Budget Combrei aggro (Masters)

This list is an aggressive Combrei list that is primarily built around the interaction between Grodov Evangel and Sand Warrior. Evangel lets you play Sand Warrior a lot earlier than usual, and getting it out on turn 2 usually wins you the game if your opponent doesn't have Hailstorm.

For 1 drops, District Infantry, Borderlands Lookout, and Gloaming Wisp are the 1-drops of choice. Lookout and Infantry are generally big, solid units, while the Wisp is good mostly because it deals chip damage and bypassed most units.

For 2-drops, I have Resolute Monk, Awakened Student, and Grodov Evangel. Both empower units can deal a lot of damage if left unchecked, with Awakened Student in particular dodging a lot of removal at later health values, while Grodove Evangel has charge to help finish players off and the fate effect to play Sand Warrior out early.

For 3 drops, there's Winchest Merchant, Amaran Stinger, and Blurried Stygimoloch. Winchest Merchant is the only remotely usable merchant for the list and having a merchant is too important not to have (not to mention it flies), Stinger is there because charge, and Stigimoloch gives a big power play to push the game in your favor.

For the market, Stand Together helps set the board up for Stygimoloch plays and helps manage board clears, Auric Runehammer helps burn out unitless control opponents and kills opposing units (mostly merchants), Inquisitor's Blade helps deal damage through clogged boards, Qirin Ascendant deals with attachments, and Prancing Griffin gives something to do when you need to either get 2-3 damage through a clogged board on turn 4 or you need to get past Tocas, Waystone Harvester.

For other cards, Finest Hour is a standard combat trick, Aamri's Choice is there as both a combat trick and as removal, and Teleport is there effectively as removal. We care mostly about tempo and killing the opponent quickly, and most of the time you use Teleport you will usually win the game off of it, especially against midrange decks with slow starts trying to stabilize with Sandstorm Titan or other overstatted 4-drops. For power, this setup is the best I've found to try and balance the need to play cards early and the need to handle the TTTJ influence requirements (TTTJJ if you count the market). Crownwatch Standard also sees play as a tool to swing the game against aggro and close out games against control.

Bad matchups are generally decks with board clears, particularly Hailstorm because the deck can have trouble if it doesn't stick a board early. Aggro can be really good or really bad depending on how much removal the opponent has, while midrange matchups are dependent on how many units they get out before turn 4-5 and partially on how much removal they have. Control depends on whether they have a board clear and/or you get a Stand off before they clear.

Finally, there are some notable exclusions in the list. Alessio doesn't see play because I don't have enough spells to make her more useful than a 1/1 or 2/2, especially without maindeck Stand Togethers. Hojan doesn't see play because I couldn't afford the space for justice sigils. There's also the theory the deck's other empower units suggest Hojan's inclusion, and reduce the number of times your units get hit by spot removal. Stand doesn't see play in the main deck because it's actually hard to secure the board and Stigimoloch is a bit better when you do most of the time.