When a set comes out, I have a habit of getting sets of cards I think have potential. These cards generally do something kind of unique within the format and I could see them being used somewhere. Than, they just sort of fizzle out, because they don’t fit into the decks they could go into, because they compete for spots on the curve with stronger cards and they don’t really fit into the format because of [scryfall]Siege Rhino[/scryfall]. You wouldn’t believe how many of these fell through for that very reason.. Sigh.

… but hey, brewing is fun, so I made a list of cards I wanted to highlight and brew with. I’m not going to brew with all of them, but I’ll still list all of them.

The cards I listed when researching this:

Some have seen some play. Logan Mize had a full set of [scryfall]Pitiless Horde[/scryfall]s in his Abzan deck recently. In the same tournament, Tom Ross had a singleton [scryfall]Vaultbreaker[/scryfall] in his Atarka Red’s sideboard. Raphael Levy played a full set of [scryfall]Ire Shaman[/scryfall]s in his mostly Big Red deck that splashed for some black removal. So, these aren’t totally unused cards in high level play, but not as visibly as most cards.

I did manage to sneak in some OGW-cards, too, so its kind of topical.

Blue Tempo

Well, mostly blue. [scryfall]Jori En, Ruin Diver[/scryfall] would be great in this deck, but I couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to the mana to work.

[deck]
[creatures]
4 Jeskai Sage
4 Jeskai Elder
4 Jhessian Thief
1 Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest
4 Reflector Mage
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Clutch of Currents
2 Treasure Cruise
2 Will of the Naga
4 Pressure Point
4 Grip of the Roil
4 Rush of Ice
2 Send to Sleep
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Prairie Stream
4 Flooded Strand
2 Windswept Heath
4 Polluted Delta
6 Island
1 Plains
[/lands]
[/deck]

Its a bit low on lands, but you just have to make those cantrips work for you. I think there’s actually a good blue tempo deck somewhere out there. I’m not sure this is it, because it would require someone with more time than me to go through the testing process.

Big Red

Two ways to go here. We could either be splashing for black or for green. I actually do think [scryfall]Ire Shaman[/scryfall] could be better than [scryfall]Abbot of Keral Keep[/scryfall] under the right circumstances.

[deck title=Big Red with Veggies]
[creatures]
3 Shaman of the Great Hunt
4 Ire Shaman
4 Dragon Whisperer
4 Vaultbreaker
2 Yasova Dragonclaw
2 Dragonlord Atarka
[/creatures]
[spells]
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 Crater’s Claws
3 Outpost Siege
4 Fiery Impulse
3 Exquisite Firecraft
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Cinder Glade
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Windswept Heath
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Forest
10 Mountain
[/lands]
[/deck]

The [scryfall]Smoldering Marsh[/scryfall] is there for the sideboard. You can bring in something like [scryfall]Radiant Flames[/scryfall] and get the full value, if you want it. You can play all those lands with no problem, because

[deck title=Big Black Red]
[creatures]
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Pitiless Horde
2 Vaultbreaker
4 Dust Stalker
4 Despoiler of Souls
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Grasp of Darkness
4 Fiery Impulse
2 Murderous Cut
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Polluted Delta
5 Swamp
4 Mountain
[/lands]
[/deck]

Well, that went very differently then I initially thought it would.