The project

Last year I made a series of posts exploring the potential of Roaming Throne as a build-around card for budget Standard decks. Since then, Bloomburrow has been released, with a whole bunch of mechanically consistent creature types to build around. So here's the continuation of that series.

Roaming Throne itself is an expensive rare, but we start by assuming you already have a playset of it, then fill out the remainder of each deck using only commons and uncommons. These decks are not intended to be competitive in tournaments, but they should be fine for casual play. (I've tested them all in Standard Play on Arena.)

Here's a Scryfall search to help find likely candidates. Just add a creature type like t:frog or t:rabbit.

f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:offspring or keyword:prowess or keyword:ward)

Since rotation, we've sadly lost Secluded Courtyard, which used to be an auto-include in these decks. On the plus side, Bloomburrow added a cycle of uncommon lands that care about our creature types, as well as Patchwork Banner.

Frogs

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593033

11 Forest
9 Island
4 Lush Oasis
4 Sunshower Druid
4 Pond Prophet
4 Three Tree Scribe
2 Stickytongue Sentinel
4 Long River Lurker
2 Lilysplash Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
4 Splash Portal
4 Trash the Town
4 This Town Ain't Big Enough

One thing I like about this deck is the cross-set synergy. Bloomburrow's Frogs have obvious synergy with each other and with Roaming Throne. But while Run Away Together was reprinted in Bloomburrow as the frog-bouncing spell for draft, Outlaws of Thunder Junction's This Town Ain't Big Enough is just better in about three different ways. And Trash the Town's last mode gives its target a trigger that's great for doubling. Opponents sometimes just concede when the plan comes together.

I've got a couple of copies of Lilysplash Mentor in here even though it doesn't have a triggered ability, just because I wanted some more reliable options for frog-flickering. To make room for them, I shaved two Stickytongue Sentinels -- it's definitely possible to set yourself too far back on tempo by misusing them.

If you like this deck and want to start spending more money on it, Valley Mightcaller is the obvious first stop.

Rats

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593036

9 Swamp
4 Island
3 Mudflat Village
2 Lilypad Village
4 Escape Tunnel
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Evolving Wilds
4 Gnawing Vermin
4 Nezumi Informant
4 Shoreline Looter
2 Tidecaller Mentor
4 Roaming Throne
2 Thornplate Intimidator
3 Wick's Patrol
4 Cut Down
4 Bitter Triumph
3 Patchwork Banner
2 Self-Reflection

Shoreline Looter + Roaming Throne turns out to be a pretty nice combo. It helps you get Threshold faster, and once you have it, you can start drawing two extra cards every turn.

I ended up with only two copies of signpost uncommon Tidecaller Mentor, since I felt it underperformed a bit. Before you have Threshold, its text box is nearly blank, and by the time you have it, it's usually a bit late in the game for a tempo play like bouncing creatures. Still, this deck has the highest average mana cost of the four I'm presenting today, and sometimes a three-mana 3/3 is what you need to survive long enough to cast your Thornplate Intimidators and Wick's Patrols.

I didn't even remember that Self-Reflection existed before I started building this deck. A couple of copies fit really nicely. It's great to mill with Gnawing Vermin or discard to Shoreline Looter or Bitter Triumph, and once you've done that, it's pretty handy to be able to make a copy of your most valuable creature (and its triggers).

Fetchlands help you get to Threshold, but I'm only running half as many as I could be because I felt the deck was too clunky with more.

When it's time to upgrade, you have a few legends to choose from: Lord Skitter, Karumonix, and Vren all look appealing.

Squirrels

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593040

11 Forest
5 Swamp
4 Escape Tunnel
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Bonecache Overseer
3 Tough Cookie
4 Bushy Bodyguard
4 Vinereap Mentor
4 Curious Forager
4 Honored Dreyleader
4 Roaming Throne
4 Cache Grab
3 Savor
3 The Witch's Vanity
2 Welcome to Sweettooth

Honored Dreyleader does some silly things in BLB draft, so when it came up in my search, I knew this deck was going to be good.

We're all in on food tokens, to the point that all of our non-creature spells can make one, and some of our creatures can make two. I have seen this deck rack up double-digit numbers, but don't eat all that food before you need it, because if you can kick a Bushy Bodyguard with Roaming Throne out, you'll make three creatures and they'll each get to forage twice.

I went with eight fetchlands instead of any duals in this deck to help the foraging plan. Don't exile your graveyard too aggressively, though, because you'll want some permanents in there to bring back with Curious Forager.

Looking to upgrade? A copy or two of Camellia seems like a good start.

Bats

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6593031

11 Swamp
4 Plains
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Lupinflower Village
1 Mudflat Village
4 Ruin-Lurker Bat
4 Lifecreed Duo
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
4 Starscape Cleric
4 Moonrise Cleric
4 Roaming Throne
2 Star Charter
2 Starseer Mentor
3 Cut Down
3 Bitter Triumph
2 Patchwork Banner

The highlight here is the interaction between Roaming Throne and Starscape Cleric. Throne duplicates both the offspring trigger and the life-draining trigger. If you can follow a turn 4 Throne with a turn 5 Starscape, you'll get two little Starscapes, and if you can follow that by attacking with a Moonrise Cleric, your opponent will lose 12 life even before the combat damage connects.

This deck doesn't need white mana for anything other than creatures, so we can safely run the full four copies of Lupinflower Village. But we need black mana for our removal spells, so I'm being cautious and only including one Mudflat Village. Scoured Barrens is another easy inclusion as a dual land that contributes to our lifegain plan.

This is probably the deck that would benefit most from lifting the budget restriction. Essence Channeler, Zoraline, Darkstar Augur, and Aclazotz are all high-powered rare bats that synergize with Roaming Throne.

The Project

This is the third in a short series of posts (1, 2) featuring budget casual Standard decks I'm building around LCI rare 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 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

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 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

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

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.

The Project

This is the second in a short series of posts (first one is here) featuring budget casual Standard decks I'm building around LCI rare 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!

By the way, here's the Scryfall search I've been using to find creatures to combo with Roaming Throne. Add t:pirate or t:goblin or whatever creature type you want to this:

f:standard r<=u (o:when or o:"at " or keyword:backup or keyword:training or keyword:blitz or keyword:ward)

UR Pirates

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6022337

4 Goldhound
4 Spyglass Siren
4 Staunch Crewmate
4 Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider
4 Talas Lookout
4 Roaming Throne
4 Diamond Pick-Axe
2 Invasion of Kaladesh
2 Quick-Draw Dagger
4 Idol of the Deep King
8 Mountain
8 Island
4 Secluded Courtyard
4 Swiftwater Cliffs

This might be the strongest, most synergistic budget Roaming Throne deck I've built, and part of the reason why is that it's the first one that cares about Roaming Throne being an artifact. Finding a Throne with Staunch Crewmate, then using it to add two counters to something with Captain Storm, is a pretty good line of play.

Speaking of Staunch Crewmate, almost every nonland card in this deck is either a pirate or an artifact, so Crewmate should very rarely miss.

Dowsing Device might seem like a natural inclusion here. I tried it out, but this deck already has plenty of ways to increase a creature's power, and most of them are faster and/or more versatile. On that same subject: I chose Quick-Draw Dagger over Mirran Banesplitter because it protects the creature better and is easier to move around. But Diamond Pick-Axe is the star artifact here. If you can equip it to Captain Storm and have a Throne naming Pirate in play, the Captain's attack will make two Treasures and distribute four +1/+1 counters.

I was unsure about Idol of the Deep King at first. Its damage-to-mana-cost ratio is pretty bad -- I much prefer to get three damage for two mana rather than the other way around. But Idol makes up for it in other ways, particularly by providing two artifact ETB triggers for Captain Storm. After testing, I think it's earned the full four copies.

Talas Lookout, on the other hand, is a bit of a weak link. It has a trigger that's ripe for duplicating, but on its own is below-rate for Constructed formats. If you have room in your budget, the first upgrade I'd make to this deck would be to replace Lookout with some combination of Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel, Breeches, Eager Pillager, and/or Kitesail Larcenist, all of which see competitive play and have some very interesting triggers.

I've seen at least one person playing a Pirate deck with Roaming Throne in the ranked queue. So we might really be on to something here!

BW Humans

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6022339

4 Lunarch Veteran
4 Doomed Dissenter
2 Resolute Reinforcements
4 Panicked Bystander
4 Fleshtaker
3 Bereaved Survivor
4 Roaming Throne
4 Hero of the Dunes
3 Corrupted Conviction
4 Rite of Oblivion
8 Plains
8 Swamp
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Secluded Courtyard

The general idea here is to juggle your token-producers between the graveyard and battlefield until you have enough creatures to attack for lethal. Hero of the Dunes does a lot to help that moment come sooner. While you wait, you should be able to stave off early aggression with a lot of lifegain.

Rite of Oblivion provides versatile, repeatable removal for a price this deck is usually willing to pay.

In case you were wondering, Panicked Bystander's and Bereaved Survivor's transform triggers technically do get duplicated by Roaming Throne, but it doesn't matter; they'll still only transform to their back faces and stay there. (I'll admit, I was half-hoping to watch them oscillate back and forth just for the comedy value.) However, their other triggers do duplicate productively.

Look, I know, okay, Humans shouldn't be a viable creature type to build a deck around. WotC has multiple fantasy worlds full of immense possibility and they keep making dumb old unthematic humans, and statistically, if you make enough cards of the same type, there will inevitably be some subset that happen to be powerful enough that a deck full of them will work. It's happened in multiple competitive formats, and it's what happened here. But don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Turning a single Doomed Dissenter into two or three zombies and gaining a bunch of life in the bargain is pretty fun.

BR Goblins

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6022343

4 Scrapwork Mutt
4 Splatter Goblin
4 Zoyowa Lava-Tongue
4 Deep Goblin Skulltaker
4 Twinshot Sniper
4 Roaming Throne
4 Mishra's Research Desk
4 Fanatical Offering
4 Bitter Triumph
11 Swamp
5 Mountain
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Terramorphic Expanse

Zoyowa Lava-Tongue and Deep Goblin Skulltaker pull us in a clear direction for this deck, and that direction is down. Twinshot Sniper joins them to provide some versatility: it can be early removal (that turns on Descend), or a great ETB ability to duplicate later on.

The only problem is that the low-rarity Goblin selection kind of peters out after that. I added Splatter Goblin to fill some space on the curve, but the times when you get to double its ability and actually have it matter will probably be pretty infrequent. If you can afford to upgrade, I imagine Stalactite Stalker would be great in that slot.

Bitter Triumph, Mishra's Research Desk, Fanatical Offering, and off-type creature Scrapwork Mutt are role-players that help us descend when we need to. The Unearth cards are a little awkward in that their second lives go straight to exile rather than the graveyard, but they're still pretty playable, and I haven't found any better tools for achieving the same effects.

For this deck I'm eschewing my usual "Secluded Courtyard and a tapped dual" manabase in favor of, basically, eight copies of Evolving Wilds, in the hope of providing more opportunities to power our Descend cards.

Sometimes this deck feels like a collection of junk, but sometimes, like when you're getting multiple Zoyowa triggers in a turn, it's amazing.

The Project

I've become mildly obsessed with LCI rare Roaming Throne and its potential as the basis for a wide variety of decks. This will be the first of a short series of posts about the decks I've been making with it. I'm targeting casual 1v1 Standard, and all cards other than Roaming Throne will be common or uncommon (frankly, I don't have the Arena wildcards for anything else).

I've tested and tuned the decks I'm posting. 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!

About Roaming Throne

A few mechanical notes to be aware of as you play (or brew):

• Roaming Throne only duplicates triggered abilities, not activated abilities. Triggered abilities are those that start with "When", "Whenever", or "At" (see rule 603.1).
• Some keyword abilities, such as Backup, Training, and Ward, are triggered abilities.
• Roaming Throne does become a team member, but its wording specifically precludes it from duplicating its own triggered abilities. However, multiple Thrones will duplicate each other's abilities (assuming they name the same creature type). For starters, if you have two Thrones in play, they each effectively have Ward 4.

UG Merfolk/Scouts

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6011513

4 Cenote Scout
4 Skyclave Aerialist
4 Nicanzil, Current Conductor
4 Merfolk Cave-Diver
2 Waterwind Scout
4 Roaming Throne
4 Glowcap Lantern
2 Twists and Turns
4 Brackish Blunder
4 Gaea's Gift
8 Forest
8 Island
4 Thornwood Falls
4 Secluded Courtyard

This list is actually not that far off from the Merfolk deck that everybody and their mother seems to be playing in the casual queue.

My initial build had only three copies each of Cave-Diver and Glowcap Lantern. I thought that drawing multiples would be awkward. How wrong I was. Combining those two cards is the most powerful thing this deck can do, and you should do it as often as possible. If you also have a Roaming Throne out, an equipped Cave-Diver that explores a nonland will get two counters and +4/+0, adding up to 8 unblockable damage.

Skyclave Aerialist might seem awkward in this deck, since it doesn't particularly interact with the Explore mechanic. It's also, disappointingly, the only member of its cycle whose power doesn't increase when it transforms. But I think it's a good fit: it provides a needed two-drop, it has evasion, and getting to double up its transform trigger is very nice.

I originally had Royal Treatment in the combat trick slot, but after I lost a game where my 35/36 Nicanzil kept getting chump-blocked by tokens, I decided that Trample might be important, and switched to Gaea's Gift.

I experimented with Tatyova, Steward of Tides in early builds. Her ability is a fun one to double if you can, but I've found that games are usually over, one way or the other, before you reach seven lands.

As it is, every creature in this deck is both a Merfolk and a Scout, so name whichever type you think is cooler (but be consistent, so your Roaming Thrones can boost each other).

My biggest complaint about this deck is that it wants a lot of set-up time. You can attack with an equipped Nicanzil on turn 3, and that's a pretty powerful thing to do, but it means you didn't do anything else with your first three turns, and your opponent probably didn't spend that time twiddling their thumbs. A single Go for the Throat could leave you starting turn 4 with a pretty sad board state. So with this deck, even more so than usual, I think it's important to try to get a read on what your opponent is planning, and adjust the goals you're working towards accordingly. Is this a one-big-creature kind of match-up, or do you need to get out some blockers to stabilize first?

UB Faeries

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6011516

4 Faerie Dreamthief
4 Faerie Vandal
4 Obyra, Dreaming Duelist
4 Spellscorn Coven
4 Roaming Throne
4 Combat Research
4 Consider
4 Spell Stutter
4 Go for the Throat
8 Island
8 Swamp
4 Waterfront District
4 Secluded Courtyard

There are some powerful, rare-filled Faeries decks floating around, but this economy build has surprised me with some games where it made winning look easy. There's a lot of good synergy in here.

Because Combat Research grants its ability to the enchanted creature, Roaming Throne can double it. Obyra, as a legend, is your best researcher, but the whole team has flying, so someone should be able to connect with it.

Faerie Dreamthief, Consider, Combat Research, and Waterfront District all offer ways to proc Faerie Vandal.

The removal slot could be a lot of things. Go for the Throat, Infernal Grasp, and Bitter Triumph all seem fine to me. It could even be Faerie Fencing, although that's a card I wish I liked more than I do. It's great when it's a half-price Last Gasp but unexciting the rest of the time.

I tested a couple of copies of Invasion of Eldraine -- Roaming Throne doesn't duplicate the front-side trigger, but it works on the back. Ultimately, I felt it was more fun than good. You don't have room for very many additional four-drops in a Throne deck, and there's too high a chance that the ability either won't trigger or won't matter.

If you're looking to upgrade, Talion's Messenger costs one less mana than Spellscorn Coven, and its ability is probably more worth duplicating. Faerie Mastermind might seem like an obvious inclusion, but I'm skeptical that this is the right deck for it -- maybe in a more controlling build, or in the sideboard (if you're making one) for opponents who can be counted on to draw a lot of cards on their own.

GW Warriors

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/6011517

4 Ironpaw Aspirant
4 Botanical Brawler
4 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
4 Serpent-Blade Assailant
4 Roaming Throne
2 Homestead Courage
4 Gaea's Gift
2 Roaring Earth
4 Ossification
4 Seal from Existence
7 Forest
9 Plains
4 Blossoming Sands
2 Captivating Cave
2 Secluded Courtyard

Botanical Brawler and Kutzil are the heart of this deck: both reward you for putting +1/+1 counters on creatures, so that's what we want to do. Note that Kutzil only triggers once per damage step no matter how many creatures deal damage, which is a little disappointing, but fortunately Roaming Throne can still duplicate that trigger.

Outside of those two, we're really scraping the bottom of the barrel for common or uncommon playables; this deck has literally every green or white triggered-ability-having Warrior that I considered vaguely worthwhile. You could improve it a lot by spending money: I'd replace Ironpaw Aspirant with Quirion Beastcaller, and Serpent-Blade Assailant with Sentinel of the Nameless City or maybe Doomskar Warrior.

The good news is that there was enough extra space for some real removal. I've picked some options that don't care about toughness, but I also looked pretty hard at Malamet Battle Glyph.

Honestly, this deck may not be the most powerful, but it's good, clean, fun Magic. You grow some big creatures, attack with them, maybe cast a combat trick or draw an extra card once in a while. As Garfield Intended™.