I\u2019ve always liked Temur and played it twice in KTK standard, once in a more midrangey-planeswalker style which did well, and once in an aggro build that was a disaster. Based on the disaster I stayed away from that wedge, but then I saw Brian Dolan\u2019s list at the SCG Open<\/a> and I just loved it.<\/p>\n I had been on a travel-related MTG hiatus for a while and didn\u2019t have any Thunderbreak Regent<\/a>s when I returned, so the first MTG I played since the DTK pre-release couldn\u2019t be this deck. I played an Abzan Reanimator list that was OK but I didn\u2019t love it. But my Regents arrived in time for this last FNM and I was excited to play it.<\/p>\n I made a few small changes to Dolan\u2019s list and this is what I sleeved up:<\/p>\n Creatures (22)<\/strong> Spells (14)<\/strong> Lands (24)<\/strong> Sideboard (15)<\/strong> Basically, I cut a Whisperwood for a Sarkhan, cut a Lightning Strike<\/a> and a Wild Slash<\/a> for two Draconic Roar<\/a>s, and fiddled with the sideboard a little (I refuse to play Feed the Clan<\/a>). Tweaks, but nothing major.<\/p>\n Round 1: Ron, Jeskai Prowess<\/strong> Round 2: Tyler, playing BW Warriors<\/strong> Round 3: Zac, playing GR Aggro<\/strong> Round 4: Evan, playing UB Control<\/strong> Round 5: Mac, RG Dragons<\/strong> Quarterfinals: Evan, playing UB Control<\/strong> Semifinals: Patrick, playing Abzan Aggro<\/strong> Well, 3rd\/4th isn\u2019t too bad\u2014cashing is always good. Got a second copy of Sarkhan Unbroken<\/a> with my store credit with a little left over credit for next time.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a certain elegance in the design of this deck that I really appreciate. In particular, the lack of Elvish Mystics and Temur Charms and a lot of other baggage while still maintaining Savage Knuckleblade. I\u2019ve played the Knuckleblade with Elvish Mystics before, and while Knuck is actually a very good card, it\u2019s really awful with the Mystic, because the only way you actually get a turn 2 Knuckleblade is turn 1 Yavimaya Coast into mystic, turn 2 Mountain\/Shivan Reef. It just never works out\u2014Mystic just doesn\u2019t do enough. However, with Sylvan you much more often get Knuckleblade on turn 4, but because Carytid gives any color, you can often hit haste on that turn, or cast it without haste and leave up Stubborn Denial. This is actually OK because this is not an aggro deck, it\u2019s a midrange deck with a lot of reach. It\u2019s very fun to play, because you get to be both proactive and reactive, but it lacks the raw power of cars like Siege Rhino or Ojutai.<\/p>\n Some other thoughts:<\/p>\n Background\ufeff\ufeff I\u2019ve always liked Temur and played it twice in KTK standard, once in a more midrangey-planeswalker style which did well, and once in an aggro build that was a disaster. Based on the disaster I stayed away from that wedge, but then I saw Brian Dolan\u2019s list at the SCG Open and I just … Continue reading Temur Dragons Cashes FNM<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[15],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":648,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644\/revisions\/648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/byrneweb.com\/sunburn\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\ufeffThe Deck: Temur Dragons\ufeff<\/h3>\n
\n4 [card]Sylvan Caryatid[\/card]
\n4 [card]Courser of Kruphix[\/card]
\n4 [card]Savage Knuckleblade[\/card]
\n4 [card]Thunderbreak Regent[\/card]
\n2 [card]Whisperwood Elemental[\/card]
\n4 [card]Stormbreath Dragon[\/card]<\/p>\n
\n2 [card]Wild Slash[\/card]
\n3 [card]Crater’s Claws[\/card]
