I've play tested this and made several changes like 6 times last night and I still feel it's not right. The lands I get sometimes are not the ones I need and also if I get the tapped lands, my early game suffers. I'm not that experienced enough to know which ratio of lands would be best for a deck like this as this is my first tri color deck that I actually have taken a liking to. I have more black stuff and have noticed that I would need more swamps, and so I put in more above the rest, but sometimes I get way too many swamps. UGH! Anyways. I have playsets for almost every card in here except for pain lands, I tried to get as much of those as possible, but for right now, it's what I got. Any advice is he appreciated.
An aggro creature deck with 1-drops should virtually never have more than 1 colour in it (exception being a light splash for atarka's command or whatever). Just go monored or monoblack to eliminate all the mulligans.
There are different "degrees" of aggro, and I feel like your deck is mixing them together to its detriment. Creatures like Shadowspear and Scout want to be in 1-2 color decks (like Ultralunch said above), and want your entire deck to be in service to quick wins. Conversely, Butcher and your wide arrange of controlling spells are closer to a Midrange deck's aspirations. If you really like the Mardu colors, I'd suggest easing up a bit on the aggression and playing slightly more expensive spells. Token generators like Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst, and Raise the Alarm are very efficient on their own, and work very well alongside Butcher and Sorin. I'd also consider Thunderbreak Regent as a solid value creature that also enables your Foul-Tongue Invocation and potentially Draconic Roar.
I really dislike Coat with Venom; it seems really hard to get value off of it. And Desperate Stand is really color-intensive for a three-color deck, and your fixing isn't great.
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Formerly Angrypossum over at the now-defunct WotC forums.
Im pretty dead set on Mardu atm, since FNM is tonight and last minute big changes like switching to mono black or monored could mess with my head, plus my black collection is not that great. Maybe after today I could switch it up, but I really like the butchers... and crackling dooms. Also playing over and over... (by my lonesome), I have seen that, as long as I get the 3 colors of mana, I'm golden. I just took out the scouts and desperate stands and will replace them with token gens. Don't own thunderbreak but maybe some black/red drag like Boltwing Marauder would be good? I have two of those. I think Coat with Venom is good just because it's one mana and on turn 2 I can get extra damage or kill a creature and live, I may take them out for the extra space to add in token gens. What do you mean by fixing? and how do I "fix" it?
I guess I could try and get some trades to get a mana confluence or fetch land.
Coat with Venom costs one mana and one card. If you aren't removing a card of theirs from play with it, then you're down a card for only an extra point of damage, and it takes all sorts of setup to even be worth a card from your opponent. That card you spent could have been another threat to play. That's why it isn't worth it.
"Fixing" refers to getting access to the colors of mana that you need, and it's mostly a matter of investing more in your land base when you can. Stuff like fetchlands, painlands, Mana Confluence, Temples, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth will help. This sort of thing is especially critical in Mardu, because you have neither green for Sylvan Caryatid nor blue for card draw.
Boltwing Marauder could be okay with your token-generating cards. But it's also easily killed by most removal in Standard, which isn't a good spot for a 5-drop to be in.
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I think you can improve this deck by minimizing your white cards: Desperate Stand can easily be subbed out for Titan's Strength, Pacifism is easily replaced by a mix of more Ultimate Price and/or Roast. Mardu Charm is tougher to replace but Kolaghan's Command does some similar work while often providing card advantage, or Dragon Fodder if you mostly want to use the token mode or Charm. Otherwise you can't go wrong with Lightning Strike or Stoke the Flames. If you limit your white mana symbols to cards that you want to cast later in the game (like Sorin, Butcher, Doom) then you can change your lands to more reliably cast your early red and black creatures (cut 2-3 plains for 2-3 swamp/mountain)
Other changes I'd recommend: Monastery Swiftspear is awesome, especially if you have a bunch of non-creature spells; haste seems like the deck's theme and there aren't many haste creatures better than Swiftspear. Coat With Venom is not a great choice for the reasons Marsupial pointed out above, mainly that you are often going to be trading Coat+Little Creature for their bigger Creature, losing 2 cards for their 1 card. The second problem being that if they have no creatures, it really doesn't do much. Maybe Wild Slash would serve you better as it is more versatile.
Alternatively, you could try abusing Impact Tremors. You are using plenty of Dash creatures, and Tremors can be really tough for some opponents to deal with (especially Blue-Black decks). If you are on a tight budget, I think Tremors + Dragon Fodder + Hordeling Outburst + Goblin Heelcutter can do a lot of damage for not a lot of $$$.
Ascendancy doesn't trigger off of token creatures. It's a solid card, but at its best in a deck that doesn't run any token generators in favor of more creature cards. Secure is great.
Some number of enters-tapped lands is an inevitability. In the absence of rare, efficient mana fixing, I think some number of them is necessary, if not exciting.
