It’s a rare occurrence that I see a spoiler and am immediately moved to start brewing with a card before the entire set is revealed, because I dig having
the most information and having to change the least amount of cards when testing something new.
That is not what happened this week.
When I read Flamewake Phoenix my heart started to race.
My pulse quickened.
My palms got sweaty.
My knees started shaking.
My inner Kent Ketter began rhythmically pelvic thrusting.
It was all very embarrassing since it happened at work, and several coworkers thought there was something wrong with me, but there wasn’t.
No.
I was stricken by inspiration, and when that hits you it’s really hard not to get excited.
The first thing you might notice is a moderate comparison to Chandra’s Phoenix. They both have the same casting cost of two red and a colorless, they both
have flying and haste, and they both (theoretically in Flamewake’s case) are a linchpin in an aggressive red shell. In its time, Chandra’s Phoenix made a
lot of strategies viable because it offered an inherent card advantage that hyper-aggressive red builds didn’t have the ability to generate traditionally.
Chandra’s Phoenix was a recurring threat that only dealt more damage based on how many burn spells you could pelt your opponent with to get it back from
the graveyard after it was killed, and that meant a lot of headaches for your opponent. Evasion made it tough to block, and often a flurry of direct damage
combined with the Phoenix (or multiples) could end games very quickly.
After viewing Flamewake Phoenix, it’s entirely possible that it could be just as good if not better than Chanrda’s Phoenix, and that’s saying a lot
considering it was a format staple. This is the kind of card I want to explore deeply and see if there’s some untapped potential, especially when it comes
to resurrecting cards and decks people thought were long gone, or improving existing ones in Khans of Tarkir Standard.
Some of the initial cards that came to mind that haven’t seen too much play lately are Fanatic of Mogis and Hammer of Purphoros. These two were once a part
of a tandem that dealt massive chunks of damage to players in a past format. Fanatic was usually powered up by cards like Ash Zealot, Frostburn Weird, or
Boros Reckoner, and combined with the haste granted by the Hammer, a match could be won without breaking a sweat. Obviously we don’t have access to those
heavily-red devotion cards anymore, but one benefit of Fanatic is that it allows for the triggering of Flamewake Phoenix, which can keep pouring on the
damage.
What red decks do have now, however, is a much higher density of incredible creatures and burn spells. A year ago there were no Goblin
Rabblemasters and Stoke the Flames dropping player’s life totals, so at this point I wanted to try something familiar, yet different.
Creatures (21)
- 2 Purphoros, God of the Forge
- 3 Stormbreath Dragon
- 4 Fanatic of Mogis
- 4 Firedrinker Satyr
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 4 Flamewake Phoenix
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (15)
Of course, this list has two main limitations: first and most glaring is that it doesn’t utilize the full power of Fate Reforged simply because we don’t
know all of the goodies that it holds for us, but I like this as a starting point. The second hindrance, of course, would be the numbers, which seem to be
scattered. This is by design.
When testing an entirely new deck, one thing I like to do is have as many one-of’s in my sideboard as possible. That way, when drawn I can properly assess
their impact on a match and figure out which ones were just plain awful.
This format, as far as red decks go, lacks a powerful two-drop to make sure that you have board control and pressure simultaneously. This isn’t something
easily rectified when designing this deck, so it might look like we’re going too heavy on the three slot, but I want my turn 3 play to have as much impact
as possible given that on turn 2 most of the time I’ll be either playing a Temple or burning a creature. Flamewake Phoenix pulls a good bit of weight in
this matchup as a reoccurring element of damage and we’re able to exploit the ferocious ability off of Stormbreath Dragon, Fanatic of Mogis, and a turned
on Purphoros (which isn’t all that hard to devote to). The Phoenix plays particularly well with the God of the Forge, as it coming in to play Shocks your
opponent again.
This deck is truly one that is trying to hold down the board and whittle away your life before it explodes with Fanatic damage. A turn 3 Hammer against an
empty board can mean a hasted Rabblemaster as a follow-up, or even something as simple as a Fanatic morphs into seven damage on turn 4. Stormbreath tops
off the curve and is why the deck dedicates eight slots to Temples to make sure that you get the best draws possible that complement your hand. It doesn’t
hurt that eight of your lands also add white, which gives the Rhino-slaying weapon out of your sideboard, Chained to the Rocks, a reasonable way to be cast
to keep the mono-red headache at least in check.
Outpost Siege is a niche card that I want to give a home to, since I think both modes on it lend a lot of power to this kind of deck. At four mana, if you
choose Khans, it’s almost a 90% bet that you can cast anything it exiles, and if you have the fifth land, Stormbreath Dragon can come down. If you choose
Dragons, all of your creatures can ping an opponent, or something like Hordeling Outburst becomes three goblins and a Lightning Bolt.
