I was experimenting for the last couple weeks on a post-rotation standard deck. It's early for that, but I'm a slow deck builder and wanted a playable deck ready for after rotation. So this deck is for the Standard format in Arena, using only cards from Zendikar Rising onwards. It's already quite fun to play for me. But as always, I'm sure it can be made better. Certainly when a new set hits, and I'm open to card suggestions from card previews for new sets. Card availability is not an issue, I've got wildcards to spend.
Anyway, here's the deck. Please comment and if you have a suggestion, I want to hear it. Even the small ones. For example, one issue I sometimes face is the lack of a snow land to untap with Sculptor of Winter, making me unable to ramp to 4 mana on turn 3 for the Chariot or other stuff. So ideas on how to adjust my mana base to lessen that issue (and others you may spot) are welcome.
Still trying to fix the mana base's three main issues, I'm experiencing so far. They don't happen terribly often, but it's noticable and frustrating:
1) Not having a snow land to untap with Sculptor of Winter to ramp to 4 mana on turn 3.
2) Not having a second green available on turn 3 or 4, when I want to play Gnarled Professor.
3) Not getting the single red or blue to turn the game around while having lots of the other color, though.
Oh, and being mana flooded, but that's to be expected from a deck that runs 30 lands. Though, it's really "only" 27-28 depending on wether I use the spell lands as lands or not. I decided to cut a land, going down to a single Snow-Covered Mountain, which worsens 3), and changing one Bala Ged Recovery to a snow Forest, hopefully helping with 1). Additionally, I've cut an Inscription of Insight, and filled the two open slots with 2 copies of one of the most busted cards in Kaldheim, Koma, Cosmos Serpent. So far, I'm not really sure, it belongs in this deck, though. It won me a few games, but very often, it sits in my hand while my other cards already achieve victory. However, I am going up to 8+ lands very often, and then the 7 mana for it are not an issue.
edit:
I'm trying out a fourth Volatile Fjord in place of a Riverglide Pathway now, but I'm worried about having to many lands enter the battlefield tapped. Guess, I'll have to test it out for a while.
The lands seem to be doing fine, and Koma contributes nicely without hugging all the attention. I do have a frustrating time dealing with Faceless Haven, since my bounce cannot touch it and it dodges my sorcery speed removal. I've decided to try out some actual burn instead of bounce and replaced Into the Roil with Heated Debate. So far this seems promising, but I haven't had many games with that setup yet. Also not sure, if that is the most suitable burn spell.
After sevaral weeks of testing, Heated Debate just doesn't cut it, too many big toughness creatures around. I decided to try out Crackle with Power instead, and man, what a difference. That card steals games in this deck. It's a bit concerning, that I now have no instant responses to what my opponent is playing, but this change was defenitley a step up. Let's see what the new set has to offer.
A few more weeks have passed, and well, my ramp package really doesn't do it. Whatever 2-drop creature I play, it gets killed right away, oftentimes using prime removal, that would be so much more devastating later. People on Arena seem to be very trigger happy, they kill any creature on sight if they can. So I ended up playing my Tangled Florahedrons as lands most of the time, and I cannot rely on the Sculptor of Winter to get me to 4 and 5 mana earlier.
I've changed the Sculptor into some countermagic, 3 copies of Saw it Coming have had some impact. The Florahedrons became a third Bala Ged Recovery for some more reuse of my cards, and I still need lands, the fourth Riverglide Pathway, and 1 Forest. Everything's thawed now, no snow interaction in the deck anymore. In the last slot I'm trying out Cleansing Wildfire to have an answer for those pesky manlands, of which there are way too many now. Added a second copy of that as the 61st card to better test its impact if any. The Volatile Fjords thawed, too, revealed to be Prismari Campus -ses? -pi? ... eh anyway, 4 of them. The duals in my land base may need some work now.
Not sure if the deck does better now, or just different. But it feels great to Time Warp an opponent who is tapping out for Alrund's Epiphany which I saw coming.
