Anyone who watched along with the absolute train wreck of Standard events this weekend knows that we are currently in a one-deck format. Seven of the top eight in the Arena Championships were Vivi Cauldron combo decks, and six of the top eight in the MTGO Standard Showcase Challenge were the same deck. The metagame breakdown for the Arena Championships sounded the alarms, and the results have spoken.
That said, some decks are managing to put up impressive performances despite Vivi Cauldron’s absurd performance. Putting up a top eight performance for $10,000 and a Pro Tour invite this weekend, Temur Ferocious, as it has been coined, introduces a new midrange deck to Standard with a combo finish.
Temur Ferocious
Since this deck cares a lot about synergies with creatures with power four or more, Temur Ferocious feels like an appropriate name for this new Midrange combo deck. We’ve seen Outcaster Trailblazer has appeared in multiple combo decks across formats, and this presents yet another chance for the deck to shine.
The goal of this deck is to, essentially, create massive turns that ultimately result in Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest burning out your opponent with its triggered ability. Outcaster Trailblazer can keep the card draw flowing, but if you want to keep up with faster combo decks like Izzet Cauldron, you need a similarly explosive sequence to end games out of nowhere.
Temur Battlecrier does exactly that to help get your stuff in play ahead of schedule. Reducing all of your spells’ casting cost by one for each creature with power four or greater in play, there are multiple spells that this creature can cast for free, like Anticausal Vestige. So, the engine of Temur Battlecrier and Outcaster Trailblazer essentially allows you to cast spells for cheap, draw more cards, and cast even more spells to keep the train going.
Since this deck’s value is more exponential in nature than single-card oriented, we get to see a ton of cards that usually don’t get competitive appearances, but instead show up in Commander.
Tons of Commander Staples
Unlike most successful competitive decks, Temur Ferocious uses a lot of cards that build off each other to create ridiculous sequences. Roaming Throne is the most iconic Commander staple that appears in this deck, and it works exceptionally well with the core pieces.
There are lots of entry triggers in Temur Ferocious, and Roaming Throne naming either Humans or Dragons can be the finishing punch needed for the deck to get over the finish line. Naming Humans causes Outcaster Trailblazer to draw two cards each time its effect triggers, and doubling Dragonhawk, Fate’s Tempest’s entry effect essentially means that the creature deals four damage for each creature with power four or greater in play on entry. Considering that your entire suite of creatures counts towards this, Dragonhawk closing the game is trivial.
Roaming Throne also works exceptionally well with Temur Battlecrier. It’s not uncommon to build up boards where Battlecrier reduces the casting cost of Roaming Throne to zero. Add on a Ward 2 to protect the Throne, and you have a Commander staple that functions incredibly well in this deck.
The other card that typically doesn’t appear in competitive Magic is Devastating Onslaught. This card is rather fragile, since a typical removal spell completely blows the value it creates out of the water. You also need to sink a ton of mana into it to make it worthwhile. This awkwardness would eventually cause Temur Ferocious to lose to Vivi Cauldron in the top eight.
That said, in many situations, Devastating Onslaught will simply win the game on its own. Copying an Outcaster Trailblazer twice, for example, can draw multiple cards and create mana to cast things. Copying Roaming Throne on an established board can be difficult to stop thanks to its Ward cost. Should you manage to copy any number of different cards with Devastating Onslaught, it can easily end the game.
Swiss Army Knife Sideboard
Temur Ferocious’s maindeck is all-in on the exponential value created by four-power creatures. As a result, there’s not a ton of interaction for what the opponent is trying to do. When you need some specific pieces to stop some more lethal game plans, it’s time to turn to the sideboard.
A mix of counterspells, removal, uncounterable threats, and even some lifegain tools, makes sure that Temur Ferocious has a game plan for any strategy that could appear. For Vivi Combo, there’s a decent number of cards ready to try and interact with the tier zero deck.
After watching Temur Ferocious play against Vivi Cauldron in the Arena Championships, we know exactly what the deck’s creator’s sideboard strategy is for the matchup. The obvious inclusions for the matchup are Scrapshooter to deal with all the pesky artifacts and enchantments, and Ghost Vaccuum to keep Vivi Ornitier from getting under Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. Spectral Denial also seems like a great tempo tool in a deck basically designed to make the counterspell as efficient as possible.
The other options are a bit unexpected. Ugin, Eye of the Storms can certainly take over any Standard game when resolved, but it might be difficult to actually resolve the Planeswalker when either player can end the game out of nowhere. Temur Battlecrier does allow the Planeswalker to be cast at reduced costs, however, and Lumbering Worldwagon does a great job ramping to it ahead of time.
Lastly, Surrak, Elusive Hunter can help keep your hand size up if your creatures keep eating targeted removal. Considering how interactive this matchup becomes, this makes a lot of sense.
Overall, this seems like an incredibly fun Standard deck to try that has some proven results in the toughest fields. That said, if you’re looking to optimize your chances of winning a tournament, it’s difficult to recommend anything that isn’t Vivi Cauldron. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a competitive alternative that seems like a lot of fun, Temur Ferocious may surprise you.