Mardu Midrange is a very aggressively position Midrange deck. The deck leans on its ability to throttle opponents threats with the some of standards best removal while dropping incredibly powerful threats. The real power of Mardu lies on its ability to rapidly changes roles (beat down / control) during matches and individual games. Much like the other primers I will keep list shown up to date as it will be my home for the foreseeable future and share results and improvements to the deck as the meta evolves.
SPELLS Thoughtseize: A card verging on busted in standard demands a spot in any deck running black in my opinion. Straying from the 4th was a decision that was made early on as there is the potential to take a spike of damage from our mana base. Having tested as low as two left me wanting more of the effect. More often than not Thoughtseize will be used to pull your opponents interaction from there hand to clear the way for our threats. Banishing Light : A catch all. I worked hard to make sure all of the removal was multi faceted, be it able to burn or generate additional threat. With the deck straying form double black it also gives us a efficient answer for planeswalkers. Crackling Doom : Absolutely one of the premier removal spells in this color combination. Lack lustered against the all in aggro decks. Beyond that it is an all star in the deck help pushing through damage and dealing with any creatures that are problematic. It has the ability of taking down walkers with creatures in the best situations. I've killed many Sorins that come down on a clear board and -2 for a Vampire. Magma Jet : A must have. The deck functions without card draw through its ability to scry to the next threat in line through the scry ands and the Magma Jets. It will fall short without jets supplementing the card draw. Magma Jet has been wildly under appreciated. It makes opening hands playable that otherwise wouldn't be and helps the maintain the steadily flow of the deck throughout the game. Lightning Strike : With the number of targets this spell has at the rate it costs is a power house in the current meta. Murderous Cut : Viable as a two of in most non-delve decks. With as much removal as this list packs its very common to cast this for a single black mana. In the worst case scenarios you're casting for 3 or 4. The upside the card has warrants a slot as it gives you absolute blow out potential and an efficient removal for Stormbreath Dragon Stoke the Flames : This is a red centric deck. Stoke is incredibly versatile on the removal front hitting many of the formats big contenders and when the board state favors us it is a huge damage dealer. The synergy this card shares with Brimaz and Rabblemaster is another reason this spell is a natural fit for this shell.
CREATURES Ashcloud Phoenix : I'm not sure how this card is still flying under the radar. It almost always functions as a two for one threat. If drawn late it can act as a mini Aetherling. A gamebreaker in the mirror Brimaz, King of Oreskos : The King himself finally gets to shine. With the slew of two casting cost removal spells left in the dust with the rest of the Ravnica block Brimaz gets to shine. Incredible in tandem with Sorin. Goblin Rabblemaster : Go watch any VODs that feature decks that has the color red in it. No explanation needed Stormbreath Dragon : When Sarkhan got release many speculated that Dragon would go by the way side. In actuality they are a dream team. Dragon is very resilient and a huge threat to slam.
PLANESWALKERS Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker : Acts as a mizzium mortars in a pinch and doubles as a Stormbreath dragon. Ultimate will lead to a victory 99.999% of the time. (The percentage is from a scientific survey) Sorin, Solemn Visitor : His +1 ability is such a game breaking ability. Sorin shines in both the ultra grindy matchups do to his ability to generate 2/2 fliers. The best possible sequence you can have vs any of the hyper aggro decks ins Turn 3 Brimaz Turn 4 Sorin. Completely devastating.
SIDEBOARDING STRATEGY
Brace yourself. There is some reading below.
Green Devotion
This matchup revolves around disrupting their ability essentially combo off on you. Minimizing green symbols on their side of the field is the first priority. Past that their best threat vs you is hornet queen. It’s a pain to deal with.
Game 1 : Save your removal for the big guys. Don’t both with the ramp early on unless they are very clearly struggling for land drops. Voyaging Satyr is a higher priority target than the rest as it does enable multiple Nykthos activations. During game one keeping them off courser through burn and black kill spells on the larger targets is the goal. Crackling doom and Murderous cut over perform in this matchup don’t waste them. Your evasive threats handle the rest.
+4 Anger of the Gods, +2 End Hostilities, +2 Despise, +2 Suspension Field
The weaker burn spells side out for higher impact cards. Goblin Rabblemaster has a difficult time getting past without dying as they can pretty easily flood their side with mana dorks and Rabble can cause Anger of the Gods to become less game breaking so I leaned towards Brimaz for the three slot post board. After boarding the match up becomes much more manageable. When making your way through the turns just be very away of how many sweepers you’re using and how many hornet queens have been cast. When Hornet queen is cast you need a sweeper ready.
Green Red Monsters, Temur Monsters
The game plan is very similar game one as it is when playing vs green devotion. Key differences is Monsters is far less likely to have Arbor colossus to obstruct your fliers and its much more rare for them to have main board Hornet queens. You will want to save your stokes for their Stormbreath Dragons. You will also very often get to pick off Xenagos with lightning strikes. The mana dorks again are very, very low priority to kill unless you are 100% positive that they are having severe mana issues. If they do have the blue splash just keep the counter magic in mind when playing through the turns.
+2 Anger of the Gods, +2 Despise, +2 Suspension Field, +2 End Hostilities
Jeskai Tempo
Overall I think this is the most skill intensive matchup we have. I believe the matchup is 50/50 and its extremely dependent on strong technical play. Sequencing spells, selecting targets with thoughtseize etc. This matchup is not a forgiving one and mistakes are punished very quickly. Sorin, Stormbreath Dragon and Lightning strike are you best friends vs the American Ninja Warriors. Dragon brushes off everything in the deck outside of Stoke. One good +1 off Sorin can also quickly put the game out of their reach. Lightning strike is your go to bug zapper for their Mantis Rider. Discard is very, very effective vs them. It’s hard for their deck to beat us with their spells alone. Being able to grab creatures with thoughtseize and despise gives us a major leg up. Even though this is a burn race I still favor thoughtseize. You will almost always end up saving yourself life in the long run since the vast majority of their spells add up to more than two in a hurry.
The two key cards keep in mind post board to are Keranos and Narset. The added discard helps deal with them but if you don’t grab them that way you’ll need to be fairly active in the hunt for Erase or Banishing light through scry. Narset is easy enough to deal with via Crackling Doom but again be conscious of how often you’re casting that spell before one is used to deal with Narset. Either of those cards unchecked will take over the game. I favor Brimaz over Rabble. His ability to apply pressure and still play defense his huge. And game breaking if he has a Sorin with him. Very often even if you have a Rabble in hand on turn 3 it’s incorrect to play him as regularly have two mana up at that time. Sarkhan gets hit hard by Disdainful stroke and to much tempo is lost when he is push back to the top of the deck through Jeskai charm. Sorin and Dragon can also be hit by Stroke but their pay off when resolved is much higher in this matchup. Turn 3 Brimaz into Turn 4 Sorin is the best sequence we can have. Look for it when possible. If those two don’t get you there Stormbreath can close most games out.
