Woohoo! The articulate and prolific scasseden donated a primer!
Temur/x Energy
Introduction
This thread covers base-RUG Energy Midrange decks. This archetype maximizes the power and opportunity of the Energy mechanic from Kaladesh block, using efficient creatures and interaction to have a fair shot at winning any match.
This is based on an established midrange deck in the previous format, so try this if:
You like decks that have 50/50 or slightly better matchups against the field, instead of substantially favorable or unfavorable matchups
You like the challenge of navigating a deck with multiple fair gameplans depending on the draws your deck serves up
You like to tune decks that you know are fundamentally good to beat certain expected decks / to beat a particular metagame
You like decks with lots of interesting decisions that let you leverage your skill, but have sufficiently powerful cards to bail you out if you mess up sometimes
You hate being surprised by a deck you didn't expect and therefore love decks that give you game against anything and tend to smash unrefined brews
You like to win
History
The archetype's origins begin in Amonkhet Standard, during the heyday of Temur Aetherworks Marvel combo decks. While Marvel ultimately proved itself to be too powerful and unhealthy for Standard, culminating in a midseason banning for its namesake card (the most recent such banning in the history of Standard), several innovative pilots began exploring the concept of an energy midrange deck that leveraged the energy mechanic to play fair games with creatures instead of exploiting Marvel to go over the top of other decks with ahead-of-schedule EldraziTitans. The strategy proved to be competitively viable even while Marvel still existed, and the ban on Marvel opened the floodgated for Temur Energy to take center stage. For the remainder of Amonkhet Standard and most of Hour of Devastation Standard, Temur Energy remained in the format's top tier and laid considerable claim to the title of "best deck."
The arrival of Ixalan, and departure of the high-impact Battle for Zendikar and Shadows over Innistrad blocks, dealt a huge blow to many of the format's top-tier decks. Ixalan added a few roleplayers, but failed so far to introduce a dominant new strategy, which meant that Ixalan Standard would be a case of addition by subtraction: the hope was that the rotation of key pieces would require the format's best decks to retool themselves, and at the very least present newer versions of themselves attacking along different angles and playing differently.
For better or worse, one top-tier deck managed to avoid any serious damage from the rotation: Temur Energy. The deck's core mechanic was established in Kaladesh block, and it only took roleplayers from the blocks preceding it, so nearly the entirety of the deck remained intact from rotation, enabling it to seize the mantle of "best deck" and, to this point, retain it against all competition.
Temur Energy, or variants with the Temur Energy core, formed nearly half of the Pro Tour Ixalan field, and posted on-par conversion rates to Day 2, 6-7 win, 8+ win, and Top 8 brackets to the rest of the field. These strong numbers came in spite of the fact that Temur was known to be the deck to beat going into the tournament. Some consider this cause for concern for the health of the metagame, but that remains to be seen; for now, know that this is a fair king of the format: it is the best deck, but it's playing a fair game, it doesn't have a lopsided matchup spread, and it's got even odds against anything the pilot wants it to have. Cards
These are your bread and butter. It's sometimes right to play fewer than four copies of every card on this list, and successful players often do, but unless you have a good reason and know why you're doing it, your starting point should be 4-of everything in this list.
Longtusk Cub: The deck's most aggressive card and your key to getting off on the right foot. Longtusk Cub creates "snowball" games, where if the Cub is not removed or otherwise interacted with before it can deal combat damage to your opponent, it can quickly grow into a shockingly outsized threat that your opponent may not have time to handle. Although it starts as a mere 2/2 for 2, playing an Attune with Aether on turn 1 or a Rogue Refiner on turn 3 is usually sufficient to make it large enough to attack through most boards, and once it connects for damage, it'll usually be big enough to rumble with anything your opponent can throw down. Cub can be a pedestrian card in the middle game, where you have more powerful ways to spend your mana and perhaps more need for energy reserves, and it is sometimes a mediocre topdeck late since it can be killed cleanly by a lot of removal spells, but like all of your deck's energy sinks, it can win a tightly-contested game very quickly and easily if you're in topdeck mode with a lot of energy built up. Servant of the Conduit: Solid mana dork. Temur plays a handful of powerful 4-6 mana cards, so having a viable 2-cmc mana dork is nice. Servant does a lot of other little things as well: the energy theme and the respectable 2/2 rate for a dork means that it can be very useful even when you don't need the mana. It's still a relatively weak topdeck, but it hits for a passable amount on an empty board and the energy can immediately be put to use if it's relevant for some other card you want to play. Additionally, the very good mana available to energy decks allows them to splash colors much more freely than normal; Servant making mana of any color provides you the last little bit of fixing you need to go off-color for powerful cards if you so choose. Rogue Refiner: Unassuming at first glance, Rogue Refiner is one of the best uncommons printed in years. This deck's energy sinks don't need a whole lot of help to be impressively above-rate, and the free energy from cards like Rogue Refiner can kickstart the energy engine while keeping you high on resources and giving you a decent board presence. Never bad against anyone and actively great against most decks. Whirler Virtuoso: Whirler Virtuoso is, if not the deck's "signature" card, then certainly the poster child for how strong the energy mechanic can be when it's properly maximized. Its activated ability is very strong if you're capable of consistently producing enough energy to leverage it; cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar have proven themselves as Modern-worthy for less efficient rates than a Virtuoso running on all cylinders! Virtuoso is your best anti-aggro card, punishes 1-for-1 removal effectively, does a lot of work in winning planeswalker battles and damage races, and is arguably the best draw when you have a lot of energy saved up in topdeck mode. Bristling Hydra: Bristling Hydra is a handful. Bristling Hydra is one of the best anti-control cards printed in years and is responsible for a lot of solo wins. Answering it is very difficult, and without a lot of energy production, it can quickly grow to outclass most creatures in Standard while still retaining the ability to protect itself from spot removal. Hydra is one of your better anti-aggro cards as well, since your opponents will struggle to interact with it favorably and it's usually too big for small aggressive creatures to attack through. The numbers on this guy vary depending on the expected metagame, but it's never bad and usually great. Harnessed Lightning: The best removal spell in the format and possibly the best in recent memory (competing with the likes of Dromoka's Command and Hero's Downfall). In this deck, Harnessed Lightning is comparable to Doom Blade or Go For the Throat: it's most likely killing whatever you want, but there are occasional hiccups. It's efficient, and because it's energy-based, it's not completely dead in any situation, since you can at least target your own creatures to leverage it for other uses (like making a Thopter with Virtuoso, or blanking a removal spell with Hydra). Attune with Aether and Aether Hub: A potent 1-2 punch of mana fixing that allows the energy decks to play three colors without issues, and even to splash a fourth color if they so choose without substantial hiccups. As long as you're in green (which you're incentivized to be anyway, with the other good green energy cards), this dynamic duo will make sure you can cast just about anything you'd ever wish to cast.
