Round 1 was against Boros Burn which I beat, then ran into three very weird matchups: Elves (This matchup is a bye for them, they make more dudes bigger than we can, faster than we can. I only won the game I did because he made some massive misplays involving Burreton Forge-Tender), Restore Balance (Game 3 he got a god draw, leaving me with no hand and no board staring down 2 greater gargodon), and Sultai Death's Shadow (The pilot said after the match that he sees it as a bye because I have no good axis of interaction.)
To everyone *****ing about Path and Lightning Helix, don't. There are too many things that don't give a crap about Terminate for me to handle them all, and while I don't WANT to give them a land, it's often better than the alternative. Helix was also great at stabilizing, while Blood Moon was a completely dead card that I never sided in all night.
As much as it pains me to say it, I felt like I was playing catch-up all night, that we need more early game interaction and it never showed up. Every spell just felt underwhelming, even if it was the best card for the situation. Is anyone else getting that issue, or just me?
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Round 1 was against Boros Burn which I beat, then ran into three very weird matchups: Elves (This matchup is a bye for them, they make more dudes bigger than we can, faster than we can. I only won the game I did because he made some massive misplays involving Burreton Forge-Tender), Restore Balance (Game 3 he got a god draw, leaving me with no hand and no board staring down 2 greater gargodon), and Sultai Death's Shadow (The pilot said after the match that he sees it as a bye because I have no good axis of interaction.)
To everyone *****ing about Path and Lightning Helix, don't. There are too many things that don't give a crap about Terminate for me to handle them all, and while I don't WANT to give them a land, it's often better than the alternative. Helix was also great at stabilizing, while Blood Moon was a completely dead card that I never sided in all night.
As much as it pains me to say it, I felt like I was playing catch-up all night, that we need more early game interaction and it never showed up. Every spell just felt underwhelming, even if it was the best card for the situation. Is anyone else getting that issue, or just me?
What did you see in those matches that "didn't give a crap about Terminate"? Terminate is pretty great and unless I'm missing something the only thing in Modern that doesn't get destroyed by Terminate is Ulamog and Wurmcoil Engine, since Wurmcoil Engine leaves behind two guys when it dies. I'd like to know how your matches went in detail for you to have a bad night like you did, which I apologize for.
Death's Shadow is a good matchup for us as well as Restore Balance even if it is pretty much non-existent, but when a player has the nuts it's tough to win. I beat Restore Balance when I last played it. Just put the pressure on them and use your hand disruption to its fullest effect to strip them of their Cascade spells. Elves is tough, change up your board to fight go wide strategies like that. Anguished Unmaking is bad, I'd drop it from your board completely. Add in threats that don't care about the 'yard, like Rabblemaster. Don't get discouraged with the deck, it's tough to pilot without any practice. Just fine tune your board for what you see at your LGS and give it another go next week!
Elves (This matchup is a bye for them, they make more dudes bigger than we can, faster than we can. I only won the game I did because he made some massive misplays involving Burreton Forge-Tender)
I always thought that elves is a very good matchup for us. We play so much removal that the elves player doesn't even get three elves on the board to do heritage druide sheenanigans...?!
What did you see in those matches that "didn't give a crap about Terminate"? Terminate is pretty great and unless I'm missing something the only thing in Modern that doesn't get destroyed by Terminate is Ulamog and Wurmcoil Engine, since Wurmcoil Engine leaves behind two guys when it dies. I'd like to know how your matches went in detail for you to have a bad night like you did, which I apologize for.
Death's Shadow is a good matchup for us as well as Restore Balance even if it is pretty much non-existent, but when a player has the nuts it's tough to win. I beat Restore Balance when I last played it. Just put the pressure on them and use your hand disruption to its fullest effect to strip them of their Cascade spells. Elves is tough, change up your board to fight go wide strategies like that. Anguished Unmaking is bad, I'd drop it from your board completely. Add in threats that don't care about the 'yard, like Rabblemaster. Don't get discouraged with the deck, it's tough to pilot without any practice. Just fine tune your board for what you see at your LGS and give it another go next week!
