Unfortunately chalice only counters the opponent's pact, while the copy you get still goes on the stack. Not quite the desired outcome you were hoping for.
It looks like it's really just the matches where he brings in Virulent Plague, which is a bit of a nonbo with Secure the Wastes. Secure isn't a terrible card vs tokens, but plague is just better in the matchup. Since Virulent Plague doesn't have as much game vs non-token matchups, keeping Secure in mainboard seems fine.
As for Graveblade Marauder, I like it over Blood-Chin Fanatic thanks to its 4 toughness and ability to still get in for a decent amount of damage, not to mention a lower black requirement. Managing to Arashin Foremost this guy with some creatures in the graveyard and connecting is another dream scenario. Will likely report back when I have some tournament results.
If this is supposed to be an aggro deck, I don't think infinite obliteration is what you want to be doing. Tapping out on t3 to exile cards out of the hand (if lucky) and/or the deck doesn't advance your game plan. Drawing it later on seems rather lackluster when you probably want actual removal or threats.
You should absolutely be playing 4 of the best. If you want to play around Bile Blight, I'm sure you have other things to play and can hold duplicates in your hand for a short while. While you say there's "functional redundancy", I don't really think there's a card that's the same as Chief of the Edge. While you might have functional redundancy for a t4 goldfish, rarely is that ever going to be the case, so you might as well try to create the strongest board presence you can consistently.
If my opponent is tapping out against an aggro deck to cast Infinite Obliteration, I'm quite happy since they didn't remove a threat or create a board presence to stave off my assault.
What card would you cut for this? It seems very defensive in nature, which isn't at all what the deck wants to be doing, There are much better sideboard cards than a 1/4 for 3 vs rdw. You say it's a sideboard card but I don't see any matchup in which this is swingier than any other alternative.
If you're playing Mogis's Marauder you should be cutting that for this card out of the side. While you're right in that you don't want to be on the defensive, unfortunately vs mono red you aren't the beatdown. You can be on par with mono red only if you curve out perfectly and they don't interact, but that's rarely the case. This card as the upside of being a solid followup vs wraths (plus it dodge's Anger of the Gods) so it can pull double duty vs control. While it's not the best sideboard card vs RDW, it's probably better than marauder / bloodsoaked / thoughtseize.
The deck does, in fact, need to be defensive against RDW because RDW is much faster than we are, save for them having really bad starts.
Cutting is, admittedly, not clear-cut but I tend to cut Bloodsoaked Champion against RDW because it can't block, though usually this is in aid of more removal (e.g., Bile Blight) and Virulent Plague. I'd be tempted to cut Arashin Foremost for this guy, as we don't want our curve too high and Arashin Foremost can be a huge tempo loss if they Wild Slash it.
I'd then probably also sideboard it in against control in favour of removal, as a way to keep pressure up after losing lots of creatures. This of course depends on the control deck you're facing (it's a bit useless against Abzan).
I don't mind cutting bloodsoaked here since it can't block if I need additional slots for sideboard cards. I don't like cutting Arashin Foremost, as the upside of it sticking is very high and worth the potential tempo loss. Without removal RDW has a hard time attacking into it, and it can easily swing back hard.
Once you are at 12 1 drops for 2/1 power - you need better ways to get them +1 at 2 and 3 mana.
- Spear of Heliod is it at CMC 3 as a backup plan to Chief of the Edge for your turn 4 kills. Anafenza Kin Tree is nice - but she has to be in play for the bolster to work; and I would pull her for the Spear of Heliod; at least as a 2 of.
Anafenza is also a 2 drop. She would come down a turn before spear and still have impact if you followed up with a creature. I would sooner pull the Mardu Strike Leader for the spear if you choose to play it. Anafenza into Arashin Foremost can still get you a t4 kill against a goldfish without needing anything after t3.
Not a huge fan of Strike Leader here, you could definitely cut him to make way for another 2 Foremosts, a 4th Rager, and a land. He's far too slow imo.
My deck as configured: I have not missed a local tournament top 4 finish; and wreck folks in the FNM arena.
I seriously want to improve the manabase - Fetchlands and/or Mana confluence in for the scoured barrens would not be a bad thing; especially if they reprint the w/b Fetchland in Origins. The bane of my deck has been Collected Company + Dromoka's command behind Azban with Den protector and/or Deathmist Raptors. Stain the mind is present to try and stop these 2 cards; and it can eliminate some combo deck issues.
I have to say that when I did test Blood-Chin Rager main deck - the card was little more than a lightning rod for cheap removal. This card also dramatically increases vulnerability to sweepers. Worse, T1 1 Drop + T2 Rager + T3 Arashin does not a turn 4 kill make. Our opponent is at 2 life if we attack with creatures on board at the start of turn four. If our T2 drop has 3 power; Arashin produces a T4 kill WITHOUT a spell on Turn 4.
