In RNA Riot has been carefully balanced for all the Gruul creatures and at first glance none feel as under costed as steel leaf and ferox though the flexibility it offers on the hasty alpha swing is not to be underrated. Gruul Spellbreaker seems the pick of the litter and a good example of the push and pull of riot toughness. Removal at 3, 4 and 5 toughness is exponentially difficult to mainboard (unfounded claim). E.g. Spellbreaker takes haste (maybe to dodge a settle and set up an alpha strike-no more duress yay!) its 3T and dies to bolt, Spellbreaker takes +1 to 4T and now requires a more powerful removal spell like lava coil. Seems a good and fair balance (durrr). The angle I see for using riot in constructed is when:
A) A riot creature that gets 2x riot and pushes past its regular toughness threshold.
B) It is used on non riot creatures. Haste Ghalta/harpooner im looking at you!
Riot enablers considered include Domri, Chaos Bringer and Rhythm of the Wild. Domri is a turn slower and probably more vulnerable? I've gone for a conservative 2/1 with other 1 in the sideboard for counter magic.
I have valued Rekindling phoenix above steel leaf champion. CRAZY.
I'm thinking
Growth-Chamber Guardian
might be a better 2 drop depending on how much flying is in the meta. Guardian offers some nice card replacement which could help power the decks fragile engines. I do like harpooners for their haste threat + ability to power out a ghalta.
1 of Goreclaw is also worthy of comment. It's probably not worth the spot but I like the idea of rioting her as a nice buff and also offering a nice discount for a significant chunk of the deck.
With 4 jadelight I feel fine dropping to 23 land though the 2 tap land might be to much.