Mardu Mirror
Welcome to a control mirror. This is a play land pass turn matchup. As long as you can drop lands and hold up removal spells that’s the plan. So when do you break from that routine? When you opponent is tapped down on your turn you drop and threat and go. Other wise you’ll walk your threat into their removal and then you’re the tapped down one while they’re playing the threat. The other less exciting time you play a threat is when you can’t make it past your third or fourth land drop. At that point simply passing leads to your opponent being able to wait until they have enough mana to start casting two spells a turn. You need to just try and work your way through their removal. Not ideal but you cant sit on your hands. This is an attrition-based matchup so Ashcloud Phoenix and the walkers are generally how you’ll be winning any game that your Rabblemaster doesn’t randomly just get there.
Sideboard plan:
-3 Thoughtseize,
+2 Magma Spray, +1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Lets get the elephant out of the room. Thoughtseize is being boarded out. Thoughtseize is exceptional at a few things. Breaking synergy and removing threats we aren’t equipped to remove. But there is one thing it is very bad at being, a weapon in a top deck war. The matchup is a attrition one as mentioned above. You will trade your opponent back and forth on kill spells. The game will go to top deck. Don’t be the guy ripping thoughtseize when your opponent is pulling Walkers.
Jeskai Combo
This is the simplest matchup to understand. Kill every creature on sight. Focus discard on Ascendency and any creatures they might have in hand. Crackling doom and Anger make this matchup pretty easy breezy.
-2 Murderous Cut, -4 Rabblemaster
+2 Despise, +4 Anger of the Gods
All in Aggro.dec
Much like the Jeskai combo matches up. Just slam them with removal. All of our spells go over the top of the all in aggro decks. Crackling doom isn’t at its best for the 2/1 aggro decks so unless they are going big with something they can be pulled.
-3 Thoughtseize, -4 Crackling Doom
+4 Anger of the Gods, +2 Magma Spray, +1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Abzan Midrange :
The biggest grind of them all. We’re the aggressor in this match. Their high end threats and constant Rhino drains can be a problem. Overall their creatures are bigger. The good news is our threats fly and hit much harder. Stormbreath is a king here, phenomenal on both offense and defense. Brimaz gets outclassed quickly on the ground and has a lot of trouble getting through their flood of x/4s and x/5s. Crackling doom is your best weapon against their Rhinos and lions. Save them for the occasion if at all possible.
In numbers their creatures prove to be a lot more difficult to deal with but ours are much stronger solo. End hostilities helps keep Crackling Doom live and the board in check. Same argument for taking thoughtseize out in this matchup as it is for Mardu. I favor Rabblemaster here over Brimaz since if given time he does have the ability to trade with even their biggest creatures.
Remember all sideboarding strategies aren't set in stone. Boarding is a fluid thing based on each opponents personal flavors etc. The boarding out of exact cards etc. is also very dependent on cards they see in game 1 and so on.
Hopefully this has helped some fellow Mardu players. Thus far the list and the boarding strategy has lead to really strong performances between myself and friends running it at various 5ks and Super IQs.
As always please feel free to share your feedback, thoughts etc. Together we can make Mardu the boogeyman of the format.
Here's the decklists I have been considering running. I take no credit for any of these lists, I'm only posting them as reference. The first one is more control than midrange, but it won 1st at the North Carolina states. The 2nd deck got 4th at the Nebraska States, and the final decklist is from jundimastah from the other Mardu Midrange thread and he's had good success with it. I can't remember how to title decklists so they won't be labeled correctly.
I like the Nebraska list. Looks very solid, I'm probably bias as it is the closest in direction to mine. Mardu is definitely posed to shine this standard season. Thanks for sharing those!
Mine is very similar with more scry than you can shake a stick at. Only really played it once outside of friends' decks, so we'll see how it does next FNM.
I've been playing 3 seeker of the way in my list to quite a bit of success. I find that a ton of the games this deck wins is off a single threat in tapping with removal backup forever. Turn 1 tapped land, turn 2 thoughtseize, turn 3 rabblemaster, turn 4 on crackling doom, hero's downfall, bile blight, etc.
Sarkhan is a bit of a trap in this deck, and unless the meta shifts, Stormbreath is just stronger, especially against jeskai tempo (I think our worst matchup)
Empty the pits should be a two of in everyone's sideboard. Card is ******* insane. You just have to do it once to see what I mean.
Erebos is also a good sideboard card. Many lists miss him but a ton of our grindy matches have incidental life gain and 1 for 1 trades. Drawing cards is huge.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
Finally a primer for this deck, I started to make one, but the power went out in the middle of it so I gave up. I am playing the deck that got 2nd at SCG New Jersey and loving it. Sorin into Sarkhan is brutal and the amount of hasty flying puts tremendous pressure on the opponents. Goblin Rabblemaster can win games himself and Sorin just gives him an edge if the opponent starts to fill their board.
A big key against green decks, GET RID OF COURSER. A lot of green decks keep risky/bad hands due to Courser being in it, I have Thoughtseized a Courser over an Elspeth in an Abzan player's hand due to him only having 2 lands and a Caryatid for mana (he never got the mana to play that Elspeth).
I do see this deck going in a few directions: A R/B/w big hasty flyer's deck like mine, a R/W/b grindy control deck like the OPs, and a R/B/w aggro version with 1 and/or 2 CMC creatures. I do think we could use some sample lists of each of these decks in the Original Post.
Just 4-0'd the daily with my list up which has been updated. Played vs Green Devo splash Red. Black Green Constellation, RG monsters and Jeskai Combo. (I'll update the sideboarding plan with that change later this evening)
@Broodwar : The list you're on has a lot of merit to it. There is definitely a lot of directions to take the list. I think the deck needs to pick red or black heavy. Either a fine pick but I think going both ways makes the mana a bit to slow and or painful.
@Keir : Seeker seems like an interesting pick. Would have to see it in action but in theory seems solid. Sarkhan and Dragon # split is something I've been figuring out much like the rest of the people on Mardu. The one I proposed is a lot more red heavy which makes Empty the pits uncastable for it. I agree Dragon is hands down better in the Jeskai match, but Sarkhans flexiblity and potential emblem in the midrange / grindy matchup has swayed me to play two main for now at least. It may turn out that 4 dragon is correct though!
So far 3-1 4-0 3-1 in three dailies. Went in with a more aggressive approach there, with lots of burn (sorry Downfall - you're too durdly).
Agree that Sarkhan is a trap. You usually can't defend him against heavy ground decks, you don't have to defend other 5cc fliers. Personally I split between Dragons and Wingmate Rocs, and never looked back. Don't underestimate the power of Roc in grindy matchups.
Seeker is a 2cc powerhouse, and probably a must in every Mardu list.
Yet to try Ashcloud Phoenix. It is somewhat promising, so I'm willing to.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
New to the deck and this thread. You guys probably already saw, but several Mardu midrange decks placed pretty well in states. I finished building mine on MTGO a few days ago and have been playtesting. So far it seems pretty powerful, and I really like that you can go either control or aggressive. I guess one could even run a deck that turns into the other quite easily after sb. In any case, since my experience has been so limited with it I still have to get the hang of it. I am running the more midrange version.
