Lost Legacy seems fine against Saheeli and Ulamog. Hydra is borderline, only because its so hard to deal with on board. I wouldn't bring it in against good stuff style decks though, like BGx. As you say, its best against decks that revolve around a couple of cards. Its main problem really is the fact that it doesn't hit artifacts, which is funny given the context. It would be great against Marvel, Colossus, and non-combo Gearhulk control decks otherwise.
Gremlins doesn't seem all that great vs BG. Ballista counters the 2/2 portion if its the only target and Verdurous has already gotten its value. Also against Torrential decks, having removal that basically only hits their late game threat is not that good. Often they flash Torrential in at your end-step and therefore will have open mana when you finally get a chance to kill it. You don't really want to be having that kind of fight with a blue control deck. I'm not even sure if its worth siding in against the Marvel decks, since it doesn't hit a lot other than that, and they tend to have gotten the activation already by that point. Gremlins really excels against the improvise, colossus, and vehicle decks. Its basically your typical sideboard card in that sense.
I still think we are overvaluing Inventor's Apprentice but how has it been doing for you honestly?
1. We need a one drop other than Bomat Courier.
2. We need Scrapheap Scrounger fodder.
3. Often, people are waiting for Forerunner, Weldfast, and Scrapheap and don't use removal on Bomat Courier and Inventor's Apprentice. They often get ignored, yet quietly rack up nice damage. Inventor's Apprentice into Scrapheap Scrounger or even Bomat and another Inventor's Apprentice is a pretty good start. Plus, people often don't know what to do against Bomat Courier.
Lost Legacy is only good vs the combo and we have alternatives like Shock that also help in the mirror and such so it's definitely replaceable since Cat is falling off somewhat.
To the Slaughter is great though. It's our only answer to Planeswalkers and Hydra and we do have the ability to hit Delirium occasionally.
Kari Zev's seems odd. What matchup do you bring it in for?
I agree, Lost Legacy is good against Copy Cat. I hate losing to silly combos.
To the Slaughter is fine, but without the 2-for-1 it is not as good. Considering Ruinous Path. I thought with just one To the Slaughter, I could live the dream and turn a later game around enough to squeak through the last damage, but it hasn't happened. Ruinous Path targets what I want every time, so thinking of that.
Kari Zev's Expertise is kind of an "oh *****" button. I would bring it in against Colossus Decks, BG decks that go big with Rishkar and Verdurous Gearhulk, or janky decks that flips a Westvale Abbey against it.
i have a question: with all the artifacts decks are using, you you guys think Release the Gremlins main deckable?
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Hello everybody. So I recently started piloting R/B Aggro over the past couple of weeks since it placed 9th at SCG Baltimore. I always try to pilot the fastest deck in the format and with the direction I see Mardu going towards heavier planeswalker control I feel confident this is what I want to be playing. My current list is very similar to the one that placed at Baltimore, although I have a few minor changes. I piloted the same list as below at a PPTQ today with the exception of shock over fatal push and the addition of a 22nd land.
First, let me start by saying I did poorly. I dropped at 1-3, but I feel I played the deck well and it is definitely competitive enough.
"Big" Mardu (w/ Ballistas): 2-1
Match went pretty much as planned. Boarded out Chandras for pushes and was able to go under. He had ballistas but luckily didn't land any.
G/B Delirium: 1-2
Lost game 1 and boarded out the same way as first match except I decided to take that 22nd land out. This is when I noticed it helping. I boarded in a swamp but somehow ended up drawing into just 3 mountains on the third game with three unlicensed disintegrations in hand and a courier and scrapheap on the battlefield...
G/W Vehicles: 1-2
Pretty much just like mardu. Toolcraft and Gideon. Also ran things like Lambholt Pacifist. Another match I should have won.
Temur Tower: 1-2
Definitely the most difficult match up I had. This was the person that ended up winning the PPTQ. Game 1 I came flying out the gates and crushed him. Only game he lost all night. Next two games he was able to stabilize too easily. I feel like this deck is going to really win some tournaments and I'm struggling to figure out how to sideboard against it. Has early game threats like rogue refiner but control like harnessed lightning and glimmer along with gearhulks and towers. I might just try to board in Transgress the Mind and cut off their card advantage.
