I've been wanting to get into a Temur midrange deck. But with the new found popularity for Abzan midrange, and the fast, burn playstyle of Jeskai agro, I'm trying to find the right balance of support and explosive power of the excellent Temur cards out there.
Strategy
The goal of this deck is to get out overwhelming threats early enough and support them long enough to beat down your opponent. Usually this deck works best when your opponent is responding to you.
Rattleclaw Mystic is there in place of the typical Sylvan Caryatid for the more explosive turn 4 potential, along with the added bonus of potentially being more aggressive. I am trying this out to see how it works.
Having both Savage Knuckleblade and Polukranos, World Eater adds some redundancy in your turn 4 plays. (Since a hasted Knuckleblade is usually quite good- and late game Knuckleblade is still good since you leave mana up for pump)
Once you drop your Polukranos or Knuckleblade, you can leave mana open for Stubborn Denials / Boon Satyrs, making it easy to protect your monsters.
A critical mass of mana can help you finish off your opponent. Whether it is using monstrous on your creatures, or using Crater's Claws. The more playtesting I've done, the more I like Crater's Claws casting it for R is very good.
Boon Satyr
is an essential component. For 3 mana and flash, it is often a good creature to trade up, and gives your aggressive strategy way more resilience against removal once you have 5 mana open. It turns on ferocious early which will help you protect your guys with Stubborn Denial or will help clear threats with Crater's Claws.
Stormbreath Dragon is key for late game because of the Mantis Riders and Wingmate Rocs in this format. It just goes right through them and deals with them fairly easily. It dodges Abzan and Jeskai charms too (which are two of the most dominant charms in the format). Although it dies to
Stoke the Flames
, it is relatively easy to Monstrous it in this deck and leaving mana open for Stubborn Denial is also very easy.
Advantages:
- More versatility than Red / Green monsters
- Can stand toe-to-toe with Abzan midrange and is a faster deck too.
- Can play a more defensive role thanks to the counter spells and extra mana ramp.
- Savage Knuckleblade is the best creature in the format right now.
- Can play as both a hyper aggressive deck, mid-range, and scales quite well late game as well thanks to monstrous creatures, huge Crater's Claw damage, and Savage Knuckleblade.
- Very good tempo deck.
Feedback is greatly appreciated and will always be reciprocated!
