One of the most exciting things to come out of Oath of the Gatwatch is an increased density of cheap prowess creatures. Monastery Swiftspear and Abbot of Keral Keep are both awesome cards, but do not make a deck on their own. With the addition of Stormchaser Mage and cheap cantrips from the new set, suddenly U/R Prowess becomes a real archetype capable of taking Standard by storm. Let’s take a look at one of the most successful builds from week one of the new Standard format.

U/R Prowess ? Oath of the Gatewatch Standard | Dalton Ozmun, 6th StarCityGames Open

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
• 4 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Stormchaser Mage

• Spells (23)
• 1 Dispel
• 2 Expedite
• 2 Temur Battle Rage
• 4 Fiery Impulse
• 4 Titan's Strength
• 2 Roast
• 4 Slip Through Space
• 4 Treasure Cruise

• Lands (21)
• 2 Island
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 2 Wandering Fumarole
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Polluted Delta
• 4 Shivan Reef

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Dispel
• 1 Murderous Cut
• 2 Wild Slash
• 2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 2 Boiling Earth
• 2 Duress
• 1 Painful Truths
• 1 Roast

Buy This Deck

This deck manages to capture elements of both Jeskai and Atarka Red in the same strategy. From Jeskai, you get the combination of cheap, hasty threats backed by Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, cheap removal, and Treasure Cruise. The ability to apply fast pressure backed up by the card advantage of Abbot of Keral Keep, Jace, and Treasure Cruise is certainly not something to scoff at. The addition of cheap cantrips like Slip Through Space and Expedite give you more ways to churn through your deck and set up Jace and Treasure Cruise value while also giving you the ability to sneak in damage when your opponent might not expect it.

From Atarka Red, you gain the ability to overwhelm your opponent with early aggression. Early prowess creatures backed by cheap cantrips present a very real clock, especially when Slip Through Space lets you sneak in past blockers and Expedite lets Abbot and Jace start getting to work right away. Hasty threats backed by cheap interaction and prowess is certainly a recipe for getting opponents dead quickly. The trick is this deck doesn’t have to win games early. Much like Atarka Red has the ability to steal games with Atarka's Command or Become Immense, this prowess deck can win games with Slip Through Space or Temur Battle Rage. With nothing in play at all, this deck can cast a Monastery Swiftspear or Stormchaser Mage, cast Titan's Strength and Temur Battle Rage, and get in for twelve.

This deck occupies an interesting space between aggro, combo, and control. Depending on how your cards line up against any particular opponent, you can try to be very aggressive and prowess your opponent to death. However, you can also choose to grind them out with cheap removal, Jace, and Treasure Cruise. If neither of those plans are looking especially good, you can try to combo your opponent out with Temur Battle Rage and kill them on the spot. Flexibility is king early on in a new Standard format, especially when your flexible deck gets to play so many of the most powerful cards in the format.