Overview
Aggressive decks that use powerful synergies with artifacts and vehicles in particular.
Mardu has the potential for extremely quick starts with Toolcraft Exemplar, while also having tenacious threats like Scrapheap Scrounger in longer games. Its premier card is Heart of Kiran which dodges the traditional type of sorcery speed removal and board sweepers. It's top end boasts a Hazoret the Fervent as a hard hitting, nigh unkillable threat, whose activation presents a form of inevitability. Often it draws on other powerful threats like Chandra and Glorybringer postboard. Overall the deck, while an aggrodeck, boasts a flexible gameplan with several angles of attack.
Red Black is less aggressive, with threats that include implicit potential card advantage like Goblin Chainwhirler, Rekindling Phoenix and Glorybringer.
Strategy
The Mardu game plan is to apply pressure quickly just like any other aggro deck. Game 1, hands with an Exemplar and a follow-up artifact on T2 are premium. You will want to deploy your Hearts quickly as well, as they will essentially give many of your creatures virtual haste, allowing you to pilot the heart with a summoning sick creature, while your other creatures attack along side it. The mid game will often devolve into a tempo game where you look to put yourself in a position where you can Disintegrate a key blocker and perhaps activate Pia to make another creature not be able to block before swinging for lethal. Post board, the deck has the ability to turtle up and become more of a control deck, calling on more spot removal like Fatal Push, board sweepers like Fumigate, card advantage like Chandra, and big threats like Glorybringer to look to control the board before resolving a big threat that you ride to victory.
The Red Black Game plan overlaps, but is more reactive. Given a choice, try to kill things with Chainwhirler and Glorybringer. When needed, Chainwhirler's first strike makes it a potent blocker. In combat, damage can combine to take out an opponent's creature after first strike damage, but before the opponent's creature delivers it's damage.
One of the core aggressive threats of the deck, as the best turn 1 play that the deck can produce. Some of the decks most aggressive starts involve an early Exemplar putting on immediate pressure. It can be used to power up Heart of Kiran by resolving its beginning of combat trigger and then activating the vehicle before moving to attacks. It requires a critical mass of 1 and 2 mana artifacts for it to be worthwhile and so is often sided out when the deck shifts to a more controlling build postboard.
An unassuming creature that plays a few roles in the deck. On it's own, it's a mildly aggressive threat that can represent a lot of card advantage if it is able to attack uncontested for a few turns. It otherwise provides an early artifact to power up Exemplars, enable Spires, and upgrade Disintegrations. It also can pilot Aethersphere Harvestor quite readily. In a pinch, it can be used to clear your hand to allow Hazoret to attack. Generally worst case if drawn in top deck mode, it essentially cycles for 2 mana.
A third but less commonly used 1-drop. It featured heavily in earlier versions of the deck. It synergizes well with the heavy artifact presence in the deck and becomes an excellent aggressive threat. It is a good option if you want to go a bit more aggressive with the build.
Another less commonly used 1-drop found in some Red Black Vehicle lists. It synergizes beautifully with Goblin Chainwhirler, survives opposing Chainwhirlers and can help damage spells take down Hazoret.
2-Drops
This is essentially the card around which the entire deck is built. It is very aggressive evasive threat that is difficult to deal with with many forms of removal. It does require that the deck play enough 3+ power early creatures to be worthwhile. Keep in mind that Exemplar can pilot it if you allow the Exemplar's trigger to resolve before moving to declare attackers. Hazoret can also pilot Heart regardles of whether or not the god can attack. Don't forget that planeswalkers like Chandra can activate Heart, and can do this on both your turn and your opponent's. Despite the drawback of being legendary, this card is an automatch 4-of in a vehicles deck purely due to its power level.
Another core threat. It is an aggressively costed 3/2 for 2. So at its base level is passable. Due to being an artifact, it activates Exemplar, Spire, and Disintegration. It can also pilot Heart. It's recursive ability is where it really becomes good. This ability can be activated at instant speed, so you are able to reanimate Scrounger at the end of the opponents turn and then untap to attack immediately. The instant aspect of the ability also opens up some interesting lines using it to ambush attacking creatures with Heart of Kiran. It unfortunately cannot block, so sometimes should be sided out in the more aggressive matchups. Just be mindful that your artifact count is being reduced.
Featured heavily in the early versions of the the deck, this aggressive synergistic creature fell out of favour before coming back to become one of the core cards. As a 3 power 2 drop it is aggressive. It's scry 2 is surprisingly useful at keeping the deck consistent and digging for sideboard cards. His pump also makes the other vehicles in the deck trump opposing vehicles in the mirror. Keep in mind that the +1/+1 adjustment occurs before the vehicle even turns into a creature, which can sometimes be relevant on damage based removal.
Another option, this pseudo 2-drop has a lot of late game potential when games drag out. It has fallen out of favour more recently, but it still a more than valid option if you are building a more controlling midrange version of the deck.
3-Drops
Just a pure value card, which has a lot of play to it due to its activated abilities. On it's own, it's 3 power for 3 mana which is reasonable, and allows you to pilot Hearts between the two. Split between two bodies makes it resilient to removal. One of it's halves has a form of evasion. Pia herself has activations which allow you to push damage on Hearts, Scroungers, Couriers, Thopters, and Harvesters. In particular the last one is relevant as it amplifies your ability to blunt opposing aggressive decks with its lifegain. The second ability gives you the option of alpha striking through a large blocker or two. All in all, she's a great threat at 3 mana.
An powerful vehicle that excells at facing down opposing aggressive decks. Both its difficult to deal with toughness and ability to gain life make it a must have if you expect to see many other aggro decks. If not mainboard, this card is very often found in the sideboard as one of the best cards in aggro matchups.
A further 3-drop option, that is not as commonly used as the two above. Depala excells against midrange decks where her ability can pull you ahead in the card advantage war. Her passive ability to size up your Exemplars, Hearts, Motorists, and Harvesters helps fight against the larger creatures. Certainly a good option if you expect a lot of green based midrange decks, though 1-2 copies is likely the most you will need.
This 3-drop with a challenging mana cost is a four-of in the Red Black vehicles variant. In addition to killing x/1s on ETB, first strike can make blocking or attacking into it a nightmare.
