Hornet Swarm (Standard)

The inspiration of this deck comes entirely from the cards "Hornet Nest" and "Hornet Queen." I was inspired to create a deck revolving around these two cards because during a draft game I played Hornet Nest and my opponent unfortunately had played Juggernaut the turn prior. The result was a swarm of lethal deathtouch flyers... I was in awe and began a quest to see if this ability could be the back bone of an entire deck. This is what I have created thus far. Comments are welcomed, I have not yet play-tested this deck but I hope to acquire the missing cards and see how it fairs. Below you will find an explanation as to why I selected the following cards.

The most important card in this deck is ironically, not Hornet Nest or Hornet Queen. Although these two cards form the quintessential strategy of the deck it is Yisan who will guarantee their deployment onto the battlefield. In addition to this he will in fact call most of the creatures out during the battle leaving your draws intended for instances and sorceries and allowing you to save mana for these intended purposes. Although their are a variety of creatures only Yisan and Hornet Nest are a full set. It is hoped that the player will receive at least of of these cards in their starting hand if not both.

//Spells

3 Battlewise Valor - Cast on attack creature just before you get your Hornet Nest to block or as you use Setessan Tactics. Don't forget to Scry!

3 Gods Willing - Something happening to a critical creature? Not anymore with Gods Willing. Stop those spells that might throw a wrench into your well laid plans and then see what card you might draw next...

2 Necrobite - What's better then pulling your Hornet Nest from the graveyard? Preventing it from getting there in the first place!

4 Setessan Tactics - This is the card that will help you produce Hornet tokens via your defending hampered nests. You can't make your Nests attack... but with this card you can make them fight a target creature... and that in my opinion is the best possible choice as you can guarantee the most damage to a nest.

1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor - What could Sorin possible do to a swarm of deathtouch flyers? How could he possible help this deck? Oh right... everything gets +1 / 0 and life link... duh...

2 Titanic Growth - Cast on your enemies when they are forced into damaging your hornet nests!! Why? MORE HORNETS!!!

//Creatures

2 Elvish Mystic - This is a cheap creature that gives you much needed mana. If you get him in hand or for your first draw he is great at getting your nest or yisan out that much faster. If you get yisan out before you find this cute little forrest dweller then he is naturally your first creature to be sung onto the battle field.

4 Hornet Nest - The deck was designed around this ability. Although you can't actually attack with the creature there are many ways to get this guy damaged. Combo ideas cast Setessan Tactics and target the biggest creature your oponate has on the field then cast Battlewise Valor or Titanic Growth on your opponent's creature thus dealing even more damage to your nest. This will create far more hornets then one would believe possible and is completely legal (although might ruin friendships).

2 Hornet Queen - This card is the most mana expensive card in the deck. I do not recommend actually bringing it out in any way other then through Yisan. By using Yisan to bring out this card you are saving 4 mana... Combo idea, use Triad of Fates to continually exile and return card. This will cause 4 new hornet tokens every two turns so long as Triads of Fate and the Queen are countered or stopped (This will also set off Karametra's abilities multiple times for the same card). If you've milled your deck or the game has gotten bogged down use Roaring Primadox to send the Queen back to your hand to be cast again that turn.

2 Karametra's Acolyte - This card will get you a boost to mana so you can get your creatures out faster. It's also the second creature to be summoned via Yisan's verse counters.

1 Karametra, God of Harvests - Although this could be a damage bomb late game the intention is to actually us it for it's mana draw ability. With Yisan calling on so many creatures having an abundance of land in essential to keeping control of the battle. You want to keep mana available for your instances and sorceries, you don't want to waste all your mana on summoning.

2 Roaring Primadox - This angry beasty is a perfect creature to reset Yisan's verse counters, keep your devotion below seven (for Karametra) as well as get multiple uses out of those queens. If he is in the field and you don't have any creatures you want to use his ability on then use it on himself and end the cycle. Bring him out again when you feel the need. In addition to this he is a fairly powerful beasty in combat.

1 Soul of Innistrad - If the Hornet tokens on the first play weren't enough this bad ass mother fucker will let you pull your glorious token generators back from the dead so they may once again spawn more tokens! and should they die? Raise them again!!! His ability is never ending so you can get so much use from your graveyard you would almost think you're playing a zombie deck. This guy won't come out until late game again most likely from Yisan... by then you should have some creatures in your grave yard to make his ability worth every pip of mana.

1 Triad of Fates - This wonderful wizard should without a doubt be the 4th card you call in from Yisan. He can take out enemy creatures and allow you to draw cards or he can bounce your creatures back to get more tokens or to reset verse counters.

2 Voyaging Satyr - Two mana to untap a land... what more could you want from this guy? He will be sung into existence right after mystic elf, again giving you a mana advantage.

4 Yisan, the Wanderer Bard - If you've read this far and don't know why Yisan is in this deck then either you can't read or you don't understand Magic.