{"ops":[{"insert":{"image":"https://i.imgflip.com/apy6yq.jpg"}},{"insert":"\n\nOptimized Bracket 2 - It's budget vanilla creatures. The list is pretty fine-tuned, but really should be fine with relatively lower power tables. Confident you can punch up to bracket 3 tables with some practice though.\n\nTried to keep a mix of tokens, actual vanilla creature cards, and other synergies like morph. Kept non-vanilla creature cards to a minimum (dorks and elephant generators got a pass). The vanilla creature cards were chosen for being \"over-rate\", so 1 mana 1/2's, 3 mana, 4/1's, etc. \n\nThere's a lot of levels of synergy in this deck. Here's some specific examples going from most obvious to more niche.\n\nLevel 1 - Above-rate vanilla creatures like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Terrain Elemental"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gigantosaurus"}},{"insert":", or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Garruk's Gorehorn"}},{"insert":" are the foundation we're built on. We maintain a strong core of these over adding more token synergies because of the critical synergy with Ruxa. Actual creature cards can be can be recurred from the graveyard with his ability. Tokens cannot and are more fragile overall. A healthy mix is important.\n\nLevel 2 - That said, tokens are highly important and fall mainly into two categories. The first is Mana Sinks. These cards allow us to generate additional tokens or have added upside if we find ourselves flooded. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kazandu Tuskcaller"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ranger Class"}},{"insert":",and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Mouth // Feed"}},{"insert":"all being examples. The second group is \"board-in-a-box\". These allow us to quickly rebuild after a wipe or just turn our board lethal. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Howl of the Night Pack"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sylvan Offering"}},{"insert":", and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Curious Herd"}},{"insert":"meet this description.\n\nLevel 3 - Face down cards. Traditional "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Morph"}},{"insert":" and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Manifest"}},{"insert":" creatures ARE vanilla and get buffed by Ruxa."},{"insert":{"card-link":"Zoetic Cavern"}},{"insert":"and"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Break Down the Door"}},{"insert":" gain amazing upside due to this. Manifest dread being especially synergistic as it can throw a vanilla creature card in the graveyard for later. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Valgavoth's Onslaught"}},{"insert":" is another version of board-in-a-box\" that can give us a game-ending board state.\n\nLevel 4 - Lastly, we have \"double-duty\" cards. There are some cards in the deck that look generic, but close inspection reveals a hidden synergy piece. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ezuri's Predation"}},{"insert":" gets pumped up to clear bigger creatures by Ruxa and leaves behind a huge board in most cases. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Garruk, Primal Hunter"}},{"insert":"is generally seen purely as a draw engine with his -3 in most decks, but his 3/3/ beasts become a real upside for us. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kenrith's Transformation"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Beast Within"}},{"insert":"are powerful removal, but we could find ourselves targeting "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"our own permanents "},{"insert":"to turn a stray mana dork or 1/1 token into a more legitimate threat.\n\nSo rough gameplan is: ramp early, deploy early threats, drop Ruxa as an overrun-style finisher. If you get wiped, recasting Ruxa can recur a threat or you can rebuild with a board of tokens.\n"}]}