Edit:
With green having no longer any more early game nessessity than the other colors, I've gone down one Forest in favor of a second Mountain.
Standard rotation is upon us, and I'd like to share where this deck has been going. This is the final Standard version of the deck, as it is mostly Kaldheim and Strixhaven based, and it fares pretty well, though is not really ladder material in Arena. But fun to play on the play queue, where you can simply skip any match against op mythic decks that promise no deckbuilding originality nor fun.
The deck is my baby and I'm having fun playing it even after one and a half years of tinkering and facing new challenges. So I'd like to adjust it to the Explorer format to keep on playing it. The card pool is much bigger, though, and I don't even know half the cards available. I made some pretty staightforward exchanges with cards I do know for now. Crush the Weak turned into Anger of the Gods, and the Abrades made way for Bonecrusher Giants. Added the 4th one as well as a 61st card, because it simply doesn't feel right to play less. Something else will have to go for it eventually. The biggest question to adress is the mana base, since there are so many possible land inclusions for my 3-colored deck. The current Standard base works though, which makes improving it really difficult.
Anyhow, any input and comment is appreciated. I'd also like some pointers as to what to prepare for (and maybe how) in the vaster format that is Explorer. (Card availability is a nonissue, I'm swimming in wildcards of all rarities.)
First, see what you get matched up against. I tried some "cards I have" versions and faced tons of ramp, which I seldom see playing BG.
My major issues were speed and mismatched interaction. My sweepers didn't line up and I was overrun by focused decks. Pressure + bounce works against Ramp's superior Koma and Elder Gargaroth. I was a little slower than my opponents, so I needed to interact, but I couldn't close (go over the top or get my own gameplan going at the same time), so they had several turns to draw what they needed. I found myself drawing to Koma, if anything. Beyond that, all I can offer are ideas because I saw little variety over three days of playing.
I wanted to Stomp, Crusher, Chariot, then mop up. This sequence at 2-3-4 pushed me away from a potential ramp path and towards cheap interaction and adventures. You'll likely end up elsewhere, but my strategy was to have Lovestruck Beast and Crusher attack and crew while Brazen Borrower bounces what slips past small numbers of Strangle, Lava Coil, and Spell Pierce.
I've been disappointed with Field of Ruin in a Tireless Tracker deck. Noting the deck's early RR mana requirement, I cut it for Ketria Triome, then added what I have for mana, using shocklands sparingly for 14 total untapped-on-one sources. Botanical Sanctum and Hinterland Harbor are neither ideal nor terrible, I use them if I'm taking too much damage from shocks and need intense color requirements early. With all the key 4-costs, I'd rather take turn 1 off sometimes than use Sanctum. Since blue isn't in demand, one-cost U spells like Miscast alleviate blue Pathways. Untapped-on-two is important considering how much better Stomp is on curve.
Sweepers are awkward. Anger of the Gods is good against Cauldron Familiar and Mono Red, but they have some draws that naturally play around it. Outside of that, so many decks skip from 2 to 4 to 6 toughness. WG angels is based around Righteous Valkyrie and Collected Company, G ramps to Steel Leaf Champion and either Collected Company or Elder Gargaroth, U Spirits has countermagic, and decks like control and Indomitable Creativity don't care. Lava Coil has issues, but is faster. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is great if it clears the way for Koma, Hydroid Krasis, or Elder Gargaroth (which obliterates a lot of common decks) and invalidates whatever the opponent has done. Storm's Wrath hits most of the same things as Burn Down the House.
I used a couple Fable of the Mirror-Breaker as filler because I only have 3 Chariots and Professors, but it shined when casting a 4 and leaving up an inconspicuous Spell Pierce.
Multiple Choice's bounce was better when I was attacking. Quality doesn't matter when they need blockers. I want to bounce my own creature, but it hasn't come up yet.