Your first list looks really midrange-ish. I think Abzan is just a better midrange deck and where I'd rather be instead of trying to force warriors into that strategy. Sideboard cards like Stain the Mind are really more control-ish, and you definitely aren't making that t4 kill if you're tapping your dudes to cast it. Furthermore a deathmist can still make it onto the field before you get a chance to cast Stain the Mind, assuming you don't plan on attacking and are on the draw.
Being a lightning rod for cheap removal is not a valid argument as to why you don't like a creature. Everything in the deck dies to removal. Even Siege Rhino eats a 2 cmc removal spell. Your Battle Brawler -> Arashin Foremost scenario assumes no blockers or removal, which you should assume your opponent has. Needing a follow up to your first 3 plays is perfectly fine to still make the turn 4 kill, because you can't just assume you'll draw and encounter the magical christmasland scenario. Your first decklist was only running 8 CIPT lands, 6 1 drops, 6 3 power 2 drops, and only 3 foremost, making the chances of you making this happen even worse. Your second list looks far better, but I think Valorous Stance should be a 2 of at max.
Agreed, foremost is the best 3 drop in this deck. Also not sold on using Temple of Silence in a deck where you're trying to be aggressive.
Regarding marauder, it's all about the evasion and speed he gives. Foremost, Mardu Woe-Reaper, Hidden Dragonslayer, and Dragon Hunter are the only warriors we might play that don't have some black to them, and Blood-Chin Fanatic has a double black cost. Like I mentioned earlier, you don't need to give every creature intimidate and haste. If you have a foremost you want to grant the buff to, you can target the foremost and skip on the marauder. If you can swarm over to get the last points of damage after a marauder attack, that's fine, or you play one marauder after the other, it's not limited to swinging in for lethal alone. All you want is his ETB ability, just think of him more like a spell attached to a 2/2 body rather than a creature who misses out on synergy. Sorin doesn't really have any synergy but we play him for the buff (and a 2/2 flier every now and then). Give him a chance before you discount him for not being a warrior.
Marauder gives us mass evasion ONCE - and Rager gives evasion only on turns AFTER he is played. Furthermore, Marauder only does this if ALL our drops are at least B. When it comes to a "tide" of creatures coming at us, Azban cannot get a creature threat attacking us until turn 3 at the earliest. A removal spell that takes out their 2 drop + another 2/1 warrior on turn 3 is a very viable play for this deck. If you simply try to "go around" - their removal spell can take out your Blood-Chin Rager ... and the deck's early attack is broken.
Mogis's Marauder doesn't even need to give every single creature its evasion buff. If I've had a very good aggressive start, he lets me get in for the last couple of points. Just because he can give everyone intimidate and haste doesn't mean you can't play him until that's the case. He's no Blood-Chin Rager, but he fits an aggro strategy more than another copy of Blood-Chin Fanatic might.
Where your point on removal is concerned, in the early turns if they spent their turn casting a removal spell, they didn't put down a blocker. My 1 drop is still getting in for damage. If they didn't take out my early plays and put down a Rakshasa Deathdealer or Fleecemane Lion, I still get to attack in if I had a t1 play and my t2 play was the rager or Chief of the Edge. If my t3 is Arashin Foremost, i'm pretty far ahead regardless of the scenario. If I have a choice between developing my board and spot removal for this deck in the early turns, I'd pick the former. The 2 cmc removal and a 1 drop on t3 is definitely an option and I'm not saying it's bad, but given that pre-sb your only reasonable 2 cmc removal spell vs abzan on t3 is Bile Blight, the chances of you having both to follow up on a t1 and 2 play aren't that high. So why not have the "go around" option alongside the removal side? Give my list above a try against abzan and try to make the aggressive damage dealing plays, it might change your opinion.
Oddly I used to run two one drops (i.e., 8 in total) in a perhaps less suited Mardu aggro deck. I felt it worked better when Sylvan Caryatids were popular and am worried that our single toughness one drops can just get blown away by Red Deck Wins decks, but maybe I'm underestimating them a little in the current meta.
I also didn't really tend to play the Whip of Erebos, because getting back 2/1's is pretty underwhelming. I also wanted to give Sorin, Solemn Visitor some redundancy. I'm aware of the anti-synergy though with Murderous Cut, so maybe going to two one drops and no Whip is a better policy.
If your meta is full of RDW and Atarka Red, the 1 drops are absolutely terrible, and I wouldn't recommend an aggressive build. Its why I maindeck a few Chief of the Edge to hedge a bit, and sb the Virulent Plagues, which turn a matchup heavily in their favor on its head (assuming its heavy tokens). ZEROorDIE mentioned using Ajani Steadfast as redundancy for pumping creatures (with a bit of lifelink), which could be better than the lifelink + expensive reanimation from Whip.
