New Frontiers Out of the Aether WRITTEN BY Dillon Matthew Baca

Good day everyone, this is Matthew Baca with some Frontier content for you. With the new release of Aether Revolt, there are quite a few cards to shake up some Frontier lists, and maybe even push some new ones into the spotlight. Magic is a community sport, so feedback is always welcome!

Abzan Scales

The first card I wanted to talk about today is Winding Constrictor. The child of Corpsejack Menace and Hardened Scales, this card gives Green-White Hardened Scales decks additional copies of their namesake card with a body attached! The deck has been struggling to put up top results, and this may just be the snake for the job.

15th Place GW Aggro at Hareruya God of Frontier Event January 9th, 2017

(https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/549067)

Hareruya’s 236-player, competitive REL Frontier event is the current flagship for competitive Frontier, and Arai Toshikazu piloted GW Hardened Scales to a 15th place finish. I have tweaked the list and updated it with some Aether Revolt cards:

CREATURES [26]

4 Servant of the Scale

4 Hangarback Walker

4 Walking Ballista

4 Winding Constrictor

4 Avatar of the Resolute

4 Managorger Hydra

2 Anafenza, the Foremost

SPELLS [12]

4 Hardened Scales

4 Dromoka's Command

1 Abzan Charm

3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

LANDS [22]

4 Blooming Marsh

1 Concealed Courtyard

4 Windswept Heath

2 Wooded Foothills

2 Flooded Strand

2 Canopy Vista

1 Sunken Hollow

1 Smoldering Marsh

3 Forest

2 Plains

SIDEBOARD [15]

2 Collective Brutality

1 Abzan Charm

1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

2 Tormod's Crypt

2 Reclamation Sage

2 Phyrexian Revoker

1 Evolutionary Leap

2 Fatal Push

2 Blossoming Defense

By adding black to the mana base we can slot in Winding Constrictor over Animation Module and slim down some of the other spells to make room for stronger black spells like Abzan Charm and Anafenza, the Foremost. Without Elvish Mystic the dream of landing a miniature army with Secure the Wastes was a little less viable, so I opted to include Walking Ballista instead. This may look like Hangarback Walker, but this card plays on a completely different axis. While Hangarback Walker gives aggressive lists a wind-up toy to help come back after the inevitable sweeper, Walking Ballista wants to mow down your opponent’s creatures and pave the way to victory. With a scales effect in play, this becomes a colorless Chandra’s Pyrohelix and can grow beyond that to turn into a frightening chain gun that your opponents will constantly have to play around. If there is a good home for this card, Abzan Scales is the perfect penthouse. *After seeing the first week of Standard at Star City Games Columbus, Walking Ballista was a miniature all-star and quickly propelled itself to the top of the breakout cards in Aether Revolt. Decks only playing Winding Constrictor as an engine made valuable use of the card, it’s hard to imagine how good it will be with eight copies of that effect in the list.

Anafenza, the Foremost gives a sizeable body that doubles as another counter enabler and graveyard hater. I’m tempted to include more copies, but that would risk slowing down the deck. Abzan Charm is and always will be one of my favorite instants; the versatility of exiling a troublesome creature, drawing two cards in a grindy match-up, or a surprise combat trick all at instant speed is too much to pass up. With a Scales effect out you can easily turn combat in your favor with the +1/+1 mode, which is usually the weakest mode on the card.

I think there is an argument to move the Anafenza to the sideboard and slim down one Nissa to make room for Rishkar, Peema Renegade. I’ll talk about Rishkar more in-depth in a moment, but a three-mana Verdurous Gearhulk that turns every creature in your deck into a mana source is pretty insane. With the prevalence of Rally in the meta, however, having at least one maindeck answer is the best decision.

I think Oath of Ajani is worth mentioning, but it feels a little win-more without adding enough to your board on it’s own. Nissa is almost always going to be better: On an empty board she can power out new bodies, or she can pump out a few more after placing a counter on the whole team. She is the only Planeswalker in the deck, which makes the second clause on the card less relevant. If we really wanted the ramp, Rishkar fills that role better and even brings more to the table.

