Hello everybody and welcome to another installment in the
Funky Brewster series! Eldritch Moon is finally out and my brewing senses are
tingling like Spiderman drowning in a vat of cocaine-filled 5-hour Energy
drink. I’m aching to try and bust out those Take Inventories, Eldritch
Evolutions, Demonic Pacts, and Elder Deep-Fiends! So, what are we going to do?! I can’t hear
you! Of course I can’t, because I’m way all over here behind the screen! And
talking to you from the past! Technically you are reading Past Chris! So, are
you ready? I can’t hear… Ok, enough of that. Let’s get started!
Do you remember when back in the day, people used to play
Accumulated Knowledge? And people still do so today. Right now, as I write
this, someone is drawing 3-4 cards with Accumulated at the end of someone
else’s turn. Maybe not in Standard, Modern, or Legacy, but they are in Pauper.
Now, with Take Inventory, we might be able to do the same in Standard and
Modern.
As we speak, I’ve only tried one deck with the card and it’s
some Blue/Red Controllish/Burnish no-counters sort of thing that tries to use
Fevered Visions as a win-condition/Howling Mine thingy. It should be said as a
disclaimer that when I brew, I always try to go all-in on my strategy to see
which cards pull their weight and which one do not. This initial built is a
great example of how the initial stages look like for me:
UR Inventory-Burn
2 Scour the Laboratory
3 Collective Defiance
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Take Inventory
4 Epiphany at the Drownyard
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Unsubstantiate
4 Fiery Temper
4 Lightning Axe
4 Fevered Visions
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 Highland Lake
4 Shivan Reef
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Island
5 Mountain
I haven’t fully tested the deck, and much less in an actual
Standard environment, though the core of the deck seems to be a pretty great
starting point. The Lightning Axes, the Epiphanies, Tempers, Bombardments,
Visions, and even the Collective Defiance all played very well. The cards that
simply didn’t work in this style of deck was Unsubstantiate and Scour the
Laboratory. The former is definitely a strong card and I’m sure it will see
play in Standard, however, this is not the place for it. Unsubstantiate belongs
in a blue-based aggressive deck that can take advantage of the tempo swing
Unsubstantiate provides a little better. For instance, in a Blue/Red or
Blue/White deck with either Flash Spirits (like Tomoharu Saitou’s UR Flyers
list) or in a Spirit deck. Maybe Unsubstantiate is the card that puts
Stormchaser Mage back on the map.
Scour the Laboratory is a sick card and I can’t wait until
someone finds a way to reliably cast it for 4 mana at the end of an opponent’s
turn, which is something this deck can’t do. It was usually EOT draw three,
something that in most circumstances would be great, incredible even… if this
were Odyssey Block Constructed in 2002. Perhaps Standard in 2003. These days,
I’m 100% Scour the Laboratory should be Chandra, Flamecaller (obviously!). Here
we start cutting back on the “all-in” and start adding cards that actually support
the strategy and add more power to the deck.
The current build tries to burn everything in its path and
kill with Fevered Visions and any left-over burn spells you have. Usually when
the opponent is around 9 to 11 life points. Chandra gives you a legitimate plan
to look forward to other than taking opponents to the “Grindhouse.” Umm… That
could be a cool name for the deck, actually… UR Grindhouse. Yup, love it.
Anyway, I’m sure I don’t have to talk about how much of a beast Chandra is.
She’s pretty much proven her worth during the last few months as she’s been in
Naya Walker decks, GW decks that can only cast her with Oath of Nissas (bunch
of greedy bastards), in Grixis Control decks, Ramp, and pretty much any Midrange/Late-game deck that sports Red. Let’s talk about the newer cards like
Collective Defiance.
In this deck, Collective Defiance feels at home. Every mode is
useful and relevant. Three damage to an opponent can hit Planeswalkers or be
part of the burn plan. The four damage to a creature will kill pre-6 lands
Sylvan Advocates, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghets, Archangel Avacyns, Gisela, the
Broken Blades, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, and so on. Finally, its “Windfall” ability was actually useful. Turns out, when you are drawing copious amounts of
cards per turn, you will eventually find your land gluts. Defiance allows you
to throw all those lands into the bin and draw a fresh hand, similar to what
Chandra would do with her -0 ability. Going forward, Defiance will either continue
being a 3-of or possibly go down to two. Regardless, it won’t be getting the
shaft any time soon.
Along the lines of burn, we have Galvanic Bombardment and
Incendiary Flow joining the, admittedly, anemic burn-cast of Standard.
Incendiary Flow is arguably missing piece to making Red-dedicated strategies
viable again. It is the card that can make this deck, UR Flyers, Red-aggro, or
even RG Aggro decks worth playing. I know, I know—it is no Incinerate, or even
Searing Spear—yet it is a Volcanic Hammer that gives you the reach you need to
kill Planeswalkers, or to give your little Red or Green men the space they need
to rumble into the Red Zone. It is the card that will enable you to close out
games when opponents manage to stifle your on-board offense.
