Oh, promises, promises.

We've all made promises to someone or something in our lives, and we've all had varying degrees of success and/or difficulty following through on those same oaths. Take, for example, the fact that when I was 14, I participated in the sacrament of Confirmation as a young Catholic School boy. Today, I am an atheist. While I look at it as coming to reality, many would look at that as a broken promise.

Promise is a word that gets thrown around quite a bit. We hear politicians make promises, only to not deliver. Significant others make promises that never happen. It's almost as if the word itself has lost all meaning. When someone does deliver on a promise, it's cause for celebration. Such as the, currently, most beloved Promise Keeper of Northeast Ohio:



Yes, I'm still celebrating the Cavs victory.

I have not always been the best at keeping my promises. There are certain things I've always done and held close to me and kept. When people confide in me, those words never go beyond me. When I get a pet, I promise to always care for it until the end, which I have always done. There are other things that I have failed at. There are times I haven't necessarily been a good friend. There are times I "promised" to do something, like take out the trash, and didn't. The list, as it is for many of us, is long.

I have been all-consumed by Modern for the past several months. There is nothing wrong with this. It's just how it has been. With the pending release of Eldritch Moon on MTGO, though, I have decided to take a more serious approach to the other constructed format that I like to play. I have been very lax in my Standard play. There is also another reason. Several months ago, I made a promise that there were cards that excited me that were being previewed for Shadows over Innistrad, and that I would absolutely play them. The list of cards that I provided wasn't a complete list of all cards that are or were Standard legal that I earmarked for play. But, I made a promise that it would happen. So, consider this my Promise Keeper article.

One card that I've liked forever was Scaleguard Sentinels

This card was a Game Day Promo as well, and I was sure to grab my playset. In spite of having the pretty playset of these, and having a desire to make it work, or at least play it, I had never gotten around to it. With rotation less than sixty days away, it is time I fulfil that promise to myself. I've tossed this together in paper already, and once Eldritch Moon cards are available later this weekend, I will be grabbing the new cards to complete the list:

Mother of Dragons, a RG Standard Test Deck



Flying has become one of the most valuable evasive abilities in Standard. Sure, flying has always been good, but with the way that the format has shaped up into large ground forces staring across the battlefield at each other, whether it is Bant Company decks, GW Tokens, Mono-White Aggro, or any of a plethora of ground based creature decks. So, enter the dragons.

In order to get the greatest benefit from my Sentinels, I needed to have enough dragons that were reasonably able to be cast. The printing of Mirrorwing Dragon helped fill that need. My original split in the five slot was four Mirrorwing, and only two Harbinger of the Hunt . But, after noticing the increase in low power, low toughness flying spirits, I made the change to the current three each. Essentially, the deck plays out like any midrange aggro creature deck, which has some burn for reach and creature removal. Post board, I have some swarm and anti-white answers, or even the ability to go into more of a solid burn only plan, by having the ability to up the direct damage spells from seven to fifteen. I'm not saying that this is a PT winning deck. But for lower levels of competition, like FNM, it can get there and be fun to play. Honestly, I'm looking forward to the first league I get to play this in.

If I grow bored, or just get crushed and need a change of pace, I already have plans for a second deck to play and test later on. This deck will knock two of my promises off the list in one shot:

The Big Bad Pig, a RG Standard Test Deck



** Full Disclosure: This deck is purely theory-crafting. ** I can't say this deck is great. I can't even sit here and tell you it's good. It's a first wag at a deck I've wanted to play for a while, and I chose to make the jump. Essentially, this deck is kinda like the Mono-White humans in that it plays a bunch of 1-2 drop creatures to flood the board, with the hopes of taking advantage of my own Always Watching by using Howlpack Resurgence. I don't really have a viable swap in for Gryff's Boon, so rather that go with the simple "fly over your guys" plan, I went with the tried and true plan of any long time Green mage...Overrun . And how cool is it that, instead of Overrun, I get to do the, "Piggy Smash!!!" thing, and use (Decimator of Provinces). I would be lying if I said I didn't find humor in the way this kinda, sorta looks like a reverse Three Little Pigs story, with the wolves playing the part of pigs, and Decimator playing the part of the Big Bad Wolf.

I'm aware I could have just gone with a Werewolf theme, and maybe even make a better deck. My issue with that, though, is the same problem I've encountered with all the werewolf decks...I have no real control over when the creatures flip, and I can't necessarily control if I have the good side or the bad side on the turn I want to go all in. So, with the exception of the card advantage supplied by Duskwatch Recruiter and the boarded Hermit of the Natterknolls to interact with the flash/control decks, I went purely with real, actual, authentic wolves. Again, while not at the top of my list in the coming week or so, this is close enough to the top that I will probably be playing it some in the TPR.

The final card from my promises was none other than the legendary frog:

I know a lot of people have tried to make this card work in multiple formats, and it has yet to really break through. Unlike its "brother from another mother", Spiritmonger , this 6/6 five drop has not taken over FNM's across the land. Now, if we ever get another Pernicious Deed to pair with the frog, we could be cooking with gas. Regardless, a couple months ago, BrewSpyTheMagicGuy was working on a Modern deck that could take advantage of some of the unique abilities of the frog:

Jund Frog Loam, Modern Test Deck from BrewSpyTheMagicGuy



Being a Jund-ish deck that didn't run Liliana of the Veil , I was immediately intrigued. This deck borrows heavily from Bronson Magnan's GP Winning deck that won GP: Lincoln back in 2012, the first ever Modern Grand Prix. Since I saw this deck on stream, I have randomly played it when I was looking for something different to do rather than dropping Blood Moon all night. That being said, I have found this deck can be incredibly weak to my much loved three-drop enchantment. The deck can be fun, but, aside from the previously mentioned Moon, it also takes random splash damage from graveyard hate, which seems to be picking up more and more in the matches I've played. While I've never built this is paper, and have no intention to, I think I've managed to pick up enough games with it in the TPR and in casual leagues to qualify this as "played."

OK...Maybe I'm not from Akron, exactly...but I did grow up a mere 30 or so minutes south of there. So, like LBJ, I've kept my promise. Until next week,

Peace,

Carl E Wilt