In practice? Planeswalkers, specifically Liliana in the DS matchup. Between the two of them I could never draw anything and keep it on the board long enough to untap with it. Terminate also felt like I card I needed to save for things that don't die to push or Bolt (The revolt on fatal push is surprisingly difficult to trigger in this deck, so anything CMC3 or greater.)
Restore Balance I won game 1, he abandoned the combo in favor of nahiri/emrakul beats which got there, game 3 he went "turn 1 plains, suspend RB, exile SSG, suspend gargadon, pass" and I didn't have a hand that could force through 20 damage before Balance resolved. I tried anyway, got him to 5 then lost my entire hand and field when it resolved into a hasty gargodon that killed me. I don't think he ever cascaded into RB, he never needed to.
Elves (This matchup is a bye for them, they make more dudes bigger than we can, faster than we can. I only won the game I did because he made some massive misplays involving Burreton Forge-Tender)
I always thought that elves is a very good matchup for us. We play so much removal that the elves player doesn't even get three elves on the board to do heritage druide sheenanigans...?!
DS should actually also be a good matchup for us.
Elves we cannot beat, plain and simple, unless we have removal for every single creature they play before they untap. We can usually go 3 and 4 wide, they got 10 and 12 wide, with overrun effects on demand. Chord of Calling for Selfless Spirit, Burreton Forge-Tender or other silver bullets also makes the idea of trying to win with a sweeper very difficult. We need to save kill spells for their lords, but in trying to do that we just get overrun by armies of 2/2's.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Played against Abzan Midrange yesterday... Both very disruptive Decks. We got to topdeckmode quickly (what seems kinda the goal of our deck. Disrupt their hand and board and then value them out). He had (in theory) 4 goyfs, 4 bobs, some lilli's, grimflayers as topdeck value. I needed to goldfish a pyromancer or a reveler. Since he had way more value threats he won. Once you get a reveler, the chances of winning are high but I just drew nothing 10 turns in a row... I would like to include 1 or 2 additional threats. Any suggestions except rabblemaster or hazoret?
I'm thinking of Mardu Pyromancer myself. Seems a lot of fun. What scares me though is there's only 8-10 creatures. Maybe I'm not used to the playstyle, but am I supposed to play like burn and throw spells at his face while laying down the occassional creature (like burn)? Or should I be playing my YP, and focus on making tokens.
We want to generate value by going wide, and using our tokens to stall when need be.
With Peazy on the board, if they're swinging with a 5/6 goyf, the bolt you have in hand becomes a blocker that also deals 3 damage to face.
On paper the deck seems fragile. On paper Faithless Looting doesn't make much sense. But it's a deck that you have to play with to really get a feel for it in my experience.
Last week I went 2/2 with a good amount of punts and RNG.
This week I plan on testing out a Hazoret in the main. With 3 K Commands in the main it seems like it should work out.
I would play Hazoret over Swiftspear. Swiftspear is not really a threat in terms of powerlevel agaisnt attrition based matchups, its more an aggro and tempo tool. Hazoret is really good guys, can only recommend running a copy in the main.
Went 5-0 with a list containing Hazoret, splashing white only for Souls and Wear/Kambal in the SB
I would play Hazoret over Swiftspear. Swiftspear is not really a threat in terms of powerlevel agaisnt attrition based matchups, its more an aggro and tempo tool. Hazoret is really good guys, can only recommend running a copy in the main.
Went 5-0 with a list containing Hazoret, splashing white only for Souls and Wear/Kambal in the SB
Whats your manabase looking like? I'm thinking of adding 2 Push, Hazoret, and 2 Bruality to the main over the stock Selfeisek lis, and want to go to 20 lands. I'm just not certain on what split of basics I want. I was thinking 4 Mire 4 Marsh 4 Cliffs 2 Crypt 2 Foundry 2 Mountain 2 Swamp. Not sure if I should have an extra Wooded foothills or 2.
I would play Hazoret over Swiftspear. Swiftspear is not really a threat in terms of powerlevel agaisnt attrition based matchups, its more an aggro and tempo tool. Hazoret is really good guys, can only recommend running a copy in the main.
