Into the Arena: The Return of Temur Aggro?

Earlier this week Wizards of the Coast announced a major shake-up to the Standard format, in the form of three huge bannings! As of January 27th, Faceless Haven, Alrund’s Epiphany, and Divide by Zero will be removed from Standard. These three cards have been some of the most played cards in the format over the last few months, but also for the entire last year. At least one of these cards was in almost every Standard decklist, and Faceless Haven and Alrund’s Epiphany were very important parts of the deckbuilding for most of the metagame. Every blue-based controlling deck used Epiphany to gain an end-game advantage, and Mono-White and Mono-Green have been the only aggressive decks recently because they could take advantage of Faceless Haven. Now that these cards are out of the format Standard is going to look very different, and today I’m going to look at one deck in particular that might stand to benefit from the changes!

Temur Aggro has held a pretty minimal place in the Standard metagame recently, but it is also one of the very few decks that isn’t affected by the new bans. Temur has a number of advantages in the format now – it takes advantage of Esika’s Chariot and Goldspan Dragon, which are arguably the two most powerful cards in the format now. It is also not a disadvantage to be multi-coloured anymore, and I expect a lot of decks to play more colours now that Faceless Haven is banned. It was impressive that Temur Aggro was decent even before the bans, when Mono-Green and Mono-White could play faster than it and Izzet Control decks could overpower it. I think that now that the competition has died down a bit, Temur should have the tools to tackle both Control and Aggro.

In preparation for playing post-ban I started playing some games with this decklist I saw at a recent Standard tournament on MTG Melee.

Temur Aggro

Standard
by Mauro Sasso

This deck impressed me with its versatility and especially its ability to turn the corner and quickly gain an advantage. This was usually the result of Esika’s Chariot (especially when combined with Wrenn and Seven) or Goldspan Dragon because of the huge effect these cards have on the board.

Of course, the deck will need to be adapted to better suit what the format will now look like. In order to update it I have made some assumptions about what will happen to the metagame. To start, I think that since Alrund’s Epiphany is leaving the format, Hullbreaker Horror and Lier, Disciple of the Drowned will become control’s go-to finishers. In order to combat this, some appropriate removal needs to be included. Thundering Rebuke is a strong option for handling Lier, and Dragon’s Fire is an option too but can’t necessarily be relied upon. Hullbreaker Horror is a much more challenging card to deal with. Ideally you should be able to put enough pressure on an opponent playing the Hullbreaker that you can finish them off before it takes over the game. In order to help this approach, Fading Hope might be the best way to cheaply handle a Hullbreaker for a turn so you can end the game.

As for the aggro matchups, it is difficult to say what those decks will look like going forward, but I think it’s safe to say that red-based aggro will start to become a thing again. Goldspan Dragon will probably become more popular as well, and if Temur is indeed viable then mirrors will become more common too. The sideboard for the deck above actually seems quite capable of handling that, but I have made a few tweaks to narrow in on these matchups.

Temur Aggro

Standard
by Dawson Reynolds

The first change I made to the deck was cutting Moonveil Regent and adding a copy each of Reckless Stormseeker and Ranger Class. Moonveil Regent seems like a fine experiment but in reality it felt like its main purpose was enabling Dragon’s Fire. This change lowers the curve and helps the deck race against Hullbreaker Horror decks. It also prompted me to replace two of the Dragon’s Fires with Thundering Rebukes, which were bad against Faceless Haven but do great against Lier, Goldspan Dragon, and pretty much every creature from the aggro decks. Most of the rest of the deck I left intact. I liked the split of counterspells used in the original deck, as having access to those can often keep opponents on their toes, especially if they can be used to protect a Goldspan Dragon.

Sideboarding with this deck is quite simple so I won’t provide an entire guide. Essentially, just bring in the answers that line up with your opponent’s cards. One thing to note is that Dragon’s Fire is a little bit better on the draw, as you will be more likely to still have a dragon in hand when casting it. For this reason, there are matchups where I’ll take it out on the play but leave it in on the draw, when you may need to be more reactive. Really though, the reins are yours, and you should feel free to modify the deck as you see fit. Temur has a lot of good card choices and it will certainly continue to evolve as the Standard format adjusts. Just try to stay one step ahead of the curve and play threats and answers that you think will line up with what your opponents are doing.

Looking for a way to dominate Standard after the big bans? Temur Aggro is the way to go!