Brewing with Born of the Gods, Part 1

Welcome to my first brewing article for Brainstorm Brewery. For those who haven’t read my brewing articles in the past, I try provide a glimpse at what I feel is possible in Standard. Since I obviously can’t test all of these decks, though, I don’t build complete 75-card decks. Instead, I provide four cards to heavily consider when building your sideboard. This will be the first of two Born of the Gods brewing articles. Today I will primarily cover aggro decks, and the second part, coming very soon, will cover a wider range of decks.

[deck title= Mono-Green Devotion]

[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Experiment One
4 Swordwise Centaur
4 Kalonian Tusker
4 Boon Satyr
4 Reverent Hunter
2 Polukranos, World Eater
3 Nylea, God of the Hunt
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Aspect of the Hydra
2 Bow of Nylea
2 Enlarge
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Mutavault
19 Forest
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Mistcutter Hydra[/card], [card]Nylea’s Disciple[/card], [card]Unravel the Aether[/card], [card]Witchstalker[/card].

Mono-green holds a special place in my heart, as I qualified for Pro Tour Return to Ravnica with Dungrove Stompy, and this deck feels quite a bit like it. The card that likely pushes this deck over the top is [card]Aspect of the Hydra[/card] to deal an insane amount of damage for just one mana. The only downside to [card]Aspect of the Hyda[/card] is that it doesn’t give the creature trample, but hopefully [card]Nylea, God of the Hunt[/card] and [card]Enlarge[/card] will do that just fine.

[deck title= Selesnya Aggro]

[Creatures]
4 Experiment One
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Boon Satyr
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Trostani, Selesnya’s Voice
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Selesnya Charm
3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
4 Advent of the Wurm
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple Garden
4 Temple of Plenty
2 Selesnya Guildgate
6 Forest
7 Plains
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Fiendslayer Paladin[/card], [card]Revoke Existence[/card], [card]Rootborn Defenses[/card], [card]Unflinching Courage[/card].

Selesnya Aggro is currently a small-time player in the Standard metagame, but now it gets the uber powerful [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[/card] to launch cats at your opponents face and [card]Temple of Plenty[/card] to make the mana signifigantly better. It may look like a straightforward aggro deck that just makes dudes and attacks, but it has plenty of tricks up its sleeve for the technical player.

[deck title= Boros Burn]

[Creatures]
4 Satyr Firedancer
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Chandra’s Phoenix
4 Guttersnipe
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Shock
4 Boros Charm
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
4 Searing Blood
2 Warleader’s Helix
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mutavault
8 Mountain
2 Plains
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Blind Obedience[/card], [card]Chained to the Rocks[/card], [card]Revoke Existence[/card], [card]Skullcrack[/card].

Burn decks just want to do twenty damage to their opponents as quickly as possible—the problem is having to throw some burn at those pesky creatures your opponent controls that are trying to kill you. The introduction of [card]Satyr Firedancer[/card] means you never have to throw a burn spell at your opponent’s creature as long as Satyr is in play, freeing up your burn to finish your opponent while incidentally killing his creatures. The creature compliment of this deck is unified in getting the most out of your burn spells so you don’t have to worry about your opponent getting ahead very often.

[deck title= Gruul Aggro]

[Creatures]
4 Dryad Militant
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
4 Fanatic of Xenagos
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Mistcutter Hydra
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Lightning Strike
4 Domri Rade
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
2 Gruul Guildgate
2 Forest
9 Mountain
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Burning Earth[/card], [card]Mizzium Mortars[/card], [card]Searing Blood[/card], [card]Unravel the Aether[/card].

Quick and painful is how Gruul Aggro likes to kill the opposition. With this version, turn four wins can happen quite often, which will make your opponent think twice about tapping out. [card]Borborygmos[/card] would be proud to lead an army so efficient at crushing the opposition.