In the sideboard, there are a few changes I have made to combat the current meta. RG Aggro lists are on the rise, and having efficient interaction and disruption can be the difference between getting to play a game of Magic or just getting to play a few lands. With the addition of black, we gain access to Fatal Push, which, even without Revolt, can clean up almost every creature in RG Aggro lists barring the odd Reckless Bushwhacker or Goblin Rabblemaster. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is also good to gain life in an effort to slow the bleeding from low-to-the-ground aggressive lists, while also giving your Walking Ballista the chance to make some Zombie tokens out of your opponent’s creatures (or better yet +1/+1 counters on Kalitas). Collective Brutality can also help in several match-ups, either by draining an opponent for two life and picking off a stray Zurgo Bellstriker, or by tearing a Languish out of your opponent’s hand and melting their Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy. This card sees Eternal play for a reason, and passing up an opportunity to use it an aggressive sideboard seems like a mistake.

Bant Panharmonicon

By taking a traditional UW Panharmonicon deck, we can upgrade the deck with a few Aether Revolt pieces and bump up the power level with other green cards as well. There isn’t really a set Bant list to go off of, but I reviewed several UW Panharmonicon lists and Bant Collected Company lists to assemble the dream team:

CREATURES [24]

4 Elvish Mystic

2 Thraben Inspector

4 Servant of the Conduit

4 Rogue Refiner

4 Reflector Mage

1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade

2 Cloudblazer

SPELLS [12]

2 Stasis Snare

4 Collected Company

4 Panharmonicon

2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher

LANDS [24]

3 Canopy Vista

2 Prairie Stream

3 Forest

2 Island

2 Plains

3 Flooded Strand

4 Windswept Heath

3 Lumbering Falls

2 Aether Hub

SIDEBOARD [15]

1 Linvala, the Preserver

3 Negate

3 Arashin Cleric

2 Eerie Interlude

3 Reclamation Sage

2 Summary Dismissal

1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

While I am not personally a fan of playing the card, the value of Collected Company in a list of powerful enter-the-battlefield effects is too good to pass up. Powering out a turn three Panharmonicon followed by a Collected Company will push you insurmountably ahead of your opponent. Aside from Collected Company, Aether Revolt also gives us a few new gems for the list:

Rogue Refiner

While this isn’t as cheap as Elvish Visionary, this card grants us something else we need for a good midrange deck: A sizeable body! Not only do you get two energy and a card, you get a creature capable of pressuring planeswalkers and who doesn’t crumple to Goblin tokens. Having three power over the one from Elvish Mystic means it is big enough to make blocking unprofitable with Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, Reflector Mage, Spell Queller, or the rare defensive Smuggler’s Copter. While sitting around and drawing cards is fun, Rogue Refiner gives us a viable body while progressing in our enter-the-battlefield plan. Dropping at least one of these off of a Collected Company and getting a three-power blocker in addition to a minimum of one card seems almost too good to be true.

Rishkar, Peema Renegade

Rishkar serves two very important roles in this deck. First, by turning some of our other creatures into mana dorks, we’re able to propel ourselves a turn or two ahead in mana and drop a quicker Panharmonicon. Second, with a Panharmonicon already in play, Rishkar does a very good imitation of Verdurous Gearhulk while being a low enough cost to be hit by Collected Company.

Other cards we gain access to include Tamiyo, Field Researcher for better tempo plays, Elvish Mystic for earlier four-drops, and Reclamation Sage to blow out a heavily artifact or enchantment–invested opponent. The sideboard Arashin Clerics are good at blocking Zurgo Bellstriker and Goblin tokens, while also being able to heavily pad your life total in the aggressive match-ups. Negate and Eerie Interlude help us in the control or removal–heavy match-ups, while also allowing us to retrigger all of our amazing enter-the-battlefield effects. Skysovereign, Consul Flagship is in the board to help us pick off Planeswalkers or Gearhulks with a Panharmonicon in play in the grindier match-ups. Summary Dismissal is good for stopping big Eldrazi in ramp decks, or if we really need to stop something our opponent is doing.

Wrap Up

Winding down from these lists, there are a few other notable cards from Aether Revolt that may be a bit obvious to other players. Fatal Push is the saving grace in early removal, giving an alternative to Grasp of Darkness that rarely misses on creatures that Grasp could already hit. Shaving down one black mana makes splashable removal much better in three or four–color archetypes. Spire of Industry and Tezzeret’s Touch give UR Ensoul Artifact lists a viable reason to splash black, also giving them access to Scrapheap Scrounger and Unlicensed Disintegration. Lifecrafter’s Bestiary and Narnam Renegade can also help improve Elf lists, granting an effect similar to Glimpse of Nature and adding another powerful one-drop creature.

Those are the few notable cards I felt needed to be addressed. Feel free to tweet or message me on twitter @mattplaysmagic if you have feedback or questions about my choices!