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Red Black or Mardu Vehicles

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Overview

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Aggressive decks that use powerful synergies with artifacts and vehicles in particular.

Mardu has the potential for extremely quick starts with Toolcraft Exemplar, while also having tenacious threats like Scrapheap Scrounger in longer games. Its premier card is Heart of Kiran which dodges the traditional type of sorcery speed removal and board sweepers. It's top end boasts a Hazoret the Fervent as a hard hitting, nigh unkillable threat, whose activation presents a form of inevitability. Often it draws on other powerful threats like Chandra and Glorybringer postboard. Overall the deck, while an aggrodeck, boasts a flexible gameplan with several angles of attack.

Red Black is less aggressive, with threats that include implicit potential card advantage like Goblin Chainwhirler, Rekindling Phoenix and Glorybringer.

Strategy

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The Mardu game plan is to apply pressure quickly just like any other aggro deck. Game 1, hands with an Exemplar and a follow-up artifact on T2 are premium. You will want to deploy your Hearts quickly as well, as they will essentially give many of your creatures virtual haste, allowing you to pilot the heart with a summoning sick creature, while your other creatures attack along side it. The mid game will often devolve into a tempo game where you look to put yourself in a position where you can Disintegrate a key blocker and perhaps activate Pia to make another creature not be able to block before swinging for lethal. Post board, the deck has the ability to turtle up and become more of a control deck, calling on more spot removal like Fatal Push, board sweepers like Fumigate, card advantage like Chandra, and big threats like Glorybringer to look to control the board before resolving a big threat that you ride to victory.

The Red Black Game plan overlaps, but is more reactive. Given a choice, try to kill things with Chainwhirler and Glorybringer. When needed, Chainwhirler's first strike makes it a potent blocker. In combat, damage can combine to take out an opponent's creature after first strike damage, but before the opponent's creature delivers it's damage.

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Sample Decklists

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Mardu Vehicles Stock ShellMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures (22) 4 Toolcraft Exemplar 4 Bomat Courier 4 Veteran Motorist 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 2 Pia Nalaar 4 Hazoret the Fervent Planeswalkers (1) 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance Vehicles (6) 4 Heart of Kiran 2 Aethersphere Harvester	Spells (7) 3 Abrade 4 Unlicensed Disintegration Lands (24) 2 Aether Hub 2 Canyon Slough 4 Concealed Courtyard 2 Dragonskull Summit 4 Inspiring Vantage 3 Mountain 3 Plains 4 Spire of Industry	Sideboard 1 Cast Out 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 3 Duress 2 Fumigate 3 Glorybringer 2 Magma Spray 2 Fatal Push

Red Black Vehicles: Simon Nielsen GP Birmingham WinnerMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 2 Walking Ballista 3 Soul-Scar Mage 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 4 Goblin Chainwhirler 2 Pia Nalaar 2 Rekindling Phoenix 2 Glorybringer Spells 3 Heart of Kiran 4 Abrade 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 2 Karn, Scion of Urza 2 Magma Spray 3 Unlicensed Disintegration	Land 1 Aether Hub 4 Canyon Slough 2 Cinder Barrens 4 Dragonskull Summit 11 Mountain 2 Spire of Industry 1 Swamp	Sideboard 1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained 2 Chandra's Defeat 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Cut // Ribbons 1 Doomfall 3 Duress 1 Fiery Cannonade 1 Glorybringer 1 Heartless Pillage 1 Karn, Scion of Urza 1 Release the Gremlins 1 Vraska's Contempt

Red Black Vehicles: SCG Classic Louisville 8th by Jeremy ZimmerMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 3 Walking Ballista 3 Soul-Scar Mage 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 4 Goblin Chainwhirler 2 Pia Nalaar 2 Rekindling Phoenix 2 Glorybringer Spells 2 Magma Spray 4 Abrade 3 Heart of Kiran 2 Karn, Scion of Urza 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 3 Unlicensed Disintegration	Land 1 Aether Hub 4 Canyon Slough 2 Cinder Barrens 4 Dragonskull Summit 11 Mountain 2 Spire of Industry 1 Swamp	Sideboard 2 Aethersphere Harvester 1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained 1 Arguel's Blood Fast 2 Chandra's Defeat 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Cut // Ribbons 1 Doomfall 3 Duress 1 Karn, Scion of Urza 1 Release the Gremlins 1 Vraska's Contempt

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Threats

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1-Drops

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One of the core aggressive threats of the deck, as the best turn 1 play that the deck can produce. Some of the decks most aggressive starts involve an early Exemplar putting on immediate pressure. It can be used to power up Heart of Kiran by resolving its beginning of combat trigger and then activating the vehicle before moving to attacks. It requires a critical mass of 1 and 2 mana artifacts for it to be worthwhile and so is often sided out when the deck shifts to a more controlling build postboard.

An unassuming creature that plays a few roles in the deck. On it's own, it's a mildly aggressive threat that can represent a lot of card advantage if it is able to attack uncontested for a few turns. It otherwise provides an early artifact to power up Exemplars, enable Spires, and upgrade Disintegrations. It also can pilot Aethersphere Harvestor quite readily. In a pinch, it can be used to clear your hand to allow Hazoret to attack. Generally worst case if drawn in top deck mode, it essentially cycles for 2 mana.

A third but less commonly used 1-drop. It featured heavily in earlier versions of the deck. It synergizes well with the heavy artifact presence in the deck and becomes an excellent aggressive threat. It is a good option if you want to go a bit more aggressive with the build.

Another less commonly used 1-drop found in some Red Black Vehicle lists. It synergizes beautifully with Goblin Chainwhirler, survives opposing Chainwhirlers and can help damage spells take down Hazoret.

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2-Drops

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This is essentially the card around which the entire deck is built. It is very aggressive evasive threat that is difficult to deal with with many forms of removal. It does require that the deck play enough 3+ power early creatures to be worthwhile. Keep in mind that Exemplar can pilot it if you allow the Exemplar's trigger to resolve before moving to declare attackers. Hazoret can also pilot Heart regardles of whether or not the god can attack. Don't forget that planeswalkers like Chandra can activate Heart, and can do this on both your turn and your opponent's. Despite the drawback of being legendary, this card is an automatch 4-of in a vehicles deck purely due to its power level.

