I would try out Asylum Visitor, it's been working well for me. If you or your opponent go Hellbent really quick it's like a Dark Confidant but you trade guaranteed card every turn for higher base power, less life loss, and Madness cast.
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Do you not find that you do not have enough card draw or filtering to get through your deck and you end up sitting playing top deck mode?
I would try out Asylum Visitor, it's been working well for me. If you or your opponent go Hellbent really quick it's like a Dark Confidant but you trade guaranteed card every turn for higher base power, less life loss, and Madness cast.
I wasn't impressed by Visitor. My meta has alot of control style of decks and removal is abundant, Visitor never lasts for me.
If you are worried about not having enough card draw, I suggest running more copies of Painful Truths. Nahiri does a great job at filtering your hand and Liliana benefits you even more when you are in top deck mode. It doesn't concern me too much when I end up playing top deck mode as most of my draws are live draws, which is the point of a black "control" deck. You could splash blue for snapcaster and some draw spells like think twice/serum visions.
It could be that I just don't know the black control deck style well enough as my only experience before this was an esper control deck focused on planeswalkers. But without cards like Goyf wouldn't top decking hurt us if there isn't a Nahiri on the board to give us a quick win con. I.E if I have no hand but my opponent has a field full of creatures I am in a bad spot without drawing a bird wipe
Or maybe I am just to aggressive with my hand? I generally if I have a discard spell I cast it, if you have a creature and I have removal I cast it.. so maybe it's just me playing it wrong
I had some success last night with a Nahiri build running Young Pyromancer in the 2-drop spot. Reading through everyone's experience in this forum has been great. One of the challenges in my experience, and a drawback of Mardu in general is its lack of card advantage. As discussed previously, bob is a liability, Asylum Visitor is subpar, Wall of Omens is meh. I also tried Pack Rat, but that takes the deck in a bit of a different direction. I haven't tested Jötun Grunt.
I was playing a more midrangy variant with young pyro, but I felt this deck was outclassed by midrange green (Abzan, Jund...) decks and CoCo decks. I actually felt like a hybrid strategy was the way to go. For reference, the deck:
I liked the role Young Pyromancer plays here. For one it gave the deck a critical 2 drop that demands an answer and impacts the game. It can provides a clock and gives the deck a great second angle/plan B. It can generate those few extra tokens to block and protect Nahiri, filling the card advantage role that we desperately need.
I have a low sample size (4 practice matches, 4 local tournament matches), but I like how it felt. Results and some highlights:
W - Sun and Moon
An early Pyromancer is MVP here. Early pressure, demands answer. K Command on bridge won the game. Make sure to fetch basics early against Blood moon.
W - Boggles
Can be tricky game one as all our spot remove is trash. Crackling doom, damnation, wear // tear post board is great. Chump blockers are golden here as long as you keep them off trample.
L - Eldrazi Tron
Still a hard match but with some added blockers and crackling/damnation its not un-winnable.
W x 1, L x 1 - Burn
Another hard G1, but post board felt good.
W - Grixis Delver
Lots of spot removal, chump blockers and some inevitability with Nahiri.
W - Lantern Control
Another match where early pressure is critical. The tokens slip under bridge for a while. Key is to stick a threat and disrupt as much as possible, keeping them off the needle for Nahiri or bridge. Won a post-board game by applying pressure early with tokens, then Lili's ultimate into a board with the full lock. Separating bridge into one pile and all lands and artifacts in the other. They had to sac all permanents leaving bridge and hope to re-establish before finding one of my artifact removal spells
W - Monoblue Architect
Hard for them to deal with all the spot removal. Overall good matchup.
So 6/2 overall, admittedly got a few good matchups, and still hard to beat Etron. I'm also curious how the CoCo, green midrange matchup is. Looking forward to more testing!
Great write up man! Ive been stuck on the 2 drop threat for a while, and had gone a few FNMs with 3 bitterblossoms and 3 intangible virtues to compliment the lingering souls. It played a lot more like Wb tokens with a Nahiri top end than true Nahiri control. I will be trying out Smugglers Copter in place of virtue for further card selection. Both are pretty useless without tokens, and blossom makes burn even harder than it already is.
I'd like to try out 4 pack rats at some point, and input on your experience with them would be appreciated. What did you mean by "taking it in a different direction"? Any match ups it makes better or worse? I personally dont like dropping them unless i have 5 mana so i can spawn another rat in response, or discard has shown me no removal. Is your strategy any different?