As for the deck itself I think we have a well established creature base with these 22 right here. I don't see much change happening here, except for maybe some innovation out of the sideboard. The main change I made after playing today was to cut Shock for Fatal Push. It just does a much better job of keeping the path clear , as I never really seemed to go for the face with shock anyways. Perhaps Shock is a little better against planeswalkers but I feel like a deck like this should already have the tempo advantage. That being said now I'm really unsure of what the sideboard plan should be. Chandra feels too important to not keep as at least a two of in the main, although I typically side her out if it gets to game 3, but keep her in on game 2 when I'm on the draw. Fatal Push was my go to card for going underneath them faster but now I don't how to go "under" any faster. I also found myself boarding out a land to prevent from getting flooded, and I played a couple of matches after the PPTQ without the land and it seems to do just fine. So 21 it is. Also, invigorated rampage is more of a pet card that I ran as a 1 of at the PPTQ. It was always relevant and worked well so I'm currently testing two. It really helps in matches where you're constantly getting chump blocked. Also helps against liliana.
As for destructive tampering, I don't know about everybody else but I frequently have match ups where I am looking at the battlefield and everything is just stalled because I can't attack into their blockers, and I just wish I had something like destructive tampering. That being said, whenever I have boarded it in I've never really gotten the opportunity to take advantage of that. Putting out a 2/2 is probably better and more consistent so I decided to go with 2 release and 1 tampering.
Release is pretty good because whenever they dont have tower they are pretty weak IMO.
Also i think mainboarding push over shock helps a little bit especially vs that annoying 0/4.
Also bring in transgress to grab gearhulks and board wipes.
Yeah im getting ready to test 1 release in the main as well as 2 key to the city, cutting back on 1 unlicensed disintegration and 2 fatal push. also, im waiting to get the rest of the mana base but i think a green splash would be really good for this deck. mainly for blossoming defense. also arlinn kord i think is the best aggressive option for a planeswalker, especially with heart of kiran.
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
So I took R/B aggro to an event that last night that consisted of 4 rounds of swiss with cut to top 4...
Ended up going 4-1 overall and split with other person.
I used most recent list on mtggoldfish that placed sixth at a recent IQ. I am a HUGE fan of this list, even more so than the last one. I was skeptical of cutting two one drops but it worked well. I never managed to mainboard one Release the Gremlins, and the only change I made to this list was to cut two lands for two copies of Key to the City. The keys did work for me all night, and Release the Gremlins definitely won me the most games out of the sideboard.
I was most worried about the Temur Tower matches but they were actually quite easy, especially now that I boarded in 3 release from the sideboard (I don't have Kalitas so I replaced both of them with an extra release and the fourth transgress).
Matches:
Round 1: Jund Constrictor 0-2
I had extremely horrible luck with my hands. I don't think I drew both colors even with mulligans that match.
Round 2: B/G Constrictor 2-0
Boarded in one copy of transgress which I drew into just in time to steal his expertise.
Round 3: Temur Tower 2-0
Release, Release, Release.
Round 4: Mardu Vehicles 2-0
Fatal Push and shock won me the games here. He couldn't get a board presence in time and I had more threats. Also Key to the City. He dropped a gideon and I didnt even care about it as I kept swinging in with unblockable scrapheap plus engineer trigger.
Round 5: Temur Tower 2-1
More controlling version of tower, although release was still the MVP here. Early tower plus gearhulk won him game one, but then after boarding release won me game 2. Game 3 ended with him having a tower but no energy, and me having two unlicensed in hand and him at 3 life with a scrapheap and courier on the battlefield.
If you guys are having any difficulty in control/spot remaval matches 2-3 Eternal Scourge in the sideboard have done wonders for me. Their interaction with scrapheap is ludicrous, so much so that in some of my builds I maindecked up to 2 over pia/engineer.
I had been thinking about Eternal Scourge for the grindier matches. Might have to give them a try!
Manzer420, I see your deck only runs 21 lands. Did you find that to be an issue? I run a build with roughly the same mana requirements and run 23 lands, sometimes sideboarding one out to lower my curve when I want to race.
