Is Robber of the Rich Red's Thief of Sanity?

Is Robber of the Rich red’s Thief of Sanity? Let’s break it down:

At two mana (and with haste!), it’s much easier to get a hit in with
than .

If connects and then dies, you need to attack with
another Rogue to get your card.

What other Rogues exist in Throne of Eldraine Standard? Well, here
are some of the “better” ones:

Overall, it’s not an impressive list. Tin Street Dodger is passable in an
aggressive deck, especially because it has haste.

We don’t have access to a ton of different Rogues, and most of the ones we
do have are mediocre. However, Rankle, Master of Pranks is a card that’s
impressed me since day one, and I especially like how both of these cards
play with each other.

Rankle enjoys getting both players hellbent, but with Robber of the Rich,
you can still have access to plenty of resources. Both are haste threats,
so you’ll typically be able to push through a bunch of damage.

There are obviously some downsides to Robber of the Rich.

is random and you can’t play lands off of it.

The 2/2 body doesn’t have evasion, so outside of that sneaky first hit
you’ll probably get thanks to haste, it loses a lot of value after that.
You will want some way to pump it or remove blockers.

When you’re playing against a control or midrange deck, hitting big
control cards or spot removal probably won’t be great. However, those decks
tend to pack plenty of planeswalkers and you should be able to make great
use out of them.

In order for to get you card advantage, you need fewer
cards in hand than your opponent. That should be relatively easy for a red
deck, whether you’re a pure aggro deck or even a midrange deck playing
against control. You may be card poor, but hopefully you’ll be tempo
wealthy.

Let’s each the rich.

Rakdos Midrange

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 09-13-2019

Standard

Creatures (23)

Planeswalkers (4)

Lands (17)

Spells (16)

Sideboard

Many of the two color manabases are very poor at the moment. Unless you’re
an enemy combination (or Knights and have access to Tournament Grounds),
you only have shocklands to work with. I’m hoping for another cycle of dual
lands, but I’m not holding my breath.

Anyway, Rakdos Midrange is kind of my jam, and this version doesn’t
disappoint. You have solid threats at each point on the curve (assuming you
can cast them), great removal, some card advantage, and a lot of staying
power. For a new Standard format, this is the type of deck I like to start
with.

Your sideboard options are also powerful. Theater of Horrors didn’t get
much love last season, but I’m hoping that with a smaller Standard
environment, cards like that can shine. Duress is an all-star, Flame Sweep
checks most aggressive decks, and Chandra, Awakened Inferno gives you a
trump for the control matchups.

Mono-Red Aggro

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 09-13-2019

Standard

Creatures (22)

Spells (38)

Sideboard

For pure aggression, there’s always Mono-Red.

Red is significantly lacking in a Lightning Strike effect. We can maindeck
Lava Coil in a creature-heavy format, but we might be better off leaning
into the spectacle cards with things like Gingerbrute.

This deck has a plethora of removal and a low mana curve, so Robber of the
Rich should be able to consistently trigger. It’s matchup dependent for how
helpful the extra cards are going to be, but Robber’s stats are just fine
for what we’re doing here.

Seven Dwarves aren’t bad, but I like the other two-drops more. You could
build more of a midrange red deck, but this version seems solid.

Rakdos Aggro

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 09-13-2019

Standard

Creatures (30)

Lands (15)

11 Swamp
4 Blood Crypt

Spells (15)

Sideboard

This deck seems solid. Your creatures are much stronger than Mono-Red’s and
although you don’t have the late-game reach with Skewer the Critics and
Slaying Fire, you get some heavy hitters and stronger removal. Cards like
Knight of the Ebon Legion and Dreadhorde Butcher tend to get out of control
quickly.

Rankle, Master of Pranks seems better in an aggressive deck than a midrange
one. You could be hellbent on Turn 4, getting in a hit for three and making
your opponent discard. At that point, each ability on Rankle is quite good.
You even have sacrifice fodder in Gutterbones and Dreadhorde Butcher.

Overall, the more aggressive nature of the deck makes sense. Gutterbones
and the lower curve is a welcome change.

Gruul Aggro

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 09-13-2019

Standard

Creatures (26)

Planeswalkers (5)

Lands (4)

4 Stomping Ground

Spells (25)

Sideboard

The vast majority of strong Gruul cards are fromRavnica Allegiance. Gruul will have plenty of options in Throne of Eldraine Standard, especially since it’s picking up some
new toys! Gruul is mostly the same strategy and using many of the same
cards we’ve seen before.

Robber of the Rich into Gruul Spellbreaker into Questing Beast into Nissa,
Who Shakes the World is a lot of haste and sure to keep your opponent on
the backfoot. The removal is solid and you have planeswalkers to back up
the aggression. To top it off, your sideboard cards are great. It’s similar
to Rakdos Midrange and maybe even a bit stronger. I’d rather attack with
Rankle, but if Gruul is stronger, I’m in.

I would love to use Once Upon a Time to help find and play Gilded Goose on
Turn 1, but with very few other ways of making Food, it doesn’t make sense.
The Goose is on the sidelines for now, at least in any deck that doesn’t
also contain Oko, Thief of Crowns.

Again, the allied two-color manabases are so bad. Please, please, please
give us additional dual lands.

Izzet Midrange

Gerry Thompson

Test deck on 09-13-2019

Standard

Creatures (12)

Planeswalkers (8)

Lands (8)

Spells (32)

Sideboard

Initially, I was low on The Royal Scions, but alongside Dreadhorde Arcanist
and Crackling Drake, I’m starting to see the upside. Arclight Phoenix might
not be viable anymore, but with Opt getting reprinted, we can mimic the
shell from last season rather effectively.

Dreadhorde Arcanist and Robber of the Rich give you a pair of two-drops
that are must answer threats, which is exactly what I want in a deck like
this. There’s strong interaction in Izzet and plenty of card advantage.
This is probably the list I’m least sure is correct, but we have the tools
to make Izzet succeed, even if it doesn’t end up looking exactly like this.

Pteramander and Light up the Stage would work well together, especially
because you’d be able to flashback Light up the Stage with Dreadhorde
Arcanist following a +2/+0 from The Royal Scions. But then you’re also
exiling cards from your graveyard, making your Pteramanders worse.

***

My favorite type of decks to play are aggressive-slanting decks with
staying power that can shift into a control deck against other aggressive
decks. Maybe we don’t have all the tools we need for that sort of strategy
quite yet, but Robber of the Rich will be a vital tool either way.

I can’t wait to connect with this card for the first time.