I ran young pyro back when i first started trying to make Mardu work for me. It was Bob, Peezy, and seeker of the way with discard, removal and Lily. Once Nahiri spoiled i dropped the creatures (and kommand with them, since the best mode was no longer relevant) and never looked back. Maybe i should have...
Great write up man! Ive been stuck on the 2 drop threat for a while, and had gone a few FNMs with 3 bitterblossoms and 3 intangible virtues to compliment the lingering souls. It played a lot more like Wb tokens with a Nahiri top end than true Nahiri control. I will be trying out Smugglers Copter in place of virtue for further card selection. Both are pretty useless without tokens, and blossom makes burn even harder than it already is.
I'd like to try out 4 pack rats at some point, and input on your experience with them would be appreciated. What did you mean by "taking it in a different direction"? Any match ups it makes better or worse? I personally dont like dropping them unless i have 5 mana so i can spawn another rat in response, or discard has shown me no removal. Is your strategy any different?
I ran young pyro back when i first started trying to make Mardu work for me. It was Bob, Peezy, and seeker of the way with discard, removal and Lily. Once Nahiri spoiled i dropped the creatures (and kommand with them, since the best mode was no longer relevant) and never looked back. Maybe i should have...
Thanks! I've never tried bitterblossom, I guess I figured it would be a liability vs burn, and maybe too slow. As for the pack rats, in the few matches I've tested you rarely want to play this on turn 2... It really is more of a 5-drop like you mention, and I think that pulls the deck into a more controlling direction. If I'm playing Pack Rat, then I'd really want Bob, and then I think the Nahiri combo should come out, then maybe even white etc etc...I could be wrong. Maybe, the way to try is something like -1 Sorin, -1 Terminate, +2 Kommand, so you have the full suite of Kommand to go with the rats. That way you don't care as much to run them out turn 2? Not sure. Matchups where I think the rats shine is against other mid range. Top decking Peezy really sucks when they can drop their own 2 drop Goyf. But the rats can help take over that matchup. It's a bit clunky vs combo where you want a clock, a bit too slow where you want some early blockers. I haven't played against things like Jeskai/Esper/UW control, but I imagine they could be good there too.
Like you I've tried to make Mardu midrange/aggro strategies work but it's never been good enough. Every game goes something like trade resources for 4-5 turns, go into top deck mode then get out-grinded. Never having a fast enough clock against combo, never enough resources against control. Let me know how copter ends up working for you.
Has anyone gotten to do any testing with some of the cards from Ixalan? I've got my eyes on testing Dire Fleet Ravager and Sword Point Diplomacy for sure, probably try out some others too.
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I really like this list. Have you tested it?
One note: Dont't you think that Wrath of Gods is a better choice? You're casting too much WW spells (Gideon's for instance). You probably will find yourself with *** or Damnation stucked in your hand (probably Damn).
If you decide to change your strategy, by playing discard spells, then you should split the # of ***'s and Damnation's as you did. Just my 2 cents.
Has anyone gotten to do any testing with some of the cards from Ixalan? I've got my eyes on testing Dire Fleet Ravager and Sword Point Diplomacy for sure, probably try out some others too.
Sword Point caught my attention as soon as I saw. Punishe cards are really fun to play and brew with it. BUT, as stated by others players, it's a permissive spell. We all know that giving your opponent the choice is always bad.
Let's suppose that Sword Point is a good card. Isn't painful truths a better card? Or even night's whisper?
Imagining that you reveal Nahiri, land and Terminate: as an opponent, I gladly take 4 to avoid Nahiri...and perhaps Terminate/Dreadbore. If you're behind in the game and your opponent decided to take 6 damage (in this scenario), you, essentially, were time walked for 6 life.
I really liked the card's design but I don't think that it brings anything to the table.
My bad.
You're giving to your opponent the opportunity to choose 3 times paying only 3 life per card. You spend 3 mana and your opponent is basically casting Anguished Unmaking for "free".
It's even more ineffective, sadly.
More ineffective than paying 2 per life? I think one of us, probably me, is missing something here. That being said, I don't look at Sword Point as a card to play turn 3 when something like Lingering Souls or KCommand or Liliana would be better. I look at it as a turn 5 or 6 play when their life is lower and suddenly that 3 life per card cost is bringing them dangerously close to 0 when we're running flying threats, Bolts, etc.
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I recently bought a Nahiri playset and Emrakul and started testing this deck. My questions are all probably a mix of stupid and already answered in this thread, but here I go.
