Introduction

It's been a long journey to build a competitive werewolf for the Standard format. I started playing werewolves in the Alchemy format using powerful cards, such as Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat // Rahilda, Feral Outlaw. However, these cards are not available in Standard and your choices are somewhat more mediocre. After experimenting with lots of builds (something like 20), I finally settled on the list presented here.

Main Deck

1 Mana (12)

• 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano — The best one mana card available for red decks: Deals damage, can kill planeswalkers, boosts up your creatures, and provides a 2/2 attacker with haste and graveyard hate.
• 4 Ascendant Packleader — A very good 1 mana drop, which hits for 2. It is also a combo with Thundering Raiju, because it enters onto the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter if a Raiju is in play (or vice versa), which makes the Raiju to deal more damage.
• 4 Play with Fire — The best 1 mana red removal spell.

2 Mana (11)

• 4 Kessig Naturalist // Lord of the Ulvenwald — The best 2 mana werewolf in Standard. Gives you mana and boosts up your creatures during night.
• 3 Outland Liberator // Frenzied Trapbreaker — The second best 2 mana werewolf in Standard. It is mostly dangerous against decks with artifacts and enchantments, but gladly there are many strong artifacts and enchantments in the format, such as the Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki. Also, it is important to include many 2 mana werewolves in this deck so that you can cause the day-night cycle to start on turn 2. This may cause it to become night next turn, if the opponent does not play a card on their turn.
• 4 Lightning Strike — The best 2 mana red removal spell.

3 Mana (10)

• 4 Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher — The best aggro creature in the deck, which goes nuts during the night.
• 4 Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge — A great card, which draws you more cards, causes night, and can boost up your creatures during night.
• 2 Pack's Betrayal — Gain control of those annoying Phyrexian Obliterators, Phyrexian Vindicators, and Atraxa, Grand Unifiers. It also usually scrys for 2 in this deck, which can be pretty powerful sometimes.

4 Mana (4)

• 4 Thundering Raiju — Probably the most dangerous 4 mana creature in both red and green. It has haste, can boost up your creatures, and deals direct damage to the opponent. It has great synergies with Ascendant Packleader.

Lands (23)

• 3 Mountain
• 2 Forest
• 2 Boseiju, Who Endures — A channel land that can destroy opponents' artifacts, enchantments, and non-basic lands.
• 2 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance — A channel land that can provide you with 2 colorless token creatures.
• 4 Copperline Gorge — A great dual land for an aggro deck. The best addition to the deck from Phyrexia: All will be one.
• 4 Karplusan Forest — A great dual land that causes you some pain but always comes onto the battlefield untapped.
• 4 Rockfall Vale — A good dual land, especially in the late game. May come tapped onto the battlefield in the early game.
• 2 Mishra's Foundry — A great man-land, which is helpful especially against sweepers. Also, if you get flooded, it is an extra attacker for you.

Sideboard

• 2 Tyvar's Stand — Good against the Phyrexian Obliterator + Fight spell (e.g. Tail Swipe) combo.
• 2 Strangle — Some extra creature removal for 1 mana.
• 2 Plummet — Good against Haughty Djinn, Raffine, Scheming Seer, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Phyrexian Vindicator, and everything else that flies.
• 2 Cemetery Prowler — Good against Haughty Djinn and Invoke Justice and other spells that return cards from a graveyard onto the battlefield. Good against The Wandering Emperor as it has vigilance. Can also speed up your game.
• 2 Brotherhood's End — Good against Venerated Rotpriest and Skrelv, Defector Mite.
• 1 Pack's Betrayal — Good against Phyrexian Obliterator, Phyrexian Vindicator, Atraxa, Grand Unifier, Sanctuary Warden, and every other big creature on the battlefield. This is a third copy of the card.
• 3 Rebel Salvo — Good against Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.
• 1 Fade from History — One-sided board swipe against enchantment and artifact decks.

Deck Change Considerations

Lands

You can reduce the number of legendary lands to one each, if you are afraid of drawing two of them. However, channel lands are useful in a werewolf deck, because they do not count as casting a spell. You can use a channel land during your turn and still get night on the following turn. So, it may be useful to include 2 copies of each channel land and channel the second copy instead of playing it as a land. The deck has 23 for lands, so if you draw all the legendary lands, the deck is still considered as a 21-land deck, which means that you will draw your third and fourth land with a reasonable chance.

How to Play the Deck

Play Fast

The deck is a very fast aggro deck, which benefits greatly from the night. You usually want to play a werewolf on the second turn, and if the opponent does not play any cards on their turn, it will turn night. If you are able to get a Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher out on turn three while there is night, the opponent goes easily down to 7 life. And if they are not able to remove your creatures on their turn, an additional Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher or another creature will bring them down to -11 or so, and therefore if the opponent plays something like Union of the Third Path or gets 5–10 life from lifelink, it does not matter. And even if they play something like Sheoldred to block, the damage is still lethal.

Utilize Night

Werewolves deal absurd amounts of damage during night, so getting night can be one win condition. It is not unheard of that werewolves deal 20 damage in a single turn, especially when you have several Kessig Naturalist // Lord of the Ulvenwalds out. This may come as a surprise to the opponent. Also, during night a Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher is at least a 5/4 creature with haste and trample, which deals unreal amounts of damage for just 3 mana. Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge can also boost wolves and werewolves during night and give them trample, which may win you games.

Burn Opponents' Face

The deck has all the best burn spells in the format: 4 Play with Fires and 4 Lightning Strikes. Additionally, Kumano Faces Kakkazan // Etching of Kumano and Thundering Raiju deal direct damage. This may help you to win games, when the opponent is low on life.

Steal Big Creatures

With the introduction of creatures like Phyrexian Obliterator, Phyrexian Vindicator, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, it's important that you have some answers to these creatures. The deck sports 2 main deck copies of Pack's Betrayal, which can help you to finish the game, even if your opponent gets one of these creatures out. There are two additional copies of Pack's Betrayal in the sideboard. This card is also nice for the fact that it usually scrys for 2 when you use it, so you might be able to remove some lands or other cards unsuitable for the situation from the top of your deck.

Deck Updates

5th March, 2023

There are now two copies of Pack's Betrayal in the deck, which is a great card against Phyrexian Obliterator, Phyrexian Vindicator, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier, not to mention that you usually get to scry for 2, when you use it. I removed one land and one Halana and Alena, Partners to make them fit to the deck. I think that this deck will do well with 23 lands.

15th March, 2023

Removed Halana and Alena, Partners in favor of 4th Thundering Raiju and 4th Tovolar, Dire Overlord // Tovolar, the Midnight Scourge.