Another core threat. It is an aggressively costed 3/2 for 2. So at its base level is passable. Due to being an artifact, it activates Exemplar, Spire, and Disintegration. It can also pilot Heart. It's recursive ability is where it really becomes good. This ability can be activated at instant speed, so you are able to reanimate Scrounger at the end of the opponents turn and then untap to attack immediately. The instant aspect of the ability also opens up some interesting lines using it to ambush attacking creatures with Heart of Kiran. It unfortunately cannot block, so sometimes should be sided out in the more aggressive matchups. Just be mindful that your artifact count is being reduced.

Featured heavily in the early versions of the the deck, this aggressive synergistic creature fell out of favour before coming back to become one of the core cards. As a 3 power 2 drop it is aggressive. It's scry 2 is surprisingly useful at keeping the deck consistent and digging for sideboard cards. His pump also makes the other vehicles in the deck trump opposing vehicles in the mirror. Keep in mind that the +1/+1 adjustment occurs before the vehicle even turns into a creature, which can sometimes be relevant on damage based removal.

Another option, this pseudo 2-drop has a lot of late game potential when games drag out. It has fallen out of favour more recently, but it still a more than valid option if you are building a more controlling midrange version of the deck.

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3-Drops

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Just a pure value card, which has a lot of play to it due to its activated abilities. On it's own, it's 3 power for 3 mana which is reasonable, and allows you to pilot Hearts between the two. Split between two bodies makes it resilient to removal. One of it's halves has a form of evasion. Pia herself has activations which allow you to push damage on Hearts, Scroungers, Couriers, Thopters, and Harvesters. In particular the last one is relevant as it amplifies your ability to blunt opposing aggressive decks with its lifegain. The second ability gives you the option of alpha striking through a large blocker or two. All in all, she's a great threat at 3 mana.

An powerful vehicle that excells at facing down opposing aggressive decks. Both its difficult to deal with toughness and ability to gain life make it a must have if you expect to see many other aggro decks. If not mainboard, this card is very often found in the sideboard as one of the best cards in aggro matchups.

A further 3-drop option, that is not as commonly used as the two above. Depala excells against midrange decks where her ability can pull you ahead in the card advantage war. Her passive ability to size up your Exemplars, Hearts, Motorists, and Harvesters helps fight against the larger creatures. Certainly a good option if you expect a lot of green based midrange decks, though 1-2 copies is likely the most you will need.

This 3-drop with a challenging mana cost is a four-of in the Red Black vehicles variant. In addition to killing x/1s on ETB, first strike can make blocking or attacking into it a nightmare.

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4-Drops

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A hard hitting, hard to kill, hasty threat for the top end of the curve. It's discard ability gives the deck inevitability. With Hazoret in the deck, it is important to keep the curve of the deck low so that you can clear out your hand quickly and allow Hazoret to attack quickly as possible. It is also reasonable to consider going to 23-24 lands in order to cast her on curve.

A difficult to deal with card that also clocks for 4 in the air. There are answers: Vraska's Contempt, Hour of Glory, Struggle // Survive, W exiling enchantments. But Magma Spray doesn't handle it cleanly and nobody wants to run Puncturing Blow. Situationally, it can be an advantageous blocker. Given how few answers there are for it, be aware of the possibility of hitting your own Phoenix with cards like Abrade in response to exiling removal.

One of the most versatile planeswalkers recently printed. She has 4 printed abilities, but in reality she is packing 5. Chandra can provide tempo, ramp, removal, burn, card advantage. And that is without really considering her ultimate which generally wins the game either immediaely or on untap. She is a bit fragile, given that her protective ability of removing a mid sized creature leaves her a 1 loyalty, but often the removal plus virtual life gain is plenty. Keep in mind that you cannot play lands off her exile, so best practice is to play any land in hand before activating that mode. Also understand that you must make the decision to cast the card revealed immediately, otherwise she does her damage. You cannot leave it exiled untl end of turn to cast it at a more opportune time. Chandra often hangs out in the sideboard as a good card advantage engine when shifting to a more controlling gameplan.

A bit of a nonbo with Hazoret, but often included in Red Black Vehicles. The high loyalty, card advantage and artifacts can all be useful.

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5-Drops

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A very strong top end. This is often going to be in the sideboard for when the deck decides to go a bit bigger. This dragon is strong enough for the mainboard. Just make sure to be running enough lands main or side to bring your count up to around 24-25 so that you can cast it on time. Don't be afraid to just attack without exerting. Racing can be better than the removal. Though, most often the Dragon will represent a 2 for 1, serving as both a question (threat requiring removal) and an answer (removal taking out a threat).

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Spells

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This is another core card of the deck, and automatic 4-of, and rivals Heart as the reason to play the deck. Given the rest of the deck is mainly Red and White, you need to be mindful that you have a sufficient amount of Black mana sources in your manabase (12-13). After that this card becomes one of the best possible spells you could run, providing unconditional removal and reach at instant speed. Keep in mind that even if the creature survives, e.g. it is indestructable, as long as Disintegration resolves properly (is not countered due to invalid target) it will still deal it's artifact enabled player damage to your opponent.

Versatile removal that can kill small creatures as well as opposing Vehicles along with some of the larger artifact creatures like the Gearhulks. It is also important to be able to deal with problematic permanents like God Pharaoh's Gift. In a vacuum, the deck would prefer to play regular burn spells, to give it reach, but Abrade in certain metas will outperform those cards in its versatility.

A very efficient removal option if you need to kill early creatures with an otherwise difficult to deal with toughness. Targets are often opposing Winding Constrictors, and Longtusk Cubs which can get out of hand if you let them stay in play for too long. Push also takes care of opposing Hearts and other annoying but otherwise hard to kill threats. The main disadvantage to it in a deck like this is that it requires a significant adjustment of the manabase to support being able to reliably cast it, as otherwise this deck is mainly a Red White deck with a splash of Black.

Exiling creature removal for small creatures that can be combined with other damage to exile larger creatures. Great against opposing Scrapheap Scroungers but efficient enough for some other applications.

At instant speed and 1 mana, the only thing to complain about is that it isn't Lightning Bolt. Shock is a solid burn spell that is efficient and can hit the player if needed. This spell might preferred over the likes of Abrade in unknown metas where its ability to go to the dome prevents it from being a deadcard in unusual matchups. Shock leans on the efficient side, helping to get Hazoret attacking sooner and answering an opponent's aggressive creatures quicker.

