This deck acts as a linear aggro-combo deck, similar to Infect, by trying to count to twenty as fast as possible with efficient creatures and the most powerful pump effects in the format. The inspiration for the list is Seth Manfield's article "Breaking Temur Battle Rage" (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12369), which featured a linear mono-red aggro deck splashing green for Become Immense.
I thought to myself, "this deck seems really soft to control decks but seems good against lots of other things". I decided it would be cool to splash blue for Stubborn Denial in the main deck to make the control match-up better.
The next evolution in the deck came while I was looking at the creature base of the deck to purchase the cards. Heroic creatures are great, but those decks have the problem of needing both creatures and spells to do anything substantial. Logical conclusion: Play better creatures. I chose to focus on Monastery Swiftspear, Boon Satyr, and Savage Knuckleblade, with Surrak Dragonclaw acting as Boon Satyr number 5 and 6. The Courser of Kruphixes provides card advantage and can be an attacker if necessary and Heir of the Wilds, when given trample by Temur Battle Rage is more effective at getting through the fatties of green midrange decks.
The Commune with the Gods, though ostensibly bad in the deck due to the equal density of spells and creatures, is meant to fill the yard for faster Become Immense kills.
And this deck kills fast. Turn three kills are possible with the deck, though I have yet to get one in about fifty goldfishes and seven actual matches. This is accomplished by T1 Monastery Swiftspear, one damage, T2 Commune with the Gods, two damage, T3 Become Immense and Temur Battle Rage, eighteen trampling damage. The most common fast kill for me is a turn four kill off of T2 Commune into T3 oppenent's endstep flash in Boon Satyr, T4 Become Immense + Temur Battle Rage with either Titan's Strength or Stubborn Denial backup.
The current record I have with the deck is 5-2, with losses to UB control and Mardu control, though this was before the deck ran Monastery Swiftspear, which I'd taken out for Stoke the Flames. The decks wins came against Mono-Green Devotion, Temur Ascendancy Combo, BW Warriors, and two matches against Jeskai Midrange (Ascendancy, Mentor, Rabblemaster, Mantis Rider, and Burn with delve spells).
I want to keep improving this deck, so I'm looking for feedback from the Tcgplayer community. The changes I'm looking into currently are running some number of Flamewake Phoenixes in the main deck and maybe a pair of copies of Shaman of the Great Hunt instead of the Coursers. Any help or independent testing would be appreciated.
As a final thought, I would like to say this deck, while seeming somewhat gimmicky, is inherently powerful. There are draws with this deck where, if you play correctly, your opponent can't make a mistake or they lose on the spot. The deck also has the best intimidation factor in standard. Unlike the Ascendancy combo decks, where if you don't have it your opponent is mostly safe, this deck has you attacking with four power dorks into them with mana open pretty often and it was very common during matches to be playing against an opponent and have them make miserable blocks because if they didn't they could die on the spot if I had it. Even if you aren't one-shotting an opponent, as the kids say "The beats are real".
Make sure to comment on the deck any changes you might suggest in the deck and any testing you've done. I'll be taking the deck to tournaments on Thursdays and Fridays, so expect updates pretty often.
