How to Upgrade the Flash of Ferocity Challenger Deck

[@AffinityforMTG]

Thoughts on Voracious Greatshark: It's good! I think I was correct in my assessment that 4 copies is too many. You don't want to see multiple copies of it in your opening hand because of how slow they are, particularly in a deck that's already running 8+ other 4-drops. But 2 copies feels really good, and countering a creature when you're already ahead on board with Nightpack Ambusher and then swinging for 12+ damage the following turns feels great! Here's my exact decklist on Magic Arena if you want to see my build - I cut 2 Sinister Sabotage for the 2 Voracious Greatshark. However, I'm not 100 percent sure if that's correct and might go back up to 4 Sinister Sabotages in the future. Deck 4 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246 7 Island (ELD) 257 7 Forest (ELD) 267 4 Thornwood Falls (ELD) 313 1 Castle Vantress (ELD) 242 1 Fabled Passage (ELD) 244 4 Opt (XLN) 65 4 Growth Spiral (RNA) 178 4 Quench (RNA) 48 2 Sinister Sabotage (GRN) 54 1 Thassa's Intervention (THB) 72 1 Spectral Sailor (M20) 76 4 Brineborn Cutthroat (M20) 50 2 Wildborn Preserver (ELD) 182 4 Brazen Borrower (ELD) 39 4 Nightpack Ambusher (M20) 185 4 Frilled Mystic (RNA) 174 2 Voracious Greatshark (IKO) 70 Sideboard 2 Negate (RIX) 44 2 Disdainful Stroke (GRN) 37 1 Essence Capture (RNA) 37 2 Aether Gust (M20) 42 1 Mystical Dispute (ELD) 58 1 Sorcerous Spyglass (ELD) 233 3 Threnody Singer (THB) 75 1 Wavebreak Hippocamp (THB) 80 2 Soul-Guide Lantern (THB) 237

[@averymcpherson9405]

This deck is honestly great out of the box too! The wolves when stacked up are nuts

[@AffinityforMTG]

It is! The great thing about this deck is it basically had all its key pieces out of the box. :)

[@koolaidman531]

Just picked this up on target app for 20 bucks. For the borrower alone plus all the other cards I didn't have was a bonus. Deck looks great out of box and our group doesn't play any formats so I can tinker with this a little.

[@nickolaslillogodoy3496]

man I love this deck, built it on Arena, and it does pretty well actually. I love the synergy between Wildborn preserver and spectral sailor, I've used them a as combat trick so many times lol

[@AffinityforMTG]

Nice! I actually cut most of those out of my own deck, but I can see how they can be good together! :)

[@KladmanMudack]

Well, you can replace wavebreak hippocamp with a sea-dasher octopus, coz they basically do the same thing - draw a cards, but octopus has flash at least

[@AffinityforMTG]

Yeah, I definitely like the Octopus a lot more than the Hippocamp! :)

[@KladmanMudack]

@@AffinityforMTG also maybe it's worth to put two-three copies of Cunning Nightbonder in a sideboard to play vs mirror decks, due the fact this is one of the most popular challenger deck and you may often play against it on FNMs

[@AffinityforMTG]

Yeah, I haven't spent the wildcards yet because I'll probably get them in draft, but I think Cunning Nightbonders are great for control matchups. :)

[@DaBigBoss100]

I personally need some pioneer upgrades for this fella

[@AffinityforMTG]

I definitely want to upgrade these for Pioneer eventually! In the meantime though, I'd definitely recommend Meryn's video. Her content is great and she did a Pioneer Flash deck that's very similar to this. If I upgraded this deck to Pioneer, it would pretty much just end up at her list: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYS3q4ydjrFkm5I

[@rhos9873]

Could you explain why Brazen Borrower is such a good card? Like what are it’s best uses.

[@AffinityforMTG]

Returning stuff to hand is a cool effect but the downside is it costs card advantage. Take Unsummon for example. It can stall the game a little longer if you bounce a creature when your opponent is about to attack, but ultimately they'll replay it and you're card will be gone. However, with Brazen Borrower you get that stalling effect but also get a 3-power flyer that can sometimes just win games. It's perfect for this type of deck because the whole purpose is to stall the first 2 turns with counterspells like Quench, and then you want to take over the game with Nightpack Ambusher after turn 4. So Brazen Borrower can stall by bouncing, and then can be a serious threat on the battlefield later. I'm going to be playing Simic Flash on the channel either tomorrow or Friday and you'll be able to see it in action. :)

[@paulpendleton2795]

Quick question with spiral growth now banned what would go in its place. I think k that's the void of brazen borrower but want to be on a budget

[@AffinityforMTG]

Shark Typhoon would be fine, instead of getting a land and drawing you get a token and draw when you cycle. But unfortunately that's also not budget-friendly www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=26761&d=407538&f=ST This deck got 2nd place in a tournament after the ban. It looks like they are playing Paradise Druid in its place, so it can still ramp. They're playing Rewind/Sublime Ephiphany, which are more expensive to cast, so I guess they're ramping into high-cost counterspells. I'm not really sure I like that plan though. I'm thinking Growth Spiral just has to be replaced with more counterspells. If you can't play 1 turn faster, than make the opponent waste a turn when you counter something. Cunning Nightbonder works too, since it'll reduce the cost of Nightpack Ambusher.

