One day, with the intent to create a standard deck, I began looking at top decklists as well as at rare and mythic rare cards in standard. Of the cards I looked at, many were interesting and looked fun to play.
Grim Flayer and
Emrakul, the Promised End both met these requirements, as well as others such as
Arlinn Kord
and her werewolf clan. However, the most entertaining yet still viable card was
Lupine Prototype
. Two mana for a 5/5 is incredible value, if only one can get around its limiting drawbacks. Thus it became my project to build a suitable deck.
A quick google search showed several cards that allowed for Robo-wolf to wreak havoc by emptying the hand quickly or even without needing to attack. Though having it be able to attack I still wanted to maintain some semblance of card advantage, therefore it became clear to add
Tormented Thoughts
. With a reasonable hand a turn two Prototype into a turn three Tormenting Thoughts can force the opponent into top-decking while holding on to three or four cards of my own to maintain momentum.
Since there was already a good chance that I would need to be discarding cards for Prototype to attack it seemed reasonable to put in cards that took advantage of this. Enter delirium users
Mindwrack Demon
and Grim Flayer. Each are powerful in their own right and together synergize to come into play on the offensive with few drawbacks.
At this point I was debating whether or not to just make this a boring delirium deck, but I personally am not a fan of being too meta (He says while playing Grim Flayer). So for a while I was at an impasse.
Then Kaladesh happened...
Vehicles and card draw and fast lands and everything else I could need. Kaladesh delivered in a big way to this deck in progress and quickly a new plan sprouted into my head.
Vehicles would not work as the focal point because they are too unreliable, however they are very powerful and because of the wording Lupine can crew any vehicle even with cards in hand. For this reason I decided it best to take only the best vehicle, Skysovereign, Consul Flagship.
After that cards just kept falling into place. Key to the City was an obvious choice for enabling the delirious creatures, allowing big creatures through, and drawing cards if need be. Both Noxious Gearhulk and Verdurous Gearhulk are incredibly powerful and serve to be game winners if left unchecked. Foundry Inspector is not powerful in its own right, but if left alive then suddenly big drops such as flagship or either Gearhulk are coming a turn earlier (Important to note that foundry can crew the flagship solo).
As for instants and sorceries,
Blossoming Defense
and Nature's Way can both be used offensively and defensively, and Harsh Scrutiny is effectively a
Despise
with scry 1. Blossoming Defense can be used to push just enough damage to win the game or protect creatures from removal spells or in combat. Nature's Way is useful because of how big the majority of the creatures in this deck are. The focal point of this deck, Lupine Prototype, uses this card especially well because if my hand is full then worst case scenario he trades, but if it is the last card in hand then all of a sudden an important creature has been removed on their side and a 5/5 with trample and vigilance can swing away.
Though this may not be (probably is not) an optimal deck, I have had a lot of fun putting it together and trying to figure out ways to utilize synergy between cards. If you have any suggestions feel free to leave your ideas in the comments. Thank you :)