[deck title= Minotaurs]

[Creatures]
4 Deathbellow Raider
4 Fellhide Brawler
4 Pack Rat
4 Minotaur Skullcleaver
4 Rageblood Shaman
4 Ragemonger
2 Fellhide Spiritbinder
3 Kragama Warcaller
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Shock
4 Dreadbore
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple of Malice
4 Blood Crypt
4 Mutavault
8 Mountain
3 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Fanatic of Mogis[/card], [card]Hammer of Purphoros[/card], [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

Stampede! Here come the minotaurs to pillage the battlefield. This decks might not quite be there, but it is certainly fun to play lots of hasted pumped minotaurs trying to find out. And to back them up they brought a [card]Pack Rat[/card] army to clean up the corpses.

[deck title= Mono-Red Devotion]

[Creatures]
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Firefist Striker
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Chandra’s Phoenix
4 Fanatic of Mogis
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Lightning Strike
4 Searing Blood
[/Spells]

[Land]
18 Mountain
3 Mutavault
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Act of Treason[/card], [card]Burning Earth[/card], [card]Legion Loyalist[/card], [card]Skullcrack[/card].

Mono-Red Devotion is almost as fast as Gruul Aggro, but a little more consistent. [card]Fanatic of Mogis[/card] sees red, and he’ll set everything on fire to see more of it with the help of his new friend [card]Searing Blood[/card]. With Mono-Red Devotion, it’s all or nothing in an attempt to overwhelm your opponent as quickly as possible.

[deck title= Golgari Aggro]

[Creatures]
4 Dryad Militant
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Tormented Hero
4 Lotleth Troll
4 Pack Rat
4 Pain Seer
4 Dreg Mangler
4 Herald of Torment
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Abrupt Decay
2 Bile Blight
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Golgari Guildgate
4 Mutavault
3 Forest
7 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions:[card]Golgari Charm[/card], [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Lifebane Zombie[/card], [card]Mistcutter Hydra[/card].

We have definitely seen a lot of [card]Dark Confidant[/card] imitations over the last few years, and [card]Pain Seer[/card] is the closest one yet. This little guy happens to be backed by some dark new firepower in [card]Bile Blight[/card] and death from above in [card]Herald of Torment[/card], but sadly no scry land as of yet. I look for this deck to get better the less Mono-Black Devotion is around.

[deck title= Reanimator]

[Creatures]
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Voice of Resurgence
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
4 Angel of Serenity
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Commune with Nature
4 Grisly Salvage
4 Rescue from the Underworld
2 Obzedat’s Aid
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple of Plenty
4 Temple of Silence
4 Godless Shrine
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
3 Forest
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Centaur Healer[/card], [card]Drown in Sorrow[/card], [card]Sin Collector[/card], [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

Has [card]Satyr Wayfinder[/card] given us the missing piece of the puzzle to make Reanimator a reality in Standard again? I’m rooting against it, but with twelve ways to dig deep into your library I wouldn’t count it out just yet. Bringing [card]Blood Baron of Vizkopa[/card] back repeatedly against Mono-Black Devotion could be just what they fear the most.

[deck title= White Weenie]

[Creatures]
4 Dryad Militant
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Daring Skyjek
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Spirit of the Labyrinth
4 Banisher Priest
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
2 Spear of Heliod
[/Spells]

[Land]
17 Plains
4 Mutavault
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Archetype of Courage[/card], [card]Frontline Medic[/card], [card]Pacifism[/card], [card]Revoke Existence[/card].

[/card]Imposing Sovereign[/card]’s falvor text reads, “Some are born to rule.The rest are born to bow before them.” [card]Brimaz, King of Oreskos[card], is definitely born to rule. That means we had better bow before our new cat overlord. He does a very good [card]Hero of Bladehold[card] impersonation while still getting to block and keep adding more cats to the board, so it’s no wonder he is currently the chase mythic of Born of the Gods.

[deck title= Rakdos Aggro]

[Creatures]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Tormented Hero
4 Pain Seer
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
4 Spike Jester
4 Mogis’s Marauder
4 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Mogis, God of Slaughter
[/Creatures]

[Spells]
4 Bile Blight
4 Lightning Strike
[/Spells]

[Land]
4 Temple of Malice
4 Blood Crypt
4 Mutavault
3 Mountain
7 Swamp
[/Land]
[/deck]

Sideboard Suggestions: [card]Dreadbore[/card], [card]Searing Blood[/card], [card]Skullcrack[/card], [card]Thoughtseize[/card].