These are the parts that fill out your skeleton and make it work. You'll mix and match the numbers on these depending on what you expect to face.
Creatures Glorybringer: Close to a staple 4-of in straight Temur, and it's often to right to play four of these fiery menaces, since each one gets incrementally better with another one in play. Glorybringer doesn't have any particular synergies with the energy shell, it's just an efficient curve-topper that brings a couple of great angles to the deck (flying, interaction on a threat). The Scarab God: You'll pay a noticeable price in mana consistency for adding this guy to your deck, but The Scarab God is more or less the biggest, baddest "fair" thing to do in the format, and has a little bit of extra play in a deck like Temur, which has a lot of creatures with relevant ETBs and unique effects -- The Scarab God will usually have an embarrassment of riches to work with in your graveyard. The Scarab God is also one of the better answers to an opposing Scarab God in Temur colors, since it gives you the ability to exile an opposing God once you kill it. If you can stomach the price to your mana, then The Scarab God is the most powerful card in Standard and has a great home here. Glint-Sleeve Siphoner: Some variants of the Temur Energy deck go harder into a black splash and easier on the red component of the deck. Some of those variants choose to play Siphoner as a 2-drop, usually in place of Longtusk Cub. Siphoner is an awesome card in this archetype if you're willing to retool your manabase to accomodate her. She's capable of snowballing games just like Longtusk Cub, just along a different axis. Vizier of Many Faces: Usually relegated to the sideboard, but occasionally sees maindeck play. Vizier is slightly mana-intensive, but handles otherwise-difficult threats, like Gods or hexproof threats like Bristling Hydra or Carnage Tyrant, relatively cleanly. Vizier is also useful proactively in decks that play lots of Glorybringers and Bristling Hydras, and even just copying a Rogue Refiner is often a reasonable line. Deathgorge Scavenger: Solid all-purpose card, usually played in the sideboard. Somewhat soft graveyard hate that has applications in many matchups: lifegain is clutch in aggressive matchups, especially since the aggressive decks often have recursive threats to clean up, and picking off key spells against control players to dampen the impact of Torrential Gearhulk while clocking for four damage a turn is an awesome rate in those matchups. Champion of Wits: Rarely sees play anymore, but a solid setup card like Rogue Refiner that gives up some of its efficiency early in exchange for being a monster late-game play. Especially potent in tandem with The Scarab God, since the discard can set up Scarab God for explosive midgame turns, and since Scarab God can pseudo-Eternalize this guy at a discount. Torrential Gearhulk: Occasionally sees sideboard play as part of a transformational package, where the Temur player boards in more interactive instants to slow the game down, Glimmer of Genius to pull ahead, and then resolves a Gearhulk and either rides the 5/6 + flashback interactive spell to victory or recasts Glimmer to gain a heavy resource advantage. Less popular because the Temur deck has too many creatures that depend on having a critical mass of each other to function properly.
Noncreature Threats Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Does something useful nearly all the time. Temur can be a very mana-intensive deck sometimes, especially in the early and middle turns, so Chandra's mana ability gets leveraged very effectively. Everything else on the card is great, and she is the most punishing play in the format for Servant of the Conduit to accelerate out on turn 3 when going first -- she can murk a turn-2 play and often leave your opponent with no path to catch up to the mana advantage you're about to gain when you untap. Nissa, Steward of Elements: Increasingly becoming a sideboard staple because she's an excellent source of continuous advantage that can get underneath counterspells or get into play before your opponent can set up to take her out. Her ultimate is a real threat against decks without fliers since she marches to it quickly, and her scry 2 is very powerful in a deck whose staple cards go from "respectable" to "terrifying" with a critical mass assembled. Setting up turns where you can 0 and get a free card is not hard, either. Vraska, Relic Seeker: The other big reason to splash black in the Temur decks. Vraska gives you outs to random permanents that are usually tough for Temur to beat in game 1, like engine enchantments (think Anointed Procession), and it's not hard for Temur to navigate creature battles into situations where she can come down, -3 on a key creature and survive until next turn, where she can start pumping out a wall of 2/2s and slowly outgrind a board otherwise at parity. Her ultimate is deceptively relevant and does an excellent job of countering certain strategies, like Anointed Procession tokens decks and even God-Pharoah's Gift decks, whose catchup mechanism involves gaining enough life to invalidate whatever you're doing. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship: Sometimes used in lieu of Glorybringer, depending on the metagame and the build of deck. Skysovereign's edges come in its easier casting cost (while Glorybringer can strain decks trying to splash black, Skysovereign avoids that problem) and its increased durability (it's vulnerable to Abrade where Glorybringer isn't, but Skysovereign sidesteps common cards like Harnessed Lightning and Chandra's Defeat), and Skysovereign is also slightly more effective against planeswalkers due to its ETB and attack triggers (which allow you to clean up planeswalkers without having to connect through blockers, and which sometimes clean up walkers without even attacking and exposing Skysovereign to creature removal). Aethersphere Harvester: Strong anti-aggro card if you want an extra edge against mono-red or vehicles decks. Seeing less play since Temur traditionally has good aggro matchups. Lifecrafter's Bestiary: Strong anti-control card. Closest thing to Search for Azcanta that this deck can play.