Against Abzan and Devotion type decks, keep their creatures off the table so Dromoka's command stays in their hand. They need a creature to play Dromoka's command ON for the spell to be playable - we have no burn spell in deck. Stupid concept here... but why run Evasion creatures such as Blood-Chin Rager and Mogis Marauder when we have removal spells to simply destroy would be blockers in the first place?
Like Karloski said, applying pressure is more important then removing threats. If i'm tapping out turn 3 for something like Hero's Downfall to take out an Anafenza, I'm not developing my board to keep the pressure on. I'd much rather put down Arashin Foremost and give a 1 drop double strike, which can easily trade with the khan if they're willing to make the block. With cards like Siege Rhino and Elspeth, Sun's Champion, they get value before we get a chance to remove, which just makes the matchup harder. Sideboard, I'd much rather use Self-Inflicted Wound over Radiant Purge because I'm getting a removal spell and some damage in.
Both Blood-Chin Rager and Mogis's Marauder grant evasion to multiple threats. If they only gave themselves evasion, I'd completely understand not playing them.
The Whip of Erebos might seem strange but an issue I had was falling behind in the race, especially against Abzan, well, against Siege Rhino. Then I realised that against a number of decks Whip of Erebos is still good - it helps in the Abzan matchup, it allows redundancy against control and can help stabilize against burn. Plus a number of creatures I run are effective from its recursion ability, namely Arashin Foremost and Blood-Chin Rager, although Chief of the Edge and the flying Herald of Torment aren't awful either.
You're only running a single one drop, and not having a turn 1 play could be why you're losing the race. 1 drop into Chief of the Edge lets the 1 drop trade with any 2 drop abzan can put out and makes it more likely you can get in there for some early points of damage. I definitely see the perks of Whip, but doesn't Sorin accomplish something similar minus being an enchantment? Maybe its just me but I think minimizing the ability of Dromoka's Command to 2 for 1 you is super important. Also you might want to play a singleton Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to ease the pain from fetches/confluence and improve your ability to meet the double black costs of your cards.
Comments:
I had tried jamming different warrior builds before DTK and it just wasn't there. I think this deck is pretty strong and fairly well position right now. I've been playing 4 planes walkers to increase the chances of a turn 4 kill, which I have been able to get fairly consistantly thus far. I had been testing with 3 secure the wastes, but its really something I don't want in my opening hand so I've cut that to two.
I'm curious, how has Ajani Steadfast been performing for you? Is having a permanent +1/+1 bonus better than Sorin's +1?
I prefer to hit fast and hard against the slower Abzan decks and try to avoid an attrition game (cause I will lose that). Given all versions of Abzan generally run some number of Dromoka's Command, I don't want to give them a huge blowout opportunity with spear. Hall of Triumph is rather mediocre since I can't give all my warriors a buff, but there's not another good 3 cmc option. Maybe another Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Great Teacher's Decree or even Rush of Battle would be better in its place.
Mogis's Marauder has definitely pulled its weight from what I've found. If they tap out for a Whisperwood, I can put down Marauder to bypass the bodies it makes for the finish. Having some maindeck haste is great for the control matchup as well.
Maybe its just me but I found Valorous Stance rather lackluster in the majority of my matches and would almost always rather have something else (if you notice I side it out in most of my matches, even against Abzan, since wound is much better).
I'll agree with you on Secure the Wastes. I had my doubts about it, but I do like drawing it towards the end of a match. X for just 2 or 3 at EOT with or followed by a buffer can steal games.
I've gone with a very low curve aggro build, since I think curving out quick and hard is the way to go with this deck. The most important advantage we have is making combat difficult for the opponent, between Blood-Chin Rager and Mogis's Marauder. While the manabase looks a bit painful between the full 4 confluences and caves, the goal is to kill your opponent as fast as possible so your life total isn't really a big deal, plus Mardu Woe-Reaper keeps us afloat a bit. The worst card for this to go up against is Anger of the Gods, but you still have the ability to fight through it. If you know your opponent is playing early 1/3s, look for an opening hand that has chiefs/ragers so you can run over it instead of having to set yourself back to remove it or holding off on an attack.
Sideboard choices:
1 Athreos, God of Passage
Lets us play a long game with the decks that want to trade 1 for 1.
1 Chief of the Scale
Helps the x/2s dodge Drown in Sorrow, lets our x/1s eat 1/1 tokens that give this deck problems, and lets the x/2s dodge 2 damage removal.
1 Hall of Triumph
It would be Spear of Heliod if Dromoka's Command wasn't a thing. Has the same function as chief of the scale, helps our creatures trade with x/3s as well. Not a necessary sb card.
2 Mardu Shadowspear
Still the equivalent of a 2/1 in control matchups, but the dashing lets us get some hasty points of damage in and dodge sorcery speed wipes.
1 Mardu Strike Leader
Also a dasher. This card is just too slow, and I rarely want to cast him as a 3 drop. Definitely not necessary in the sb.
