Basically old charge rod but adding
Eclipse Dragon and
East Annex Smuggler. The deck doesn't feel nearly as consistent as pre-nerf answer the call, but
Bulletshapering out an
Icaria, the Liberator on five is still preetttty good.The smuggler does mean there's no copy of
Divining Rod in the market, and i'm not sure if tutoring for
Rise to the Challenge to tutor for rod is too slow. I have similar tempo concerns for the the two
Answer the Calls because i'm not sure if it's worth it -- might be too durdle-y at 7
I'm also not sure about the early interaction suite of
Torch and
Defiance but you rarely want to risk an un-ultimated shaper with blocks, and
Alluring Ember doesn't do much in combat, so it feel important to have some way to respond to a Stonescar player -- that matchup is still pretty bad though. Also not sold on Cykalis, the Burning Sand, since he can't block too well and 4 is a little expensive for combing with rod in a single turn. Considering
Amaran Stinger or even
Battleblur Centaur as replacements that offer some defense.
Censari Brigand and
Censari Dervish both seem similarly all-in aggressive to cykalis without the occasional T1 pledge, though I'd certainly hear out an argument for either.
The way the deck paced itself out for me, my opponent always had time to find an answer (lol) to my creatures, and they couldn't stick. Also hitting Ember with Answer and no weapons or anything with shared abilities. I hope this deck works for everyone else but I will be moving on.
However, I'm so sorry about that, I'd like to see a good charge rod deck able to perform well. 😔
However, I keep an eye on this topic, coz I'm really interested to a good charge rod deck!!