So, I tried to rebel against Standard, and the format crushed my rebellion. As fun as it was at times, the deck went 0-4 at my local FNM. Here's a breakdown:
Match 1 vs. Abzan Midrange; Loss 0-2
This match was against a really good Abzan deck that included a completely ridiculous number of planeswalkers. He cast Nissa, Worldwaker, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Garruk, Apex Predator and Sorin, Solemn Visitor all in game 1. I Disdainful Stroked one of them, but the rest of them were far too threatening for me to do anything. Both games went about the same way: although I was able to steal some Siege Rhinos for fun shenanigans, the volume of planeswalkers he had was just too much, and there was really nothing the deck could do to stop them.
Match 2 vs. Sultai Control w/splash of white; Loss 0-2
This was an extremely controlling, creature-light deck that did not play into my strategy at all. In the first game , he countered or removed pretty much everything I did, slowly milling me with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver. I conceded when there wasn't much else I could do and went to game 2. After sideboarding, the deck became a bit more aggressive and managed to hit him down to 3 life, but he stabilized and finished me with a Prognostic Sphinx, which is of course awful for this deck because it can be made hexproof at will.
Match 3 vs. Sultai Midrange; (Loss 1-2)
This was an interesting deck, I did not expect the Sultai colors to be as aggressive as they were here. This deck also included Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver but had threats like Prognostic Sphinx and Reaper of the Wilds which just ended my game 1 because they're so easy to make hexproof. After sideboarding, I managed to beat him down to 6 and then topdecked a Crater's Claws for the game 2 victory. Game 3 went a lot like game 1, however, and I didn't draw enough of my aggression to really do anything.
Game 4 vs. Jeskai Aggro; Loss 1-2
Game 1 of this match was the first and only time the deck worked exactly as designed, and it required a perfect storm to do it. I stole his first Goblin Rabblemaster, swung to get the token, then sacrificed it to Scourge of Skola Vale, stole a Mantis Rider and sacrificed it to the Scourge, then stole his next Rabblemaster and swung for lethal. It was beautiful, and both my opponent and I laughed at how smoothly it worked. Unfortunately, the process would not be repeated. I didn't sideboard for game 2 because, hey, it worked so well in game 1, right? Wrong. He drew more removal this time, and I couldn't survive. Game 3 I went more aggressive, but he was able to Stoke the Flames my Savage Knuckleblade and things went downhill from there.
0-4 in matches, 2-8 in games.
Final thoughts: This seems to be one of those decks that is hilarious and fun when it works, but it almost never works. Not only does it rely a lot on your opponent playing steal-worthy creatures, but even in a suitably creature-heavy matchup, it requires a somewhat unlikely draw of all the right combinations (for the idea to work it needs both Threaten effects and sacrifice engines, and too often can't get both in the same game, or gets them both too late). It might do well if Standard was slower, had fewer insane planeswalkers, and fewer hexproof creatures, but alas, Standard is what it is, and it undisputedly crushed this deck. Attempting it was fun, however, and winning a game by eating things with the Scourge was hilarious. Unfortunately, the deck's just not consistent enough and doesn't have enough answers for the threats it can't eat.
The best part is, I already paid for the expensive part of the deck (the mana base), and the main cogs of this build are so cheap I didn't drop a ton of money on the deck. I've already converted it into a fast, aggressive Temur deck, which I will post as an entirely separate deck, because it really is entirely separate. Thanks to hateindigital for the awesome idea and the fun I had with it!