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
Great for the G/x decks, significantly better than any of our other removal due to the 2 life loss clause.
1 Swamp
Brought in over a plains when a lot of the black heavy sideboard is brought in
2 Thoughtseize
Brought in to disrupt plans to stabilize with a sweeper, and as a catchall if you run into something unfamiliar.
3 Virulent Plague
Brought in vs token strategies, which are very strong against us. Blanking a decent portion of the opponent's deck is also great for us.
Notable Exclusions Brutal Hordechief: It was either this or Sorin, Solemn Visitor. They both can have an effect when they hit the field, but Sorin hedges better against sweepers. Temple of Silence: Tapped lands are pretty bad here as they prevent us from curving out quickly. With 10 1 drops and 10 2 drops I pretty much always want to have a t1 followed by a t2 play. Playing these slows this deck down and makes hands where temples are the only land much worse. Bile Blight: I've tried to minimalize the cards with double color costs I play to make the mana smoother. Ultimate Price and Valorous Stance tend to do the same thing I need as Blight without a heavy color investment. If I maindecked Mardu Shadowspear over Dragon Hunter and increased the number of black producing lands, I could see myself playing these instead of price. Foul-Tongue Shriek: I do think this deck would love reach. This unfortunately is not the reach I'm looking for as it's a dead card if I run into a sweeper early on. Given the worst case scenario is a Drown in Sorrow or Anger of the Gods on t3, I want to be drawing threats to repopulate the board. Obelisk of Urd: Too slow. I believe it was discussed earlier in this thread, you don't want to be tapping your creatures to cast something, you want to be attacking.
Some Matchups and Sideboarding
Esper Dragons
Pre-board, they generally don't maindeck Drown in Sorrow, so you want to try and rush them the first few turns before they hit Crux of Fate mana. If you don't make it, the game gets a lot rougher but still doable with Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Secure the Wastes, as well as recurring Bloodsoaked Champions. Just watch out for early Bile Blights and avoid playing duplicates when you can. I'd say g1 is about 50/50.
Post-board:
-2 Dragon Hunter
-1 Plains
-2 Blood-Chin Fanatic
-2 Ultimate Price
-1 Valorous Stance
+2 Mardu Shadowspear
+1 Swamp
+2 Thoughtseize
+1 Athreos, God of Passage
+1 Chief of the Edge
+1 Mardu Strike Leader
The dragon hunters come out and the shadowspears come in to have a dasher after a sweeper. The same applies to the strike leader (which I don't like and will probably take it out of the board in the future. Fanatic is fine in this matchup since the strike leader doesn't have that big of an impact in this matchup). Small plains for swamp swap given the number of black cards I bring in over white. Price and Stance aren't that great here, I leave one stance in cause it's not completely dead. Athreos lets you play the long game if you can't kill them fast enough. The third Chief of the Edge comes in so your x/2s can dodge Drown in Sorrow. Lastly, Thoughtseize so you can snag a sweeper or Elspeth, Sun's Champion on a critical turn. Postboard is still 50/50 given how strong a good Drown can be (which they're sure to bring in 2-3).
Abzan Midrange
Pre-board: Blood-Chin Rager is our best card here, you can quickly put them on the defensive. Chief of the Edge lets us attack into fleecemanes and caryatids (i'm not opposed to trading a 1 drop for either one). Chief of the Scale makes a small showing maindeck to avoid mained Drown in Sorrows, as well as lets our x/2s attack into their 2/x dudes. From my experience the g1 has been a decent matchup as long as they don't play consecutive rhinos.
Price and Stance aren't as good as Wound here for this style of deck. Extra damage off of removal is exactly what we want. Athreos comes in in case the game goes long. Hall and Chief come in to dodge Drowns, and to better trade dudes with their slightly heavier hitters. 1 Marauder comes out since they do play some black creatures, but I don't mind drawing one in combination with Blood-Chin Rager to get in additional hard to block damage towards the end game. A Dragon Hunter comes out for the Chief of the Scale since the two drops are more valuable in a matchup where your opponent brings in Drowns. I could see switching out a plains for a swamp here for this sideboarding plan as well. Matchup improves postboard thanks to Wound mostly.
Abzan aggro is similar, except i leave in the stances and dragon hunter, and cut the Mogis's Marauders given they play more black creatures.
Atarka Aggro
Pre-Board: Definitely a difficult matchup g1 since we're inherently weak to token strategies. It's hard fighting through the tokens with your x/1s and rager, and they hit hard if they get in with tokens and Atarka's Command. Keeping a Chief of the Scale alive lets you eat tokens far better. Mardu Woe-Reaper gives some life gain to keep you afloat. If they stumble you can likely win the race, and Sorin tends to put you out of their reach. Secure the Wastes is great here if you can surprise a token army without command support. Regardless, I feel g1 is 35/65 in their favor.
