Okay, I didn't find a thread on zurgo with this content, so I'm creating this one to discuss my findings. All decklists that I see playing Zurgo are what you would call 'goodstuff' monored aggro decks. You play good aggro spells from red, hoping to curve out on your opponent and kill them. I tested that strategy, and although it certainly has its merits, I don't think it is the best Zurgo build after the 20 life modification.
I'm here to present Zurgo Bellstriker sligh, a different monored strategy that revolves around playing cheap creatures, burn and pump spells to tempo your opponent out of the game. I've playtested this version of the deck and the 'regular' version, and I like this version better. The main reason is that you basically just need two lands in play to function, so it is much harder to lose to mana screw. However, it is also a sweet deck with plenty of synergies and cool interactions.
There are currently only two 3-CMC spells in the deck, and I'm still thinking if they should be there. I also like the land package that does stuff, they have been quite useful. One of the rules of the deck is to have all the burn capable of hitting creatures and costing at most 1 mana (with an obvious exception to PoP, because it is broken). Aside from that, some other 2-CMC burn spells are in because they remove creatures WHILE causing damage to the opponent (arc trail, searing blood and searing blaze). Finally, I have the bad habit of not keeping record of my games, but I mostly won all the matches I've played, losing only in specific situations where my opponent exploded too quickly in my face (like a green deck with exploration or a black deck with dark ritual). I think the matchup against midrange goodstuff decks full of efficient creatures *might* be a little tricky, but we have the advantage of playing combat tricks that help us (pump spells and spells that give unblockable/menace). I've not tested against Edgar and Arahbo yet, I don't think the matchup against the former is good, but I expect both generals to be banned. With that said, I present to you the deck list:
Not all cards are absolutely necessary, as I'm still testing some suboptimal choices (for instance I play Speedway Fanatic even though I don't run any vehicles just because it is a hasty creature that curves with Zurgo, but that one toughness actually hurts a bit.
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This looks interesting, my suggestion would be to still play all of the 2 mana 3 damage spells they are really important to burning people out, and clearing blockers and to play as many haste 2 drops as you possibly can. A few cards for you to consider Rubblebelt Maaka, Stoke the Flames, Intimidator Initiate, Flame Slash and both Goblin heelcutter and Ahn-Crop Crasher seem like really good 3 cmc options for the deck.
This looks interesting, my suggestion would be to still play all of the 2 mana 3 damage spells they are really important to burning people out, and clearing blockers and to play as many haste 2 drops as you possibly can. A few cards for you to consider Rubblebelt Maaka, Stoke the Flames, Intimidator Initiate, Flame Slash and both Goblin heelcutter and Ahn-Crop Crasher seem like really good 3 cmc options for the deck.
Hey! Thanks for your feedback. Here is what I think:
Regarding the 2-CMC/3-damage spells - I'm really not a fan. Many times, in this deck, playing those spells is gonna cost you one whole turn. Besides, there are many of them (searing spear, lightning strike, volcanic hammer, fire ambush, incendiary flow). What should I cut to put such spells?
Love the Maaka. I had forgot that card existed, excellent idea, I will try to fit in somewhere.
Dislike stoke the flames. Stoke may 'feel' like a cheap spell, but the fact is that if you're convoking with it you're not attacking with the creatures you're convoking. That is a tempo loss that I don't think the deck can afford (and it is unlikely that you would be able to cast a creature that is summoning sick and convoke stoke the flames on the same turn, maybe if we played hordeling outburst it would be a consideration).
Intimidator might be decent, but it feels to me as if it cost lots of mana. Differently from frenzied goblin you have to keep feeding the card, and I doubt we are going to have enough mana to activate him twice in a turn.
Flame Slash doesn't hit the player, so not a fan.
