The Temur Frontier: Summon the Unwritten

Commander / EDH Cascade Ferocious RUG (Temur) Trample

Temur_Frontier

Creature (30)

• 1x Apex Devastator
• 1x Beast Whisperer
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Cultivator of Blades
• 1x Dazzling Sphinx
• 1x Earthshaker Giant
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x First Responder
• 1x God-Eternal Rhonas
• 1x Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
• 1x Ilysian Caryatid
• 1x Koma, Cosmos Serpent
• 1x Leafkin Avenger
• 1x Maelstrom Wanderer *f-etch*
• 1x Neyith of the Dire Hunt
• 1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 1x Quartzwood Crasher
• 1x Rashmi, Eternities Crafter
• 1x Rattleclaw Mystic
• 1x Reclamation Sage
• 1x Roil Elemental
• 1x Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
• 1x Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1x Shaman of the Great Hunt
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Temur Sabertooth
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Yasova Dragonclaw

Land (36)

• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 9x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 8x Island
• 1x Mosswort Bridge
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Temple of Abandon
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Thriving Bluff
• 1x Thriving Grove
• 1x Thriving Isle

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Colossal Majesty
• 1x Frontier Siege
• 1x Furious Rise
• 1x Garruk's Uprising
• 1x Mind's Dilation
• 1x Rhythm of the Wild
• 1x Sunbird's Invocation
• 1x Temur Ascendancy

Instant (8)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Negate
• 1x Stubborn Denial
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Temur Charm

Commander (1)

Sorcery (13)

• 1x Call Forth the Tempest
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Crater's Claws
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Explosive Vegetation
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Migration Path
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Roar of Challenge
• 1x See the Unwritten
• 1x Shamanic Revelation
• 1x Verdant Confluence

Artifact (3)

• 1x Dragon Throne of Tarkir
• 1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1x Sol Ring

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner

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Maybeboard

Creature (4)

• 1x Ainok Survivalist
• 1x Kamahl, Heart of Krosa
• 1x Kogla, the Titan Ape
• 1x Malignus

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Call Forth the Tempest
• 1x Genesis Ultimatum
• 1x Verdant Confluence

Instant (2)

• 1x Temur Battle Rage
• 1x Winds of Qal Sisma

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The Tarkir Project

This deck is part of a series of flavor-focused decks built around the plane of Tarkir. The goal is to balance flavor, power, and fun as much as possible for each deck, bringing the associated clans to life while still being playable. Here are the rough guidelines for this project, where each deck should:

• Use a commander that is from the associated clan, ideally one of the Khans for the clan.
• Include as many cards associated with the given clan as possible; it does not matter if they are specifically from the Tarkir block. Any card, whether it was from the block or some anthology, counts as long as it clearly depicts the clan in question (this includes the Dragons of Tarkir clan counterpart as they are similar enough). Realistically, the target goal is roughly around 15 flavor cards per deck.
• The deck's overall playstyle should mirror the original vision of the clan's tactics as they were represented in the Tarkir block. I personally value this slightly more than number of flavor cards used.

You can check out the other decks in this series as they are listed on the side bar of this page and on my profile.

Who were the Temur Frontier?

Commander Choice

Choosing a commander for this deck was pretty easy. There are really only two options here, the khans Surrak Dragonclaw and Yasova Dragonclaw. And since the build is really just Temur goodstuff that doesn't really rely on the commander, you can run either just fine. That said, to get the most out of Yasova, you would need to build the deck around her stealing ability and that required a more specialized build that I was not interested in. So, Surrak was the perfect choice as a utility commander, who might not even come out in some games, but in others his counter-control and trample buff could be very useful.

Temur Flavor

Temur has a lot of room for flavor, especially since those cards play well with the deck's playstyle and win conditions. Barring lands and cards which could pass for being part of the Temur clan (stuff like Sunbird's Invocation and Neyith of the Dire Hunt are pretty Temur-like, but do not count because they are not actually Temur), here is a list of the Temur flavor cards used in the build:

Temur Playstyle & Power Level

The Temur clan from the Tarkir block is known for its big creatures and counter-control spells. Specifically, Temur used the keyword Ferocious which granted special benefits if you controlled a creature with power 4 or greater. As it turns out, there is a lot of powerful (and even necessary) support for this Ferocious mechanic, mostly in the form of draw power with cards like Temur Ascendancy and Garruk's Uprising. There is a good amount of control here as well with a couple of cheap counterspells and bounce effects. There was one other aspect about the Temur that I absolutely loved and wanted to represent in the deck: their shamans listen to the whispers of the past, present, and the unwritten for wisdom and strength. This is represented by the card See the Unwritten which effectively cheats out creatures by summoning the unwritten. I decided to include several cards which corroborate this theme as they are fun and flavorful in style for the Temur, but they are also effective in accelerating the deck's engine; these are cards such as Maelstrom Wanderer and Sunbird's Invocation.

As for the deck's power level, as with all the decks in this series, the goal was to maintain a midrange battlecruiser style with a clear focus that was decently fast and well supported by resources such as draw and ramp. Essentially, these decks should perform well in your average meta, not too casual and certainly not competitive. The Temur fits right into this power level. It takes several turns to get setup before the deck can begin making big moves, making it vulnerable to faster decks. However, if it does have room to breathe, it can quickly explode out of control once you start cascading into more cascade effects; this becomes extremely difficult for most casual decks to deal with once the deck gets rolling. If the build is too strong, there are certainly a few power cards that could be cut. But I think this deck is pretty much the staple for the power level I am striving for.

Win Conditions

The deck's win conditions are fairly simple: the main game plan is to overwhelm your opponents as you pump out big creatures faster than they can keep up and beat them down with big stompy bois. That said, there are a few cards that help these creatures swing through more effectively, such as Earthshaker Giant, God-Eternal Rhonas, Dragon Throne of Tarkir, Icy Blast, Roar of Challenge, Beastmaster Ascension, and Berserkers' Onslaught. With enough time, these effects can pump total damage up into the hundreds.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	10 months
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 30 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.05
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Dinosaur Beast */* G, Koma's Coil 3/3 U, Morph 2/2 C, Servo 1/1 C