Remember- your input is super important, so any comments, criticisms, or recommendations are welcome so we can work on this deck together. This is
definitely the kind of deck I love for an FNM or Game Day.
Another deck that jumped out at me was G/R Aggro. Two of my Florida buddies, John Bolt and Logan Mize, have been putting up exceptional results with this
deck the last few weeks. If there is a deck out there that takes full advantage of the power of Flamewake Phoenix, it’s G/R Aggro.
Creatures (28)
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 1 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 4 Boon Satyr
- 4 Fanatic of Xenagos
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 4 Heir of the Wilds
- 3 Ashcloud Phoenix
Lands (24)
Spells (8)
I feel like one of the best things you could do with the new hasty bird is replace Fanatic of Xenagos with it. Fanatic was a card I was never super
impressed with during testing because it gave your opponent the option of which form they could handle best. Sometimes it could win games or be bigger than
an Anger of the Gods, but usually it felt superfluous in an aggressive strategy by never getting to attack or being blocked by goblin tokens. This switch
feels fairly organic to me.
Just look at the list of creatures that return the Phoenix to play:
In John’s version, that’s twelve creatures! This also gives you another monster with evasion to bestow with Boon Satyr to get even more aggressive with.
The mana can easily support the change to boot, which makes the Phoenix a slam dunk.
Despite being a small set, I cannot wait to see the rest of the set spoiled. Fate Reforged is already looking awesome, and like Khans, it’s a safe bet that
it will add a lot to the existing, unsolved metagame. Some of the spoilers like Monastery Mentor actually seem too good to be true, and there are decks out
there that are going to benefit greatly from the influx of powerful cards.
Bonus Section: Abzan Reanimator Update!
Over the last week I’ve received a plethora of messages asking about my Abzan Reanimator deck that I’ve been playing a lot the last month. It’s come a long
way from the list that Glenn Jones handed to me a month or so ago, and I’ve been working on it ever since with tender love and care.
I’ve been super happy to hear that some of you out there have Top 8’d or even taken down your local PPTQs with it, so this next update should make you all
pleased as punch.
I have my own Standard PTQ coming up this weekend, and it’s my first one since around April. One benefit of this event is that it’s been years since I knew
way in advance what I’d be battling with, so here’s the update to Abzan Reanimator:
Creatures (25)
- 3 Hornet Queen
- 4 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Courser of Kruphix
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 2 Eidolon of Blossoms
- 3 Doomwake Giant
- 1 Reclamation Sage
- 4 Siege Rhino
Lands (24)
Spells (11)
This is what I’ll be playing with this weekend with the possibility of a few cards changing. Elspeth, surprisingly, is probably the worst card in the
sideboard. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes has been overperforming the last few weeks, and I always see myself adding him back in whenever I take him out. If I cut
the Elspeth, she’ll either become another Ajani or the fourth Glare of Heresy.
Glare is one of the best cards in the format right now, which sounds strange considering how narrow it is, but at the end of the day it has been pulling
its weight in a ton of different matches. I have even thought of cutting a Thoughtseize from the main and swapping it with a Glare to give me an edge in
the dozens of white-based matches I’m sure to play over the weekend.
I’ve written at length about Eidolon of Blossoms, but for some reason, every time someone sees my list or asks me about it, their first question is “what
would you add if you cut Eidolon?”
The answer is nothing. I wouldn’t cut Eidolon. Period. At least not at this point I wouldn’t.
In fact, my sideboard holds two more of them. In Whip matches, this is the card I want most. I subscribe to cutting my Sylvan Caryatids after board because
I want the most power in my draw steps and as little air as possible. Eidolon is going to draw you into more spells, and if you draw more than one card off
of it then the advantage starts to roll downhill on your opponent. Whipping back an Eidolon can be particularly strong as well, giving you life, damage,
and a card. This only gets better when combined with something like Pharika. It’s just a solid card that gives your deck a lot more reach.
The additional Temple in the board is specifically for the matches that you board Caryatid out: it helps smooth your draws and cast powerful spells that
are a tad more expensive, like Hornet Queen or Elspeth. If Caryatid comes out, make sure Temple comes in. Remember: it’s specifically Temple of Silence
because it lets you cast Bile Blight or Thoughtseize, so don’t try to substitute it with something like Temple of Plenty.
Wish me luck this weekend, kiddies.
I haven’t been this pumped for something like a PTQ in years.
Maybe next week I’ll be telling you about how I finally qualified.
Till then.