Well the only real games we don't act as the control deck is against an actual blue based control deck. Against aggro and most other midrange decks we're trying to control the board while playing our own threats. I've been play testing with 14 tap lands and 11 non taps and it seems fine at the moment. They key turns for my deck are 3 and 5 and the deck seems to hit that.
This is the deck I'm currently playing with. Game one it acts a general Mardu Midrange deck focusing on playing single threats and a suite of removal/disruption. Game two this generally changes into a control role except against a true control deck.
The 14 tap land manabase may seem shaky however the format is slow and the turns you want to have untapped lands are really only 3 and 5. Between the scry lands and Read the Bones you're able to dig through a decent part of your deck without a significant investment.
What the main problem with so many Tri Color decks is people are trying to run the best cards out of the 3 colors not taking into considering mana bases. We saw how punished Abzan decks were for wanting two many doubled colored mana cards in one deck. In order to support the cards they wanted to play without practically running all tap lands they ran pain lands. Jeskai Tempo did exceedingly well because people were helping themselves get burned out.
Personally I think Mardu is in a good spot right now, it really comes down on what sort of colors you want to focus on, W/B, R/B or R/W.
I went to an IQ with this list and made 2nd place. Its a variation of the deck BBD posted in SCG. I won't go over the whole tournament but I will go over what I liked and didn't like/felt clunky with in this list.
Mana Base : The Mana base for this deck felt great. In all my games there was only one game that I was not able to cast my spells because of not having a particular type of mana.
Goblin Rabblemaster: He's amazing and wins games by himself, feel at home in this deck.
Butcher of the Horde: A solid card and a little clunky in a list running so few ways of generating creatures, however by himself he's still a solid card even playing himself without haste. Post sideboard against certain decks where I bring in +3 Bloodsoaked and +3 Rams he quite good.
Thoughtseize: Is amazing and helps clear the way for Rabblemaster. In my own game against Control I stripped his answers to Rabble out of his hand and then killed him with it.
Mardu Charm: This card I feel should be a 3 of in the deck. It feels way too solid of a card, even if you're playing against lists with 5 butt creatures like Abzan you can simply duress them at the end of their step to clear the way for your own threat.
Bile Blight: BBD has this as a 4 of in his deck he showed, which I felt was overkill and moved it down to 3. Even at 3 I would still cut it down to 2 as we only really want them for things like Elspeth tokens.
Hero's Downfall: Does work, and am going to keep it as a 4 of.
Lightning Strike: Helps push through things like Ram and also can win the game against some decks. I was able to beat a RUG player by burning him out for the last of his life with it. Would definitely keep as a 2 of just for the utility.
Crackling Doom: Is really useful and the 2 extra damage is just gravy. I feel 3 of is a good place in this deck.
Despise: Im iffy about this card but am probably going to keep it mainboard for at least one more tournament as even control lists run creatures (Ripping Keranos out of their hand with this card feel pretty good).
Utter End: At sometimes it just felt like I was paying an extra mana for downfall but I would keep this one of mainboard for the few really annoying creatures in the format Rakshasa Deathdealer.
Stoke the Flames: At times this felt like a glorified Mardu Charm but has the potential of burning a player out. It didn't do too much work in the games I had it but would keep it just because of all the Pain land centered decks in the format.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: Card is good and will let you know if your opponent has any answers in hand immediately.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion: Most games when I scryed her and pitched her to the bottom because it was too early in the game. The one game I did played her she kept me alive long enough to burn though out. She's still a very powerful planeswalker and would keep her as a one of.
Chandra, Pyromaster Is similar to Sarkhan in that you will figure out if your opponent has any removal in their hand. If it sticks it gives you so much card advantage. It also allows you to punch through cards like Ram.
Sideboard: I like the sideboard a lot. In a lot of games I sideboarded in Bloodsoaked Champion primarily to force them to spend a piece of removal on his early game. Primarily agaisnt the Jeskai tempo lists I would sideboard in three of these and then three Nyx-Fleece Ram to make it harder for them to burn me out. The only real things I would change with the sideboard is that I would probably take out the Utter End and 1 Deicide.