I had been running 3 Incendiary Flames and 3 Shocks, but I am planning to go up to 4 Incendiary Flames because it is so good against Scrapheap Scrounger. The 2 Shocks might remain shocks or become Fatal Push.
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Oh man eternal scourge is very interesting right now. I was toying around with the idea of running two copies of Yahenni in my sideboard for control match ups to help against wraths like radiant flames and fumigate, but perhaps the scourge is an even better choice.
Ronnie328, unless theres something else to support the energy theme I just dont think it pulls enough weight yet. Right now most lists dont even run aether hubs, so I feel like getting to draw one extra card would end up being the best case scenario. However, I have been trying to put together a mardu build that uses glint-sleeve with aethergeode miner and lathnu hellion along with harnessed lightning.
ascribe, I initially had 22 lands in the deck but with only 2 chandras to top the curve I found myself flooding out quite often. An opponent suggested sideboarding out one land particularly when I am on the play game 2 and it worked wonders every match that I did it. So I just decided to cut it from the main. That being said, the current updated list I'm running has 22 lands because it curves out into two chandras plus two fleetwheels. I found this list on mtggoldfish. The biggest innovation to this list that I'm really liking is the reduction of couriers and apprentice to 3 a piece. I had experimented with both 4-2 combinations, but three and three really feels most correct now that I've played with it. Also, the list on mtggoldfish had 24 lands, but I was certain that was too high so I cut two lands for two copies of key to the city.
The keys run PERFECTLY. With only two never am I disappointed to see it and maybe its just the meta right now but the unblockable ALWAYS does work. Especially with the way mardu builds are going right now that key is a planeswalker destroyer. I transgressed my mardu opponent yesterday post board to take out his nahiri only to see that he also had two copies of gideon in hand. I had a key and scrapheap on the battlefield and drew into weldfast engineer which just destroyed both gideons.
MY MAIN QUESTION: How does everyone feel about the new lists that are popping up that use walking ballista and mindwrack demon? I feel like this is just another example of people having the tendency to want to slow the deck down and become more controlling in response to different threats. The reason I play this deck is because its goal is to go as fast as possible and win through pressure. Ballista is slow and I don't much like those lists, and feel very uncomfortable playing with 0 one drops. That being said bomat courier in particular seems to have gotten worse as it is even more frequently met with inspectors, ballistas, constrictors, or even aether thiefs right now. Mindwrack Demon I also think is a good idea and would even synergize well with eternal scourge and scrapheap, as well as possibly to the slaughter out of the sideboard.
Part of me wants to eliminate the one drops and lend more support to the other threats just a step up on the curve. The other part of me wants to double down on early threats and removal and keep trying to go under. Reckless bushwacker and a third one drop like falkenrath gorger come to mind. Slow down or speed up?
I have been all in on the speed up plan and the deck has served me well, at least in the shops I play at.
I might have an unnatural love for Bomat Courier because it has wrecked so many control players' days...
Maybe it is just luck and sub par opponents, but the deck has performed very well for me and I am surprised with how rarely it shows up in top 8s and 5-0s online. Is this just a deck that punishes inexperienced players or does it have the right stuff to take down a big tournament? I don't know, but I sure enjoy winning with it.
Ronnie328, unless theres something else to support the energy theme I just dont think it pulls enough weight yet. Right now most lists dont even run aether hubs, so I feel like getting to draw one extra card would end up being the best case scenario. However, I have been trying to put together a mardu build that uses glint-sleeve with aethergeode miner and lathnu hellion along with harnessed lightning.
Perhaps there's an energy variant worth looking into. I'll see if I can get 60 together.
Edit - I threw something together really quick going all-in on energy. Sadly, I don't think it's something I really want to play. I don't think it's bad (it actually could probably be pretty decent with some more testing and tuning), but it lacks in speed. I really want to look at more consistent turn 4 wins. The list I threw together can't hit turn 4 wins, though it's pretty good at turn 5 winning. If anyone wants to pick it up where I'm leaving it off, feel free. Here's the list.
Green got added because red and black have no turn 1 Energy generation. After adding Attune and Rampager, adding other green cards over some of the red and black options (at least at the 2-drop) felt necessary, as in "Why play Aether Chaser or Thriving Grubs over Longtusk Cub?" Because of choices like that, green picked up a lot of cards in the deck.
