Hey pillarofcats! Love the name btw.

Yeah, I like Ruinous Path over To the Slaughter too in general, but so far in my testing it hasn't been too bad; the fact that it's an instant means I can be a little more versatile with my mana, useful for Hangarback Walker. All in all, I've found it to be fine for creature removal, because Fiery Impulse and blocking usually takes care of the small creatures and then this catches the rest.

I'm still considering the switch though, just because To the Slaughter usually doesn't kill planeswalkers, and they can be tough to deal with @_@

But I'd probably have to cut some of the double mana colors to make the mana better early on, and Nissa would probably be that cut since she's the only double green. It's a bit tight.

Ha ha, thanks. I love caterpillars and it is a play on the word.

Well, Nissa is pretty solid considering you run hangarback and peas n' carrots (Pia and Kiran Nalaar). Well, I play tested your deck about 20 times and I was able to get two source of black mana by turn 5 14/20 which is 70%, which isn't bad considering most planes walkers are 4-6 drops so it falls in between. So, your mana base is pretty good for all your dual cost cards. 70% I think is fairly solid for a 3 color deck, honestly. The chance to get red and green lands was much higher though out of testing. I was just looking at your mana base though. I am going to play test a bit with the creatures now.

Sounds good, definitely let me know how it goes! I've been tweaking the mana base a lot recently, especially with all of the additions to the deck.

and thanks for playtesting, it always helps to have a fresh set of eyes try it out :)

Okay, it has taken me a bit of time and well this is strictly based on the sites play test randomization which can be a bit awkward at times. Anyways, I was messing around with your mana base to match your creature curve color distribution. It is really important to get green early based on your creatures. I did a few play tests for the different mana bases to test for creature play-ability.

Mana Base:

Current (Excluding Evolving Wilds):

G: 10 R: 16 B: 10

3x Cinder Glade

2x Evolving Wilds

2x Foreboding Ruins

2x Forest

3x Game Trail

2x Hissing Quagmire

5x Mountain

3x Smoldering Marsh

3x Swamp

G: 13 R: 14 B: 11

3x Cinder Glade

2x Foreboding Ruins

5x Forest

3x Game Trail

2x Hissing Quagmire

3x Mountain

3x Smoldering Marsh

4x Swamp

G: 12 R: 14 B: 11

2x Cinder Glade

3x Foreboding Ruins

5x Forest

3x Game Trail

2x Hissing Quagmire

4x Mountain

2x Smoldering Marsh

4x Swamp

(This one has the same count, but switched some things around)

G: 12 R: 14 B: 11

3x Cinder Glade

2x Foreboding Ruins

5x Forest

2x Game Trail

2x Llanowar Wastes

4x Mountain

3x Smoldering Marsh

4x Swamp

I tried to make it fairly balanced and the reason I chose to remove the evolving wilds is because it slows down your tempo considerably. You don't have to make any changes, but when I was play testing I found the last one to be the most versatile. Luck does play a hand, but I tried to do enough play through to mitigate weird draws.

Hey pillarofcats-- thanks so much for your help! I'm going to test out the last one to see what you mean. I do think I'm going to keep in Hissing Quagmire over Llanowar Wastes, though. It hasn't been a problem that it comes in tapped because I usually have the other colors untapped, and it has closed out two separate games that I remember on its own by attacking. I like that versatility.

How'd you like the creature distribution?

The creatures worked well with the last mana base because there were two more green sources and you want to get it early for Sylvan Advocate and Tireless Tracker. Then red for Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Goblin Dark-Dwellers.

I had a tough time being able to play Nissa, Voice of Zendikar if I had her in hand with your current mana base, and sometimes I didn't have green so that is why I added two more green sources. Other than that there was no issue with getting double red by turn 4 and 5, or playing anything late game. I really like playing on curve if I can so that is why I added the Llanowar Wastes, since they don't enter tapped.

Other than that I think it worked really well, but I swear that randomization of the play-tester can be really weird sometimes.

pillarofcats--

Yeah I find it's strange too. Luckily I have all the lands in paper so I can test it IRL myself; I've done playtesting with the last mana base (but with Hissing Quagmires) and it's definitely harder to get screwed out of a color, which is nice. I've noticed Nissa is hard to get to on curve, even with the last mana base, but I've sort of made that concession that she might stay in my hand for awhile while I wait to find another green source. Luckily, I find that she's almost better to play lategame when I have control of the board, because her 0/1s are pretty fragile blockers to protect her and it feels great to put her down and immediately -2.

