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Main » Articles » Building Around Bears

Building Around Bears

Michael Flores
Posted on April 30, 2019
 Reddit

War of the Spark is already all over us.

Hero to the people Grischa Baumann is already posting how great MY* "Amass Deck" idea is on Twitter, showcasing the power of a large Zombie Army:

What a Resident Genius I must be!

Okay, okay. Jay Kay.

The reality is that we haven't seen such a transformative addition to an existing format since Time Spiral, or mayhap the original Ravnica: City of Guilds. We keep saying that these cards - especially the many Planeswalkers - are going to undo or reimagine how decks are going to look. But what do we mean by all of that?

I was thinking to start at the nuts and bolts of any good Magic card:

Grizzly Bears

That's right, the 2-drop.

What are some two casting cost creature cards that might prove an impetus to a new deck idea? How might some of those emerging decks look?

First up:

Augur of Bolas

It's difficult to describe what a paradigm-shifting card this is. So instead I'll talk about this card:

Omenspeaker

In 2015 I wasn't actually sure Omenspeaker was Constructed playable. At some point I was like, "Sure, I guess it helps you hit your land drops."

Then I came to understand its context a little bit more.

Omenspeaker was a 1/3 creature for two mana. IF NOTHING ELSE, a 1/3 creature for two mana could seriously mess up any 1/1 or 2/1 creatures that opposing mages might field; and for that matter, hold off 2/2 or so creatures.

When I started to consider playing with Omenspeaker, this was the deck that had just won the Pro Tour:

Red Aggro | Dragons of Tarkir Standard | Martin Dang, 1st Place Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir

Of the fifteen creatures that this deck plays, exactly zero pierce a 1/3 for two mana. Even a powerhouse like Goblin Rabblemaster just makes 1/1 bodies that are forced to attack... And attack directly into one power of doom.

In addition, Dang's supplemental non-creature creatures, Dragon Fodder and Hordeling Outburst are just more and more 1/1 guys that die upon first contact with Omenspeaker.

None of which is a great reason to play Omenspeaker. Part of it was that "this will help me hit my land drops" bit, and part of it was the Blue pip in the top-right. That helped set up this man Merfolk:

Master of Waves

Between its cheap cost and the square peg it could surprisingly fit, Omenspeaker ended up being a great card for my Blue deck's sideboard.

I got double duty in literally the only match that mattered.

My old road trip partner Chris Pikula traveled to Utah with me for our first RPTQ. I only heard later at the table-snapping Tweet he sent while watching my Top 8 match against Epser Dragons. The opponent had Foul-Tongue Invocation to fight my hard-to-handle Dragonlords Dromoka and Ojutai... But just having a 1/3 on turn two essentially "Countered" all of his Foul-Tongue Invocations for the rest of the game. It was awesome!

And of course, in a matchup where I just wanted to hit land drops, helping to do that early on was a godsend.

Let's look at Omenspeaker - my Gnarled Mass 2k15 if you would - versus War of the Spark's Augur of Bolas.

Unlike Omenspeaker, Augur of Bolas will draw you an actual card. That's even more awesome. It's not as good at digging directly for lands, but it is pretty baller at digging for Opt, which can do in a pinch. And it's got this nifty piece of interaction, too:

Chart a Course

Augur of Drakes | War Standard | Michael Flores

I spent much of Ravnica Allegiance Standard playing Drakes on Friday Nights, and netted some nifty, shiny, promos for my trouble. One thing I did that was a little bit weird to other folks was to play the "original" package of Search for Azcanta and Niv-Mizzet, Parun instead of the then-newer tech of Pteramander.

I thought Pteramander was pretty bad in Drakes. Great in Mono-Blue... But bad in Drakes. For one thing, Mono-Red was already a challenging matchup for Drakes. Could go either way... But you usually wanted to be on the Red Deck side. Pteramander just made their Shocks good in a matchup that otherwise had only 4+ toughness creatures.

It was middling most other places, and actively bad against opposing Niv-Mizzet, Paruns.

I think Augur of Bolas is different as a straight swap. Instead of being actively bad against Mono-Red, this is a list of all the guys it eats cleanly:

Fanatical Firebrand
Runaway Steam-Kin
Viashino Pyromancer

(Pyromancer is especially painful to look at.)

This is a list of all the guys that it brickwalls:

Ghitu Lavarunner
Rix Maadi Reveler

(Big fat "maybe" on the Reveler.)

This is the list of guys that it doesn't beat:

Goblin Chainwhirler
Rekindling Phoenix

("Maybe" ditto on Phoenix.)

