Buddy and I are going to GP Orlando in a couple weeks so we pooled our pre-release winnings into a pair of sealed decks. His pool was a clearly obvious Mardu style RWb deck, but this pool drove me bonkers. I've put it together a couple of different ways so I wanted to see what you guys thought of it.
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
The gold cards lead me to URG. The manafixing.... Is pitiful. Wow is that bad. I think we have to force a 2 colour aggro deck here. Your two deepest colours are... black and green. Green also has combat tricks to support the theme, as well as blacks flyers and removal. Here's the rough shell:
That's 28 cards without even considering splashing for Abomination of Gudul. Let's keep him in our back pocket and try to get the list down to 23 cards (this won't be an 18 land deck).
First up, there's too much delve. Most of that expensive stuff is just not happening:
1 Become Immense
1 Dead Drop
1 Meandering Towershell
That lets us cut 2 Scout the Borders, since they don't help us beat down in any way.
The fixing was downright awful. I originally thought of going WE with a blue splash but I had nothing in the way of decent creatures. I scrapped that plan and put together a RUG deck that was pretty bad. I put that back and started looking at Sultai . I'll post my Temur list when I get home, then sleeve up yours.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I played 4 games with the GB list and I was surprisingly disappointed. I only won 1 game and that was when I was on the play. I think the late game creatures are really just too weak in this list and it lacks the red speed.
This is the Temur list that I had come up with. I played 5 games with it winning the two that I was on the play.
The Bow in this matchup was somewhat of an underperformer due to the low creature count. Likewise Dragon Grip which I was hoping to slam down on a grizzly.
I think the modifications I would make after playing it would be to swap the bow and Dragon Grip for Jeskai Elder and the second Loxodon.
I also learned that this is most certainly a "play" format.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I played 4 games with the GB list and I was surprisingly disappointed. I only won 1 game and that was when I was on the play. I think the late game creatures are really just too weak in this list and it lacks the red speed.
Hold on. What late game creatures do you think the BG list is missing? Because your RUG version has Bear's Companion and well, that's about it. The BG deck has 3 biggish flyers, more combat tricks, and a massive 7 more creatures than your list.
Possibly what you mean is that the 2-drops in the BG list are too weak to play, which I agree is a gamble.
Yea. I never got Necropolis Fiend out, but Sultai Scavenger is an amazing card. I always felt like I was behind the 8 ball except for the game I got Towershell to stop the bleeding. I think the big difference in the two lists is the removal package. Your list is likely better than mine vs a more grindy deck. 4-5 games isn't really a huge sample size either and we don't really have any sideboard cards that we aren't already playing. As bad as it is, I think a well timed Feed the Clan would take me out of burn range and allow the deck to stabilize.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
I was curious about the Kheru Dreadmaw. He would have been useful against Zurgo because I could sac the blocker before damage and get life out of it if I had to chump. I'm a sucker for a red splash. I'll give it a whirl.
I did use the base GB list against a Abzan deck and beat him pretty bad even on the draw. This format seems to be about who can apply the most pressure since outside of bombs like Duneblast board stalls happen a lot and you need either evasion or trample to break them up.
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Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
My first instinct is that you try to use the almost good enough Mardu early game with BWr, taking red for Bring Low, Highspire Mantis and probably most importantly Mardu Asdencancy. The mana honestly is barely good enough for me, but with the fixing you have, there's not much options.
I think you have a solid early game and can win with fliers, but I switched out the 4 mana 3/3 first strike because it doesn't really go with the plan. You need some damage early and you're probably going to win with fliers. Dutiful Return fits that plan much better than the hill giant.