Interaction Magma Spray: Usually 1-2 copies in the maindeck. Best 1-mana removal spell in Temur colors. Difficult to leverage efficiently in other midrange or control matchups, but Temur's vulnerability to The Scarab God give Spray a second lease on life in situations where it might otherwise be dead. Don't leave home without a few in the 75, you'll need some cheap interaction to be strong against aggro decks. Abrade: Varying numbers depending on the expected metagame. Abrade is especially strong in the post-PT environment, since its two modes have a ton of coverage across the format. Abrade clears out most 2-drops in energy mirrors, making it the best turn-2 removal spell you can play (since it saves Harnessed Lightning for the bigger threats), and nearly every other deck has some high-value target artifact (Heart of Kiran, God-Pharoah's Gift, Oketra's Monument, Torrential Gearhulk, Skysovereign, Consul Flagship) for you to pick off. Confiscation Coup: Usually reserved for energy mirrors, but Coup is also Temur's best answer to troublesome God cards that don't die to Harnessed Lightning. Coup also picks off key artifacts (see previous point). Clunky at times, especially in builds splashing black, which might struggle to play a 3UU spell, but sometimes by far the best thing you can play. Essence Scatter: Maindecked sometimes as tech for the energy mirrors. Cleans up a lot of difficult creatures without trouble, but there's some tension to playing counterspells in a creature deck like Temur, with fewer mana sinks to punish opponents for not playing into it. Negate: Key sideboard piece. Being able to swap useless creature removal for Negates is the main reason why Temur can have such an effective game against everything in the format. Chandra's Defeat: Brutally efficient. Useful in both the red aggro matchup and the mirror, against builds with Glorybringer and Chandra TOD. Spell Pierce: Another brutally efficient spell, useful against decks leaning on expensive sorceries or enchantments to pull ahead against you. Usefulness tends to vary depending on build -- decks playing the black splash tend to prefer to grind out opponents and play longer games where Pierce becomes a blank, while straight Temur builds with Glorybringer like to close games quicker and can better leverage Pierce. Supreme Will: Occasional sideboard tech to answer the expensive catchup cards in control decks. It "cycles" if you have no target for it, but in the matchups where you want Supreme Will, the counterspell mode is often better than whatever you might find with the draw mode, so that mode often goes unused. River's Rebuke: Expensive spell but extremely potent at turning the tides in a pitched creature battle. Especially effective against tokens decks, for which the card was originally played. Appetite for the Unnatural and Slice in Twain: Miscellaneous Disenchant-style cards, which are useful in the current metagame. Commit // Memory: Slightly expensive catchall with enormous potential upside. Memory mode is becoming increasingly relevant with the success of God-Pharoah's Gift at the Pro Tour. Usually played with Torrential Gearhulk to maximize effectiveness. Cartouche of Ambition: Anti-red/aggro tech for versions playing enough black to support it. Usually picks off a creature, and the lifelink stuck on a big cheap threat like Longtusk Cub, a resilient threat like Bristling Hydra, or God forbid a Glorybringer (getting double mileage with Exert!) can be impossible to race.
Videos, Articles, Etc
Reid Duke provides a deck guide for the Worlds-winning PGO version of Temur Energy.
Seth Mansfield goes deep on Temur Energy vs. Ramunap Red
US Nationals top 8 and next 8: 3 varied examples in each octet should give some ideas.
Have any of you tried running a Carnage Tyrant in the deck? I feel like my deck would be stronger if I ran a Carnage Tyrant.
I tried running 4 colour so I could get Bolas out at my last FNM, but I didn't draw him once hehe, and I only got my Vraska and Scarab once each, so I'm thinking about adding two Cut//Ribbons next time I splash black.
I've run Carnage Tyrant. Good against URx control. Not so good against Settle/Fumigate. Good against Coup and Hostage Taker in the midrange energy mirror, but not good against Vizier of Many Faces, obviously.
Alright guys this is my deck and current sideboard. Played in one pptq this season and won. However I'm playing in the local championship series in a few weeks and was wanting to discuss the deck more with sideboarding. One thing I've been super impressed with is boat. however I can understand the meta might be shifting away from it being good. Look forward to discussing with you guys.
Ah yeah, I can see Vizier is nasty against Carnage Tyrant. I still think I'd like to pick one up though, I think it seems good even though people in the top stuff isn't using it a whole lot.
Skysovereign is awesome. I can't remember a time where it hit the table and wasn't value. Really awesome card. I'm pretty sure I'd main deck one if I go back to straight up temur and not 4 colour.
Yeah it dies to Abrade, but I feel like people will have spent their removal on other stuff by the time Skysovereign comes in and starts killing stuff. Such a good card!
So, I've only run this deck a few times locally. I'm not a midrange player, but I found myself ... liking this deck more than I thought I would. As a Glorybringer fanboy, I am happy to deploy my 4/4 hasty dragon/removal spell and beat face. That said, I'm more of a "draw-go" control player, but have had winning records with Temur Energy every time I've played it. So much so that I'm considering changing my deck choice for my next PPTQ on Sat.
I have a very heavy anti control SB since I usually aim my deck to beat up the multitude of control decks in my meta (I'm one of them, and have top 8'd 2 PPTQ's with UW Approach). That said, I've come to really like this deck as it reminds me of a swiss army knife. My teammates run the entire standard gauntlet so I'm comfy with piloting the deck. The mirror seems to be crucial, I think/I know my Sb needs some more mirror tech. Maybe cutting Bestiary is fine for the 2nd Vizier?