Virulent Plague might as well read "you win the game" here. Without a flood of tokens to block or put major pressure on you, you out-aggro them. They suffer a major tempo loss as well if they play a t3 Hordeling Outburst, and you follow up with a plague. Secure the Wastes is a nonbo with plague here, and stance only has one mode in this matchup, so they come out. Post-board games are the ones you can really count on winning, so don't invest a whole lot into g1.
Overall I'm pretty happy with where this deck is, and the sideboard has some flex slots. I didn't test with Brutal Hordechief a lot so there's not much I can say on it except it looks alright on paper. I probably wouldn't play this in a meta where everyone has Anger of the Gods, as that is far more difficult to fight through than Drown in Sorrow or any of the higher cost sweepers since it takes out your Bloodsoaked Champions. If the mana could support Dromoka's Command, I would definitely try and get it to fit since it really improves the red matchups.
Add GameCorpsOnline to that list. Ordered a single Spellstutter Sprite promo on Amazon.
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I ordered on Monday, the day of the b/r announcement. It took them 4 WHOLE DAYS to figure out they "didn't have any".
Wait, there WAS preemptive sideboarding? They referenced the Duelcommander website for format rules weeks in advance on their billboard site. That's messed up.
Skullbriar here
Unfortunately, yes. Despite the website saying best of 3 matches, no sideboards, the tournament at the GP elected to have preemptive sideboarding with a 10 card sideboard in best of 1 matches.
To be fair, as far as I know only the Sisay player had any kind of sideboard, and it provided little advantage given her games generally went to time and she couldn't do any kind of scouting. When I went up against her, I was pretty sure she thought I might be on some kind of graveyard based deck, which worked to my advantage in that the amount of graveyard shenanigans is pretty low since I'm really just beating face with cheap efficient creatures.
Unfortunately chalice only counters the opponent's pact, while the copy you get still goes on the stack. Not quite the desired outcome you were hoping for.
As for Graveblade Marauder, I like it over Blood-Chin Fanatic thanks to its 4 toughness and ability to still get in for a decent amount of damage, not to mention a lower black requirement. Managing to Arashin Foremost this guy with some creatures in the graveyard and connecting is another dream scenario. Will likely report back when I have some tournament results.
You should absolutely be playing 4 of the best. If you want to play around Bile Blight, I'm sure you have other things to play and can hold duplicates in your hand for a short while. While you say there's "functional redundancy", I don't really think there's a card that's the same as Chief of the Edge. While you might have functional redundancy for a t4 goldfish, rarely is that ever going to be the case, so you might as well try to create the strongest board presence you can consistently.
If my opponent is tapping out against an aggro deck to cast Infinite Obliteration, I'm quite happy since they didn't remove a threat or create a board presence to stave off my assault.
If you're playing Mogis's Marauder you should be cutting that for this card out of the side. While you're right in that you don't want to be on the defensive, unfortunately vs mono red you aren't the beatdown. You can be on par with mono red only if you curve out perfectly and they don't interact, but that's rarely the case. This card as the upside of being a solid followup vs wraths (plus it dodge's Anger of the Gods) so it can pull double duty vs control. While it's not the best sideboard card vs RDW, it's probably better than marauder / bloodsoaked / thoughtseize.
I don't mind cutting bloodsoaked here since it can't block if I need additional slots for sideboard cards. I don't like cutting Arashin Foremost, as the upside of it sticking is very high and worth the potential tempo loss. Without removal RDW has a hard time attacking into it, and it can easily swing back hard.
Anafenza is also a 2 drop. She would come down a turn before spear and still have impact if you followed up with a creature. I would sooner pull the Mardu Strike Leader for the spear if you choose to play it. Anafenza into Arashin Foremost can still get you a t4 kill against a goldfish without needing anything after t3.
Not a huge fan of Strike Leader here, you could definitely cut him to make way for another 2 Foremosts, a 4th Rager, and a land. He's far too slow imo.
I can see making way for something with a wider range than Ultimate Price with Hero's Downfall, but I do not like Utter End. as it's also rather slow + would prefer to not tap out to cast removal when I might have the option of recurring a Bloodsoaked Champion, dashing a Mardu Shadowspear, or activating Blood-Chin Fanatic.
12 1-drops is fine, especially when 4 of them are Mardu Shadowspear (not sure where you're seeing 16).
With that said, what experiences have you had with that list Vahur?
Your first list looks really midrange-ish. I think Abzan is just a better midrange deck and where I'd rather be instead of trying to force warriors into that strategy. Sideboard cards like Stain the Mind are really more control-ish, and you definitely aren't making that t4 kill if you're tapping your dudes to cast it. Furthermore a deathmist can still make it onto the field before you get a chance to cast Stain the Mind, assuming you don't plan on attacking and are on the draw.
