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Main » Articles » Temur Rec Updates: We Need More Flash!

Temur Rec Updates: We Need More Flash!

Kyle Boggemes
Posted on July 21, 2020
 Reddit

Hey everyone!

Last week I shared an adventure-heavy list of Temur Reclamation that was bringing me success. After playing two SCG Standard Challenges and the Championship Qualifier I've learned more about Temur Rec. Today I'm going to share a different take on the archetype that emphasizes flash creatures in the flex slots.

I'm still new to playing Arena tournaments on MTGMelee, but it has been a great experience so far. The interface was clearly designed with tournament players in mind and there were plenty of resources to help me get started. Rather than Arena hosting the event you are simply direct challenging your opponents; this gets around platform stability issues. I would highly recommend giving it a try as it helped fill the void of playing a competitive match with big prizes on the line.

For reference, here's the list I wrote about last week and used to a 3-1 performance in my first SCG Standard Challenge.

Temur Reclamation | M21 Standard | Kyle Boggemes, 3/1 SCG Standard Challenge

I beat three Reclamation decks and lost to Rakdos Sacrifice. This was an interesting result because I had more respect for aggressive decks than most Temur Rec lists in Bonecrusher Giant and Scavenging Ooze. I won $20 store credit and four out of ten points to qualify for the Championship Qualifier.

The Challenge was won by Brad Nelson and I used his list as inspiration for my next rendition of the deck. Ari Lax and Brandon Burton were also in this tournament which made the competition very dense for only being around twenty players.

I finished 4-0 in the next Standard Challenge which grants an auto-qualification:

Temur Reclamation | M21 Standard | Kyle Boggemes, 4-0 SCG Standard Challenge

The major change from my original list is going up to twenty-nine lands and cutting Opts. I've been liking this so far as hitting land drops is the most important aspect of the deck. The final land to add is a third Castle Vantress to provide an additional mana sink.

My only deviation from Brad's winning maindeck was swapping a Scorching Dragonfire for Bonecrusher Giant. I wanted a proactive threat in matchups where removal is lackluster. A key takeaway from the event is the Game 1 mirror is decided by going over the top which made the 4/3 largely irrelevant.

Maindeck Brazen Borrower is a hedge; it interacts with Monochromatic aggro decks while disrupting the mirror. I could have used more creatures to take advantage of the 3/1 body.

All of the cool kids were playing four maindeck Mystical Dispute in anticipation of facing Blue mirrors. I had more Blue mana early from cutting Opt. Control matchups in Game 1 felt great from the extra mana combined with the fourth Dispute.

I added one more Scorching Dragonfire to the sideboard because it's important to interact with sacrifice decks in a generic way when possible. Their hand disruption can poke a hole if your removal is too niche. It can also kill a Stonecoil Serpent, which is very important against Mono-Green; avoid letting them suit it up with Gemrazer at all costs.

Scavenging Ooze was powerful again, but I would like to play a single copy in the sideboard moving forward. The Ooze can be mana-intensive and has diminishing returns. Jund Sacrifice also focuses on assembling Bolas's Citadel after sideboard and moves away from focusing on the graveyard.

Now that I have eight matches of tournament play under my belt, I came up with a new spin to play in the SCG Championship Qualifier:

Temur Reclamation | M21 Standard | Kyle Boggemes, SCG Championship Qualifier

There were just under 129 players which meant seven rounds and the competition was very solid.

I switched back to Opt because when Temur Rec is the most popular deck I expect more aggressive strategies to emerge. Opt helps make me more threat dense rather than slowly hit every land drop. Uro can escape faster as I sift through the deck to find more interaction to fill the graveyard.

I pushed the deck in more of a flash direction. This is because the creatures can be used to stem an early aggression or interact with Blue decks in a meaningful way. Temur Reclamation is an interesting deck because the plan in each matchup has changed with only a few of the flex cards being swapped.

I have been impressed with Brazen Borrower against Mono-Green and Mono-Black but I need a critical mass of aggression to make the 3/1 body relevant. If I play too slow of a role then Petty Theft is just a glorified Unsummon. Nightpack Ambusher fills this role well. I sit behind an army of wolves while interacting on their turn.

The sideboard also has some changes. I gave Elder Gargaroth a shot because I'm taking more of a midrange approach against creature decks. This makes Wilderness Reclamation less important and I need a way to close after interacting on turns 2-4. Overall, I was impressed and will play it moving forward.

Lovestruck Beast is the swap for Elder Gargaroth because they perform a similar role. The critical 6 power to fight Rotting Regisaur needs to exist in some form. This list is better suited against Rotting Regisaur with two Brazen Borrower.

My result was a lackluster 3-4. It started well at 3-1, but I lost all seven dice rolls and had mana troubles in half of the matches. I did get a nice Twitter notification that Sean Hunter top 8ed the ChannelFireball Pro Showdown with my seventy-five.