Heelcutter and Ahn-Crop are cards I played in the 'goodstuff list'. Ahn-crop might be worth taking a look. Heelcutter, however, is not that great imo. Although the dash is an advantage against sorcery-based removal, it is a heavy mana investment - especially for this deck - to keep recasting heelcutter. Besides, I'm not sure the deck even should have 3-CMC spells heh. I only play Rabblemaster and Expertise because I think they are absolutely the best out there, and that is it (rabblemaster able to generate 6 damage the turn after he is played, on his own). Technically Reckless Bushwacker also costs 3, but he is there to be cast with surge.
I forgot to say I'm actually testing Flame Rift as the second burn spell to the dome that is very efficient for its cost (the better one being PoP, of course). Haven't had the opportunity to draw it yet.
The slots I'm not so sure about:
akroan crusader
satyr hoplite
speedway fanatic
firefist striker
legion loyalist
call of the full moon
flame rift
ramunap ruins
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Yhe thing about Intimidator Initiate is that it it basically exactly the same card as frenzied goblin, except it trades being forced to attack to trigger the faulter, for casting a spell to do it, I think that if you play one it is likely correct to play the other.
Personally, memnite, bonded construct and definitely inventors apprentice seems really weak. The heroic guys also seem underwhelming I agree. Speedway fanatic has felt good in my "Good red cards" list, but only for redundancies sake.
Firefist striker is a card that I literally love, but I wasn't a fan in the limited testing I did with him, Legion Loyatlist seems great in this deck, trample + first strike with pump spells seems SWEET.
Flame rift has felt great since I added it, the mirror is the only time in which I have not wanted to draw it.
Ramunap Ruins does seem underwhelming in this deck, if you draw 5 lands, chanced are dealing 2 isn't going to be enough to help you win.
I understand why you don't like heelcutter it is a lot of manna for this deck to invest. If you are looking for more faulter effect, [card]Fervant Cathar[\card] could be up your alley, it is pretty similar to the other two I mentioned earlier.
Whenever this kind of deck has bee good in 60 card formats, it is a more synergy driven deck, you play weaker overall cards to be able to cast A LOT of them. Rabblemaster is a great card, but I don't play it in my red list because most of the time, it is 3 mana trade for their removal spell, or 3 mana make a 1/1 haste and trade with their removal spell, it is crazy powerful if it lives but it seems to me that it is better in a deck that can protect it because it just dies most of the time.
I think that a 3 mana creature that stops them from blocking is basically as good as it gets for this kind of deck.
Call of the Full moon is certainly powerful, but like I said, this deck seems like it wins by casting MANY spells in a single turn, so it might not be the best.
Also on flame slash, it is basically the same card as hammerhand and cartouche, it pushes through damage the turn it is played, sure it doesn't deal damage to players but neither does hammerhand or cartouche on a stalled board.
Sorry my thoughts here are in pretty a random order, I kinda just wrote of stuff as I though about it.
Yes, beat the vampire deck twice (two different players, btw). One of the losses was unfortunate, I was about to win in the way back and opponent dropped probably the only card that saved him: a vampire nocturnus with a black card on top. The double anthem effect + giving flying was too much (I almost could have won if it weren't for the flying). The second loss was due to a risky keep. I kept a hand a little flooded (4 lands), but with two utility lands (contested war zone and wasteland) and a fetch. Unfortunately I drew more lands and flooded out of the game.
Basically the wins against Edgar amounted in being faster than him, because, well, we are faster than him. The deck certainly can outpace us, but it would need to have a good curve, with one drop vamp into two drop vamp, etc. If he doesn't have this more efficient start, he is at a disadvantage. Obviously, being on the play//draw makes a huge difference.
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Yhe thing about Intimidator Initiate is that it it basically exactly the same card as frenzied goblin, except it trades being forced to attack to trigger the faulter, for casting a spell to do it, I think that if you play one it is likely correct to play the other.
Personally, memnite, bonded construct and definitely inventors apprentice seems really weak. The heroic guys also seem underwhelming I agree. Speedway fanatic has felt good in my "Good red cards" list, but only for redundancies sake.
