Green Black Midrange. (The Rock)
Credit for inspiration goes to electricbob31 that can be found on Youtube.com
This flavor takes advantage of Elvish Reclaimer for tutoring Urza's Saga. This deck's strategy is to cast strong early interaction spells (Inquisition, Thoughtseize, and Fatal Push) with big hitters (Tarmogoyf, Dauthi Voidwalker) to close out games. While the deck is midrange it does lean on the more aggressive side as all of the spells (outside of Lurrus) costs less than 3 mana value.
The most common question I've gotten since I started playing this list is, "Why would you play this over Jund or a different 3rd color?" And that is a fair question. I'll list my reasons why I feel like this is better deck for the current meta of modern.
1: Clean manabase. Sounds cliché' but being able to take less damage from lands is important against aggro matchups and this deck can easily fight through Blood Moon.
2: More flexibility. I think sticking with allows us to be more adaptive to whatever matchup we face. If we need to be aggressive we certainly can. If we need to take more of a controlling role this deck does well with that as well. If we were on Jund we would be forced to a more aggressive role as the red creatures rely solely on combat to get results. Abzan is on the opposite spectrum being more controlling than the other two versions. I do recognize that this is debatable but it is my opinion.
3: Price. I listed this last on purpose. While we are certainly not a budget deck we do cut close to $720 in paper just by staying away from Red. Ragavan and Wrenn and Six are great cards and undoubtedly powerful. I do not think Ragavan is at his best in this style deck. Wrenn and Six would be the only reason I would want to go red but that is another $400. I would say we lose no power by sticking to other options. I'd even argue we can obtain even more with our ways of abusing Duathi Voidwalker.
There are many small interactions and synergies in the deck which will be hard to list them all. But I will point out some of our most powerful cards and their interactions.
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Duathi Voidwalker: This is the most powerful creature in the deck. Bar none. 3/2 unblockable is nothing to scoth at. But thats not where his power lies. Being a mainboard graveyard hate engine makes this a truly scary card to deal with. With the amount of graveyard strategies around this is a must answer before alot of decks are able to enact their plan. (Esper Reanimator, Living End, Dredge) Our coolest interaction is the ability to mill our opponent for 3 with Witherbloom Command while Duathi is on the field. We can absolutely drop a bomb on turn 3 reasonably. Can tell you how good it feels to drop an Big Dadgy Ugin on turn three against our Tron Player.
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Witherbloom Command: Speaking of this gem. I'm going to take a second and gush over this card. Its low key the best command card from Strixhaven. Why? Well, it's very good on average. First off it gives us a maiboard answer to hammers and Esper Sentinel. Can kill both Ragavan and Wrenn and Six in one go. Recurs our used Urza's Saga for another round. Gives us a small life gain and life drain for our troubles. And already mentioned our ability to mill our opponent and still get a land back from the grave. The modes on paper look underwhelming but in practice this card is an all star.
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Tarmogoyf: What can I say about this card that has not already been said. This is our "Beater". Big dumb creature that WILL close out games.
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Elvish Reclaimer: This Mr. Toolbox. Allows you to tutor an Urza's Saga on turn 2. Can tutor Bojuka Bog to exile opponent's graveyard. Blast Zone is sideboard as another tool if its needed. One note is you do have the ability to sac the Urza's Saga in response to the sac trigger and tutor another one. Having a mid game 3/4 body is also relevant.
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Urza's Saga: Makes many construct bodies. Also toolboxes artifacts for various situations. Between this and Elvish Reclaimers games can close out quickly.
This is just a very short overview of some of the card choices. I hope this has been helpful. I'll be happy to add more information and answer any questions if needed. I've been very happy with this list so far and I hope it continues to gain popularity. :-)