In fact, a R/X Dragon deck that has access to Hanweir
Garrison, Hanweir Battlements, Draconic Roar, and Incendiary Flow is bound to
be quite competitive. The Battlements alone is a very powerful card which I
forsee being played even in Eldrazi decks in the future. Giving Thought-Knot
Seers and Drowner of Hopes haste could prove to be very strong. Even in the UR
Eldrazi Control decks that came out recently. Haste to your Ulamog? I don’t
know, if you ask me, I’d be getting a set of Battlements.
Galvanic Bombardment is a special case. If Bombardment is
going to see play in this Standard environment, it will be in a deck that can
place a copy or two quickly into the graveyard, either by milling or drawing
plenty of cards (like this UR Grindhouse, perhaps?) per game. This card can get
out of hand quite fast potentially killing Bruna’s just for one mana(!!). Where
Bombardment goes, maybe Take Inventory will go as well. Will that deck want
Pore over the Pages? Will this card make Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy playable again?
Do we want a Black or are there strong Green cards that can support
Bombardment/Inventory strategies? If so, could that deck play Traverse the
Ulvenwald? Gnarlwood Dryad and Moldgraf Scavenger could be part of a RUG
Delirium deck reminiscent of Threshold decks of old that played Nimble Mongoose?
Could Noose Constrictor be a legitimate Standard playable Wild Mongrel?
This
are the kind of things that constantly cross my mind. So, many possibilities in
very little time, but I digress (you can count on me trying to build these
decks). On a final note, with Spirits making such a big splash, Galvanic
Bombardment already seems to be a strong player in this format. That, and it is
a great card against very low to the ground decks like White Weenie.
The last card I’d like to talk about is Ephipany at the
Drownyard. When it was first spoiled, it was highly regarded as the second
coming of Fact or Fiction. Needless to say, it was a huge flop. To the point
where I got my playset a few days ago for 40 cents each. Now, with the advent
of all these graveyard-matter cards (e.g Take Inventory and Galvanic
Bombardment), I believe Epiphany may have found new hope in Standard. Epiphany
has been instrumental to how this deck plays out. It is the card that sets up
your Inventories and Bombardments. It might be the card to enable Delirium much
faster while providing a modicum of card advantage. Most cards associated with
Delirium require you to discard cards and mill yourself resulting in card
disadvantage or just plain minimum return. Epiphany of the Drownyard at least
guarantees that you get ahead by +1 or +2 cards and fill your graveyard with
goodies. Sometimes they will throw Inventories in the ‘yard and you can play
the other one in hand and draw two to three cards for just two mana.
Remember that RUG deck I was just raving about? Epiphany
could be a center piece in the deck. You know what? Let’s write a decklist,
right now. Off the top of my head?
2 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
4 Gnarlwood Dryad
4 Moldgraf Scavenger
4 Noose Constrictor
3 Arlinn Kord
1 Incendiary Flow
2 Fiery Temper
3 Unsubstantiate
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
3 Epiphany at the Drownyard
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Take Inventory
1 Game Trail
1 Wandering Fumarole
2 Island
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Shivan Reef
3 Mountain
3 Lumbering Falls
3 Yavimaya Coast
3 Forest
3 Cinder Glade
Seems alright as a starting point. Well, this isn’t
exactly off the top of my head. As soon as I wrote the “top of my head” list, I
liked it so much I decided to actually try it out. This is a very, very rough
sketch of the list. Needs a lot of tuning and testing. Only managed to get in
one match with it and it was against Mono Blue Prison. Let’s be honest here,
that’s not much of a match when testing, but I did manage to go 2-0. First game
I beat him down with this weird assortment of dudes with Unsubstantiate keeping the opponent off-balance, and then they got decked in Game 2.
A couple of things to note: Gnarlwood Dryad is phenomenal.
It’s a one mana guy that can hand out a beating and can trade with anything at
whichever stage of the game. I’m so impressed with this little critter that I’m
considering trying it in a Bant Delirium deck with Ojutai’s Command. Secondly,
aside from being a Dryad, it is also a Horror which means my opponent’s Thing
in the Ice, wasn’t even a legitimate back-up plan as the Thing’s flip side only
returns non-Horror creatures. Gnarlwood is quite a beast (well, Horror) and I hope it can
find a good home in this format or even in Modern. A 1/1 that turns into a 3/3
that can trade up with anything should be a real consideration, even if the
format is full of Lightning Bolts. I do miss Nimble Mongoose.
Another card that pulled a lot of weight was Noose Constrictor:
The little boa that could. I underestimated how nice it felt to be able to
attack into Sylvan Advocates, Things in the Ice, and even 6/6 Awoken Lands, without
nary a fear. That is a common theme in this deck. Its creatures are tiny,
but they can trade up at a moment’s notice. Not to mention that it has Reach.