Professor was good. I thought it would be too slow or ruined by 2 mana removal, but learning/drawing is helpful even against linear decks. I didn't want to play it on turn 4 or 5, though, preferring Chariot or casting two small spells. That's fine, but I also haven't set up any big turn 7 plays.
Many decks I face only interact incidentally and rely on being difficult to interact with. They want your Angers to be bad and to force you to use Lava Coil in an inopportune way, which can lead to playing cards like Chandra, Torch of Defiance primarily for the ramp/cards rather than for the removal. You ramp into Koma not as a reaction to midrange, but as a proactive threat that happens to crush midrange. In either case, you cast Koma and win, but I like the second way of thinking while playing Best of One, or for maximizing a deck's theme like the existing Stomp-Crusher-Chariot-Choice line.
EDIT: I've been trying something closer to the original. Growth Spiral is excellent, setting up a turn 3 Chariot or Storm's Wrath. You cast more stuff, and it's something to do when your interaction lacks targets.
I only have 2 Multiple Choice, so I substitute in junk. Verdurous Gearhulk, Elder Gargaroth, and Workshop Warchief are okay, with Gargaroth being the best even though Vigilance is bad with Chariot. Shark Typhoon is a little worse, and Shifting Ceratops is poor. Mythos of Illuna is too fun for me to evaluate. Copying a Lovestruck Beast, then duplicating the token is outrageous.
Well, you only having 3 Chariots and 2 Choices makes testing awkward as those cards are the core of the deck idea.
The most desirable sequence of begining turns is something like:
turn 2: Fortell or Stomp, or draw with Choice if already under pressure,
turn 3: small wipe or counter, maybe bounce with choice to buy time, I usually hold Crusher unless I really have nothing else to do
turn 4: Chariot
turn 5: Choice for the whole catalog, or Professor
Essentially, the first 3 turns are for setup and interaction, while my game plan starts at turn 4.
Field of Ruin can deal with AFR manlands, which are showing up quite frequently on my opponents side, as well as some color fixing.
I wanted some exile even in the Standard version, hence why Crush the Weak was my small sweeper of choice. Anger of the Gods brings that clause, too, but hits bigger creatures, and I'm facing a fair number of 3 toughness creatures. The additional requirement for red made me replace an Island with a Mountain, though.
By the way, making a token copy of some good creature was the very beginning idea for the deck. But setup proved too difficult, and instead I went the more vanilla "make 4/4 token and copy those" route. It may be another story in Explorer, though.
In any case, thanks a lot for your input, I will be referencing it as I keep tinkering in this new (to me) format.
Thanks for the explanation, I got ahead of myself because I like the copy aspect so much. Anyway, I spent some time on mana without changing Field or any spells.
What the mana base more or less wants:
Basics to search up.
Turn 1: -
Turn 2: UR
Turn 3: URR
Turn 4: URRG
Turn 5: URRGG
Strategy: Front-load UR and back-load G and RR. Minimize pain and consequential decisions on Pathways/searches. "Always tapped" lands are difficult with typical 3-land openers, since the curve is broken if they're drawn.
I started with two vaguely reasonable extremes, slow and painless with Fabled Passage and Triome + Pathways, and fast and painful with shocks and fewer sources for each color. Working on a balance, I ended up with this framework:
These numbers are generous, counting Fabled Passage as all 3 colors and assuming Sulfur Falls has a friend.
Sources of URG : 14 19 18
Sources for Checks: 161515
Untapped Lands:
Turn 1: 12
Turn 2: 14 (Turn 1 + Check)
Turn 3: 18 (Turn 2 + Slow)
Turn 4: 21 (Turn 3 + Passage)
It's not ideal, but so far any changes I make cost more than they're worth. Personal preference or spell swaps will change this, but I think it's a good base for customization. I've put some priority on Anger of the Gods. The biggest weakness may be an abundance of "always tapped" lands or a lack of blue. Sulfur Falls and Pathways have the lowest lows. Vale, Vale, Falls can be a disaster, while a subpar draw with 7-8 total Shocks means losing 20-30% of your life.