I'm going to keep the manabase the same on this copy so I have a comparison, but your list is saved in a private copy while I test it IRL and through goldfishing. I'm going to clean up the comments since the deck has changed quite a bit. Again, thanks for your help! I'd be happy to feature one of your decks if you'd like, I have extra tokens. Just message me which one, or comment. :)

Nissa, Voice of Zendikar over Ob Nixilis Reignited ???

Ultrakill: Yeah, that's kind of a deck-specific choice I think. That's always a choice I could make, but put it this way: Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is like a win-con. I use the rest of my removal to clear the board, and Nissa, along with Arlinn Kord  ^Flip and Pia and Kiran Nalaar are what repopulate the board for me and close out the game. She also helps buff my flying Thopter tokens and Sylvan Advocates to be able to crash through board stalls.

For that reason, I don't think I'd ever replace her with Ob Nixilis Reignited unless I felt that she was so intensive on the mana that it wasn't worth it to try for double green, and I don't feel that way right now.

That being said, I like the way Ob Nixilis Reignited plays in other decks, so I could always put him in for one of my removal spells; probably a To the Slaughter.

Westvale Abbey  ^Flip is an auto include

Cicjose Agree to disagree! If Westvale Abbey  ^Flip was a Mana Confluence with the sacrifice-transform ability, it would be in there. I love the versatility of the card, but it messes with what is already a difficult manabase. I'm sure there would be games where having it would get me out of a tight spot and win where I would have lost, but I don't think it's worth the games where I have to mulligan down to 6 or 5 because it's not a Mountain, or where it just sits around and turns off my , .

After all, if this deck has 5+ tokens or creatures sitting around, I'm probably in full control of the game. Otherwise those creatures would be whittled down by blocking or saccing, or my opponent's removal. At that point, the last thing I want to do is wipe my own board to put out a threat that can be To the Slaughtered, Clip Wings'd, Declaration in Stoned, or chump blocked.

abby315,
This is really impressive and an easy +1!

I'm sticking with a straight Gruul Aggro build for now, but if I shift more midrange, I'm starting with your deck. Thanks much!

By the way, if you haven't already, you might want to drop by this thread sometime: All things Wolven; it's a fun community.

Draw well!

Thank clayperce! I appreciate the compliments, this is the first standard deck I've built from scratch around a card I really love and it's so fun to play. :)

I'll check out the forum!

no Kolaghan's Command ???

Ultrakill: My original list, Arlinn's Midrange Menagerie :), tested Kolaghan's Command. I found it underwhelming, and it's $20.

The discard option isn't so necessary in an aggressive meta where most people are either dumping their hands or can just discard a Madness card or a land; the shock option doesn't kill much in this meta, especially by turn 3 or later; the recursion option is good, but I prefer Pulse of Murasa in testing; the only option that I would consider it for is destroy artifact because I can use it to kill my own Hangarback Walker in response to removal.

I may still test it in this deck for the latter reason as a sideboard card (against control, where I can pick recursion + discard or kill Hangarback) but mainboard, better removal is much, much more important to stabilize the board.

For further clarification on Kolaghan's Command, because I think it's a good card, it just boils down to the fact that I don't think bringing a card back to my hand is useful enough in this deck, especially not mainboard.

I tested with both Pulse of Murasa and the command in a previous version, and I found that they just weren't good enough to use a turn on. If Kolaghan's Command reliably killed things it would be great, but the shock just wasn't cutting it in most cases; I want to use it early on to control the board with that ability, but then there's probably nothing in my graveyard yet, etc.

It's a really good card in modern for two reasons: there are a lot of threats with 2 or less toughness, and there are a lot of powerhouse artifacts (plus, lands are so tight in modern that people probably don't have an easy discard). In standard, I think you really have to have the right deck to utilize it well; namely, one that grinds through a lot of powerful creatures early, or one that doesn't need removal for bigger threats because it has space to run other removal. This deck isn't that one! Happy to answer any more questions on it though.

I have been running two kolaghans command and so far I have been finding it good except for occasional instances against bigger butt creatures, but I mostly use it as a pulse of murasa. I might change it for two more pulse and take out my nissa, I only play one now and I rather have another ob or Kill spell mainboard. Kolaghans command is still great tho. Kills a lot of the creatures in my meta.

