Khans of Tarkir Brews, pt. 3 – Back to My Beloved Monocolored Decks

Its hard say that in a world with [scryfall]Anger of the Gods[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Drown in Sorrow[/scryfall] going aggro is the right way, but we’ll see. Its often hard to compete with the decks with bigger creatures, but if the manabases of all other decks are largely based on lands that come into play tapped or do damage to their owners, there may in fact be room for ultra fast decks.

Monoblack Aggro or Suicide King

We’ll lose [scryfall]Rakdos Cackler[/scryfall], but were gaining [scryfall]Bloodsoaked Champion[/scryfall] (although that’s just a mock name translated, not the official name, as far as we know). Anyhow, its a 2/1 for one mana, but can’t block (which is fine with us) and can return to the battlefield for 1B with Raid. Also, we have [scryfall]Mardu Skullhunter[/scryfall], which isn’t that good, but can mess with opponents plans. On the other hand, its often a bit awkward, as you don’t necessarily want to play it on the second turn over [scryfall]Thoughtseize[/scryfall], and you’ll often want to time in such a way that you get an important card from an opponents hand, but you can’t know whether opponent has something completely useless left. Well, I’d still use it.

Also, I’d put [scryfall]Agent of the Fates[/scryfall] into the deck. The reason is two-fold. First, the heroic ability is very strong and since we have eight bestow creatures in the deck, we’ll often be able to trigger it. Second, deathtouch is going to be very strong. It can help stop all the huge creatures this set seems to have.

Maybe we should have a [scryfall]Boon of Erebos[/scryfall] or two in the main, but I’d be fine with a few in the sideboard. Also, with tricolored creatures everywhere, four [scryfall]Dark Betrayal[/scryfall]s are a key feature of the sideboard as well.

[cardlist]
[creatures]
4 Tormented Hero
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Gnarled Scarhide
4 Mardu Skullhunter
4 Pain Seer
4 Spiteful Returned
4 Agent of the Fates
4 Mogis’s Marauder
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Thoughtseize
2 Hero’s Downfall
[/spells]
[lands]
14 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Polluted Delta
[/lands]
[/cardlist]

Red Deck Wins

There’s certain strength in going back to the well. There will always be a strong red aggro deck. Its what the color is all about. Also, there are some really good tools for just such a deck in Khans. Khans doesn’t have (thusfar) any one drops for red, but since we three good ones in [scryfall]Firedrinker Satyr[/scryfall], [scryfall]Frenzied Goblin[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Foundry Street Denizen[/scryfall], we something to build on. Also, if we are using pump spells that target, we can use [scryfall]Akroan Crusader[/scryfall] and/or [scryfall]Satyr Hoplite[/scryfall]. Probably not.

Khans does bring in three pretty strong two drops, though. [scryfall]Horde Ambusher[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Jeering Instigator[/scryfall] are both fair two-drops, but also can help push the final damage through if needed. [scryfall]War-Name Aspirant[/scryfall] is a strong card, but also has a little bonus ability, which helps against [scryfall]Sylvan Caryatid[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/scryfall], both cards that will be ubiquitous in the new Standard.

Of course, we also have [scryfall]Eidolon of the Great Revel[/scryfall], [scryfall]Borderland Marauder[/scryfall], [scryfall]Arena Athlete[/scryfall], [scryfall]Altac Bloodseeker[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Mogis’s Warhound[/scryfall] to choose from. I don’t think the Eidolon will be quite as strong as he was previously, but you never know.

So, were quite spoiled for choices. This is the mix I’d try out.

[cardlist]
[creatures]
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Foundry Street Denizen
2 Jeering Instigator
4 War-Name Aspirant
4 Borderland Marauder
2 Mogis’s Warhound
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Lightning Strike
4 Titan’s Strength
3 Stoke the Flames
[/spells]
[lands]
13 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
[/lands]
[/cardlist]

Monoblue Tempo

I’m guessing the real opportunity for decks is going to pass when we lose RtR, but surely there’s something there still.

We have two quite efficient flying attackers in [scryfall]Welkin Tern[/scryfall] and [scryfall]Vaporkin[/scryfall]. Also, there’s [scryfall]Hypnotic Siren[/scryfall], which can serve other purposes, especially in this format, where big monsters are running wild. Also, Siren helps with [scryfall]Illusory Angel[/scryfall]. [scryfall]Quickling[/scryfall] rocks as well.

So, where does the Khans come in, if at all? Well, there’s [scryfall]Jeskai Windscout[/scryfall], but I’m sure its good enough. Not sure though. I’d have to test Prowess before being able to tell you. [scryfall]Jeskai Elder[/scryfall] is actually more interesting, but it doesn’t have evasion. On the other hand, its really hard to block, because you can’t really know how many spells are going to be cast.

[scryfall]Military Intelligence[/scryfall] will provide card advantage and [scryfall]Void Snare[/scryfall] can provide tempo advantage. Its a sorcery, but could work. Also, some counterspells and maybe other bounce would work better.

Then there’s [scryfall]Crystalline Nautilus[/scryfall]. Kind of depends on what is played in the format, because bounce spells and strive could really make this a poor choice, but it also could be an easy to cast 4/4 for three in a format where everyone else is always color screwed or just one turn behind you due to all the comes-into-play-tapped lands.

[cardlist]
[creatures]
4 Vaporkin
4 Welkin Tern
4 Illusory Angel
4 Hypnotic Siren
4 Quickling
4 Ornithopter
4 Crystalline Nautilus
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Ensoul Artifact
4 Void Snare
4 Military Intelligence
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Darksteel Citadel
18 Island
[/lands]
[/cardlist]

Oh, wait… apparently that didn’t need Khans at all.

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