Let's Get Rowdy!

Last week
I wrote about some Ixalan cards that I thought to be
Constructed-viable. We’re still under halfway on the Ixalan
previews, so there are still a lot of unanswered questions. In the meantime
I’m working with the tools I see now.

I had a chance to experiment with Rowdy Crew and it’s as good as I
expected, if not better.

I don’t know the math on getting the two +1/+1 counters or how much the
distribution of card types in your deck affects your chances, but it seemed
like it was happening frequently enough, maybe 35% of the time blind and a
little more if I could better set it up.

“Rowdy Crew Is High-Variance”

Not true.

Many aspects of Magic are luck-based: the cards you draw, the opponents you
play against, the cards they draw. When randomness is boiled down and put
directly on the text of a card, people start to lose their minds.

Rowdy Crew honestly reminds me of this card:

Rowdy Crew reminds me of Goblin Rabblemaster because they both seem to have a downside, thus making them hard to evaluate without
seeing it in action. Being forced to attack with all of your other Goblins
into the maws of huge blockers sounds awful. So does discarding your two
best cards that you desperately needed to win the game.

Turns out the times that Goblin Rabblemaster went unchecked and attacked
for six (4/2 + 1/1 +1/1) were outrageous. Then eight next turn. It’s not
really what you expect from Goblin Rabblemaster, but it happens. You expect
a 2/2 that they must kill that gives you a 1/1 or more. A good baseline.

You can’t look at missing out on two +1/+1 counters or discarding a good
card as a failure. Rowdy Crew is at minimum a 3/3 with trample for 2RR that
draws a card. But it could be at best…

A 5/5 with trample for 2RR

A filter for your hand, effectively looting away bad
cards

A way to get a card you want in your graveyard or mill over
cards like Earthshaker Khenra

…just like Chandra, Torch of Defiance is at best an emblem that does five
damage when you cast a spell. I’m generally happy with a 3/3 with trample
that draws a card. If you’re also okay with such a card, but with more
potential, then Rowdy Crew is the card for you.

Ramunap Red

Tom Ross

Test deck on 09-07-2017

Standard

Creatures (23)

Planeswalkers (2)

2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Lands (24)

Spells (11)

Sideboard

This is a build of Ramunap Red I played in a Versus Video due to air next
week.

Ramunap Red is one of the most obvious decks to transition after rotation.
Falkenrath Gorger and Village Messenger leave, so you fill up on Soul-Scar
Mage. Lightning Strikes over rotating removal.

But how does Rowdy Crew fit in when it competes with Hazoret the Fervent
and Chandra, Torch of Defiance?

The truth is, not well. Outside of competing on the four-drop casting cost,
Rowdy Crew is keeping your hand size high, while Hazoret the Fervent wants
your hand size low. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is the only planeswalker in
your deck. If one of the randomly discarded cards is Chandra, Torch of
Defiance, you’ll have to also pluck another copy of Chandra to get those
two counters.

Consolidating Card Types

You don’t have to try hard to make Rowdy Crew good, but if you can design
your deck without too many different card types, then you’re squeezing in
an inch more of value. Nothing radical, just being mindful of their impact.

Lightning Strike is filling in for Incendiary Flow and Collective Defiance
after rotation. This means there are now zero sorceries, which is good for
Rowdy Crew. The only glaring blip in the maindeck is now the two copies of
Chandra, Torch of Defiance.

I tried different non-Human creatures in

W/R Humans

and they always felt so bad whenever I drew Thalia’s Lieutenant. I couldn’t
afford to water down my payoff card even a little bit in a deck as focused
as Humans.

My gut says to keep it tight if possible. This is the Ramunap Red deck I’ll
be trying in the future.

Ramunap Red

Tom Ross

Test deck on 09-08-2017

Standard