There's plenty of energy in the deck, so Harnessed Lightning should remove anything as well as Lathnu Hellion sticking around for many turns. Siphoner can draw up cards every turn it's in play.
It's possible the deck wants less of an all in approach to energy and getting some great 1 drops in there would really make a difference in getting those turn 4 kills. It would also push the deck back towards a Rakdos build instead of a Jund build.
I don't currently have a RB build, but one thing I noticed when putting this together is Fatal Push is just great against my list, and seemingly against every fast aggro list. Is it a big concern for the archtype?
Like the jund energy list Ronnie328. Ive tested a jund artifacts list but not a jund energy one yet. I was thinking mardu energy to combine with scrapheap and toolcraft and throw in aethergeode miner. My first loss of the day today though was against jund energy and greenbelt rampager did a decent amount of work. i was pretty impressed.
As for my own budget list I threw this together to see how hard I could push it and it really tries to put reckless bushwacker to good use. also employs falkenrath gorger for that reason. invigorated rampage is also basically a kill spell in this deck. if you dont have hearts i would probably put in key to the city in its place, which is another card that did a lot of work for me today.
So I took R/B Aggro to a PPTQ today. I placed 6th. Record was 3-2.
Here is the link for the list I used as reference for today's tournament. Included below that is the list I run with a couple of minor changes. I currently only have 2 chandras and I felt that 3 pia nalaar was one too many, so I cut one of each to add a land and one copy of key to the city. Key to the city is a gideon killer in this deck. I feel firm on playing 2 copies in the main from now on. I also liked the inclusion of fatal push in the main in this list. 3 feels good but I wouldn't push to 4 copies, although I think I'm going to try 2-2 split with shock. And the last change I made was to the sideboard and that was to remove the two copies of harnessed lightning for an extra copy of release the gremlins and key to the city. I realized today just how much this deck really wants a one drop as well. Running now with 7 one drops as opposed to 6 or 8.
For all of these matches with the exception of temur tower I boarded in with the purpose of going under my opponent as opposed to over. Even for the R/B aggro match it wasn't even really a mirror as his deck was a bit slower but employed liliana. Opponents would board in more removal and artifact hate so I would typically board out fleetwheel cruisers and chandra along with skysovereign to lower the curve. I usually boarded out a land in most of these cases as well. Boarding out a couple copies of bomat courier in the mardu matchups was also typical, as it stood up pretty badly against thraben inspectors. As for the temur tower matchup I boarded in all 3 release the gremlins the transgress the minds and 1 or 2 ob nixilis. He has actually been great for me in this match up and def won it for me. Be careful you don't ultimate him (or chandra for that matter) when your opponent leaves mana open for disallow.
While this deck punishes opponents for getting bad hands that also applies to you as well. I truly feel that had a large part to do with my game losses (lost g3 against jund energy because no black mana, stuck on one land first match g2 against mardu vehicles), however I did also make my share of mistakes. A critical one cost me that first match of the top 8 where I should have easily won it 2-0. I won the first game with a blowout, and was set to win g2 when I had my opponent at five life. However, he had a heart of kiran, a gideon at 4 loyalty with a soldier token untapped and a tapped toolcraft and scrapheap. I had at least a few dudes I know an apprentice two forerunners and a scrapheap I think. I was also sitting with an unlicensed disintegration in hand and three mana open. Unfortunately I decided to blow up his soldier right away and bring Gideon down to 1 loyalty. To make matters worse I swung with everything directly at him, leaving gideon there and putting him at 4. I didn't realize that he was able to swing back for lethal at me next turn. I should have attacked first and let him crew heart with gideon and then cast disintegration on that and kill gideon. Anyways its small mistakes that like that frustrate me and cost me the tournament. This deck is definitely a real contender though and I feel with better piloting it could have easily taken first.
Thought I'd go ahead and throw up my list for Jund Artifact Aggro as well. I really want to use Arlinn Kord with Heart of Kiran. Initially I tried jund because of blossoming defense, but I think I'm just gonna splash for voltaic brawler instead. Idk this is a rough version. I also want to include Key to the City and a couple copies of fatal push. Thoughts?
hi their! ive been playing b/r aggro for a few months now and ive seen some dislikes on bomat courier and inventors apprentice . has any tried augmenting automaton as a 1 drop?
