Locations
Confession time. I was never one of those little boys that played with bugs. In fact, I have a very intense hatred of cockroaches, to the point where I once spent five hours, in the middle of the night, searching under the furniture in my house, chasing a single cockroach that snuck in our house. We lived across the street from a very popular fruit stand at the time, in Alabama, and some enormous roaches would try to Shawshank their way under our door during the colder months. This led to some serious anxiety, as every little shadow on the wall looked like a cockroach at night. In fact, it was one of the reasons we ultimately moved.
So, it was against my nature to build an insect deck around the cockroach-ian card Aatchik, Emerald Radian. But, the card kept creeping back into my thoughts, like an infestation...
I Hate Bugs | Standard| Travis Hall
- Creatures (23)
- 1 Honorable Rutstein
- 2 Haywire Mite
- 3 Aatchik, Emerald Radian
- 3 Kraul Whipcracker
- 3 The Swarmweaver
- 3 Webstrike Elite
- 4 Molt Tender
- 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
- Instants (2)
- 2 Anoint with Affliction
- Sorceries (5)
- 1 Tear Asunder
- 4 Quag Feast
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Dredger's Insight
- Artifacts (2)
- 2 Broodheart Engine
- Lands (24)
- 4 Forest
- 2 Swamp
- 1 Fountainport
- 2 Llanowar Wastes
- 3 Restless Cottage
- 4 Fabled Passage
- 4 Underground Mortuary
- 4 Wastewood Verge
Card Choices
Aatchik, Emerald Radian
I hate that I really like this card and think it might have potential. It's not just that it's a bug. Its name is a word salad from hell, and I misspell it almost every time I type it out. But, alas, I do believe the card has potential. Counting both creatures and artifacts lets you look at different ways to build around this, and it's entirely possible that an "Insect-focused" deck isn't the only place we'll see this played. It's not that hard to play this and have 10+ power hit the board, especially if you pair it with The Swarmweaver. It makes combat especially interesting, as every chump block from an insect slowly drains your opponent.
Kraul Whipcracker
Winner of the, "Wait... that's still legal?" award for card I always wanted to play but never found a deck that wanted it. There are a ton of tokens being made in Standard, everything from land tokens with Overlord of the Hauntwoods to the Monster Role token on Monstrous Rage, to the various Clue/Food/Map tokens, and this card answers every one of them. Aside from meeting the creature type requirement, it's got a decent body and can block all the pesky fliers. Why hasn't this suck into any of my decks yet?
Quag Feast
If this was an instant, it would probably be in contention for being the best card in Aetherdrift. In my opinion, Turn 2 is the most important turn in Standard at the moment. Against the aggro decks, you really can't afford to take the turn off, but you also want to start putting some cards in your graveyard. Quag Feast fills both concerns, as you can use it to take out a 1 drop on the play, or a 2 drop on the draw, while beginning your graveyard shenanigans. I think this card will see play, and not just in mill decks. The sheer number of artifacts being dumped in the format suggest that Go for the Throat is no longer the default removal spell. Still, I also included Anoint the Afflicted (for those pesky recursive creatures and Ketramose, the New Dawn) as a secondary removal spell.
Broodheart Engine
I really wanted to jam a full playset of this, but, as I said above, taking turn 2 off to play a spell that doesn't interact with the board is very dangerous. Since we're filling the graveyard, we might as well play a couple reanimation spells, and this one also helps enable delirium with The Swarmweaver and makes an extra insect with Aatchik.
Dredger's Insight
I originally dismissed this card as less than Cache Grab, but then, I watched it in action during the Aetherdrift Streamer Event. It reminds me a lot of Ancient Cornucopia, as a card that just slowly buffers your life total in a way that can sneakily win games. This is one to keep an eye on, and I plan to try it out in a few of my Pioneer brews.
Webstrike Elite
A great body that dodges Cut Down and blocks fliers like Fear of Isolation. The ability is expensive, but the majority of enchantments we'll be targeting are cheap, because Standard is a ridiculously fast format right now, so it should still come up fairly often.
Molt Tender
I think this has a shot at being an extremely relevant card in Standard, as long as you set the proper expectations. People play Llanowar Elves almost exclusively to hit the 3 drop on turn 2. Currently, that's practically impossible for Molt Tender. But, it can fix your colors, unlike the elf, and it can still work as both an enabler and an accelerant after turn 2. This should really shine in Insidious Roots decks.
I'm excited to finally get my hands on Aetherdrift. Standard's decks are really tight at the moment, but I do think there are a few cards that will make their way into the format.
You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social