I tried The Elder Dragon War and it was a liability. I couldn't time any of the modes effectively. Fable has been good against everything but the most aggressive decks, and even then it sometimes auto-wins.
From playing a lot, I like instant, varied interaction (including Scavenging Ooze) and a flow of post-Chariot creatures to keep it crewed. Blue cards deal with broken stuff. Big stuff overpowers. Less intense mana requirements let the deck get away with some Pathways.
LATE, LATE EDIT:
I've run into issues with Multiple Choice and Gnarled Professor. Choice has done little because I use Borrower for bounce. It overpowers boards that a 4/4 is already overpowering. Beyond that, both are fine, but they rarely push the game in a different direction (go over the top, answer a Witch's Oven before it takes over, and so on). Cutting Professor makes it easier to run pathways and utility lands, Boseiju, Who Endures in particular.
I've had success with three cores for this deck. All start with 4 Fable, 4 Chariot, and each has 4 Bonecrusher.
The first adds Terror of the Peaks and 2-3 of an additional copier. Terror is only a little flimsy, enhances tokens, and ends the game as a token. I started using it after BR midrange decks picked up Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, making Gargaroth a lot weaker, and it really fits the "If I untap with this, I win" philosophy. I consider Scavenging Ooze essential to fight Greasefang, Okiba Boss, as the deck can't rely on drawing enough interaction to answer it multiple times. Other than that, I use Abrade, Brazen Borrower, and Spell Pierce. Slow them down, do something strong. It's powerful, but not as consistent, though Fable helps a lot. Fires of Victory is also a fine option, killing early x/4's. Opposing Liliana of the Veil has been a great target for Mythos of Illuna.
The next uses Briarbridge Tracker and Shark Typhoon as tokens, and attempts to keep the board clean and defend Reflection or Chariot on turn 5 with two-mana interaction. I like Negate and a mix of Fires of Victory and Abrade. I've yet to try Make Disappear. Scavenging Ooze isn't necessary with the extra answers. This is weaker, but flexible. The tokens aren't strong, but the deck has a longer time to use them, and gets to keep its mana open more.
The last ditches blue for speed with Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves. Lovestruck Beast has enough support, and Reckless Rage becomes great removal. This is more for best-of-three, where RB midrange is king and often can't kill a dragon. Five mana and 2 draws on turn 3 is good.
From playing a bunch, The Akroan War is a fine sweeper that won't kill your stuff. It's slow against a plain horde, but many decks rely on synergy. Consider what happens to an aggressor when you take their Mayhem Devil or Anax. Teach your opponent's creatures how to crew a chariot, spread the love!
The third Abrade is up for debate over the fourth Borrower. Generally, Abrade for Oven and sort of Greasefang, Strangle for Llanowar Elves, Borrower for Fires of Invention, Ooze for Greasefang, Pierce for Spirits, UW Control, and Collected Company, Fires of Victory for Company and sort of Greasefang, Lava Coil for Red and Company, Reckless Rage if you can get away with it. I have never pulled anything from the side, but it's there.
Love seeing someone taking an interest in a deck of mine and tweaking it to make it their own. It certainly has changed a lot under your influence. I myself have taken a pause on this particular deck to concentrate on a Standard project of mine (the Junji combo deck). But I will definitely give your builds a try.
I was experimenting for the last couple weeks on a post-rotation standard deck. It's early for that, but I'm a slow deck builder and wanted a playable deck ready for after rotation. So this deck is for the Standard format in Arena, using only cards from Zendikar Rising onwards. It's already quite fun to play for me. But as always, I'm sure it can be made better. Certainly when a new set hits, and I'm open to card suggestions from card previews for new sets. Card availability is not an issue, I've got wildcards to spend.