Firefist striker is a card that I literally love, but I wasn't a fan in the limited testing I did with him, Legion Loyatlist seems great in this deck, trample + first strike with pump spells seems SWEET.
Flame rift has felt great since I added it, the mirror is the only time in which I have not wanted to draw it.
Ramunap Ruins does seem underwhelming in this deck, if you draw 5 lands, chanced are dealing 2 isn't going to be enough to help you win.
I understand why you don't like heelcutter it is a lot of manna for this deck to invest. If you are looking for more faulter effect, [card]Fervant Cathar[\card] could be up your alley, it is pretty similar to the other two I mentioned earlier.
Whenever this kind of deck has bee good in 60 card formats, it is a more synergy driven deck, you play weaker overall cards to be able to cast A LOT of them. Rabblemaster is a great card, but I don't play it in my red list because most of the time, it is 3 mana trade for their removal spell, or 3 mana make a 1/1 haste and trade with their removal spell, it is crazy powerful if it lives but it seems to me that it is better in a deck that can protect it because it just dies most of the time.
I think that a 3 mana creature that stops them from blocking is basically as good as it gets for this kind of deck.
Call of the Full moon is certainly powerful, but like I said, this deck seems like it wins by casting MANY spells in a single turn, so it might not be the best.
Also on flame slash, it is basically the same card as hammerhand and cartouche, it pushes through damage the turn it is played, sure it doesn't deal damage to players but neither does hammerhand or cartouche on a stalled board.
Sorry my thoughts here are in pretty a random order, I kinda just wrote of stuff as I though about it.
I need more testing to decide over some of the things you said. I will just say that the cost of attacking is basically not a cost for this deck, hence why I think frenzied goblin is better and you don't need necessarily to play both. I agree that inventor's apprentice feels a little underwhelming at least half of the times I cast it, but memnite and bonded construct are excellent (no joke). I mean, in this deck bonded construct almost doesn't have a drawback, and I wouldn't remove it for nothing.
Lastly, I agree that rabblemaster needs to be looked over carefully, but so far I do like him. It is not that I dislike some of your suggestions, I actually like some of the cards, but I'm still unsure about what I would remove to play them. I wanna test apprentice a little more before pulling the trigger on him, and the heroic guys too.
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0x2 Edgar Markov
2x0 Krenko, Mob Boss
1x2 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
2x1 Kyhtheon, Hero of Akros
0x2 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
2x0 The Gitrog Monster
2x1 Edgar Markov
2x1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Okay, explaining the losses first: Edgar was on the draw the first match I played, and had good curvy draws with lifelink vampires (child of night, gifted aetherborn, kalitas,traitor of ghet). The match against Mina and Denn: one of the losses was because opponent had the 3 mana sweeper in the turn he needed to have it, and other was due to me flooding out. Against Kytheon, honestly, opponent was just lucky. Found parallax wave in 3 out of the 5 games, also had brimaz in one other game, and some crucial spells in crucial moments. I think the matchup is much better for us against Kytheon, but it is what it is.
I've made two modifications to the deck, already accounted on the first post: added firebolt and mountain, removing inventor's apprentice and ramunap ruins. Not having firebolt was an oversight, that is now fixed.
One reality of this deck is: it loses much more to itself than to your opponents. By that I mean that you keep a hand with many lands, flood out and die, or keep a one lander with some one-drops, never draw the second land or draws way too late, and dies. That is a common occurrence for decks such as this, I honestly don't feel like there is an easy solution. I try to mitigate that by playing a bunch of utility lands, so they can 'feel' like spells when needed. One thing I could also try are cycling lands. I'm not sure how good that idea is, maybe it is just getting to cute. 2 of the 3 cycling lands that we could play that also add red cost {2} to cycle. That is a lot for this deck, and I'm not sure having lands that come into play tapped is worth for the effect.
