Temur beatdown, a little bit slower than some of the other aggro decks out there, but it goes over the top of them by ramping into bigger, better creatures. It's definitely on the faster side of things, refusing to play temples (I only recently & begrudingly accepted wedgelands) and willing to take several hits from lands to make the manabase work. It's still a little shaky, but that's going to happen with my inability to reduce one color to a true "splash" - much more of a tripod relying on all three, wanting its all-important Turn 2 Knuckleblades.
Above all else, this deck wants its four and five-drop creatures ahead of schedule, the one and two drops are tricks and dorks, this deck just wants to get its beatsticks out. This is a little tricky, as the deck asks for GUR, 1GG, and 2RR options for playing out its more color-intensive monsters.
Elvish Mystic into a morphed Rattleclaw Mystic makes for some very explosive starts, allowing me to hard cast any of my 4 or 5-drops on turn 3 and just wreck face with them, while leaving up mana for tricks. Though the reasons I run Rattleclaw over Shaman of Forgotten Ways are simple - I can cast Rattleclaw face-up on Turn 2 without a T1 Elf, and I can use the mana for other stuff besides creature spells, like making Stormbreath Monstrous.
Savage Knuckleblade is just a complete wrecking machine in standard, and one of the main reasons I'm in Temur instead of Gruul, although having tricks like
Temur Charm
and Stubborn Denial are also important pieces of the "adding blue" package.
Shaman of the Great Hunt
has really impressed me, it does a LOT of work. It just takes over the game unanswered and he's a lot easier to cast than Savage Knuckleblade. The biggest problem is that wild slash is such a huge thing in standard right now because of cards like Rabblemaster and Soulfire Grand Master, if he were a 4/3 on ETB (or even a 3/3), he'd be seeing a lot more standard play than he is. I still love it though, even if it means I really want to leave a blue up for denial when I cast him, sticking him on the board just takes over, even if he's just sitting back on the ground giving counters to my dragons swinging overhead. That's arguably a win-more tech, but he's a very real threat on his own (I've won numerous control match-ups off a topdeck Shaman on an empty board), and providing for the long game against G/w devotion makes me regret dropping him to three copies, but I needed the room for the fourth Thunderbreak.
Surrak, the Hunt Caller is a wrecking machine, a four-mana 5/4 with upside that's a little more relevant with the way my deck works than the mana-sink of Polukranos. Giving himself haste or another large beater (most of which have it already, but a couple don't), as any two monsters in my deck trigger formidable (or Surrak, Rattleclaw, & an Elf).
Stormbreath Dragon and Thunderbreak Regent are just great flying beatdown, with Thunderbreak punishing my opponent for trying to use spot removal on my dragons. Since Thunderbreak's ability is noncombat damage, it can also be thrown an opposing PW and doesn't care if I counter the spell they used to target it.
Sarkhan Unbroken is such a powerhouse, I didn't even hesitate to replace Dragonspeaker with him. He has to be counterspelled or I get value off him, making 4/4 dragon tokens and ramping while giving me card advantage, this card is just winning.
Atarka's Command
doesn't quite accel at anything, I really wish it had a direct creature removal or fight ability, but even so...it's a skullcrack at worst, a combat trick that can put a dent in opposing PWs while pumping my team, or even serving as pseudo-ramp getting me to that fourth mana by turn three. It's worth playing with a couple copies.
Arc Lightning
is an admitted concession to the super low aggro decks of the format like RDW and Jeskai tokens. It's never a dead draw though, paying 3 mana for 3 damage to the face at worst in game one against control decks.
Sideboard:
Destructive Revelry - the artifact/enchantment answer that also shocks their face in the process.
Reality Shift for dealing with White-Blue Heroes, let them sink a ton into Voltron'ing one guy, then exile him before he hits me. Also works to disrupt a Jeskai Ascendancy combo, exiling their bouncer. An evil tactic against Courser decks - let them get their favorite finisher on top, then exile their courser AND manifest the walker/Rhino into a 2/2. Sure they can flip Rhino, but they've missed the ever-important ETB life swing.
Monastery Siege does great work against Control and Burn decks both, choosing dragons to slow down their targetted removal/damage. And if a second one comes down, choose Khans for the looting to make sure my hand is full of counterspells for their boardwipes.
Hornet Nest for dealing with aggro decks, I realized Anger of the Gods was a little too hard to cast in the early turns when I need it, being the double-red casting cost plus wiping my dorks in the process. Nest does a fine job though, putting some hesistation in the early beats.
Surrak Dragonclaw used to be in my maindeck, and he's still a consideration for going back. A five-mana 6/6 flash that can't be countered, protects all my other face-smashers from being countered, and gives the team (minus himself) trample, he's just an all around quality card. Where he really shines is against control decks, flashing in after board wipes giving him pseudo-haste, rendering counterspells worthless, and eating damn near every other non-flyer in the format...he's back-breaking.
Roast is going to be a staple of the new Standard, I'm sure of it. Being able to kill Rhino, Polukranos, Tasigur, and everything smaller for two mana is just huge. Sure it can't hit Stormbreath or Thunderbreak, but there has to be a trade-off somewhere for that kind of efficiency. This was removed from my deck for now, as there's nothing I really want to Roast that I can't simply Reality Shift instead - giving them a 2/2 manifest that's often nothing or worse is a small price to pay for instant speed and being able to hit everything.
Disdainful Stroke - When I need to take a little more of a controlling approach for a longer game, not exactly what my deck wants to be doing, but replaces mainboard burn spells against creature-light control decks.
Draconic Roar - With 8 dragons maindeck, two dragon token-makers, and the dragonlord in sideboard, this is definitely a consideration for maindeck over Arc Lightning. It's a lightning strike for creatures at worst, but so often six damage for two mana.
Dragonlord Atarka
- I can't help myself, she's a big, badass, game-ending dragon. Just a one-of sideboard that comes in against slower opponents, still haven't perfected what I take out for her though, I threw her in last minute as a gut feeling.