Warriors in general are vulnerable to sweepers. Chief of the Scale, Brutal Hordechief, and Blood-Chin Fanatic are the only cards that don't get hit by Drown in Sorrow, they all get destroyed by Anger of the Gods, and these cards if played on curve don't kill your opponent before Crux of Fate if you're on the draw and assuming they didn't have a removal spell. Battle Brawler is just as vulnerable to a sweeper as Blood-Chin Rager.
Being a lightning rod for cheap removal is not a valid argument as to why you don't like a creature. Everything in the deck dies to removal. Even Siege Rhino eats a 2 cmc removal spell. Your Battle Brawler -> Arashin Foremost scenario assumes no blockers or removal, which you should assume your opponent has. Needing a follow up to your first 3 plays is perfectly fine to still make the turn 4 kill, because you can't just assume you'll draw and encounter the magical christmasland scenario. Your first decklist was only running 8 CIPT lands, 6 1 drops, 6 3 power 2 drops, and only 3 foremost, making the chances of you making this happen even worse. Your second list looks far better, but I think Valorous Stance should be a 2 of at max.
Regarding marauder, it's all about the evasion and speed he gives. Foremost, Mardu Woe-Reaper, Hidden Dragonslayer, and Dragon Hunter are the only warriors we might play that don't have some black to them, and Blood-Chin Fanatic has a double black cost. Like I mentioned earlier, you don't need to give every creature intimidate and haste. If you have a foremost you want to grant the buff to, you can target the foremost and skip on the marauder. If you can swarm over to get the last points of damage after a marauder attack, that's fine, or you play one marauder after the other, it's not limited to swinging in for lethal alone. All you want is his ETB ability, just think of him more like a spell attached to a 2/2 body rather than a creature who misses out on synergy. Sorin doesn't really have any synergy but we play him for the buff (and a 2/2 flier every now and then). Give him a chance before you discount him for not being a warrior.
Mogis's Marauder doesn't even need to give every single creature its evasion buff. If I've had a very good aggressive start, he lets me get in for the last couple of points. Just because he can give everyone intimidate and haste doesn't mean you can't play him until that's the case. He's no Blood-Chin Rager, but he fits an aggro strategy more than another copy of Blood-Chin Fanatic might.
Where your point on removal is concerned, in the early turns if they spent their turn casting a removal spell, they didn't put down a blocker. My 1 drop is still getting in for damage. If they didn't take out my early plays and put down a Rakshasa Deathdealer or Fleecemane Lion, I still get to attack in if I had a t1 play and my t2 play was the rager or Chief of the Edge. If my t3 is Arashin Foremost, i'm pretty far ahead regardless of the scenario. If I have a choice between developing my board and spot removal for this deck in the early turns, I'd pick the former. The 2 cmc removal and a 1 drop on t3 is definitely an option and I'm not saying it's bad, but given that pre-sb your only reasonable 2 cmc removal spell vs abzan on t3 is Bile Blight, the chances of you having both to follow up on a t1 and 2 play aren't that high. So why not have the "go around" option alongside the removal side? Give my list above a try against abzan and try to make the aggressive damage dealing plays, it might change your opinion.
If your meta is full of RDW and Atarka Red, the 1 drops are absolutely terrible, and I wouldn't recommend an aggressive build. Its why I maindeck a few Chief of the Edge to hedge a bit, and sb the Virulent Plagues, which turn a matchup heavily in their favor on its head (assuming its heavy tokens). ZEROorDIE mentioned using Ajani Steadfast as redundancy for pumping creatures (with a bit of lifelink), which could be better than the lifelink + expensive reanimation from Whip.
Like Karloski said, applying pressure is more important then removing threats. If i'm tapping out turn 3 for something like Hero's Downfall to take out an Anafenza, I'm not developing my board to keep the pressure on. I'd much rather put down Arashin Foremost and give a 1 drop double strike, which can easily trade with the khan if they're willing to make the block. With cards like Siege Rhino and Elspeth, Sun's Champion, they get value before we get a chance to remove, which just makes the matchup harder. Sideboard, I'd much rather use Self-Inflicted Wound over Radiant Purge because I'm getting a removal spell and some damage in.
Both Blood-Chin Rager and Mogis's Marauder grant evasion to multiple threats. If they only gave themselves evasion, I'd completely understand not playing them.
You're only running a single one drop, and not having a turn 1 play could be why you're losing the race. 1 drop into Chief of the Edge lets the 1 drop trade with any 2 drop abzan can put out and makes it more likely you can get in there for some early points of damage. I definitely see the perks of Whip, but doesn't Sorin accomplish something similar minus being an enchantment? Maybe its just me but I think minimizing the ability of Dromoka's Command to 2 for 1 you is super important. Also you might want to play a singleton Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to ease the pain from fetches/confluence and improve your ability to meet the double black costs of your cards.
I'm curious, how has Ajani Steadfast been performing for you? Is having a permanent +1/+1 bonus better than Sorin's +1?