One clear advantage of playing this deck is that it is unbelievably cheap (you can play it without fetch lands), but it is not for everyone. Sometimes you can get pretty frustrated with poor draws, especially without blue to give you some card selection. I drew kari zev expertise in some matches and it was mediocre. It is a very swingy card - when it is good it is excellent, when it is bad it is terrible. I might cut it for some other 3 drop or cheaper spell.
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Yes, I think having cheaper spells is a great advantage in playing an aggro deck, particularly in a format so tempo-oriented such as ours. Manlands do become worse the cheaper your spells are, but mutavault and mishra's factory have been excellent so far. I'm even thinking in throwing Ghitu Encampment somewhere. I've been also relatively impressed with contested war zone, I thought it would be mediocre, but it has been above average. I'm not sure I would play 34 lands. I'm currently at 36 lands that is as low as I'm willing to go. I do like goblin rabblemaster in the 3-CMC spot, but I cut Kari Zev's expertise. I'm gonna test some options before adding anything to the changelog. At the moment I'm filling the spot with hordeling outburst, but it feels slow, since it will only impact the board the next turn after you play it. I thought about the suggestions of Ahn-Crop Crasher or Goblin Heelcutter, but still not psyched about the idea of playing them. Tangle Wire also feels suboptimal. The 4/3 for 2 that you suggested costs us a card, not a fan of that. EVERY card matters in a deck like this, because they are essentially points of the damage. You would only discard a land if you're flooded.
I will check 'swarmpump' type of cards again, but I think I already have the best ones.
I playtested a bit more against some new generals:
1x2 against Edgar Markov (it boiled down to Edgar being on the play 2 of the games he won)
1x1 Kess, Dissident Mage (client crashed and couldn't play the third game)
1x0 Kess, Dissident Mage (I won the first game and opponent conceded the second not wanting to play against an hyper-aggressive red deck)
I think this deck is the real stuff, just need to sure up some slots. Also the fact that we're almost guaranteed to gain one new card to test per block is kinda nice, since there is always some kind of red aggressive card being printed.
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Found a good replacement for Kari Zev's Expertise - Hanweir Garrison (updated in the changelog). It is as close to a second rabblemaster as we can get, and it works with battlecry (you just need to stack the triggers in the correct order). Unfortunately it does not work well with the bushwhackers, but you can't have everything.
Some more matches:
2x0 Kaalia of the Vast
1x1 Tymna/Reyhan (opponent was salty and didn't want to play a third game, where I would be on the play)
2x1 Edgar Markov (this was a more burn heavy list, in my opinion a worse list for the general)
2x0 Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
I was also thinking about maybe replacing flame rift. I haven't been particularly happy with it so far. I was thinking about putting spikeshot elder in its place, but not sure yet. We play some auras, pump spells and pump effects (such as battlecry) that can make spikeshot really decent. The issue is that the 3 mana cost to activate might be too intensive for us. Testing will be needed, which I intend to do.
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I like the 2R Hasty Pirate that makes mana over the garisson.
Captain Lannery Storm? Why do you think she is better than the garrison? The greatest advantage I can think of is being able to attack the turn that she comes into play, but the extra mana she generates doesn't feel all that useful to us.
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I'm here to present Zurgo Bellstriker sligh, a different monored strategy that revolves around playing cheap creatures, burn and pump spells to tempo your opponent out of the game. I've playtested this version of the deck and the 'regular' version, and I like this version better. The main reason is that you basically just need two lands in play to function, so it is much harder to lose to mana screw. However, it is also a sweet deck with plenty of synergies and cool interactions.
