Rotation is coming up, and since I'm that asshole who always needs a good Flash deck in my rotation, I figured I'd start by switching over my successful deck from this Standard season: Quandrix Flash, Definitely Not Simic.
Brazen Borrower is a big loss, but otherwise the core of the deck remains in pretty good shape. The other cards that will rotate out are 4x Neutralize, 1x Whirlwind Denial, 2x Scavenging Ooze, and 4x Fabled Passage.
LEVEL-UP CREATURES
With Borrower gone, the landscape of Flash creatures in the new Standard is pretty much nonexistent, especially for Quandrix. Luckily, there are still a few good creatures that are cheap to cast and can grow at instant speed, which works well with the plethora of counterspells and other instant-speed interaction to maintain control of the game. Opponent does something threatening? Counter it. Something less threatening? Level up the board.
Ascendant Spirit is one of the breadwinners of this deck, as he levels up into a big evasive attacker and can quickly be upgraded as a late topdeck. Dragonsguard Elite is the other main breadwinner, as he can level up just by standing around as you counter the opponent's efforts. Swarm Shambler offers solid support, coming down on turn 1 and leveling cheaply to hold down the fort on defense, with a small bonus to boot if one of your creatures with counters gets targeted by removal.
Werewolf Pack Leader is the one new addition as a support creature. An efficiently-costed body that keeps the hand stocked with answers is a nice element that the previous version of this deck didn't have.
I feel like this could use maybe one more creature? Let me know if you have ideas.
ALL THE ANSWERS
The real strength of a deck like this is staying untapped and waiting to see what the opponent does before making a move. So, what are those moves?
Counterspells are a good catch-all answer for anything, and there are 14 cards in this deck that counter a spell in some way. Saw It Coming replaces Neutralize as the 3-mana hard counter of choice. Disdainful Stroke still around as a one-of, and Test of Talents gets the other one-of nod after Whirlwind Denial's departure. On top of the 14 literal "counter" spells, a playset of Snakeskin Veil can "counter" efforts to remove our valuable creatures, and it allows for aggressive leveling up since you only need to leave one land untapped.
But counterspells only work when something is cast; what about something that's already on the board? Since this is a Quandrix deck, that means we're either bouncing it or fighting it with our beefy creatures. Decisive Denial does double-duty as a noncreature counter and an instant-speed fight spell. Blizzard Brawl is so good as a dedicated fight spell that we'll go ahead and allow it despite the sorcery-speed, especially since it only costs 1. Quandrix Command is too good as a tempo card and can quickly get us caught up on the board against aggro, and don't overlook its ability to counter artifacts & enchantments.
Finally, there's a one-of Behold the Multiverse just for that little bit of extra draw power.