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i have a question: with all the artifacts decks are using, you you guys think Release the Gremlins main deckable? thanks!
Gremlins doesn't seem all that great vs BG. Ballista counters the 2/2 portion if its the only target and Verdurous has already gotten its value. Also against Torrential decks, having removal that basically only hits their late game threat is not that good. Often they flash Torrential in at your end-step and therefore will have open mana when you finally get a chance to kill it. You don't really want to be having that kind of fight with a blue control deck. I'm not even sure if its worth siding in against the Marvel decks, since it doesn't hit a lot other than that, and they tend to have gotten the activation already by that point. Gremlins really excels against the improvise, colossus, and vehicle decks. Its basically your typical sideboard card in that sense.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
1. We need a one drop other than Bomat Courier.
2. We need Scrapheap Scrounger fodder.
3. Often, people are waiting for Forerunner, Weldfast, and Scrapheap and don't use removal on Bomat Courier and Inventor's Apprentice. They often get ignored, yet quietly rack up nice damage. Inventor's Apprentice into Scrapheap Scrounger or even Bomat and another Inventor's Apprentice is a pretty good start. Plus, people often don't know what to do against Bomat Courier.
I agree, Lost Legacy is good against Copy Cat. I hate losing to silly combos.
To the Slaughter is fine, but without the 2-for-1 it is not as good. Considering Ruinous Path. I thought with just one To the Slaughter, I could live the dream and turn a later game around enough to squeak through the last damage, but it hasn't happened. Ruinous Path targets what I want every time, so thinking of that.
Kari Zev's Expertise is kind of an "oh *****" button. I would bring it in against Colossus Decks, BG decks that go big with Rishkar and Verdurous Gearhulk, or janky decks that flips a Westvale Abbey against it.
No. Not yet, at least.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
First, let me start by saying I did poorly. I dropped at 1-3, but I feel I played the deck well and it is definitely competitive enough.
"Big" Mardu (w/ Ballistas): 2-1
Match went pretty much as planned. Boarded out Chandras for pushes and was able to go under. He had ballistas but luckily didn't land any.
G/B Delirium: 1-2
Lost game 1 and boarded out the same way as first match except I decided to take that 22nd land out. This is when I noticed it helping. I boarded in a swamp but somehow ended up drawing into just 3 mountains on the third game with three unlicensed disintegrations in hand and a courier and scrapheap on the battlefield...
G/W Vehicles: 1-2
Pretty much just like mardu. Toolcraft and Gideon. Also ran things like Lambholt Pacifist. Another match I should have won.
Temur Tower: 1-2
Definitely the most difficult match up I had. This was the person that ended up winning the PPTQ. Game 1 I came flying out the gates and crushed him. Only game he lost all night. Next two games he was able to stabilize too easily. I feel like this deck is going to really win some tournaments and I'm struggling to figure out how to sideboard against it. Has early game threats like rogue refiner but control like harnessed lightning and glimmer along with gearhulks and towers. I might just try to board in Transgress the Mind and cut off their card advantage.
As for the deck itself I think we have a well established creature base with these 22 right here. I don't see much change happening here, except for maybe some innovation out of the sideboard. The main change I made after playing today was to cut Shock for Fatal Push. It just does a much better job of keeping the path clear , as I never really seemed to go for the face with shock anyways. Perhaps Shock is a little better against planeswalkers but I feel like a deck like this should already have the tempo advantage. That being said now I'm really unsure of what the sideboard plan should be. Chandra feels too important to not keep as at least a two of in the main, although I typically side her out if it gets to game 3, but keep her in on game 2 when I'm on the draw. Fatal Push was my go to card for going underneath them faster but now I don't how to go "under" any faster. I also found myself boarding out a land to prevent from getting flooded, and I played a couple of matches after the PPTQ without the land and it seems to do just fine. So 21 it is. Also, invigorated rampage is more of a pet card that I ran as a 1 of at the PPTQ. It was always relevant and worked well so I'm currently testing two. It really helps in matches where you're constantly getting chump blocked. Also helps against liliana.