I have noticed though that some form of card drawing would be useful: maybe a couple of sign in blood? It would also double as a turn 2 play (although have not checked the mana base). Right now the 3 cc mana is pretty crowded with rabble master and brimaz which I think are just too good to ignore.
The ídeal play would be right now:
T1: CIPT land
T2: Land + Sign in blood or CIPT land + thoughtseize.
T3: brimaz or goblin
T4: removal or sorin/butcher
T5...
What I like is the ton of sb options available vs pretty much any matchup. What are other poeple's experiences?
@Air : I've found that the magma jets and scry lands can carry the deck without card draw. The added damage from sign in bloods or read the bones might be a bit to detrimental. It's something I've tested loosely and it didn't work out well. That's not to say it couldn't work.
@Keir : I like your list a lot. I've never been a fan of the full four Butchers as he can be a bit underwhelming on an empty board compared to the rest of our creature suite. You've got me thinking on the seeker though for sure.
That may be a totally fair assessment of the card. I've never really seen it as wanting it to be a 5/4 lifelink, vigorous, etc card. I've been viewing it as a 5/4 flyer on the cheap that has cool utility. 3 might be a correct number though, and I've been wanting to try an utter end. I can't stress enough how strong an erebos is in the side, even on a light black splash.
The downside to my list is the lack of sweet stoke the flame blow outs. However, look at how much removal!!! So sweet!
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
Not actually sure if this deck belongs in a thread like this anymore, but oh well. What I've arrived at after finishing in the top 16 at a 5k and 1k the last two weekends. Started as a pretty stock Mardu midrange list that took out Butcher of the Horde for Ashcloud Phoenix and tried to do cure things like Nyx-Fleece Ram in the main to hedge vs aggro and trigger raid on Wingmate Roc. Had a sideboard with a lot of planeswalkers and End Hostilities that basically came in every round, so just changed to that and took out most of the creature base.
Only 7 creatures in the main, since I'm MD'ing End Hostilities. Brimaz gets included since the curve is rather top-heavy as it is. He also can take games over if he survives, usually requires a two-for-one if they don't just have stoke/downfall/etc and protects planeswalkers to get us into the late game. Ashcloud survives End Hostilities and can usually trade with one creature before chumping as morph if we need to protect a row of super friends. One thing to note is how hard is to attack into an Ashcloud Phoenix with Sorin, Solemn Visitor going. Difficult to race, trades with basically everything in the format, and give you the life to threaten grinding them out with the flip effect.
10 planeswalkers round out the way to end the game. Elspeth is still good and shouldn't need explanation. Sarkahn, the Dragonspeaker is another new card that's been very good to me. Sometimes he's just a poorly costed removal spell, but if he lives the crack back, the game is usually turning in our favor. Sorin, Solemn Visitor is a more recent addition and might end up being too cute with our creature count being so low. Ashcloud being difficult to kill and the other planeswalkers have been good enough so far. Last is Chandra, Pyromaster which I haven't gotten many games in with. At the least, I like it vs aggro to try and hold off all their x/1s and it is a source of possible card advantage, something I really think the deck needs. Alternatively, this slot could easily end up being Read the Bones or more removal.
End Hostilities has been great, since no one has been playing around it or couldn't afford to. Sure a 5-mana wrath is slow but its fine when the rest of the format is too. Lightning Strike isn't the two mana spell I want, but I need something to kill Mantis Riders on the draw. Obviously something like Bile Blight is strictly better, but the mana just doesn't work out with the rest of what I'm trying to do. The alternative is to just drop Brimaz and revert to a BRw mana-base and just jam more removal; something that might end up being better in the long run. However, I like Brimaz as a card and its something proactive to do before turn 4; the lack of which I think is a serious issue without something like Sphinx's Revlation in your deck.
I'm split on Mardu Charm and Crackling Doom; they both cost the same amount of mana and usually do the same sort of thing. Mardu Charm is more flexible, which is why I originally played a set. But Crackling Doom is one of the better removal spells I've played with recently, and is a clean answer to Siege Rhino and everything out of mono-G. Right now, I'm planning on sticking with the more flexible option as a 3-of MD and SB more copies in the matches I might want it in.
Sideboard 11 cards I think are locks; Nyx-Fleece Ram and Anger of the Gods to shut out aggro, Utter End, Despise and the 3rd End Hostilities for the grindy decks. No idea what the last four slots should be, but I tend to decide them before the tournament starts anyway. Could be the extra copies of Crackling Dom I just talked about, but I think it should be more cards to fight Jeskai, even though I have no idea what those cards are.
What I'm Not Playing Butcher of the Horde and Goblin Rabblemaster. Played Rabblemaster in 5k and 1k and hated it. Never did anything game 1 and usually came out for the sideboarded games where I leaned on the superfriends package to win games. I decided to play Ashcloud Phoenix over the butchers both weekends, as I didn't think I was playing the kind of deck he excels in. Other people are winning with him though, so I could just be wrong. However, if you don't play Butcher, I pretty firmly dislike Rabblemaster. A lot of people seem to be trying to play him in place of Pack Rat in their Thoughtseize decks, but Rabblemaster just isn't the same. Overall, I don't feel like we're a better Goblin Rabblemaster deck than either Jeskai or mono-red, so I want to explore other options instead.
The 26th land
and I'm really bad for it. If the 2 Chandras are Read the Bones like in my previous draft, I think its fine. But the deck is so top heavy as it stands and wants to hit its 6th land drop for Elspeth and Ashcloud every game. I'll figure out what to drop for it eventually, probably the 3rd Banishing Light.
This is my own take on Mardu. The most notable difference between mine and most of the other Mardu lists I've seen is that I have cut Brimaz to allow me to make the manabase significantly more stable and I think it is going to pay off. I played this list with Brimaz in for Heralds and a Stormbreath to a 4-1 finish at my first FNM of the season with my loss coming to a Jeskai burn deck, but all 3 games in the match were tight. The side board basically has cards for 2 modes, 8 cards for anti-Aggro and the rest are to give me an edge in grindy or control matchups. My biggest over performers have been Sorin and Crackling doom. Candidates for possible cuts are the Herald or Torments and possibly a Sarkhan. I am really loving Mardu so far though and I plan to continue improving this list and seeing how much of a contender it can be.
I played a bit today. I found it to be great or disappointing... If there is no drop 3 in hand,or the 3CC creature is immediately killed then I feel the deck 'fizzles' ... maybe I have to mulligan more aggressively. Has anyone have had a similar experience?
On the topic of the 'kind of Mardu' of play, I saw this list which went full control. Seems interesting, although I feel uneasy about the amount of like loss in the draw cards and thoughtseize. I guess that is what the angel and the CIPT lands are for.
It seems solid. I would like to put a sarkhan somewhere, I really like that guy and is a 'creature' that basically does not die to the sweeper effects.