4-Drops
A hard hitting, hard to kill, hasty threat for the top end of the curve. It's discard ability gives the deck inevitability. With Hazoret in the deck, it is important to keep the curve of the deck low so that you can clear out your hand quickly and allow Hazoret to attack quickly as possible. It is also reasonable to consider going to 23-24 lands in order to cast her on curve.
A difficult to deal with card that also clocks for 4 in the air. There are answers: Vraska's Contempt, Hour of Glory, Struggle // Survive, W exiling enchantments. But Magma Spray doesn't handle it cleanly and nobody wants to run Puncturing Blow. Situationally, it can be an advantageous blocker. Given how few answers there are for it, be aware of the possibility of hitting your own Phoenix with cards like Abrade in response to exiling removal.
One of the most versatile planeswalkers recently printed. She has 4 printed abilities, but in reality she is packing 5. Chandra can provide tempo, ramp, removal, burn, card advantage. And that is without really considering her ultimate which generally wins the game either immediaely or on untap. She is a bit fragile, given that her protective ability of removing a mid sized creature leaves her a 1 loyalty, but often the removal plus virtual life gain is plenty. Keep in mind that you cannot play lands off her exile, so best practice is to play any land in hand before activating that mode. Also understand that you must make the decision to cast the card revealed immediately, otherwise she does her damage. You cannot leave it exiled untl end of turn to cast it at a more opportune time. Chandra often hangs out in the sideboard as a good card advantage engine when shifting to a more controlling gameplan.
A bit of a nonbo with Hazoret, but often included in Red Black Vehicles. The high loyalty, card advantage and artifacts can all be useful.
5-Drops
A very strong top end. This is often going to be in the sideboard for when the deck decides to go a bit bigger. This dragon is strong enough for the mainboard. Just make sure to be running enough lands main or side to bring your count up to around 24-25 so that you can cast it on time. Don't be afraid to just attack without exerting. Racing can be better than the removal. Though, most often the Dragon will represent a 2 for 1, serving as both a question (threat requiring removal) and an answer (removal taking out a threat).
Spells
This is another core card of the deck, and automatic 4-of, and rivals Heart as the reason to play the deck. Given the rest of the deck is mainly Red and White, you need to be mindful that you have a sufficient amount of Black mana sources in your manabase (12-13). After that this card becomes one of the best possible spells you could run, providing unconditional removal and reach at instant speed. Keep in mind that even if the creature survives, e.g. it is indestructable, as long as Disintegration resolves properly (is not countered due to invalid target) it will still deal it's artifact enabled player damage to your opponent.
Versatile removal that can kill small creatures as well as opposing Vehicles along with some of the larger artifact creatures like the Gearhulks. It is also important to be able to deal with problematic permanents like God Pharaoh's Gift. In a vacuum, the deck would prefer to play regular burn spells, to give it reach, but Abrade in certain metas will outperform those cards in its versatility.
A very efficient removal option if you need to kill early creatures with an otherwise difficult to deal with toughness. Targets are often opposing Winding Constrictors, and Longtusk Cubs which can get out of hand if you let them stay in play for too long. Push also takes care of opposing Hearts and other annoying but otherwise hard to kill threats. The main disadvantage to it in a deck like this is that it requires a significant adjustment of the manabase to support being able to reliably cast it, as otherwise this deck is mainly a Red White deck with a splash of Black.
Exiling creature removal for small creatures that can be combined with other damage to exile larger creatures. Great against opposing Scrapheap Scroungers but efficient enough for some other applications.
At instant speed and 1 mana, the only thing to complain about is that it isn't Lightning Bolt. Shock is a solid burn spell that is efficient and can hit the player if needed. This spell might preferred over the likes of Abrade in unknown metas where its ability to go to the dome prevents it from being a deadcard in unusual matchups. Shock leans on the efficient side, helping to get Hazoret attacking sooner and answering an opponent's aggressive creatures quicker.
It deals 3, costs 2, and is instant speed. Most importantly it hits the opponent. Efficient Burn is great in this deck, as the game plan often revolves around dealing early damage and then using the reach of Burn to get the last points of damage in. Similar to Shock, valid option for more open metas where Abrade may or may not be a good card. You may choose this card over shock if you expect larger creatures in a slower meta where the artifact destruction of Abrade is less necessary, whereas going to the dome is.
Lands
The backbone of this decks manabase, allowing the player to operate a 3 colour aggro deck that doesn't suffer a lot from clunky slow starts due to tap lands. Unfortunately, Spire can be a little unstable in producing coloured mana, as it requires a critical mass of artifacts. So keep this in mind when sideboarding out any artifact spells.
This land is worth noting not so much in it's role as a manafixer for the deck, but for it's synergy for one of the mainstay Vehicles, Aethersphere Harvester. It's worthwhile to consider a couple of Hubs in any deck mainboarding that Vehicle purely because it will allow you to potentially get an additional lifegain activation. Likely 2 is about the maximum, otherwise you risk some very awkward starting hands.
Other/Sideboard
Duress - Great sideboard card that comes in against control & combo decks, where Duress can either punch a hole in their defenses or disrupt their gameplan.
Arguel's Blood Fast - Sideboard card in Red Black Vehicles that comes in against control decks, where card advantage is more relevant than our own life total.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - As above, a versatile threat. Often sided in when you want to go for a longer game, where her card advantage matters more.
Angrath, The Flame-Chained - A sometimes inclusion in Red Black sideboards. If landed, it can be a source of damage and opponent card disadvantage against control decks. Stealing and maybe saccing a creature with the minus can be used to take out planeswalkers and affect races also.
Fumigate - Normally you would not expect for an aggro deck to pack sweepers in its sideboard. However, with Vehicles, your main threats are able to dodge the effect. Furthermore, post-board threats like Chandra also make the sweeper more appealing. The main matchups for this card would be against midrange decks where their creatures will eventually outclass your own.
Glorybringer - As above, a very powerful top end threat. You will want to make sure that your deck either has 24 lands, or extras in the sideboard. This features in a go-big post sideboard strategy where the idea is to load up on removal and make the deck more of a control deck.
Magma Spray - While this does not hit players, it does have the relevant exiling text and is instant speed. It is excellent at removing opposing Scroungers as well as other recursive threats that would otherwise present a problem.