Went 5-0 with a list containing Hazoret, splashing white only for Souls and Wear/Kambal in the SB
Whats your manabase looking like? I'm thinking of adding 2 Push, Hazoret, and 2 Bruality to the main over the stock Selfeisek lis, and want to go to 20 lands. I'm just not certain on what split of basics I want. I was thinking 4 Mire 4 Marsh 4 Cliffs 2 Crypt 2 Foundry 2 Mountain 2 Swamp. Not sure if I should have an extra Wooded foothills or 2.
I would play Hazoret over Swiftspear. Swiftspear is not really a threat in terms of powerlevel agaisnt attrition based matchups, its more an aggro and tempo tool. Hazoret is really good guys, can only recommend running a copy in the main.
Went 5-0 with a list containing Hazoret, splashing white only for Souls and Wear/Kambal in the SB
Whats your manabase looking like? I'm thinking of adding 2 Push, Hazoret, and 2 Bruality to the main over the stock Selfeisek lis, and want to go to 20 lands. I'm just not certain on what split of basics I want. I was thinking 4 Mire 4 Marsh 4 Cliffs 2 Crypt 2 Foundry 2 Mountain 2 Swamp. Not sure if I should have an extra Wooded foothills or 2.
Thats really close to the list I was looking at! Did cutting lightning helix hurt you at all, or did it not matter? I haven't really liked it that much, and brutality seems better. I suck at sideboarding so I want to ask you some stuff about yours:
Why Spellbomb over Leyline? My current reason is I don't own leyline yet, but do you prefer spellbomb over leylines?
What do you generally use Sugrical vs.?
How are the Lili's? I really like both, especially Last Hope, but I'm not sure when I would bring them in.
What is EE for?
When do you bring in Rabblemaster?
Do you have a problem with burn? I really like having a dragon's claw in the SB in addition to the third brutality.
Oh I did not like Helixes at all. I think its a liability. If you run Helixes and Swiftspears, the deck turns into a semi aggro style and tempo style of a deck, which most likely wont compete with better aggro/tempo decks in the format.
I personally want to be able to have more staying power and be able to grind a little bit better. The inclusion of Push/CB and Hazoret makes this possible. Plus you don't need to fetch for Sacred Foundry often.
I hate Leyline, Spellbombs is the most versatile GY hate we have in modern. It doesnt hurt ourself, cantrips and it is a good topdeck. leyline is only good in the opening hand and thats about it. If you want to grind, you will hate leyline topdecks.
Surgical is for Combo mainly, as well as Tron and Valakut. It is not a graveyard hate prematurily.
Lilis are extra cards for grinding and those serve as potent threats in grindy matchups. I feel that this deck can fall apart quickly if you fall behind, especially when GY hate is involved.
EE is a versatile sweeper also a semi removal for Enchantment and artifact hate. We personally are basically only susceptible to 0 and sometimes 2, so you can use it to kill DS, Humans, go wide creatures, Detention Spheres and so on. It also kills Etched Champions.
Rabblemaster is mostly there to provide a clock in matchups where you want to kill fast. Tron, Combo is coming to mind.
Burn is fine for me personally. 3 CBs, 4 IOKs and plenty of removal is great. Just make sure you never cast TS against them and fetch with minimal pain. Also Lili can strip alot of resources out of their hand. I would run the fourth brutality over Claw personally.
Surgical extraction can also shine against Vengevine and Dredge as well against many fringe decks (restore balance etc.). Even in "mirror" matchups against other midrange decks they can steal a bunch of goyfs or linegring souls.
Surgical extraction can also shine against Vengevine and Dredge as well against many fringe decks (restore balance etc.). Even in "mirror" matchups against other midrange decks they can steal a bunch of goyfs or linegring souls.
Against Dredge and Vengevine yes. But I 100 % disagree in the midrange matchups. Thats actually what I wanted to say, the card is NOT here for that kind of matchup. Its incredible how much overboarded this card is. Midrange matchups are about card advantage and good topdecks. Its about attrition. Surgical does not affect the board whatsoever and is an incredibly bad topdeck. If I see people side it in against me to hit Souls I am 100% happy about it. I just let them topdeck the card later on when I already have my Souls Tokens on the field (With 5 mana you can just Souls + flashback without them being able to extract the card).
