Budget Roaming Throne decks: UR Wizards, BR Humans (feat. Rats), UB Zombies - MTGZone

## The Project This is the third in a short series of posts (1 [https://mtgzone.com/post/301618], 2 [https://mtgzone.com/post/316343]) featuring budget casual Standard decks I’m building around LCI rare Roaming Throne [https://scryfall.com/card/lci/258/roaming-throne]. Other than Roaming Throne, all cards in these decks are common or uncommon. I’ve tested and tuned these decks. You probably shouldn’t bring any of them to a tournament, but I’ve been jamming them in Bo1 Standard Play on Arena, and I promise that they’re at least capable of winning sometimes. If you have cheap Roaming Throne lists of your own (for Standard or any format), I’d love to see them! Here’s the (updated since last week) Scryfall [https://scryfall.com/] search that I’m using to find low-rarity creatures to combo with Roaming Throne. Just add a creature type like t:wizard or t:zombie to this: > f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:blitz or keyword:exploit or keyword:prowess or keyword:training or keyword:ward) ## UR Wizards https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6045322 [https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6045322] 4 Dwarven Forge-Chanter 4 Electrostatic Infantry 4 Balmor, Battlemage Captain 3 Ghitu Amplifier 4 Frolicking Familiar 4 Roaming Throne 4 Sleight of Hand 4 Ancestral Anger 4 Fading Hope 2 Become Brutes 8 Mountain 7 Island 4 Swiftwater Cliffs 4 Secluded Courtyard Compared to, say, the Izzet Wizards deck in Historic, this budget build is certainly less explosive in the early turns. But waiting for Roaming Throne can make up for it. Let’s say it’s turn five and you have a Dwarven Forge-Chanter, a Balmor, and a Throne on the battlefield. Cast an Ancestral Anger on any of them, and all of a sudden you have 15 power worth of trample damage. Don’t think of this as an aggro deck, think of it more like a combo deck. If you have a choice about which Wizard to play on turn two, I usually follow this order of preference: Forge-Chanter first because it’s the least impactful; think of it as removal bait. Electrostatic Infantry next: it’s a good early drop, but a little better if you have the extra mana to put a counter on it right away. Balmor third, because it’s the best one to play later, on the turn when you’re going to attack, since its ability buffs your whole team, not just itself. And Ghitu Amplifier last, because what you really want to do with Amplifier is play it kicked on the turn after you drop Roaming Throne, so you can bounce two creatures. I originally had Play with Fire [https://scryfall.com/card/mid/154/play-with-fire] in this deck, because what self-respecting Izzet deck doesn’t run direct damage spells, right? Eventually I realized that Fading Hope was a better choice. You’re trying to set up for a one-turn kill. Before your crucial turn, bouncing a creature buys you the same amount of tempo as killing it, and on the crucial turn, you don’t really care whether it dies or not, you only care whether it’s here right now. ## BR Humans (feat. Rats) https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6045323 [https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6045323] 4 Harried Spearguard 4 Unlucky Witness 4 Tattered Ratter 4 Voracious Vermin 4 Totentanz, Swarm Piper 4 Roaming Throne 4 Twisted Sewer-Witch 3 Corrupted Conviction 2 Dreadmaw’s Ire 4 Fatal Grudge 8 Mountain 7 Swamp 4 Bloodfell Caves 4 Secluded Courtyard For the first few turns, you can play this deck much like any low-curve aggro strategy: just drop cheap creatures and attack with them. If you get enough damage in that way, you may get to see the secret combo kill. Play Roaming Throne (naming Human) when you reach four lands, followed by Twisted Sewer-Witch on five. You’ll make two Rat tokens, and all the Wicked Roles from the first trigger will get replaced right away, dealing damage equal to one less than the number of Rats you end up with. I used this trick once to win a game that I would have lost on the next attack, and, friends, it was glorious. Draft all-star Voracious Vermin joins in to provide extra Rat power for Totentanz, Tattered Ratter, and Twisted Sewer-Witch. Tempting as its triggered ability may be, I don’t think it’s ever correct to make Roaming Throne a Rat in this deck, unless you’re in a really awkward situation. However, there may be times when you’ll need to name Rat with Secluded Courtyard. Unlucky Witness doesn’t directly interact with the Rat synergy, but it’s got the right color and creature type, and it’s spectacular with Roaming Throne. If it dies (perhaps to your own Corrupted Conviction?) while you control a Throne, you’ll get to look at four cards and play two of them. (Just remember to keep track of which cards go with which trigger.) ## UB Zombies https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6045324 [https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6045324] 4 Greedy Freebooter 4 Gnawing Vermin 2 Undead Butler 4 Mindleech Ghoul 4 Skull Skaab 4 Bladestitched Skaab 4 Fell Stinger 3 Stitched Assistant 3 Archghoul of Thraben 4 Roaming Throne 6 Island 10 Swamp 4 Dismal Backwater 4 Secluded Courtyard I’m doing something here that I don’t think I’ve ever done before, which is making a Magic deck that has all lands and creatures, and no other card types. It works in this case because the benefits that our Zombies get from always having a creature to exploit are considerable. In particular, Archghoul of Thraben is difficult to get value out of if you don’t have a critical mass of Zombies. A deck like this is probably the one place where it can really be good. We do have some non-Zombie creatures at the bottom of the mana curve, to help us get started with Exploit. The exciting thing about the Exploit keyword is that it’s a triggered ability itself, and you trigger additional abilities when you exploit something. So, if Roaming Throne is on the battlefield, a Mindleech Ghoul can exploit two creatures to strip four cards from the opponent’s hand. A Fell Stinger can exploit two creatures and drain your opponent for eight life, which turns out to be a great way to end games. In fact, I find that I’m having Fell Stinger target my opponents more often than myself. It’s often correct to have a creature exploit itself, but if you’re going to do that, be mindful of the fact that its own exploit ability won’t trigger if it’s no longer on the battlefield. So, if you’re exploiting two or more creatures, you probably want the newly entering creature to exploit itself last. This can vary depending on your situation, but here’s a rough priority order for deciding which creature to exploit, from most to least preferred: Greedy Freebooter > Gnawing Vermin > Undead Butler > Mindleech Ghoul > Zombie token > Stitched Assistant > Bladestitched Skaab > Fell Stinger > Skull Skaab > Archghoul of Thraben > Roaming Throne.