Wednesday afternoon, somewhere in Chinatown, New York:
I am on my way to Indianapolis to play in a 50k event. As you’re reading this, I’ll be on my way home from said event, probably passed out from the
exhaustive amount of energy expended.
As I’m writing this, I’m getting as much information as I can from Abzan players on how they generally go about beating Monsters-style decks, what they’re
afraid of, what they lean on to win, and how they look to take over the game. I’m going over different matches from coverage of the Standard Open in
Worcester, picking up as many details as possible, while also trying to find anything that could give me an edge as Temur Monsters. How do I push through
Siege Rhino? Elspeth? Is cutting blue entirely worth it? How good are the planeswalkers? The counterspells? Am I too married to playing Chandra all the
time?
Who are we kidding? I’m always playing Chandra!
The big problem with Monsters decks is how quickly the board can get stalled on the ground. There isn’t much evasion happening in these decks, so you have
to rely on Temur Charm and Crater’s Claws to push through the last few points of damage. I kept running into the problem of, well, not drawing them at
opportune times, but that was a deckbuilding mistake on my part. If I’m leaning on them so much to end the game, then why the heck am I not maxing out on
them to begin with?
Creatures (27)
- 4 Elvish Mystic
- 3 Polukranos, World Eater
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 3 Boon Satyr
- 3 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Heir of the Wilds
- 4 Savage Knuckleblade
- 2 Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (23)
Spells (9)
At the Open in Worcester, I kept telling people how I wish I could play two and a half Temur Charms. Three felt like too many, and two felt like too few.
Chandra, Pyromaster is that half of a Temur Charm. I swear, I’m not trying to justify playing Chandra here. I seriously think that it’s the only way I can
properly get the effect I want out of that spot. The other major question is if I wanted Lightning Strike or Stubborn Denial in the maindeck. Both are very
powerful cards, but I couldn’t play both without doing something drastic, like play 61 cards or something. Lightning Strike kills Mantis Rider, Fleecemane
Lion, Seeker of the Way, and other major early threats, while Stubborn Denial is great at protecting your own. Even if you don’t have ferocious, Force
Spike on a Thoughtseize or Elspeth is huge, and it’s hard to play around when curving out is so important. That said, neither is particularly effective at
handling Siege Rhino or opposing Stormbreath Dragons, but both are great at pushing an advantage once we gain it.
I will think about this more as the hours close in.
Friday:
It’s 7:31am, and I’m super homesick. I’m known to travel ridiculous distances for events, but for some reason, this one feels weird. I’m trying not to let
it affect me though, and I need to make a decision on if I want Lightning Strike or Stubborn Denial. I’m probably just going to jam Lightning Strike and
hedge against Mantis Rider and…well…not having enough reach. Let’s see how it goes.
Friday evening:
I got jacked up…
I really wish I had Stubborn Denial, and I shouldn’t have gone too far away from the build I’ve been playing. I didn’t like anything about the manabase,
and the sideboard didn’t do anything for me at all in terms of fluidity. It wasn’t a bad build by any means, but it was definitely back to the drawing
board for me.
“Hey, Rudy, can we put Hordeling Outburst in our monsters deck?!?”
Saturday morning:
This masterpiece was born:
Creatures (19)
- 2 Polukranos, World Eater
- 1 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 4 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (13)
Boy, was I excited to run this! I wanted to beat the crap out of Abzan and to dodge Jeskai. Fated Conflagration was the big removal spell that I felt these
kinds of decks needed against Siege Rhino, Elspeth, Polukranos–heck, everything! Since the deck was highly slanted toward red, we had to make some
sacrifices. Elvish Mystic, while the only enabler for a turn 2 Goblin Rabblemaster, gets the axe. It doesn’t help stick Hordeling Outburst early, nor does
it really give you any jump that Rattleclaw Mystic or Sylvan Caryatid wouldn’t give you. Because of this, our mana is freed up, and we can play a few more
red sources than we normally would.
The five mana accelerants of choice are four Rattleclaw Mystic and one Sylvan Caryatid. Rattleclaw Mystic attacks, and that is a huge boon in an
offensive-minded deck. Even with the five accelerants, you tend to get out of the gates fairly slow compared to the other monsters decks, which in turn
makes Rattleclaw more vulnerable in the early stages. This resulted in me wanting to play it safe and play 24 lands.
