Lands (20)
HighPower (9)
Finishers (6)
UndyingCreatures (7)
Evolvers (12)
PongifyEffects (6)
Sideboard
Other (15)
Temur Lightning Evolution
Hey there, fellow fans of red, blue and green Mana. This is a version of the magnificent and commonly known Simic Evolve Deck, but amplified with unstable, crackling magic to dial its speed to the limit! If you want to know what this deck is capable of, try it out. Life is an experience, an experiment, a mystery
The strengths of this deck certainly are its speed, some resilience against damage and destruction effects and a few very flexible cards.
Its weakness lies in it having to mull regularly and in it folding to a high density of early hand disruption and cheap removal due to its synergistic nature.
But don't let that dishearten you. There are many ways to build this deck and your Lightning Evolution deck might be even better.
Also, the turn 3 kill looks like this:
Turn 1: Cloudfin Raptor or Experiment One or Pelt Collector
Turn 2: Young Wolf,Pongify or Rapid Hybridization the wolf, stack triggers correctly, swing for 3.
Turn 3: Atarka's Command, deal 3, swing for 11,Lightning Bolt, deal 3 to get to a total of 20.
There are more possibilities to kill your opponent on turn 3 but these require your opponent to choose to take 4 damage from Vexing Devil.
Your game plan is to create big creatures fast and let them loose on your opponents. To that end I have categorized the cards as following:
Evolvers: Cloudfin Raptor, Experiment One and Pelt Collector make up the unchangeable core of this deck. Having them evolve early is your most efficient source of damage.
High Power: Hellspark Elemental and Vexing Devil will make those +1/+1 counters skyrocket while also dealing damage on the turn they enter the battlefield.
Undying Creatures: Young Wolf and Strangleroot Geist will re-enter the battlefield stronger after they die, only to trigger your evolve creatures a second time.
Pongify Effects: Pongify and Rapid Hybridization are extremely versatile cards that are preferably played targeting Strangleroot Geist,Young Wolf or a Hellspark Elemental after it has already attacked and starts to burn out.
Finishers: Atarka's Command and Lightning Bolt are your finishers. They are preferably cast to either get creatures out of your way or to deal the last few points of damage to snatch you that win in record time..
Evolution: The most challenging aspect of Lightning Evolution is to plan the evolution of your creatures and balancing that with doing the maximum damage in any turn. Cloudfin Raptor is your only card with power 0. Playing any other creature will take it to Power 1. Strangleroot Geist will take them to 2 and Hellspark Elemental or Bounding Krasis up to 3. Playing a Pongify Effect on any of your undying creatures will directly evolve them from 1 to 3 power. In the case of Young Wolf remember Rule 603.3b which allows you to choose the order of the evolve and undying triggers after a Pongify Effect. Sometimes if you are flooded with Evolvers it can be the right choice to target one of them to get a 3/3 token and put a counter on all your evolvers. Of course targeting any of your creatures is usually better than letting it die to removal. Vexing Devil and Yasova Dragonclaw evolve your creatures to 4 where your evolution ends.
Once you did everything to evolve your creatures as high as possible and you have not won yet, your Atarka's Command and Lightning Bolt begin to shine. But of course, bolting something is always first class disruption too.
Cloudfin Raptor
This is the card you usually want to drop on your first turn. It evolves to everything and it has evasion. It also has 1 more toughness than any other evolver which makes it an evolution priority against decks that play burn.
Pelt Collector
This achieves the highest evolution speed thanks to it also triggering on creatures dying. It can go from 2/2 to 4/4 immediately just from playing a Vexing Devil. Reaching 3 counters is kind of a big deal because, at that point, it gains trample which improves your Pongify effects. (creatures destroyed with pongify will not block any trample damage)
Experiment One
This is the most resilient of your evolvers thanks to its regeneration ability. Prioritize it if your opponent is likely to use destruction effects such as sweepers. When it is regenerated and there are undying creatures returning from the graveyard it will immediately evolve back up to a number of counters.
Vexing Devil
This is 4 damage to the face with a high evolve trigger. An opponent not taking the damage can be a good indicator for an impending boardwipe.