There are currently only two 3-CMC spells in the deck, and I'm still thinking if they should be there. I also like the land package that does stuff, they have been quite useful. One of the rules of the deck is to have all the burn capable of hitting creatures and costing at most 1 mana (with an obvious exception to PoP, because it is broken). Aside from that, some other 2-CMC burn spells are in because they remove creatures WHILE causing damage to the opponent (arc trail, searing blood and searing blaze). Finally, I have the bad habit of not keeping record of my games, but I mostly won all the matches I've played, losing only in specific situations where my opponent exploded too quickly in my face (like a green deck with exploration or a black deck with dark ritual). I think the matchup against midrange goodstuff decks full of efficient creatures *might* be a little tricky, but we have the advantage of playing combat tricks that help us (pump spells and spells that give unblockable/menace). I've not tested against Edgar and Arahbo yet, I don't think the matchup against the former is good, but I expect both generals to be banned. With that said, I present to you the deck list:
1 Ash Zealot
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Lightning Mauler
1 Mudbrawler Cohort
1 Valley Dasher
1 Earthshaker Khenra
1 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1 Harsh Mentor
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Akroan Crusader
1 Bomat Courier
1 Bonded Construct
1 Falkenrath Gorger
1 Firedrinker Satyr
1 Foundry Street Denizen
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Goblin Guide
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Jackal Familiar
1 Jackal Pup
1 Memnite
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Satyr Hoplite
1 Signal Pest
1 Soul-Scar Mage
1 Stromkirk Noble
1 Reckless Bushwhacker
1 Stormblood Berserker
1 Speedway Fanatic
1 Firefist Striker
1 Legion Loyalist
1 Frenzied Goblin
1 Rubblebelt Maaka
1 Hanweir Garrison
1 Cartouche of Zeal
1 Consuming Fervor
1 Hammerhand
1 Madcap Skills
1 Seal of Fire
Instants
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Searing Blaze
1 Searing Blood
1 Price of Progress
1 Borrowed Hostility
1 Brute Force
1 Built to Smash
1 Burst Lightning
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Shock
1 Tarfire
1 Titan's Strength
1 Wild Slash
1 Invigorated Rampage
Lands
1 Arid Mesa
1 Barbarian Ring
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Mishra's Factory
23 Mountain
1 Mutavault
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Teetering Peaks
1 Wasteland
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Smoldering Spires
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
1 Contested War Zone
1 Chain Lightning
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Firebolt
1 Flame Rift
1 Forked Bolt
1 Krenko's Command
1 Pillar of Flame
1 Reckless Charge
1 Arc Trail
Commander
1 Zurgo Bellstriker
I'm eager to hear your suggestions/feedback.
Inventor's Apprentice -> Firebolt
Ramunap Ruins -> Mountain
Kari Zev's Expertise -> Hanweir Garrison
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Regarding the 2-CMC/3-damage spells - I'm really not a fan. Many times, in this deck, playing those spells is gonna cost you one whole turn. Besides, there are many of them (searing spear, lightning strike, volcanic hammer, fire ambush, incendiary flow). What should I cut to put such spells?
Love the Maaka. I had forgot that card existed, excellent idea, I will try to fit in somewhere.
Dislike stoke the flames. Stoke may 'feel' like a cheap spell, but the fact is that if you're convoking with it you're not attacking with the creatures you're convoking. That is a tempo loss that I don't think the deck can afford (and it is unlikely that you would be able to cast a creature that is summoning sick and convoke stoke the flames on the same turn, maybe if we played hordeling outburst it would be a consideration).
Intimidator might be decent, but it feels to me as if it cost lots of mana. Differently from frenzied goblin you have to keep feeding the card, and I doubt we are going to have enough mana to activate him twice in a turn.
Flame Slash doesn't hit the player, so not a fan.
Heelcutter and Ahn-Crop are cards I played in the 'goodstuff list'. Ahn-crop might be worth taking a look. Heelcutter, however, is not that great imo. Although the dash is an advantage against sorcery-based removal, it is a heavy mana investment - especially for this deck - to keep recasting heelcutter. Besides, I'm not sure the deck even should have 3-CMC spells heh. I only play Rabblemaster and Expertise because I think they are absolutely the best out there, and that is it (rabblemaster able to generate 6 damage the turn after he is played, on his own). Technically Reckless Bushwacker also costs 3, but he is there to be cast with surge.
I forgot to say I'm actually testing Flame Rift as the second burn spell to the dome that is very efficient for its cost (the better one being PoP, of course). Haven't had the opportunity to draw it yet.