Cast Out - A catch-all answer that hits anything you need it to, while also having the fall back option of cycling for a card if it is not relevant
Lost Legacy - Fairly narrow but powerful hate card against combo centric strategies. You might consider this if you are facing down a of Approach matchups where this effectively removes their primary win-con.
Thanks a lot for the primer! This helps me getting a nice overview of the deck. I'm thinking of getting into the archetype but barely own any card and don't know if Mardu Vehicles, Hazored or UB Midrange is the right deck for me.
Could someone sum up the good and bad matchups of this Mardu Vehicles deck? Thanks a lot!
Bad matchup is mainly Red Deck Wins. Game 1 in particular. Barring our best starts, we are a bit slower and have a lot of awkward creatures that can’t block, need us to tap a creature, or are 1/1 during our opponent’s turn. Saving grace is Harvester, but Abrade can spoil this trump card for us. After board things get better.
The trade off for this is having good matchups against midrange and control. Our threats are more diverse, require more specific answers, and are recursive. We have unconditional removal that simultaneously advances our Aggro game plan. We also have access to Duress in the sideboard.
Bad matchup is mainly Red Deck Wins. Game 1 in particular. Barring our best starts, we are a bit slower and have a lot of awkward creatures that can’t block, need us to tap a creature, or are 1/1 during our opponent’s turn. Saving grace is Harvester, but Abrade can spoil this trump card for us. After board things get better.
The trade off for this is having good matchups against midrange and control. Our threats are more diverse, require more specific answers, and are recursive. We have unconditional removal that simultaneously advances our Aggro game plan. We also have access to Duress in the sideboard.
Thanks a lot for your answer, that really helps! I see that the Red matchup isn't great which is a bit concerning as Red seems to be the most popular strategy right now. I guess with Fumigate and Settle the Wreckage it gets better. You also take out the small creatures and play a controlling strategy?
One question left, the midrange matchup seems to be good, isn't Scarab God a problem for this deck, it has no way to deal with it? Or is it just fast and disruptive enough that it doesn't need an answer for it?
Sideboarding vs RDW: yes, Fumigate or Settle as sweepers. Cast Out or Ixalan's Binding for opposing Hazorets. Any extra Harvesters helps. I would side out of Exemplar and some number or Hearts and Scrounger. Maybe shave a Disintegrate or two if you also have cheaper removal available like Magma Spray.
Scarab God: We are relatively fast, so the game has to drag out for the god to be relevant. That being said, we have access to Cast Out or Ixalan Binding, as mentioned. Both good options to answer Scarab too.
Sideboarding vs RDW: yes, Fumigate or Settle as sweepers. Cast Out or Ixalan's Binding for opposing Hazorets. Any extra Harvesters helps. I would side out of Exemplar and some number or Hearts and Scrounger. Maybe shave a Disintegrate or two if you also have cheaper removal available like Magma Spray.
Scarab God: We are relatively fast, so the game has to drag out for the god to be relevant. That being said, we have access to Cast Out or Ixalan Binding, as mentioned. Both good options to answer Scarab too.
Again, thanks a lot for the answers. I'm willing to give the deck a try online. As one can see I'm pretty inexperienced in Standard right now, is there like a Sideboard Guide which cards you take out in what matchup? The primer above helps, but a Sideboard guide is lacking.
To keep things simple, against Aggro Red we are Control, against all other archetypes we are the aggressor?
I don't have a sideboard guide per se. Personally I try to stay flexible. For example, depending on what my opponent's decks first 3 turns are likely to look like, I might be inclined to side out Exemplars on the Draw and side them back in on the Play. As in the latter case, there is a good chance to get the tempo initiative and ride that to victory.
In general, red aggro you want to be control pretty much Play or Draw. Side in your removal and Sweepers. Side out some of your more awkward blockers.
Midrange can be tricky, but we are in general the aggro deck. However, Fumigate is actually still pretty good here, since our threats will wear it much better than theirs and we can setup a big blowout.
Control, we are pretty much always the aggro deck. Some of our removal comes out and Duress, other disruption, and special control killer type threats come in. Just be mindful of a classic control sideboard strategy of bringing in threats like Regal Caracal.
I don't have a sideboard guide per se. Personally I try to stay flexible. For example, depending on what my opponent's decks first 3 turns are likely to look like, I might be inclined to side out Exemplars on the Draw and side them back in on the Play. As in the latter case, there is a good chance to get the tempo initiative and ride that to victory.
In general, red aggro you want to be control pretty much Play or Draw. Side in your removal and Sweepers. Side out some of your more awkward blockers.
Midrange can be tricky, but we are in general the aggro deck. However, Fumigate is actually still pretty good here, since our threats will wear it much better than theirs and we can setup a big blowout.
Control, we are pretty much always the aggro deck. Some of our removal comes out and Duress, other disruption, and special control killer type threats come in. Just be mindful of a classic control sideboard strategy of bringing in threats like Regal Caracal.
That helps a lot, thanks!
Do you bring in the walkers against Midrange and Control? And do you bring in the Duresses only against Control and Combo, not Midrange, right?
I'd be bringing in Walking Ballista against Aggro if I had it, but not against Control. Against Midrange, likely not, but it would really depend on the specific deck. I don't see a ton of lists playing Ballista though, and it's probably more of a mainboard card over Motorist than a sideboard option. The trouble with the Ballista build is that it is a lot less consistent, since you don't benefit from the Scry 2 filtering of Motorist, and a lot less aggressive. Ballista was popular when we still had Gideon.
Duress definitely comes in against control and combo. Usually those would be the only two decks you want it for. More or less, you are swapping creature removal for hand disruption. Against Midrange, your Disintegrations are very good so you want to keep them in. Abrade can be good and can be lacklustre depending. Sometimes Fatal Push might come in over Abrade depending on the creatures you are fighting against. Rarely would you want Duress.
Since there's been some talk about sideboarding, I just want to share my thoughts on my tentative sideboard plan, even though it's about a month later.
