This will be the last of my posts looking at this years crop of Challenger decks (I don’t have the Arcane Tempo one, I may get it at some point, but currently finances don’t allow, along with the lack of desire to play the deck archetype).

Readers who follow these MtG posts hopefully will remember that I was curious about this deck and it’s approach to Golgari, and as a cheap source of the check/shock lands.

I was going to link to my final deck list for my Golgari Stompy deck, but couldn’t find it on the blog, and then realised I don’t think I’ve shared it with the world! Oops. I’m not going to make this post longer than it needs to be. So I’ll put the deck list in another post if there is enough interest.

So let’s look at the deck list for Deadly Discovery.

Deadly Discovery is the deck I think out of the new crop that come rotation will be gutted the most. If my understanding of the current standard rotation rules is correct in the Autumn when the next set/block starts we lose all the Ixalan cards, Dominaria and Core 2019.

I think I did mention in a previous post that before even playing this deck that I did in fact upgrade it. The upgrade I did was replace the 4 Guildgates with my copies of the shock and check lands that I already owned. I do think that is the most obvious upgrade to make. It speeds the deck up, you are not having to wait a turn before using that mana.

In the official WotC article they mention possibly going all in on one of these 3 Planeswalkers.

Which is fine. But they ain’t cheap, especially Vivien (I think Vraska Golgari Queen is the cheaper of the 3). I added a second Relic Seeker which I had. At the time of writing slightly more expensive than Golgari Queen but lots cheaper than the other two. It’s also probably the cheapest option because you only need 1 copy, not 2.

I think what needs to be remembered when upgrading the decks is that as I’ve pointed out these decks have a limited life. Not only that we are playing in a FNM or Standard Showdown. The prizes on the line here are participation packs, promos and Standard Showdown packs. If we take out of the equation cards pulled as we can never account for that value until the pack is opened. If you win 3 packs that’s a tenner. There is not mega prize money on the line here. It’s pretty nominal really. So spending say £100 for a playset of Vivien Reid just to win a tenner prize isn’t justified.

If you have the cards already fine use them. Or if like me you can use the cards later in another format then maybe get them. But sometimes it’s better to wait for them to drop out of Standard and get them then when they are cheaper for the other format.

Back to upgrading this deck if you have them Carnage Tyrant is a good addition, but once again it is not cheap card. Neither is Nullhide Ferox, but I think I’d lean towards this at the moment over Carnage if I was buying due to the longer lifetime it could have in the deck.

The theme is the upgrades aren’t cheap. Walk the Plank is a cheap removal but also no good against merfolk. But on a budget worth looking at. However my preference is these two. Which have the advantage of being able to take out these pesky Planeswalkers we will be facing a lot of at the mo.

I do like the look of these two new cards from War of the Spark. They also can be part of a ramp tactic as well.

I also like the look of these cards as possible upgrades as well. The new Vivien allowing you to have flash on your creatures is cool.

But the ramp, big creatures or undergrowth deck suggestions by WotC are basically the tactics John and myself have already tried. I’d explore those options if you wanted to try a different tactic. They are tactics that will last longer than the explore mechanic this current deck relies on.

Myself I’m planning to play this deck using the explore mechanic until the Autumn and then look at changing it into the one of the other tactics, or whatever one of the new mechanics inspires at the time.

I hope this has been of use, and given some ideas.

It was nice to see one or two of the 2019 Challenger decks being played at the Standard Showdown last Saturday.

I’ve already mentioned in a previous post that there was a couple of upgraded mono red aggro decks being played. And that I nearly went that route myself.

However there was a young lad there taking part playing with an unmodified United Assault, the mono white Challenger deck.

The young lad came last. I think the only win he got was the bye in the final round. The other games were losses I believe. Which gave them last place (and the Standard Showdown pack that goes with being last).

I think they are pretty new to MtG, so they don’t have the experience, card pool etc of the majority of players taking part.

I like the United Assault deck. It shares a few common cards as far as I remember with the mono white deck that Michael was playing in the previous Standard Showdown season.

Below is the deck list from WotC for the United Assault deck.

But how would you upgrade it?

WotC make the suggestion of splashing red or blue. But let’s stick with keeping it mono white. For staying with that restriction WotC recommend the following cards.

