Now that Edge of Eternities preview season is over, it’s only a matter of days before players have the set in their hands. While it looks to be less powerful than many recent sets, it’ll likely still have a significant impact on Standard. This is doubly true since it’ll be coming into an already experimental format, with interesting brews cropping up regularly in events. This past weekend, for example, a spicy Temur Ramp deck made top four of an MTG Arena Standard Qualifier event.
Piloted by ChitelArnaud, this list has plenty going on. It runs a number of Standard’s biggest hitters, many of which handily double as cheaper spells for early use. Ramp as an archetype hasn’t really been represented in Standard for a while now, so a deck like this, then, is a breath of fresh air. If you prefer going over the top to grinding it out in Midrange slugfests, this could be the list for you.
Temur Ramp In MTG Standard
As with all MTG Ramp decks, in Standard or otherwise, ChitelArnaud’s Temur creation is all about securing a mana advantage over your opponent. It spends the early game building this up, then leverages it later to power out huge threats. This often allows the deck to roll right over the more modest offerings Midrange and Aggro are putting out at the same time.
To get things going, four copies of Llanowar Elves are almost a given. Skipping from one to three mana is a huge deal, and doubly so in a deck like this. The rest of the deck’s ramp, you see, is all at the three-mana mark. You’ve got the Claim Territory side of Bloomvine Regent, which is essentially a Forest-only Cultivate. You’ve also got Overlord of the Hauntwoods, which you can cast via Impending for three to get a tapped five-color land token.
Going Llanowar Elves on turn one into one of these on turn two will set you up with five mana on turn three. At that point, you’re ready to start powering out Regent and Overlord for full price. After six-seven mana, the rest of the deck’s creature suite opens up to you. As we’ll see soon, just dropping one of these heavy hitters a turn is likely enough to end the game in short order.
While not a ramp piece per se, Smuggler’s Surprise is still a very important card in the deck. For six mana at instant speed, this lets you put any two creatures from your hand into play. This helps get around the innate sluggishness of Ramp decks, and allows for explosive plays. It can also help you recover in the late game or protect your board.
Bringing Out The Big Guns
A Ramp deck is nothing without big creatures to power out, of course, and ChitelArnaud plays some of the very best Temur MTG cards in Standard. For starters, Overlord and Regent are pretty big in their own right. These are very solid creatures to cast post-ramp, but they also help you ramp too. This flexibility is massive for the deck as a whole.
Other cards in a similar category are Overlord of the Boilerbilges and Marang River Regent. Both are great creatures to ramp into, and both can also be cast earlier if need be. Boilerbilges as a clunky removal spell, and River Regent as a clunky card advantage piece. These options aren’t incredible, but they’re much better than being stuck with an unplayable hand until you hit six mana. Weaving them in between your ramp turns can help you set up for a smoother win later on.
Finally, we have the real big guns: Dragonback Assault and Vaultborn Tyrant. Tyrant is one of the best pound-for-pound creatures in Standard right now, but Assault is a bit more of a curveball. This is a relatively new card from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and one that hasn’t seen much play due to its high, color-intensive mana cost. In a deck like this, where it’s relatively easy to cast, it’s a banger. It comes down as a decent board clear, then turns all your future land drops into evasive threats. It even makes a nice combo with Bloomvine Regent.
To help bridge the gap between your ramp and these big swingers, the deck runs a few card advantage pieces. Stock Up is a no-brainer, but you’ll also find a few copies of Three Steps Ahead here. As with Smuggler’s Surprise, Spree plays great with having lots of extra mana lying around.
Right Place Wrong Time?
Some cheap removal like Torch the Tower and Scorching Dragonfire aside, that’s Temur Ramp. It’s a deck with a ton of potential for high-impact plays, particularly if you can land an early Smuggler’s Surprise. Unfortunately, despite ChitelArnaud’s promising results, the current meta may not be the best home for it.
Right now, Midrange decks are at the top of the tree. Both Dimir and Izzet have extremely consistent top-tier Midrange lists. Both of these decks are sub-par matchups for Temur Ramp. They have plenty of cheap interaction, which can deal with early Llanowar Elves to deny your ramp. They also pack hard removal for big threats, like Go for the Throat, and bounce spells, like Into the Flood Maw. Combined with their plentiful early threats, it’s hard for Temur Ramp to really compete here.
The next best deck, Izzet Prowess, isn’t much better. Where Midrange can deal with your threats as the game progresses, this deck can finish you off before your threats even hit play. Temur Ramp really doesn’t have a lot going on in the early game, so it’s wide open for huge Slickshot Show-Off swings. This deck isn’t as explosive as it once was, but Vivi ensures it’s still capable of ending games in short order.
That said, these dominant decks are about to lose a lot come rotation. Izzet Cauldron will lose the titular Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, for one, while Dimir loses key pieces like Faerie Mastermind and Spyglass Siren. Maybe these losses will change things up enough for a slow list like Temur Ramp to shine.
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