My rather extensive sideboard plans that I am using for this deck are as follows: (again, this is tentative)
Mirror:
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger (on the draw)
-1 Heart of Kiran
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+2 Settle the Wreckage
Grixis Energy:
-2 Heart of Kiran (-1 on the play)
-1 Abrade
-4 Walking Ballista (on the draw)
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
+3 Duress
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained (on the draw)
+2 Cast Out (on the draw)
+1 Profane Procession
+1 Chandra’s Defeat
+2 Authority of the Consuls
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
Any commentary/suggestions on my plans is welcome. These plans could very well change over the next few weeks as I play with the deck more, and I'll be happy to share my edits as I figure the deck out.
What do you all think of a more midrange build of the deck? I'm tired of getting hit with all the sideboard cards that people have for mono red. This is what my list looks like right now. Sure you sacrifice some of your explosive starts, but we still have toolcraft into 2 drops. The sideboard needs work.
Since there's been some talk about sideboarding, I just want to share my thoughts on my tentative sideboard plan, even though it's about a month later.
My rather extensive sideboard plans that I am using for this deck are as follows: (again, this is tentative)
Mirror:
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger (on the draw)
-1 Heart of Kiran
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+2 Settle the Wreckage
Grixis Energy:
-2 Heart of Kiran (-1 on the play)
-1 Abrade
-4 Walking Ballista (on the draw)
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
+3 Duress
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained (on the draw)
+2 Cast Out (on the draw)
+1 Profane Procession
+1 Chandra’s Defeat
+2 Authority of the Consuls
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
Any commentary/suggestions on my plans is welcome. These plans could very well change over the next few weeks as I play with the deck more, and I'll be happy to share my edits as I figure the deck out.
Very helpful for someone new to the deck, thanks for this!
What do you think about 2 Harvester in the MB moving forward?
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Went 3-1 at my shop for FNM. My three wins were all against guys who come out pretty consistently on top in a group that tends to be about 25-30 and my one loss (against B/W Knights ... with Lyra) went to a guy who went undefeated for the night. I got myself another Karn and my list is currently looking like:
While I generally enjoy bringing more (personally) creative brews, it's a fun deck that doesn't have terribly much longer of a life span left. I'm working on a playset of Karns and he works pretty good in here so... Until I decide to change things up I'll most likely be bringing this to FNM for the foreseeable future.
This was a tough round (but to be fair, all of my rounds were kinda tough in some way…. I’ve gone 3-1 with less game losses a couple of times) but it could have been tougher. It was certainly a mono-red aggro deck but it was closer to challenger deck mono-red aggro than meta-list aggro. Still, while this list is far from slow it’s not mono-red aggro fast. Regardless, what I had was enough. Harvester helped me stabilize while my planeswalkers both lent a hand a good bit.
Key play: The opponent swung in with glorybringer but I had
Round two: 2-1 Vs. B/W
This was against an interesting home brew deck that was pretty well piloted. I’d kinda like to look at this decklist a bit. If the player brings it again on Friday I’ll probably ask to look at it. It felt like a sort of midrange (Servo) token deck with a small handful of other useful creatures. While I haven’t seen much like it, it was a solid deck and the round boiled down to a bit of a bluff on my behalf after I picked up a land, put it down (and at around six life while he had a pretty good mass of tokens out… more than six) I rolled my eyes and declared there wasn’t much I could do. He swung in with all he had and I settled the wreckage, paving the way to a victory for me.
Round three: 2-1 W/U Approach
It was Approach… Piloted by a guy who knows what he’s doing with it. That said, while I don’t win every round I face it, I’ve got a pretty solid strategy for winning against approach which gives me more wins than losses against this deck and control in general that’s no secret at all … Smash down their life before they can stabilize. Obviously, it doesn’t work like that every game but this time it did.
Game one looked almost like a kinda mirror match up. While the specifics were mostly different his plan seemed to be crewing vehicles and crashing them into me I won this round because my deck was better at doing this than theirs was. Games two and three his deck looked entirely different each time. He won game two with the help of Nissa Steward of the Elements turning lands into tree creatures while I got mostly land. Game three ended pretty dramatically. After a fairly fast start for me they put the breaks on my show, first by casting out Karn and then with the help of Gideon of the Trials… then Dovin Baan… then Teferi, Hero of Dominaria… this lock down went on for some time as they had to go so control with their sideboard that they really cut down most of his options for actually winning. We ground out several turns where his life was 11 and mine was 20 but my board was held completely in check by his and my hand slowly turned into (with no viable targets) 3 Unlicensed Disintegration. When Lyra Dawnbringer came out I was actually kinda excited to have a target for my Unlicensed Disintegration (making his life 8) but that lead to a few more turns of not much going on. He would have been able to ultimate Teferi and Dovin on his next turn but I topdecked my lone Hazoret, turned my two Unlicensed into four damage and swung in for a fatal 5.
In closing….
I’m pondering getting two more Concealed Courtyards and one more Hazoret, replacing two plains and the Isolated Chapel. Possibly replacing my Dragonskulls with Canyons but I’m still up in the air about that. This’ll take me down to 23 lands but it seems like my land-base would be flexible enough that it shouldn’t matter much.
Hi! Could help me with some advice?
I'm playing not so long and still don't understand many things. I have this: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/vehicle-rush-05/ It based on Vehicle Rush preconstructed deck with some updates (with help of local mages).
But I'm a little embarrassed to ask so stupid questions in the club. I understand that this is a simple aggro deck. Just hit. But...
Which cards should I throw out of the deck and what should I take from sideboard when I play against u/w control with second sun?
And against more full mardu vehicles?
And against the monored aggro?
I do not ask about the upgrades of the deck itself - I ordered the missing cards for the w/b vehicles, but I need wait for a couple of weeks, but I want to continue to play. But if there are ideas from the dominaria, I will be grateful.
I have cards that I want to put in the main deck, but I do not know what cards can I replace (and should I really do it):
Hi! Could help me with some advice?
I'm playing not so long and still don't understand many things. I have this: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1102292#paper It based on Vehicle Rush preconstructed deck with some updates (with help of local mages).
But I'm a little embarrassed to ask so stupid questions in the club. I understand that this is a simple aggro deck. Just hit. But...
Which cards should I throw out of the deck and what should I take from sideboard when I play against u/w control with second sun?
And against more full mardu vehicles?
And against the monored aggro?
I do not ask about the upgrades of the deck itself - I ordered the missing cards for the w/b vehicles, but I need wait for a couple of weeks, but I want to continue to play. But if there are ideas from the dominaria, I will be grateful.