Now what follows is my thinking allowed about cards I’d consider from War of the Spark (legal in Standard longer) , and the look of our local meta based on the opening weekend.

Speaking of the local meta, we did have some new players taking part in this opening weekend. My friend being one of them. It just so happens that the 2 red aggro decks were from those new players. So we have to see if they turn up regularly. I know my friend can’t make every week. Although finishing second and getting a Standard Showdown pack may provide the inspiration needed to get along on a regular basis.

For the sideboard and a way to nerf, slowdown the aggro decks I’d consider sideboarding one or two copies of these 2 new Planeswalkers.

Having said I’m looking at War of the Spark cards, the following 3 are worth considering despite a shorter Standard legal life.

I’m not a Gideon fan! But you have to consider them. I don’t think Blackblade fits in with the game plan. However the more costly to play (and buy I’m sure) Oathsworn does. Mainly his ongoing ability that can make Pridemate even bigger, or any creature really as long as we meet that triggering condition.

I like proliferate as a mechanic. So once you start pumping up the likes of Pridemate additional ways to make them bigger is always handy. I like all these 2 CMC flyers. War Screecher would be the least likely to be selected out of the 3.

Apart from a lovely touching back story to the cat in Charmed Stray, I like this card a lot. Love the art and it’s etb. Martyr and Populace (below) help give us a nice value loop from our creatures dying. I like that additional synergy/combo.

That’s my thinking of cards I’d consider to upgrade this Challenger deck from War of the Spark. I’ve not mentioned the new Oketra. If budget allowed I’d definitely add a couple of her.

What cards would you use from War of the Spark? Are there any you would use from the two Ravnica sets?

In War of the Spark there are one or two card cycles. Cycles are a group of cards one in each of the five colours of MtG that have a similar name and theme.

I want to look at the Finale and God cycles in my unique uniformed way.

Let’s start with the Finale cycle.

In my opinion (which we have already established is not very well informed) these are at best ok cards in Standard. But put them in Commander and they become really good.

In Standard it’s really the first part of the ability of the card we are looking at for getting any value. Rarely in Standard will you be casting these cards with an X of 10 or greater. Which means you have 12 mana to cast it. That’s a lot. Almost unplayable if that was the only effect we were looking at. However in Commander casting the card for that mana cost is a possibility.

I like Finale of Devastation and will be adding that to my Big Green Stompy Commander deck. Fetching a card and putting it on the battlefield for free (not really because we have paid for it in the casting), and then being able to swing in with it and any other creatures, and they are all bigger for this turn also. That could be the killing blow needed.

Finale of Promise is a card I don’t like. I’m not big on this type of effect, although it might go well in my wizards deck. So this is a card that I love the art, but not what it does.

Finale of Glory. I need this in my life. At the moment I don’t have a copy. But boy do my mono white Angel Commander deck and the Trostani token spam Commander decks what a copy of this in them? I’m just imagining 10 4/4 Angels out on the field, and if timed right double that with Doubling Season.

Finale of Revelation Horrors from the Deep, and anything I have with blue in will love this. Card draw, and unlimited handsize. Do I need to say more? Just refilling your hand mid to late game is game changing. While others are top decking, you have just drawn 10 cards! You have options, solutions, and you don’t have to discard down.

Finale of Eternity. I have mixed feelings about. The removal part is ok. But I do really like returning all my creatures from the graveyard back to the battlefield. Playing that after a board wipe would be particularly sweet.

The God cycle as I call it is soooo annoying. Each of the Gods in this cycle is nigh on impossible to get rid of. Kill it, exile it, and three turns (or less) and it’s back.

In Commander that’s really powerful if you use them as a mono colour Commander. It gets around Commander tax.

So far I have only really found two of these useful for Standard. The first of those is Oketra in my Orzhov deck. Getting a 4/4 zombie for 1 mana when I cast one of the 1 drops is insane. Sadly my Scarab God Commander deck would love Oketra to join it’s ranks but it doesn’t have white.

I don’t have Bontu and it’s a card I’d like to try in my Orzhov deck. Played at the right time and board state, I’d get card draw, damage to my opponent and life gain that would pump up one or two other creatures.

Ilharg is the other card I’ve found really useful in Standard and I want to try him with my mono red aggro Commander deck. I do like the idea of using him as the Commander. Multiple attack phases and a handful of creatures he becomes insane.