At the moment my real only plans for the deck is to take out the two sideboard cards, take out one Bile Blight from the main, and possible move the one Utter End in the main to the sideboard. I am planning currently to replace these two with Stormbreath Dragon.
It really depends on what colors you're trying to focus on. For me I'm only going for double white at the top end of my curve later in the game, and even then its not even a guaranteed chance of having it. Mardu is currently littered with good 3 drops and I don't think we can afford another one in the list, especially one that is 1WW and ever expect to cast it before turn 5 or 6. Granted, if you're playing more of a R/W shell or W/B shell then sure, its entirelly possible to run Brimaz with or over Rabblemaster, I just wouldn't do it in a dominantly B/R shell.
On a second note with additional play testing I've changed a few things of my deck around. For right now the change that is probably going to stay throughout play testing is -2 Temple of Malice +1 Swamp, +1 Mountain.
I think the main thing about Wingmate Roc is that a lot of people want to run Stormbreath Dragon over it, which is understandable. My feeling however is that because there is so much spot removal in the format right now its safer to play cards that generate value just by entering the battlefield.
With the prevalence of tokens and the probable Abzan staple of Fleecemane Lion, Bile blight helps considerably. Zurgo wasn't doing as much work as I wanted him to and Sarkhan generates much more threat with the promise of utility if he isn't dealt with.
Overall the deck performs very well. Generally, the weak point of most Midrange decks is the control matchup, however Mardu Charm puts in considerable work here allowing you to ruin their entire game plan by duressing at the end of their draw step. In addition, the ability to generate two tokens can clear the way for Butcher of the Horde to come in for five during your turn.
Mana wise my mana base has been great with the only problems being the occasional mana screw/flood. I'm almost always able to cast thoughtseize turn one or two and have three colors up by turn 3.
While we have a lot of things that have synergy with Purphoros as a midrange deck we want to be playing threats that don't require a board presence to be one. We also don't have much to turn him on. Each of our cards are going to be giving us one devotion toward him so we can never truly expect to turn him online. He's sort of a card that you need to build around.
Im currently play testing Mardu Midrange deck for post rotation. I'll also be attending an IQ the weekend of release. I wouldn't mind writing a primer but I'm not sure if I need permission or any other red tape.
Okay, I'm not trying to be mean but quite a few of the cards you listed are fundamentally flawed at least in regards to competitive decks.
Hordeling Outburst: This card is sorcery speed and the tokens don't even have haste. At that point you're basically paying 3 mana to either buff Rabblemaster's damage by 3, or have three chump blockers next turn.
Despise: We already have Thoughtseize. Unless you're playing Mono Black Discard this card will see fringe sideboard play. I'm not saying its bad, its just that with a better version of it in Standard at the moment there isn't a reason to run this also.
Lens of Clarity: It really doesn't do anything. It's not really scry because it doesn't let you remove bad draws from the top, just lets you know they're coming. Seeing morph creatures is okay but in reality once the meta gets hammered out Morph creatures probably won't be too hard to guess.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker This card is fine. In a set full of deal 4 damage he acts as a potentially harder to removal Stormbreath that has utility.
Basically the only changes are Stormbreath's instead of Zurgo and Sorin instead of Elspeth. To me Stormbreath looks more reliable than Zurgo (could be wrong) and Sorin is a perfect fit giving your dudes lifelink if you're behind and pumping out tokens to either chump or feed Butcher of the Horde. Either way Mardu is already looking like a very strong clan and there are still 100ish cards to be spoiled. I really like where this deck is going. You basically have all the tools to deal with any match up. An engine of Rabblemaster, Butcher and Roc looks insanely powerful and you have access to efficient disruption, removal and draw power. I think this deck will definitely see play and become Tier 1. There are just too many good cards to not be able to put together a solid deck.
The only problem like you mentioned is the 2cmc slot. Game 1 against aggro could get ugly as you're pretty much stalling until turn 3 which is why I uncluded the lightning strikes. Hopefully something good gets spoiled but still it's hard to go wrong with 2cmc 3 damage.
