Thornling: The Underhyped Card in Standard

Hi all, Happy Friday. My article for today will discuss about a particular creature that has been under hyped in the current Standard metagame. The recent results in Worlds last weekend showed that Naya Lightsaber is the best deck in the format, followed by the ever popular Jund Aggro. That also would mean that Baneslayer Angel’s price will surely rise up again, with the current value at 60usd each. But we won’t focus on that hype. I’ll reveal today why not all white decks need this BS Angel (I mean Baneslayer, not the one you’re thinking. :)). Going back, I’m sure you already noticed that Wizards was going away from the regeneration thing by creating new cards like Doom Blade instead of Terror, Lightning Bolt instead of Incinerate, etc. This means that regenerating creatures, including those with Indestructibility will rise as the powerhouse beaters in Standard. Now, we look at Thornling:

Particularly on this ability, “G: Thornling is indestructible this turn.”

What does that mean? It means you just pay one green mana and Thornling will beat the hell out of your opponent this turn. I can attest to that as I play against this card with me playing Jund. With a lot of green mana to activate its abilities, I ended up playing my creatures and chump blocked Thornling until I find an answer. It’s difficult since Jund has no answer to Indestructibility so I just ran out of blockers and succumbed to its beats.

So how do you build a deck around Thornling? Here’s what you need:

1. Lots of green mana – this is provided by mana guys like Noble Heirarch, Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves.

2. Defense against RFG removals – I’m referring to Path to Exile. The good answer to that would be Vines of Vastwood and a kicked one is very much better.

With these two requirements, I think you can go with a mono green list or similar to what my teammate Oliver made, which is a Green-White Aggro version. Here’s his list:

 

This deck accelerates into either a turn three Thornling or Battlegrace Angel. The Angel is a good support once Thornling gets online, providing Exalted pump and Lifelink. This is very much preferred rather than the Baneslayer. I know you’ll say it gets killed by B. Blast but Dauntless Escort is there for the support. The main purpose here is to get Thornling online and it will single-handedly win the game, although there are other outs on this deck like Overrun with Garruk or aerial beats with Elspeth.

The sideboard is particularly against Jund with four copies of GSS and Celestial Purge, and a few cards for control and combo (the Slime and Shambler). I think GSS and purge are the deck’s default sideboard and the remaining slots are to be adjusted according to local meta.

As of the deck’s performance, it has won different match-ups with the current Tier 1 decks. See a recent result here. It is also performing very well in our local meta, having won three tournaments already. Lucky you might say, but I’d say just try the deck and see it yourself.

Until next time.