Rhonas I’m undecided on. He’s in my Simic standard deck. But I’m not sure how good a fit he is. I think he is better as one of the 99 in my big green stompy Commander deck.

For me the weaker cards in this God cycle are the ones that have an ETB. The two with the repeatable on going ability are the more powerful and useful ones in my eyes. Unless you can find a way to blink out the ones with the ETB and make use of that that way. But that seems a lot of effort. I prefer having to avoid all of that, unless I’m already doing that within the deck.

That’s my look at these two cycles. It’s been through my lense and how useful they are to me and decks I play. Your mileage from these cards especially the ones I’m not keen on may differ.

Last month saw the 2019 Challenger decks hitting the shelves of the FLGS. Last year when the initial ones came out they were a massive hit. They delivered big time on the promise of providing a standard legal deck that would be competitive at a FNM.

Would this years offerings continue to deliver on that promise? IMHO from the 3 I own and have played, the answer is a big yes.

In this post I’m going to look at the Lightning Aggro Challenger deck. It’s mono red. I don’t normally play mono red aggro. So I like that this Challenger deck allows me to try that deck without having to go out and track down all the cards. And like the rest of them it makes a great place to start and make the deck your own.

The WotC article (linked above) suggests that players look at adding Risk Factor and/or Skewer the Critics. They also talk about splashing a second colour and recommend cards in the colours suggested.

However I like the idea of sticking to mono red. So my inclination is to add one or two more copies of Rekindling Phoenix. Or at least having them in the sideboard. I love the card. A 4 CMC 4/3 that is nigh impossible to get rid of. Kill it and it’s back at the start of the next turn. It can be very annoying.

When I first saw Ilharg it didn’t grab me. But then I got this deck and pulled the card. I particular think it’s attacking ability is there to be abused. Chainwhirler and Pyromancer both have etb triggers that this allows us to repeat, a red flicker/blink effect? Plus as I saw at the weekend with Oketra once this is out on the battlefield even if your opponent does get rid of it, it’s back pretty quickly. I’m leaning to having a couple of these in the deck.

Tibalt is a sideboard card. And a situational one. It’s there for when the deck goes up against a deck like my Orzhov deck or the mono white United Assault Challenger deck. Basically any deck that relies on life gain. It switches them off.

Neheb is one to also consider, and could allow you to get Ilharg back even quicker. If I had to say one card I was unsure about then this would be it.

So that’s 6 cards I would consider for upgrading the Lightning Aggro deck. What do you think of these suggestions? What cards would you upgrade in this Cahllenger deck?

I’ve actually enjoyed playing this deck. Yes it’s aggro. But that doesn’t really reflect what the deck does.

It is a value deck really. It uses life gain to get value, it uses creatures dying to get value.

The main value these two things give me is pumping up creatures, or trigger my favourite mechanic in this set proliferate.

Gain life something gets bigger. Creature dies, and something gets bigger, draw a card, do direct damage and gain life, that then triggers the life gain again! That’s a nice loop to get in.

Oketra is insane. Especially in this deck, once out every time I cast one of those 1 CMC 1/1 creatures I have (which there are a few) they get joined by a 4/4 zombie warrior token! That’s insane value. Plus so hard to get rid of.

I like Liliana. Pumping out that 2/2 token is nice. Using her sacrifice ability, removal and feeds into that value loop.

I never got Sorin into play in testing, so can’t really say how good he is in this deck.

Creatures:28

4 Banehound
4 Charmed Stray
4 Healer’s Hawk
3 Ajani’s Pridemate
3 Cruel Celebrant
2 Grateful Apparition
2 Martyr for the Cause
2 Rising Populace
2 Gideon’s Company
2 God-Eternal Oketra

Spells:12

2 Aid the Fallen
1 Finale of Eternity
2 Seal Away
2 Mortify
1 Unbreakable Formation
2 Ixalan’s Binding
1 Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Lands:20

4 Forsaken Sanctuary
4 Orzhov Guildgate
7 Plains
5 Swamp

Sideboard:15

3 Demon of Catastrophes
2 Massacre Girl
2 The Elderspell
1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
1 Unbreakable Formation
2 Kaya’s Wrath
4 Vraska’s Contempt

Ok you have seen the cards. Here is that boring mana curve bit.

