TARKIR!
LORWYN!!
ZENDIKAR!!!
Elementals of all planes! Unite!
This is a work in progress, but I think there's a lot of potential in land creatures and
Flamekin Harbinger
as a tutor, especially in a list with so much redundancy (everything in the mainboard is either a 2-of or a 4-of) that can reliably get out its combos pretty much every time.
Embodiment of Spring
is a pretty great blocker for a 1-drop, and once you've established more of a board presence, it's a great way to ramp.
Risen Reef
is a terrific ramp/card draw source (if vulnerable to removal), and because of the way the stack works Flamekin Harbinger + Risen Reef
actually tutors an Elemental of your choice directly into your hand for 1 mana, which is insane.
Incandescent Soulstoke
is a decent lord, but where it really shines is in its ability to cheat
Liege of the Tangle
out with haste on turn 4 to 5. With (or even without)
Temur Battle Rage
, it's basically a given that Liege will get at least some direct damage through, and once you have an army of 8/8 elementals (which have flying with
Wind Zendikon
, and which
Incandescent Soulstoke
buffs), it's going to be a pretty hard time for your opponent.
Omnath, Locus of the Roil
is a surprisingly versatile 4-drop that's a nice alternative win-con and synergizes really nicely with
Risen Reef
and
Embodiment of Spring
.
Atarka's Command
and
Stubborn Denial
are cheap, really clutch instants that protect
Incandescent Soulstoke
and
Liege of the Tangle
until they've done their job, and
Atarka's Command
has some other uses, too.
Cindervines
punishes control and is the deck's only mainboarded source of artifact/enchantment removal. I'm thinking of bumping it up to a 4-of, but I'm not sure what I can get rid of to make room for the two extra copies.
The land base is pretty important for a deck like this. I've found that (along with givens like
Primal Beyond
and
Frontier Bivouac
) the two-color filter lands work really well to fix the deck's mana, and the basic lands help get out the 1-drops on tempo as well as providing sources for
Embodiment of Spring
to tutor out, and (later in the game) the best targets for
Wind Zendikon
.
The sideboard needs some work! Right now, what's there just helps the deck commit more to removal/control as needed.
Research / Development
is just such a cool card that I had to include it.
KEY COMBOS:
Flamekin Harbinger + Incandescent Soulstoke
Flamekin Harbinger + Risen Reef
Incandescent Soulstoke + Liege of the Tangle
Liege of the Tangle + Temur Battle Rage
Omnath, Locus of the Roil + Risen Reef