G/R Aggro For SCGDC!

Beat this card.

It’s the best card in the format, and will continue to be. Even if it isn’t actually the best card in the format, it’s still the best card in the format.

Beat it, or you will lose.

If you’re planning on jamming some Standard this coming weekend, then you’re probably looking through all of the spoilers, seeing which cards you want to
play, and how you want to play them. You’ve probably already proxied your deck(s) up and jammed a few games, and you may have picked out your favorites
among them.

But can you beat Siege Rhino?

Well, can you?

Cut the crap, you probably can’t right now. You’re just trying to convince yourself that you can.

Let’s start from scratch.

First off, you need a reason not to play Siege Rhino. Yes, any personal reason is reason enough, but are we trying to satisfy our personal desires and
habits, or are we trying to win a tournament? That’s your decision.

For the rest of us, we need to be real with ourselves. What singular thing are we doing that’s better than what Siege Rhino can do? Well, there are a lot
of things you can do. Some more effective than others.

Going under it is very tough to do right now because there are very few ways of making their Rhino not matter before it comes down. Sylvan Caryatid
provides a huge speed bump, but Courser of Kruphix is the real issue. Going over it can be done, but a lot of Abzan builds can just go as big as you do.

My preferred plan is to go right through it.

Previously, the G/R Aggro decks were becoming better positioned. This was because of how good it was at dictating the pace of the game from turn 1. Elvish
Mystic was the best card in the deck, and having any sort of three-drop as a follow up put your opponent on the backpedal immediately. If you didn’t have
that, then a two-drop plus attacking for one was a fine consolation prize, as the threat of a four-drop sticking was huge as well.

This was great for two reasons. Firstly, you had characteristics of both going under and going over. You can make the cards that matter for your opponent
not matter for a very long time, and when they do begin to matter, you can invalidate it again by just flying over them or fireballing them. You weren’t
good at maximizing either angle, but you were good enough, and that’s all you really needed.

Secondly, a lot of midrange players will initially have a difficult time assessing their role at the beginning of the game, opening up a ton of
opportunities to punish them for the smallest of plays, or any sort of stumble. A lot of Abzan Midrange draws can just run you over, and there isn’t much
you’re going to be able to do about that. I will happily accept those losses if it means having a higher chance of winning when they don’t nut draw me.
Caryatid into double Rhino? Okay, you got me. Double Temple, bottoming an excess removal spell, and no Thoughtseize? Get ready to get punished by the one
creature that got through.

I’m okay with being in a similar position for the Standard Open in Washington D.C.

Before we build the deck, we need to make something clear. Stop trying to clown around with garbage cards that don’t make a statement when you’re playing.
Take command of the game, and never let it go. Let’s be real, does whatever card you want to play really maximize your chances as
much as the card you should play? The further away you get from not doing this, the more I question whether you should just be a Siege Rhino deck,
because you just get further from being able to punch through one.

Four Elvish Mystic is where you’re going to start. The best thing about this deck is being able to jump every other curve and set the tone for the rest of
the game. The card also isn’t the most embarrassing as the game goes on because of Shaman of the Great Hunt. Play four. Seriously.

Rattleclaw Mystic, on the other hand, is worth debating. It can vary from zero to a full four copies, but it’s really up to what you’re looking for. You
want to be attacking, so playing Sylvan Caryatid is out, but how good is a 2/1 for two when you don’t need the mana? It’s probably not great, so we need to
be able to maximize its mana usage as much as possible. The card declines in value very quickly, so how many you play is entirely up to how willing you are
to deal with that fact.

Heir of the Wilds, on the other hand, is the bully of the deck. It’s the kid in high school that always pushes the other kids around just because he can
but doesn’t even try it when someone bigger than him with nothing to lose steps up. Heir of the Wilds will get in a pretty nice amount of damage early on,
even more so when you get four power, but when you’re behind on board, it isn’t going to do much. This is even more reason to make sure your G/R deck is as
aggressive as possible when and where it counts.

For three-drops, you aren’t short on options. In fact, the sheer number of options on three-drops is part of the reason why I’m just not a big fan of Temur
as much as I am of G/R nowadays. Savage Knuckleblade sucks. It’s a vanilla creature that’s good in the matchups you’re already good in, and it doesn’t help
against the cards you need help against, all while making your mana much more inconsistent, painful, and downright ugly. And if you’re saying your mana is
consistent, then you’re either playing too many Temples and stunting your curve more often, or taking three to six damage per game from it, neither of
which qualifies for a “consistent” manabase. Just because you hit all of your colors on time doesn’t mean you aren’t paying the price for it, and it
doesn’t mean that those issues aren’t going to catch up with you, even if it doesn’t in that particular game, match, tournament, or day.

