Temur Monsters in Khans of Tarkir standard.

Christian with www.Wizardden.com and team Rogue T3ch here to talk to you about a deck I found myself watching a lot this past game day. Fellow team member Josh Kreiter has been piloting a very interesting Temur Monsters deck that has been putting up a consistent X-1/X-0 record these past few weeks and after having watched it for several rounds I wanted to tell you a little about the deck. Let's start with the deck list:

Main Board:
2 Arbor Colossus
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Elvish Mystic
1 Genesis Hydra
3 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Polukranos, World Eater
2 Savage Knuckleblade
3 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid

Creatures [24]

1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Xenagos, the Reveler

Planeswalkers [5]

2 Crater's Claws
2 Lightning Strike
2 Temur Charm

Spells [6]

6 Forest
2 Frontier Bivouac
3 Mana Confluence
4 Mountain
1 Shivan Reef
2 Temple of Abandon
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Yavimaya Coast
Sideboard:
2 Anger of the Gods
3 Hornet Nest
3 Polis Crusher
3 Reclamation Sage
2 Setessan Tactics
2 Stubborn Denial

This is a deck that got a lot of hype just after rotation but seemed to see no real success. That didn't stop Josh from sleeving it up and wrecking face! This list came in second in the local state championship and had it's only loss this past game day to a fellow team mate running the Mardu midrange list I talked about a few weeks ago. It is very solid deck and let's look at a few key cards that makes it so good.

Sylvan Caryatid and Courser of Kruphix has been a recipe for success for the past year in various monsters lists so it should come as no surprise to see the pair here. Stormbreath Dragon and Polukranos are also very powerful on their own and need to explanation, same goes with Goblin Rabblemaster. The one card that has seen no love in standard thus far seems to be Savage Knuckleblade. He makes the MB as a two of and with his base stats that makes sense. With Courser and rabble hogging the three drop spot. What I think really makes Knuckleblade so good is two things. 1. He costs three mana. That means he dodges Disdainful stroke. As a control player I can tell you this is very important VS the control deck. 2. He dodges removal with the ability to bounce himself, This means he has to be dissolved or killed immediately. With rabble already being a must answer threat at that spot and Knuckleblade not dying to Bile Blight... He is just a problem.

Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker is seeing love in this list as a two of. He fits the deck very nicely as he comes into play as a removal spell more often than not and swings four power the following turn. I compare him to Flame Tongue Kavu in that respect. Super efficient and being put to good use. Xenegos the Reveler also seeing play as a two of. As a threat maker/mana ramper, he is an auto-include for these monsters strategies and for good reason, He rocks. Rounding out the planeswalkers we have Chandra, Pyromaster for card advantage and the occasional "Stop a blocker- Alpha strike" good stuff. One other new card getting some love is craters claws as a two of. Now very common but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense, With these monsters decks, if the game goes long they typically have access to tons of mana late game. Why not have a card that if drawn in the late game just wins on it's own? Hence, the inclusion. It also acts as efficient removal in a pinch so it's never going to be dead in your hand.

The Final card worth mentioning is two copies of Temur charm. On paper it doesn't look like much. Yes it is a mana leak and that's awesome but the most interesting is the fight ability, I have watched this card just blowout blocks in combat and turn the whole game around. If that doesn't do it for ya, like I said, it is a mana-leak...

That's all for today,
Thanks for reading.
Christian