Gatecrash previews started off strong last week, with several exciting new rares to ogle. In the fervor, however, an uncommon from the mechanics article has seemingly been overlooked. Burning-Tree Emissary is a card that caught my eye immediately as a potential player in Standard, but there seems to be little to no discussion about it. Although its predecessors, Priest of Gix and Priest of Urabrask, saw little to no play in the competitive world, I have a feeling that Burning-Tree Emissary will be different. Here's the deck I built to take advantage of it:

"Gruul Aggro"

• Creatures (29)
• 2 Zhur-Taa Swine
• 3 Pyreheart Wolf
• 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
• 4 Flinthoof Boar
• 4 Gore-House Chainwalker
• 4 Hound of Griselbrand
• 4 Rakdos Cackler
• 4 Stromkirk Noble

• Spells (8)
• 4 Searing Spear
• 4 Rancor

• Lands (23)
• 4 Gruul Guildgate
• 11 Mountain
• 8 Forest

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Pillar of Flame
• 3 Tormod's Crypt
• 4 Skullcrack
• 3 Reckless Brute
• 1 Zhur-Taa Swine

Buy This Deck

The Face Smashers

Stromkirk Noble continues to be a very effective 1-drop for red, despite being pushed aside somewhat by the trio of Gravecrawler, Diregraf Ghoul, and Rakdos Cackler. Although the Noble starts off more slowly, if you can sneak in a couple hits with it, it can really start dishing out some major damage. Unfortunately, the initial 1/1 body makes it much worse later in the game, but most of the time, this is the creature you want to be casting on your first turn.

Rakdos Cackler is simple and powerful, giving you an aggressive attacker in the early turns of the game and allowing you to push in some fast hits before your opponent raises his defenses. Nearly every red or black aggressive deck plays this—and for good reason.

Burning-Tree Emissary follows in the footsteps of Priest of Gix and Priest of Urabrask, neither of which saw much tournament action. However, I have a feeling that this time, things will be different. With a mana lopped off the casting cost and an additional point of toughness, Burning-Tree Emissary is miles better than the previous attempts. A 2/2 for 2 is nothing new, but in the past, it's proved to be a reasonable enough body to see some play if there's a good ability tacked on. Adding to your mana pool certainly qualifies as a good ability in my book. Burning-Tree Emissary essentially pays for itself if you have another spell to cast, and the hybrid mana cost means that it can even help you fix your mana for a turn, giving you green when you have only red and vice versa. I did a bit of preliminary testing with this card, and let me tell you: Casting two Burning-Tree Emissaries and a Flinthoof Boar on turn two feels pretty awesome.

Flinthoof Boar is a creature I've been keeping my eye on for some time now. I'm always on the lookout for solid uncommons, and a creature that's usually a 3/3 for 2 certainly fits the bill. It's made even better by the fact that if you cast it later in the game, it can be a 3/3 haste for 3 as well. The Boar makes a strong 2-drop and a reasonable 3-drop, helping you sculpt your sequence of plays into a work of art, with no opportunity wasted.

Hound of Griselbrand has always been teetering on the edge of playability in mind. Unfortunately, there are always a boatload of choices for 4-drops, so it rarely makes the cut in the end. This time is different. This time, we're messing around with Rancor and Zhur-Taa Swine, making double strike extremely attractive. Undying also makes the Hound awesome at fighting through Supreme Verdict, which has been gaining popularity by riding on the coattails of Sphinx's Revelation.

Zhur-Taa Swine is a potentially solid card, although I have a feeling something better might come along as more cards with bloodrush are revealed. Paying 3 mana for an extra 5 power seems fairly solid, and although a Fire Elemental isn't exactly the kind of card you want to be playing in Standard, it can give you a late-game threat if you're running low. I'm not sure if the pump effect is strong enough to be worth running, but I'm eager to experiment with the bloodrush ability, and this seems to be the best option available at the moment.

The Support

Rancor packs some extra damage onto your creatures and helps negate the effect of cards like Lingering Souls that can severely hamper your game plan with chump-blockers. It works very well with Hound of Griselbrand, promising an extra 4 damage per attack and makes the bloodrush ability on Zhur-Taa Swine even more of a blowout, allowing you to kill a blocking creature and still push through quite a bit of damage.

Searing Spear helps clear the way for your creatures, making sure you continue to drop your opponent's life total. This is particularly important with Stromkirk Noble, as you'll need to get a hit or two in before the Vampire is able to stand on its own. Dealing 3 damage is crucial to deal with creatures such as Thragtusk and Centaur Healer, and it also helps that Searing Spear can be pointed at your opponent's dome in a pinch, giving you a little extra reach to close out a game.

I didn't want to hamper the mana base too much, but Kessig Wolf Run seems too powerful to pass up. It can be an incredible source of damage in the late game, and it is often a nightmare for control decks, potentially turning any creature into a lethal threat.

The Sideboard

Skullcrack seems like a big help against cards like Thragtusk and Sphinx's Revelation. Although both cards are pretty good even without gaining life, you'll usually be able to kill your opponent despite his big blocker or loaded hand when he hasn't also gained enough life to cost you an entire turn.

Pillar of Flame helps you more effectively fight the Rakdos aggro decks that seem abundant in the current environment. With few to no 3-toughness creatures, Pillar of Flame gets the job done at half the price and shuts down undying from Geralf's Messenger as well.