Anyway, here's the deck. Please comment and if you have a suggestion, I want to hear it. Even the small ones. For example, one issue I sometimes face is the lack of a snow land to untap with Sculptor of Winter, making me unable to ramp to 4 mana on turn 3 for the Chariot or other stuff. So ideas on how to adjust my mana base to lessen that issue (and others you may spot) are welcome.
edited list:
2 Island
2 Mountain
5 Forest
4 Prismari Campus
4 Barkchannel Pathway
4 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Riverglide Pathway
3 Bala Ged Recovery
4 Gnarled Professor
2 Koma, Cosmos Serpent
Others (30)
2 Cleansing Wildfire
4 Crush the Weak
3 Saw it Coming
3 Bala Ged Recovery
3 Inscription of Insight
4 Esika's Chariot
4 Battle of Frost and Fire
4 Multiple Choice
3 Crackle with Power
1 Environmental Sciences
2 Containment Breach
1 Elemental Summoning
2 Introduction to Annihilation
1 Mascot Exhibition
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
1) Not having a snow land to untap with Sculptor of Winter to ramp to 4 mana on turn 3.
2) Not having a second green available on turn 3 or 4, when I want to play Gnarled Professor.
3) Not getting the single red or blue to turn the game around while having lots of the other color, though.
Oh, and being mana flooded, but that's to be expected from a deck that runs 30 lands. Though, it's really "only" 27-28 depending on wether I use the spell lands as lands or not. I decided to cut a land, going down to a single Snow-Covered Mountain, which worsens 3), and changing one Bala Ged Recovery to a snow Forest, hopefully helping with 1). Additionally, I've cut an Inscription of Insight, and filled the two open slots with 2 copies of one of the most busted cards in Kaldheim, Koma, Cosmos Serpent. So far, I'm not really sure, it belongs in this deck, though. It won me a few games, but very often, it sits in my hand while my other cards already achieve victory. However, I am going up to 8+ lands very often, and then the 7 mana for it are not an issue.
edit:
I'm trying out a fourth Volatile Fjord in place of a Riverglide Pathway now, but I'm worried about having to many lands enter the battlefield tapped. Guess, I'll have to test it out for a while.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
I've changed the Sculptor into some countermagic, 3 copies of Saw it Coming have had some impact. The Florahedrons became a third Bala Ged Recovery for some more reuse of my cards, and I still need lands, the fourth Riverglide Pathway, and 1 Forest. Everything's thawed now, no snow interaction in the deck anymore. In the last slot I'm trying out Cleansing Wildfire to have an answer for those pesky manlands, of which there are way too many now. Added a second copy of that as the 61st card to better test its impact if any. The Volatile Fjords thawed, too, revealed to be Prismari Campus -ses? -pi? ... eh anyway, 4 of them. The duals in my land base may need some work now.
Not sure if the deck does better now, or just different. But it feels great to Time Warp an opponent who is tapping out for Alrund's Epiphany which I saw coming.
Edit:
With green having no longer any more early game nessessity than the other colors, I've gone down one Forest in favor of a second Mountain.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
3 Bala Ged Recovery
2 Island
1 Mountain
1 Forest
1 Prismari Campus
2 Barkchannel Pathway
2 Cragcrown Pathway
2 Riverglide Pathway
4 Dreamroot Cascade
4 Rockfall Vale
4 Stormcarved Coast
2 Field of Ruin
4 Gnarled Professor
2 Koma, Cosmos Serpent
Others (29)
3 Abrade
4 Crush the Weak
3 Saw it Coming
3 Bala Ged Recovery
2 Inscription of Insight
4 Esika's Chariot
4 Burn down the House
4 Multiple Choice
2 Crackle with Power
2 Environmental Sciences
2 Containment Breach
1 Teachings of the Archaics
1 Introduction to Annihilation
1 Mascot Exhibition
The deck is my baby and I'm having fun playing it even after one and a half years of tinkering and facing new challenges. So I'd like to adjust it to the Explorer format to keep on playing it. The card pool is much bigger, though, and I don't even know half the cards available. I made some pretty staightforward exchanges with cards I do know for now. Crush the Weak turned into Anger of the Gods, and the Abrades made way for Bonecrusher Giants. Added the 4th one as well as a 61st card, because it simply doesn't feel right to play less. Something else will have to go for it eventually. The biggest question to adress is the mana base, since there are so many possible land inclusions for my 3-colored deck. The current Standard base works though, which makes improving it really difficult.