\n4 [card]Stubborn Denial[\/card]
\n2 [card]Draconic Roar[\/card]
\n2 [card]Lightning Strike[\/card]
\n1 [card]Sarkhan Unbroken[\/card]<\/p>\n
\n2 [card]Shivan Reef[\/card]
\n2 [card]Temple of Abandon[\/card]
\n2 [card]Temple of Mystery[\/card]
\n3 [card]Forest[\/card]
\n3 [card]Mountain[\/card]
\n4 [card]Frontier Bivouac[\/card]
\n4 [card]Wooded Foothills[\/card]
\n4 [card]Yavimaya Coast[\/card]<\/p>\n
\n1 [card]Destructive Revelry[\/card]
\n3 [card]Roast[\/card]
\n4 [card]Disdainful Stroke[\/card]
\n1 [card]Anger of the Gods[\/card]
\n1 [card]Seismic Rupture[\/card]
\n2 [card]Hornet Nest[\/card]
\n1 [card]Xenagos, the Reveler[\/card]
\n2 [card]Ashcloud Phoenix[\/card]<\/p>\nSwiss Rounds<\/h3>\n
\nSometmes at FNM you get a new player playing a substandard deck. It\u2019s great, people have to start somewhere, but it\u2019s kind of a bye when you\u2019re playing a serious deck. These are, of course, also the matches where you least need great draws to win, and of course that\u2019s always when I get the best draws. I won the die roll, went T1 tapland, T2 tapland, leave up a tapland and then Wild Slash<\/a> the opposing Swiftspear, T3 Knuckleblade, T4 Thunderbreak, T5 Stormbreath. Many real decks would have issues with that draw. Game 2 I had turn 2 Carytid into T3 Thunderbreak and T4 Stormbreath. Silly.
\n1-0 matches, 2-0 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nTyler\u2019s deck is very similar to the BW Warriors deck recently Deck Tech\u2019d on SCG Live<\/a>. Tyler\u2019s build played a few copies of Secure the Wastes<\/a>, a slightly different set of warriors, and at least one Rush of Battle<\/a> but it\u2019s the same basic idea. Game 1 I had a slower start but with a Courser to smooth things out, but Tyler got off a Secure for 4 at the end of my turn with a followup Rush of Battle that put him up to 29 life and me down to 13. But from there I got a Sarkhan and then a Stormbreath, and Stormbreath is a real problem for his deck. Turns out Courser plus Sarkhan\u2019s +1 is very good. I eventually killed him with a 7\/7 Stormbreath. I boarded in the Nests and the red small sweepers. Game 2 was less interesting because of my turn 3 Hornet Nest, which just locked out the ground way too well.
\n2-0 matches, 4-0 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThis was mostly a pre-DTK list featuring Heir of the Wilds<\/a>, Rabblemaster, Fanatic of Xenagos<\/a>, Flamewake Phoenix<\/a>, Ashcloud Phoenix<\/a>, Boon Satyr<\/a>, and burn spells\u2014but no dragons. I think the only DTK card was Surrak. My draw in the opener was a little slow and his wasn\u2019t. I had to take 4 from a Fanatic before I could Roar it and just could not keep up with the followups, including a Yasova that let him take my Courser. I again boarded in the Nests and the red sweepers plus the Xenagos. Game 2 he had a turn 2 Heir and a turn 3 Rabblemaster to my turn 3 Courser, but my turn 4 play was Anger to wipe his board and get in for 2 with Courser. I got Xenagos and used his plus to generate extra mana and cast a Stormbreath on the same turn. Next turn I used his plus again to generate a Thunderbreak and something else and my air force carried it home. Game 3 he had Heir on turns 2 and 3 and followed with a Boon Satyr<\/a> to make them 3\/3s. However, I dropped a Hornet Nest<\/a> and that gummed things up. He decided he had to swing, which got me down to 7 but then got me three insects. I followed with a Stormbreath and let the insects hold the ground. He eventually swung into he insects and committed another low-toughness creature to the board, and that played right into the Anger I had just drawn into.
