Primer: Mardu Midrange

[Christen]

[deck]
Creatures
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Tormented Hero
4 Chief of the Edge
4 Hushwing Gryff
4 Butcher of the Horde

Spells
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Crackling Doom
4 Stoke the Flames

Enchantments
3 Mardu Ascendancy

Planeswalkers
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Lands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Battlefield Forge
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
1 Plains

Sideboard
3 Thoughtseize
2 End Hostilities
2 Anger of the Gods
1 Glare of Heresy
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
[/deck]

idk, just throwing it out here.

[Toblakai]

Here's a detailed write up on Mardu Midrange that may be of interest. I have to say, I agree with him in respect to Mardu Charm.

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12112

[eldub]

Mardu Charm is a solid roleplayer if your goal is to play the 'control' role (especially game 1) against the majority of the field. Decks like Raph Levy's Mardu Control from the PT play the full 4 for this reason. On the other spectrum, if you're trying to get them from 20>0 with Rabblemaster, Butcher, & Dragon, the charm will at times be a dead card. You're a lot better off with the full playset of Crackling Doom alongside some burn or potentially Hero's Downfall.

My takeaway from the PT is that Mardu does not have the card advantage to play the super long game against either Planeswalker-based Abzan nor Jeskai with Dig Through Time. I'll be taking a much more aggressive approach this weekend at GP Los Angeles:

[DECK]
Land (25)
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Caves of Koilos
3x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
1x Plains
1x Swamp
4x Temple of Silence
2x Temple of Triumph

Creature (17)
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
2x Seeker of the Way
4x Stormbreath Dragon

Planeswalker (4)
1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Instant (10)
4x Crackling Doom
2x Lightning Strike
3x Magma Jet
1x Utter End

Sorcery (4)
4x Thoughtseize

Sideboard
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
4x Deflecting Palm
3x Despise
2x Hushwing Gryff
1x Liliana Vess
1x Utter End
[/DECK]
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/15-10-14 ... nge-eldub/

This list has a ton of tuning/testing time against the field and I feel very good about my expected matchups this weekend. Seeker of the Way has dwindled down from a 4x to 2x over time but in general he plays a useful role in certain matchups and I always love seeing one in my opening hand. If nothing else he acts as a lightning rod for removal that can hit Rabblemaster.

The biggest departure from the rest of the lists around the web is the lack of anything costing double-black, most notably Hero's Downfall. The card is simply too slow and a reasonable manabase does not exist to support Downfall, Brimaz and Anger all in the same deck. While Lightning Strike and Magma Jet may pale in overall power level to downfall, they are never dead cards and give me plenty of plays in the early turns of the game. Utter End is a late addition to the deck to deal with the likes of Perilous Vault and/or Ascendancy but it does a great Downfall impersonation when needed.

I will update everyone on both my successes and failures at GP LA and I hope to see some of you there.

[Toblakai]

Seeker should work wonderfully in Mardu. Do you even need Brimaz? I never missed him in my BR shell, though I'd favor this one for Seeker.

[eldub]

Brimaz has been quite strong at overloading Stoke the Flames as removal out of Jeskai, hes an MVP in that matchup and they're usually forced to Charm him to the top of my library. He also works so well as a sidebord plan with Anger of the Gods.

This deck really wants to be attacking in the air and Brimaz is often your best chance at protecting Sorin / Sarkhan from opposing creatures. It's possible 2 is the right number but I definitely am favoring him in pretty much any matchup besides the controlling versions of Abzan where I sideboard two out. Surviving Anger / Drown / Bile Blight / Lightning Strike is pretty relevant when your goal is to present more threats than they can answer.

[Toblakai]

I look forward to hearing back from you Eldub. Does Master of the Feast have a place in BR variants of Mardu, in place of Brimaz? A 5/5 flier for three seems pretty potent, but its the drawback that I'd be concerned with.

[AledM11]

Has anyone thought about turning this into a mardu burn and fliers deck?
Essentially we are playing the Jeskai game of burn + flying threats but taking on mardu options instead....

2cmc - seeker/alterac bloodseeker?
3cmc - rabblemaster/herald of torment/master of the feast/ hushwing gryff
4cmc - ashcloud phoenix/butcher
5cmc- sarkhan/stormbreath/wingmate roc

replace jeskai charm with crackling doom, run a similar burn package....onto a winner perhaps?