Hordeling Outburst was actually the question mark for a while before becoming the focal point. Stoke the Flames was the obvious inclusion, but we couldn’t
find the second card to work really well with it…
Saturday afternoon, who the heck knows o’clock.
Xenagos was the second card! Duh!
I can’t believe I registered only two of these! Xenagos is generally poorly positioned because of Mantis Rider and Lightning Strike, but in this deck, you
can do so many busted things that it’s worth playing three for sure. In one game, I cast Xenagos on turn 3 and made a Satyr, then next turn, I played
Hordeling Outburst, used three of those goblins to Stoke the Flames a Brimaz, then used Xenagos’s first ability to cast Stormbreath Dragon, just off of
creatures!
As the tournament rolled on, I felt more and more confident that this deck was super potent, and in the hands of better builders and players than myself,
it can be even better against Abzan, while also faring better against Jeskai.
My big misses included Purphoros, God of the Forge.
Usually, Hordeling Outburst can easily get outclassed by, well, a lot of things, but against decks with a ton of removal and/or ground pounders, Purphoros
is a great way to just threaten a ton of damage all the time, and the firebreathing is especially potent when fighting against bigger creatures.
The last important card is probably one of the better check cards in the format, and it has been surprisingly crucial in making sure you don’t simply die
to cards like Mantis Rider and Goblin Rabblemaster. Lightning Strike is what helps you live long enough to see the turns where awesome things happen, and
it’s also a nice burn spell to have when you need the reach.
The sideboard looks like it was made last minute, but trust me, it wasn’t.
It was…
Nissa, Worldwaker is probably the stone best card against U/B Control, as it forces perfects if it sticks. It isn’t really great outside of that though,
and that’s where the Sarkhan comes in. When the ground gets crowded, having another quick burn spell is very helpful. Destructive Revelry is an additional
tool against Banishing Light, Perilous Vault, and other key spells of the sort. I generally don’t bring it in against opposing Coursers because I don’t
think that’s what the midrange battles are about. I’d rather have ways to punch through, rather than have a narrow answer to a single card. Hornet Nest and
Anger of the Gods are the go-to spells for the low to the ground aggro decks, specifically because they let you rebuy your line of defense.
Saturday evening, pre-“Ram” dinner:
I find myself locked into top 8 of the 5k going into the last round. I’d usually be excited about something like this, but I wasn’t content. I changed how
I went about things this time around; instead of trying to stone-face and suppress everything, I took the emotional side of my game and rode it the entire
tournament. I know, it sounds kind of dumb, but as someone who rides the highs and lows with everything else outside of Magic, not doing that in Magic as
well didn’t make sense for me. I’m not going so far as tilting off at a heartbreaking loss or brag over a blowout, but I will just let all of the things
that come with being that kind of player sort of flow.
Saturday evening, post-Ram dinner:
I am about six egg burgers deep on the weekend, which is very impressive. I didn’t even know that egg-burgers were a thing until I came to Indy, and under
Raymond Perez Jr.’s guidance, I’ve been eating nothing but.
Also, if you haven’t been to the Ram in downtown Indy, I’d highly recommend it.
With all of the experiences of the deck in mind, I’d definitely work more on getting the deck more streamlined in preparation for the three IQs I have
coming up this week.
This is what I’d go with if I had to register for an event today:
Creatures (19)
- 2 Polukranos, World Eater
- 3 Sylvan Caryatid
- 4 Stormbreath Dragon
- 4 Goblin Rabblemaster
- 2 Rattleclaw Mystic
- 4 Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers (4)
Lands (24)
Spells (13)
This particular list is more tuned for local IQs, and it is not what I would run at an Open or other large event, but I firmly believe that the deck is
strong. Many of the strong elements of the traditional Monsters deck carries over here. Monsters decks in general are on the huge upswing, and if you’re
looking for a build that’s highly synergistic rather than reliant on raw power, then I highly recommend picking this one up. With a bunch of Standard IQs
coming up for me, I may have something else up my sleeve to stay on top of things!