Hellspark Elemental
This is usually 3 damage straight to the face for 2 mana plus it usually triggers all of your Evolvers. It can either be targeted by a pongify after attacking or the pongify can be used on a blocker to have this creature trample through with its damage.
Bounding Krasis
This can evolve your creatures to 3 power at instant speed, disable blockers, set up a surprise double block or full swing.
Yasova Dragonclaw
She removes blockers, triggers evolution up to 4 power and has some nice synergies with your pongify effects. The trample damage goes through a target that was targeted by a pongify effect. When taking control of a creature, you can use a pongify effect on it and keep the resulting 3/3 creature and when there's a creature that is too big to handle, use a pongify effect on it and take control of the resulting 3/3 creature.
Young Wolf
This Undying creature usually shouldn't be played on turn one but it can be the right choice your opponent has mana open to destroy something right away. Play this creature after you have played your Evolvers to play a Pongify effect or just attack with it and have a 2/2 threat left in case of a Boardwipe or a block. It's also a pretty effective chump blocker but you wouldn't want to go on the defensive with an aggro deck.
Strangleroot Geist
This Undying creature is worth both of its green mana symbols. It evolves your creatures to 2 and swings immediately and every turn from that point. Use it as a Pongify target or swing with it until your opponent has to block it.
Pongify/Rapid Hybridization
These spells should generally be used on your Undying creatures or on a Hellspark Elemental that is about to die at the end of your turn. As a 1 mana removal, it can also just be used on any larger creature standing in your way or on any of your creatures that is about to die. Another possibility is to use one of your Fetchlands to get a Dryad Arbor
and immediately target it. Don't forget to play this spell as late as possible as you can without reducing your damage total. Evolving your team during an attack can be a very powerful combat trick. Depending on your opponent's interaction this can backfire though. This deck only plays 3 copies of each Pongify Effect because having too many of these cards is a surefire way of doing nothing at all.
Lightning Bolt
The best card in magic is still pretty good in a deck where the main goal is quick damage. Don't play it straight away. It is best used to finish a blocking creature or to finish an opponent. Alternatively, you could also bolt one of your own Undying creatures to save it from exile when targeted by a Path to Exile for example.
Atarka's Command
This is potentially your most damaging spell. play this to destroy blocking creatures or finish off an opponent with a full swing. Remember to play this spell after blockers are declared. The mode that prevents life gain is kind of obscure but remember it nonetheless. You could also Flash in a fetch land for a Dryad Arbor if really necessary.
Misty Rainforest/Wooded Foothills
This deck has a lot of Fetchlands. The reason is that we always need a Breeding Pool and a Stomping Ground on turn 2. Putting more non-Fetchlands into the deck would only increase the probability of us not having all our colors on turn 2. This comes at a high life cost so consider fetching for basics against other aggressive decks. 2 Lands are enough to play all our spells. A third land is often useful too. But beyond that consider fetching for Dryad Arbor.
Evolvers
Bloodhall Ooze is not strictly an evolver but nonetheless gets bigger every turn we have a green creature on the battlefield.
Shambleshark allows for some instant evolve triggers. Whether it's worth twice the price of your regular evolvers is up to you.
High Power
Narnam Renegade is cheap and with our Fetchland will almost always have 2 power. Deathtouch means that it always trades profitably. For a creatures that primarily evolves other creatures 2 power is unfortunately not that high and it doesn't do anything the turn it enters the battlefield.
Greenbelt Rampager must be played 3 times before it sticks which means, your creatures will evolve up to 3 times. Don't play Aether Hub with it though because once its energy runs out, it becomes useless because we don't have generic mana in our costs. This card is also rather expensive before it sticks.
Bayou Groff is very Similar to Pongify and Rapid Hybridization but more expensive and less flexible. The ability to evolve your creatures to 5 power and the possibility to cast it for 5 mana make this card better in some situations.
Goblin Guide costs 1 mana, has 2 power and attacks immediately. An early creature that triggers our fresh evolvers and keeps swinging.
Zameck Guildmage lets you remove the +1/+1 counters from your undying creatures to draw cards and boost creatures entering the battlefield to give your board one more round of evolve triggers.