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I should add, if you are going to use tap lands you might as well play 4x Nomad Outpost instead of the likes of Wind-scarred Crag, Scoured Barrens or Evolving Wilds. It's better to just have all three colors in one card, like you said, once you have all three colors you're golden. You may want to run 4x Outpost and 1-2 Evolving Wilds. I doubt you will miss the life-gain from those other lands, aggro decks tend to care more about the opponent's life total than their own. Besides, you have better ways (Butcher, Sorin) to gain life if the game goes long (heaven forbid).
Alright guys. I got some cards coming soon, and I changed the deck to "Mardu Tokens" after having play tested this deck finally.
Problem is, I ordered too many good cards and I don't know which ones to keep and also which of my current cards to keep. This is where you guys hopefully chime in to help me out.
Here is what I ordered. After having time to really think about it, I figured to keep 4x of Hordeling Outburst and Raise the Alarm and that's it for tokens... especially since I have 2x Mardu Charms in there that can interchangeably kill a creature or produce them.
4x Mardu Shadowspear
4x Gurmag Swiftwing
2x Mardu Scout
3x Ambuscade Shaman
4x Reckless Imp
4x Butcher of the Horde
Planeswalkers 1
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2x Pacifism
2x Ultimate Price
2x Desperate Stand
3x Mardu Charm
3x Foul-Tongue Invocation
4x Coat with Venom
4x Crackling Doom
1x Nomad Outpost
1x Caves of Koilos
1x Scoured Barrens
1x Battlefield Forge
1x Wind-Scarred Crag
2x Evolving Wilds
4x Plains
5x Mountain
6x Swamp
Should I add in more duals? less singles? How are the creatures and spells? Sideboard suggestions? I have like 40 sideboard cards and Idk what to use.
I really dislike Coat with Venom; it seems really hard to get value off of it. And Desperate Stand is really color-intensive for a three-color deck, and your fixing isn't great.
I guess I could try and get some trades to get a mana confluence or fetch land.
"Fixing" refers to getting access to the colors of mana that you need, and it's mostly a matter of investing more in your land base when you can. Stuff like fetchlands, painlands, Mana Confluence, Temples, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth will help. This sort of thing is especially critical in Mardu, because you have neither green for Sylvan Caryatid nor blue for card draw.
Boltwing Marauder could be okay with your token-generating cards. But it's also easily killed by most removal in Standard, which isn't a good spot for a 5-drop to be in.
I have a playset of the mardu and 2 secure the wastes.
I could add more duals like Wind-Scarred Crag, Bloodfell Caves, and Scoured Barrens but the only reason I took most of them out was because of the tapped slowing my gameplay.
Other changes I'd recommend: Monastery Swiftspear is awesome, especially if you have a bunch of non-creature spells; haste seems like the deck's theme and there aren't many haste creatures better than Swiftspear. Coat With Venom is not a great choice for the reasons Marsupial pointed out above, mainly that you are often going to be trading Coat+Little Creature for their bigger Creature, losing 2 cards for their 1 card. The second problem being that if they have no creatures, it really doesn't do much. Maybe Wild Slash would serve you better as it is more versatile.
Alternatively, you could try abusing Impact Tremors. You are using plenty of Dash creatures, and Tremors can be really tough for some opponents to deal with (especially Blue-Black decks). If you are on a tight budget, I think Tremors + Dragon Fodder + Hordeling Outburst + Goblin Heelcutter can do a lot of damage for not a lot of $$$.
Obviously if you can put in a pile of rares and mythics like Thunderbreak Regent, Goblin Rabblemaster, Mana Confluence, Stormbreath Dragon, Bloodstained Mire that would be good too.
Ascendancy doesn't trigger off of token creatures. It's a solid card, but at its best in a deck that doesn't run any token generators in favor of more creature cards. Secure is great.
Some number of enters-tapped lands is an inevitability. In the absence of rare, efficient mana fixing, I think some number of them is necessary, if not exciting.
Problem is, I ordered too many good cards and I don't know which ones to keep and also which of my current cards to keep. This is where you guys hopefully chime in to help me out.
Here is what I'm keeping from the original deck.
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Crackling Doom
2x Mardu Charm
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2x Ultimate Price????
Here is what I ordered. After having time to really think about it, I figured to keep 4x of Hordeling Outburst and Raise the Alarm and that's it for tokens... especially since I have 2x Mardu Charms in there that can interchangeably kill a creature or produce them.
4xHordeling Outburst
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Triplicate Spirits
4x Spear of Heliod
4x Searing Blood
2x Flamewake Phoenix
4x Dauntless Onslaught
4x Coordinated Assault
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Seeker of the Way
4x Arc Lightning
4x Oppressive Rays
4x Rise to the Challenge
Lands ordered
1x Caves of Koilos
1x Battlefield Forge
4x Nomad Outpost... already have two... 1 before I ordered... 1 after I opened a pack of khans after I ordered.... go figure
Lands in the deck after receiving them will be.
22 lands:
4x Mountain
2x Swamp
2x Plains
4x Nomad Outpost
2x Caves of Koilos
2x Battlefield Forge
2x Evolving Wilds
2x Wind-Scarred Crag
2x Scoured Barrens