Anyhow, any input and comment is appreciated. I'd also like some pointers as to what to prepare for (and maybe how) in the vaster format that is Explorer. (Card availability is a nonissue, I'm swimming in wildcards of all rarities.)
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
My major issues were speed and mismatched interaction. My sweepers didn't line up and I was overrun by focused decks. Pressure + bounce works against Ramp's superior Koma and Elder Gargaroth. I was a little slower than my opponents, so I needed to interact, but I couldn't close (go over the top or get my own gameplan going at the same time), so they had several turns to draw what they needed. I found myself drawing to Koma, if anything. Beyond that, all I can offer are ideas because I saw little variety over three days of playing.
I wanted to Stomp, Crusher, Chariot, then mop up. This sequence at 2-3-4 pushed me away from a potential ramp path and towards cheap interaction and adventures. You'll likely end up elsewhere, but my strategy was to have Lovestruck Beast and Crusher attack and crew while Brazen Borrower bounces what slips past small numbers of Strangle, Lava Coil, and Spell Pierce.
I've been disappointed with Field of Ruin in a Tireless Tracker deck. Noting the deck's early RR mana requirement, I cut it for Ketria Triome, then added what I have for mana, using shocklands sparingly for 14 total untapped-on-one sources. Botanical Sanctum and Hinterland Harbor are neither ideal nor terrible, I use them if I'm taking too much damage from shocks and need intense color requirements early. With all the key 4-costs, I'd rather take turn 1 off sometimes than use Sanctum. Since blue isn't in demand, one-cost U spells like Miscast alleviate blue Pathways. Untapped-on-two is important considering how much better Stomp is on curve.
Sweepers are awkward. Anger of the Gods is good against Cauldron Familiar and Mono Red, but they have some draws that naturally play around it. Outside of that, so many decks skip from 2 to 4 to 6 toughness. WG angels is based around Righteous Valkyrie and Collected Company, G ramps to Steel Leaf Champion and either Collected Company or Elder Gargaroth, U Spirits has countermagic, and decks like control and Indomitable Creativity don't care. Lava Coil has issues, but is faster. Chandra, Torch of Defiance is great if it clears the way for Koma, Hydroid Krasis, or Elder Gargaroth (which obliterates a lot of common decks) and invalidates whatever the opponent has done. Storm's Wrath hits most of the same things as Burn Down the House.
I used a couple Fable of the Mirror-Breaker as filler because I only have 3 Chariots and Professors, but it shined when casting a 4 and leaving up an inconspicuous Spell Pierce.
Multiple Choice's bounce was better when I was attacking. Quality doesn't matter when they need blockers. I want to bounce my own creature, but it hasn't come up yet.
Professor was good. I thought it would be too slow or ruined by 2 mana removal, but learning/drawing is helpful even against linear decks. I didn't want to play it on turn 4 or 5, though, preferring Chariot or casting two small spells. That's fine, but I also haven't set up any big turn 7 plays.
Bonecrusher is perfect in the deck.
Grave hate may be helpful depending on your queue. Scavenging Ooze is better in general, Cemetery Prowler survives Anger and bullies Graveyard Trespasser and The Wandering Emperor. I didn't face anything that made me want to stop and cast either.
Many decks I face only interact incidentally and rely on being difficult to interact with. They want your Angers to be bad and to force you to use Lava Coil in an inopportune way, which can lead to playing cards like Chandra, Torch of Defiance primarily for the ramp/cards rather than for the removal. You ramp into Koma not as a reaction to midrange, but as a proactive threat that happens to crush midrange. In either case, you cast Koma and win, but I like the second way of thinking while playing Best of One, or for maximizing a deck's theme like the existing Stomp-Crusher-Chariot-Choice line.
