Got the Flash of Ferocity deck and want to make it better? Our Flash of Ferocity Upgrade Guide will help you do just that. You’ll be winning more games soon.
We wrote an upgrade guide for each of the four of Challenger Decks of 2020. Each one gets a budget upgrade and a full upgrade. You can then decide which one will work best for you.
Flash of Ferocity Decklist
Creature (22) 4 Spectral Sailor 4 Brineborn Cutthroat 4 Wildborn Preserver 1 Brazen Borrower 1 Wavebreak Hippocamp 4 Frilled Mystic 4 Nightpack Ambusher Instant (14) 4 Opt 2 Unsummon 4 Quench 2 Thassa's Intervention 2 Sinister Sabotage Land (24) 2 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 2 Temple of Mystery 3 Thornwood Falls 8 Forest 8 Island | Sideboard (15) 3 Aether Gust 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Negate 3 Threnody Singer 2 Mystical Dispute 3 Shifting Ceratops |
Flash of Ferocity Budget Upgrade
Our budget upgrade features just a couple of small changes. We keep the heavy flash theme and remove Wavebreak Hippocamp, which is the only card without flash and has a really inefficient body. We already have Spectral Sailor for our card advantage. Therefore the third Sinister Sabotage replaces the Hippocamp.
We also remove all 3 Thornwood Falls to complete the playset of Temple of Mystery and add a Forest. Scrying is so much better then gaining a measly one life, especially in a tempo deck like this one.
We remove weak Threnody Singers from the sideboard and replace them with some card advantage in Chemister’s Insight.
That’s basically all, since the deck is already a pretty good budget build. The updated list looks like this:
Creature (21) 4 Spectral Sailor 4 Brineborn Cutthroat 4 Wildborn Preserver 1 Brazen Borrower 4 Frilled Mystic 4 Nightpack Ambusher Instant (15) 4 Opt 2 Unsummon 4 Quench 2 Thassa's Intervention 3 Sinister Sabotage Land (24) 2 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 4 Temple of Mystery 9 Forest 8 Island | Sideboard (15) 3 Aether Gust 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Negate 3 Chemister’s Insight 2 Mystical Dispute 3 Shifting Ceratops |
- Cards added – main deck: 4
- Cards added – sideboard: 3
- Total: 7
If you want to continue upgrading with the same theme, you should try to replace a couple of Forests and Islands with four Breeding Pools. Unsummon should also be replaced with Brazen Borrower if possible.

If you’re struggling against aggressive decks, you can also get some Lovestruck Beasts to your sideboard. Yes, they don’t have flash – but they are big and cheap. Besides that, the 1/1 Human can often be relevant against small creatures.
Flash of Ferocity Upgrade – Full
Full upgrade is based on the tournament winning deck of Oliver Tomajko. His build has a different focus. We still have some flash elements with both Frilled Mystic and Nightpack Ambusher. However, we also gain access to ramp with Paradise Druid and Growth Spiral – both of which allow us to cast our powerful four-drops on turn three.

Those are not the only cards worth ramping into. We now have Nissa, who Shakes the World and Hydroid Krasis to add a whole new dimension to the deck. Nissa just finishes the game quickly, while the Krasis provides both big evasive body and card draw.
Furthermore, our mana base is really improved with the addition of Breeding Pools. We went up to 25 lands, to better support Growth Spiral.
Creature (15) 3 Paradise Druid 2 Hydroid Krasis 2 Brazen Borrower 4 Frilled Mystic 4 Nightpack Ambusher Planeswalker (4) 4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World Instant (15) 3 Opt 4 Growth Spiral 2 Mystical Dispute 1 Aether Gust 3 Quench 2 Sinister Sabotage Land (25) 4 Breeding Pool 2 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 4 Temple of Mystery 7 Island 7 Forest | Sideboard (15) 2 Sorcerous Spyglass 2 Aether Gust 1 Hydroid Krasis 2 Frogify 1 Negate 1 Brazen Borrower 2 Lovestruck Beast 1 Crushing Canopy 2 Mystical Dispute 1 Chemister’s Insight |
- Cards added – main deck: 21
- Cards added – sideboard: 10
- Total: 31
Those are some really big changes, but the deck is significantly better. If you want to learn more about this type of deck, you can check our Simic Flash Guide.
Out in a Flash
That’s everything about Flash of Ferocity Upgrade. Hopefully, you’ll be able to improve your deck to win more. If you’ll be upgrading the deck yourself, check our Deckbuilding Guide.
If you want to buy Flash of Ferocity deck, you can order it on Amazon. Want to learn more about other Challenger decks? Read all about them here.
Until next time, may you always have a counterspell to protect your Nightpack Ambusher.