[Lightning_Dolt]

We talked about this on the clan thread, but Jeskai - blue + black =/= success lol.

I tested Mardu Tempo, Mardu Heros, Mardu Warriors, Mardu Tokens and Mardu Aggro. None of them were very good.

[eldub]

I tend to agree with Lightning_Dolt. Mardu's strengths are at the end of the midrange spectrum and you need to bridge the gap with 2cmc removal/burn and Thoughtseize. I've tried lots of variants and the only way I've been able to win consistently is bashing people in the face with Rabblemaster/Butcher/Dragon.

[rcwraspy]

I tried a Mardu Burn shell that was basically a Jeskai deck subbing Crackling Doom for Charm and Butcher for Mantis Rider and Hordeling Outburst for Dig Through Time (as horrible as that sounds). Results were that it's slightly weaker against aggro unless you can survive to turn on lifelink from Butcher, at which point it dominates aggro. It's slightly better than Jeskai against Abzan, but only by the smallest of margins. And the counterspells from Jeskai put them fairly well over the top in that "mirror." So all in all not really worth it, unfortunately.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Took down my 25 player FNM with this:

[deck]
Creatures:15
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells:20
4 Thoughtseize
4 Lightning Strike
3 Crackling Doom
2 Hero's Downfall
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Utter End
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Lands:25
1 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Swamp
2 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard:15
3 Magma Spray
2 Glare of Heresy
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Harness by Force
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Liliana Vess
1 Murderous Cut[/deck]

Was unhappy with Glare and Brimaz. Will likely change those for tomorrow.

[Toblakai]

Why not swap Brimaz for Master of the Feast? Your mana base skews R splash B, and I think it'd be easier to land this one than Brimaz. Seems like you get more value, too.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Master of the Feats is a bad magic card.

You: play master of the feats.
Them: ok
You: upkeep, draw your free card
Them: ok
You: attack
Them: kill master

Master ALWAYS plays out that way and is always a 2 for 1.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I think I'm going to try Hushwing.

[Lightning_Dolt]

#bragpost



Report in the morning.

[NotARobot]

Grats! Same list as before?

Brad Nelson did VERY well with a mardu list as well at the GP yesterday, I'm looking forward to the lists!

[Lightning_Dolt]

So here's my report / list:

[deck]
Creatures (14)
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
2 Hushwing Gryff
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells (21)
4 Thoughtseize
4 Lightning Strike
3 Crackling Doom
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Utter End
1 Murderous Cut
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Lands (25)
1 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
2 Mana Confluence
2 Mountain
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Swamp
2 Temple of Malice
2 Temple of Silence
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard (15)
3 Magma Spray
3 Nyx-Fleece Ram
3 Anger of the Gods
1 Harness by Force
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 End Hostilities
1 Liliana Vess[/deck]

I went for Hushwing over Brimaz because Brimaz has consistently been the worst card in the deck and I wanted to shore up the Abzan match up. I added 1 cut to the removal package because I wanted one more kill spell. The one of is sexy, especially when you can play a Butcher / Sorin on T5 and leave up a to cast it. I upped the Utter Ends because it's been over-performing and upped the Elspeth's because I wanted to draw her more often.

Game Day 1

UW Heroic (2-1)
Jeskai (2-0)
UB Control (2-1)
Jeskai (1-2)
ID

Top 8
Jeskai (2-0)
Mirror (1-2)

UW Heroic basically came down to killing their hero when they don't have a trick. You have to time your removal well. Jeskai is almost unloseable except when you screw / flood (which happened games 1 & 3 in round 4). U/B control was really difficult, but I landed Liliana in the 2nd + 3rd games and she was a house. Mirror was difficult because I was on the draw game 1 and he had multiple thoughtseizes and then out-tempo'd me. Game 2 I drew all the burn spells and burned him out. Game 3 I mulled to 5 and never hit a red source.

I entered the second Game Day with a round loss since I was still playing in the top 4 of the first one when they were starting the second.

Game Day 2

Round Loss
U/W Ensoul (2-0)
Jeskai (2-1)
Jeskai (2-0)
ID

Top 8
Abzan (2-1)
Jeskai (2-0)
Jeskai (2-0)

U/W Ensoul was easy. Jeskai is still easy. Abzan was very difficult and very grindy. