Post-ban: Still Went 9-0 with Temur

Well, I was all in on Historic for the month of August until Monday AM - when Wizards shocked the MTG world with an unscheduled banning announcement, just weeks before Standard rotation.

Growth Spiral, Wilderness Reclamation, Teferi, Time Raveler and Cauldron Familiar all banned from Standard, effective immediately. Two of the pillars of deck I played almost exclusively since January, are no longer legal in Standard. To top it off, Wilderness Reclamation is suspended from Historic, forcing me to find another weapon for attacking Historic. All good though - I’m liking the messages that the multiverse is sending me here.

For me, this banning announcement couldn’t have come at a better time. After reaching top 1200 Mythic three months in a row with Temur Rec (Standard) I knew I needed to change things up ASAP in order to continue my development. As mentioned previously, the plan was to play Historic this month, but that plan went out the window (at least for now) when I heard about the bannings. And with Teferi and Cauldron Familiar banned from Standard as well, I simply couldn’t wait to take advantage of this unexpected open season in Standard.

Talking with my friend and new MTG Streamer Kyle Cramer about the bannings, he asked what I would play going forward. I told him I’d likely go back to my Sultai Midrange roots or perhaps try making my Jeskai Control list competitive. I also considered going back to the Golgari Adventures/Henge list I played exclusively last fall. All decent options worth exploring. That’s the beauty of a format shakeup like this. And just like that I had a lightbulb moment.

With Wilderness Reclamation banned, what better deck to play, at least right now, than Temur?

I mean, Temur Adventures, that is.

Temur Adventures - probably the only Standard deck more complex and more difficult to play proficiently than the late Temur Reclamation. But on the converse, Temur Reclamation was always the natural predator of its Adventures cousin, keeping Adventures in the shadows as Reclamation variants took over the majority of the meta.

With Wilderness Reclamation now out of the way, I figured I’d take Temur Adventures for a spin again. I hadn’t played it too much in the past, but I knew how powerful it was because it would beat me again and again when I was on Golgari Adventures.

I found the latest list I had saved on Arena and made a few tweaks to get it to my liking - namely, removing the 2 Incubation/Incongruity for 2 Uro. The fact is that Uro is still one of the strongest cards in Standard and I figured he’d give me some reach in the likely event that others have the same lightbulb moment that I did (more on that later).

The result - a 9-0 start, taking me from Platinum 3 to Diamond 4 in one evening session, followed by a 3-3 session later that night. Here’s my current list, followed by a list of the matches:

Monday, 8/3

• Grixis Control - Win 2-1

• Jund Graveyard Shenanigans - Win 2-0

• Jeskai Yorion Control - Win 2-0

• Mono Green - Win 2-0

• Mono Green - Win 2-1

• Mono Red - Win 2-1

• Sultai - Win 2-1

• UB Rogues Mill - Win 2-0

• Sultai Ramp - Win 2-0

• Unknown - concession. Win, technically.

• Mardu Winota - 2-0

• Mono Red - Win 2-0

  (Session 2 - 10:45 PM EST)

• Grixis Kroxa - Loss 0-2

• Mardu Winota - Loss 1-2

• Temur Ramp - Loss 0-2

• Rakdos Discard - Win 2-0

Notes

While this was my first ever focused laddering session with Temur Adventures, I won’t make excuses - I still could have played more optimally in some spots, as indicated by the losses during my second session. It goes to show just how complex the deck really is.

However, a 12-3 overall record says that I was doing something right, and having played Temur Reclamation for so long, I developed some valuable experience in playing a deck that offers a myriad of play options on every turn. But truth be told, Temur Adventures truly stands alone in this regard, as the combination of Lucky Clover, Fae of Wishes/Granted and Escape to the Wilds provides a seemingly endless selection of potential lines of play to consider and execute.

I still have a ways to go before mastering this deck, but here are my initial notes and tips on playing the deck, which may be of value to you. Additionally, I understand that much has already been written about the deck by players who have more experience with the archetype. After you read this, I recommend going back to those articles for additional insights.

• “Fuller, go easy on the sideboarding!” I mean it. Since this is a deck with 4x Fae of Wishes, you shouldn’t make drastic changes during sideboarding. Look to trim on certain cards that may not be ideal in certain matchups (e.g., trimming some quantity of Escape to the Wilds against Mono Red, trimming some Brazen Borrower against Krasis decks and decks with lots of ETB abilities). More often than not you’re going to want to leverage Granted to pluck the cards you need from your sideboard in specific situations. Doing so actually tends to be a more reliable way to find those cards, rather than hoping to draw them.

• Maximize Escape to the Wilds. Escape to the Wilds pulls five cards off of the top of your deck and gives you two turns to use them. And if you don’t use them, you lose them. Keep this in mind and do your best to use those cards ASAP. This means playing the lands that are “escaped” before playing lands from your hand. It also means prioritizing which “escaped” cards you want to play, and understanding that you may not be able to play all of the cards you hit off of Escape. Of course, don’t play your escaped cards just for the sake of using them if there’s a more optimal line of play available to you with cards in your hand.

  There’s a reason I listed this point right after sideboarding…ah, now I remember. Hitting a counterspell off of Escape is just downright brutal - and not in a good way. Again, another reason why you should be extra judicious about what cards you sideboard in. There may be some scenarios in which you should board in a Negate or Disdainful Stroke, but just keep in mind that if you cast Escape before you draw them, you have a strong chance of hitting them off of Escape, which is not ideal.

• Play Clover, ASAP. Enough said.

• Protect the bartender. I know from experience that rule #1 for beating Adventures decks is to keep Edgewall Innkeeper off of the battlefield. On the converse, I also know from experience with Golgari Adventures that one of the most important keys to winning with an Adventures deck is to keep the Innkeeper out of danger. In most cases he should never be sent into the red zone, and you should always do your best to minimize the lapse between resolution of an Innkeeper and the casting of another Adventure creature. For instance, casting Heart’s Desire on turn 1, Innkeeper on turn 2 and Lovestruck Beast on turn 3.

• About Uro…he does give this deck a bit of extra reach, especially against midrange decks. However, he’s not actually the easiest to escape, considering that a majority of your spells “go on an adventure.” I experimented with taking them out for two Embereth Shieldbreaker, because I fully expect that the deck will see a sharp increase in popularity over the next few days. In fact, two of the “Clover masters” are streaming their matches with the archetype as I write this. All that said, the jury is still out for me as to whether or not I prefer Uro in this slot.

• Know your sideboard. Again, not much to explain here. You really need to rely on your sideboard as an in-game toolbox via Granted, rather than a traditional resource for tuning and transforming your 60 in between games. The list I provided above is by no means a firm list, but I think it’s a good place to start.

• Know your finishers. Fling and Explosion (yes, you can still win with a giant Explosion with this deck) are your primary finishers out of the sideboard. I know some players are running Mass Manipulation in the side as well, which, though not technically a finisher, can pretty much be game over in the mirror or against Sultai Midrange.

• Don’t play the deck before bedtime. There can be a REALLY fine line between wins and losses with this deck, so if you’re yawning in your chair, put down the Temur and get to bed (or play something less complicated).

Ultimately, I’m unsure if I’ll actually stick with Temur Adventures, though it’s clearly well-positioned to compete in the foreseeable future. I’m really looking forward to experimenting with some more builds in both Standard and Historic, and I strongly encourage you to do the same. Regular experimentation through deckbuilding is an important key to your player development.

Enjoy this final open season in GRN-M21 Standard!