Went 3-0 6-0 at a small standard thing tonight. List felt really tight. No mana issues. Standout cards were empty the pits, wingmate roc and utter end. Played Abzan midrange, mardu mirror, and warrior aggro (pretty cool deck with some really close games). Will do a recap maybe tomorrow or eventually.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
Went 3-0 6-0 at a small standard thing tonight. List felt really tight. No mana issues. Standout cards were empty the pits, wingmate roc and utter end. Played Abzan midrange, mardu mirror, and warrior aggro (pretty cool deck with some really close games). Will do a recap maybe tomorrow or eventually.
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: On the play, turn 2 thoughtseize taking away his hero's downfall. He plays caryatid, I play Rabblemaster. He plays courser, I downfall it. He floods out and I just kill him dead.
Game 2: 2 Seeker of the Way backed up by a ton of removal. He eventually starts pulling back into the game and I stormbreath for the win.
-2 Bile Blight, -3 Sorin, +2 Despise, +1 Erebos, +2 Empty the pits
Bile Blight isn't the strongest here. It never kills anything by itself besides a Fleecemane Lion. Sorin, likewise, is just too slow. If you + him, you are probably winning anyways. If you - him, you're just buying time. He's not that great here. Despise rips apart greedy hands with caryatid and courser, and pulls elspeth out before she becomes an issue. Erebos just draws you more removal and more gas, and makes siege rhino a little worse. Empty the pits just wins
Round 2: Mardu Midrange
Game 1: On the play, He lost cus he tapped out for Rabblemaster which I killed immediately. I played a land, and played my own rabble master. Token brought him down from 17 to 9. Any threat backed up by removal will kill your opponent. Eventually he had to burn a removal spell on it, and I just cast sorin into stormbreath. Game 2, he had rabblemaster on turn 2. I killed it and would have lost if he had a follow up master. Luckily he didn't. Game went long, he resolved a stormbreath after forcing all my removal. I topdecked an empty the pits, cast it for 6 and killed him the following turn.
-2 Stormbreath Dragon, -3 Butcher of the Horde, - 2 Sorin +2 Despise +2 Empty the Pits +1 Erebos +2 Deflecting Palm
I wanted to take out everything I have to tap down for besides rabblemaster. I just want more removal here. Empty the pits is insane as your graveyard fills very quickly after trading so many resources. It's important to note that he was playing brimaz and fetches which caused him to lose more life, and potentially cost the game. I'm not a fan of either of those in the deck.
Round 3: Mardu Warriors
Game 1: Removal, Rabblemaster, Butcher to gain 5 at some point. Stormbreath to kill
Game 2: Sorin and Roc took over and gained a ton of life. Mid combat utter ended his obelisk of urd to eat most of his board. Mardu charm making first strikers was big game too.
This matchup felt odd. Took out stormbreaths and thoughtseize. Brought in despise, roc, last breath. Didn't feel unwinnable at any point, but it could have very easily gone badly. The Mardu Warrior deck seemed really cool though.
Anyways, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. Really loving the deck. Currently 9-0 with it. I think it's the real deal.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
Nice result ! I had also removed the brimaz, to ease the mana base a bit.
Quick question: I have been trying to understand the deck...it seems to me it plays like a control deck with a few strong threats that can go all the way thanks to the removal. My mindset earlier was that it was really an aggressive aggro deck, but I feel I was wrong. Do you agree with this?
Nice result ! I had also removed the brimaz, to ease the mana base a bit.
Quick question: I have been trying to understand the deck...it seems to me it plays like a control deck with a few strong threats that can go all the way thanks to the removal. My mindset earlier was that it was really an aggressive aggro deck, but I feel I was wrong. Do you agree with this?
There are actually several different builds of this deck out right now that have all being getting good results at small tournaments. The build that will really shine through probably won't be revealed for at least a month as the other decks stabilize and the meta truly emerges. Don't expect the upcoming Pro Tour's decks to be the final decks of the meta either. There tends to be a few wonky fringe decks that some Pros build to punish the decks that will become the new meta and those decks will just readjust to hate out those fringe decks.
I don't know if aggro control is the best way to describe this deck, unless you're playing end hostilities, elspeth, read the bones, etc. The version I'm playing, with a ton of instant speed removal and a few game winning threats feels more like a tempo deck. Even if I can turn 3 a rabblemaster, I find myself just passing with downfall, blight or doom up. If your opponent taps down for a guy and you kill it, untap and jam a rabblemaster, the game is usually over.
Standard Mardu Midrange Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Alright, so lets say your commander is Riku of Two Reflections. Combo commander, to be sure, but lets push this into the realm of absurd. You cast Palinchron and do your Riku thing to make infinite mana because we're going to need it. Forget about your extra Palinchron tokens. A million flying 4/5s is boring. So now you cast Enter the Infinite, because drawing your deck is important. Follow it up with a Obstinate Familiar because not decking yourself is equally important. Laboratory Maniac could work here too, but we're gonna go some more levels deep. Cast a Greater Good because we want a tasteful sac outlet. Follow this up with Parallel Lives, Doubling Season,Copy Enchantment, Clever Impersonator, Mycosynth Latice, Phyrexian Metamorph, and Copy Artifact giving you 6 double token effects. Here's where it gets fun now. Cast a Reef Worm. Sac it to greater good and get 256 Fish, which you sac to get 65,536 whales, which you sac to get 16,777,216 Krakens. Are we done yet? Nope! Cast Thromok the Insatiable, devouring all your krakens to make a 281,474,976,710,656/281,474,976,710,656 Thromok. Where do we go from here though? Let your opponent cast Death Mutation on him! Why, that's 7.20575940x10^16 tokens! Good thing we have Body Double to make another Thromok the Insatiable who will be a 5.19229686x10^33/5.19229686x10^33! Seems big enough, but not for us! Since we're red anyways, lets cast a Furnace of Rath, Dictate of the Twin Gods, and a Fire Servant! Now it's time to Fling your guy, dealing a spicy 4.15383749x10^34 damage to your opponent. To put that in perspective, there are an estimated 3x10^23 stars in the known universe. You dealt more damage than there are stars. That'll give your opponent something to think about. PROTIP: Dodge Spellskite decks
I think this deck is a very Jund-like Midrange deck. You do your best to 1 for 1 or 2 for 1 your opponent, play high value cards like Sorin or Rabblemaster, and win the game with our individually excellent threats in a grindy fashion. We even have our own Pseudo-BOB in the form of Chandra lol.
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: On the play, turn 2 thoughtseize taking away his hero's downfall. He plays caryatid, I play Rabblemaster. He plays courser, I downfall it. He floods out and I just kill him dead.
Game 2: 2 Seeker of the Way backed up by a ton of removal. He eventually starts pulling back into the game and I stormbreath for the win.