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Standard Arena: Eh? Gruul or Die
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Maybe cutting Bestiary is fine for the 2nd Vizier?
I've had a lot of success using two Vizier in the mirror. I main boarded one the time I had the most success at a FNM and had the other sideboarded.
I can highly recommend using two somewhere in the 75.
Have any of you tried running a Carnage Tyrant in the deck? I feel like my deck would be stronger if I ran a Carnage Tyrant.
I tried running 4 colour so I could get Bolas out at my last FNM, but I didn't draw him once hehe, and I only got my Vraska and Scarab once each, so I'm thinking about adding two Cut//Ribbons next time I splash black.
Carnage Tyrant isn't very good in this deck I think. It's obviously too slow against aggro decks like mono-red. It's bad against white control due to sweepers, and mediocre against black control due to Gifted Aetherborn and Gonti, Lord of Luxury. And in the energy mirrors and pseudo-mirrors, it is usually the biggest thing on the board, but it has two issues:
(1) The boards where one player doesn't just run away with the game early tend to get very clogged up, so it's not unreasonable for them to have a couple of Rogue Refiners or a Refiner and Cub to trade up with it. (And it obviously has no impact in games where one player does run away with it.)
(2) It's expensive, and having it rotting in your hand during the crucial middlegame turns 3-5 will kill you more than it coming down on turn 6+ will save you.
Bonus (3): Vizier of Many Faces is a hard counter that sees widespread SB play in Temur already.
Hey folks, I'm a recent convert to Temur Energy.
In what match-ups do you typically side in Vizier and what are you usually aiming to copy with it?
But while I love giving advice, I haven't been running this in competitive circles lately. I have been adding articles to the wonderful primer that scasseden contributed. There are good recent articles by Andrea Mengucci, Jacob Wilson and Reid Duke (older) that I have linked.
I bring them in against the Mirror (I run a stock list), 4c, sultai, and anything running The Scarab God and occasionally there's someone trying to jam Carnage Tyrant. Generally any deck that runs creatures as good as or better than yours and/or evasive threats. I have maindecked a copy in the past, as it can be your 4th (or 5th) hydra, or 5th glorybringer, refiner etc. You are looking to copy any problematic creature they may play or your own for value, copying glorybringers also wins games. Its really a situational decision on what to copy.
What do you folks think of Rhonas as a one-of in this deck? He's bonkers if you can ensure he's activated -- a tad of a liability though, if you can't.
I think he is fine. He was played as a one of for a while during the Hour of Devastation standard season, was good at breaking mirrors. Its probably fine to run 1 but there are probably other things you can be doing that are just as good or better without having to worry about his downside.
Hey lugger, was there another part of this post that was deleted when you added the comment? It seems that people share relevant links all the time. Can you explain why this is different? I mean hoser posted links off site right above that post and there was nothing wrong with that apparently.
Hey lugger, was there another part of this post that was deleted when you added the comment? It seems that people share relevant links all the time. Can you explain why this is different? I mean hoser posted links off site right above that post and there was nothing wrong with that apparently.
At the risk of mis-speaking on lugger's behalf, but wanting for there to be a reasonably timely response, I will jump in.
Promoting or linking to content on other websites is permissible for purposes of discussion, but not for the purpose of soliciting for financial gain or generating traffic. Official subforum rules may override this rule so long as users abide the local rules for solicitation.
I don't gain financially and any traffic generated doesn't benefit me. I do link to stream footage that involves me on occasion, but not on sites that I am involved with. Are the links I post a problem for you? For anyone? I freely confess to wanting to generate traffic for this (mtgsalvation) site.
Hey lugger, was there another part of this post that was deleted when you added the comment? It seems that people share relevant links all the time. Can you explain why this is different? I mean hoser posted links off site right above that post and there was nothing wrong with that apparently.
I'll address this directly although hoser covered most.
As previously noted, linking to off-site content is fine. However, MTGS disallows posting links to your own content for the purpose of driving traffic. Why? What's the difference between Daily 5-0s and someone's youtube video?
This rule prevents content spammers. Content spam doesn't sound like a bad thing until you struggle through posts and posts of youtubers trying to drive their own content in order to increase ad revenue.
So, in sum, youtubers often offer very valuable content -- the above poster's post is quality content -- however, in order to mitigate the spam from youtubers and other content hubs, we just ban direct off-sourcing of personal content that generates ad revenue.
Hey hoser2 and lugger no problem here. I was just curious about why one post was flagged or whatever and the other wasn't. Makes some sense, I wouldn't want to see a bunch of posts promoting stuff willy-nilly.
I must say, it seems reasonable to promote for your own content on a thread (even if it's only allowed once) if it specifically relates to the subject at hand. It seems kind of silly if someone made a video about a specific subject relevant to a thread to not be able to tell anyone about it.
I'm not trying to start an argument or keep distracting from the topic at hand any further. Just thought I'd mention that as a user of this forum, I don't see a problem with the above post. Perhaps the rules could be changed slightly to make exceptions for promoting content when it specifically relates to a thread at hand. Everything posted is still at the moderator's discretion anyway, so there's still a layer of control to stop spamming. Personally, I would love it if the professor or anyone jumped on the forum to tell us about content that specifically relates to the topic at hand.
Much love for you all and all the hard work you mods put in.
I'm not trying to start an argument or keep distracting from the topic at hand any further. Just thought I'd mention that as a user of this forum, I don't see a problem with the above post. Perhaps the rules could be changed slightly to make exceptions for promoting content when it specifically relates to a thread at hand. Everything posted is still at the moderator's discretion anyway, so there's still a layer of control to stop spamming. Personally, I would love it if the professor or anyone jumped on the forum to tell us about content that specifically relates to the topic at hand.
