Caleb Scherer: Exploring Curious Combinations

This past week has given us a plethora of new spoilers from Eldritch Moon. We’ve been given everything from our own Fusion monsters with the Meld mechanic all the way to our new Entwine upgrade in Escalate.

But the card that has really stood out to me is Curious Homunculus.curioushomunculus Upon seeing the front half of the card, which is a weak mana dork for two, I had almost written it off. But the transform trigger of having three or more instants/sorceries in your graveyard was appealing. Could there be a reward for casting lots of instants and sorceries in a single turn? The flip side did not disappoint. Voracious Reader is everything an Izzet Prowess deck could want. A large body with Prowess that also has a Goblin Electromancer attached. I’m in.

Another new card, Unsubstantiate, seems like a perfect complement. It can either gain some tempo to buy time so we can set up a combo turn or be used on the “combo” turn to clear the way and provide Prowess triggers. One of the main problems with counter spells in the Prowess deck from last season was that they were dead during critical turns when combing off.

Now that we have an idea of the type of deck we want, let’s look for a supporting cast. Stormchaser Mage is a clear inclusion and Abbot of Keral Keep is another easy choice. To start out I will also include a couple Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy. He may end up just not being good enough, but flashing back Titan’s Strength feels so good.

Next is the hard part — deciding which instants and sorceries to include. The easy inclusions are Unsubstantiate, Fiery Impulse, Titan’s Strength, Slip Through Space and Tormenting Voice. So far, we have the following list:

4 Curious Homunculus
4 Stormchaser Mage
4 Unsubstantiate
4 Titan’s Strength
4 Tormenting Voice
3 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Fiery Impulse
3 Slip Through Space
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

We would also like to include some Expedite to have a bit of surprise as well as keeping the cantrip count high. Also at this point Pieces of the Puzzle becomes appealing to help gain card advantage and flip Homunculus or Jace. To flesh it out we can jam some Magmatic Insight to help with the flooding of drawing so many cards.

Thus we have this:
4 Curious Homunculus
4 Stormchaser Mage
4 Unsubstantiate
4 Titan’s Strength
4 Tormenting Voice
3 Abbot of Keral Keep
3 Fiery Impulse
3 Slip Through Space
3 Pieces of the Puzzle
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
2 Expedite
2 Magmatic Insight

This leaves us with space for 22 lands, which is exactly where we would like to be with a deck like this. We want to make every land drop until Turn 5 ideally, but while also casting spells and cantrips all the way until that point. A starting point for this mana base could be:

5 Mountain
4 Island
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Shivan Reef
3 Highland Lake
1 Drownyard Temple

Another way to look at this deck might be more of a an aggro burn-basedincendiaryflow build utilizing the newly spoiled Incendiary Flow. Such a list might look like the following:

4 Curious Homunculus
4 Stormchaser Mage
4 Titan’s Strength
4 Tormenting Voice
4 Fiery Impulse
4 Slip Through Space
4 Incendiary Flow
4 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Abbot of Keral Keep
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
8 Mountain
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Shivan Reef
4 Island
3 Highland Lake

I’m not sure how good this type of deck will be in the new Standard metagame. It is much weaker than the build from pre-Khans of Tarkir rotation as we no longer have the almighty Treasure Cruise and fetches. But one thing that is for certain is that this will be a blast to play.

While I am looking forward to the new Standard format, for much of the past week I’ve spent getting ready for the Legacy Open in Worcester next weekend. Of course I will be battling with Storm. My sideboard has changed considerably since Columbus. Basically now we have 3 decks at our disposal for games 2 and 3: TES, ANT and Grinding Station. The game plan is to board into the deck that corresponds best with the matchup. I will most likely be battling with this 75:

My last article explained much of the role of these cards when sideboarding, so here I will just be posting a large list of general starting points for what to bring in and out:

Miracles
-3 Lion’s Eye Diamond
-2 Infernal Tutor
-2 Preordain
-2 Dark Petition
-1 Flooded Strand
-1 Duress
+4 Abrupt Decay
+2 City of Solitude
+2 Tendrils of Agony
+1 Bayou
+1 Tropical Island
+1 Empty the Warrens

Delver
-1 Dark Petition
+1 Empty the Warrens

Death & Taxes
-3 Duress
-2 Preordain
-2 Ponder
-1 Dark Petition
-1 Flooded Strand
-1 Rain of Filth
-1 Island
+4 Abrupt Decay
+3 Chrome Mox
+1 Bayou
+1 Tropical Island
+1 Echoing Truth
+1 Empty the Warrens

Sneak & Show
-1 Dark Petition
-1 Cabal Ritual
-1 Preordain
-1 Flooded Strand
-1 Island
+2 City of Solitude
+1 Bayou
+1 Tropical Island
+1 Empty the Warrens

Elves
-1 Dark Petition
-1 Island
+2 Chrome Mox

Mirror
-1 Island
-1 Preordain
+2 Chrome Mox

Eldrazi
On the play
-2 Preordain
-1 Dark Petition
-1 Ponder
+3 Chrome Mox
+1 Empty the Warrens

On the draw
-3 Cabal Therapy
-3 Duress
-2 Preordain
-1 Dark Petition
-1 Ponder
-1 Flooded Strand
+4 Abrupt Decay
+3 Chrome Mox
+1 Empty the Warrens
+1 Echoing Truth
+1 Bayou
+1 Tropical Island

Shardless BUG
-1 Dark Petition
+1 Empty the Warrens

As I mentioned earlier, I will be in Worcester this weekend, so if you’re also there feel free to come say hey.

Caleb Scherer is a grinder from Missouri, and a lover of cats and peanuts. He primarily plays unfair combo decks when he gets the chance and is known for his expertise with Storm in Legacy. When not traveling for the next open or GP, he spends his time hanging out with his cat, Wilt, or jamming games on MTGO. 

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Caleb Scherer