Tormod's Crypt is the go-to card for graveyard hate, and although it isn't perfect, it can usually at least buy you a turn or two—plenty of time to smash away the rest of your opponent's life.

Reckless Brute swaps in for Pyreheart Wolf against dedicated control decks, those without the creatures to jump in the way. Although extremely fragile, if your opponent isn't playing blockers, it can deal a lot of damage quickly thanks to its hasty 3-power body.

A third copy of Zhur-Taa Swine fills the last sideboard slot. It seems useful against control, giving you an uncounterable way to end games ahead of schedule in addition to a powerful threat to lay down after a Terminus or Supreme Verdict.

Playtesting

R/U/G Midrange – Game 1

My opponent played a Hinterland Harbor, then cast Farseek, fetching another Steam Vents. He passed the turn, and I drew another Gore-House Chainwalker. I attacked with the Noble, putting a counter on it, and then played a Forest and cast a Chainwalker, unleashing it. I ended my turn.

My opponent played Rootbound Crag and cast Huntmaster of the Fells, making a Wolf token and going up to 21. He passed the turn. I drew Flinthoof Boar, played a Mountain, and cast the Boar, giving it haste. I attacked with everything, and my opponent traded his Huntmaster and token for my Noble and Chainwalker, taking 3 from the Boar. I ended my turn.

My opponent cast Forbidden Alchemy, finding a Sulfur Falls and putting a Tracker's Instincts in the graveyard. He played the land and cast a Tracker's Instincts from his hand, grabbing Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius. He then ended his turn. I drew Rancor, played my Forest, and attacked with Flinthoof Boar. My opponent took 3, and I cast Hound of Griselbrand and passed the turn.

My opponent passed back with no play. I drew Pyreheart Wolf and attacked with everything. My opponent flashed in a second Staticaster, then killed my Stromkirk Noble and Gore-House Chainwalker. He dropped to 7 from Hound of Griselbrand, and I cast Pyreheart Wolf, enchanting my Hound with Rancor before passing the turn.

My opponent cast another Nightshade Peddler, pairing it with the second Staticaster. He passed the turn. I drew Stromkirk Noble and attacked with both creature, both of them dying to Staticasters and coming back with +1/+1 counters. I cast the Noble, put Rancor on it, and passed the turn. My opponent cast Forbidden Alchemy during my end step, grabbing a Rootbound Crag.

On his turn, he played the Crag, cast Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius, and passed. I drew another Chainwalker and went to combat. My opponent killed my Pyreheart Wolf, and I simply passed the turn. He killed the Hound during my end step, then hit me for 5 with Niv-Mizzet.

He cast Huntmaster of the Fells and ended his turn. I drew Rancor and conceded.

Sideboarding:

−3 Pyreheart Wolf

−1 Zhur-Taa Swine

+4 Pillar of Flame

Game 2

I drew Pillar of Flame, swung in for 1, put a counter on the Noble, and played my Forest. I cast Gore-House Chainwalker, unleashing it and passing the turn. My opponent played Hinterland Harbor and cast Farseek, fetching a Steam Vents. He ended his turn.

I drew Burning-Tree Emissary and attacked for 5, putting another counter on Stromkirk Noble. I cast the Emissary, following it up with Flinthoof Boar before passing the turn. My opponent played a Cavern of Souls naming Human and cast two Nightshade Peddlers, pairing them. He ended his turn.

I drew a Forest, played it, and cast Pillar of Flame, killing a Peddler. I attacked with everything, and my opponent dropped to 3. I passed the turn, and he drew his card and conceded.

Game 3

I ended my turn, and my opponent played a Sulfur Falls and passed back. I drew a second Chainwalker, played my Forest, and attacked for 1, putting a counter on my Vampire. I cast one of my Chainwalkers, unleashing it before passing the turn.

My opponent played a tapped Steam Vents and passed back. I drew a Mountain, played it, and cast Flinthoof Boar, paying to give it haste. I attacked with everything, and my opponent dropped to 11. I ended my turn.

My opponent played Cavern of Souls on Human and cast Huntmaster of the Fells, gaining 2 life and making a Wolf before passing the turn. I drew another Chainwalker and attacked with everything. My opponent traded his Wolf token for my Chainwalker and dropped to 7. My Stromkirk Noble grew to 4/4, and I cast another Chainwalker, unleashed it, and killed Huntmaster with Pillar of Flame before ending my turn.

My opponent played a Cavern of Souls, naming Vampire, then cast Olivia Voldaren. He passed the turn, and I drew Stromkirk Noble. I killed Olivia with Searing Spear and attacked for more than enough to finish the game.

Wrap-up

This deck is extremely fast, and Burning-Tree Emissary is a big part of that. Although I never was able to test out bloodrush in this match, it seems worth experimenting with further. Going forward, I'd look into adding a bit more burn into the main deck, possibly replacing a Hound of Griselbrand and a Pyreheart Wolf. Blockers are one of this deck's biggest enemies, and being able to more effectively fight off the Nightshade Peddler/Izzet Staticaster combo doesn't hurt either. If you're exciting to crash some gates with your Gruul brethren or if you want to play an aggro deck that's a bit different than the usual fare, give this one a shot.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @MTGCannon, or simply leave a comment below.