Dont bring in Surgical in atrition matchups. Its not card advantage if you extract something, its card disadvantage. Other midrange decks wont be shut down just because you extracted a threat. Its not gonna happen. And just think about the cases where you don't get to extract a threat, because they take your removal with their discard and strand you with a worthless surgical, while the threats on the board hit you. I had that so many times, people start to extract meaningless stuff like removal spells or just a fetchland to just do something with it. No I cannot stress enough how wrong that is. So pls don't do that!
Surgical is only here to be REALLY impactful. Thats also the reason I always refer to surgical as being a Combo hate, not a GY hate.
IF you want GY hate in midrange mirrors (like in the actual mirror or against 5c DS) then just bring in Spellbomb. It never is a bad topdeck because it cantrips.
I think Mardu has a big advantage over Grixis DS in the control matchup. Grixis has a hard time beating those.
As for Big Mana, I think Blood Moon and Fulminator are a bit of a nonbo. Blood Moon on its own is actually not the best vs Big Mana, if you don't combine it with a fast clock. I would try a combination of Fulminator/Molten Rain and Surgical as hate for the Big Mana decks.
You can also play maindeck Blood Moon, if you want to go that route.
I tend to disagree. Grixis DS has a big problem that its very threat light. Often times it spends a big amount of time casting cantrips without them finding a threat. I guess its still "faster" than Mardu, but in a vacuum, Grixis DS can struggle sometimes in that sense, that it takes a lot of time before they find something. Grixis DS has just a lot of air in the deck, and discussions in the forum confirm that, at least from my experience playing the deck.
I think if the Mardu deck doesnt get hit with a RIP, it can do some things in the form of Looting and Reveler. Grixis DS is surely better overal, and probably still more consistant. But I think the difference is not devastating.
Well, you say you tend to disagree, but then you more or less confirm what I said.
To add to the inconsistencies, YP and Reveler are less reliable threats. YP does little on its own, Reveler requires things to go right in order to be good. Tasigur, Gurmag and DS are more reliable threats. You just have to fill the graveyard a bit or take some damage and they are online, often with Stubborn Denial backup, and ready to go. For this deck it's a bit more complicated to present a good clock. The best one being Goblin Rabblemaster IMHO, and not YP.
I wonder if you've tried Rabblemaster in the main and what's your experience with it. I think that's a key part of improving big mana MUs.
You are right what you said, but I felt you were putting it in an "extreme difference" category sort of thing.
Thats totally right, if Grixis DS finds its threats, they are way more impactful than the ones from Mardu.
Rabblemaster is great vs Big Mana, its probably the best threat you can have in those colours in terms of finishing the games fast. Wasnt able to play it against Big Mana in Mardu yet, but generally I played it vs Big Mana in different decks and its a good card against them if you can combine it with decent disruption.
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Marsh Flats
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Plains
Creatures (8)
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Bedlam Reveler
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
2 Fatal Push
2 Collective Brutality
2 Terminate
1 Dreadbore
2 Lightning Helix
4 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lingering Souls
4 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Blood Moon
2 Path to Exile
2 Anguished Unmaking
1 Anger of the Gods
1 Thoughtseize
1 Forked Bolt
Round 1 was against Boros Burn which I beat, then ran into three very weird matchups: Elves (This matchup is a bye for them, they make more dudes bigger than we can, faster than we can. I only won the game I did because he made some massive misplays involving Burreton Forge-Tender), Restore Balance (Game 3 he got a god draw, leaving me with no hand and no board staring down 2 greater gargodon), and Sultai Death's Shadow (The pilot said after the match that he sees it as a bye because I have no good axis of interaction.)
To everyone *****ing about Path and Lightning Helix, don't. There are too many things that don't give a crap about Terminate for me to handle them all, and while I don't WANT to give them a land, it's often better than the alternative. Helix was also great at stabilizing, while Blood Moon was a completely dead card that I never sided in all night.