What's the consensus on a few Monastery Mentors either as a finisher or to try to hold off the pressure with tokens as a last resort?
I have a 3/3 Path/Push split and 3 terminate/ 1 dreadbore, is this good?
How many wraths are needed?
Never tried Monastery mentor because we are pretty clogged in the 3 cmc spot, but it might be an interesting alt win con. Wrath's effect depends mostly on meta but I usually run 1 mainboard and 1 or 2 sb, in a random meta. I still like having a few bolts in there, I personally don't play any terminate, 1 dreadbore and 3 push/3 path.
I recently bought a Nahiri playset and Emrakul and started testing this deck. My questions are all probably a mix of stupid and already answered in this thread, but here I go.
What's the consensus on a few Monastery Mentors either as a finisher or to try to hold off the pressure with tokens as a last resort?
I have a 3/3 Path/Push split and 3 terminate/ 1 dreadbore, is this good?
How many wraths are needed?
I actually had a similar thought, but tested Young Pyromancer instead of Mentor. As Nukedz mentioned the three-drop spot is just too clogged, but the 2-drop is lacking in Nahiri Builds. My rationale was similar in that I wanted a legitimate plan B, but something that also supports the protect Nahiri plan. My conclusion was that it really helped the B/G/x midrange matchups by helping "go-wide" and out grinding the 1-for-1 removal slug, but I didn't find it skewed any of the other matchups. U/W has wrath effects, Etron has All is Dust, and the clock wasn't fast enough for the combo decks. Burn was still hard too.
In that regard I am still intrigued at the added power-level of the mentor as a must answer clock, and I'm wondering about testing a build that can transition into an aggro deck by siding out the Nahiri package. The MTGO PTQ list from recently does something similar my siding into 3 Monastery Swiftspear. Maybe something like -4 Nahiri -1 Emrakul, -1 other, +4 Swiftspear +2 Mentor (4x Pyromancer already main). I can see this being the plan of action against things like Storm, Tron, U/W/x control, Lantern. I can see them siding into something like pithing needle or ways to deal with Nahiri and then being hit with turn 1 Swiftspear. What do you guys think?
As for the Push/Path/Term/Dreadbore split, I personally like more Dreadbore. Between Push, Path and terminate as instants, the added way to deal with Planeswalkers is nice. Currently I'm on a 4 Push, 2 Path, 3 Dreadbore, 1 Terminate split. I have a third path in the board.
The wrath question is interesting. It might go counter to the strategy I mention above, but like other black midrange it looks like there are 0-3 wrath effects in those boards. Abzan is typically running a damnation and 1-2 flaying tendrils I find. If you're on a token plan I think we can go wide pretty good on our own. I can see maybe 1-2 slots against something like CoCo decks. Maybe a singleton of each Damnation and Flaying Tendrils? Curious what others think too.
AppleRobot I'm really curious to hear what about night's whisper felt wrong. It seems like the perfect card for this deck to help hit land drops and accumulate card advantage. I feel like painful truths is just not a good game one modern card. Too many decks punish you for tapping out on turn 3 at sorcery speed and not effecting the battlefield or their hand. Whisper is powerful on turn 2 after removal or discard and combines with the plethora of one mana interaction to make really strong turn 3's when lili and souls are not forthcoming. I dunno I'm in love with it for mardu nahiri in theory but I don't have any testing under my belt.
It seems like there is some common sentiment that this deck needs a way to speed up its clock. I've been thinking about this deck a lot lately and I keep coming back to a build that runs 4 emrakul and 4 through the breach along with 4 night's whisper to help dig to the combo. The build would still be a midrange control deck, but with the ability to steal games much earlier than it previously did. It's very possible this build would have too many dead combo pieces and not enough card draw to put them together. I love that the decks that struggle the most with through the breach strategies are not particularly good matchups for this archetype.
I'm also very intrigued by the young pyromancer/bedlam reveler spell slinger version of mardu midrange. The mtgo user Selfesiek seems to be paving their own path with a ton of 5-0's with a very burn heavy list full of some interesting 1 and 2 of's. I personally can't stand seeing only 2 monetary swiftspear main but it's hard to argue with results. I don't really see discussion on this deck and I can't help but feel like it's because it forgoes the planeswalker package. Reveler and Kommand give the deck plenty of grind to rival lili and nahiri. This seems like the much stronger young pyromancer deck at least.