It deals 3, costs 2, and is instant speed. Most importantly it hits the opponent. Efficient Burn is great in this deck, as the game plan often revolves around dealing early damage and then using the reach of Burn to get the last points of damage in. Similar to Shock, valid option for more open metas where Abrade may or may not be a good card. You may choose this card over shock if you expect larger creatures in a slower meta where the artifact destruction of Abrade is less necessary, whereas going to the dome is.

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Lands

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The backbone of this decks manabase, allowing the player to operate a 3 colour aggro deck that doesn't suffer a lot from clunky slow starts due to tap lands. Unfortunately, Spire can be a little unstable in producing coloured mana, as it requires a critical mass of artifacts. So keep this in mind when sideboarding out any artifact spells.

This land is worth noting not so much in it's role as a manafixer for the deck, but for it's synergy for one of the mainstay Vehicles, Aethersphere Harvester. It's worthwhile to consider a couple of Hubs in any deck mainboarding that Vehicle purely because it will allow you to potentially get an additional lifegain activation. Likely 2 is about the maximum, otherwise you risk some very awkward starting hands.

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Other/Sideboard

Duress - Great sideboard card that comes in against control & combo decks, where Duress can either punch a hole in their defenses or disrupt their gameplan.

Arguel's Blood Fast - Sideboard card in Red Black Vehicles that comes in against control decks, where card advantage is more relevant than our own life total.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance - As above, a versatile threat. Often sided in when you want to go for a longer game, where her card advantage matters more.

Angrath, The Flame-Chained - A sometimes inclusion in Red Black sideboards. If landed, it can be a source of damage and opponent card disadvantage against control decks. Stealing and maybe saccing a creature with the minus can be used to take out planeswalkers and affect races also.

Fumigate - Normally you would not expect for an aggro deck to pack sweepers in its sideboard. However, with Vehicles, your main threats are able to dodge the effect. Furthermore, post-board threats like Chandra also make the sweeper more appealing. The main matchups for this card would be against midrange decks where their creatures will eventually outclass your own.

Glorybringer - As above, a very powerful top end threat. You will want to make sure that your deck either has 24 lands, or extras in the sideboard. This features in a go-big post sideboard strategy where the idea is to load up on removal and make the deck more of a control deck.

Magma Spray - While this does not hit players, it does have the relevant exiling text and is instant speed. It is excellent at removing opposing Scroungers as well as other recursive threats that would otherwise present a problem.

Cast Out - A catch-all answer that hits anything you need it to, while also having the fall back option of cycling for a card if it is not relevant

Lost Legacy - Fairly narrow but powerful hate card against combo centric strategies. You might consider this if you are facing down a of Approach matchups where this effectively removes their primary win-con.

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Comment Hidden

Why not have a land as a commander? What’s so important about being a creature or even legendary for that matter? This deck sets out to win with one of the slowest and easily disrupted 11-card combos in Magic.



Commanders
Child of Alara - Likely the best fit for the deck as it gives it access to a sweeper on demand. Given most of the deck revolves around getting lands on board and the win con is also lands, the destroying all nonland permanents is pretty good.
Progenitus - The hydra is also a great option for comander as an alternative win condition. Including a Cathedral of War allows it to 2-shot people.
Sliver Queen - A different approach to an alternate win condition. The Queen goes wide rather than big. It can also come in handy as a defensive card, churning out chump blockers.
O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami - This commander is likely more of a deterrent than anything else, making people think twice about attacking you, otherwise risking that you blow something up of theirs.
Cromat - Old school janky option. Cromat is a weird morphing style card that can do a fair job as an alternate win con that makes good use of spare mana. Progenitus and Sliver Queen are better, but perhaps not as interesting.

Creatures
Kiora's Follower - One Basic trick with Maze’s End is to activate, replay it, untap, and and then reactivate it. This is a way to accelerate the process. Follower is the most versatile of these untappers, so it makes the cut.
Riftsweeper - A major risk of running essentially an 11 card combo with no redundancy is that one of your Gates will get exiled. Riftsweeper is insurance against that possibility.
Azusa, Lost but Seeking - Best additional land per turn option for getting your gates into play ahead of schedule. Works really well with Maze’s End if you have an untapper or Amulet on board.
Krosan Restorer - One of the best untapper options. With Threshold you can untap both End as well as a couple lands needed to activate it again. She otherwise ramps you quite substantially Or accelerate the Crackling Perimeter win significantly.
Nissa, Vastwood Seer - It might seem odd to include her in a deck with only a handful of basic forests, but her Planeswalker half is a great value engine that fits well with the get lands into play plan. Playing her, fetching a forest, and then drawing a card off the planeswalker activation is good enough on its own.
Ramunap Excavator - Budget crucible. Both cards are good insurance plans against your Gates being destroyed via Strip Mines and so forth. It also plays well with Uncharted Realms.
Mina and Denn, Wildborn - Another additional land per turn card. This one has some added versatility in being able to bounce lands. This can come in handy to dodge targeted land destruction.
Oracle of Mul Daya - One of the best additional land per turn cards, that also helps dig deeper into the deck. Very good on its own, both her and Nissa, Steward of Elements get a significant boost from each other when both are present on board.
Restoration Angel - The deck needs backup plans as the Maze’s End win is relatively easy for opponents to disrupt. This card in conjunction with Kiki-Jiki gives you access to another a win-now Combo. The nice part about this plan B is that each half are great value cards on their own, since the deck has many ETB creatures. Notably Riftsweeper, on the off chance multiple Gates get exiled.
Stone-Seeder Hierophant - The best untapper. It is likely this deck’s unobvious must kill. In conjunction with additional land per turn cards, Hierophant can enable wins from multiple Maze’s End activations from seemingly out of nowhere.
Cloudblazer - Just a great value card that helps us dig for our Gates and synergises with our plan B cards.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker - The other half of our Resto Angel plan B win con. As with the Angel, this goblin can be a value engine along side Cloudblazer and Mulldrifter.
Mulldrifter - Another great value card just like Cloudblazer.
Seedborn Muse - Slightly awkward untapper, since it happens during opponent’s turn, but still very powerful. Especially when combined with things like Crackling Perimeter. It can also enable wins off Enter the Infinite where the main constraint tends to be to how many mana you can produce during a single turn.
The Gitrog Monster - Another additional land per turn card, but with some extra bonus text. This card works synergises with our cycling lands, Uncharted Realms, and Grapple with the Past, as the draw trigger on he frog doesn’t care how the land got into th graveyard. If you also have Excavator in play, the sacrifice trigger is much less painful and the frog is just a pure draw card engine at that point.
Greenwarden of Murasa - A good Eternal Witness style card that helps the deck fight through land destruction, but is otherwise a good value card. The extra death trigger is what gives it the nod over Witness.
Ulvenwald Hydra - Big creature that can threaten to win on its own, but is included for its ETB to fetch out a gate or Maze’s End, or any other useful utility land for that matter. It can be very effective alongside Kiki Jiki to both threaten a win via combat while also progressing the Maze End game plan.