\n3-0 matches, 6-1 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSometimes at 3-0 it\u2019s possible to double-draw in, but Evan was 2-1 so he couldn\u2019t. I knew what Evan was on I was interested in exactly how big a deal the Stubborn Denial<\/a>s would really be. Turns out they were huge. He of course had no early pressure and I managed to stick a Knuckleblade with a Denial in hand and blue up on turn 4. I followed up with a Courser and he tried to play a Perilous Vault<\/a> but I Denied that. I got in for 8 the next turn by pumping Knuckleblade, and Courser was letting me play lands and just draw all gas, I hit something else with a Denial, and so we went to game 2. I boarded in the Strokes, the Xenagos, the Revelry, and the Ashclouds. Game 2 was just about me getting a good mix of threats (including an Ashcloud) and him not being able to kill everything fast enough. I\u2019m pretty sure something got Denied or Disdainful Stroke<\/a>d along the way, but I don\u2019t remember the details.
\n4-0 matches, 8-1 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWe were the only 4-0s so we ID\u2019d.
\n4-0-1 matches, 8-1 games<\/em><\/p>\nTop 8<\/h3>\n
\nEvan won his 5th round match and squeaked in, so we got a rematch. Game 1 I had a mediocre draw with double Lightning Strike<\/a> (a card I side out in this matchup), but it had lands and a Courser, too, so I kept it. It was a good keep. I got the Courser and a hasty Knuckleblade and hit him down to 14, he tapped out for Crux and I double Struck him down to 8, then drew other hasty threats to close it out without a single Denial. Game 2 I started on a slow hand, but it did have a Revelry in it. He tapped out for a turn 3 Ashiok and my followup was\u2026 a Courser. I hit the Ashiok with it once and got down a Regent next, and he tapped down to 1 for a Vault. I untapped and blew up the Vault with Revelry, directed the two 2 Ashiok, and finished off the planeswalker. There was some back and forth with me casting a couple things and him killing them, but when I got to seven mana I had both a Stormbreath and two untapped blue. I cast Stormbreath, he tried to Encase it, I Denied, he Negated, and I Denied again. My next draw was a Stroke and he never drew a sub-four-mana answer, so that was it.
\n5-0-1 matches, 10-1 games<\/em><\/p>\n
\nGame 1 I kept a 3-land, 4-spell hand with two Wild Slash<\/a>, a Lightning Strike<\/a>, and a Knuckleblade (the lands were such that I would be able to cast the Knuck on turn 3). I was the better seed, so I was on the play, dropped my Frontier Bivouac<\/a>, and passed. He Thoughtsiezed me his turn 1 and took the Strike, I drew land so had nothing on turn 2, he Thoughtsiezed me again and took the Knuck. Ugh. I drew a Courser and played that, he came back with Fleecemane Lion<\/a>, I drew more land, he dropped another creature (can\u2019t remember what, though), and I had to double-Slash the Lion, and I just never got there. I probably mis-boarded here, as I had him on a more midrange build and brought in Strokes, but he was running Death Dealers and Wardens, which I didn\u2019t see in game 1. Game 2 was very, very close. I had a Stubborn Denial<\/a> he knew about from an early Thoughtseize<\/a> but was a little choked on mana. We had traded a lot of blows (including me blocking a Death Dealer with Knuckleblade, he pumped, I pumped in response, and he pumped again to make it a trade and him playing a Rhino and me top decking a Roast immediately after) and got to this state: I had a Thunderbreak on the board but he had an Anafenza and something else (I think a non-monstrous Lion). I had a Stormbreath and another Regent in hand and him at 10, me at 7. I had only five lands, so I could cast either one of them, but if I cast the Stormbreath I couldn\u2019t cast Denial. I cast the Regent and hit him down to 6 with the other Regent, so any removal in his hand was dead, and I didn\u2019t think he could get in for 7 since I could block Anafenza with the untapped Regent, and next turn I could come with Stormbreath. Unfortunately, what he had in hand was\u2026 Surrak. Dang, haste got there\u2014I did not see that coming at all. Really great game, though. In hindsight I should have not boarded in all 4 Strokes since this was a low-to-the-ground aggro list, and I should have brought in the Hornet Nest<\/a>s. Oh well.
\n5-1-1 matches, 10-3 games<\/em><\/p>\nComments on the Deck<\/h3>\n
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