EMN/KLD Standard Season
The Deck
Evening internet! This time around Im posting the updated standard deck-list that Ive been piloting for the latter half of 2016. This is a fun, budget deck that still has the potential to hit hard and come out on top of many of the decks Ive been facing in my local meta. Making use of a simple burn/aggro strategy as well as the madness mechanic introduced in Shadows over Innistrad, this deck is a great time and has proven to be a fun introduction to the standard format.
Below is a breakdown of every card that we are running, its role in the deck and any intended synergies. This has been a great deck to work on and Id appreciate any votes/help/criticism from you guys in order to make it better. Thanks again and keep it family friendly!
P.S A big thanks to my regular gaming group, all the guys at my LGS and Dancing-Blade in particular for his help in play-testing. Youve all helped shape this deck and make it better, youre the best!
Creatures
Bedlam Reveler Our finisher that has the potential to be a real bomb in the latter portions of the game. Normally only costing us 2-4 mana, the combo of a decent prowess creature and a fresh hand of cards is often the last push we need to close out a game.
Bomat Courier With the release of Kaladesh, I decided to swap out Insolent Neonate for Bomat Courier. Whilst very comparable on paper with regard to cost, power/toughness and function in the deck, the courier has the potential to draw us more than one card. However, this is counterbalanced with the possibility of discarding a handful of cards or our cards being stranded in exile. Under close scrutiny
Combustible Gearhulk With the advent of Kaladesh block, I just had to get a slice of the gearhulk pie! A 6/6 body with first strike isnt a bad rate and the decision he forces on our opponent has the potential to be a real lose-lose. Milling our top three can push through the final 4-6 damage that we need to close out the game and draw three cards is one of the best lines of text in all magic. Love it!
Falkenrath Gorger Our Ideal turn one play and a core lynchpin of the deck. The synergy provided here bridges the gap between our discard outlets (Lightning Axe, Furyblade Vampire, Tormenting Voice and so on) and our other vampires allowing us to both establish presence on the board and dispense damage.
Furyblade Vampire An ideal follow-up too our turn one Falkenrath Gorger, fury blade vampire has the potential to get out of hand fast. A potential 4/2 trample on turn three that can cheat out an Incorrigible Youths or fire off a Lightning Bolt helps to both strengthen our board position and weaken that of our opponents in the early turns of the game.
Incorrigible Youths When played out for its madness cost this 4/3 beater with haste can really hit hard out of nowhere. At five mana, hard casting this one is a bit clunky so well need to make the best our madness enablers to maximise pressure on our opponent.
Sin Prodder This little devil packs plenty of value for only three mana. Menace stacked on to a 3/2 body has the potential to add up fast, furthermore sin prodder acts as a reliable engine for both card draw and/or burn damage. Although the decision here is at the discretion of our opponent, plenty of value here for three mana.
Artifacts
Smuggler's Copter The breakout star of Kaladesh and a welcome addition to the deck. Evasion, looting and a low crew cost all combine to make the copter a powerful and versatile inclusion offering plenty of value.
Instants
Fiery Temper A stand out card from our return to innistrad that well be casting as a Lightning Bolt more often than not. Provides excellent burn and when combined with Lightning Axe can deal with most threats in the format. Great value.
Galvanic Bombardment A spell that has relevance in the early game and only gets stronger as the game goes on. Ideal for a wide range of early threats, small utility creatures and even a few larger ones once the first couple have hit the graveyard.
Lightning Axe Our main answer to any large creatures that threaten to out-class our own. A whopping five damage for only a single mana and an opportunity to enable madness. When combined with cards like Fiery Temper, Incorrigible Youths or Avacyn's Judgment this card provides serious value and allows us to really combo off.
Sorceries
Collective Defiance Three cards worth of value for only a single slot in our deck. Modal cards provide so much value and Collective Defiance is a real star in the format. Hand Cycling, removal and/or burn, youll most likely be escalating once either cycling your hand or eliminating a creature and bolting on three damage for extra punch.
Tormenting Voice A great two-drop that provides us with some draw power, with the added bonus of enabling our madness cards.
Incendiary Flow Another of our burn spells with the added bonus of exiling from the graveyard. Piles on the damage and helps manage shenanigans like grave-yard recursion or delirium.
Land
Geier Reach Sanitarium A utility land that can act as an additional madness outlet in a pinch.
Mountain - = :)
The Sideboard
Avacyn's Judgment - Another versatile burn spell that can allow us to go tall or wide depending on the match-up. Useful against ranks of 1/1 servos and thopters or against larger singular threats. Youll be looking to substitute one of our main-board burn spells for this when they cant cut it. Good all-rounder, perhaps worthy of main-boarding?
Burn from Within Burn spell designed for opponents running large, singular threats that our regular burn spells cant shift. Ideal for dealing with indestructible threats also, youll most likely substitute a smaller burn spell for this when larger creatures become troublesome.
Goldnight Castigator An airborne threat that can help combat any evasive heavy hitters our opponent may throw our way. Youll most likely substitute out a couple of land based creatures that cant touch their flyers such as combustible gearhulk or sin prodder. Keep in mind, play the angel too early and youll open yourself up to a ton of hurt. Best to knock down your opponent's life total with your other spells first then play the castigator to hit home the last few points of damage.
Otherworldly Outburst Can be utilised in combat to help our creatures trade or too get extra value from the removal of creatures. Useful against fast paced aggro and removal decks, our eldrazi tokens allow us to increase our decks pace, its resilience to removal strategies or get extra value from our own removal spells.
Skin Invasion
A versatile card that allows us to combat removal heavy builds. By enchanting our smaller creatures, our opponent will hopefully be discouraged from utilising their removal due to the Skin Shredder
that gets left behind. The card is also useful in combating builds that run lots of small utility creatures. By forcing such creatures to enter combat, we can hopefully eliminate key components of our opponents strategy and fill our board with 3/4 insects!
Structural Distortion Obviously, Kaladesh brought a lot of new powerful artifacts to standard and this is likely to continue with aether revolt. This is our answer to any artifact centric builds we come across.
Tormenting Voice Ideal for grindy match-ups that force us to play a longer game. Try subbing out a couple of burn spells to give the deck the legs to make it into the late game.
