Forget Temur, Play Sultai Midrange
Standard forum
Posted on Sept. 18, 2014, 4:25 p.m. by InnerFlame
At heart, I am a gruul or simic player because I am a timmy. I like my deck to be big and fast(trying to avoid saying I like it big and fast). So when I first saw Savage Knuckleblade , Surrak Dragonclaw , and the colors they were aligned with, I pretty much knew I was going to play Temur fatties.
Enter B/U/G midrange. This deck is inasane! Not only will you pay less than what you get with cards like Master of the Feast , Polukranos, World Eater , and Reaper of the Wilds , but the deck is so balanced while being aggressive. You have the aggro cards stated previously. You have the control with Thoughtsieze, Despise , and Hero's Downfall . You have one of the best mechanics in the game with Courser of Kruphix and then Sultai Ascendancy . Tricks like Whip of Erebos . And some of the best planeswalkers in the game now with Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver , Kiora, the Crashing Wave , and yes, Garruk, Apex Predator has finally found a home.
Sultai can literally stop anything. It stops Temur with kill spells and creatures like Master of the Feasts. Goodbye Stormbreath Dragon
. It stops Mardu with all the cheap creatures that it gets out that are just bigger and still has access to cards like Drown in Sorrow
or Bile Blight
that shut down tokens and again, Master of the Feast
shuts down Butcher of the Horde
. It's almost like abzan except it sacs outlast for more aggressiveness and a wide variety of tricks. And as far as Jeskai goes, it's either smash your opponent in the face with creatures after creaters they can't burn, or go with the token ersion and swarm them. And the ensoul decks gets their on trick shut down since they will be hitting you for 5 while you hit them for 9 or 10. Not to mention Thoughtsieze can destroy them.
Like I said, the new B/U/G decks in standard are going to be the perfect combination of aggro and control.
I feel like u just described anything with black and green in it. The only thing abzan cant run in that list is kiora and ashiok which imo are strickly worse than elspeth and either ajani. BUG isnt bad but I think u got a bit excited but absolutely play what u want to play and I hope it works for you.
September 18, 2014 4:47 p.m.
InnerFlame says... #4
EmblemMan: Abzan probably is next up in my list. They are very similar and that's what I above in my rant. And yes, Most of that was anything with green and black and white has elspeth and ajani. But the blue in Sultai makes it more versatile than Abzan. There are a lot of tricky cards that have blue in their mana cost that you could include in B/U/G to make many forms of the deck...or at least that's how I feel. besides, there is a lot of token and planeswalker hate in black that can get rid of elspeth. And in my opinion with controlling what you draw and a few other factors, B/U/G is more aggresive than Abzan. To each his own, though.
They are similar decks, I said that above. But I prefer the B/U/G version.
September 18, 2014 4:58 p.m.
weisemanjohn says... #5
I take offense to the title of this thread. I am and will be a Temur player. I will play the scariest creatures to hit the table. I will play them earlier than you can. I will keep piling them onto the table until you are dead or they no longer fit on my playmat.
Some of us do not like black spells. I absolutely hate removal. You have the capacity to take me on in combat (step) do so. Do not hide behind a hand full of kill spells. Where is your pride as a Timmy player!? Show me your resolve that bigger creatures are better! TEMUR SAVAGERY!
Back to non rant. You should not dismiss Temur as we have tricks up our sleeves as well to deal with the cowardice of removal spells and your fat demon.
September 18, 2014 5:22 p.m.
Dalektable says... #6
I agree Sultai is powerful, but more powerful than Temur Monsters? Eh. I'm not so sure.
September 18, 2014 5:50 p.m.
InnerFlame says... #7
What do you have against black cards weisemanjohn? Jk. I know, I know. It's hard to join them and leave my style of play. Play smarter, not harder. That's my reasoning.
Dalektable: have faith!
September 18, 2014 6:01 p.m.
Dalektable says... #8
Removal is simply a part of the game, and utilizing it is simply good strategy and with help you. Even aggro decks are bettered by using removal alongside their creature suite.
I have no particular bias towards either, I think they're on about equal power level. I tested with both decks, and both were great. One better than the other? Not really. Temur has better creatures, Sultai better removal and planeswalker suite (debatably). It comes down to playstyle, I believe.
September 18, 2014 6:16 p.m.
I agree with EmblemMan. I set up Stupid Monkeys! and tested it and it does just fine, if not better, than clunkier 3-color decks.
September 18, 2014 9:51 p.m.
InnerFlame says... #10
I almost did go with straight B/G, WicKid52; but blue gave me ashiok, Kiora, and the asendency. Not to mention any jace that may come out in the next core set. With it just being a splash it really doesn't slow it down at all. But this thread isn't about my deck. It's about B/U/G as a whole threatening temur as an aggressive players favorite alignment.
September 18, 2014 10:35 p.m.
I think Jund might actually have the best mana in the monster/midrange spectrum and as such end up on top.
September 20, 2014 5:56 a.m.
I actually got out to a pre-release event (just like I planned I could do with this new job)! It seemed like more people were going Abzan. I tried it myself but am probably not a good representative with this being my first non-EDH event ever (enter newbish things like only running 14 lands and generally playing too defensive). I think that for others it did pretty well, from what I observed and heard etc.
I had an ulterior motive, myself, in that I wanted to use Outlast to revamp my Mikaeus, the Lunarch deck (splashing at least one, maybe two other colors from among G or B). I haven't decided on a general yet ... maybe Ghave, Guru of Spores - I'm not totally sold on the new legendary general. I was able to trade for a bunch of useful stuff, though, because I pulled a Bloodstained Mire that I probably should have held on to if I were primarily an investor ... but when I weigh the unlikelihood that I will generally ever be running rakdos with the time spent with a better EDH deck that runs a fun new mechanic ... I'm happy with letting it go.
InnerFlame says... #2
Here is my version of the deck to give you guys an idea of what B/U/G Midrarange can look like:
As Snug As A BUG Not In A RUG-Prototype Playtest
Standard* Invisible_Stalker
SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 59 VIEWSSeptember 18, 2014 4:27 p.m.