Standard - Temur Pod WAR

10 19 33
33 4 0 23
Midrange

Taken from Reddit, author Actual_Clue_Token: 

Thought I'd finally do a write up for the Temur Vannifar deck I've been testing recently as its shown a lot of promise and I was looking for some outside feedback. I started this spoiler season by brewing up a Bant pod list when I saw Fblthp but realized quickly it just didn't have the closing power or value engine to work. I then tried a Sultai list and while it had more interaction than Bant it still was lacking in ability to close a game (Despite the amazing value). While testing the Sultai list I played against a friend who was testing his Temur list and the sheer speed and aggressiveness of the deck due to Rhythm and Ilharg blew me away. The value that Rekindling phoenix provided and the consistency of being able to find Ilharg to win the game sold me. Since then we have been refining the list, testing all the variations we can and we've arrived at what we think is the best list we have so far.

Core
4x Prime Speaker Vannifarimage: All-star of the deck and the reason we're playing Rhythm. She gives us the consistency to be able to play 1 or 2 of the big game ending cards and actually find them every game when we need them. Although she is fantastic and adds so much to the deck, if we don't draw a copy of her, we can still win with the explore package and phoenixes.

2x Ilharg, the Raze-Boarimage: The MVP that sparked life back into the deck, Ilharg is the 5 drop you will be trying to get most of the time. He's a threat that's hard to get rid of and his ability can combo well with a lot of the ETBs in the deck.

4x [[Rhythm of the Wild: This is the card that pushes us into Temur alongside Ilharg. Vannifar is an incredibly slow card usually and this allows us to speed up the clock significantly. Immediately podding our Llanowar Elves into a Fblthp on turn 3 for the card draw value is incredible and we even get to turn a 4 into a 5 the turn after. It is hard for control to beat this card and it can break apart board stalls by putting counters on our stuff to proliferate with Evolution Sage. I would not play this deck with any less than 4 copies.

Explore Package :
Rather than explaining the explore package to you (We all know how good it is by now), I will just say that the added land draws and deck filtering provided by them and the lifegain from Wildgrowth really helps us get to the final couple of cards to finish the game off. All three of these also work very well with the next card: Evolution Sage.

3x Merfolk Branchwalkerimage

4x Jadelight Rangerimage

2x Wildgrowth Walkerimage

2x Evolution Sageimage: Although fragile to shock and Lightning Strike, Evolution sage provides incredible value in the deck by pumping our explore package creatures up as well as anything that we added counters to with Rhythm. It has the added bonus with the explore package of them drawing lands for Evolution Sage to trigger more often. We flip flopped quite a bit on this card, removing it from some versions and adding it back in at different numbers but have realized that its ability to grow our entire board (including itself with Rhythm) is too valuable to pass up. Some games can be won off of Branchwalker/Wildgrowth into Jadelight into Evolution + Land. It is truly a surprise card of the deck and plays much better than we expected.

Bullets
1x Roalesk, Apex Hybridimage: Roalesk is basically the only 5 drop we are happy to pod away into a 6 drop as we get value from its ETB and Death triggers. It synergises nicely with the Evolution Sage/counters plan and itself is just a nice flying creature to have.

1x Ravager Wurmimage: I feel that Ravager Wurm is easily the biggest flex slot in the deck. You can honestly play any 6 drop here that suits your meta or playstyle.

1x God-Eternal Rhonasimage: Pod into this for lethal or play it off an Ilharg for lethal. This card allows us to win games we should have lost and close all the others out much faster. Copy it with a Spark Double for a very large angry boar god.

1x Spark Doubleimage: Spark Doubles main purpose in the deck is centered around the synergy with Rhythm and Vannifar, allowing us to pod a 3 drop into a 5 drop in one turn. It obviously also synergises with basically everything else in the deck, allowing double ETB effects (Rhonas, explore triggers), giving us two Ilharg triggers on attack, providing a second Evolution Sage for proliferate (He comes with a counter too!) etc. It even gets tucked into the deck if it is removed and it was copying a god!

1x Exclusion Mageimage: Interaction is something this deck lacks a lot of. Having this as an answer to bounce a creature back to the hand can help slow down some decks enough for us to make a comeback from behind. It can also remove a blocker to swing in for lethal.

1x Demanding Dragonimage: I feel that this slot is also a flex slot, this can be many 5 drops however demanding dragon seems like a good card to have against many decks. I however feel the need to point out that your opponent has no creatures on board you can swing in for 20 damage.

1x Tempest Callerimage: Although we can't reliably cast Tempest Caller, this card has been an amazing bullet to find off of Vannifar to end the game instantly. She also works astoundingly well with Ilharg, tapping down their team every attack step. Original versions of the deck did not include this and sometimes struggled to get in, but the consistency Vannifar provides means that you can get this when you need it.

The Rest
1x Fblthp, the Lostimage: Originally the deck was played with multiple however after some thought, Fblthp wasn't easily castable on turn 2 with the mana base. It is a wonder card to pod off of Llanowar Elves in the case that you need cards rather than the mana it provides.

4x Rekindling Phoeniximage: A recursive threat that can be podded away for 5 drops, solid threat, Amazing card. With Rhythm out when Phoenix comes back from the grave you even have the choice of giving it a +1/+1 counter since it already comes back equipped with haste.