I’d love a second Liliana in this deck. If I can trade for her, I’ll add her to the deck. Then again a second Sorin would be nice too. Kaya in the sideboard might get replaced by another Massacre Girl. I’d like a third copy of Kaya’s Wrath and Unbreakable Formation.

Like most of my decks I’m borderline too little lands. Adding a couple more wouldn’t hurt.

The faster shock and check lands would be nice. But the cost of play sets make it not worth it.

Ok let me know what you like and don’t about this deck in the comments below.

Friday night was meant to be our second Casual Magic the Gathering session for Fenland Gamers.

However no one showed up. Not even the people that had asked we put these sessions on. Which meant I spent over an hour sitting in The Luxe at a table with MtG play mats on, shuffling decks, and looking like Billy no mates.

To say I was not happy was an understatement.

But Saturday I was back at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole for the MtG Open House.

Thankfully I got to try my two new decks. You’ll find the first deck list below, with the second to follow in another post.

The nice thing about this testing was that playing against Michael and Kar-Fai I was going up against decks that I will be facing in the final season of Standard Showdown.

Michaels burn deck is very fast. Too fast for the Simic Ascendancy deck. But my Orzhov deck just edged it. But they were close games.

Kat-Fai also tried out two deck ideas. One of them I think will be the one he goes with for the Standard Showdown. Once again the Simic Ascendancy deck did the worst out of the two.

I knew before hand that the Simic deck would need more work. I’ll discuss those thoughts below. But I was very happy how well the Orzhov deck seemed to do.

I got to see another deck that will be in the Standard Showdown. It’s one of the dinosaur aggro decks with one or two new additions. These decks are lightning fast also.

So here is the first draft of the Simic Ascendancy deck I’ve put together.

Creatures:29

3 Hydroid Krasis
3 Incubation Druid
4 Merfolk Skydiver
3 Pollenbright Druid
2 Evolution Sage
3 Guildpact Informant
3 Frilled Mystic
2 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
2 Biogenic Ooze
2 God-Eternal Rhonas
2 Roalesk, Apex Hybrid

Spells:9

2 Bond of Flourishing
3 Simic Ascendancy
1 Vivien, Champion of the Wilds
2 Wilderness Reclamation
1 Vivien Reid

Lands:22

3 Breeding Pool
12 Forest
3 Hinterland Harbor
4 Island

Sideboard:15

1 Incubation Druid
1 Pollenbright Druid
1 Evolution Sage
1 Guildpact Informant
1 Thrashing Brontodon
4 Essence Capture
1 Finale of Devastation
1 Simic Ascendancy
2 Vivien’s Arkbow
2 Planewide Celebration

Ok here are the stats. I usually put this before the deck list. But thought I’d try and shake things up and try it here.

The sideboard definitely needs a lot of work. My current thinking is that this should be mainly counter spells.

I do like the new Vivien, Champion of the Wilds. That on going ability of giving creatures flash is nice. So a second of her would be good.

Adjusting the Forest/Island ratio I think needs to be done, so that it takes into account sideboarding counter spells in.

The deck needs to be faster. Of if I can’t get it faster, work on a way to stay alive long enough to implement the plan.

It’s time for more thinking aloud about new deck ideas for Standard.

I’ve got a couple of deck ideas that have been kicking around my noggin recently.

The first is a black/white or Orzhov deck using lots of cheap 1 CMC creatures.

That was the original thinking. There are a lot of 1 CMC creatures between these two colours. Some have deathtouch, or can be given deathtouch and come in as 1/2 instead of a 1/1.

So my thinking for the initial version of this deck was to go with creatures that had lifelink, and have other cards that gave me a benefit for gaining life.

But because these small creatures will die easily I wanted to get a benefit from that as well.

Having a couple of chances to proliferate is also handy because that will allow me to pump up those creatures like Ajani’s Pridemate even more, and push up any Planeswalkers I have out.

God-Eternal Oketra is the “big hitter” for the deck. But sideboarding one or two of the black 6/6 flyers might be an option also.

I’ve not decided what removal spells to use. But at most that will account for 10 cards of the deck at most. Plus sideboard cards naturally. I’m thinking the sideboard will be mainly spells like duress or removal.

My main drawback at the moment is I don’t have any of the check or shock lands for this deck.