Riensino: What creatures do you find it helps kill? I've just been having trouble in my matches casting Fiery Impulse without spell mastery and killing anything, especially without blocking first, let alone a 3 mana spell. I find it's really only useful against things like white weenies and RDW, but then I would side it out post-board anyway for Kozilek's Return etc.

Off the top of my head it hits Tireless Tracker without a buff, Sin Prodder, and then small aggressive dudes like Zurgo Bellstriker... overall, I just feel like running Pulse of Murasa might just be better, or putting it in the side against decks with Hangarback Walker or Pyromancer's Goggles I suppose. It certainly has a lot of artifacts to hit in Clues, but since opponents can just sac them in response it doesn't seem that useful.

In my testing, I got a land with Pulse of Murasa like 50% of the time anyway, it was really useful with Evolving Wilds. That being said, in testing with Pulse of Murasa MB it would often gain me like 12 life a game and I would still lose-- which is why I ended up taking it out for more removal.

I'd use it against most 2 toughness creature but I noticed a lot of my meta players don't play madness cards so I use it to make them discard and use it as a pulse to get back one of my creatures. But I'm gonna remove one of the copies and just run one pulse and one command main and a second pulse in the side. I'm running couple removals maimboard so I'm either gonna have more ultimate price or grasp of darkness main. I substituted my read the bones for lightening axes and by far they have been amazing every game. I didn't care about discarding a creature because of kolaghans command in my hand. But otherwise mostly I had always discarded a land since I'd have extra lands in hand or would draw them soon. I might put in two fiery temper to go with lightening axe and also my call the bloodline. I'm making the deck more and more Of a versatile Jund for an upcoming scg provincial event here on the 23rd

Also just incase you wanted a review on how it went when I switched up kolaghans command for lightening axe for today's standard, this is how it went. Round 1- went up against mardu Eldrazi, it was a pretty decent match up for us thanks to languish and and kolaghans commands to take care of their hangarback and pia and Kiran and such. But I got mana flooded and game two I lost due to my misplay of not leaving mana untapped to kill one of their man lands as it attacked for exact lethal. Game 2- went up against GR wolves and it was just an easy winning for us there. Game 3- against BR vampires, again we beat them thanks to bigger creatures and instant removal of anything they throw down. Game 4- went up against GB Eldrazi, game one my opponent couldn't get any of his mana fixed due to just having colorless lands in play. Although he did cast thought knots and hangarbacks we took them out pretty easily. Game two was much grindier but we managed to win thanks to a top deck Arlin and woodland wanderer in for 7 haste, vigilance and trample. ( woodland wanderer is amazing and nobody expects him ! )

Riensino Thanks for the breakdown! I do love Woodland Wanderer, I'm always considering him in 3-color builds.

It sounds like you had a similar feeling that I did in testing: instant-speed removal is super important to the flow and control of the deck. I have considered Lightning Axe; my first build used the Axe and Fiery Temper, but I've opted for black removal instead because it's easier to flash back with Goblin Dark-Dwellers and is a little more tempo-y. I still think Lightning Axe is a really strong card though, and I've been interested in Call the Bloodline for a long time in madness-oriented decks.

It just seems to me that there's not much room in these kind of decks for spells that don't remove creatures, which is why I cut the Command initially.

Glad you had a successful FNM and good luck at the provincial!

Thank you. Yes I cut one kolaghans and kept only one in the main now and am running two tireless trackers main and two roast in the sideboard. I realized even if it's sorcery it's still a great removal for most creatures that's in standard except for avacyn. Which we just either lightening axe or ultimate price or just trasngress her before she hits the field.

What about Dual Shot in the sideboard for wienies, tokens, and red deck wins?

Sold my rg tron, bought this deck, u/r control and rg wolves. Love decks being cheap and wide in standard

Hi FYREKNIGHT! Dual Shot is in the list of possible sideboard cards, in the accordion; I used it at first and honestly it's very effective against the X/1 decks. However, with Kozilek's Return it becomes a little redundant. If the weenie decks or 1/1 token decks take over the meta so that I have more room in my sideboard, I'd put it in; I like it.

cutthroat_x, wow! I hope you like playing it, this has been a lot of fun for me to pilot! Did you buy this exact list, or something like it? I'd love to know if you made any changes. Glad you like the concept, I'm a fan of anthems and tokens myself. And the U/R deck looks really fun as well. :)