Here's the list I'm looking to play moving forward.

Temur Reclamation | M21 Standard | Kyle Boggemes

I'm going back to twenty-nine lands given the dominance of Temur Reclamation in the current metagame.

Uro is weaker with lower spell density so I'm going to cut down to two copies. I found myself cutting an Uro against Mono-Green because they have four Scavenging Ooze. I don't really want a third in the board because it only sounds appealing against Mono-Red. Uro is also awkward with so many copies of Nightpack Ambusher.

Two Shark Typhoon felt like there weren't enough answers to Teferi. I was also a big fan of the synergy with Nightpack Ambusher and Typhoon.

A fourth Aether Gust in the main help shore up the Game 1 against Mono-Green Aggro. The two-mana interaction feels great with three Nightpack Ambusher.

Let's get to the sideboard plans for my latest list!

Sideboard Plans

Temur Reclamation Mirror

Since we're cutting some copies of Wilderness Reclamation don't forget to find the second Red source for Explosion. Game 1 the second Red source isn't needed often because it can be untapped with Wilderness Reclamation.

I only have six cards to bring in because everything in the maindeck is live against Blue decks. The anti-Blue sideboard cards are there to craft a post board game plan.

Narset's Reversal is picking up steam, but I want my anti-Blue cards to be good against Azorius, Bant, and the mirror. Thought Distortion isn't common enough for it to be part of the equation.

Bant Control

The most important interaction in the matchup is having the counter ready for an early Teferi, Time Raveler. If I'm up against Bant I won't counter a Growth Spiral on the draw because they can untap and slam a Teferi.

I cut a Brazen Borrower because Bant Control plays less Shark Typhoon than the Temur Rec mirror. It's also not a winning line to bounce teferi in many cases because you are less reliant on a big Explosion post board. This is more frequently a Game 1 maneuver.

Bant remains a challenging matchup so I'm looking for ways to improve. This current plan involves not bringing in Scavenging Ooze in favor of keeping three Aether Gusts. I'm trying this because I rarely have enough interaction to fight Nissa after a Teferi counter war.

Mono Green Aggro

I like Wilt in the matchup for Stonecoil Serpent, but I don't have room. If you do have room to board in Wilt make sure to not let the Serpent become mutated by Gemrazer because it is no longer an artifact.

The current Mono-Green trend is to maindeck Primal Might and sideboard Ram Through. Be ready with Brazen Borrower, Aether Gust, and Expansion to blow out their fight spells. This is especially important when they have a deathtouch creature on the battlefield versus your Elder Garagoth.

I don't miss the third Uro in the board and prefer the Scavenging Ooze and two Elder Garagoths. They all perform the same function, but have diminishing returns.

Nightpack Ambusher is great in the matchup. There will be some Bonecrusher Giants hanging out in the adventure zone, but I like to hold them in favor of getting a wolf at the end of my turn. The same can be said for Uro and Wilderness Reclamation. There will be a turn where I have enough mana to cast multiple sorcery-speed spells. The Ambusher will eventually die so I'm not in a rush to cast my spells. I'll make an exception for Elder Garagoth.

Mono-Red

Mono-Black Aggro

Two Brazen Borrowers and two Elder Gargaroth insulate me against Demonic Embrace. Wilt makes the cut because I have so many dead Aether Gusts to board out. Ideally, I want to bait a Noxious Grasp on Nightpack Ambusher before running out Elder Gargaroth.

I stay on the Reclamation game plan post board because I want to cut the bad maindeck interaction. Black decks also can't interact with a resolved Reclamation unlike Green with Gemrazer.

Jund Sacrifice

Jund is moving more toward the Bolas's Citadel plan to fight control decks so I'm adding another Negate. Petty Theft is weak against a deck with so many cheap spells. In Game 1 you can bounce a Citadel while a spell they cast is on the stack from the top of the deck.

I want to keep my Game 1 plan in this matchup because I need to close the game faster. A resolved Uro is not enough to stabilize against a Citadel.

Rakdos Sacrifice

This is a matchup where I would like Storm's Wrath. The reason it's not in my sideboard is because it doesn't work well with Nightpack Ambusher. I would rather have nimble instant-speed interaction than a sweeper in a creature-heavy list.

I don't like Brazen Borrower in Game 1, but I need them to fight Rotting Regisaur after sideboard. All of the Aether Gusts get cut because a savvy Rakdos Sacrifice opponent will board out their Red creatures to blank them.

Azorius Control

That's all I have for today. Temur Reclamation shows no signs of slowing down in Standard. It continues to evolve. Go ambush some foes.

Thanks for reading!

-Kyle

TAGS articles, standard, sideboard, constructed, analysis, decklist, sideboarding, kyle boggemes, sideboard guide, m21 standard, temur reclamation, 07212020

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