I personally don't like Sorin at all in this deck. There are so many other things you want to be dropping in place of Sorin, and if you ever get to the point where is +1 is relevant you probably have a dominating board state. You would be better off playing Chandra which is significantly more helpful than Sorin. I personally wouldn't have either mainboard though, you really want to be either playing a tap land turn 4 and keeping mana for Mardu Charm or removal or spending 4 on Butcher.
Stormbreath over Zurgo is fine. They both do different things in different matchups. I personally prefer Zurgo as Stormbreath dies to a lot of prominent removal.
SB is in flux quite a bit at the moment, will probably consolidate the removal into more utter ends or something to make room for more specific hate. Also trying out a few different bombs in the SB for now that will probably change at somepoint. Roc seems pretty good at taking out elspeth and zurgo seems good against control. I am trying to be an aggro deck with a little more long game potential. I had a bunch of 2 drops at first but bloodsoaked champion kindof fills that roll so I put those 2 drop spots into more burn to close out games instead. Bloodsoaked champ also has really good synergy with tymaret and butcher.
You seem to be going more of an aggro route and your early game mana is really intensive. In order to reliably cast your cards you would probably want 4 mana confluence.
This is my current thoughts toward a Mardu Midrange deck. I don't think Brimaz, King of Oreskos can be cast reliably on turn 3 with Mardu unless you're playing a primarily Black White shell. My current mana base is focused on doing three things. Being able to cast one spell within turn 1 and 2, and then 90%+ of the time having all three colors of mana by turn 3 so that all my options are open.
I also would advise against running pain lands. Between cards like Thoughtseize and Sign in Blood a Mardu Midrange deck cannot be also taking the additional pingings from pain lands. If you're playing a lower curve Mardu aggro deck then that's fine and understandable to go all out with pain lands, confluence and Pain Seer but a midrange deck cannot be that greedy.
Sideboard wise I'm currently thinking of quite a few things. Chandra, Pyromaster would help in control match ups as her 0 will act as reoccurring draw for yourself. Anger of the Gods would probably be our Sweeper for the aggro match up. Against Jund Monsters and Walkers two Despise would also be a good idea. You wouldn't want any more though so you don't hurt yourself too much with dead draws. Deicide would also be a two of in the sideboard. Assuming we have 4 Chandra (We really want her in the control match up), 3 Angers, 2 Despises and 2 Deicides that leaves us with 4 more slots. Ideally two of those would want to be graveyard hate in some form, and the very last two being picks for what you would think the local meta around you is.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the deck so far except for my 2 CMC slots. Ideally I'm hoping they spoil something that can either replace Sign in Blood or Magma Jet as while both of them fill something needed in the deck something more efficient would be nice.
After a bit of play testing I've decided to go with this list for an IQ on May 4th. Any critiques would be appreciated. I'm expecting to see new iterations of the current decks in the meta plus a few others. Most noticeably being Atheros Aristocrats, Mono Black Discard (With Brain Maggot I expect it), Mono Black / Rakdos Aggro, and lastly Dredge and built my deck respecting all of these decks. My main theory behind putting to much aggro hate main is that I can always use the cards to filter with Izzet charm against slower matchups.
One thing I have yet to test out is Frostburn Weird. My current thought is that it's a body to put in against aggro they can't easily remove and can easily kill a lot of their one toughness creatures. The fact that it doesn't die to Anger of the Gods is just gravy. It also has the potential to turn Keranos online.
I agree that control decks want as few dead cards as possible, however Detention Sphere/Blinding Light is a must. It's really our only way to deal with things that hit the board that otherwise it's hard for us to control. For example playing against G/R monsters or a Jund list with Domri if you take out Spheres we have limited answers to a turn 2 Domri (Mainboard negate or shock yourself and show a Syncopate). Cards like Hero's downfall have already been shown to be too greedy to splash so essentially as a control deck we have to keep our universal answers in our deck.