As for destructive tampering, I don't know about everybody else but I frequently have match ups where I am looking at the battlefield and everything is just stalled because I can't attack into their blockers, and I just wish I had something like destructive tampering. That being said, whenever I have boarded it in I've never really gotten the opportunity to take advantage of that. Putting out a 2/2 is probably better and more consistent so I decided to go with 2 release and 1 tampering.
4 Bomat Courier
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Weldfast Engineer
2 Pia Nalaar
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Fatal Push
2 Incendiary Flow
2 Invigorated Rampage
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Heart of Kiran
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
9 Mountain
4 Swamp
2 To the Slaughter
2 Ruinous Path
2 Release the Gremlins
1 Destructive Tampering
4 Transgress the Mind
2 Harsh Scrutiny
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Also i think mainboarding push over shock helps a little bit especially vs that annoying 0/4.
Also bring in transgress to grab gearhulks and board wipes.
Standard:RWUJeskai WinsRWU
Modern:GWBMelira PodGWB
Legacy:WDeath & TaxesW
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Ended up going 4-1 overall and split with other person.
I used most recent list on mtggoldfish that placed sixth at a recent IQ. I am a HUGE fan of this list, even more so than the last one. I was skeptical of cutting two one drops but it worked well. I never managed to mainboard one Release the Gremlins, and the only change I made to this list was to cut two lands for two copies of Key to the City. The keys did work for me all night, and Release the Gremlins definitely won me the most games out of the sideboard.
Heres the link:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-r-b-aggro-33156#paper
I was most worried about the Temur Tower matches but they were actually quite easy, especially now that I boarded in 3 release from the sideboard (I don't have Kalitas so I replaced both of them with an extra release and the fourth transgress).
Matches:
Round 1: Jund Constrictor 0-2
I had extremely horrible luck with my hands. I don't think I drew both colors even with mulligans that match.
Round 2: B/G Constrictor 2-0
Boarded in one copy of transgress which I drew into just in time to steal his expertise.
Round 3: Temur Tower 2-0
Release, Release, Release.
Round 4: Mardu Vehicles 2-0
Fatal Push and shock won me the games here. He couldn't get a board presence in time and I had more threats. Also Key to the City. He dropped a gideon and I didnt even care about it as I kept swinging in with unblockable scrapheap plus engineer trigger.
Round 5: Temur Tower 2-1
More controlling version of tower, although release was still the MVP here. Early tower plus gearhulk won him game one, but then after boarding release won me game 2. Game 3 ended with him having a tower but no energy, and me having two unlicensed in hand and him at 3 life with a scrapheap and courier on the battlefield.
Manzer420, I see your deck only runs 21 lands. Did you find that to be an issue? I run a build with roughly the same mana requirements and run 23 lands, sometimes sideboarding one out to lower my curve when I want to race.
I had been running 3 Incendiary Flames and 3 Shocks, but I am planning to go up to 4 Incendiary Flames because it is so good against Scrapheap Scrounger. The 2 Shocks might remain shocks or become Fatal Push.
Current Decks
Standard / Type 2
BRMidrange
"What kind of ability would say "counters black spells" on it? "If a Rigger you control would assemble a Contraption, it counters black spells instead"? "
-Mark Gottlieb
Ronnie328, unless theres something else to support the energy theme I just dont think it pulls enough weight yet. Right now most lists dont even run aether hubs, so I feel like getting to draw one extra card would end up being the best case scenario. However, I have been trying to put together a mardu build that uses glint-sleeve with aethergeode miner and lathnu hellion along with harnessed lightning.
ascribe, I initially had 22 lands in the deck but with only 2 chandras to top the curve I found myself flooding out quite often. An opponent suggested sideboarding out one land particularly when I am on the play game 2 and it worked wonders every match that I did it. So I just decided to cut it from the main. That being said, the current updated list I'm running has 22 lands because it curves out into two chandras plus two fleetwheels. I found this list on mtggoldfish. The biggest innovation to this list that I'm really liking is the reduction of couriers and apprentice to 3 a piece. I had experimented with both 4-2 combinations, but three and three really feels most correct now that I've played with it. Also, the list on mtggoldfish had 24 lands, but I was certain that was too high so I cut two lands for two copies of key to the city.