Spells
Amulet of Vigor - Probably the best card in the deck given how many tap lands we play. It also accelerates our Maze’s End, especially in conjunction with additional land per turn cards.
Animist's Awakening - This ramp spell is a bit hit or miss, but can be an excellent way to get a couple of extra Guildgates into play in the later turns. Generally the plan is to cast this for 6-7+ mana and Spellmastery. It’s a bit like Boundless Realms in this deck, which cannot otherwise play a card like that.
Burgeoning - A lot of our cards draw cards or put lands into out hand. Maze’s End puts itself into our hand. As a result, this enchantment can provide a lot of value. Cast early it can put you very far ahead.
Expedition Map - Classic card to fetch our a particular land. Generally it is Maze’s End, but Wolf Run or High Market can sometimes be better.
Quicken - Mainly in the deck to enable wins with Enter the Infinite. The idea being that you can cast a card like Splendid Reclamation at instant speed after a Seedborn untap and discarding all the drawn Gates to Turbulent Dreams.
Traverse the Ulvenwald - Another Tutor that can fetch any land. It’s useful to point out that it can also search out Ulvenwald Hydra which will then get that land and put it directly into play.
Constant Mists - The best Fog we can play. In conjunction with Excavator it provides an indefinite stalling mechanism until we draw into a sweeper or something. If we have an additional land per turn card, we are not even necessarily stopping our game plan either.
Crackling Perimeter - Guildgate themed alternate win con that can actually be quite effective along side cards like Seedborn Muse or Korean Restorer.
Grapple with the Past - Because it doesn’t limit you to choosing from only the top x cards of the library, it makes this the best Grisly Salvage style card. In reality it’s more of an instant speed Restore.
Life from the Loam - The best graveyard retrieval for lands. There are some neat things you can do with it like rebuy cycling lands, then cycle them to rebuy Loam and dredge through the deck looking for Gates to then retrieve.
Mulch - Another good Grisely Salvage style card. This makes the cut because it gives us all of the revealed lands.
Nissa, Steward of Elements - Another good value card just like her 2-sided version. Late game you can cast her for 6+ counters and just keep using her zero activation for max value.
Summer Bloom - This card is included because of its potential for an explosive early start, and also because it can get your opponent’s off guard enabling an early win from seemingly nowhere.
Sylvan Scrying - Another any land tutor card. The deck has several good options to grab other than Maze’s End.
Turbulent Dreams - Mainly in the deck to enable wins using Enter the Infinite. It allows you to discard all of your gates so that you can then Splendid Reclamation them into play. Generally you need quite a bit of setup and a lot of mana to pull it off, but it does give you a way to instantly win in the late game.
Painful Truths - One of the better card draw spells that is ironically easy to cast on our clunky 5-color manabase.
Realms Uncharted - Great card to grab a bunch of Gates and then rely on stuff like Excavator or other cards to recur them into play.
Rites of Flourishing - Provides additional lands and cards per turn which is too much value for it to matter that it benefits your opponent’s. Often their game plan revolves around creatures that you will sweep away anyway, so in some sense we get more value out of it in the long run.
Day of Judgment - Creature sweeper. Nice budget option. Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, and Damnation are also good options.
Ghirapur Orrery - Very similar to Rites of Flourishing. Best cast when you are about to empty your hand.
Harmonize - Another solid draw spell. This one being Green is significant, as our non-gate lands are heavily biased towards that colour, so it will be much easier to cast than similar Blue options.
Kiora, Master of the Depths - Very effective at ramping and recurring lands. She is the better or the two Kiora. Paired with Krosan Restorer it gets a bit out of hand.
Kiora, the Crashing Wave - If you can get 2 Explores from her, you are doing well. She can sometimes stall problematic commanders or things like Valakut.
Reap and Sow - This is primarily played to give you another land tutor, bonus that it puts it straight into play. The land destruction half can often be relevant too though.
Splendid Reclamation - This card sometimes plays like a 1-card combo, especially if you have been using Loam during the game or if there is a mill deck in the group. Getting back even just a handful of lands is generally enough for it to be worthwhile. It’s a key card in an Enter the Infinite win sequence.
Tempt with Discovery - Cast early enough, opponents may not realise what you’re up to and give you a few extra Gates. Even with the risk that you only get 1, it tutors any land and puts it into play, which is good in itself.
Nissa, Vital Force - The last and most expensive of the included Nissa’s, she’s great as a means of recurring lands, which is basically why she’s in the deck. On the off chance you can plus her and keep her at 6 loyalty until your next turn, the ultimate’s emblem is also pretty good.
Rout - Instant speed sweepers are very good, as you can wait for maximum value and keep the initiative.
Worm Harvest - Good card at stalling the board that plays well and on theme with our lands matter deck. Excellent along side Excavator, which essentially gives you the rebuy for free.
Urban Evolution - Maybe the best draw spell we have. It’s easy for the deck to cast and puts an extra land into play. Great from all angles.
Akroma's Vengeance - Because our game plan revolves are lands, Sweepers that destroy most non-lands are very good for us. It’s not without some pain sometimes, as we may lose an Amulet or something else, but generally this is going to hurt our opponent’s way more than us. These sweepers are especially important to deal with more non-creature oriented decks like those playing Paradox Engine. Vengeance is nice also in that it won’t destroy our planeswalkers.
Austere Command - Similar to Vengeance, this sweeper will help us with non-creatures and creatures alike. Command is great for its flexibility.
Hour of Revelation - This takes care of everything, and almost always for only 3 mana.
Merciless Eviction - Another sweeper with flexibility like Austere. It’s an important addition to give us outs to indestructible permanents.
Planar Cleansing - The classic destroy all non-land permanents spell.
Fated Retribution - There are not many speed sweepers, but the timing is usually well worth the extra expense.
Praetor's Counsel - Good stuff card that helps us to recur lands if needed, but otherwise is just good at generating a lot of value in a long game.
Enter the Infinite - This card is essentially a 1-card Combo if you can setup properly and do your math right. You’ll need a ton of mana to pull it off, as generally your looking either have or put into play Seedborn or Amulet along with some additional land per turn cards. Play out the drawn Guildgates, with the help of Summer Bloom if you can, then untap after passing the turn and activate Maze. If you include Turbulent Dreams, you can also setup for a win by discarding your Gates and casting Splendid Reclamation. Quicken is helps to setup the Splendid Reclamation win, by allowing you to do during your opponent's turn after an untap with Seedborn.