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1 Chief of the Edge
1 Chief of the Scale
1 Highspire Mantis
1 Warden of the Eye
2 Efreet Weaponmaster
1 Abomination of Gudul
1 Mardu Ascendancy
1 Trap Essence
1 Bear's Companion
1 Abzan Battle Priest
1 Brave the Sands
1 Watcher of the Roost
1 Defiant Strike
1 Erase
2 Mardu Hateblade
1 Salt Road Patrol
1 Siegecraft
1 Dig Through Time
1 Dragon's Eye Savants
1 Jeskai Elder
1 Waterwhirl
1 Cancel
1 Crippling Chill
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Scaldkin
1 Singing Bell Strike
1 Taigam's Scheming
1 Treasure Cruise
1 Dead Drop
1 Despise
2 Dutiful Return
1 Kheru Dreadmaw
2 Krumar Bond-Kin
3 Mardu Skullhunter
1 Molting Snakeskin
1 Rite of the Serpent
1 Rotting Mastodon
2 Sultai Scavenger
1 Throttle
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Dragon Grip
1 Act of Treason
2 Arrow Storm
1 Bloodfire Mentor
1 Bring Low
1 Canyon Lurkers
1 Leaping Master
1 Valley Dasher
1 Hardened Scales
1 Meandering Towershell
1 Become Immense
1 Windstorm
2 Alpine Grizzly
2 Awaken the Bear
2 Dragonscale Boon
1 Kin-Tree Warden
1 Sagu Archer
1 Savage Punch
2 Scout the Borders
2 Woolly Loxodon
1 Heart-Piercer Bow
1 Lens of Clarity
1 Mardu Banner
2 Sultai Banner
1 Temur Banner
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
1 Tranquil Cove
1 Kin-Tree Warden
1 Sagu Archer
2 Alpine Grizzly
2 Woolly Loxodon
2 Krumar Bond-Kin
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Meandering Towershell
2 Sultai Scavenger
1 Necropolis Fiend
1 Savage Punch
2 Scout the Borders
2 Awaken the Bear
2 Dragonscale Boon
1 Throttle
1 Rite of the Serpent
1 Become Immense
1 Dead Drop
That's 28 cards without even considering splashing for Abomination of Gudul. Let's keep him in our back pocket and try to get the list down to 23 cards (this won't be an 18 land deck).
First up, there's too much delve. Most of that expensive stuff is just not happening:
1 Become Immense
1 Dead Drop
1 Meandering Towershell
That lets us cut 2 Scout the Borders, since they don't help us beat down in any way.
So I'd end up with this list:
3 Mardu Skullhunter
1 Sagu Archer
2 Alpine Grizzly
2 Woolly Loxodon
2 Krumar Bond-Kin
1 Unyielding Krumar
2 Sultai Scavenger
1 Necropolis Fiend
1 Savage Punch
2 Awaken the Bear
2 Dragonscale Boon
1 Throttle
1 Rite of the Serpent
8 Forest
Do we want to add a couple of Islands to upgrade Despise to Abom? Unsure. For now let's stick with the simpler aggro deck.
Mana curve
1 cs
2 cccs
3 ccccccss
4 css
5 ccs
6 cs
I discounted the delve flyers by 1 each, since I think they will be at least that good.
Thanks for posting it, this was a very interesting pool.
This is the Temur list that I had come up with. I played 5 games with it winning the two that I was on the play.
1 Swiftwater Cliffs
8 Forest
6 Mountain
3 Island
Creatures 9
1 Bear's Companion
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Scaldkin
1 Bloodfire Mentor
1 Meandering Towershell
2 Alpine Grizzly
1 Sagu Archer
1 Woolly Loxodon
1 Trap Essence
1 Dig Through Time
1 Singing Bell Strike
1 Dragon Grip
1 Act of Treason
2 Arrow Storm
1 Bring Low
1 Windstorm
1 Awaken the Bear
2 Dragonscale Boon
1 Savage Punch
1 Heart-Piercer Bow
The Bow in this matchup was somewhat of an underperformer due to the low creature count. Likewise Dragon Grip which I was hoping to slam down on a grizzly.
I think the modifications I would make after playing it would be to swap the bow and Dragon Grip for Jeskai Elder and the second Loxodon.
I also learned that this is most certainly a "play" format.
Hold on. What late game creatures do you think the BG list is missing? Because your RUG version has Bear's Companion and well, that's about it. The BG deck has 3 biggish flyers, more combat tricks, and a massive 7 more creatures than your list.
Possibly what you mean is that the 2-drops in the BG list are too weak to play, which I agree is a gamble.
1 Bring Low
1 Meandering Towershell
1 Kheru Dreadmaw
1 Bloodfell Caves
2 mountain
1 Despise
3 Mardu Skullhunter
1 forest
1 swamp
Making this deck
1 Sagu Archer
2 Alpine Grizzly
2 Woolly Loxodon
2 Krumar Bond-Kin
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Meandering Towershell
1 Kheru Dreadmaw
2 Sultai Scavenger
1 Necropolis Fiend
2 Awaken the Bear
2 Dragonscale Boon
1 Bring Low
1 Throttle
1 Rite of the Serpent
8 Swamp
7 Forest
2 Mountain
I did use the base GB list against a Abzan deck and beat him pretty bad even on the draw. This format seems to be about who can apply the most pressure since outside of bombs like Duneblast board stalls happen a lot and you need either evasion or trample to break them up.
I think you have a solid early game and can win with fliers, but I switched out the 4 mana 3/3 first strike because it doesn't really go with the plan. You need some damage early and you're probably going to win with fliers. Dutiful Return fits that plan much better than the hill giant.