-2 Bile Blight, -3 Sorin, +2 Despise, +1 Erebos, +2 Empty the pits
Bile Blight isn't the strongest here. It never kills anything by itself besides a Fleecemane Lion. Sorin, likewise, is just too slow. If you + him, you are probably winning anyways. If you - him, you're just buying time. He's not that great here. Despise rips apart greedy hands with caryatid and courser, and pulls elspeth out before she becomes an issue. Erebos just draws you more removal and more gas, and makes siege rhino a little worse. Empty the pits just wins
Round 2: Mardu Midrange
Game 1: On the play, He lost cus he tapped out for Rabblemaster which I killed immediately. I played a land, and played my own rabble master. Token brought him down from 17 to 9. Any threat backed up by removal will kill your opponent. Eventually he had to burn a removal spell on it, and I just cast sorin into stormbreath. Game 2, he had rabblemaster on turn 2. I killed it and would have lost if he had a follow up master. Luckily he didn't. Game went long, he resolved a stormbreath after forcing all my removal. I topdecked an empty the pits, cast it for 6 and killed him the following turn.
-2 Stormbreath Dragon, -3 Butcher of the Horde, - 2 Sorin +2 Despise +2 Empty the Pits +1 Erebos +2 Deflecting Palm
I wanted to take out everything I have to tap down for besides rabblemaster. I just want more removal here. Empty the pits is insane as your graveyard fills very quickly after trading so many resources. It's important to note that he was playing brimaz and fetches which caused him to lose more life, and potentially cost the game. I'm not a fan of either of those in the deck.
Round 3: Mardu Warriors
Game 1: Removal, Rabblemaster, Butcher to gain 5 at some point. Stormbreath to kill
Game 2: Sorin and Roc took over and gained a ton of life. Mid combat utter ended his obelisk of urd to eat most of his board. Mardu charm making first strikers was big game too.
This matchup felt odd. Took out stormbreaths and thoughtseize. Brought in despise, roc, last breath. Didn't feel unwinnable at any point, but it could have very easily gone badly. The Mardu Warrior deck seemed really cool though.
Anyways, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. Really loving the deck. Currently 9-0 with it. I think it's the real deal.
Looks great. The one thing that I found surprising was the removal of Sorin in the Abzan matchup. In my experience he's been a huge comeback king for me in that matchup. However our decks are built different so that might be the cause. Awesome stuff.
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4x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Mana Confluence
4x Mountain
2x Nomad Outpost
2x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Temple of Silence
4x Temple of Triumph
Sorcery (3)
3x Thoughtseize
Enchantment (1)
1x Banishing Light
4x Crackling Doom
2x Magma Jet
3x Lightning Strike
2x Murderous Cut
3x Stoke the Flames
Creature (13)
2x Ashcloud Phoenix
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
3x Stormbreath Dragon
Planeswalker (4)
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4x Anger of the Gods
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Deflecting Palm
2x Despise
2x End Hostilities
2x Magma Spray
1x Erase
2x Suspension Field
SPELLS
Thoughtseize: A card verging on busted in standard demands a spot in any deck running black in my opinion. Straying from the 4th was a decision that was made early on as there is the potential to take a spike of damage from our mana base. Having tested as low as two left me wanting more of the effect. More often than not Thoughtseize will be used to pull your opponents interaction from there hand to clear the way for our threats.
Banishing Light : A catch all. I worked hard to make sure all of the removal was multi faceted, be it able to burn or generate additional threat. With the deck straying form double black it also gives us a efficient answer for planeswalkers.
Crackling Doom : Absolutely one of the premier removal spells in this color combination. Lack lustered against the all in aggro decks. Beyond that it is an all star in the deck help pushing through damage and dealing with any creatures that are problematic. It has the ability of taking down walkers with creatures in the best situations. I've killed many Sorins that come down on a clear board and -2 for a Vampire.
Magma Jet : A must have. The deck functions without card draw through its ability to scry to the next threat in line through the scry ands and the Magma Jets. It will fall short without jets supplementing the card draw. Magma Jet has been wildly under appreciated. It makes opening hands playable that otherwise wouldn't be and helps the maintain the steadily flow of the deck throughout the game.
Lightning Strike : With the number of targets this spell has at the rate it costs is a power house in the current meta.
Murderous Cut : Viable as a two of in most non-delve decks. With as much removal as this list packs its very common to cast this for a single black mana. In the worst case scenarios you're casting for 3 or 4. The upside the card has warrants a slot as it gives you absolute blow out potential and an efficient removal for Stormbreath Dragon
Stoke the Flames : This is a red centric deck. Stoke is incredibly versatile on the removal front hitting many of the formats big contenders and when the board state favors us it is a huge damage dealer. The synergy this card shares with Brimaz and Rabblemaster is another reason this spell is a natural fit for this shell.
CREATURES
Ashcloud Phoenix : I'm not sure how this card is still flying under the radar. It almost always functions as a two for one threat. If drawn late it can act as a mini Aetherling. A gamebreaker in the mirror
Brimaz, King of Oreskos : The King himself finally gets to shine. With the slew of two casting cost removal spells left in the dust with the rest of the Ravnica block Brimaz gets to shine. Incredible in tandem with Sorin.
Goblin Rabblemaster : Go watch any VODs that feature decks that has the color red in it. No explanation needed
Stormbreath Dragon : When Sarkhan got release many speculated that Dragon would go by the way side. In actuality they are a dream team. Dragon is very resilient and a huge threat to slam.
PLANESWALKERS
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker : Acts as a mizzium mortars in a pinch and doubles as a Stormbreath dragon. Ultimate will lead to a victory 99.999% of the time. (The percentage is from a scientific survey)
Sorin, Solemn Visitor : His +1 ability is such a game breaking ability. Sorin shines in both the ultra grindy matchups do to his ability to generate 2/2 fliers. The best possible sequence you can have vs any of the hyper aggro decks ins Turn 3 Brimaz Turn 4 Sorin. Completely devastating.
Brace yourself. There is some reading below.
Game 1 : Save your removal for the big guys. Don’t both with the ramp early on unless they are very clearly struggling for land drops. Voyaging Satyr is a higher priority target than the rest as it does enable multiple Nykthos activations. During game one keeping them off courser through burn and black kill spells on the larger targets is the goal. Crackling doom and Murderous cut over perform in this matchup don’t waste them. Your evasive threats handle the rest.
Sideboard Plan :
-2 Magma Jet, -3 Lightning Strike, -1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor, -4 Goblin Rabblemaster
+4 Anger of the Gods, +2 End Hostilities, +2 Despise, +2 Suspension Field
The weaker burn spells side out for higher impact cards. Goblin Rabblemaster has a difficult time getting past without dying as they can pretty easily flood their side with mana dorks and Rabble can cause Anger of the Gods to become less game breaking so I leaned towards Brimaz for the three slot post board. After boarding the match up becomes much more manageable. When making your way through the turns just be very away of how many sweepers you’re using and how many hornet queens have been cast. When Hornet queen is cast you need a sweeper ready.