Hey folks. Does anyone here have any insight on how to deal with Vraska with 3C Temur? I find her to be an absolute pain the backside. Glorybringer and Flagship are often helpful, but it would be nice to have access to additional tools. I'm considering including 1 x Liliana's Defeat in sideboard (to cast with Aether Hub), but it seems like a lot to dedicate for one pesky Planeswalker.
Hey folks. Does anyone here have any insight on how to deal with Vraska with 3C Temur? I find her to be an absolute pain the backside. Glorybringer and Flagship are often helpful, but it would be nice to have access to additional tools. I'm considering including 1 x Liliana's Defeat in sideboard (to cast with Aether Hub), but it seems like a lot to dedicate for one pesky Planeswalker.
I think that having B cards that you may not be able to cast is the worst option. Running B cards is no doubt possible. Changing the manabase is a cost, although if your only B cards are in the sideboard, you could put the Swamp in the sideboard.
In your shoes, I would step back and look at the best Temur Black list you can find. They are a reasonable competitive choice. Decide whether you want the splash. But give yourself the best chance to play your cards.
Hey folks. Does anyone here have any insight on how to deal with Vraska with 3C Temur? I find her to be an absolute pain the backside. Glorybringer and Flagship are often helpful, but it would be nice to have access to additional tools. I'm considering including 1 x Liliana's Defeat in sideboard (to cast with Aether Hub), but it seems like a lot to dedicate for one pesky Planeswalker.
I think that having B cards that you may not be able to cast is the worst option. Running B cards is no doubt possible. Changing the manabase is a cost, although if your only B cards are in the sideboard, you could put the Swamp in the sideboard.
In your shoes, I would step back and look at the best Temur Black list you can find. They are a reasonable competitive choice. Decide whether you want the splash. But give yourself the best chance to play your cards.
Thanks for the response, Hoser. I agree that playing the one black spell in sideboard is less than ideal. I have considered moving into 4C energy, and maybe picking up a Vraska or two of my own (fighting fire with fire!). That way, cards like Vraska's Contempt will also be at my disposal.
Be aware that Vraska's Contempt and other BB spells are not the same as splashing for B. There are decks with Vraska's Contempt, but they are really Sultai Red with Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and no RR cards like Chandra or Glorybringer, from what I've seen.
Introduction
This thread covers base-RUG Energy Midrange decks. This archetype maximizes the power and opportunity of the Energy mechanic from Kaladesh block, using efficient creatures and interaction to have a fair shot at winning any match.
This is based on an established midrange deck in the previous format, so try this if:
History
The archetype's origins begin in Amonkhet Standard, during the heyday of Temur Aetherworks Marvel combo decks. While Marvel ultimately proved itself to be too powerful and unhealthy for Standard, culminating in a midseason banning for its namesake card (the most recent such banning in the history of Standard), several innovative pilots began exploring the concept of an energy midrange deck that leveraged the energy mechanic to play fair games with creatures instead of exploiting Marvel to go over the top of other decks with ahead-of-schedule Eldrazi Titans. The strategy proved to be competitively viable even while Marvel still existed, and the ban on Marvel opened the floodgated for Temur Energy to take center stage. For the remainder of Amonkhet Standard and most of Hour of Devastation Standard, Temur Energy remained in the format's top tier and laid considerable claim to the title of "best deck."
The arrival of Ixalan, and departure of the high-impact Battle for Zendikar and Shadows over Innistrad blocks, dealt a huge blow to many of the format's top-tier decks. Ixalan added a few roleplayers, but failed so far to introduce a dominant new strategy, which meant that Ixalan Standard would be a case of addition by subtraction: the hope was that the rotation of key pieces would require the format's best decks to retool themselves, and at the very least present newer versions of themselves attacking along different angles and playing differently.
For better or worse, one top-tier deck managed to avoid any serious damage from the rotation: Temur Energy. The deck's core mechanic was established in Kaladesh block, and it only took roleplayers from the blocks preceding it, so nearly the entirety of the deck remained intact from rotation, enabling it to seize the mantle of "best deck" and, to this point, retain it against all competition.
Temur Energy, or variants with the Temur Energy core, formed nearly half of the Pro Tour Ixalan field, and posted on-par conversion rates to Day 2, 6-7 win, 8+ win, and Top 8 brackets to the rest of the field. These strong numbers came in spite of the fact that Temur was known to be the deck to beat going into the tournament. Some consider this cause for concern for the health of the metagame, but that remains to be seen; for now, know that this is a fair king of the format: it is the best deck, but it's playing a fair game, it doesn't have a lopsided matchup spread, and it's got even odds against anything the pilot wants it to have.
Cards
These are your bread and butter. It's sometimes right to play fewer than four copies of every card on this list, and successful players often do, but unless you have a good reason and know why you're doing it, your starting point should be 4-of everything in this list.
Longtusk Cub: The deck's most aggressive card and your key to getting off on the right foot. Longtusk Cub creates "snowball" games, where if the Cub is not removed or otherwise interacted with before it can deal combat damage to your opponent, it can quickly grow into a shockingly outsized threat that your opponent may not have time to handle. Although it starts as a mere 2/2 for 2, playing an Attune with Aether on turn 1 or a Rogue Refiner on turn 3 is usually sufficient to make it large enough to attack through most boards, and once it connects for damage, it'll usually be big enough to rumble with anything your opponent can throw down. Cub can be a pedestrian card in the middle game, where you have more powerful ways to spend your mana and perhaps more need for energy reserves, and it is sometimes a mediocre topdeck late since it can be killed cleanly by a lot of removal spells, but like all of your deck's energy sinks, it can win a tightly-contested game very quickly and easily if you're in topdeck mode with a lot of energy built up.