I have cards that I want to put in the main deck, but I do not know what cards can I replace (and should I really do it):
And also I have one Goblin Chainwhirler. I like his enter battlefield ability, but not sure about three red mana cost.
From what I see, Duress is the only useful card against UW Control in your sideboard. Unlicensed Disintegration seems like a fine choice to sideboard out. If you see Regal Caracal in Game 2, you may want to reconsider what you remove.
Against other Mardu Vehicle decks, I am less certain, but I'll guess here. In general, you are going into a battle of attrition. Having ways to crew your vehicles is going to be problematic and efficient removal will enable you to eliminate pressure or get ahead on board. Against Seal away, it is probably worth keeping the Hearts in, but otherwise it can effectively put you down a card. Against other Hearts, you want Abrade. Against Scrounger, you want Magma Spray. Against Chainwhirler, you want less x/1s. Maybe Courier is the worst X/1 because Depala doesn't help it. Sorry, but I can't get more specific. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.
Somewhat covered above. Vicious Offering gives you a way to get rid of Hazoret.
Probably covered in WB Vehicles, but The Eldest Reborn could be fun.
Gideon would be good at least in the board against Approach. Arguably both Karn and Gideon could be maindeck since they crew Heart. To run Gideon, you need more W sources, though. For a 90% chance to cast Gideon on turn 3, you would want 19 W sources. I would replace Veteran Motorists. I wouldn't use that Chandra, though. For Chainwhirler, you would need to change your manabase to have all lands but 1 or 2 that create R mana.
Overview
Aggressive decks that use powerful synergies with artifacts and vehicles in particular.
Mardu has the potential for extremely quick starts with Toolcraft Exemplar, while also having tenacious threats like Scrapheap Scrounger in longer games. Its premier card is Heart of Kiran which dodges the traditional type of sorcery speed removal and board sweepers. It's top end boasts a Hazoret the Fervent as a hard hitting, nigh unkillable threat, whose activation presents a form of inevitability. Often it draws on other powerful threats like Chandra and Glorybringer postboard. Overall the deck, while an aggrodeck, boasts a flexible gameplan with several angles of attack.
Red Black is less aggressive, with threats that include implicit potential card advantage like Goblin Chainwhirler, Rekindling Phoenix and Glorybringer.
Strategy
The Mardu game plan is to apply pressure quickly just like any other aggro deck. Game 1, hands with an Exemplar and a follow-up artifact on T2 are premium. You will want to deploy your Hearts quickly as well, as they will essentially give many of your creatures virtual haste, allowing you to pilot the heart with a summoning sick creature, while your other creatures attack along side it. The mid game will often devolve into a tempo game where you look to put yourself in a position where you can Disintegrate a key blocker and perhaps activate Pia to make another creature not be able to block before swinging for lethal. Post board, the deck has the ability to turtle up and become more of a control deck, calling on more spot removal like Fatal Push, board sweepers like Fumigate, card advantage like Chandra, and big threats like Glorybringer to look to control the board before resolving a big threat that you ride to victory.
The Red Black Game plan overlaps, but is more reactive. Given a choice, try to kill things with Chainwhirler and Glorybringer. When needed, Chainwhirler's first strike makes it a potent blocker. In combat, damage can combine to take out an opponent's creature after first strike damage, but before the opponent's creature delivers it's damage.
One of the core aggressive threats of the deck, as the best turn 1 play that the deck can produce. Some of the decks most aggressive starts involve an early Exemplar putting on immediate pressure. It can be used to power up Heart of Kiran by resolving its beginning of combat trigger and then activating the vehicle before moving to attacks. It requires a critical mass of 1 and 2 mana artifacts for it to be worthwhile and so is often sided out when the deck shifts to a more controlling build postboard.
An unassuming creature that plays a few roles in the deck. On it's own, it's a mildly aggressive threat that can represent a lot of card advantage if it is able to attack uncontested for a few turns. It otherwise provides an early artifact to power up Exemplars, enable Spires, and upgrade Disintegrations. It also can pilot Aethersphere Harvestor quite readily. In a pinch, it can be used to clear your hand to allow Hazoret to attack. Generally worst case if drawn in top deck mode, it essentially cycles for 2 mana.
A third but less commonly used 1-drop. It featured heavily in earlier versions of the deck. It synergizes well with the heavy artifact presence in the deck and becomes an excellent aggressive threat. It is a good option if you want to go a bit more aggressive with the build.
Another less commonly used 1-drop found in some Red Black Vehicle lists. It synergizes beautifully with Goblin Chainwhirler, survives opposing Chainwhirlers and can help damage spells take down Hazoret.
2-Drops
This is essentially the card around which the entire deck is built. It is very aggressive evasive threat that is difficult to deal with with many forms of removal. It does require that the deck play enough 3+ power early creatures to be worthwhile. Keep in mind that Exemplar can pilot it if you allow the Exemplar's trigger to resolve before moving to declare attackers. Hazoret can also pilot Heart regardles of whether or not the god can attack. Don't forget that planeswalkers like Chandra can activate Heart, and can do this on both your turn and your opponent's. Despite the drawback of being legendary, this card is an automatch 4-of in a vehicles deck purely due to its power level.
Another core threat. It is an aggressively costed 3/2 for 2. So at its base level is passable. Due to being an artifact, it activates Exemplar, Spire, and Disintegration. It can also pilot Heart. It's recursive ability is where it really becomes good. This ability can be activated at instant speed, so you are able to reanimate Scrounger at the end of the opponents turn and then untap to attack immediately. The instant aspect of the ability also opens up some interesting lines using it to ambush attacking creatures with Heart of Kiran. It unfortunately cannot block, so sometimes should be sided out in the more aggressive matchups. Just be mindful that your artifact count is being reduced.
Featured heavily in the early versions of the the deck, this aggressive synergistic creature fell out of favour before coming back to become one of the core cards. As a 3 power 2 drop it is aggressive. It's scry 2 is surprisingly useful at keeping the deck consistent and digging for sideboard cards. His pump also makes the other vehicles in the deck trump opposing vehicles in the mirror. Keep in mind that the +1/+1 adjustment occurs before the vehicle even turns into a creature, which can sometimes be relevant on damage based removal.