Sideboard Plan:
-2 Magma Jet, -3 Lightning Strike, -1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor, -2 Rabblemaster
+2 Anger of the Gods, +2 Despise, +2 Suspension Field, +2 End Hostilities
Sideboard plan :
-2 Sarkhan, -2 Rabblemaster
+2 Despise, +1 Erase, +1 Deflecting Palm
The two key cards keep in mind post board to are Keranos and Narset. The added discard helps deal with them but if you don’t grab them that way you’ll need to be fairly active in the hunt for Erase or Banishing light through scry. Narset is easy enough to deal with via Crackling Doom but again be conscious of how often you’re casting that spell before one is used to deal with Narset. Either of those cards unchecked will take over the game. I favor Brimaz over Rabble. His ability to apply pressure and still play defense his huge. And game breaking if he has a Sorin with him. Very often even if you have a Rabble in hand on turn 3 it’s incorrect to play him as regularly have two mana up at that time. Sarkhan gets hit hard by Disdainful stroke and to much tempo is lost when he is push back to the top of the deck through Jeskai charm. Sorin and Dragon can also be hit by Stroke but their pay off when resolved is much higher in this matchup. Turn 3 Brimaz into Turn 4 Sorin is the best sequence we can have. Look for it when possible. If those two don’t get you there Stormbreath can close most games out.
Sideboard plan:
-3 Thoughtseize,
+2 Magma Spray, +1 Chandra, Pyromaster
Lets get the elephant out of the room. Thoughtseize is being boarded out. Thoughtseize is exceptional at a few things. Breaking synergy and removing threats we aren’t equipped to remove. But there is one thing it is very bad at being, a weapon in a top deck war. The matchup is a attrition one as mentioned above. You will trade your opponent back and forth on kill spells. The game will go to top deck. Don’t be the guy ripping thoughtseize when your opponent is pulling Walkers.
This is the simplest matchup to understand. Kill every creature on sight. Focus discard on Ascendency and any creatures they might have in hand. Crackling doom and Anger make this matchup pretty easy breezy.
-2 Murderous Cut, -4 Rabblemaster
+2 Despise, +4 Anger of the Gods
-3 Thoughtseize, -4 Crackling Doom
+4 Anger of the Gods, +2 Magma Spray, +1 Chandra, Pyromaster
The biggest grind of them all. We’re the aggressor in this match. Their high end threats and constant Rhino drains can be a problem. Overall their creatures are bigger. The good news is our threats fly and hit much harder. Stormbreath is a king here, phenomenal on both offense and defense. Brimaz gets outclassed quickly on the ground and has a lot of trouble getting through their flood of x/4s and x/5s. Crackling doom is your best weapon against their Rhinos and lions. Save them for the occasion if at all possible.
Sideboard plan :
-3 Thoughtseize. -2 Brimaz
+2 End Hostilities, +2 Suspension Field, +1 Chandra, Pyromaster
In numbers their creatures prove to be a lot more difficult to deal with but ours are much stronger solo. End hostilities helps keep Crackling Doom live and the board in check. Same argument for taking thoughtseize out in this matchup as it is for Mardu. I favor Rabblemaster here over Brimaz since if given time he does have the ability to trade with even their biggest creatures.
Remember all sideboarding strategies aren't set in stone. Boarding is a fluid thing based on each opponents personal flavors etc. The boarding out of exact cards etc. is also very dependent on cards they see in game 1 and so on.
Hopefully this has helped some fellow Mardu players. Thus far the list and the boarding strategy has lead to really strong performances between myself and friends running it at various 5ks and Super IQs.
As always please feel free to share your feedback, thoughts etc. Together we can make Mardu the boogeyman of the format.
I will be playing in a States on Saturday and Sunday. I'll post results. And encourage everyone else to as well!
4 Butcher of the Horde
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Planeswalkers (7)
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells (22)
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Crackling Doom
3 End Hostilities
4 Hero's Downfall
3 Lightning Strike
3 Mardu Charm
2 Sign in Blood
3 Thoughtseize
1 Utter End
2 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Battlefield Forge
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Mana Confluence
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Temple of Malice
1 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Triumph
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Empty the Pits
1 Lightning Strike
1 Murderous Cut
2 Utter End
2 Anger of the Gods
2 Read the Bones
1 Thoughtseize
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Stormbreath Dragon
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Planeswalkers (6)
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
4 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells (16)
4 Crackling Doom
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Lightning Strike
4 Thoughtseize
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Mana Confluence
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Magma Spray
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Despise
1 Harness by Force
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Planeswalkers (4)
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells (17)
4 Crackling Doom
4 Hero's Downfall
3 Lightning Strike
2 Read the Bones
4 Thoughtseize
2 Mountain
2 Swamp
1 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Mana Confluence
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Nyx-Fleece Ram
2 Elspeth, the Sun's Champion
2 Suspension Field
1 Magma Spray
2 Mardu Charm
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Despise
1 Harness by Force
Modern
UWGB 4c Snow Control BGWU
3x Bloodsoaked Champion
2x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
Instant (14)
3x Crackling Doom
2x Hero's Downfall
3x Lightning Strike
4x Magma Jet
2x Mardu Charm
Enchantment (2)
2x Banishing Light
Sorcery (4)
4x Thoughtseize
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Land (24)
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Mountain
2x Nomad Outpost
1x Plains
1x Swamp
4x Temple of Malice
4x Temple of Silence
4x Temple of Triumph
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3x Anger of the Gods
2x Dark Betrayal
2x Despise
2x End Hostilities
2x Erase
3x Nyx-Fleece Ram
UR ....... WUBR ........... WB ............. RGW ........ UBR ....... WUB .... BGU
Spells / Blink & Combo / Token Grind / Dino Tribal / Draw Cards / Zombies / Reanimate
Sarkhan is a bit of a trap in this deck, and unless the meta shifts, Stormbreath is just stronger, especially against jeskai tempo (I think our worst matchup)
Empty the pits should be a two of in everyone's sideboard. Card is ******* insane. You just have to do it once to see what I mean.
Erebos is also a good sideboard card. Many lists miss him but a ton of our grindy matches have incidental life gain and 1 for 1 trades. Drawing cards is huge.
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
A big key against green decks, GET RID OF COURSER. A lot of green decks keep risky/bad hands due to Courser being in it, I have Thoughtseized a Courser over an Elspeth in an Abzan player's hand due to him only having 2 lands and a Caryatid for mana (he never got the mana to play that Elspeth).
I do see this deck going in a few directions: A R/B/w big hasty flyer's deck like mine, a R/W/b grindy control deck like the OPs, and a R/B/w aggro version with 1 and/or 2 CMC creatures. I do think we could use some sample lists of each of these decks in the Original Post.
I Stream MTGO on Twitch: broodwarjc
I also post recordings of those streams on Youtube: broodwarjcavidgamer
Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
@Broodwar : The list you're on has a lot of merit to it. There is definitely a lot of directions to take the list. I think the deck needs to pick red or black heavy. Either a fine pick but I think going both ways makes the mana a bit to slow and or painful.
@Keir : Seeker seems like an interesting pick. Would have to see it in action but in theory seems solid. Sarkhan and Dragon # split is something I've been figuring out much like the rest of the people on Mardu. The one I proposed is a lot more red heavy which makes Empty the pits uncastable for it. I agree Dragon is hands down better in the Jeskai match, but Sarkhans flexiblity and potential emblem in the midrange / grindy matchup has swayed me to play two main for now at least. It may turn out that 4 dragon is correct though!
Appreciate all the feedback gents!