Lands
Maze’s End & Guildgates (Azorius Guildgate, Boros Guildgate, Dimir Guildgate, Golgari Guildgate, Gruul Guildgate, Izzet Guildgate, Orzhov Guildgate, Rakdos Guildgate, Selesnya Guildgate, Simic Guildgate) - Pretty straightforward. Just make sure to have all 10 Gates.
Bojuka Bog - Good land tutor target to deal with decks abusing their graveyards.
High Market - This is a card you will want if you are playing with Child of Alara as your commander. It gives you an easy way to sacrifice him in order to trigger the sweeper effect.
Kessig Wolf Run - Great inclusion that gives you the ability to close out a game with basically any creature.
Maze of Ith - Excellent defensive card. It’s worthwhile to consider even runnings it’s contemporary version as well.
Reliquary Tower - Useful commander staple land to include. Comes in handy when we are holding a lot of reactive or late game spells but want to keep digging with card draw.
Tectonic Edge - Budget Strip Mine. The key is that it doesn’t let the opponent search for a replacement, allowing locks with Excavator or Crucible.
Westvale Abbey - Somewhat difficult to transform, it is a low opportunity cost to include it and it fits the lands matter theme. Sometimes decks will fold to an indestructible lifelinker, especially if you then sweep the board.
City of Brass & others (Cascading Cataracts, City of Brass, Command Tower, Exotic Orchard, Grand Coliseum, Mana Confluence, Path of Ancestry, Vivid Crag, Vivid Creek, Vivid Grove, Vivid Marsh, Vivid Meadow) - Including as many good 5 color lands as you can is important to keep the deck consistent.
Savage Lands & friends (Frontier Bivouac, Jungle Shrine, Opulent Palace, Sandsteppe Citadel, Savage Lands, Seaside Citadel) - Tri-lands are the next best thing to 5-color lands. However, not as important to include all of them. I suggest sticking to the ones that produce Green, as a majority of the deck needs Green, particularly the spells that allow you to fix your mana.
Tranquil Thicket & Cyclers (Scattered Groves, Sheltered Thicket, Slippery Karst, Tranquil Thicket) - These cards are generally more spells than lands. They play so well with cards like Loam that it’s worthwhile to have a few. Again, limiting to Green ones is suggested.
Forest - Lastly, we have a handful of basics. In part to fetch with Nissa or effects from the opponent like Ghost Quarter or Path to Exile. Green again to best support the deck, but if you expect cards like From the Ashes, it’s advisable to include one of each of the other types.

The deck differs substantially from competitive shells. It only overlaps with 3 cards. It would likely get better feedback in its own Big Red Dino thread.

Comment Hidden

For something to ruin the format, I’d say it would need to be both dominate and unfun to play against. I’m personally not seeing much more than the usual Jund-esque good stuff midrange decks that only coincidentally use energy. They are fun to play and interesting to play against. So don’t particularly seem like a huge problem.

Comment Hidden

I think a build that runs Inventors Apprentice would likely want to be running Scrapheap Scrounger in addition to Bomat Courier. Quite possibly Heart of Kiran as well. Something along the lines of below:


Key to the City is also an interesting option that can stand on its own as a 1 or 2-of in a list.

I'm thinking something along these lines for a Mono-Red build:

• Lightning Strike replaces Incendiary Flow. That's the easy one.
• Soul-Scar carries the weight for the missing 1-drops. This also pushes the deck in the direction of a 12-14 spell count. Luckily, Mage plays pretty well with the additional instant speed Burn that we have with Strike.
• Repeating Barrage replaces Collective Defiance. Keeps the Burn count high and adds additional inevitability.
• Vance's Blasting Cannons take over for Chandra 3 and 4 in the side as extra sources of card advantage post board. Drawing them is more useful when we already have Chandra, and they are harder to remove.

Edit: A card.

Suggestions for OP content

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Red Black or Mardu Vehicles

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Overview

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Aggressive decks that use powerful synergies with artifacts and vehicles in particular.

Mardu has the potential for extremely quick starts with Toolcraft Exemplar, while also having tenacious threats like Scrapheap Scrounger in longer games. Its premier card is Heart of Kiran which dodges the traditional type of sorcery speed removal and board sweepers. It's top end boasts a Hazoret the Fervent as a hard hitting, nigh unkillable threat, whose activation presents a form of inevitability. Often it draws on other powerful threats like Chandra and Glorybringer postboard. Overall the deck, while an aggrodeck, boasts a flexible gameplan with several angles of attack.

Red Black is less aggressive, with threats that include implicit potential card advantage like Goblin Chainwhirler, Rekindling Phoenix and Glorybringer.

Strategy

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The Mardu game plan is to apply pressure quickly just like any other aggro deck. Game 1, hands with an Exemplar and a follow-up artifact on T2 are premium. You will want to deploy your Hearts quickly as well, as they will essentially give many of your creatures virtual haste, allowing you to pilot the heart with a summoning sick creature, while your other creatures attack along side it. The mid game will often devolve into a tempo game where you look to put yourself in a position where you can Disintegrate a key blocker and perhaps activate Pia to make another creature not be able to block before swinging for lethal. Post board, the deck has the ability to turtle up and become more of a control deck, calling on more spot removal like Fatal Push, board sweepers like Fumigate, card advantage like Chandra, and big threats like Glorybringer to look to control the board before resolving a big threat that you ride to victory.

The Red Black Game plan overlaps, but is more reactive. Given a choice, try to kill things with Chainwhirler and Glorybringer. When needed, Chainwhirler's first strike makes it a potent blocker. In combat, damage can combine to take out an opponent's creature after first strike damage, but before the opponent's creature delivers it's damage.

