One of the racing teams competing for the Aetherspark in Aetherdrift is the Speedbrood, a species of insects that have such a strong connection with speed itself that they literally transform into vehicles upon achieving their version of enlightenment. Well, that means they're well represented as a draft archetype in DFT and we're able to take advantage of it and ultimately build a pretty slick Standard deck that can hang in best-of-one (BO1) pretty well, even if it would likely falter in games two and three if we tried it in BO3.
The Win Conditions
Our primary finisher is Aatchik, Emerald Radian, which gives us a gigantic board state just for entering the battlefield, and each insect we have suddenly pings our opponent upon death. This makes blocking them a challenge and almost guarantees they'll give you the chance to push damage. Obviously, for us to get Aatchik's enters-the-battlefield (ETB) trigger to maximum value, we'll need to run lots of artifacts and creatures in our deck, along with ways to fill the graveyard. More on that below.
The Swarmweaver is an amazing piece of kindred tech for insects and spiders and, before now, didn't have a lot of support in Standard. Fortunately, our insects want to fill the graveyard and can go very wide, ensuring the Delirium is online quickly and the buff and deathtouch go to good use. The fact that Swarmweaver's insects also fly means they line up very nicely against a lot of powerful cards in the current meta such as Fear of Isolation and Bloodletter of Aclazotz. Swarmweaver might be the single best card to stabilize the board in most midrange matchups. If you find yourself in that type of scenario, don't hesitate to use every surveil trigger you can to churn cards away while digging for it.
Filling the Graveyard
Given that our bombs care about Delirium and having tons of creatures and artifacts in the graveyard, this deck has a lot of ways to mill cards. A lot of these cards do double duty as well by either being insects themselves or adding additional value to their mill.
Dredger's Insight gives this deck an enchantment for Swarmweaver's Delirium, but also provides incidental life gain as cards leave the graveyard. Granted, that isn't a super common occurrence in this deck, but it does happen, and gaining two or three extra life throughout the course of the game can easily be the difference between winning at one life or being run over by Afterburner Experts. The rate of mill four for two mana is also exactly what this deck needs. A starting hand with two lands and this card will be set up for success more often than not.
This googly-eyed friend is a respectable body and Surveil 2. The activated ability to create additional insects will almost never be relevant in this deck, but it would still fit this deck like a glove even if that text wasn't there. Broodspinner works especially well when you have The Swarmweaver in play as it helps shore up your defenses in a big way. Also, don't be afraid to crack your Broodheart Engine for one of these if your mills haven't been breaking well and you need to stabilize.
“Mom, can we have Deathrite Shaman?”
“We have Deathrite Shaman at home.”
Molt Tender plays better than it reads. If you play Molt Tender on turn one into anything that can fill your graveyard on two, even a simple Underground Mortuary, you have access to additional mana. If you don't need the mana, it can mill you for an additional card and take advantage of the insect synergies in the late game.
Reanimation Package
Scavenger's Talent is a powerhouse as both a sacrifice outlet, repeatable reanimation spell, and alternate win condition all in one. The first two levels give you value as your creatures die and lets you supercharge your self-mill by sacrificing cards like Haywire Mite or Grim Bauble, but the rubber really hits the road when you get to level three. Pulling large creatures out of your graveyard can tee up Aatchik quickly and give you a method for sacrificing the insects for value. Against opponents who've gained life or denied your attempts to attack, turning the mill triggers on them and getting at least three per turn can end the game quickly even if you don't have a good reanimation target.
Another two-drop from Aetherdrift, Broodheart Engine has overperformed every time I've used it. Surveil 1 at the start of your turn doesn't seem like much, and it's not really, but that as a precursor to a four-mana reanimation ability is great. This card demands respect from the opponent as it smooths your draws, fills your graveyard, and can effectively hatch into an Aatchik or Swarmweaver late in the game.
Interaction
Given how powerful enchantments are in the current meta, having any card on hand that can exile a Caretaker's Talent or Unholy Annex is valuable. The fact that this brings two card types and an insect to the party makes it a perfect fit for this deck. Honestly, I think Haywire Mite is worth considering in any green deck, but the synergies here are next level.
Having a two-mana unrestricted kill spell is practically required in our current Standard, so having one that helps fill our graveyard in the process is a perfect fit. It also puts a Sorcery in our yard as well as whatever it mills, so this can turn on Delirium by itself as quickly as turn two. It also has the benefit of hitting planeswalkers, which isn't true for a lot of removal these days.
Grim Bauble is doing a great Cut Down impression in this deck while being an artifact to help fuel Aatchik. The Surveil activation is a nice option if we have mana to burn, but we'll rarely actually activate that unless we need a Scavenger's Talent trigger.
Conclusion
I’ve had a lot of fun running this deck on the Best-of-One ladder and I can definitely recommend it. While it does have some questionable matchups against decks like Convoke or Goblins that can go around it quickly, it carries itself with dignity against many of the midrange and even aggro decks in the meta today. It feels like a solid tier two deck, and those aren’t as common as they used to be.
Thank you for reading, and happy brewing!