Mogis's Marauder has definitely pulled its weight from what I've found. If they tap out for a Whisperwood, I can put down Marauder to bypass the bodies it makes for the finish. Having some maindeck haste is great for the control matchup as well.
Maybe its just me but I found Valorous Stance rather lackluster in the majority of my matches and would almost always rather have something else (if you notice I side it out in most of my matches, even against Abzan, since wound is much better).
I'll agree with you on Secure the Wastes. I had my doubts about it, but I do like drawing it towards the end of a match. X for just 2 or 3 at EOT with or followed by a buffer can steal games.
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
2 Dragon Hunter
4 Chief of the Edge
2 Chief of the Scale
4 Blood-Chin Rager
4 Arashin Foremost
3 Mogis's Marauder
2 Blood-Chin Fanatic
9 Spells:
2 Valorous Stance
2 Ultimate Price
1 Hero's Downfall
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Secure the Wastes
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Mana Confluence
7 Plains
6 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Athreos, God of Passage
1 Chief of the Scale
1 Hall of Triumph
2 Mardu Shadowspear
1 Mardu Strike Leader
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
1 Swamp
2 Thoughtseize
3 Virulent Plague
I've gone with a very low curve aggro build, since I think curving out quick and hard is the way to go with this deck. The most important advantage we have is making combat difficult for the opponent, between Blood-Chin Rager and Mogis's Marauder. While the manabase looks a bit painful between the full 4 confluences and caves, the goal is to kill your opponent as fast as possible so your life total isn't really a big deal, plus Mardu Woe-Reaper keeps us afloat a bit. The worst card for this to go up against is Anger of the Gods, but you still have the ability to fight through it. If you know your opponent is playing early 1/3s, look for an opening hand that has chiefs/ragers so you can run over it instead of having to set yourself back to remove it or holding off on an attack.
Sideboard choices:
1 Athreos, God of Passage
Lets us play a long game with the decks that want to trade 1 for 1.
1 Chief of the Scale
Helps the x/2s dodge Drown in Sorrow, lets our x/1s eat 1/1 tokens that give this deck problems, and lets the x/2s dodge 2 damage removal.
1 Hall of Triumph
It would be Spear of Heliod if Dromoka's Command wasn't a thing. Has the same function as chief of the scale, helps our creatures trade with x/3s as well. Not a necessary sb card.
2 Mardu Shadowspear
Still the equivalent of a 2/1 in control matchups, but the dashing lets us get some hasty points of damage in and dodge sorcery speed wipes.
1 Mardu Strike Leader
Also a dasher. This card is just too slow, and I rarely want to cast him as a 3 drop. Definitely not necessary in the sb.
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
Great for the G/x decks, significantly better than any of our other removal due to the 2 life loss clause.
1 Swamp
Brought in over a plains when a lot of the black heavy sideboard is brought in
2 Thoughtseize
Brought in to disrupt plans to stabilize with a sweeper, and as a catchall if you run into something unfamiliar.
3 Virulent Plague
Brought in vs token strategies, which are very strong against us. Blanking a decent portion of the opponent's deck is also great for us.
Notable Exclusions
Brutal Hordechief: It was either this or Sorin, Solemn Visitor. They both can have an effect when they hit the field, but Sorin hedges better against sweepers.
Temple of Silence: Tapped lands are pretty bad here as they prevent us from curving out quickly. With 10 1 drops and 10 2 drops I pretty much always want to have a t1 followed by a t2 play. Playing these slows this deck down and makes hands where temples are the only land much worse.
Bile Blight: I've tried to minimalize the cards with double color costs I play to make the mana smoother. Ultimate Price and Valorous Stance tend to do the same thing I need as Blight without a heavy color investment. If I maindecked Mardu Shadowspear over Dragon Hunter and increased the number of black producing lands, I could see myself playing these instead of price.
Foul-Tongue Shriek: I do think this deck would love reach. This unfortunately is not the reach I'm looking for as it's a dead card if I run into a sweeper early on. Given the worst case scenario is a Drown in Sorrow or Anger of the Gods on t3, I want to be drawing threats to repopulate the board.
Obelisk of Urd: Too slow. I believe it was discussed earlier in this thread, you don't want to be tapping your creatures to cast something, you want to be attacking.
Some Matchups and Sideboarding
Esper Dragons
Pre-board, they generally don't maindeck Drown in Sorrow, so you want to try and rush them the first few turns before they hit Crux of Fate mana. If you don't make it, the game gets a lot rougher but still doable with Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Secure the Wastes, as well as recurring Bloodsoaked Champions. Just watch out for early Bile Blights and avoid playing duplicates when you can. I'd say g1 is about 50/50.