EDIT: I've been trying something closer to the original. Growth Spiral is excellent, setting up a turn 3 Chariot or Storm's Wrath. You cast more stuff, and it's something to do when your interaction lacks targets.
I only have 2 Multiple Choice, so I substitute in junk. Verdurous Gearhulk, Elder Gargaroth, and Workshop Warchief are okay, with Gargaroth being the best even though Vigilance is bad with Chariot. Shark Typhoon is a little worse, and Shifting Ceratops is poor. Mythos of Illuna is too fun for me to evaluate. Copying a Lovestruck Beast, then duplicating the token is outrageous.
The most desirable sequence of begining turns is something like:
turn 2: Fortell or Stomp, or draw with Choice if already under pressure,
turn 3: small wipe or counter, maybe bounce with choice to buy time, I usually hold Crusher unless I really have nothing else to do
turn 4: Chariot
turn 5: Choice for the whole catalog, or Professor
Essentially, the first 3 turns are for setup and interaction, while my game plan starts at turn 4.
Field of Ruin can deal with AFR manlands, which are showing up quite frequently on my opponents side, as well as some color fixing.
I wanted some exile even in the Standard version, hence why Crush the Weak was my small sweeper of choice. Anger of the Gods brings that clause, too, but hits bigger creatures, and I'm facing a fair number of 3 toughness creatures. The additional requirement for red made me replace an Island with a Mountain, though.
By the way, making a token copy of some good creature was the very beginning idea for the deck. But setup proved too difficult, and instead I went the more vanilla "make 4/4 token and copy those" route. It may be another story in Explorer, though.
In any case, thanks a lot for your input, I will be referencing it as I keep tinkering in this new (to me) format.
Former Rules Advisor
"Everything's better with pirates." - Lodge
(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
"Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."
(Girl Genius - Fairy Tale Theater Break - Cinderella, end of volume 8)
What the mana base more or less wants:
Basics to search up.
Turn 1: -
Turn 2: UR
Turn 3: URR
Turn 4: URRG
Turn 5: URRGG
Strategy: Front-load UR and back-load G and RR. Minimize pain and consequential decisions on Pathways/searches. "Always tapped" lands are difficult with typical 3-land openers, since the curve is broken if they're drawn.
I started with two vaguely reasonable extremes, slow and painless with Fabled Passage and Triome + Pathways, and fast and painful with shocks and fewer sources for each color. Working on a balance, I ended up with this framework:
4 Ketria Triome
3 Fabled Passage
1 Forest
2 Island
2 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
2 Steam Vents
1 Breeding Pool
2 Sulfur Falls
4 Rockfall Vale
2 Field of Ruin
3 Bala Ged Recovery
These numbers are generous, counting Fabled Passage as all 3 colors and assuming Sulfur Falls has a friend.
Sources of URG : 14 19 18
Sources for Checks: 16 15 15
Untapped Lands:
Turn 1: 12
Turn 2: 14 (Turn 1 + Check)
Turn 3: 18 (Turn 2 + Slow)
Turn 4: 21 (Turn 3 + Passage)
It's not ideal, but so far any changes I make cost more than they're worth. Personal preference or spell swaps will change this, but I think it's a good base for customization. I've put some priority on Anger of the Gods. The biggest weakness may be an abundance of "always tapped" lands or a lack of blue. Sulfur Falls and Pathways have the lowest lows. Vale, Vale, Falls can be a disaster, while a subpar draw with 7-8 total Shocks means losing 20-30% of your life.
From playing a lot, I like instant, varied interaction (including Scavenging Ooze) and a flow of post-Chariot creatures to keep it crewed. Blue cards deal with broken stuff. Big stuff overpowers. Less intense mana requirements let the deck get away with some Pathways.
