Experimenting with Evolve

Hello Everyone!

This weekend is the Gatecrash Pre-release, and I can't wait! At this point I'm 95% going to play Gruul because I feel like the guild has the most raw power. 2 of the 5 Bloodrush cards at common give +5 power for 3 mana! That's insane, and can close out games incredibly fast! At uncommon you get additional abilities in Deathtouch, Trample, and First Strike, so your opponents can never feel safe attacking or blocking making the game go much easier for you!

Today I'm not talking about Gruul though. The keyword that has me most excited for constructed is Evolve. Since before Experiment one was even announced, I was already writing decklists for it. Since we have such perfect mana we can actually combine Experiment One with basically anything, leading to a lot of interesting potential lists. Here's what I have come up with:

GR

4x Experiment One
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Flinthoof Boar
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Pyreheart Wolf
4x Hellrider
2x Ghor-Clan Rampager

4x Skullcrack
4x Searing Spear
2x Rancor

4x Stomping Ground
4x Rootbound Crag
3x Hellion Crucible
5x Forest
8x Mountain

This list feels a little underpowered. I may want a Thundermaw Hellkite in here, but I feel like Skullcrack is an important enough card that late game I would rather hold up that instead of tapping out for a Hellkite. The biggest Experiment one can usually get in this deck is a 3/3, but Wild Nacatl is a perfectly respectable card, and I expect to get there fairly regularly. I have no idea how Ghor-Clan Rampager will play out, but I feel that's a sweet card in this kind of deck to help push through damage in the mid game without letting the opponent move into the late game and overwhelm us.


Jund Evolve


4x Experiment One
4x Rakdos Cackler
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Flinthoof Boar
4x Dreg Mangler
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
2x Thundermaw Hellkite

2x Ultimate Price
4x Skullcrack
4x Rancor

4x Stomping Grounds
4x Blood Crypt
3x Overgrown Tomb
3x Kessig Wolf Run
4x Rootbound Crag
1x Mountain
2x Dragonskull Summit
3x Woodland Cemetery

I like this list a lot more than I like the GR one. Black gives us fantastic options with Falkenrath Aristocrat and Dreg Mangler. Experiment one can get all the way up to a 5/5 in this deck, though it will more likely never pass 4/4. This deck feels like it simply has an overall higher card quality, and I would probably test this one before GR.



Naya Evolve

4x Experiment One
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Flinthoof Boar
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Restoration Angel
3x Ghor Clan Rampager
2x Thragtusk

4x Rancor
2x Bonfire of the Damned
3x Skullcrack
4x Boros Charm

3x Temple Garden
4x Stomping Ground
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Rootbound Crag
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Gavony Township
1x Kessig Wolf Run
2x Mountain

Adding white is when things start to get really spicy! With white we gain tricks like Restoration Angel and Boros Charm while also gaining the raw power of Loxodon Smiter. This list is much slower than the Jund list, but with Thragtusk - Restoration Angel in it, it's designed to go a little bigger and longer. Having Thragtusk in the deck may also turn out to be a mistake, but I'm just pitching different ideas. One of the things that can make Evolve awkward is drawing it late. Let's say we have a Thragtusk in play and a Restoration Angel in hand along with an Experiment One. If we play the Experiment One and then the Resto Angel at end of turn, even if our opponent Skullcracks us, we still gain tons of value making the Experiment One go all the way up to a 4/4!



GW Evolve

4x Experiment One
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
3x Strangelroot Geist
3x Thalia
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Silverblade Paladin
2x Frontline Medic
4x Sublime Archangel

4x Rancor
3x Selesnya Charm
2x Faith's Shield

4x Temple Garden
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Gavony Township
2x Cavern of Souls
6x Plains
5x Forest

This is basically just a port from the Selesnya deck I have been playing online a little, but I think it works perfectly! The deck already had the nut draw of Pilgrim - Paladin - Archangel, but now it can have the nut draw of Experiment - Strangelroot - Rancor, Thalia. The tricky thing about this deck is that there are a lot of 2 power creatures that won't play well with trying to grow Experiment One as much as possible. However, we do have Rancor - Silverblade which is a cruel beating by itself, and Sublime Archangel is nasty at ending games abruptly on its own. This deck doesn't have much in the way of tricks, but it's incredibly high quality cards that don't require much to be any good on their own.



Bant Evolve

4x Cloudfin Raptor
4x Experiment One
3x Arbor Elf
2x Zameck Guildmage
4x Strangelroot Geist
4x Loxodon Smiter
4x Geist of Saint Traft
3x Restoration Angel

2x Simic Charm
2x Selesnya Charm
4x Rancor

4x Breeding Pool
4x Temple Garden
2x Hallowed Fountain
4x Hinterland Harbor
4x Sunpetal Grove
3x Glacial Fortress
2x Gavony Township
1x Moorland Haunt

Experiment One in a deck with Geist of Saint Traft seems like a perfect pair to me! Remember that Geist makes a 4/4 enter the battlefield every combat, which will trigger Evolve! With that, it's basically impossible for Experiment One to not be a 4/4 in almost no time! This deck gets to utilize Cloudfin Raptor as well, which is only slightly less powerful than Experiment One, but gains some very useful evasion. With the Geist angels, Cloudfin can grow to a 4/5 flier, which is just gross! One last card of note is Zameck Guildmage which isn't too powerful, but provides a ton of extra cards and can really power things up. Rebuying Strangelroots is sweet, and the interaction with Gavony Township is just fantastic.

I'm really excited to have Experiment One and Cloudfin Raptor in standard, giving us non RB options for aggressive decks. They requires better deckbuilding, but pay you back for your effort very nicely! I feel like there's a lot more avenues to explore as well! All of my decklists started in a GR or a GW base before expanding, but I wonder if something like a BUG deck is a viable option, or even dropping green all together? I'm doubtful, but open to new ideas.

That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack