cross-posted from: https://mtgzone.com/post/893890

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.

Standard will finally rotate next week, for the first time in two years. Some of my decks with survive, with a few changes, and some won't. But when I think about it, I don't think there are any cards in the whole year's worth of disappearing sets that I'm really sad to see go, except for the five channel lands from Neon Kamigawa.

They're basically perfectly designed: useful without being overpowered. Very few decks want four copies of them, but most decks benefit from having one or two in the appropriate colors. With the possible exception of Slogurk legends, decks aren't built around them, and games don't hinge on whether you draw one or not. Their abilities are moderately powerful and fairly costed. They help mitigate mana flood. Their legendary status makes them self-regulating.

I do my share of complaining when I think Wizards gets something wrong, so I don't want to neglect to mention what they get right. The channel lands were a great design and I'll miss not being able to put them in my Standard decks.