As much as it pains me to say it, I felt like I was playing catch-up all night, that we need more early game interaction and it never showed up. Every spell just felt underwhelming, even if it was the best card for the situation. Is anyone else getting that issue, or just me?
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
What did you see in those matches that "didn't give a crap about Terminate"? Terminate is pretty great and unless I'm missing something the only thing in Modern that doesn't get destroyed by Terminate is Ulamog and Wurmcoil Engine, since Wurmcoil Engine leaves behind two guys when it dies. I'd like to know how your matches went in detail for you to have a bad night like you did, which I apologize for.
Death's Shadow is a good matchup for us as well as Restore Balance even if it is pretty much non-existent, but when a player has the nuts it's tough to win. I beat Restore Balance when I last played it. Just put the pressure on them and use your hand disruption to its fullest effect to strip them of their Cascade spells. Elves is tough, change up your board to fight go wide strategies like that. Anguished Unmaking is bad, I'd drop it from your board completely. Add in threats that don't care about the 'yard, like Rabblemaster. Don't get discouraged with the deck, it's tough to pilot without any practice. Just fine tune your board for what you see at your LGS and give it another go next week!
I always thought that elves is a very good matchup for us. We play so much removal that the elves player doesn't even get three elves on the board to do heritage druide sheenanigans...?!
DS should actually also be a good matchup for us.
In practice? Planeswalkers, specifically Liliana in the DS matchup. Between the two of them I could never draw anything and keep it on the board long enough to untap with it. Terminate also felt like I card I needed to save for things that don't die to push or Bolt (The revolt on fatal push is surprisingly difficult to trigger in this deck, so anything CMC3 or greater.)
Restore Balance I won game 1, he abandoned the combo in favor of nahiri/emrakul beats which got there, game 3 he went "turn 1 plains, suspend RB, exile SSG, suspend gargadon, pass" and I didn't have a hand that could force through 20 damage before Balance resolved. I tried anyway, got him to 5 then lost my entire hand and field when it resolved into a hasty gargodon that killed me. I don't think he ever cascaded into RB, he never needed to.
Elves we cannot beat, plain and simple, unless we have removal for every single creature they play before they untap. We can usually go 3 and 4 wide, they got 10 and 12 wide, with overrun effects on demand. Chord of Calling for Selfless Spirit, Burreton Forge-Tender or other silver bullets also makes the idea of trying to win with a sweeper very difficult. We need to save kill spells for their lords, but in trying to do that we just get overrun by armies of 2/2's.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
Both strategies seem fragile. Thoughts?
We want to generate value by going wide, and using our tokens to stall when need be.
With Peazy on the board, if they're swinging with a 5/6 goyf, the bolt you have in hand becomes a blocker that also deals 3 damage to face.
On paper the deck seems fragile. On paper Faithless Looting doesn't make much sense. But it's a deck that you have to play with to really get a feel for it in my experience.
Last week I went 2/2 with a good amount of punts and RNG.
This week I plan on testing out a Hazoret in the main. With 3 K Commands in the main it seems like it should work out.
Went 5-0 with a list containing Hazoret, splashing white only for Souls and Wear/Kambal in the SB
Whats your manabase looking like? I'm thinking of adding 2 Push, Hazoret, and 2 Bruality to the main over the stock Selfeisek lis, and want to go to 20 lands. I'm just not certain on what split of basics I want. I was thinking 4 Mire 4 Marsh 4 Cliffs 2 Crypt 2 Foundry 2 Mountain 2 Swamp. Not sure if I should have an extra Wooded foothills or 2.
This is my list atm:
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Marsh Flats
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
3 Mountain
2 Swamp
Creatures [9]
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Bedlam Reveler
1 Hazoret, the Fervent
Noncreature Spells [31]
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
4 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Forked Bolt
2 Fatal Push
2 Terminate
2 Collective Brutality
1 Dradbore
3 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lingering Souls
1 Blood Moon
3 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Surgical Extraction
2 Blood Moon
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Collective Brutality
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Engineered Explosives
2 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Wear // Tear
Thats really close to the list I was looking at! Did cutting lightning helix hurt you at all, or did it not matter? I haven't really liked it that much, and brutality seems better. I suck at sideboarding so I want to ask you some stuff about yours:
Why Spellbomb over Leyline? My current reason is I don't own leyline yet, but do you prefer spellbomb over leylines?