AppleRobot I'm really curious to hear what about night's whisper felt wrong. It seems like the perfect card for this deck to help hit land drops and accumulate card advantage. I feel like painful truths is just not a good game one modern card. Too many decks punish you for tapping out on turn 3 at sorcery speed and not effecting the battlefield or their hand. Whisper is powerful on turn 2 after removal or discard and combines with the plethora of one mana interaction to make really strong turn 3's when lili and souls are not forthcoming. I dunno I'm in love with it for mardu nahiri in theory but I don't have any testing under my belt.
It seems like there is some common sentiment that this deck needs a way to speed up its clock. I've been thinking about this deck a lot lately and I keep coming back to a build that runs 4 emrakul and 4 through the breach along with 4 night's whisper to help dig to the combo. The build would still be a midrange control deck, but with the ability to steal games much earlier than it previously did. It's very possible this build would have too many dead combo pieces and not enough card draw to put them together. I love that the decks that struggle the most with through the breach strategies are not particularly good matchups for this archetype.
I'm also very intrigued by the young pyromancer/bedlam reveler spell slinger version of mardu midrange. The mtgo user Selfesiek seems to be paving their own path with a ton of 5-0's with a very burn heavy list full of some interesting 1 and 2 of's. I personally can't stand seeing only 2 monetary swiftspear main but it's hard to argue with results. I don't really see discussion on this deck and I can't help but feel like it's because it forgoes the planeswalker package. Reveler and Kommand give the deck plenty of grind to rival lili and nahiri. This seems like the much stronger young pyromancer deck at least.
I'm very intrigued by the Young PZ and Bedlam Reveler build as well. I've always wanted to play Mardu but never really liked the more control route of the deck. The deck that Selfesiek has been 5-0-ing with looks awesome and it appears to play to a kind of grind style, which is exactly what I want to be doing outside of combo decks. I agree that the two Swiftspears are cringe-worthy at first glance, and I'm actually going to be playing it on paper soon once I get my Bedlam Revelers and PZs. Has anyone else been playing this type of deck? Love to talk more about it!
This is a list I've been working on recently. Not breaking much of a mold here only pet card is crackling doom with cards like geist of saint traft and the occasional boggles or breach emrakul deck I like the hedge. Also playing miserly bw before this kambal had been an all-star in many matches.
I've been trying Kambal maindeck with my version of Mardu Nahiri, and I'm super impressed how relevant he is. Makes the G1 match-up against burn/storm much better, punishes midrange and control decks, and blocks well against aggro. Decks without removal for him will often lose 6-8 health, not including when he attacks.
I seriously recommend trying him out as a two of at least.
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Do you not find that you do not have enough card draw or filtering to get through your deck and you end up sitting playing top deck mode?
I wasn't impressed by Visitor. My meta has alot of control style of decks and removal is abundant, Visitor never lasts for me.
It could be that I just don't know the black control deck style well enough as my only experience before this was an esper control deck focused on planeswalkers. But without cards like Goyf wouldn't top decking hurt us if there isn't a Nahiri on the board to give us a quick win con. I.E if I have no hand but my opponent has a field full of creatures I am in a bad spot without drawing a bird wipe
Or maybe I am just to aggressive with my hand? I generally if I have a discard spell I cast it, if you have a creature and I have removal I cast it.. so maybe it's just me playing it wrong
I was playing a more midrangy variant with young pyro, but I felt this deck was outclassed by midrange green (Abzan, Jund...) decks and CoCo decks. I actually felt like a hybrid strategy was the way to go. For reference, the deck:
4 Young Pyromancer
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Spells
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Thoughtseize
4 Path to Exile
2 Fatal Push
3 Dreadbore
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
4 Lingering Souls
Planeswalker
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
3 Shambling Vent
1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Swamp
2 Plains
2 Blood Crypt
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Godless Shrine
2 Crackling Doom
2 Damnation
3 Wear // Tear
4 Leyline of Sanctity
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
I liked the role Young Pyromancer plays here. For one it gave the deck a critical 2 drop that demands an answer and impacts the game. It can provides a clock and gives the deck a great second angle/plan B. It can generate those few extra tokens to block and protect Nahiri, filling the card advantage role that we desperately need.
I have a low sample size (4 practice matches, 4 local tournament matches), but I like how it felt. Results and some highlights:
W - Sun and Moon
An early Pyromancer is MVP here. Early pressure, demands answer. K Command on bridge won the game. Make sure to fetch basics early against Blood moon.
W - Boggles
Can be tricky game one as all our spot remove is trash. Crackling doom, damnation, wear // tear post board is great. Chump blockers are golden here as long as you keep them off trample.
