Timmy!!!
Top 8 SCG States MD.
Changes made after SCG States
MD-1 Greenwarden of Murasa-1 Dragonlord Atarka -1 Haven of the Spirit Dragon-2 Crater's Claws
+1 Thunderbreak Regent+2 Jeskai Charm+1 Draconic Roar+1 Shivan Reef
SB
-3 Feed the Clan-1 Radiant Flames-2 Sagu Mauler
+2 Dragonlord Atarka+3 Surge of Righteousness+2 Ashcloud Phoenix+1 Exert Influence
The deck went 5-1-2 with the only loss being to Jeskai Black in round one of the top 8. The deck beat BG aristocrats, Bant Megamorph, Temur Aggro, Sultai Control and abzan aristocrats. The 1st Draw was agains Jeskai Black that had three minutes left in the round at the completion of game #2. The above changes are to reflect the challenges I faced with Jeskai black.
First I took Greenwarden of Murasa and Dragonlord Atarka because they lose to easily to Ojutai's Command. I added in earlier board state with a Thunderbreak Regent and the allstar removal of the weekend Draconic Roar. In every match up except the Sultai Control, I couldn't get enough of this card. The biggest issue I ran into agains jeskai was them fiery impulsing a mana dork and I sat they with a big dumb dragon that I couldn't cast while at 6 mana. Thunderbreak Regent gets around this, beats Mantis Rider and doesn't die to alot of removal that jeskai has to offer. Dragonlord Atarka is good in any midrange match up to break board stalls so I put two of her in the side to bring in against abzan, mirror, aristocrats etc...
Crater's Claws was good and may still be the right choice but I want to playtest the Jeskai Charm in its place. The card just offers more flexibility than what Crater's Claws can with bouncing cards like Hangarback Walker or gaining a ton of life against Atarka red which this deck doesn't do very well mainboard. Main decking two Jeskai Charm allows me to drop one Feed the Clan from the side making room for Dragonlord Atarka.
Lastly I dropped Haven of the Spirit Dragon because it is what lost me round one in the top-8. The mana base is greedy but not unreasonable in this deck but the haven put it over the top. G1, I had 3 lands in the opening hand on the play, three of which were haven a mantis rider and savage knuckleblade. Kept the hand thinking odds were pretty good in drawing the 3rd land needed to get there. Didn't draw in to it until turn 5 and lost handily from being too far behind. A similar effect happened G3 with haven in my opening hand which was even worse since i was on the draw and my opponent played a very efficient, fast and smart game. I lost handily as a result. Chalk it up to bad luck if you want but it is bad luck i think needs to be out of the deck.
I really enjoyed how this deck played this weekend and hope to only make it better as I move forward. Thanks for everyone who made recommendations and suggestions thus far. It helped me get there this past weekend.