Post-board:
-2 Dragon Hunter
-1 Plains
-2 Blood-Chin Fanatic
-2 Ultimate Price
-1 Valorous Stance
+2 Mardu Shadowspear
+1 Swamp
+2 Thoughtseize
+1 Athreos, God of Passage
+1 Chief of the Edge
+1 Mardu Strike Leader
The dragon hunters come out and the shadowspears come in to have a dasher after a sweeper. The same applies to the strike leader (which I don't like and will probably take it out of the board in the future. Fanatic is fine in this matchup since the strike leader doesn't have that big of an impact in this matchup). Small plains for swamp swap given the number of black cards I bring in over white. Price and Stance aren't that great here, I leave one stance in cause it's not completely dead. Athreos lets you play the long game if you can't kill them fast enough. The third Chief of the Edge comes in so your x/2s can dodge Drown in Sorrow. Lastly, Thoughtseize so you can snag a sweeper or Elspeth, Sun's Champion on a critical turn. Postboard is still 50/50 given how strong a good Drown can be (which they're sure to bring in 2-3).
Abzan Midrange
Pre-board:
Blood-Chin Rager is our best card here, you can quickly put them on the defensive. Chief of the Edge lets us attack into fleecemanes and caryatids (i'm not opposed to trading a 1 drop for either one). Chief of the Scale makes a small showing maindeck to avoid mained Drown in Sorrows, as well as lets our x/2s attack into their 2/x dudes. From my experience the g1 has been a decent matchup as long as they don't play consecutive rhinos.
Post-board:
-2 Ultimate Price
-1 Mogis's Marauder
-1 Dragon Hunter
-2 Valorous Stance
+1 Athreos, God of Passage
+1 Hall of Triumph
+1 Chief of the Scale
+3 Self-Inflicted Wound
Price and Stance aren't as good as Wound here for this style of deck. Extra damage off of removal is exactly what we want. Athreos comes in in case the game goes long. Hall and Chief come in to dodge Drowns, and to better trade dudes with their slightly heavier hitters. 1 Marauder comes out since they do play some black creatures, but I don't mind drawing one in combination with Blood-Chin Rager to get in additional hard to block damage towards the end game. A Dragon Hunter comes out for the Chief of the Scale since the two drops are more valuable in a matchup where your opponent brings in Drowns. I could see switching out a plains for a swamp here for this sideboarding plan as well. Matchup improves postboard thanks to Wound mostly.
Abzan aggro is similar, except i leave in the stances and dragon hunter, and cut the Mogis's Marauders given they play more black creatures.
Atarka Aggro
Pre-Board: Definitely a difficult matchup g1 since we're inherently weak to token strategies. It's hard fighting through the tokens with your x/1s and rager, and they hit hard if they get in with tokens and Atarka's Command. Keeping a Chief of the Scale alive lets you eat tokens far better. Mardu Woe-Reaper gives some life gain to keep you afloat. If they stumble you can likely win the race, and Sorin tends to put you out of their reach. Secure the Wastes is great here if you can surprise a token army without command support. Regardless, I feel g1 is 35/65 in their favor.
Post-Board:
-2 Secure the Wastes
-2 Valorous Stance
+3 Virulent Plague
+1 Chief of the Scale
Virulent Plague might as well read "you win the game" here. Without a flood of tokens to block or put major pressure on you, you out-aggro them. They suffer a major tempo loss as well if they play a t3 Hordeling Outburst, and you follow up with a plague. Secure the Wastes is a nonbo with plague here, and stance only has one mode in this matchup, so they come out. Post-board games are the ones you can really count on winning, so don't invest a whole lot into g1.
Overall I'm pretty happy with where this deck is, and the sideboard has some flex slots. I didn't test with Brutal Hordechief a lot so there's not much I can say on it except it looks alright on paper. I probably wouldn't play this in a meta where everyone has Anger of the Gods, as that is far more difficult to fight through than Drown in Sorrow or any of the higher cost sweepers since it takes out your Bloodsoaked Champions. If the mana could support Dromoka's Command, I would definitely try and get it to fit since it really improves the red matchups.
Hello Mr.
Recently our database provider made a serious error with our inventory database. This event has caused the inventory numbers of many cards including Spellstutter Sprite to become incorrect, unfortunately we do not have these cards in stock, so we will unable to fulfill your order. Due to this we have refunded you. We apologize for this inconvenience.
-Vincente
I ordered on Monday, the day of the b/r announcement. It took them 4 WHOLE DAYS to figure out they "didn't have any".
Fake.
Skullbriar here
Unfortunately, yes. Despite the website saying best of 3 matches, no sideboards, the tournament at the GP elected to have preemptive sideboarding with a 10 card sideboard in best of 1 matches.
To be fair, as far as I know only the Sisay player had any kind of sideboard, and it provided little advantage given her games generally went to time and she couldn't do any kind of scouting. When I went up against her, I was pretty sure she thought I might be on some kind of graveyard based deck, which worked to my advantage in that the amount of graveyard shenanigans is pretty low since I'm really just beating face with cheap efficient creatures.