Servant of the Conduit: Solid mana dork. Temur plays a handful of powerful 4-6 mana cards, so having a viable 2-cmc mana dork is nice. Servant does a lot of other little things as well: the energy theme and the respectable 2/2 rate for a dork means that it can be very useful even when you don't need the mana. It's still a relatively weak topdeck, but it hits for a passable amount on an empty board and the energy can immediately be put to use if it's relevant for some other card you want to play. Additionally, the very good mana available to energy decks allows them to splash colors much more freely than normal; Servant making mana of any color provides you the last little bit of fixing you need to go off-color for powerful cards if you so choose.
Rogue Refiner: Unassuming at first glance, Rogue Refiner is one of the best uncommons printed in years. This deck's energy sinks don't need a whole lot of help to be impressively above-rate, and the free energy from cards like Rogue Refiner can kickstart the energy engine while keeping you high on resources and giving you a decent board presence. Never bad against anyone and actively great against most decks.
Whirler Virtuoso: Whirler Virtuoso is, if not the deck's "signature" card, then certainly the poster child for how strong the energy mechanic can be when it's properly maximized. Its activated ability is very strong if you're capable of consistently producing enough energy to leverage it; cards like Pia and Kiran Nalaar have proven themselves as Modern-worthy for less efficient rates than a Virtuoso running on all cylinders! Virtuoso is your best anti-aggro card, punishes 1-for-1 removal effectively, does a lot of work in winning planeswalker battles and damage races, and is arguably the best draw when you have a lot of energy saved up in topdeck mode.
Bristling Hydra: Bristling Hydra is a handful. Bristling Hydra is one of the best anti-control cards printed in years and is responsible for a lot of solo wins. Answering it is very difficult, and without a lot of energy production, it can quickly grow to outclass most creatures in Standard while still retaining the ability to protect itself from spot removal. Hydra is one of your better anti-aggro cards as well, since your opponents will struggle to interact with it favorably and it's usually too big for small aggressive creatures to attack through. The numbers on this guy vary depending on the expected metagame, but it's never bad and usually great.
Harnessed Lightning: The best removal spell in the format and possibly the best in recent memory (competing with the likes of Dromoka's Command and Hero's Downfall). In this deck, Harnessed Lightning is comparable to Doom Blade or Go For the Throat: it's most likely killing whatever you want, but there are occasional hiccups. It's efficient, and because it's energy-based, it's not completely dead in any situation, since you can at least target your own creatures to leverage it for other uses (like making a Thopter with Virtuoso, or blanking a removal spell with Hydra).
Attune with Aether and Aether Hub: A potent 1-2 punch of mana fixing that allows the energy decks to play three colors without issues, and even to splash a fourth color if they so choose without substantial hiccups. As long as you're in green (which you're incentivized to be anyway, with the other good green energy cards), this dynamic duo will make sure you can cast just about anything you'd ever wish to cast.
These are the parts that fill out your skeleton and make it work. You'll mix and match the numbers on these depending on what you expect to face.
Glorybringer: Close to a staple 4-of in straight Temur, and it's often to right to play four of these fiery menaces, since each one gets incrementally better with another one in play. Glorybringer doesn't have any particular synergies with the energy shell, it's just an efficient curve-topper that brings a couple of great angles to the deck (flying, interaction on a threat).
The Scarab God: You'll pay a noticeable price in mana consistency for adding this guy to your deck, but The Scarab God is more or less the biggest, baddest "fair" thing to do in the format, and has a little bit of extra play in a deck like Temur, which has a lot of creatures with relevant ETBs and unique effects -- The Scarab God will usually have an embarrassment of riches to work with in your graveyard. The Scarab God is also one of the better answers to an opposing Scarab God in Temur colors, since it gives you the ability to exile an opposing God once you kill it. If you can stomach the price to your mana, then The Scarab God is the most powerful card in Standard and has a great home here.
Glint-Sleeve Siphoner: Some variants of the Temur Energy deck go harder into a black splash and easier on the red component of the deck. Some of those variants choose to play Siphoner as a 2-drop, usually in place of Longtusk Cub. Siphoner is an awesome card in this archetype if you're willing to retool your manabase to accomodate her. She's capable of snowballing games just like Longtusk Cub, just along a different axis.
Vizier of Many Faces: Usually relegated to the sideboard, but occasionally sees maindeck play. Vizier is slightly mana-intensive, but handles otherwise-difficult threats, like Gods or hexproof threats like Bristling Hydra or Carnage Tyrant, relatively cleanly. Vizier is also useful proactively in decks that play lots of Glorybringers and Bristling Hydras, and even just copying a Rogue Refiner is often a reasonable line.
Deathgorge Scavenger: Solid all-purpose card, usually played in the sideboard. Somewhat soft graveyard hate that has applications in many matchups: lifegain is clutch in aggressive matchups, especially since the aggressive decks often have recursive threats to clean up, and picking off key spells against control players to dampen the impact of Torrential Gearhulk while clocking for four damage a turn is an awesome rate in those matchups.
Champion of Wits: Rarely sees play anymore, but a solid setup card like Rogue Refiner that gives up some of its efficiency early in exchange for being a monster late-game play. Especially potent in tandem with The Scarab God, since the discard can set up Scarab God for explosive midgame turns, and since Scarab God can pseudo-Eternalize this guy at a discount.
Torrential Gearhulk: Occasionally sees sideboard play as part of a transformational package, where the Temur player boards in more interactive instants to slow the game down, Glimmer of Genius to pull ahead, and then resolves a Gearhulk and either rides the 5/6 + flashback interactive spell to victory or recasts Glimmer to gain a heavy resource advantage. Less popular because the Temur deck has too many creatures that depend on having a critical mass of each other to function properly.