This deck needs some reach to stay competitive, and [card]Pain Seer[card] backed by [card]Mogis, God of Slaughter[card], may be just what it’s looking for. Combine that with [card]Bile Blight[card]to fight [card]Pack Rat[card]s and this might just be a winning combination. I can see this deck being quite popular as a way to fight Mono-Black Devotion if it remains a huge force in Standard.

That’s all I have for this time, but I’ll be back soon with more brews. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them for me and I will try to get back to everyone.

Thanks for Reading,

Josh Milliken

@joshuamilliken of Twitter

About the Author
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11 comments on Brewing with Born of the Gods, Part 1

  1. @MTGNotstiffler says:

    I really liked your article. Hope to see more in the future.

    1. Josh says:

      Thank You. I’m told I should have content out the next two Mondays.

  2. Ntropy says:

    I am curious as to why having the Mutavault in the Mono Red deck is a good idea with only 18 mountains and 19 cards costing at least 2 red symbols…I run a similar deck currently with zero Mutavaults, 19 mountains and 1 Nykthos and definitely would be stuck in a lot of situations or mulling down to 5 or 6 with no way to obtain any additional card advantage.

    Searing blood is going to be a dead card in your hand a lot of times without a creature to kill as well, running 4x and dropping magma jet is a mistake. Searing blood should be in the sideboard until you know what you’re up against.

    1. Josh says:

      Sorry it took so long to get to your question.

      I tested a very similar list out the other day(and have played more than my share of Red Deck Wins over the years) and had no issues with the mana requirements not allowing for Mutavaults. If you’re having mana issues you might want to bump it up to 21 lands. Also red decks don’t generally get to worry about getting card advantage, as it almost never gets any.
      As for Searing Blood, there’s only 1 or 2 decks in the format that don’t run creatures to kill with it and they pretty much all run Mutavault. If you find yourself up against a control deck, then yes you would sideboard it out but those are a small percentage of the metagame.

  3. JKau says:

    Liked the article overall; trying to create reanimator for every rotation of sets is always good fun. One small problem though: I assume you meant Commune with the Gods and not Commune with Nature correct?

    1. Josh says:

      Absolutely, my mine must have wandered when I was typing it.

  4. Josh says:

    For anyone else who reads this, I made top 8 of a 7 round 81 person tournament this past weekend with my Mono Green list -1 Mutavault +1 Forest. I went 5-0-2 in the swiss, and lost to a bad keep against Bant Control in game 3 of the Top 8.

  5. Karl says:

    I’m really disliking 4 mutavaults in rakdos aggro, I’m play a variation now, and colored land is ESSENTIAL for a good match, many of your 2 drops are double colored and an opening had with a mutavault would usually end up a dead draw. 4 temples might be too much as well. It kills your 1-2 punch. Removing the mutavualts might be enough mana fixing that you don’t need the temples, or at least not 4.

    Equally I think pain seer requires another look at as well. A 2/2 for 2 is a little slow for an aggro deck. It doesn’t attack until turn 3 which means you don’t draw until turn 4 if by some miracle they don’t have a 2 power creature or removal out that straight up killed it before hand. 1 extra card on turn 4 seems too little too late for an aggro deck that wants to be winning by then.

    1. Josh says:

      Yes the Mutavaults could very well need trimmed a bit. There are several ways to get the Pain Seer though, between removal and Mogis’s Marauder. Yes it is a little slower than some of the other options, but they also have to kill it or suffer under your card advantage. In this format as removal heavy as it is, I wouldn’t ever expect to get to goldfish kills. So planning on getting some incremental advantages is a good thing to do to break the stalemate.

  6. ??is i? a topic w?ich is close to my heart… ?ake care!

    Exactly ?her? are your contact details tho?gh?

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