The second deck is returning to Simic to create a Simic Ascendancy deck.

An early if not the first version of my Simic deck had Simic Ascendancy in it, as did John’s merfolk deck. John tried to get it to work more than I did. If my memory isn’t failing me, I don’t think it made the cut into my second version of the deck. Eventually John also gave up on the card. The issue was it was too slow.

However with the re-introduction of the proliferate mechanic, I think it might just be viable.

This deck is not as advanced as the Orzhov deck. But I think I can get something together by the time our casual mtg night starts tomorrow.

As you know from the previous post my Simic deck won last weekends Standard Showdown.

I also had that mini rant about basically the local meta being a bit stale with the same decks being played each week. The week before the pirate deck I came up with ended up mid table. I still have the mono blue mill to try in anger. Although it has been fun to play in the casual play.

But with all this in mind and partaking in the side of the game I really like, deck building. I’ve decided to rebuild the Simic deck with a different focus. My initial version of the Simic deck had a ramp element, and that is the side I decided to focus on and be a bit more aggressive.

But before I go any further it’s probably best I give my boiler plate get out of jail disclaimer for my decks.

“I’m not claiming these are the best decks in the world, they certainly are not top competitive decks. They are hopefully fun, affordable (subjective I know) decks. I don’t try and keep to a target price point. I try and use as many cards in my collection as possible to keep my costs down. I’m certainly not a master deck builder claiming this deck will win tournaments, if it is fun to play and does it thing then I’ll be happy.“

Right with that out of the way back to the conversation about this “new” deck.

It’s going to feel odd playing with so many creatures now, and so few spells.

But with the theme being ramp and aggro, the Llanowar Elves had to be back into the folder, along with the Steel Leaf Champions. We all know the dream starting hand of 2 forests, a Llanowar and Steel Leaf in this type of deck.

With 8 creatures that can tap for mana, 2 cards in the sideboard that have the Convoke mechanic (creatures I control can tap to add mana to cast the card) and Growth Spiral I think I have the ramp side covered. Oh and Song of Freyalise will help with the ramp.

I went with Evolving Wilds over Open the Gates as my mana fixing because Evolving Wilds puts the basic land I fetch on the battle field tapped. While Open the Gates doesn’t, it goes to hand and costs a forest to cast. Plus I’m not playing Guild Gates in this deck. They are too slow. This deck needs to come out sprinting, not walking. Lands that come in tapped are therefore out.

This deck also has a plan to handle the aerial threat of flyers with the classic two for one Crushing Canopy. Whether I like it or not enchantments are apart of the meta. So this card allows me to handle both. There is also Sagittars’ Volley in the sideboard to handle those 1/1 weenie fliers.

I’m also playing some fog cards which hopefully will nullify an attack and leave it open for me to swing in with lethal. Or ride out the storm if sleep has been played.

Naturally with Carnage Tyrant and Nullhide Ferox I have creatures in place that combat control decks. There is also Thrashing Brontodon included as part of the anti-enchantments plan.

Impervious Greatwurm, the buy-a-box promo. Probably unplayable, definitely not competitive. But it’s a fun card, that with the ramp and it’s convoke could be cast easily. With that on the battlefield even Ghalta looks punny.

So that’s enough of justifying my decisions for this deck. Let’s look at the mana curve.

Would like it under 3 For the AMC but I’ll live with it. Fitting Siren Stormtamer into the deck somehow would bring it down. But that’s a card to try after some testing.

Here is the initial deck list. What would you take out or add?

Creatures:27

4 Llanowar Elves
3 Hydroid Krasis
4 Incubation Druid
4 Steel Leaf Champion
3 Thrashing Brontodon
3 Nullhide Ferox
2 Zegana, Utopian Speaker
2 Carnage Tyrant
2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger

Spells:11

3 Growth Spiral
3 Root Snare
2 Song of Freyalise
2 Crushing Canopy
1 Vivien Reid

Lands:22

2 Breeding Pool
2 Evolving Wilds
10 Forest
2 Hinterland Harbor
5 Island
1 Woodland Stream

Sideboard:15

4 Frilled Mystic
1 Carnage Tyrant
1 Impervious Greatwurm
1 Root Snare
2 Crushing Canopy
4 Pause for Reflection
2 Sagittars’ Volley