Noncreature Threats
Chandra, Torch of Defiance: Does something useful nearly all the time. Temur can be a very mana-intensive deck sometimes, especially in the early and middle turns, so Chandra's mana ability gets leveraged very effectively. Everything else on the card is great, and she is the most punishing play in the format for Servant of the Conduit to accelerate out on turn 3 when going first -- she can murk a turn-2 play and often leave your opponent with no path to catch up to the mana advantage you're about to gain when you untap.
Nissa, Steward of Elements: Increasingly becoming a sideboard staple because she's an excellent source of continuous advantage that can get underneath counterspells or get into play before your opponent can set up to take her out. Her ultimate is a real threat against decks without fliers since she marches to it quickly, and her scry 2 is very powerful in a deck whose staple cards go from "respectable" to "terrifying" with a critical mass assembled. Setting up turns where you can 0 and get a free card is not hard, either.
Vraska, Relic Seeker: The other big reason to splash black in the Temur decks. Vraska gives you outs to random permanents that are usually tough for Temur to beat in game 1, like engine enchantments (think Anointed Procession), and it's not hard for Temur to navigate creature battles into situations where she can come down, -3 on a key creature and survive until next turn, where she can start pumping out a wall of 2/2s and slowly outgrind a board otherwise at parity. Her ultimate is deceptively relevant and does an excellent job of countering certain strategies, like Anointed Procession tokens decks and even God-Pharoah's Gift decks, whose catchup mechanism involves gaining enough life to invalidate whatever you're doing.
Skysovereign, Consul Flagship: Sometimes used in lieu of Glorybringer, depending on the metagame and the build of deck. Skysovereign's edges come in its easier casting cost (while Glorybringer can strain decks trying to splash black, Skysovereign avoids that problem) and its increased durability (it's vulnerable to Abrade where Glorybringer isn't, but Skysovereign sidesteps common cards like Harnessed Lightning and Chandra's Defeat), and Skysovereign is also slightly more effective against planeswalkers due to its ETB and attack triggers (which allow you to clean up planeswalkers without having to connect through blockers, and which sometimes clean up walkers without even attacking and exposing Skysovereign to creature removal).
Aethersphere Harvester: Strong anti-aggro card if you want an extra edge against mono-red or vehicles decks. Seeing less play since Temur traditionally has good aggro matchups.
Lifecrafter's Bestiary: Strong anti-control card. Closest thing to Search for Azcanta that this deck can play.
Interaction
Magma Spray: Usually 1-2 copies in the maindeck. Best 1-mana removal spell in Temur colors. Difficult to leverage efficiently in other midrange or control matchups, but Temur's vulnerability to The Scarab God give Spray a second lease on life in situations where it might otherwise be dead. Don't leave home without a few in the 75, you'll need some cheap interaction to be strong against aggro decks.
Abrade: Varying numbers depending on the expected metagame. Abrade is especially strong in the post-PT environment, since its two modes have a ton of coverage across the format. Abrade clears out most 2-drops in energy mirrors, making it the best turn-2 removal spell you can play (since it saves Harnessed Lightning for the bigger threats), and nearly every other deck has some high-value target artifact (Heart of Kiran, God-Pharoah's Gift, Oketra's Monument, Torrential Gearhulk, Skysovereign, Consul Flagship) for you to pick off.
Confiscation Coup: Usually reserved for energy mirrors, but Coup is also Temur's best answer to troublesome God cards that don't die to Harnessed Lightning. Coup also picks off key artifacts (see previous point). Clunky at times, especially in builds splashing black, which might struggle to play a 3UU spell, but sometimes by far the best thing you can play.
Essence Scatter: Maindecked sometimes as tech for the energy mirrors. Cleans up a lot of difficult creatures without trouble, but there's some tension to playing counterspells in a creature deck like Temur, with fewer mana sinks to punish opponents for not playing into it.
Negate: Key sideboard piece. Being able to swap useless creature removal for Negates is the main reason why Temur can have such an effective game against everything in the format.
Chandra's Defeat: Brutally efficient. Useful in both the red aggro matchup and the mirror, against builds with Glorybringer and Chandra TOD.
Spell Pierce: Another brutally efficient spell, useful against decks leaning on expensive sorceries or enchantments to pull ahead against you. Usefulness tends to vary depending on build -- decks playing the black splash tend to prefer to grind out opponents and play longer games where Pierce becomes a blank, while straight Temur builds with Glorybringer like to close games quicker and can better leverage Pierce.
Supreme Will: Occasional sideboard tech to answer the expensive catchup cards in control decks. It "cycles" if you have no target for it, but in the matchups where you want Supreme Will, the counterspell mode is often better than whatever you might find with the draw mode, so that mode often goes unused.
River's Rebuke: Expensive spell but extremely potent at turning the tides in a pitched creature battle. Especially effective against tokens decks, for which the card was originally played.
Appetite for the Unnatural and Slice in Twain: Miscellaneous Disenchant-style cards, which are useful in the current metagame.
Commit // Memory: Slightly expensive catchall with enormous potential upside. Memory mode is becoming increasingly relevant with the success of God-Pharoah's Gift at the Pro Tour. Usually played with Torrential Gearhulk to maximize effectiveness.
Cartouche of Ambition: Anti-red/aggro tech for versions playing enough black to support it. Usually picks off a creature, and the lifelink stuck on a big cheap threat like Longtusk Cub, a resilient threat like Bristling Hydra, or God forbid a Glorybringer (getting double mileage with Exert!) can be impossible to race.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I tried running 4 colour so I could get Bolas out at my last FNM, but I didn't draw him once hehe, and I only got my Vraska and Scarab once each, so I'm thinking about adding two Cut//Ribbons next time I splash black.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
2 Glorybringer
4 Longtusk Cub
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Servant of the Conduit
4 Whirler Virtuoso
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
3 Abrade
4 Attune with Aether
2 Confiscation Coup
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Forest
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Rootbound Crag
1 Sheltered Thicket
3 Spirebluff Canal
1 Confiscation Coup
1 Essence Scatter
2 Magma Spray
3 Negate
2 Nissa, Steward of Elements
2 River's Rebuke
2 Vizier of Many Faces
Alright guys this is my deck and current sideboard. Played in one pptq this season and won. However I'm playing in the local championship series in a few weeks and was wanting to discuss the deck more with sideboarding. One thing I've been super impressed with is boat. however I can understand the meta might be shifting away from it being good. Look forward to discussing with you guys.