The slots I'm not so sure about:
akroan crusader
satyr hoplite
speedway fanatic
firefist striker
legion loyalist
call of the full moon
flame rift
ramunap ruins
and, due to CMC only:
goblin rabblemaster
kari zev's expertise
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Personally, memnite, bonded construct and definitely inventors apprentice seems really weak. The heroic guys also seem underwhelming I agree. Speedway fanatic has felt good in my "Good red cards" list, but only for redundancies sake.
Firefist striker is a card that I literally love, but I wasn't a fan in the limited testing I did with him, Legion Loyatlist seems great in this deck, trample + first strike with pump spells seems SWEET.
Flame rift has felt great since I added it, the mirror is the only time in which I have not wanted to draw it.
Ramunap Ruins does seem underwhelming in this deck, if you draw 5 lands, chanced are dealing 2 isn't going to be enough to help you win.
I understand why you don't like heelcutter it is a lot of manna for this deck to invest. If you are looking for more faulter effect, [card]Fervant Cathar[\card] could be up your alley, it is pretty similar to the other two I mentioned earlier.
Whenever this kind of deck has bee good in 60 card formats, it is a more synergy driven deck, you play weaker overall cards to be able to cast A LOT of them. Rabblemaster is a great card, but I don't play it in my red list because most of the time, it is 3 mana trade for their removal spell, or 3 mana make a 1/1 haste and trade with their removal spell, it is crazy powerful if it lives but it seems to me that it is better in a deck that can protect it because it just dies most of the time.
I think that a 3 mana creature that stops them from blocking is basically as good as it gets for this kind of deck.
Call of the Full moon is certainly powerful, but like I said, this deck seems like it wins by casting MANY spells in a single turn, so it might not be the best.
Maybe Dynacharge is good in this deck? Also Furor of the bitten?
Also on flame slash, it is basically the same card as hammerhand and cartouche, it pushes through damage the turn it is played, sure it doesn't deal damage to players but neither does hammerhand or cartouche on a stalled board.
Sorry my thoughts here are in pretty a random order, I kinda just wrote of stuff as I though about it.
The list was updated switching call of the full moon by rubblebelt maaka
2x0 against seton, krosan protector
2x0 againt mairsil, the pretender
2x1 against tymna the weaver//ravos, soultender (I lost the game where opponent played circle of protection red, ghostly prison and authority of the consuls)
and, the more relevant results:
2x1 Edgar Markov
2x1 Edgar Markov
Yes, beat the vampire deck twice (two different players, btw). One of the losses was unfortunate, I was about to win in the way back and opponent dropped probably the only card that saved him: a vampire nocturnus with a black card on top. The double anthem effect + giving flying was too much (I almost could have won if it weren't for the flying). The second loss was due to a risky keep. I kept a hand a little flooded (4 lands), but with two utility lands (contested war zone and wasteland) and a fetch. Unfortunately I drew more lands and flooded out of the game.
Basically the wins against Edgar amounted in being faster than him, because, well, we are faster than him. The deck certainly can outpace us, but it would need to have a good curve, with one drop vamp into two drop vamp, etc. If he doesn't have this more efficient start, he is at a disadvantage. Obviously, being on the play//draw makes a huge difference.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Lastly, I agree that rabblemaster needs to be looked over carefully, but so far I do like him. It is not that I dislike some of your suggestions, I actually like some of the cards, but I'm still unsure about what I would remove to play them. I wanna test apprentice a little more before pulling the trigger on him, and the heroic guys too.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
0x2 Edgar Markov
2x0 Krenko, Mob Boss
1x2 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
2x1 Kyhtheon, Hero of Akros
0x2 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
2x0 The Gitrog Monster
2x1 Edgar Markov
2x1 Wydwen, the Biting Gale
Okay, explaining the losses first: Edgar was on the draw the first match I played, and had good curvy draws with lifelink vampires (child of night, gifted aetherborn, kalitas,traitor of ghet). The match against Mina and Denn: one of the losses was because opponent had the 3 mana sweeper in the turn he needed to have it, and other was due to me flooding out. Against Kytheon, honestly, opponent was just lucky. Found parallax wave in 3 out of the 5 games, also had brimaz in one other game, and some crucial spells in crucial moments. I think the matchup is much better for us against Kytheon, but it is what it is.