L - Eldrazi Tron
Still a hard match but with some added blockers and crackling/damnation its not un-winnable.
W x 1, L x 1 - Burn
Another hard G1, but post board felt good.
W - Grixis Delver
Lots of spot removal, chump blockers and some inevitability with Nahiri.
W - Lantern Control
Another match where early pressure is critical. The tokens slip under bridge for a while. Key is to stick a threat and disrupt as much as possible, keeping them off the needle for Nahiri or bridge. Won a post-board game by applying pressure early with tokens, then Lili's ultimate into a board with the full lock. Separating bridge into one pile and all lands and artifacts in the other. They had to sac all permanents leaving bridge and hope to re-establish before finding one of my artifact removal spells
W - Monoblue Architect
Hard for them to deal with all the spot removal. Overall good matchup.
So 6/2 overall, admittedly got a few good matchups, and still hard to beat Etron. I'm also curious how the CoCo, green midrange matchup is. Looking forward to more testing!
Great write up man! Ive been stuck on the 2 drop threat for a while, and had gone a few FNMs with 3 bitterblossoms and 3 intangible virtues to compliment the lingering souls. It played a lot more like Wb tokens with a Nahiri top end than true Nahiri control. I will be trying out Smugglers Copter in place of virtue for further card selection. Both are pretty useless without tokens, and blossom makes burn even harder than it already is.
I'd like to try out 4 pack rats at some point, and input on your experience with them would be appreciated. What did you mean by "taking it in a different direction"? Any match ups it makes better or worse? I personally dont like dropping them unless i have 5 mana so i can spawn another rat in response, or discard has shown me no removal. Is your strategy any different?
I ran young pyro back when i first started trying to make Mardu work for me. It was Bob, Peezy, and seeker of the way with discard, removal and Lily. Once Nahiri spoiled i dropped the creatures (and kommand with them, since the best mode was no longer relevant) and never looked back. Maybe i should have...
Thanks! I've never tried bitterblossom, I guess I figured it would be a liability vs burn, and maybe too slow. As for the pack rats, in the few matches I've tested you rarely want to play this on turn 2... It really is more of a 5-drop like you mention, and I think that pulls the deck into a more controlling direction. If I'm playing Pack Rat, then I'd really want Bob, and then I think the Nahiri combo should come out, then maybe even white etc etc...I could be wrong. Maybe, the way to try is something like -1 Sorin, -1 Terminate, +2 Kommand, so you have the full suite of Kommand to go with the rats. That way you don't care as much to run them out turn 2? Not sure. Matchups where I think the rats shine is against other mid range. Top decking Peezy really sucks when they can drop their own 2 drop Goyf. But the rats can help take over that matchup. It's a bit clunky vs combo where you want a clock, a bit too slow where you want some early blockers. I haven't played against things like Jeskai/Esper/UW control, but I imagine they could be good there too.
Like you I've tried to make Mardu midrange/aggro strategies work but it's never been good enough. Every game goes something like trade resources for 4-5 turns, go into top deck mode then get out-grinded. Never having a fast enough clock against combo, never enough resources against control. Let me know how copter ends up working for you.
I really like this list. Have you tested it?
One note: Dont't you think that Wrath of Gods is a better choice? You're casting too much WW spells (Gideon's for instance). You probably will find yourself with *** or Damnation stucked in your hand (probably Damn).
If you decide to change your strategy, by playing discard spells, then you should split the # of ***'s and Damnation's as you did. Just my 2 cents.
Sword Point caught my attention as soon as I saw. Punishe cards are really fun to play and brew with it. BUT, as stated by others players, it's a permissive spell. We all know that giving your opponent the choice is always bad.
Let's suppose that Sword Point is a good card. Isn't painful truths a better card? Or even night's whisper?
Imagining that you reveal Nahiri, land and Terminate: as an opponent, I gladly take 4 to avoid Nahiri...and perhaps Terminate/Dreadbore. If you're behind in the game and your opponent decided to take 6 damage (in this scenario), you, essentially, were time walked for 6 life.
I really liked the card's design but I don't think that it brings anything to the table.
It is not even close to Painful Truths.
My bad.
You're giving to your opponent the opportunity to choose 3 times paying only 3 life per card. You spend 3 mana and your opponent is basically casting Anguished Unmaking for "free".
It's even more ineffective, sadly.