3 Bloodstained Mire
2 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1сс
4 Thoughtseize
2 Despise
3 Seeker of the Way
4 Lightning Strike
3сс
3 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Crackling Doom
1 Arc Lightning
4сс
4 Butcher of the Horde
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Stoke the Flames
5сс
2 Wingmate Roc
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Banishing Light
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Read the Bones
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Magma Spray
So far 3-1 4-0 3-1 in three dailies. Went in with a more aggressive approach there, with lots of burn (sorry Downfall - you're too durdly).
Agree that Sarkhan is a trap. You usually can't defend him against heavy ground decks, you don't have to defend other 5cc fliers. Personally I split between Dragons and Wingmate Rocs, and never looked back. Don't underestimate the power of Roc in grindy matchups.
Seeker is a 2cc powerhouse, and probably a must in every Mardu list.
Yet to try Ashcloud Phoenix. It is somewhat promising, so I'm willing to.
Anyways, here's where my list was at. 6-0-2 at a gpt last weekend with it
4 Temple of Silence
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Temple of Malice
3 Nomad Outpost
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
3 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde
1 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Thoughtseize
1 Despise
3 Bile Blight
3 Lightning Strike
4 Heros Downfall
4 Crackling Doom
2 Mardu Charm
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Nyx-fleece Ram
2 Despise
2 Last Breath
3 Cirle of Flame
1 Deicide
2 Empty the Pits
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
New to the deck and this thread. You guys probably already saw, but several Mardu midrange decks placed pretty well in states. I finished building mine on MTGO a few days ago and have been playtesting. So far it seems pretty powerful, and I really like that you can go either control or aggressive. I guess one could even run a deck that turns into the other quite easily after sb. In any case, since my experience has been so limited with it I still have to get the hang of it. I am running the more midrange version.
I have noticed though that some form of card drawing would be useful: maybe a couple of sign in blood? It would also double as a turn 2 play (although have not checked the mana base). Right now the 3 cc mana is pretty crowded with rabble master and brimaz which I think are just too good to ignore.
The ídeal play would be right now:
T1: CIPT land
T2: Land + Sign in blood or CIPT land + thoughtseize.
T3: brimaz or goblin
T4: removal or sorin/butcher
T5...
What I like is the ton of sb options available vs pretty much any matchup. What are other poeple's experiences?
@Keir : I like your list a lot. I've never been a fan of the full four Butchers as he can be a bit underwhelming on an empty board compared to the rest of our creature suite. You've got me thinking on the seeker though for sure.
The downside to my list is the lack of sweet stoke the flame blow outs. However, look at how much removal!!! So sweet!
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Ashcloud Phoenix
Planeswalkers: 10
3x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2x Chandra, Pyromaster
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells: 18
4x Thoughtseize
4x Lightning Strike
3x Mardu Charm
2x Crackling Doom
3x Banishing Light
2x End Hostilities
4x Nomad Outpost
2x Temple of Malice
4x Temple of Triumph
4x Battlefield Forge
2x Caves of Koilos
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Bloodstained Mire
3x Plains
2x Mountain
1x Swamp
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
3x Anger of the Gods
2x Utter End
1x End Hostilities
1x Despise
4x ???
Not actually sure if this deck belongs in a thread like this anymore, but oh well. What I've arrived at after finishing in the top 16 at a 5k and 1k the last two weekends. Started as a pretty stock Mardu midrange list that took out Butcher of the Horde for Ashcloud Phoenix and tried to do cure things like Nyx-Fleece Ram in the main to hedge vs aggro and trigger raid on Wingmate Roc. Had a sideboard with a lot of planeswalkers and End Hostilities that basically came in every round, so just changed to that and took out most of the creature base.
Only 7 creatures in the main, since I'm MD'ing End Hostilities. Brimaz gets included since the curve is rather top-heavy as it is. He also can take games over if he survives, usually requires a two-for-one if they don't just have stoke/downfall/etc and protects planeswalkers to get us into the late game. Ashcloud survives End Hostilities and can usually trade with one creature before chumping as morph if we need to protect a row of super friends. One thing to note is how hard is to attack into an Ashcloud Phoenix with Sorin, Solemn Visitor going. Difficult to race, trades with basically everything in the format, and give you the life to threaten grinding them out with the flip effect.
10 planeswalkers round out the way to end the game. Elspeth is still good and shouldn't need explanation. Sarkahn, the Dragonspeaker is another new card that's been very good to me. Sometimes he's just a poorly costed removal spell, but if he lives the crack back, the game is usually turning in our favor. Sorin, Solemn Visitor is a more recent addition and might end up being too cute with our creature count being so low. Ashcloud being difficult to kill and the other planeswalkers have been good enough so far. Last is Chandra, Pyromaster which I haven't gotten many games in with. At the least, I like it vs aggro to try and hold off all their x/1s and it is a source of possible card advantage, something I really think the deck needs. Alternatively, this slot could easily end up being Read the Bones or more removal.
End Hostilities has been great, since no one has been playing around it or couldn't afford to. Sure a 5-mana wrath is slow but its fine when the rest of the format is too. Lightning Strike isn't the two mana spell I want, but I need something to kill Mantis Riders on the draw. Obviously something like Bile Blight is strictly better, but the mana just doesn't work out with the rest of what I'm trying to do. The alternative is to just drop Brimaz and revert to a BRw mana-base and just jam more removal; something that might end up being better in the long run. However, I like Brimaz as a card and its something proactive to do before turn 4; the lack of which I think is a serious issue without something like Sphinx's Revlation in your deck.
I'm split on Mardu Charm and Crackling Doom; they both cost the same amount of mana and usually do the same sort of thing. Mardu Charm is more flexible, which is why I originally played a set. But Crackling Doom is one of the better removal spells I've played with recently, and is a clean answer to Siege Rhino and everything out of mono-G. Right now, I'm planning on sticking with the more flexible option as a 3-of MD and SB more copies in the matches I might want it in.
Sideboard 11 cards I think are locks; Nyx-Fleece Ram and Anger of the Gods to shut out aggro, Utter End, Despise and the 3rd End Hostilities for the grindy decks. No idea what the last four slots should be, but I tend to decide them before the tournament starts anyway. Could be the extra copies of Crackling Dom I just talked about, but I think it should be more cards to fight Jeskai, even though I have no idea what those cards are.
What I'm Not Playing
Butcher of the Horde and Goblin Rabblemaster. Played Rabblemaster in 5k and 1k and hated it. Never did anything game 1 and usually came out for the sideboarded games where I leaned on the superfriends package to win games. I decided to play Ashcloud Phoenix over the butchers both weekends, as I didn't think I was playing the kind of deck he excels in. Other people are winning with him though, so I could just be wrong. However, if you don't play Butcher, I pretty firmly dislike Rabblemaster. A lot of people seem to be trying to play him in place of Pack Rat in their Thoughtseize decks, but Rabblemaster just isn't the same. Overall, I don't feel like we're a better Goblin Rabblemaster deck than either Jeskai or mono-red, so I want to explore other options instead.