4x Llanowar Elvesimage: Llanowar Elves is a key component to any fast start the deck wants to have. While we don't rely on Llanowar Elves to be functional or fast, the acceleration it provides is obvious and well known. A turn 2 Rhythm of the Wild is an incredible start to almost any game.

Lands
The mana base provides, at base, 16G (13 Untapped T1), 10U, 14R. According to the Frank Karsten math, the Llanowar Elves provide us an extra Green source and the explore creatures give us .6G/1.8U/1.8R. This brings us to a total of 17.6G, 11.8U and 15.8R which is .2R off turn 4 Phoenix, .4 off turn 3 Jadelight and 1 source off a turn 1 Llanowar elves. We match all other requirements for mana easily with this manabase.

3x Rootbound Crag

5x Forest

4x Breeding Pool

1x Mountain

4x Stomping Ground

4x Sulfur Falls

2x Steam Vents

Sideboard
2x Vivien's Arkbowimage: If you thought having Rhythm making your creatures uncounterable was already good against control, wait until you side this in against them. A nice interaction this card also has with gods is that if they ever die you can just put them back into the deck and pay x=5 to put it back on the board.

1x Living Twisterimage: Replacing Evo Sage against aggro it is a very nice card to have, the 5 toughness makes it a very good blocker alongside it's synergy with the extra lands generated from explore it allows you to ping off their creatures with that excess.

2x Wildgrowth Walkerimage: We're sideboarding the extra two copies of Wildgrowth Walker because they're just so good against aggro and we can easily be overrun.

1x Vine Mareimage: A bullet against control coming out faster than carnage tyrant it's easier to get on the board early, it also gains the added benefit of being good against Grixis and Mardu given the ability to not be blocked by black creatures

1x Reclamation Sageimage: Standard Artifact/Enchantment hate that can be podded into and podded away.

1x Thrashing Brontodonimage: Thrashing Brontodon does the same task as Rec Sage however it's specifically for Reclamation decks allowing you to put a proactive threat that can sacrifice itself when Reclamation enters the battlefield.

1x Exclusion Mageimage: 1 extra copy of Exclusion mage for some added disruption when needed.

3x Negateimage: Nice to have counters against control, becomes even better with Arkbow on board as you can hold up counter magic then at the end of their turn flash a creature in.

3x Lava Coilimage: This deck runs a low amount of interaction and sometimes it can get away with it, use this in the matchups where it can't.

Match ups
RB Aggro

1-0

Grixis Midrange

1-0

Sultai Midrange

2-0

Jund Midrange

1-1

Grixis Control

3-0

Esper Control

2-1

UB Control

0-1

Jeskai Control

1-0

Bant Walkers

1-1

Thank you for reading this far. while the match ups list may seem very small at the moment that is because we have had 6 different versions of the same deck and I have only included results for the current version that seems the strongest. I will continue to update the chart as I play more matches with this list. I am open to discussion in the comments and will try my best to answer any questions down below. Special thanks to /uCheeseMeistro for not only introducing me to the deck but also helping me test changes and write the post itself.

Comments

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4 comments

andreliverod
This was a day 1 for fun deck guys. Don't let all the views make you think this is some kind of tier 1 list ;)
kronozord
This deck is really weak, there is no removal in the main deck. If a thief of sanity or an ajani's pridemate hits the table how are you going to remove it? You can block with rekindling phoenix while the opponent doesn’t pull vraska contempt, Ob Nixilis's Cruelty etc. The same goes for enchantments and artifacts, the 2 creatures that deal with them are in the sideboard. The card draw engine is Vannifar and even with rhythm of the wild usually get taken down on the same turn. Temur doesn't work.
jsager99
Good deck, but I find that replacing the Exclusion Mage, Tempest Caller and Spark Double with Neoforms and one Prime Speaker + one Llanowar Elves with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner dramatically improves the deck. Kiora is really powerful because it lets you not only draw whenever a Rekindling Phoenix revives, but also double the value of your Vannifar by tapping her, using Kiora to untap her, and then tapping her again.
Xephael
I feel like not including Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner is a bit of an oversight. I'd swap in at least 2 copies... maybe for tempest caller and exclusion mage.
andreliverod
Last Updated: 22 Apr 2019
Created: 22 Apr 2019
13049 1571 4

Mainboard - 60 cards (24 distinct)

Creature (33)
$0.75€0.720.02
$0.75
$0.40€0.190.02
$2.16€1.560.02
$3.49€3.000.03
$0.25€0.140.03
$0.76€0.520.02
$1.15€0.330.03
$1.66€0.680.03
$0.50€0.500.02
$5.54€3.450.03
$4.74€3.010.06
$0.21€0.210.03
$0.47€0.210.02
$0.40€0.190.03
$0.75€0.480.02
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (4)
$2.32€1.620.03
Land (23)
$13.86€11.491.63
$1.56€0.990.02
$11.00€9.770.45
$0.15€0.050.04
$17.75€15.120.19
$0.15€0.030.04
$4.22€3.020.02

Sideboard - 15 cards (9 distinct)

$0.21€0.210.03
$0.30
$0.40€0.18
$0.25€0.160.03
$1.15€0.330.03
$0.33€0.110.02
$0.35€0.160.02
$0.25€0.080.03
$0.20€0.06

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Main/Sideboard Rarity Count
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