Never tried Monastery mentor because we are pretty clogged in the 3 cmc spot, but it might be an interesting alt win con. Wrath's effect depends mostly on meta but I usually run 1 mainboard and 1 or 2 sb, in a random meta. I still like having a few bolts in there, I personally don't play any terminate, 1 dreadbore and 3 push/3 path.
I actually had a similar thought, but tested Young Pyromancer instead of Mentor. As Nukedz mentioned the three-drop spot is just too clogged, but the 2-drop is lacking in Nahiri Builds. My rationale was similar in that I wanted a legitimate plan B, but something that also supports the protect Nahiri plan. My conclusion was that it really helped the B/G/x midrange matchups by helping "go-wide" and out grinding the 1-for-1 removal slug, but I didn't find it skewed any of the other matchups. U/W has wrath effects, Etron has All is Dust, and the clock wasn't fast enough for the combo decks. Burn was still hard too.
In that regard I am still intrigued at the added power-level of the mentor as a must answer clock, and I'm wondering about testing a build that can transition into an aggro deck by siding out the Nahiri package. The MTGO PTQ list from recently does something similar my siding into 3 Monastery Swiftspear. Maybe something like -4 Nahiri -1 Emrakul, -1 other, +4 Swiftspear +2 Mentor (4x Pyromancer already main). I can see this being the plan of action against things like Storm, Tron, U/W/x control, Lantern. I can see them siding into something like pithing needle or ways to deal with Nahiri and then being hit with turn 1 Swiftspear. What do you guys think?
As for the Push/Path/Term/Dreadbore split, I personally like more Dreadbore. Between Push, Path and terminate as instants, the added way to deal with Planeswalkers is nice. Currently I'm on a 4 Push, 2 Path, 3 Dreadbore, 1 Terminate split. I have a third path in the board.
The wrath question is interesting. It might go counter to the strategy I mention above, but like other black midrange it looks like there are 0-3 wrath effects in those boards. Abzan is typically running a damnation and 1-2 flaying tendrils I find. If you're on a token plan I think we can go wide pretty good on our own. I can see maybe 1-2 slots against something like CoCo decks. Maybe a singleton of each Damnation and Flaying Tendrils? Curious what others think too.
It seems like there is some common sentiment that this deck needs a way to speed up its clock. I've been thinking about this deck a lot lately and I keep coming back to a build that runs 4 emrakul and 4 through the breach along with 4 night's whisper to help dig to the combo. The build would still be a midrange control deck, but with the ability to steal games much earlier than it previously did. It's very possible this build would have too many dead combo pieces and not enough card draw to put them together. I love that the decks that struggle the most with through the breach strategies are not particularly good matchups for this archetype.
I'm also very intrigued by the young pyromancer/bedlam reveler spell slinger version of mardu midrange. The mtgo user Selfesiek seems to be paving their own path with a ton of 5-0's with a very burn heavy list full of some interesting 1 and 2 of's. I personally can't stand seeing only 2 monetary swiftspear main but it's hard to argue with results. I don't really see discussion on this deck and I can't help but feel like it's because it forgoes the planeswalker package. Reveler and Kommand give the deck plenty of grind to rival lili and nahiri. This seems like the much stronger young pyromancer deck at least.
I'm very intrigued by the Young PZ and Bedlam Reveler build as well. I've always wanted to play Mardu but never really liked the more control route of the deck. The deck that Selfesiek has been 5-0-ing with looks awesome and it appears to play to a kind of grind style, which is exactly what I want to be doing outside of combo decks. I agree that the two Swiftspears are cringe-worthy at first glance, and I'm actually going to be playing it on paper soon once I get my Bedlam Revelers and PZs. Has anyone else been playing this type of deck? Love to talk more about it!
4 wall of omens
1 emrakul, the aeons torn
planeswalkers 6
2 Gideon of the trials
4 Nahiri, the harbinger
Spells 26
2 collective brutality
4 inquisition of kozilek
3 thoughtseize
4 lingering souls
1 wreath of God
3 path too exile
3 fatal push
2 crackling doom
4 lightning helix
4 bloodstained mire
4 marsh flats
2 arid mesa
4 shambling vent
2 godless shrine
1 blood crypt
1 sacred foundry
2 swamp
2 plains
1 mountain
3 crumble to dust
2 kambal, consul of allocation
2 stony silence
2 kitchen finks
3 relic of progenitus
1 wrath of God
2 Liliana, the last hope
WDeath and TaxesW
RWGBurnGWR
I seriously recommend trying him out as a two of at least.