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Sample Decklists

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Mardu Vehicles Stock ShellMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures (22) 4 Toolcraft Exemplar 4 Bomat Courier 4 Veteran Motorist 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 2 Pia Nalaar 4 Hazoret the Fervent Planeswalkers (1) 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance Vehicles (6) 4 Heart of Kiran 2 Aethersphere Harvester	Spells (7) 3 Abrade 4 Unlicensed Disintegration Lands (24) 2 Aether Hub 2 Canyon Slough 4 Concealed Courtyard 2 Dragonskull Summit 4 Inspiring Vantage 3 Mountain 3 Plains 4 Spire of Industry	Sideboard 1 Cast Out 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 3 Duress 2 Fumigate 3 Glorybringer 2 Magma Spray 2 Fatal Push

Red Black Vehicles: Simon Nielsen GP Birmingham WinnerMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 2 Walking Ballista 3 Soul-Scar Mage 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 4 Goblin Chainwhirler 2 Pia Nalaar 2 Rekindling Phoenix 2 Glorybringer Spells 3 Heart of Kiran 4 Abrade 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 2 Karn, Scion of Urza 2 Magma Spray 3 Unlicensed Disintegration	Land 1 Aether Hub 4 Canyon Slough 2 Cinder Barrens 4 Dragonskull Summit 11 Mountain 2 Spire of Industry 1 Swamp	Sideboard 1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained 2 Chandra's Defeat 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Cut // Ribbons 1 Doomfall 3 Duress 1 Fiery Cannonade 1 Glorybringer 1 Heartless Pillage 1 Karn, Scion of Urza 1 Release the Gremlins 1 Vraska's Contempt

Red Black Vehicles: SCG Classic Louisville 8th by Jeremy ZimmerMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
Creatures 3 Walking Ballista 3 Soul-Scar Mage 4 Scrapheap Scrounger 4 Goblin Chainwhirler 2 Pia Nalaar 2 Rekindling Phoenix 2 Glorybringer Spells 2 Magma Spray 4 Abrade 3 Heart of Kiran 2 Karn, Scion of Urza 2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 3 Unlicensed Disintegration	Land 1 Aether Hub 4 Canyon Slough 2 Cinder Barrens 4 Dragonskull Summit 11 Mountain 2 Spire of Industry 1 Swamp	Sideboard 2 Aethersphere Harvester 1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained 1 Arguel's Blood Fast 2 Chandra's Defeat 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance 1 Cut // Ribbons 1 Doomfall 3 Duress 1 Karn, Scion of Urza 1 Release the Gremlins 1 Vraska's Contempt

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Threats

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1-Drops

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One of the core aggressive threats of the deck, as the best turn 1 play that the deck can produce. Some of the decks most aggressive starts involve an early Exemplar putting on immediate pressure. It can be used to power up Heart of Kiran by resolving its beginning of combat trigger and then activating the vehicle before moving to attacks. It requires a critical mass of 1 and 2 mana artifacts for it to be worthwhile and so is often sided out when the deck shifts to a more controlling build postboard.

An unassuming creature that plays a few roles in the deck. On it's own, it's a mildly aggressive threat that can represent a lot of card advantage if it is able to attack uncontested for a few turns. It otherwise provides an early artifact to power up Exemplars, enable Spires, and upgrade Disintegrations. It also can pilot Aethersphere Harvestor quite readily. In a pinch, it can be used to clear your hand to allow Hazoret to attack. Generally worst case if drawn in top deck mode, it essentially cycles for 2 mana.

A third but less commonly used 1-drop. It featured heavily in earlier versions of the deck. It synergizes well with the heavy artifact presence in the deck and becomes an excellent aggressive threat. It is a good option if you want to go a bit more aggressive with the build.

Another less commonly used 1-drop found in some Red Black Vehicle lists. It synergizes beautifully with Goblin Chainwhirler, survives opposing Chainwhirlers and can help damage spells take down Hazoret.

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2-Drops

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This is essentially the card around which the entire deck is built. It is very aggressive evasive threat that is difficult to deal with with many forms of removal. It does require that the deck play enough 3+ power early creatures to be worthwhile. Keep in mind that Exemplar can pilot it if you allow the Exemplar's trigger to resolve before moving to declare attackers. Hazoret can also pilot Heart regardles of whether or not the god can attack. Don't forget that planeswalkers like Chandra can activate Heart, and can do this on both your turn and your opponent's. Despite the drawback of being legendary, this card is an automatch 4-of in a vehicles deck purely due to its power level.

Another core threat. It is an aggressively costed 3/2 for 2. So at its base level is passable. Due to being an artifact, it activates Exemplar, Spire, and Disintegration. It can also pilot Heart. It's recursive ability is where it really becomes good. This ability can be activated at instant speed, so you are able to reanimate Scrounger at the end of the opponents turn and then untap to attack immediately. The instant aspect of the ability also opens up some interesting lines using it to ambush attacking creatures with Heart of Kiran. It unfortunately cannot block, so sometimes should be sided out in the more aggressive matchups. Just be mindful that your artifact count is being reduced.

Featured heavily in the early versions of the the deck, this aggressive synergistic creature fell out of favour before coming back to become one of the core cards. As a 3 power 2 drop it is aggressive. It's scry 2 is surprisingly useful at keeping the deck consistent and digging for sideboard cards. His pump also makes the other vehicles in the deck trump opposing vehicles in the mirror. Keep in mind that the +1/+1 adjustment occurs before the vehicle even turns into a creature, which can sometimes be relevant on damage based removal.

Another option, this pseudo 2-drop has a lot of late game potential when games drag out. It has fallen out of favour more recently, but it still a more than valid option if you are building a more controlling midrange version of the deck.

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3-Drops

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Just a pure value card, which has a lot of play to it due to its activated abilities. On it's own, it's 3 power for 3 mana which is reasonable, and allows you to pilot Hearts between the two. Split between two bodies makes it resilient to removal. One of it's halves has a form of evasion. Pia herself has activations which allow you to push damage on Hearts, Scroungers, Couriers, Thopters, and Harvesters. In particular the last one is relevant as it amplifies your ability to blunt opposing aggressive decks with its lifegain. The second ability gives you the option of alpha striking through a large blocker or two. All in all, she's a great threat at 3 mana.

An powerful vehicle that excells at facing down opposing aggressive decks. Both its difficult to deal with toughness and ability to gain life make it a must have if you expect to see many other aggro decks. If not mainboard, this card is very often found in the sideboard as one of the best cards in aggro matchups.

A further 3-drop option, that is not as commonly used as the two above. Depala excells against midrange decks where her ability can pull you ahead in the card advantage war. Her passive ability to size up your Exemplars, Hearts, Motorists, and Harvesters helps fight against the larger creatures. Certainly a good option if you expect a lot of green based midrange decks, though 1-2 copies is likely the most you will need.