Another option, this pseudo 2-drop has a lot of late game potential when games drag out. It has fallen out of favour more recently, but it still a more than valid option if you are building a more controlling midrange version of the deck.
3-Drops
Just a pure value card, which has a lot of play to it due to its activated abilities. On it's own, it's 3 power for 3 mana which is reasonable, and allows you to pilot Hearts between the two. Split between two bodies makes it resilient to removal. One of it's halves has a form of evasion. Pia herself has activations which allow you to push damage on Hearts, Scroungers, Couriers, Thopters, and Harvesters. In particular the last one is relevant as it amplifies your ability to blunt opposing aggressive decks with its lifegain. The second ability gives you the option of alpha striking through a large blocker or two. All in all, she's a great threat at 3 mana.
An powerful vehicle that excells at facing down opposing aggressive decks. Both its difficult to deal with toughness and ability to gain life make it a must have if you expect to see many other aggro decks. If not mainboard, this card is very often found in the sideboard as one of the best cards in aggro matchups.
A further 3-drop option, that is not as commonly used as the two above. Depala excells against midrange decks where her ability can pull you ahead in the card advantage war. Her passive ability to size up your Exemplars, Hearts, Motorists, and Harvesters helps fight against the larger creatures. Certainly a good option if you expect a lot of green based midrange decks, though 1-2 copies is likely the most you will need.
This 3-drop with a challenging mana cost is a four-of in the Red Black vehicles variant. In addition to killing x/1s on ETB, first strike can make blocking or attacking into it a nightmare.
4-Drops
A hard hitting, hard to kill, hasty threat for the top end of the curve. It's discard ability gives the deck inevitability. With Hazoret in the deck, it is important to keep the curve of the deck low so that you can clear out your hand quickly and allow Hazoret to attack quickly as possible. It is also reasonable to consider going to 23-24 lands in order to cast her on curve.
A difficult to deal with card that also clocks for 4 in the air. There are answers: Vraska's Contempt, Hour of Glory, Struggle // Survive, W exiling enchantments. But Magma Spray doesn't handle it cleanly and nobody wants to run Puncturing Blow. Situationally, it can be an advantageous blocker. Given how few answers there are for it, be aware of the possibility of hitting your own Phoenix with cards like Abrade in response to exiling removal.
One of the most versatile planeswalkers recently printed. She has 4 printed abilities, but in reality she is packing 5. Chandra can provide tempo, ramp, removal, burn, card advantage. And that is without really considering her ultimate which generally wins the game either immediaely or on untap. She is a bit fragile, given that her protective ability of removing a mid sized creature leaves her a 1 loyalty, but often the removal plus virtual life gain is plenty. Keep in mind that you cannot play lands off her exile, so best practice is to play any land in hand before activating that mode. Also understand that you must make the decision to cast the card revealed immediately, otherwise she does her damage. You cannot leave it exiled untl end of turn to cast it at a more opportune time. Chandra often hangs out in the sideboard as a good card advantage engine when shifting to a more controlling gameplan.
A bit of a nonbo with Hazoret, but often included in Red Black Vehicles. The high loyalty, card advantage and artifacts can all be useful.
5-Drops
A very strong top end. This is often going to be in the sideboard for when the deck decides to go a bit bigger. This dragon is strong enough for the mainboard. Just make sure to be running enough lands main or side to bring your count up to around 24-25 so that you can cast it on time. Don't be afraid to just attack without exerting. Racing can be better than the removal. Though, most often the Dragon will represent a 2 for 1, serving as both a question (threat requiring removal) and an answer (removal taking out a threat).
Spells
This is another core card of the deck, and automatic 4-of, and rivals Heart as the reason to play the deck. Given the rest of the deck is mainly Red and White, you need to be mindful that you have a sufficient amount of Black mana sources in your manabase (12-13). After that this card becomes one of the best possible spells you could run, providing unconditional removal and reach at instant speed. Keep in mind that even if the creature survives, e.g. it is indestructable, as long as Disintegration resolves properly (is not countered due to invalid target) it will still deal it's artifact enabled player damage to your opponent.
Versatile removal that can kill small creatures as well as opposing Vehicles along with some of the larger artifact creatures like the Gearhulks. It is also important to be able to deal with problematic permanents like God Pharaoh's Gift. In a vacuum, the deck would prefer to play regular burn spells, to give it reach, but Abrade in certain metas will outperform those cards in its versatility.
A very efficient removal option if you need to kill early creatures with an otherwise difficult to deal with toughness. Targets are often opposing Winding Constrictors, and Longtusk Cubs which can get out of hand if you let them stay in play for too long. Push also takes care of opposing Hearts and other annoying but otherwise hard to kill threats. The main disadvantage to it in a deck like this is that it requires a significant adjustment of the manabase to support being able to reliably cast it, as otherwise this deck is mainly a Red White deck with a splash of Black.
Exiling creature removal for small creatures that can be combined with other damage to exile larger creatures. Great against opposing Scrapheap Scroungers but efficient enough for some other applications.
At instant speed and 1 mana, the only thing to complain about is that it isn't Lightning Bolt. Shock is a solid burn spell that is efficient and can hit the player if needed. This spell might preferred over the likes of Abrade in unknown metas where its ability to go to the dome prevents it from being a deadcard in unusual matchups. Shock leans on the efficient side, helping to get Hazoret attacking sooner and answering an opponent's aggressive creatures quicker.
It deals 3, costs 2, and is instant speed. Most importantly it hits the opponent. Efficient Burn is great in this deck, as the game plan often revolves around dealing early damage and then using the reach of Burn to get the last points of damage in. Similar to Shock, valid option for more open metas where Abrade may or may not be a good card. You may choose this card over shock if you expect larger creatures in a slower meta where the artifact destruction of Abrade is less necessary, whereas going to the dome is.
Lands
The backbone of this decks manabase, allowing the player to operate a 3 colour aggro deck that doesn't suffer a lot from clunky slow starts due to tap lands. Unfortunately, Spire can be a little unstable in producing coloured mana, as it requires a critical mass of artifacts. So keep this in mind when sideboarding out any artifact spells.