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Creatures 10
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde
2 Stormbreath Dragon
Sorceries 8
2 End Hostilties
4 Thoughtseize
2 Read the Bones
Instants 11
4 Crackling Doom
4 Hero's Downfall
1 Utter End
2 Lightning Strike
2 Banishing Light
Lands 25
2 Nomad Outpost
4 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Malice
4 Temple of Triumph
1 Mana Confluence
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Battlefield Forge
1 Urborg, Tomb Yawgmoth
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Mountain
1 Swamp
1 End Hostilities
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Utter End
2 Empty the Pits
2 Mardu Charm
2 Nyx Fleece Ram
2 Read the Bones
This is the deck I'm currently playing with. Game one it acts a general Mardu Midrange deck focusing on playing single threats and a suite of removal/disruption. Game two this generally changes into a control role except against a true control deck.
The 14 tap land manabase may seem shaky however the format is slow and the turns you want to have untapped lands are really only 3 and 5. Between the scry lands and Read the Bones you're able to dig through a decent part of your deck without a significant investment.
Personally I think Mardu is in a good spot right now, it really comes down on what sort of colors you want to focus on, W/B, R/B or R/W.
1x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Caves of Koilos
3x Mountain
3x Nomad Outpost
2x Swamp
4x Temple of Malice
4x Temple of Silence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures: (8)
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Thoughtseize
2x Mardu Charm
3x Bile Blight
4x Hero's Downfall
2x Lightning Strike
3x Crackling Doom
2x Despise
1x Utter End
1x Stoke the Flames
Planeswalkers: (6)
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Chandra, Pyromaster
3x Anger of the Gods
2x Deicide
1x Agent of Erebos
3x Bloodsoaked Champion
1x Empty the Pits
1x Liliana Vess
3x Nyx Fleece Ram
1x Utter End
I went to an IQ with this list and made 2nd place. Its a variation of the deck BBD posted in SCG. I won't go over the whole tournament but I will go over what I liked and didn't like/felt clunky with in this list.
Mana Base : The Mana base for this deck felt great. In all my games there was only one game that I was not able to cast my spells because of not having a particular type of mana.
Goblin Rabblemaster: He's amazing and wins games by himself, feel at home in this deck.
Butcher of the Horde: A solid card and a little clunky in a list running so few ways of generating creatures, however by himself he's still a solid card even playing himself without haste. Post sideboard against certain decks where I bring in +3 Bloodsoaked and +3 Rams he quite good.
Thoughtseize: Is amazing and helps clear the way for Rabblemaster. In my own game against Control I stripped his answers to Rabble out of his hand and then killed him with it.
Mardu Charm: This card I feel should be a 3 of in the deck. It feels way too solid of a card, even if you're playing against lists with 5 butt creatures like Abzan you can simply duress them at the end of their step to clear the way for your own threat.
Bile Blight: BBD has this as a 4 of in his deck he showed, which I felt was overkill and moved it down to 3. Even at 3 I would still cut it down to 2 as we only really want them for things like Elspeth tokens.
Hero's Downfall: Does work, and am going to keep it as a 4 of.
Lightning Strike: Helps push through things like Ram and also can win the game against some decks. I was able to beat a RUG player by burning him out for the last of his life with it. Would definitely keep as a 2 of just for the utility.
Crackling Doom: Is really useful and the 2 extra damage is just gravy. I feel 3 of is a good place in this deck.
Despise: Im iffy about this card but am probably going to keep it mainboard for at least one more tournament as even control lists run creatures (Ripping Keranos out of their hand with this card feel pretty good).
Utter End: At sometimes it just felt like I was paying an extra mana for downfall but I would keep this one of mainboard for the few really annoying creatures in the format Rakshasa Deathdealer.
Stoke the Flames: At times this felt like a glorified Mardu Charm but has the potential of burning a player out. It didn't do too much work in the games I had it but would keep it just because of all the Pain land centered decks in the format.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker: Card is good and will let you know if your opponent has any answers in hand immediately.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion: Most games when I scryed her and pitched her to the bottom because it was too early in the game. The one game I did played her she kept me alive long enough to burn though out. She's still a very powerful planeswalker and would keep her as a one of.
