What's the best Standard three-drop Collected Company could fetch?
My money is on Savage Knuckleblade. Not everyone may agree, but even those who don't have to admit that Temur has access to some great early creatures: Yasova Dragonclaw, Boon Satyr, the aforementioned Savage Knuckleblade, and - a current star in many Standard decks - Deathmist Raptor.
Playing the Raptor means playing Den Protector, which happens to be absolutely amazing with Collected Company. Not only will flipping Den Protector resurrect all your Deathmist Raptors; you'll even get another instant speed 2-for-1 (alright, 1.9-for-1)!
Ever had a game where you just can't seem to draw Deathmist Raptors, rendering Den Protector somewhat less impressive (though far from dead)? Collected Company even helps in that regard by acting as a double Anticipate.
The fun hardly stops there. Complementing the morph sub-theme are the mana-fixing Rattleclaw Mystic and the heavily underestimated Stratus Dancer. The latter is great against removal heavy decks, or even other Collected Company brews, and as a bonus all Raptors return from the grave to pressure your freshly -1'ed opponent.
With all these ferocious creatures, we'd be remiss to not play some of Temur's signature noncreature spells: Crater's Claws and Stubborn Denial. Although extra counterspells are relegated to the sideboard, a single copy can take many opponents by surprise. The value of having blue for the sideboard should not be underestimated either. All these spells are fantastic in conjunction with Den Protector, allowing you to go for the finish, or play a more controlling game depending on your choices.
A final worry might be that the contingent of low CMC creatures leaves the deck vulnerable in the lategame. However, this is where the morph/Deathmist Raptor 'combo' shines. Crater's Claws, Yasova Dragonclaw, Savage Knuckleblade and Boon Satyr allow for even more flexibility in using mana, while also providing mana sinks. The deck can do such a staggering number of things with just a few cards that you'll rarely wish you had less mana.
The deck's biggest challenge might be fixing the manabase, which I'm still struggling with.