Reach is incredibly relevant at this point in time as it means you can kill all
of the Spirits and even, possibly, kill Gisela, the Broken Blades, Archangel
Avacyn, and so on.
I keep saying “trade up,” so for those who don’t know, “trading
up” means that your creatures can effectively “suicide” into bigger creatures and
actually take them down. You can fearlessly attack into that 6/6 and discard 4
irrelevant cards (like extra lands) to the Noose Constrictor and trade. You can
attack into Sylvan Advocate and they can’t block—you’ll just discard a card and
make the Boa a 3/3, end of story.
The most questionable card in the deck is Moldgraf
Scavenger. If I can get to Delirium around turn 3 or 4, Scavenger can be
absurdly strong. Noose Constrictor helps there, and Epiphany at the Drownyard,
yet the deck is still missing some… umm… oomph. Maybe it’s the colors. My
brother was suggesting to go on a Jund plan with Grim Flayer replacing the
Moldgraf. Flayer is clearly the better card of the two and has a better
interaction with Arlinn Kord because of the Trample. Will definitely test, I’m
just going to miss having the Blue. I like Blue.
Moving on, Traverse the Ulvenwald feels like it will finally
find a home in these decks, the question is what kind of creatures do you want
to have access to once Delirium is online. For the first draft, I started out
with Goblin Dark-Dwellers, to have a little more late-game strength. There’s
the potential of Traversing for a Dark-Dwellers, play it to flashback the
Traverse, and search up the second one. That said, I believe we can do better.
Perhaps there are more impactful creatures out there, or diversify our threat
base by adding a bunch of one-ofs that can be relevant at any stage of the
game. We can even play Grapple with the Past to get them back and fill the
graveyard in the process. I’m even considering putting Oath of Chandras and
Ghostly Wings to have another card type for Delirium.
As it stands, the deck should be more focused on the
Delirium side of it, instead of trying to have some sort of Madness component.
Fiery Temper feels clunky in this deck, so we might be better served by
replacing them with Oaths. Although they interact well with Noose Constrictor
and it’s burn to the face, it might not be as necessary. Or we can simply up
the number of Incendiary Flows. Having enchantments, though would certainly go
a long way to making the Delirium plan slightly more efficient.
Kind of love how the article suddenly became about RUG
Delirium. The potential is there. It feels like we have the cards to make the
deck work. All we need now is to work out the specifics. Do we want to be Jund,
or is RUG a good color combination for the deck? Alinn Kord is pretty much the
main reason for playing with Red. I feel she makes your creatures a force to
reckon with. But, we could just as well play Bant where we have access to
Dromoka’s Command, Ojutai’s Command, and even Tamiyo, Field Researcher. Even
though, Tamiyo won’t put on a bad ass damage race, she will definitely threaten
to generate a handsome amount of card advantage. Whether they block your dudes
or not, you’ll be drawing cards. This prospect has me heavily leaning on Bant
for now. I wonder how it would look like:
2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
4 Sylvan Advocate
4 Gnarlwood Dryad
4 Noose Constrictor
4 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
2 Ojutai’s Command
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Ghostly Wings
4 Dromoka’s Command
4 Epiphany at the Drownyard
4 Traverse the Ulvenwald
Here’s what it could look like sans the lands. At this
moment in time, I can’t seem to figure out how the mana base will look like,
however the deck looks promising enough that I will surely be spending more
time on this. Expect another article on Standard (perhaps even a Modern
version) Delirium later this week or the next. The idea seems to be dragging me
into a dark forest of possibilities… luring me into a pitfall of card advantage
and 0-3 tournament results (hey, could happen).
Alright people, that’s it for today! Keep those brewing hats
on and enjoy Eldritch Moon. This set will provide the shake up Standard
desperately needed. The first SCG Open already happened this last weekend and
though we mostly saw Bant Company decks come out of the woodwork, this is only
the beginning for the new Standard. There’ll also be a Standard Pro Tour next
week, so we’ll see what the Pros will come up with by then. I’m sure the format
won’t be only Company decks duking it out. Get ready, for it’s going to be a
bumpy ride!
As always, if you like what you see, like, comment, and
share! I’m always up for new ideas and whether it be for an article or decks or
what-have-you. So, come out, speak up, and let’s have a conversation!
Yours truly,
Chris
MTGO: Hamngs
Twitter: Hamngs
XMage: Hamngs
Twitch: Hamnggs
4 Jace, Vryn’s
Prodigy
2 Chandra,
Flamecaller
3 Harmless
Offering
3 Duress
4 Take Inventory
4 Demonic Pact
4 Anticipate
4 Galvanic Bombardment
4 Nagging Thoughts
4 Languish
1 Choked Estuary
1 Foreboding Ruins
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Wandering Fumarole
4 Island
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Sunken Hollow
4 Smoldering Marsh
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