Claim to Fame in Standard

When we discuss drafting at a high level, usually part of the conversation involves how important the two-drop slot is, and how essential it is to ensure a reasonable curve when building a limited deck.

Two drops, of course, are equally important in Standard - and particularly in an aggressive metagame. With the recent popularity of Ramunap Red, Zombies, B/G counter decks and the like, missing a two-drop - whether removal spell or threat - can spell the end of the game.

Here's a Standard deck I've been having a lot of fun and success with lately, taking out last week's Standard Showdown. I've taken much of the base engine of Ramunap Red, because I adore the way the deck doesn't have dead draws late in the game, and grafted black spells and creatures onto it, because of the lack of staying power and sometimes soft-hitting nature of some of Ramunap Red's threats. Here's the list; I'll then outline the changes Ixalan will bring to the deck and examine whether it remains viable, becomes better, or worse. It is very heavy on two-drops!

Four power, two mana!
Other abilities: irrelevant

B/R Claim//Fame aggro

Creatures

4 Bloodrage Brawler

2 Asylum Visitor

3 Earthshaker Khenra

4 Scrapheap Scrounger

3 Ammit Eternal

2 Ahn-Crop Crasher

2 Glorybringer

Spells

4 Claim//Fame

4 Shock

4 Fiery Temper

2 Abrade

2 Cut//Ribbons

2 Insult//Injury

Mana

4 Ramunap Ruins

2 Sunscorched Desert

2 Ifnir Deadlands

3 Smoldering Marsh

4 Swamp

7 Mountain

The deck is built for hard-hitting aggro plays, e.g. T2 Bloodrage Brawler, discard Scrapheap Scrounger, followed by T3 Claim//Fame (both halves) targeting Scrapheap Scrounger, attack for nine. None of the two-drops have less than three power. Emptying out the hand quickly is not difficult - Asylum Visitor, believe it or not, actually draws cards in this deck - and many of the spells can be cast from the graveyard, or via Madness, to mitigate the disadvantage of Bloodrage Brawler.

It retains a good control matchup, due to the haste creatures and frequent presence of the back half of Claim//Fame in the graveyard, making any creature into an instant threat, which usually hits for 5-6; there's no Bomat Courier or similar 1/1 creatures that your opponent can ignore for a turn or two - every creature is a very real threat.

The stack of cheap removal spells likewise ensures the deck has no issues dealing with an aggressive metagame, and should your opponent be reluctant to present targets, most of the burn spells go directly to the face.

Ammit Eternal is a fantastic closer in the endgame - you never want to let it through, but blocking is likewise an unattractive choice when you have a low life total

When it hits

With the release of Ixalan, four sets rotate from the Standard format; however, note that this deck does not lose very much in the rotation. The biggest loss is of course Fiery Temper, but we also lose Asylum Visitor and Smoldering Marsh.

Dragonskull Summit is an instant replacement for Smoldering Marsh, and we can easily increase the quantity to four, since we only need a single Mountain or Swamp to ensure two colours untapped. Wanted Scoundrels replaces Asylum Visitor as a two-drop threat, and it hits harder to boot. The free tokens for your opponent are essentially meaningless - the deck's plan is to win before they matter. Losing Asylum Visitor's few free cards isn't massive, but we will notice it; Ruin Raider takes a couple of slots to help make this up, at the expense of Abrade (relegated to sideboard, with U/R control down in numbers and God-Pharoah's Gift losing a heap in the rotation) and Lightning Strike takes the place of Fiery Temper as our three-to-the-face burn option.

It's not "no changes" but it's pretty close - we simply lose 6/14 of our options for making an advantageous discard, and will just have to think a little harder about it. Or maybe just chuck out Scrapheap Scrounger every time?

Four power, two mana!
Other abilities: irrelevant.

B/R Claim//Fame Aggro, post-Ixalan

4 Bloodrage Brawler

3 Earthshaker Khenra

4 Scrapheap Scrounger

3 Wanted Scoundrels

2 Ammit Eternal

2 Ahn-Crop Crasher

2 Ruin Raider

2 Glorybringer

Spells

4 Claim//Fame 

4 Shock

4 Lightning Strike

2 Cut//Ribbons

2 Insult//Injury

Lands

4 Ramunap Ruins

2 Sunscorched Desert

2 Ifnir Deadlands

4 Dragonskull Summit

4 Swamp 

6 Mountain

Testing reveals that it still hits like a freaking truck if you're not prepared.

New cards may change our perspective on the format; Black & Red aggro may be better off run as a pirate-oriented deck with Kari Zev, Ruin Raider, Wanted Scoundrels and Fathom-Fleet Captain - or with an artifact bent, featuring Captain Lannery Storm, Pia Nalaar, Unlicensed Disintegration and retaining Scrapheap Scrounger. That card is great and isn't going anywhere. Who blocks in constructed anyway? Aggressive red decks with Earthshaker Khenra and Ahn-Crop Crasher don't let you block in any case, so as long as you keep him away from the Magma Spray he'll be around to hit for three all day. 

What are you looking forward to running during the Ixalan Standard season?
Pirate aggro? Dinosaur ramp? 5-colour treasure control?

Or one of the old stand-bys; New Perspectives, U/W approach, Temur Energy, Mardu vehicles?

Either way, it looks wide open, so it should continue being fun!