I've made two modifications to the deck, already accounted on the first post: added firebolt and mountain, removing inventor's apprentice and ramunap ruins. Not having firebolt was an oversight, that is now fixed.
One reality of this deck is: it loses much more to itself than to your opponents. By that I mean that you keep a hand with many lands, flood out and die, or keep a one lander with some one-drops, never draw the second land or draws way too late, and dies. That is a common occurrence for decks such as this, I honestly don't feel like there is an easy solution. I try to mitigate that by playing a bunch of utility lands, so they can 'feel' like spells when needed. One thing I could also try are cycling lands. I'm not sure how good that idea is, maybe it is just getting to cute. 2 of the 3 cycling lands that we could play that also add red cost {2} to cycle. That is a lot for this deck, and I'm not sure having lands that come into play tapped is worth for the effect.
One clear advantage of playing this deck is that it is unbelievably cheap (you can play it without fetch lands), but it is not for everyone. Sometimes you can get pretty frustrated with poor draws, especially without blue to give you some card selection. I drew kari zev expertise in some matches and it was mediocre. It is a very swingy card - when it is good it is excellent, when it is bad it is terrible. I might cut it for some other 3 drop or cheaper spell.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Yes, I think having cheaper spells is a great advantage in playing an aggro deck, particularly in a format so tempo-oriented such as ours. Manlands do become worse the cheaper your spells are, but mutavault and mishra's factory have been excellent so far. I'm even thinking in throwing Ghitu Encampment somewhere. I've been also relatively impressed with contested war zone, I thought it would be mediocre, but it has been above average. I'm not sure I would play 34 lands. I'm currently at 36 lands that is as low as I'm willing to go. I do like goblin rabblemaster in the 3-CMC spot, but I cut Kari Zev's expertise. I'm gonna test some options before adding anything to the changelog. At the moment I'm filling the spot with hordeling outburst, but it feels slow, since it will only impact the board the next turn after you play it. I thought about the suggestions of Ahn-Crop Crasher or Goblin Heelcutter, but still not psyched about the idea of playing them. Tangle Wire also feels suboptimal. The 4/3 for 2 that you suggested costs us a card, not a fan of that. EVERY card matters in a deck like this, because they are essentially points of the damage. You would only discard a land if you're flooded.
I will check 'swarmpump' type of cards again, but I think I already have the best ones.
I playtested a bit more against some new generals:
1x2 against Edgar Markov (it boiled down to Edgar being on the play 2 of the games he won)
1x1 Kess, Dissident Mage (client crashed and couldn't play the third game)
1x0 Kess, Dissident Mage (I won the first game and opponent conceded the second not wanting to play against an hyper-aggressive red deck)
I think this deck is the real stuff, just need to sure up some slots. Also the fact that we're almost guaranteed to gain one new card to test per block is kinda nice, since there is always some kind of red aggressive card being printed.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Some more matches:
2x0 Kaalia of the Vast
1x1 Tymna/Reyhan (opponent was salty and didn't want to play a third game, where I would be on the play)
2x1 Edgar Markov (this was a more burn heavy list, in my opinion a worse list for the general)
2x0 Yisan, the Wanderer Bard
I was also thinking about maybe replacing flame rift. I haven't been particularly happy with it so far. I was thinking about putting spikeshot elder in its place, but not sure yet. We play some auras, pump spells and pump effects (such as battlecry) that can make spikeshot really decent. The issue is that the 3 mana cost to activate might be too intensive for us. Testing will be needed, which I intend to do.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).