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Deck Overview- Modern Temur Prowess

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Today's deck is going to feel very familiar, but is going to look very different. Austin Toler's 21st place list from GP Dallas is a wild mix that resembles both Infect and Death's Shadow Zoo, pulling strengths from both decks.

Temur Prowess

Creatures

2 Bedlam Reveler
4 Kiln Fiend
3 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Thing in the Ice

Spells

4 Gitaxian Probe
4 Serum Visions
2 Sleight of Hand
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Manamorphose
4 Mutagenic Growth
4 Temur Battle Rage

Lands

1 Breeding Pool
2 Island
1 Mountain
3 Polluted Delta
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Spirebluff Canal
2 Steam Vents

Sideboard

1 Bedlam Reveler
3 Blood Moon
2 Dispel
1 Shattering Spree
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Twisted Image
2 Vapor Snag
2 Young Pyromancer

Where Death's Shadow Zoo and Infect utilize Become Immense, this deck instead sticks to creatures large enough to make lethal with Temur Battle Rage without the powerful delve spell. Instead of the raw explosive power of Become Immense, instead this deck biases towards the protective elements of Infect by featuring the full four Blossoming Defense.

Thing in the Ice is a bit less explosive and requires more work than the threats that you see in the other pump spell decks, though the ability to reset the battlefield definitely has value against other creature decks. I also dig the Bedlam Revelers as a way to gas back up, which is something that Infect and Death's Shadow Zoo have to do over the course of multiple turns. The tension with Reveler is likely a primary motivator for the exclusion of Become Immense. I don't know to a certainty which is better, though I admire that Toler is attempting this angle instead of accepting the conventional wisdom.

Only playing three copies of Monastery Swiftspear is rather suspect, though the intention is definitely just to be a little more robust rather than to be the fastest linear deck. For that reason I could see this deck having some issues in combatting the other hyper-aggressive decks, though it looks like it would play better against the Junds of the world. And if that isn't true, you can just Blood Moon them out of the sideboard.

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