(Full decklist on Moxfield)
The idea of stealing your opponents best creature and smacking them in the face with it has always been a fun casual archetype. Over the years this deck has been getting new pieces and I think we're finally approaching a real deck. Make no mistake, that this deck won't 5-0 any MTGO leagues, and it certainly won't be taking over the meta. Regardless, I do think that LOTR has added the additions necessary to make this a real deck.
The Core:
Tentative Connection is the reason to be playing this deck. A one mana Act of Treason is a huge temp play if we can pair it with Deadly Dispute and Village Rites. Pauper has a lot of big creatures with Avenging Hunter being one of the best things to steal and attack with. Tentative Connection requires a lot of deck building costs to work with namely the menace creatures and the sac outlets.
The Missing Pieces:
Improvised Club is another sac outlet to pair with our theft effects and with Galvanic Blast the deck has extra reach to close out the game. Rohirrim Lancer is a huge gain for Tentative Connection and allows the deck to reach a critical mass of menace creatures. Menace creatures are very good at carrying The Ring as the oppoent will have to control multiple 1 power creatures to block. With Rohirrim Lancers we not only have access to 10-12 Menace one-drops, but we can start to slot in a Ring tempts you subtheme.
The Ring Tempts You Cards:
Uruk-hai Berserker and Sam's Desperate Rescue add enough cards to get the value of Ring tempting into the deck. This has been the problem with cards like Birthday Escape. It's a powerful card, but there's no other tempt cards worth putting in the Mono Blue decks. Uruk-hai Berserker is good enough to make the cut at three copies as it is the most proactive way to get tempts. A vanilla 3/2 ground creature can look pretty silly in the face of Goliath Paladain, Myr Enforcer, and Tolarian Terror. However, I do think getting the Ring to levels two and four is powerful if your deck can do it reliably. It's for that same reason that I've decided to run Sam's Desperate Rescue. The spike in me knows that Unearth is just so much more efficient, but I really want to see what the Ring is capable of.
The Sauce:
I never understood the hype that Beamstown Beatstick received during it's spoiler season. Ragavan this is not but I have been impressed by it as a one-of. Two color decks always have wonky mana so the treasure token has actually been useful. Beatstick granting menace to Uruk-hai Berserker and Lazotep Reaver turns on Tentative Connection in a pinch and we can always sac it to Improvised Club if we're desperate. Mayhem Patrol is a card that has astounded me. I originally had it in as a two-off to fill out my menace creatures, but after playing with it I realized that it is the best creature in the deck. Whenever Mayhem Patrol attacks target creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn. That line of text allows it to pump opposing 1 power creaures so that your ringbearer can get in unblocked. Your ringbearer is almost always a menace creature. So lets say that you're up against Orzhov Ephemerate and your ringbearing Mayhem Patrol is facing down a Thraben Inspector and a Spirited Companion. At the moment they have two blockers, but if you attack and pump one of their creatures suddenly Mayhem Patrol can't be blocked by the remaining 1 power blocker. It seems niche but these interactions came up a lot during testing. It turns out that menace tribal is hard to block, especially if they're carrying a ring.
Against the Meta: Good Match Ups Tentative Connection is best suited against decks with big creatures to steal. GR Ponza with Avenging Hunter and Annoyed Altisaur. Dimir Terror with Gurmag Angler and Tolarian Terror. You can steal wins very quickly by attacking them with a huge threat and then sacing it for value. Taking Avenging Hunter and sacing it to Improvised Club is one of my favorite plays. Decks with a variety of creature sizes are decent match ups like Orzhov Ephemerate and Affinity. You just need to be the aggressor and kill them before they bury you in value. Bad Match Ups Honestly, this would be the rest of the meta. The other decks either use very few creatures to invalidated our thefts, or they make a lot of small bodies to block our menace creatures. Kuldotha Rebirth is miserable to play against because you're never getting through the three 1/1 goblins. Mono-Blue Faeries never has good targets for Tentative Connection and has lots of interaction. Snap bouncing a ringbearer is brutal and Brinebarrow Intruder can blow us out in combat. Counterspell and Spell Pierce make Deadly Dispute and Improvised Club very punishing if they get countered. Other mentions would be Caw-Gate and Boros Synth since they are powerful decks with small creatures and tons of interaction. The worse match up would have to be Bogles. Hexproof creatures make Tentitive Connection and Bloody Betrayal completely dead cards. We swap them out for Diabolic Edict and Chainer's Edict in the board but this deck can't race a massive Lifelink and Hexproof beater. Thanks so much for reading. As always I'd like to say thank you to Moxifield, MTGGoldfish, and Scryfall. You can follow us on Moxfield where you can explore our other builds. To connect with us more you can explore the site for our socials and newsletter. Thanks again for reading and joining the Fellowship
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