It all started with this tweet from Jon Johnson. As soon as I saw this deck I wanted to play it. I assembled all the cards except the Revenge of the Hunted, which I couldn't be bothered to trade for and replaced with some more common pump spells, and went to FNM a couple of weeks ago. The deck performed well (4-1) but I decided I definitely didn't like Blessings of Nature - it was terrible if you drew it, which I always seemed to do, and it didn't seem that exciting as a miracle. So they went too, and I had the following decklist for Game Day:
4 Dryad Militant
4 Spire Tracer
4 Young Wolf
4 Wandering Wolf
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Somberwald Dryad < more unblockable creatures, boarded out if they don't have Forests.
4 Slaughterhorn
4 Rancor
2 Ranger's Guile
3 Hunger of the Howlpack < surprisingly effective, usually played on Undying creatures after they return themselves
4 Giant Growth
4 Titanic Growth
16 Forest < I won more than one game in which I kept a single Forest hand and didn't draw another for several turns. 16 seems about right.
3 Triumph of Ferocity
4 Fog
1 Somberwald Dryad
2 Splinterfright
1 Ranger's Guile
2 Plummet
2 Naturalize
A brief tournament report from memory (didn't take any notes). We had 15 players, so it was 5 rounds cut to Top 4.
Round 1: Derek playing Esper control (won 2-1)
I lost a game to mana flood, eventually losing to an Aetherling, but won the decider after forcing Derek to Supreme Verdict away a board that included his two Woodlot Crawler.
1-0 (2-1)
Round 2: young kid playing Black (won 2-1)
I actually lost game one to his turn three Vampire Nighthawk after my Wandering Wolf got him down to one life but I didn't draw any more pump spells and couldn't get past his blockers and Blood Artists. I won games two & three fairly easily with multiple Rancors.
2-0 (4-2)
Round 3: Graham playing Bant (won 2-0)
I won a game by using Rancor plus Giant Growth / Slaughterhorn to trample repeatedly over his blockers, and another with unblockable Somberwald Dryads.
3-0 (6-2)
Round 4: Charlie playing Esper (ID)
Lunchbreak.
3-0-1
Round 5: Jan playing UWR Flash (won 2-0)
We're both guaranteed Top 4 but play anyway. I don't bother sideboarding and win on turn four and turn five.
4-0-1. (8-2)
Top 4: Charlie playing Esper (2-0)
Both games I get a lot of early pressure, Charlie's draws aren't great, and he has to tap out for small Sphinx's Revelations to survive my attack and I kill him with lethal Titanic Growths.
5-0-1 (10-2)
Final: Derek playing Esper control (won 2-1)
We split the first couple of games, and in the third I keep a hand with three land and Triumph of Ferocity. It sticks and I draw two cards a turn for the rest of the game, though I can't push much damage through as Derek has double Woodlot Crawler. But he doesn't draw Blood Baron, Aetherling or Sphinx's Revelation, and eventually with him on about 10 life I am able to cast Wandering Wolf, give it +3/+3 with Hunger of the Howlpack (5/4), double Rancor it (9/4), attack and Giant Growth it (12/7) for the win with two Ranger's Guile for protection in hand.
6-0-1 (12-3)
This deck is the most fun I have playing Standard for a long time, so if you like casting Rancor and attacking a lot I recommend you try it.
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