This 3-drop with a challenging mana cost is a four-of in the Red Black vehicles variant. In addition to killing x/1s on ETB, first strike can make blocking or attacking into it a nightmare.

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4-Drops

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A hard hitting, hard to kill, hasty threat for the top end of the curve. It's discard ability gives the deck inevitability. With Hazoret in the deck, it is important to keep the curve of the deck low so that you can clear out your hand quickly and allow Hazoret to attack quickly as possible. It is also reasonable to consider going to 23-24 lands in order to cast her on curve.

A difficult to deal with card that also clocks for 4 in the air. There are answers: Vraska's Contempt, Hour of Glory, Struggle // Survive, W exiling enchantments. But Magma Spray doesn't handle it cleanly and nobody wants to run Puncturing Blow. Situationally, it can be an advantageous blocker. Given how few answers there are for it, be aware of the possibility of hitting your own Phoenix with cards like Abrade in response to exiling removal.

One of the most versatile planeswalkers recently printed. She has 4 printed abilities, but in reality she is packing 5. Chandra can provide tempo, ramp, removal, burn, card advantage. And that is without really considering her ultimate which generally wins the game either immediaely or on untap. She is a bit fragile, given that her protective ability of removing a mid sized creature leaves her a 1 loyalty, but often the removal plus virtual life gain is plenty. Keep in mind that you cannot play lands off her exile, so best practice is to play any land in hand before activating that mode. Also understand that you must make the decision to cast the card revealed immediately, otherwise she does her damage. You cannot leave it exiled untl end of turn to cast it at a more opportune time. Chandra often hangs out in the sideboard as a good card advantage engine when shifting to a more controlling gameplan.

A bit of a nonbo with Hazoret, but often included in Red Black Vehicles. The high loyalty, card advantage and artifacts can all be useful.

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5-Drops

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A very strong top end. This is often going to be in the sideboard for when the deck decides to go a bit bigger. This dragon is strong enough for the mainboard. Just make sure to be running enough lands main or side to bring your count up to around 24-25 so that you can cast it on time. Don't be afraid to just attack without exerting. Racing can be better than the removal. Though, most often the Dragon will represent a 2 for 1, serving as both a question (threat requiring removal) and an answer (removal taking out a threat).

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Spells

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This is another core card of the deck, and automatic 4-of, and rivals Heart as the reason to play the deck. Given the rest of the deck is mainly Red and White, you need to be mindful that you have a sufficient amount of Black mana sources in your manabase (12-13). After that this card becomes one of the best possible spells you could run, providing unconditional removal and reach at instant speed. Keep in mind that even if the creature survives, e.g. it is indestructable, as long as Disintegration resolves properly (is not countered due to invalid target) it will still deal it's artifact enabled player damage to your opponent.

Versatile removal that can kill small creatures as well as opposing Vehicles along with some of the larger artifact creatures like the Gearhulks. It is also important to be able to deal with problematic permanents like God Pharaoh's Gift. In a vacuum, the deck would prefer to play regular burn spells, to give it reach, but Abrade in certain metas will outperform those cards in its versatility.

A very efficient removal option if you need to kill early creatures with an otherwise difficult to deal with toughness. Targets are often opposing Winding Constrictors, and Longtusk Cubs which can get out of hand if you let them stay in play for too long. Push also takes care of opposing Hearts and other annoying but otherwise hard to kill threats. The main disadvantage to it in a deck like this is that it requires a significant adjustment of the manabase to support being able to reliably cast it, as otherwise this deck is mainly a Red White deck with a splash of Black.

Exiling creature removal for small creatures that can be combined with other damage to exile larger creatures. Great against opposing Scrapheap Scroungers but efficient enough for some other applications.

At instant speed and 1 mana, the only thing to complain about is that it isn't Lightning Bolt. Shock is a solid burn spell that is efficient and can hit the player if needed. This spell might preferred over the likes of Abrade in unknown metas where its ability to go to the dome prevents it from being a deadcard in unusual matchups. Shock leans on the efficient side, helping to get Hazoret attacking sooner and answering an opponent's aggressive creatures quicker.

It deals 3, costs 2, and is instant speed. Most importantly it hits the opponent. Efficient Burn is great in this deck, as the game plan often revolves around dealing early damage and then using the reach of Burn to get the last points of damage in. Similar to Shock, valid option for more open metas where Abrade may or may not be a good card. You may choose this card over shock if you expect larger creatures in a slower meta where the artifact destruction of Abrade is less necessary, whereas going to the dome is.

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Lands

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The backbone of this decks manabase, allowing the player to operate a 3 colour aggro deck that doesn't suffer a lot from clunky slow starts due to tap lands. Unfortunately, Spire can be a little unstable in producing coloured mana, as it requires a critical mass of artifacts. So keep this in mind when sideboarding out any artifact spells.

This land is worth noting not so much in it's role as a manafixer for the deck, but for it's synergy for one of the mainstay Vehicles, Aethersphere Harvester. It's worthwhile to consider a couple of Hubs in any deck mainboarding that Vehicle purely because it will allow you to potentially get an additional lifegain activation. Likely 2 is about the maximum, otherwise you risk some very awkward starting hands.

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Other/Sideboard

Duress - Great sideboard card that comes in against control & combo decks, where Duress can either punch a hole in their defenses or disrupt their gameplan.

Arguel's Blood Fast - Sideboard card in Red Black Vehicles that comes in against control decks, where card advantage is more relevant than our own life total.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance - As above, a versatile threat. Often sided in when you want to go for a longer game, where her card advantage matters more.

Angrath, The Flame-Chained - A sometimes inclusion in Red Black sideboards. If landed, it can be a source of damage and opponent card disadvantage against control decks. Stealing and maybe saccing a creature with the minus can be used to take out planeswalkers and affect races also.

Fumigate - Normally you would not expect for an aggro deck to pack sweepers in its sideboard. However, with Vehicles, your main threats are able to dodge the effect. Furthermore, post-board threats like Chandra also make the sweeper more appealing. The main matchups for this card would be against midrange decks where their creatures will eventually outclass your own.

Glorybringer - As above, a very powerful top end threat. You will want to make sure that your deck either has 24 lands, or extras in the sideboard. This features in a go-big post sideboard strategy where the idea is to load up on removal and make the deck more of a control deck.

Magma Spray - While this does not hit players, it does have the relevant exiling text and is instant speed. It is excellent at removing opposing Scroungers as well as other recursive threats that would otherwise present a problem.