LATE, LATE EDIT:
I've run into issues with Multiple Choice and Gnarled Professor. Choice has done little because I use Borrower for bounce. It overpowers boards that a 4/4 is already overpowering. Beyond that, both are fine, but they rarely push the game in a different direction (go over the top, answer a Witch's Oven before it takes over, and so on). Cutting Professor makes it easier to run pathways and utility lands, Boseiju, Who Endures in particular.
I've had success with three cores for this deck. All start with 4 Fable, 4 Chariot, and each has 4 Bonecrusher.
The first adds Terror of the Peaks and 2-3 of an additional copier. Terror is only a little flimsy, enhances tokens, and ends the game as a token. I started using it after BR midrange decks picked up Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, making Gargaroth a lot weaker, and it really fits the "If I untap with this, I win" philosophy. I consider Scavenging Ooze essential to fight Greasefang, Okiba Boss, as the deck can't rely on drawing enough interaction to answer it multiple times. Other than that, I use Abrade, Brazen Borrower, and Spell Pierce. Slow them down, do something strong. It's powerful, but not as consistent, though Fable helps a lot. Fires of Victory is also a fine option, killing early x/4's. Opposing Liliana of the Veil has been a great target for Mythos of Illuna.
The next uses Briarbridge Tracker and Shark Typhoon as tokens, and attempts to keep the board clean and defend Reflection or Chariot on turn 5 with two-mana interaction. I like Negate and a mix of Fires of Victory and Abrade. I've yet to try Make Disappear. Scavenging Ooze isn't necessary with the extra answers. This is weaker, but flexible. The tokens aren't strong, but the deck has a longer time to use them, and gets to keep its mana open more.
The last ditches blue for speed with Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves. Lovestruck Beast has enough support, and Reckless Rage becomes great removal. This is more for best-of-three, where RB midrange is king and often can't kill a dragon. Five mana and 2 draws on turn 3 is good.
From The Brothers' War, I'll be trying Rootwire Amalgam over a pair of Regisaur Alpha. I have high hopes even though it's only stats. I'd love to replace Scavenging Ooze if Greasefang ever dies out. Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim may be a midrange/control smasher. Obliterating Bolt is an upgraded Lava Coil.
EDIT: Jan 23. Current list is -1 Otawara, -1 Sokenzan, -2 Regisaur, -2 Mythos, -1 Ooze, -1 Abrade, +2 Rootwire Amalgam, +4 Ledger Shredder, +2 Spikefield Hazard. Shredders for staying alive and Hazards for killing Llanowar Elves.
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Brazen Borrower
2 Regisaur Alpha
4 Terror of the Peaks
Other (16)
3 Spell Pierce
3 Abrade
4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
4 Esika's Chariot
2 Mythos of Illuna
Land (28)
4 Ketria Triome
2 Riverglide Pathway
4 Cragcrown Pathway
2 Barkchannel Pathway
3 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
2 Breeding Pool
2 Stormcarved Coast
2 Rockfall Vale
1 Dreamroot Cascade
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
1 Island
1 Weathered Runestone
1 Meteor Golem
1 Containment Breach
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
1 Mascot Exhibition
1 Questing Beast
1 Embercleave
The third Abrade is up for debate over the fourth Borrower. Generally, Abrade for Oven and sort of Greasefang, Strangle for Llanowar Elves, Borrower for Fires of Invention, Ooze for Greasefang, Pierce for Spirits, UW Control, and Collected Company, Fires of Victory for Company and sort of Greasefang, Lava Coil for Red and Company, Reckless Rage if you can get away with it. I have never pulled anything from the side, but it's there.
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Scavenging Ooze
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Lovestruck Beast
4 Terror of the Peaks
Other (12)
4 Reckless Rage
4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
4 Esika's Chariot
4 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Karplusan Forest
2 Den of the Bugbear
3 Lair of the Hydra
1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
3 Mountain
2 Forest
2 Shaper's Sanctuary
4 Abrade
3 Fry
2 Outland Liberator
4 The Akroan War
Former Rules Advisor
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(The Gamers: Dorkness Rising)
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