Skysovereign is awesome. I can't remember a time where it hit the table and wasn't value. Really awesome card. I'm pretty sure I'd main deck one if I go back to straight up temur and not 4 colour.
Yeah it dies to Abrade, but I feel like people will have spent their removal on other stuff by the time Skysovereign comes in and starts killing stuff. Such a good card!
My current list:
4x Aether Hub
4x Botanical Sanctum
3x Forest
1x Island
2x Mountain
3x Rootbound Crag
2x Sheltered Thicket
3x Spirebluff Canal
Sorcery (6)
4x Attune with Aether
2x Confiscation Coup
3x Bristling Hydra
4x Glorybringer
4x Longtusk Cub
4x Rogue Refiner
4x Servant of the Conduit
4x Whirler Virtuoso
Instant (7)
2x Abrade
4x Harnessed Lightning
1x Magma Spray
Planeswalker (2)
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Abrade
2x Chandra's Defeat
2x Deathgorge Scavenger
1x Lifecrafter's Bestiary
1x Magma Spray
3x Negate
2x Nissa, Steward of Elements
2x Spell Pierce
1x Vizier of Many Faces
I have a very heavy anti control SB since I usually aim my deck to beat up the multitude of control decks in my meta (I'm one of them, and have top 8'd 2 PPTQ's with UW Approach). That said, I've come to really like this deck as it reminds me of a swiss army knife. My teammates run the entire standard gauntlet so I'm comfy with piloting the deck. The mirror seems to be crucial, I think/I know my Sb needs some more mirror tech. Maybe cutting Bestiary is fine for the 2nd Vizier?
Modern: Decks I'm playing right now:
G Mono Green Tron (34-10-3 paper record, only SCG/Regionals/PPTQ record)
C Eldrazi Tron (9-5)
UG Infect
RW Burn
I've had a lot of success using two Vizier in the mirror. I main boarded one the time I had the most success at a FNM and had the other sideboarded.
I can highly recommend using two somewhere in the 75.
Carnage Tyrant isn't very good in this deck I think. It's obviously too slow against aggro decks like mono-red. It's bad against white control due to sweepers, and mediocre against black control due to Gifted Aetherborn and Gonti, Lord of Luxury. And in the energy mirrors and pseudo-mirrors, it is usually the biggest thing on the board, but it has two issues:
(1) The boards where one player doesn't just run away with the game early tend to get very clogged up, so it's not unreasonable for them to have a couple of Rogue Refiners or a Refiner and Cub to trade up with it. (And it obviously has no impact in games where one player does run away with it.)
(2) It's expensive, and having it rotting in your hand during the crucial middlegame turns 3-5 will kill you more than it coming down on turn 6+ will save you.
Bonus (3): Vizier of Many Faces is a hard counter that sees widespread SB play in Temur already.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
In what match-ups do you typically side in Vizier and what are you usually aiming to copy with it?
But while I love giving advice, I haven't been running this in competitive circles lately. I have been adding articles to the wonderful primer that scasseden contributed. There are good recent articles by Andrea Mengucci, Jacob Wilson and Reid Duke (older) that I have linked.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
MTGO 5-0 list with Rhonas. 4 Bristling Hydras makes sense to me to go with Rhonas.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
From here:
I don't gain financially and any traffic generated doesn't benefit me. I do link to stream footage that involves me on occasion, but not on sites that I am involved with. Are the links I post a problem for you? For anyone? I freely confess to wanting to generate traffic for this (mtgsalvation) site.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I'll address this directly although hoser covered most.
As previously noted, linking to off-site content is fine. However, MTGS disallows posting links to your own content for the purpose of driving traffic. Why? What's the difference between Daily 5-0s and someone's youtube video?
This rule prevents content spammers. Content spam doesn't sound like a bad thing until you struggle through posts and posts of youtubers trying to drive their own content in order to increase ad revenue.
So, in sum, youtubers often offer very valuable content -- the above poster's post is quality content -- however, in order to mitigate the spam from youtubers and other content hubs, we just ban direct off-sourcing of personal content that generates ad revenue.
I must say, it seems reasonable to promote for your own content on a thread (even if it's only allowed once) if it specifically relates to the subject at hand. It seems kind of silly if someone made a video about a specific subject relevant to a thread to not be able to tell anyone about it.
I'm not trying to start an argument or keep distracting from the topic at hand any further. Just thought I'd mention that as a user of this forum, I don't see a problem with the above post. Perhaps the rules could be changed slightly to make exceptions for promoting content when it specifically relates to a thread at hand. Everything posted is still at the moderator's discretion anyway, so there's still a layer of control to stop spamming. Personally, I would love it if the professor or anyone jumped on the forum to tell us about content that specifically relates to the topic at hand.
Much love for you all and all the hard work you mods put in.
We don't yank the youtube link, FWIW.
In your shoes, I would step back and look at the best Temur Black list you can find. They are a reasonable competitive choice. Decide whether you want the splash. But give yourself the best chance to play your cards.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Thanks for the response, Hoser. I agree that playing the one black spell in sideboard is less than ideal. I have considered moving into 4C energy, and maybe picking up a Vraska or two of my own (fighting fire with fire!). That way, cards like Vraska's Contempt will also be at my disposal.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.