So 3/3 First Strike is bad times, and in the VERY off chance someone has a 4/3 flyer we have to deal with that another way. But this is a far cry from 1/1 Shock-rod.

On the other hand: You still get more than 50% of what made Augur of Bolas good at all: Which is the ability to catalyze Chart a Course a little earlier.

I like the long game of Search for Azcanta, but Drakes can't really create inevitability in the same way a Draw-Go deck can. I left one Niv-Mizzet because IT'S THAT DAMN GOOD. Whatever points Augur of Bolas loses to a predicted reduction in Mono-Red popularity it is going to gain in Control-grinding; plus... It can just attack a Planeswalker!

Whether or not in Drakes, I'm a big buyer on Augur of Bolas.

Augur of Armies | War Standard | Michael Flores

We're not going TOO crazy yet, with this build. I'll just be testing out the theory that Invade the City can play a good replacement to Enigma Drake. It's certainly more straight-up synergistic with Augur of Bolas!

Like Grischa from up top, we have the one Commence the Endgame for big Bolas beatdowns. Beware Carnage Tyrant! As we saw from his screen cap, a giant 8/8 with flash is a heck of an answer to an attacking Dinosaur.

But what if we did go crazy on Amass? What might that look like?

Lazotep Reaver

Back in 1998 and 1999, before his long career in WotC R&D (and Digital), my friend Worth Wollpert was coming off his first Pro Tour Top 8... But inexplicably carpooled with me to mad events. Once he drove me all the way to New York for a PTQ that I won, and his dad even bought us steaks the night before! He later drove me to Columbus for the then-US Nationals qualifying Regional Championship... Despite being already qualified for all these events himself!

Worth loves to give me heck about Erg Raiders. I was planning to play Erg Raiders at Regionals, but he made me replace them with Cursed Scroll in the car. I don't know if I would have qualified with Erg Raiders or not. But Cursed Scroll worked out just fine thank you very much.

With War of the Spark, we have, perhaps, an upgraded Erg Raiders.

Lazotep Reaver

Erg Raiders offered a 2/3 body with a pretty substantial drawback for 1b. Lazotep Reaver gives us about the same size - but distributed across multiple bodies - with no drawback. It might not be the best card in War of the Spark, but it's probably underrated. Originally I thought Lazotep Reaver would be a good two mana redundancy to Dreadhorde Invasion, but Hall of Famer Patrick Chapin thinks Lazotep Reaver might be even better!

Here's a swing at playing both.

Get Big // Die Trying | War Standard | Michael Flores

The general concept is that everything you do adds material to your side of the battlefield. Kill that, make an Army; bounce that, make the Army bigger; get in! Lazotep Plating is vastly inferior to Dive Down, kind of. But also much better in that it can protect you, and moreso because it is on-theme making or growing material.

One last one:

Dreadhorde Butcher

I'm not really high on Red Aggro right now, but Dreadhorde Butcher seems like it can get online - and potentially out of hand - right quick. Red is going to need a facelift to compete against Oath of Kaya (and all the Planeswalkers that card is going to protect). I think the hasty Dreadhorde Butcher might just be the Zombie to lead the charge into Red's future!

Come the middle turns, Dreadhorde Butcher is better for catalyzing Spectacle than even Fanatical Firebrand. It does the same 1/1 haste job; but if it gets blocked, it still damages the opponent to set up the Spectacle!

Sadly, I think Viashino Pyromancer's time in the sun is done, at least for now. But its job at the two will be well-filled. We can't really support Wizard's Lightning with only one Wizard, but between Risk Factor and Dreadhorde Butcher, we probably have enough ammo to support Skewer the Critics.

Oh... And Dreadhorde Butcher is a Warrior! That means we can play Unclaimed Territory to help cast both the Butcher and the usually prohibitive Goblin Chainwhirler without missing a beat. What about...

Rakdos Copycat | War Standard | Michael Flores

One thing I am really excited about is the replacement of Experimental Frenzy with the new Chandra. Chandra is less powerful in the near term than Frenzy, but it never, ever, gets stuck; it always moves forward. On the ultimate turn, it's also a one-card Spectacle engine!

The one thing I do really like about this build is to lean into Treasure Map and Rix Maadi Reveler on two; Risk Factor on three; and Chandra at the top alongside Rekindling Phoenix (times four). That means it can play a legitimate midrange or even control game... Or at least keep pace with someone trying to play that kind of a game.

Also, take one.

Dreadhorde Butcher

LOVE

MIKE

*And for the true version of this story, he actually played Patrick's idea of just one Amass card; but keep it under your hat.

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, michael flores, war of the spark, #mtgwar, war standard, 04302019

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