This land is worth noting not so much in it's role as a manafixer for the deck, but for it's synergy for one of the mainstay Vehicles, Aethersphere Harvester. It's worthwhile to consider a couple of Hubs in any deck mainboarding that Vehicle purely because it will allow you to potentially get an additional lifegain activation. Likely 2 is about the maximum, otherwise you risk some very awkward starting hands.
Other/Sideboard
Duress - Great sideboard card that comes in against control & combo decks, where Duress can either punch a hole in their defenses or disrupt their gameplan.
Arguel's Blood Fast - Sideboard card in Red Black Vehicles that comes in against control decks, where card advantage is more relevant than our own life total.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - As above, a versatile threat. Often sided in when you want to go for a longer game, where her card advantage matters more.
Angrath, The Flame-Chained - A sometimes inclusion in Red Black sideboards. If landed, it can be a source of damage and opponent card disadvantage against control decks. Stealing and maybe saccing a creature with the minus can be used to take out planeswalkers and affect races also.
Fumigate - Normally you would not expect for an aggro deck to pack sweepers in its sideboard. However, with Vehicles, your main threats are able to dodge the effect. Furthermore, post-board threats like Chandra also make the sweeper more appealing. The main matchups for this card would be against midrange decks where their creatures will eventually outclass your own.
Glorybringer - As above, a very powerful top end threat. You will want to make sure that your deck either has 24 lands, or extras in the sideboard. This features in a go-big post sideboard strategy where the idea is to load up on removal and make the deck more of a control deck.
Magma Spray - While this does not hit players, it does have the relevant exiling text and is instant speed. It is excellent at removing opposing Scroungers as well as other recursive threats that would otherwise present a problem.
Cast Out - A catch-all answer that hits anything you need it to, while also having the fall back option of cycling for a card if it is not relevant
Lost Legacy - Fairly narrow but powerful hate card against combo centric strategies. You might consider this if you are facing down a of Approach matchups where this effectively removes their primary win-con.
Here is an evolution of the Red-Black "Vehicles" deck. Heart has problems without many creatures to crew it, so cutting down makes sense, but hard to call it vehicles anymore.
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)
Could someone sum up the good and bad matchups of this Mardu Vehicles deck? Thanks a lot!
The trade off for this is having good matchups against midrange and control. Our threats are more diverse, require more specific answers, and are recursive. We have unconditional removal that simultaneously advances our Aggro game plan. We also have access to Duress in the sideboard.
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)
Thanks a lot for your answer, that really helps! I see that the Red matchup isn't great which is a bit concerning as Red seems to be the most popular strategy right now. I guess with Fumigate and Settle the Wreckage it gets better. You also take out the small creatures and play a controlling strategy?
One question left, the midrange matchup seems to be good, isn't Scarab God a problem for this deck, it has no way to deal with it? Or is it just fast and disruptive enough that it doesn't need an answer for it?
Scarab God: We are relatively fast, so the game has to drag out for the god to be relevant. That being said, we have access to Cast Out or Ixalan Binding, as mentioned. Both good options to answer Scarab too.
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)
Again, thanks a lot for the answers. I'm willing to give the deck a try online. As one can see I'm pretty inexperienced in Standard right now, is there like a Sideboard Guide which cards you take out in what matchup? The primer above helps, but a Sideboard guide is lacking.
To keep things simple, against Aggro Red we are Control, against all other archetypes we are the aggressor?
In general, red aggro you want to be control pretty much Play or Draw. Side in your removal and Sweepers. Side out some of your more awkward blockers.
Midrange can be tricky, but we are in general the aggro deck. However, Fumigate is actually still pretty good here, since our threats will wear it much better than theirs and we can setup a big blowout.
Control, we are pretty much always the aggro deck. Some of our removal comes out and Duress, other disruption, and special control killer type threats come in. Just be mindful of a classic control sideboard strategy of bringing in threats like Regal Caracal.
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)
That helps a lot, thanks!
Do you bring in the walkers against Midrange and Control? And do you bring in the Duresses only against Control and Combo, not Midrange, right?
Duress definitely comes in against control and combo. Usually those would be the only two decks you want it for. More or less, you are swapping creature removal for hand disruption. Against Midrange, your Disintegrations are very good so you want to keep them in. Abrade can be good and can be lacklustre depending. Sometimes Fatal Push might come in over Abrade depending on the creatures you are fighting against. Rarely would you want Duress.
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)
For reference, I am playing Blake Miller's build from GP Memphis:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-mardu-vehicles-44962#paper
My rather extensive sideboard plans that I am using for this deck are as follows: (again, this is tentative)
Mirror:
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger (on the draw)
-1 Heart of Kiran
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+2 Settle the Wreckage
Grixis Energy:
-2 Heart of Kiran (-1 on the play)
-1 Abrade
-4 Walking Ballista (on the draw)
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
+3 Duress
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained (on the draw)
+2 Cast Out (on the draw)
+1 Profane Procession
R/G Monsters:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-3 Abrade
-1 Heart of Kiran
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+1 Profane Procession
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
U/B Control:
-4 Unlicensed Disintegration
-3 Abrade
-2 Cut // Ribbons
+2 Cast Out
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+3 Duress
+1 Arguel’s Blood Fast
+1 Profane Procession
W/B Vampires:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Heart of Kiran
-1 Canyon Slough
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+3 Duress
Mono White Aggro:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Heart of Kiran
-1 Canyon Slough
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-1 Unlicensed Disintegration
+1 Profane Procession
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
U/W Gift:
-4 Walking Ballista
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
+1 Profane Procession
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+3 Duress
W/U Cycling:
-4 Unlicensed Disintegration
-2 Abrade
-2 Cut // Ribbons
+2 Cast Out
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+3 Duress
+1 Arguel’s Blood Fast
W/U Auras:
-2 Walking Ballista
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+3 Duress
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+1 Profane Procession
G/W Aggro:
-4 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
+1 Profane Procession
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+3 Duress
Abzan Tokens:
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-1 Abrade
-1 Heart of Kiran
+2 Cast Out
+3 Duress
U/W Approach:
-3 Unlicensed Disintegration
-2 Abrade
-2 Cut // Ribbons
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+3 Duress
+1 Arguel’s Blood Fast
+1 Profane Procession
Sultai Constrictor:
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Walking Ballista
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+2 Cast Out
U/B Midrange:
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Walking Ballista
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+2 Cast Out
+1 Profane Procession
Mono-Red, B/R Aggro:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Heart of Kiran
-1 Canyon Slough
-1 Abrade
-1 Rekindling Phoenix
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
+1 Chandra’s Defeat
+2 Authority of the Consuls
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
Any commentary/suggestions on my plans is welcome. These plans could very well change over the next few weeks as I play with the deck more, and I'll be happy to share my edits as I figure the deck out.