Chandra, Pyromaster Is similar to Sarkhan in that you will figure out if your opponent has any removal in their hand. If it sticks it gives you so much card advantage. It also allows you to punch through cards like Ram.
Sideboard: I like the sideboard a lot. In a lot of games I sideboarded in Bloodsoaked Champion primarily to force them to spend a piece of removal on his early game. Primarily agaisnt the Jeskai tempo lists I would sideboard in three of these and then three Nyx-Fleece Ram to make it harder for them to burn me out. The only real things I would change with the sideboard is that I would probably take out the Utter End and 1 Deicide.
At the moment my real only plans for the deck is to take out the two sideboard cards, take out one Bile Blight from the main, and possible move the one Utter End in the main to the sideboard. I am planning currently to replace these two with Stormbreath Dragon.
On a second note with additional play testing I've changed a few things of my deck around. For right now the change that is probably going to stay throughout play testing is -2 Temple of Malice +1 Swamp, +1 Mountain.
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Nomad Outpost
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Swamp
3x Plains
2x Mountain
2x Temple of Malice
2x Temple of Triumph
3x Temple of Silence
Creatures: (12)
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Wingmate Roc
4x Thoughtseize
4x Mardu Charm
2x Bile Blight
2x Hero's Downfall
4x Sign in Blood
2x Magma Jet
2x Crackling Doom
Planeswalkers: (4)
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
4x Chandra, Pyromaster
3x Anger of the Gods
2x Deicide
2x Despise
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Banishing Light
After quite a bit of play testing I have edited my list a bit. The only real changes were +2 Bile Blight and -2 Utter End, +2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker and -2 Zurgo Helmsmasher.
With the prevalence of tokens and the probable Abzan staple of Fleecemane Lion, Bile blight helps considerably. Zurgo wasn't doing as much work as I wanted him to and Sarkhan generates much more threat with the promise of utility if he isn't dealt with.
Overall the deck performs very well. Generally, the weak point of most Midrange decks is the control matchup, however Mardu Charm puts in considerable work here allowing you to ruin their entire game plan by duressing at the end of their draw step. In addition, the ability to generate two tokens can clear the way for Butcher of the Horde to come in for five during your turn.
Mana wise my mana base has been great with the only problems being the occasional mana screw/flood. I'm almost always able to cast thoughtseize turn one or two and have three colors up by turn 3.
Hordeling Outburst: This card is sorcery speed and the tokens don't even have haste. At that point you're basically paying 3 mana to either buff Rabblemaster's damage by 3, or have three chump blockers next turn.
Despise: We already have Thoughtseize. Unless you're playing Mono Black Discard this card will see fringe sideboard play. I'm not saying its bad, its just that with a better version of it in Standard at the moment there isn't a reason to run this also.
Lens of Clarity: It really doesn't do anything. It's not really scry because it doesn't let you remove bad draws from the top, just lets you know they're coming. Seeing morph creatures is okay but in reality once the meta gets hammered out Morph creatures probably won't be too hard to guess.
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker This card is fine. In a set full of deal 4 damage he acts as a potentially harder to removal Stormbreath that has utility.
I personally don't like Sorin at all in this deck. There are so many other things you want to be dropping in place of Sorin, and if you ever get to the point where is +1 is relevant you probably have a dominating board state. You would be better off playing Chandra which is significantly more helpful than Sorin. I personally wouldn't have either mainboard though, you really want to be either playing a tap land turn 4 and keeping mana for Mardu Charm or removal or spending 4 on Butcher.
Stormbreath over Zurgo is fine. They both do different things in different matchups. I personally prefer Zurgo as Stormbreath dies to a lot of prominent removal.
You seem to be going more of an aggro route and your early game mana is really intensive. In order to reliably cast your cards you would probably want 4 mana confluence.
