes combat difficult and being able to give trample to another creature will mean your opponent can't just chump block with a token.
Bristling Hydra is the bomb. A hard hard to deal with threat that comes with enough energy to give it (a 1 time) hexproof, but who are we kidding...? With the amount of energy this deck can make the Hydra might as well have the keyword hexproof!
Ripjaw Raptor is the second Ixalan card to make it in this list. A 4/5 for is impressive and getting to draw cards off of the Enrage ability is just gravy! This card punishes smaller aggro decks, punishes opponents who are using damage based removal, and under the right circumstances...can bury your opponent under the card advantage it can provide. A solid inclusion.
Hazoret the Fervent might seem like it is out of place here as most of the time you want to be holding back some of your cards, such as removal or counter magic. That being said, she still provides several useful purposes. First, if you do manage to get heckbent/hellbent, then by all means swing in with her. Her 5 power turns on Rhonas, and together they can attack for 9 indestructible damage. Even if you can't attack or block with her right away, you can hold onto your cards in case you need them OR, pay and discard a land or other unneeded spell to deal 2 damage. Just another great way to sneak in more damage and gives the deck some reach in board stall situations.
Glorybringer should be pretty self explanatory...a hasty 4/4 for comes out of nowhere and deals 4 exploited damage to a creature. Talk about removal on a stick!
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is practically an auto include in any deck using red. Card advantage or damage with her +1, ramp with her other +1, creature removal with her -3 and an ultimate/emblem that is basically a game ender. What's not to like? Oh, and she can use her loyalty to crew Heart of Kiran!
The land base is pretty simple and consists of...
Aether Hub because it gives us energy and lets us pay energy to color fix.
Botanical Sanctum and Spirebluff Canal are our fast lands. Great mana fixing if they are in your opening hand or played early game.
Evolving Wilds provides minimal (read almost non-existent) amount of deck thinning but does allow us to color fix at the expense of the basic land coming in tapped.
Sheltered Thicket is a good color fixer and also gives us the ability to cycle it for valuable card draw should we get mana flooded.
Round that out with basic Forests, Mountains and Islands and there it is.
Sideboard will be a work in progress as I start to see what deck archetypes exist in this current meta. My initial thought is to run Sweltering Suns for the aggro match-up, more Abrade in the event of heavy artifact decks, Negate against the control match-ups, maybe some Blossoming Defense against decks that utilize lots of targeted removal or if Hostage Taker becomes a thing...
Anyways, there you have it. Any thoughts, opinions or suggestions? I'd love to hear them.