Skyrider Elf is a 2/2 or 3/3 flyer depending on what you need to evolve your creatures. The evasion helps around difficult board states.
Spark Elemental is a cheaper variant of Hellspark Elemental or a weaker Vexing Devil that can also be targeted by a pongify.
Avatar of the Resolute is a surefire way to trigger evolve, become a huge threat itself and blocks flyers as a hobby. It doesn't do anything the turn it enters the battlefield though.
Frost Walker has 4 power for only 2 mana. It triggers evolve and will stay on the battlefield. Unfortunately it dies to anything that targets (Including Pongify Effects) and to any 1/1 creature.
Imaginary Pet is resilient and can be bounced repeatedly to evolve your creatures again and again. You will never play it on turn 2 though and you never want two copies in your hand.
Kari Zev, Skyship Raider is hard to block and creates a token each turn. That way it can evolve our creatures each turn to up to 2 power. Also the token can be easily targeted with a pongify effect. Also very good with Atarka's Command. The evolving power is relatively low and no haste means you can get blown out by cheap removal.
Lupine Prototype has insane stats, is flexible with its mana cost and it will definitely trigger anything with evolve. its slow though and it will just be sitting duck on the board until your hand is empty.
Rhonas the Indomitable has 5 power and is immune to the destruction through your pongify effects. The condition for him to be able to attack is sometimes too difficult to fulfill though.
Boon Satyr can be flashed in at any point tp evolve your creatures to 4. It also has trample which has a nice synergy with your Pongify Effects. At 3 mana its rather expensive and you won't ever cast it with bestow.
Groundbreaker evolves anything and deals 6 damage the turn it enters the battlefield. The cost is pretty high and restrictive though.
Hooting Mandrills is a potential 4/4 trampler for 1 mana. The fewer you play the easier it is to use delve effectively. It might get into the way of Hellspark Elemental.
Pongify Effects
Beast Within works as any other Pongify effect exept you can also remove any Enchantment, Artifact, Planeswalker or Land standing in your way. Also Experiment One can regenerate off of it. It's rather expensive though.
Mid Game
Inspiring Call allows you to lean back and swing with your creatures, if a blocker or a removal appears it will draw you cards and save you the board. The downside is that it is expensive and that it doesn't do anything offensive by itself.
Finishers
Vapor Snag is the ideal bounce spell if you need one. Against Combo or Control this will be a completely dead card in your hand though.
Unsubstantiate is a bounce spell that doubles as counterspell. this is never a dead card in your hand and it even delays Supreme Verdict for a turn. But it's rather on the expensive side for this deck to keep mana open.
Simic Charm is very flexible. It can deal additional damage as well as get rid of a creature as well as protect our evolved beaters. But again 2 mana is a high cost to keep mana open.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar can activate an immediate mini-overrun or produce plants as targets for you Pongify effects. 3 mana is steep though.
Gaea's Anthem buils upon your advantage of high stat creatures but is expensive and does nothing on its own.
Ingot Chewer is a must-have against Chalice of the Void on 1, Ensnaring Bridge an the eventual Ratchet Bomb
Life Goes On is vital for any aggressive matchup. I chose it over Fog because it works against burn.
Spell Pierce is just a great spell against a lot of hate cards or early disruption. Also good against Turn 3 Karn Liberated.
Endurance is the right kind of graveyard hate for us because it will evolve our creatures and potentially doesn't cost mana. It's also just a good creature.
Sidisi's Faithful is meant for those Gurmag Angler and everything else that's just too big to deal with with our creatures or our burn. Similar to Ingot Chewer it is capable of triggering your evolve creatures.
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| Top Ranked |
|
| Date added | 6 years |
| Last updated | 2 years |
| Exclude colors | WB |
| Legality | This deck is Modern legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 7 - 2 Mythic Rares 25 - 2 Rares 18 - 2 Uncommons 7 - 9 Commons |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 1.30 |
| Tokens | Ape 3/3 G, Frog Lizard 3/3 G |
| Folders | Testing, Things to Try, Modern |
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