Cast Out - A catch-all answer that hits anything you need it to, while also having the fall back option of cycling for a card if it is not relevant

Lost Legacy - Fairly narrow but powerful hate card against combo centric strategies. You might consider this if you are facing down a of Approach matchups where this effectively removes their primary win-con.

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Comment Hidden

Comment Hidden

Since there's been some talk about sideboarding, I just want to share my thoughts on my tentative sideboard plan, even though it's about a month later.

For reference, I am playing Blake Miller's build from GP Memphis:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-mardu-vehicles-44962#paper

My rather extensive sideboard plans that I am using for this deck are as follows: (again, this is tentative)
Mirror:
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger (on the draw)
-1 Heart of Kiran

+1 Battle at the Bridge
+2 Settle the Wreckage

Grixis Energy:
-2 Heart of Kiran (-1 on the play)
-1 Abrade
-4 Walking Ballista (on the draw)
-1 Canyon Slough (on the play)
-1 Rekindling Phoenix (on the play)

+3 Duress
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained (on the draw)
+2 Cast Out (on the draw)
+1 Profane Procession

R/G Monsters:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-3 Abrade
-1 Heart of Kiran

+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+1 Profane Procession
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained

U/B Control:
-4 Unlicensed Disintegration
-3 Abrade
-2 Cut // Ribbons

+2 Cast Out
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+3 Duress
+1 Arguel’s Blood Fast
+1 Profane Procession

W/B Vampires:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Heart of Kiran
-1 Canyon Slough
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

+2 Settle the Wreckage
+3 Duress

Mono White Aggro:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Heart of Kiran
-1 Canyon Slough
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-1 Unlicensed Disintegration

+1 Profane Procession
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge

U/W Gift:
-4 Walking Ballista
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration

+1 Profane Procession
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+3 Duress

W/U Cycling:
-4 Unlicensed Disintegration
-2 Abrade
-2 Cut // Ribbons

+2 Cast Out
+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+3 Duress
+1 Arguel’s Blood Fast

W/U Auras:
-2 Walking Ballista
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

+3 Duress
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+1 Profane Procession

G/W Aggro:
-4 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration

+1 Profane Procession
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge
+3 Duress

Abzan Tokens:
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-1 Abrade
-1 Heart of Kiran

+2 Cast Out
+3 Duress

U/W Approach:
-3 Unlicensed Disintegration
-2 Abrade
-2 Cut // Ribbons

+1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
+1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
+3 Duress
+1 Arguel’s Blood Fast
+1 Profane Procession

Sultai Constrictor:
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Walking Ballista

+2 Settle the Wreckage
+2 Cast Out

U/B Midrange:
-1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
-2 Heart of Kiran
-2 Walking Ballista

+2 Settle the Wreckage
+2 Cast Out
+1 Profane Procession

Mono-Red, B/R Aggro:
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Heart of Kiran
-1 Canyon Slough
-1 Abrade
-1 Rekindling Phoenix
-2 Unlicensed Disintegration

+1 Chandra’s Defeat
+2 Authority of the Consuls
+2 Cast Out
+2 Settle the Wreckage
+1 Battle at the Bridge

Any commentary/suggestions on my plans is welcome. These plans could very well change over the next few weeks as I play with the deck more, and I'll be happy to share my edits as I figure the deck out.

Comment Hidden

managed to go into top 8 of a 37-man PPTQ using mono red.

will post the deck list and report tomorrow. i am quite tired, as this is the first time i played in a competitive tournament in a year after 2 months of not playing Magic at all.

RPPTQ Minneapolis Tournament ReportR



quite a straightforward deck with a couple of combat tricks. why not 4 Hazoret? because i don't have a 4th and there's no one selling them at the venue.

anyway, on with the matchup breakdown.

Round 1 vs Grixis Control - Win. oh boy. control for the first round. i just tried to dump my hand and bring his life total to zero before he could stabilize... which he could not because the sweeper he used was Fiery Cannonade and i had Fanatical Firebrand in play.

Round 2 vs U/W Cycling - Loss. this was a frustrating matchup. the loss of Rampaging Ferocidon means lifegain to stabilize vs aggressive red decks is a good strategy. Renewed Faith and Authority of the Consuls were just backbreaking.

Round 3 vs Grixis Energy - Win. i do not think the tweaked his mana base enough because he was mana screwed 2 games and i was able to chip away his life total quite easily.

Round 4 vs Mardu vehicles - Win. game 1 he ran me over with Heart of Kiran. the next 2 games i went control mode, patiently killing his creatures before i launched a counterattack.

Round 5 vs U/W Approach - Win. considering how i was defeated by another U/W deck previously due to lifegain, i felt quite down i had to face another deck with life gain. game 3 i mulliganed to 5, but my opponent apparently kept a slow hand, and when he finally cast a Regal Caracal to stabilize, he was already at 1 life and i top decked a Sunscorched Desert.

Round 6 - Intentional Draw. my opponent and i agred to draw since we're both gonna get into the top 8 anyway.

Quarterfinals vs Grixis Energy - Loss. game 1 i flooded, game 2 i was stuck on 1 land for a long time. he managed to cast 2 Whirler Virtuosos and it was over for me before i was able to fight back.



Overall, i feel that Mono Red is still competitive in a meta that plays a slower decks. with Attune with Aether banned, mana fixing was hit. but then the loss of Ramapging Ferocidon i really felt with my loss vs U/W Cycling.

that it for my report. if you guys have any suggestions or questions i welcome them.

Would you even consider calling this Ramunap Red now? You're excluding the essential land (Ramunap Ruins) and are pushing towards a more vehicle based deck with the likes of Boros cards such as Motorist. This is heavily suggesting Mardu Vehicles with a Dinosaur twist. I wouldn't consider this innovation, more of a switch of decks if this is the case.

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Comment Hidden

Played a couple of trials at GP Portland today, with the list posted above. First one lost in Top 16 (all single elim) to Sultai Energy in three games, but was right down to the wire. Had him on 1, needed burn or Ramunap Ruins, and neither showed up in 3 turns. Second one got paired against a weird Grixis tokens deck (with Decoction Module) in the first round. Great hand g1, with two Ferocidon in hand, but never saw a third land. Game two I mulled to 5, kept four land and an Abrade, then proceeded to draw five consecutive lands. Ah well. Main event tomorrow, and playing all nine rounds regardless of results.