The keys run PERFECTLY. With only two never am I disappointed to see it and maybe its just the meta right now but the unblockable ALWAYS does work. Especially with the way mardu builds are going right now that key is a planeswalker destroyer. I transgressed my mardu opponent yesterday post board to take out his nahiri only to see that he also had two copies of gideon in hand. I had a key and scrapheap on the battlefield and drew into weldfast engineer which just destroyed both gideons.
MY MAIN QUESTION: How does everyone feel about the new lists that are popping up that use walking ballista and mindwrack demon? I feel like this is just another example of people having the tendency to want to slow the deck down and become more controlling in response to different threats. The reason I play this deck is because its goal is to go as fast as possible and win through pressure. Ballista is slow and I don't much like those lists, and feel very uncomfortable playing with 0 one drops. That being said bomat courier in particular seems to have gotten worse as it is even more frequently met with inspectors, ballistas, constrictors, or even aether thiefs right now. Mindwrack Demon I also think is a good idea and would even synergize well with eternal scourge and scrapheap, as well as possibly to the slaughter out of the sideboard.
Part of me wants to eliminate the one drops and lend more support to the other threats just a step up on the curve. The other part of me wants to double down on early threats and removal and keep trying to go under. Reckless bushwacker and a third one drop like falkenrath gorger come to mind. Slow down or speed up?
I might have an unnatural love for Bomat Courier because it has wrecked so many control players' days...
Maybe it is just luck and sub par opponents, but the deck has performed very well for me and I am surprised with how rarely it shows up in top 8s and 5-0s online. Is this just a deck that punishes inexperienced players or does it have the right stuff to take down a big tournament? I don't know, but I sure enjoy winning with it.
Click here for deck tech.
4 Inventor's Apprentice
4 Bomat Courier
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Forerunner of Slaughter
3 Pia Nalaar
4 Weldfast Engineer
Vehicles (8)
4 Sky Skiff
2 Aethersphere Harvester
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
2 Shock
2 Welding Sparks
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
Lands (23)
4 Foreboding Ruins
11 Mounatin
8 Swamp
2 Shock
3 Release the Gremlins
1 Transgress the Mind
2 Welding Sparks
2 To the Slaughter
4 Pick the Brain
1 Swamp
Edit - I threw something together really quick going all-in on energy. Sadly, I don't think it's something I really want to play. I don't think it's bad (it actually could probably be pretty decent with some more testing and tuning), but it lacks in speed. I really want to look at more consistent turn 4 wins. The list I threw together can't hit turn 4 wins, though it's pretty good at turn 5 winning. If anyone wants to pick it up where I'm leaving it off, feel free. Here's the list.
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
4 Greenbelt Rampager
3 Lathnu Hellion
2 Lightning Runner
4 Longtusk Cub
3 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Voltaic Brawler
2 Aethersphere Harvester
Instants 4
4 Harnessed Lightning
Sorceries 7
4 Attune with Aether
3 Live Fast
Lands 24
4 Aether Hub
4 Blooming Marsh
2 Foreboding Ruins
1 Forest
3 Game Trail
2 Hanweir Battlements
7 Mountain
1 Swamp
Green got added because red and black have no turn 1 Energy generation. After adding Attune and Rampager, adding other green cards over some of the red and black options (at least at the 2-drop) felt necessary, as in "Why play Aether Chaser or Thriving Grubs over Longtusk Cub?" Because of choices like that, green picked up a lot of cards in the deck.
There's plenty of energy in the deck, so Harnessed Lightning should remove anything as well as Lathnu Hellion sticking around for many turns. Siphoner can draw up cards every turn it's in play.
It's possible the deck wants less of an all in approach to energy and getting some great 1 drops in there would really make a difference in getting those turn 4 kills. It would also push the deck back towards a Rakdos build instead of a Jund build.
I don't currently have a RB build, but one thing I noticed when putting this together is Fatal Push is just great against my list, and seemingly against every fast aggro list. Is it a big concern for the archtype?