[@nathansilver3956]

Do you think the new Neutralize counterspell from Ikoria is better than Sinister Sabotage?

[@AffinityforMTG]

I'm very torn on that one! It would probably be played in the same slot as Sinister Sabotage, and they both have advantages and disadvantages. Being able to cycle away Neutralize is great, but you almost never want to do that in this deck, and when you cast it, it's just a Cancel, which is worse than Sabotage since you don't get to surveil. Maybe playing 3x Sinister Sabotage 1x Neutralize is correct, but I also might be undervaluing the cycling. tldr I CAN'T DECIDE! XD

[@LoganB591]

I can also see Nightpack Ambusher going well with Arlinn, Voice of the Pack because they both do the same thing and they both boost werewolves and wolfs

[@AffinityforMTG]

Yeah, I think Nightpack Ambusher would be great in a tribal wolves deck with Arlinn, Garruk Cursed Huntsman and Tolsimir if you want to go into 3 colors. :)

[@maxloggins2930]

3 color wolfes wooof

[@copperbadge1]

Hey there, any update after Ikoria on this? There's a 2 U/B hybrid flash rogue with flash cost reduction. Is it worth it?

[@AffinityforMTG]

Yeah, I'll be doing rotation updates for all these decks, but right now I think Simic Flash is dead. The Dimir version looks decent though, so I'll probably discuss that in the video. :)

[@copperbadge1]

@@AffinityforMTG looking forward to it!

[@snomisdivad]

$20 for a brazen borrower. Any ideas for a replacement?

[@AffinityforMTG]

If you don't care about cards being in Standard, then you have a few options: Nimble Obstructionist- It's a 3-mana 3/1 flyer like Borrower, and you can cycle it to counter an activated/triggered ability. The cycling isn't as good as the bounce since you can't play the creature afterwards, but at least you draw a card from Cycling. Bounding Krasis- It's a 3-mana 3/3 flash that bounces a creature when it enters. So you get all the effects of Borrower for 1 cost but you lose flying, which is how Borrower usually wins. Harbinger of Tides is okay, but I don't like this one in this deck. If you pay 2 extra mana for it, it's a 4-mana 2/2 that bounces a creature like Brazen Borrower. The creature is only a 2/2 though and this deck has too many 4-drops. Merfolk Trickster is also okay, it's tricky because you can make a flying creature lose flying so it can be blocked, or make a first strike creature lose first strike so it dies in combat. Personally, I think I'd go with Nimble Obstructionist just to get that 3-power flyer, since it wins so often, but I think Bounding Krasis works perfectly fine as well. :)

[@PoweredByAudio]

Would "Thought Collapse" be a *good alternative to sinister sabotage? I love milling my opponents. Lol

[@AffinityforMTG]

Haha, well, I suppose you technically can do that. I think it's worse because the Surveil on Sinister Sabotage is a nice bonus, and with Thought Collapse you can actually help your opponent if they have Uro, Lurrus, Fiend Artisan, etc. However, if you REALLY like milling then go for it. :P

[@nathansilver3956]

Awesome vid!

[@AffinityforMTG]

Thanks!

[@elielruiz5646]

Nice nice thanks a lot

[@AffinityforMTG]

Happy to help! :)

[@TunnelSnakesrule13]

What the hell was going on in Standard that Nissa was considered "brute force" and a "game winner"

[@AffinityforMTG]

Nissa was crazy in Standard. She was even played in Modern a little bit before Modern Horizons was released and dominated the format.

[@MidnightGeekSS]

Yay never clicked so fast

[@AffinityforMTG]

Just don't be mad when I have so few upgrades - it's not my fault WOTC gave us decks that are practically complete already! :P

[@MidnightGeekSS]

@@AffinityforMTG why would I be mad? more money in my pocket~! I appreciate your hard work, aside from extra Brazen borrowers, I have the rest of the cards for upgrades. Would you say that having 4 brazen borrowers will make a big difference instead of 3? It seems like it would be perfectly functional with 3. And more money in my pocket haha

[@AffinityforMTG]

Yeah, most decks play 2-4, so it's not absolutely critical to play the full 4 copies. It's REALLY good in the deck, but the main strategy is to get Nightpack Ambusher in play and then protect it with counterspells. So while Brazen Borrower is amazing, you can definitely win without all 4 copies. :)

[@Noir_nordic]

first :)

[@AffinityforMTG]

Congrats!

[@Noir_nordic]

@@AffinityforMTG thank you :)