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Nomad Outpost
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Swamp
3x Plains
2x Mountain
2x Temple of Malice
2x Temple of Triumph
3x Temple of Silence
Creatures: (14)
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Wingmate Roc
2x Zurgo Helmsmasher
4x Thoughtseize
4x Mardu Charm
2x Utter End
2x Hero's Downfall
4x Sign in Blood
2x Magma Jet
2x Crackling Doom
Planeswalkers: (2)
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4x Chandra, Pyromaster
3x Anger of the Gods
2x Deicide
2x Despise
2x Tormod's Crypt
2x Banishing Light
This is my current thoughts toward a Mardu Midrange deck. I don't think Brimaz, King of Oreskos can be cast reliably on turn 3 with Mardu unless you're playing a primarily Black White shell. My current mana base is focused on doing three things. Being able to cast one spell within turn 1 and 2, and then 90%+ of the time having all three colors of mana by turn 3 so that all my options are open.
I also would advise against running pain lands. Between cards like Thoughtseize and Sign in Blood a Mardu Midrange deck cannot be also taking the additional pingings from pain lands. If you're playing a lower curve Mardu aggro deck then that's fine and understandable to go all out with pain lands, confluence and Pain Seer but a midrange deck cannot be that greedy.
Sideboard wise I'm currently thinking of quite a few things. Chandra, Pyromaster would help in control match ups as her 0 will act as reoccurring draw for yourself. Anger of the Gods would probably be our Sweeper for the aggro match up. Against Jund Monsters and Walkers two Despise would also be a good idea. You wouldn't want any more though so you don't hurt yourself too much with dead draws. Deicide would also be a two of in the sideboard. Assuming we have 4 Chandra (We really want her in the control match up), 3 Angers, 2 Despises and 2 Deicides that leaves us with 4 more slots. Ideally two of those would want to be graveyard hate in some form, and the very last two being picks for what you would think the local meta around you is.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the deck so far except for my 2 CMC slots. Ideally I'm hoping they spoil something that can either replace Sign in Blood or Magma Jet as while both of them fill something needed in the deck something more efficient would be nice.
2x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4x Nomad Outpost
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Swamp
4x Plains
2x Mountain
2x Temple of Malice
1x Temple of Triumph
3x Temple of Silence
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Wingmate Roc
2x Zurgo Helmsmasher
Instants/Sorceries: (20)
4x Thoughtseize
4x Mardu Charm
2x Utter End
2x Hero's Downfall
4x Sign in Blood
2x Magma Jet
2x Crackling Doom
2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
This is the list I'm pondering at the moment. The mana base is focused on getting WBR by turn 3 and either getting Thoughtseize on turn 1 or 2.
I'm currently hoping for some better 2CMC cards as right now the slot is filled by Sign in Blood and Magma Jet whose main goal is to fix my draws.
4x Steam Vents
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Hallowed Fountain
4x Temple of Enlightenment
3x Temple of Epiphany
3x Temple of Triumph
2x Island
2x Mountain
Creatures
1x Aetherling
2x Keranos, God of Storms
Spells
2x Mizzium Mortars
2x Izzet Charm
2x Azorius Charm
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Dissolve
1x Syncopate
4x Sphinx's Revelation
1x Deicide
1x Counterflux
4x Supreme Verdict
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3x Jace, Architect of Thought
Enchantments
4x Detention Sphere
1x Banishing Light
1x Assemble the Legion
1x Anger of the Gods
2x Blind Obedience
1x Deicide
1x Fated Retribution
3x Frostburn Weird
2x Negate
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stormbreath Dragon
1x Wear // Tear
After a bit of play testing I've decided to go with this list for an IQ on May 4th. Any critiques would be appreciated. I'm expecting to see new iterations of the current decks in the meta plus a few others. Most noticeably being Atheros Aristocrats, Mono Black Discard (With Brain Maggot I expect it), Mono Black / Rakdos Aggro, and lastly Dredge and built my deck respecting all of these decks. My main theory behind putting to much aggro hate main is that I can always use the cards to filter with Izzet charm against slower matchups.
One thing I have yet to test out is Frostburn Weird. My current thought is that it's a body to put in against aggro they can't easily remove and can easily kill a lot of their one toughness creatures. The fact that it doesn't die to Anger of the Gods is just gravy. It also has the potential to turn Keranos online.