The 26th land
and I'm really bad for it. If the 2 Chandras are Read the Bones like in my previous draft, I think its fine. But the deck is so top heavy as it stands and wants to hit its 6th land drop for Elspeth and Ashcloud every game. I'll figure out what to drop for it eventually, probably the 3rd Banishing Light.
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Herald of Torment
4 Butcher of the Horde
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Spells: 16
4 Thoughtseize
4 Lightning Strike
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Crackling Doom
Planeswalkers: 8
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Triumph
3 Nomad's Outpost
2 Battlefield Forge
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Mountain
3 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
3 Magma Spray
2 Bile Blight
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Utter End
1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
1 Necropolis Fiend
1 Whip of Erebos
2 Liliana Vess
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Maybe:
Despise
Mardu Charm
Murderous Cut
Ashcloud Phoenix
Erebos, God of the Dead
Burn Away/Tormod's Crypt (depending how big graveyard strats end up being)
This is my own take on Mardu. The most notable difference between mine and most of the other Mardu lists I've seen is that I have cut Brimaz to allow me to make the manabase significantly more stable and I think it is going to pay off. I played this list with Brimaz in for Heralds and a Stormbreath to a 4-1 finish at my first FNM of the season with my loss coming to a Jeskai burn deck, but all 3 games in the match were tight. The side board basically has cards for 2 modes, 8 cards for anti-Aggro and the rest are to give me an edge in grindy or control matchups. My biggest over performers have been Sorin and Crackling doom. Candidates for possible cuts are the Herald or Torments and possibly a Sarkhan. I am really loving Mardu so far though and I plan to continue improving this list and seeing how much of a contender it can be.
I played a bit today. I found it to be great or disappointing... If there is no drop 3 in hand,or the 3CC creature is immediately killed then I feel the deck 'fizzles' ... maybe I have to mulligan more aggressively. Has anyone have had a similar experience?
On the topic of the 'kind of Mardu' of play, I saw this list which went full control. Seems interesting, although I feel uneasy about the amount of like loss in the draw cards and thoughtseize. I guess that is what the angel and the CIPT lands are for.
Mardu Midrange
By: Doyle Daniels
2014 Standard State Championships - ColoradoType II
Archive: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1217276
Main Deck:
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Resolute Archangel
3 Bile Blight
2 Crackling Doom
3 Despise
1 Empty the Pits
2 End Hostilities
4 Hero's Downfall
1 Murderous Cut
2 Read the Bones
3 Sign in Blood
4 Thoughtseize
3 Utter End
4 Bloodfell Caves
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Mountain
4 Scoured Barrens
4 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard:
1 Crackling Doom
1 Despise
3 Drown in Sorrow
1 End Hostilities
2 Mardu Charm
1 Necropolis Fiend
4 Pharika's Cure
2 Reprisal
It seems solid. I would like to put a sarkhan somewhere, I really like that guy and is a 'creature' that basically does not die to the sweeper effects.
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Very nice.
3 Nomad Outpost
4 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Battlefield Forge
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
3 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Butcher of the Horde
2 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Despise
4 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Crackling Doom
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Mardu Charm
1 Utter End
2 Empty the Pits
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Mardu Charm
2 Last Breath
2 Despise
1 Deicide
2 Nyx-fleece Ram
2 Deflecting Palm
2 Wingmate Roc
Round 1: Abzan Midrange
Game 1: On the play, turn 2 thoughtseize taking away his hero's downfall. He plays caryatid, I play Rabblemaster. He plays courser, I downfall it. He floods out and I just kill him dead.
Game 2: 2 Seeker of the Way backed up by a ton of removal. He eventually starts pulling back into the game and I stormbreath for the win.
-2 Bile Blight, -3 Sorin, +2 Despise, +1 Erebos, +2 Empty the pits
Bile Blight isn't the strongest here. It never kills anything by itself besides a Fleecemane Lion. Sorin, likewise, is just too slow. If you + him, you are probably winning anyways. If you - him, you're just buying time. He's not that great here. Despise rips apart greedy hands with caryatid and courser, and pulls elspeth out before she becomes an issue. Erebos just draws you more removal and more gas, and makes siege rhino a little worse. Empty the pits just wins
Round 2: Mardu Midrange
Game 1: On the play, He lost cus he tapped out for Rabblemaster which I killed immediately. I played a land, and played my own rabble master. Token brought him down from 17 to 9. Any threat backed up by removal will kill your opponent. Eventually he had to burn a removal spell on it, and I just cast sorin into stormbreath. Game 2, he had rabblemaster on turn 2. I killed it and would have lost if he had a follow up master. Luckily he didn't. Game went long, he resolved a stormbreath after forcing all my removal. I topdecked an empty the pits, cast it for 6 and killed him the following turn.
-2 Stormbreath Dragon, -3 Butcher of the Horde, - 2 Sorin +2 Despise +2 Empty the Pits +1 Erebos +2 Deflecting Palm
I wanted to take out everything I have to tap down for besides rabblemaster. I just want more removal here. Empty the pits is insane as your graveyard fills very quickly after trading so many resources. It's important to note that he was playing brimaz and fetches which caused him to lose more life, and potentially cost the game. I'm not a fan of either of those in the deck.
Round 3: Mardu Warriors
Game 1: Removal, Rabblemaster, Butcher to gain 5 at some point. Stormbreath to kill
Game 2: Sorin and Roc took over and gained a ton of life. Mid combat utter ended his obelisk of urd to eat most of his board. Mardu charm making first strikers was big game too.
This matchup felt odd. Took out stormbreaths and thoughtseize. Brought in despise, roc, last breath. Didn't feel unwinnable at any point, but it could have very easily gone badly. The Mardu Warrior deck seemed really cool though.
Anyways, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. Really loving the deck. Currently 9-0 with it. I think it's the real deal.
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Quick question: I have been trying to understand the deck...it seems to me it plays like a control deck with a few strong threats that can go all the way thanks to the removal. My mindset earlier was that it was really an aggressive aggro deck, but I feel I was wrong. Do you agree with this?
There are actually several different builds of this deck out right now that have all being getting good results at small tournaments. The build that will really shine through probably won't be revealed for at least a month as the other decks stabilize and the meta truly emerges. Don't expect the upcoming Pro Tour's decks to be the final decks of the meta either. There tends to be a few wonky fringe decks that some Pros build to punish the decks that will become the new meta and those decks will just readjust to hate out those fringe decks.
I Stream MTGO on Twitch: broodwarjc
I also post recordings of those streams on Youtube: broodwarjcavidgamer
Standard Deck:
BUPirates
Modern Deck:
B8-Rack
Standard Mardu Midrange
Modern 4 Colour Delver, Naya Midrange
CommanderSidisi 1v1, Sliver Overlord, Intet the Dreamer, Mayael the Anima (shameless plug http://youtu.be/4zu4QRvGSo8)
Looks great. The one thing that I found surprising was the removal of Sorin in the Abzan matchup. In my experience he's been a huge comeback king for me in that matchup. However our decks are built different so that might be the cause. Awesome stuff.