BG Rock 2.0

After some healthy discussions with guys at Reddit, the initial BG Rock list I’ve shared was performing well but lacked the card advantage to refill our hand in the middle of the game. Our creature based were not as impactful either that makes them worth bringing back by Liliana. I’ve switched up a bit and let me explain what I did and why I did them.

Thanks to u/lamCheph84 for test driving this online.

Ripjaw Raptor is actually really good in a midrange deck. It’s a tough creature to kill, surprisingly cheap to cast for a 4/5 body, and has an excellent ability that draws us some cards. With Cartouche of Strength, the fight ability also triggers enrage which can be relevant.

Arguel’s Blood Fast is another good card we can add the mainboard. It draws us some cards at instant speed and its flip side is actually relevant for us as well if we can sacrifice a Ripjaw Raptor or our Carnage Tyrant to gain us 5-6 life, then have Liliana reanimate them.

Nissa moves in from the sideboard thanks to her emblem ability which is not so difficult to fire off. We have so many control elements that we can easily project Nissa from early damage and cash her in the turn after she comes to play. We do have the option to tick her up  twice before embleming to keep her on the battlefield. Either way, she earned her 1-off slot in the mainboard.

Vraska’s Contempt is added to the mainboard as a way to effectively deal with gods or opposing planeswalkers. It was a toss-up between this or Hour of Glory but I thought that having the flexibility to exile planeswalkers and gain some life was better than surgically removing a god from the deck. Apart from Ramunap, Hazoret is the most played god and Ramunap only runs 3 of them anyway.

Here’s my revised BG Rock 2.0

Creatures: 10

4 Ripjaw Raptor
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
3 Carnage Tyrant
1 Noxious Gearhulk

Enchantment: 2

2 Arguel’s Blood Fast

Spells: 18

3 Duress
4 Fatal Push
1 Harsh Scrutiny
3 Walk the Plank
2 Doomfall
2 Vraska’s Contempt
2 Yaheeni’s Expertise
1 Hour of Glory

Planeswalkers: 5

2 Liliana, Death’s Majesty
2 Vraska, Relic Seeker
1 Nissa, Vital Force

Lands: 25

4 Blooming Marsh
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Ifnir Deadlands
2 Scavenger Grounds
6 Forest
6 Swamp

Sideboard: 15

4 Gifted Aetherborn
3 Dreamstealer
3 Lost Legacy
1 Duress
1 Doomfall
3 Appetite for the Unnatural

The sideboard will also support this new curve in case we face a heavier control deck. Dreamstealer, the last copy of Duress and Lost Legacy enter to further support our hand disruption when we take out the removal package.

Gifted Aetherborn and comes in against monster decks or Ramunap Red to give us a better match-up. To protect us from crazy artifacts like GPGs or opposing Torrential Gearhulk

Appetite for the Unnatural seals a lot of holes in certain match-ups like GPG, Torrential decks, people that run Search of Azcanta and Cast Outs. It actually hits a lot of relevant things in Standard right now.

That’s it for today, I saw that this deck had the most views in the past couple of days so thank you for the support!

Best,

Vanson