What do you generally use Sugrical vs.?
How are the Lili's? I really like both, especially Last Hope, but I'm not sure when I would bring them in.
What is EE for?
When do you bring in Rabblemaster?
Do you have a problem with burn? I really like having a dragon's claw in the SB in addition to the third brutality.
I personally want to be able to have more staying power and be able to grind a little bit better. The inclusion of Push/CB and Hazoret makes this possible. Plus you don't need to fetch for Sacred Foundry often.
I hate Leyline, Spellbombs is the most versatile GY hate we have in modern. It doesnt hurt ourself, cantrips and it is a good topdeck. leyline is only good in the opening hand and thats about it. If you want to grind, you will hate leyline topdecks.
Surgical is for Combo mainly, as well as Tron and Valakut. It is not a graveyard hate prematurily.
Lilis are extra cards for grinding and those serve as potent threats in grindy matchups. I feel that this deck can fall apart quickly if you fall behind, especially when GY hate is involved.
EE is a versatile sweeper also a semi removal for Enchantment and artifact hate. We personally are basically only susceptible to 0 and sometimes 2, so you can use it to kill DS, Humans, go wide creatures, Detention Spheres and so on. It also kills Etched Champions.
Rabblemaster is mostly there to provide a clock in matchups where you want to kill fast. Tron, Combo is coming to mind.
Burn is fine for me personally. 3 CBs, 4 IOKs and plenty of removal is great. Just make sure you never cast TS against them and fetch with minimal pain. Also Lili can strip alot of resources out of their hand. I would run the fourth brutality over Claw personally.
Against Dredge and Vengevine yes. But I 100 % disagree in the midrange matchups. Thats actually what I wanted to say, the card is NOT here for that kind of matchup. Its incredible how much overboarded this card is. Midrange matchups are about card advantage and good topdecks. Its about attrition. Surgical does not affect the board whatsoever and is an incredibly bad topdeck. If I see people side it in against me to hit Souls I am 100% happy about it. I just let them topdeck the card later on when I already have my Souls Tokens on the field (With 5 mana you can just Souls + flashback without them being able to extract the card).
Dont bring in Surgical in atrition matchups. Its not card advantage if you extract something, its card disadvantage. Other midrange decks wont be shut down just because you extracted a threat. Its not gonna happen. And just think about the cases where you don't get to extract a threat, because they take your removal with their discard and strand you with a worthless surgical, while the threats on the board hit you. I had that so many times, people start to extract meaningless stuff like removal spells or just a fetchland to just do something with it. No I cannot stress enough how wrong that is. So pls don't do that!
Surgical is only here to be REALLY impactful. Thats also the reason I always refer to surgical as being a Combo hate, not a GY hate.
IF you want GY hate in midrange mirrors (like in the actual mirror or against 5c DS) then just bring in Spellbomb. It never is a bad topdeck because it cantrips.
As for Big Mana, I think Blood Moon and Fulminator are a bit of a nonbo. Blood Moon on its own is actually not the best vs Big Mana, if you don't combine it with a fast clock. I would try a combination of Fulminator/Molten Rain and Surgical as hate for the Big Mana decks.
You can also play maindeck Blood Moon, if you want to go that route.
I think if the Mardu deck doesnt get hit with a RIP, it can do some things in the form of Looting and Reveler. Grixis DS is surely better overal, and probably still more consistant. But I think the difference is not devastating.
You are right what you said, but I felt you were putting it in an "extreme difference" category sort of thing.
Thats totally right, if Grixis DS finds its threats, they are way more impactful than the ones from Mardu.
Rabblemaster is great vs Big Mana, its probably the best threat you can have in those colours in terms of finishing the games fast. Wasnt able to play it against Big Mana in Mardu yet, but generally I played it vs Big Mana in different decks and its a good card against them if you can combine it with decent disruption.