// 60 Maindeck
// 4 Artifact
4 Heart of Kiran
// 22 Creature
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
3 Veteran Motorist
3 Pia Nalaar
4 Glorybringer
4 Walking Ballista
// 4 Instant
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
// 25 Land
3 Mountain
3 Plains
4 Spire of Industry
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Canyon Slough
3 Dragonskull Summit
1 Swamp
// 3 Planeswalker
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
// 2 Sorcery
2 Cut
// 16 Sideboard
// 4 Enchantment
SB: 2 Authority of the Consuls
SB: 2 Cast Out
// 8 Instant
SB: 2 Abrade
SB: 2 Chandra's Defeat
SB: 2 Settle the Wreckage
SB: 2 Magma Spray
// 4 Sorcery
SB: 4 Duress
GB Constellation GB
UB Control UB
Modern
Tarmo-twin RUG
Legacy
RUG Delver RUG
Miracles UWR
Very helpful for someone new to the deck, thanks for this!
What do you think about 2 Harvester in the MB moving forward?
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4 Toolcraft Exemplar
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
3 Veteran Motorist
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Artifact
4 Bomat Courier
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Heart of Kiran
Instant
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
3 Fatal Push
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Karn, Scion of Urza
Land
1 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Aether Hub
5 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Spire of Industry
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Glorybringer
3 Ixalan's Binding
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Lightning Strike
2 Cast Down
2 Duress
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
3 Veteran Motorist
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Artifact
4 Bomat Courier
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Heart of Kiran
Instant
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Fatal Push
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
Land
1 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Aether Hub
5 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Spire of Industry
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Ixalan's Binding
3 Abrade
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Lost Legacy
3 Duress
While I generally enjoy bringing more (personally) creative brews, it's a fun deck that doesn't have terribly much longer of a life span left. I'm working on a playset of Karns and he works pretty good in here so... Until I decide to change things up I'll most likely be bringing this to FNM for the foreseeable future.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Depala, Pilot Exemplar
3 Veteran Motorist
1 Hazoret the Fervent
Artifact
4 Bomat Courier
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Heart of Kiran
Instant
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Fatal Push
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
Land
2 Concealed Courtyard
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Aether Hub
4 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Mountain
4 Spire of Industry
3 Dragonskull Summit
1 Isolated Chapel
3 Ixalan's Binding
3 Abrade
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Lost Legacy
3 Duress
Here are some brief rundowns of my match ups.
Round one: 2-1 Vs. Mono-red
This was a tough round (but to be fair, all of my rounds were kinda tough in some way…. I’ve gone 3-1 with less game losses a couple of times) but it could have been tougher. It was certainly a mono-red aggro deck but it was closer to challenger deck mono-red aggro than meta-list aggro. Still, while this list is far from slow it’s not mono-red aggro fast. Regardless, what I had was enough. Harvester helped me stabilize while my planeswalkers both lent a hand a good bit.
Key play: The opponent swung in with glorybringer but I had
Round two: 2-1 Vs. B/W
This was against an interesting home brew deck that was pretty well piloted. I’d kinda like to look at this decklist a bit. If the player brings it again on Friday I’ll probably ask to look at it. It felt like a sort of midrange (Servo) token deck with a small handful of other useful creatures. While I haven’t seen much like it, it was a solid deck and the round boiled down to a bit of a bluff on my behalf after I picked up a land, put it down (and at around six life while he had a pretty good mass of tokens out… more than six) I rolled my eyes and declared there wasn’t much I could do. He swung in with all he had and I settled the wreckage, paving the way to a victory for me.
Round three: 2-1 W/U Approach
It was Approach… Piloted by a guy who knows what he’s doing with it. That said, while I don’t win every round I face it, I’ve got a pretty solid strategy for winning against approach which gives me more wins than losses against this deck and control in general that’s no secret at all … Smash down their life before they can stabilize. Obviously, it doesn’t work like that every game but this time it did.
Round four: 2-1 Shape shifting Bant plainswalker-heavy midrange
Game one looked almost like a kinda mirror match up. While the specifics were mostly different his plan seemed to be crewing vehicles and crashing them into me I won this round because my deck was better at doing this than theirs was. Games two and three his deck looked entirely different each time. He won game two with the help of Nissa Steward of the Elements turning lands into tree creatures while I got mostly land. Game three ended pretty dramatically. After a fairly fast start for me they put the breaks on my show, first by casting out Karn and then with the help of Gideon of the Trials… then Dovin Baan… then Teferi, Hero of Dominaria… this lock down went on for some time as they had to go so control with their sideboard that they really cut down most of his options for actually winning. We ground out several turns where his life was 11 and mine was 20 but my board was held completely in check by his and my hand slowly turned into (with no viable targets) 3 Unlicensed Disintegration. When Lyra Dawnbringer came out I was actually kinda excited to have a target for my Unlicensed Disintegration (making his life 8) but that lead to a few more turns of not much going on. He would have been able to ultimate Teferi and Dovin on his next turn but I topdecked my lone Hazoret, turned my two Unlicensed into four damage and swung in for a fatal 5.
In closing….
I’m pondering getting two more Concealed Courtyards and one more Hazoret, replacing two plains and the Isolated Chapel. Possibly replacing my Dragonskulls with Canyons but I’m still up in the air about that. This’ll take me down to 23 lands but it seems like my land-base would be flexible enough that it shouldn’t matter much.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
I'm playing not so long and still don't understand many things. I have this: https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/vehicle-rush-05/ It based on Vehicle Rush preconstructed deck with some updates (with help of local mages).
But I'm a little embarrassed to ask so stupid questions in the club. I understand that this is a simple aggro deck. Just hit. But...
1 Chandra, Bold Pyromancer
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
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)
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.