To digress, your choices in three-drops are pretty abundant, but from here on up, I think it’s best to go with the cards that are easiest on your manabase.
Goblin Rabblemaster, Yasova Dragonclaw, and Fanatic of Xenagos all fit within this category, and are all highly synergistic compared to your other options.
Goblin Rabblemaster works well with Shaman of the Great Hunt, of course, and Fanatic of Xenagos keeps the pressure going while maintaining the theme of
“putting the difficult decisions on your opponent.” I actually don’t think Yasova Dragonclaw is that great of a card, in general, but when coupled with
Shaman of the Great Hunt (as a surprise to no one), it actually becomes really scary to play against. She’s also easier to cast than Boon Satyr, and Boon
Satyr really isn’t that impressive anyways.

Flamewake Phoenix is a messed up card, and I firmly believe that it’s one of the more powerful cards in the set. Are you okay with casting it on turn 3 in
your Elvish Mystic deck most of the time? Are you okay with playing some number of Mana Confluence to help get it down earlier? Are you okay with it
getting outclassed in as little as one to two turns? What do you cut for it? What are you willing to lose to replace it? More ferocious checks? Raw power?
Stability on your mana? As of right now, I don’t know if it’s worth playing, but the card is super strong. Just keep in mind that when it comes to your
three-drops, they need to create difficult to navigate scenarios for your opponent on the board.

All in all, you are a Shaman of the Great Hunt deck, and your goal is to maximize its first ability as often as possible. You want to build up a boardstate
where you can get as many previously played creatures the benefit as possible, and even if you may lose in combat the first time, if you can make the
second time much more difficult, then you’ll likely be well off. After that, you have two major choices: Ashcloud Phoenix and Polukranos, World Eater. Both
go a bit against the goal of making it easier on your mana, but both are powerful enough to ignore that. Polukranos is the biggest body you can find at the
four, but that’s all it really is nowadays. Ashcloud Phoenix gives a ton of power in the air, and is good at attacking and blocking, but trample is a huge
problem, and the card isn’t the fastest out there.

Lastly, you have Stormbreath Dragon. The best five-drop available. Vulnerable to only Hero’s Downfall among the popular removal spells, and doesn’t get
tagged by Valorous Stance, an expected popular card and one of the major reasons why you want to go with lower toughness creatures to begin with. Beating a
Wingmate Roc heads up is important as well, and I don’t think there’s anything else I can tell you that you don’t already know about one of the best
creatures in the format.

Your other major option at the five-drop is Whisperwood Elemental. The biggest issue I have with Whisperwood Elemental is its relative speed. It can get
really crazy really quickly, but you kind of need both a full turn and a creature to be manifested in order for it to get the most effect out of it. I’m
more inclined to play this if I’m playing Xenagos, the Reveler, mostly because we can have much more synergy with everything else that’s going on. Maybe
there’s a build that utilizes both Whisperwood Elemental and Stormbreath Dragon. Maybe that’s greedy.

I like greedy.

Your non-creature spells will vary wildly, but it greatly depends on what you’re trying to go after. Chandra, Pyromaster is good when you want to make your
Rabblemasters and other smaller creatures better, but matchups where Rabblemaster isn’t good, Chandra is likely even worse. Xenagos, the Reveler is good
when you’re trying to go bigger, but is pretty poor in a Jeskai format. Your own Lightning Strikes are important when having to deal with free-win cards
like opposing Rabblemasters, Monastery Mentor, Soulfire Grand Master, Brutal Hordechief, and some others. Wild Slash does the same, but missing Brutal
Hordechief is a big deal. Wildcall is the interesting one and likely goes under the same category as Polukranos. How much do you feel you can afford to
play a vanilla creature? Yes, I know that sometimes it’ll be a huge Stormbreath Dragon or maybe even a Yasova, but I’ve never been to Magical Christmas
Land, mostly because I hate snow and the “run perfect” scenarios.

Lastly, there’s your manabase. While it may seem simple, be very careful with your basic lands. If you’re playing a lot of cheap double green or double red
spells like Wildcall, then you may want to slant a little bit more toward Forest than you already were. If you’re going more of a devotion route, then you
need to be mindful of how many Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx you’re going to play (you don’t snap play four, don’t snap-do anything, for that matter). How many
Mana Confluences do you want? Do you feel that you need to tap into Rugged Highlands to up your consistency at the cost of explosiveness? How much tension
is there between your red spells and how early you need to cast them? How many mana accelerants do you have that produce red? All of these need to be taken
into consideration and are not to be neglected. Too often, I hear how a player got color screwed when they could’ve just built their manabase
better, or how they got mana-screwed when they didn’t play enough lands to begin with. Don’t look for excuses, look for solutions.

I’m looking to strategically make a statement in DC this weekend. Are you? If not, then you best be ready to handle everything coming at you!

G/R Aggro

Anthony Lowry

Test deck on 01-19-2015

Standard