As for my own budget list I threw this together to see how hard I could push it and it really tries to put reckless bushwacker to good use. also employs falkenrath gorger for that reason. invigorated rampage is also basically a kill spell in this deck. if you dont have hearts i would probably put in key to the city in its place, which is another card that did a lot of work for me today.
So I took R/B Aggro to a PPTQ today. I placed 6th. Record was 3-2.
Round 1 - Jund Energy: 1-2
Round 2 - Temur Tower: 2-0
Round 3 - Mardu Vehicles: 1-2
Round 4 - R/B Aggro: 2-1
Round 5 - Mardu Vehicles: 2-0
Top 8:
Round 1 - Mardu Vehicles: 1-2
Here is the link for the list I used as reference for today's tournament. Included below that is the list I run with a couple of minor changes. I currently only have 2 chandras and I felt that 3 pia nalaar was one too many, so I cut one of each to add a land and one copy of key to the city. Key to the city is a gideon killer in this deck. I feel firm on playing 2 copies in the main from now on. I also liked the inclusion of fatal push in the main in this list. 3 feels good but I wouldn't push to 4 copies, although I think I'm going to try 2-2 split with shock. And the last change I made was to the sideboard and that was to remove the two copies of harnessed lightning for an extra copy of release the gremlins and key to the city. I realized today just how much this deck really wants a one drop as well. Running now with 7 one drops as opposed to 6 or 8.
For all of these matches with the exception of temur tower I boarded in with the purpose of going under my opponent as opposed to over. Even for the R/B aggro match it wasn't even really a mirror as his deck was a bit slower but employed liliana. Opponents would board in more removal and artifact hate so I would typically board out fleetwheel cruisers and chandra along with skysovereign to lower the curve. I usually boarded out a land in most of these cases as well. Boarding out a couple copies of bomat courier in the mardu matchups was also typical, as it stood up pretty badly against thraben inspectors. As for the temur tower matchup I boarded in all 3 release the gremlins the transgress the minds and 1 or 2 ob nixilis. He has actually been great for me in this match up and def won it for me. Be careful you don't ultimate him (or chandra for that matter) when your opponent leaves mana open for disallow.
While this deck punishes opponents for getting bad hands that also applies to you as well. I truly feel that had a large part to do with my game losses (lost g3 against jund energy because no black mana, stuck on one land first match g2 against mardu vehicles), however I did also make my share of mistakes. A critical one cost me that first match of the top 8 where I should have easily won it 2-0. I won the first game with a blowout, and was set to win g2 when I had my opponent at five life. However, he had a heart of kiran, a gideon at 4 loyalty with a soldier token untapped and a tapped toolcraft and scrapheap. I had at least a few dudes I know an apprentice two forerunners and a scrapheap I think. I was also sitting with an unlicensed disintegration in hand and three mana open. Unfortunately I decided to blow up his soldier right away and bring Gideon down to 1 loyalty. To make matters worse I swung with everything directly at him, leaving gideon there and putting him at 4. I didn't realize that he was able to swing back for lethal at me next turn. I should have attacked first and let him crew heart with gideon and then cast disintegration on that and kill gideon. Anyways its small mistakes that like that frustrate me and cost me the tournament. This deck is definitely a real contender though and I feel with better piloting it could have easily taken first.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/579284#paper
3 Bomat Courier
4 Inventor's Apprentice
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Weldfast Engineer
2 Pia Nalaar
Other Spells:
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Heart of Kiran
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Fatal Push
1 Key to the City
4 Foreboding Ruins
4 Smoldering Marsh
8 Mountain
6 Swamp
3 Transgress the Mind
3 Release the Gremlins
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited
2 Reckless Bushwacker
1 Key to the City
1 Murder
1 Ruinous Path
1 Shock
1 Fatal Push
Thought I'd go ahead and throw up my list for Jund Artifact Aggro as well. I really want to use Arlinn Kord with Heart of Kiran. Initially I tried jund because of blossoming defense, but I think I'm just gonna splash for voltaic brawler instead. Idk this is a rough version. I also want to include Key to the City and a couple copies of fatal push. Thoughts?
4 Inventor's Apprentice
4 Bomat Courier
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Forerunner of Slaughter
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Weldfast Engineer
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Arlinn Kord
4 Heart of Kiran