Battering Sram

Posted on September 6, 2018

One of the most exciting cards in Standard that's seen very little play over its lifetime is Sram, Senior Edificer. This card turns all manner of cards into cantrips, but is highly dependent on the presence of cheap auras, equipment, and enchantments to get much of anything done. There are plenty of cheap auras available in Standard, but too few resilient threats to make it worth the risk. That said, if you can find the weeks where cheap removal is on the downswing, a deck like this one by _OVC_ could be a great choice:

Sram Auras | Core Set 2019 Standard | _OVC_, 5-0 Standard League

Instants (3)
1 Spell Pierce
2 Dive Down

The theme of this deck is Sram plus cheap auras. Most of the removal in this format is either Black or damage-based, so if you can find a Knight of Grace or Adanto Vanguard, Sram can let you stack up auras pretty quickly. Spell Pierce and Dive Down give you some additional protection against cards like Settle the Wreckage and Seal Away, but you're really hoping to play mostly against cards like Cast Down and Lightning Strike.

The idea here is simple: Sram and Curious Obsession make it pretty easy to keep the cards coming if you can dodge early interaction. From there, Arcane Flight and Aether Tunnel give you evasion so that you can race whatever your opponent is trying to do. Squire's Devotion helps ensure that you're going to win whatever race you get into.

This deck is going to struggle against things like Nexus of Fate and control decks, but if you don't have to fear early removal, it seems like a great way to sidestep a lot of what Standard is all about right now. Your primary threats are pretty good at blanking removal, and you can stack up enough auras to dominate combat. As long as you can dodge those decks that don't care about your plan, this seems like a fun deck for the current Standard format.