Standard Deck Time: Evolutionary Leap

[scryfall]Evolutionary Leap[/scryfall] just seems like a build-around to me, although I think it can be a good way to combat control decks by saccing the creatures they kill. Anyhow, here’s an idea:

There’s basically two ways to approach this card:

  1. You play a deck with plenty of creatures in it.
  2. You can play a deck with only a couple of creatures in it and plenty of token makers.

Lets go with the latter.

Jund

So, what makes us something to sac in these colors? Here’s some good things:

There’s probably plenty more out there, but these seem pretty good… Well, with the addition of this:

We don’t want to hit mana elves in the mid- or late game, so we won’t be using any, even if it makes the deck slower. We might think about using some of the plentiful ramp spells available to us, but I don’t think that’s a good way to go. We can just hope the tokens slow our opponent down enough for us to get there.

[deck]
[creatures]
4 Whisperwood Elemental
3 Hangarback Walker
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Goblin Rabblemaster
[/creatures]
[spells]
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
3 Bile Blight
2 Thoughtseize
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
2 Hero’s Downfall
4 Evolutionary Leap
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Abandon
3 Temple of Malice
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Mountain
3 Swamp
3 Forest
[/lands]
[/deck]

The landbase probably needs a couple of [scryfall]Mana Confluence[/scryfall]s and maybe a [scryfall]Evolving Wilds[/scryfall] or two if it can handle the comes-into-play-tapped lands. There might also be a few too many creatures, but I’d leave that to testing. Tasigur is a good addition to the deck, because we are putting stuff to our graveyard constantly.

Selesnya

We have some of the cards from above:

But white also brings a few additions of its own:

Well, if we’d bring in another color, we could use [scryfall]First Response[/scryfall] with painlands..

[deck]
[creatures]
4 Whisperwood Elemental
4 Hangarback Walker
2 Dragonlord Dromoka
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
[/creatures]
[spells]
2 Ajani Steadfast
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Secure the Wastes
2 Spear of Heliod
4 Valorous Stance
2 Dromoka’s Command
4 Evolutionary Leap
[/spells]
[lands]
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Blossoming Sands
4 Windswept Heath
7 Plains
7 Forest
[/lands]
[/deck]

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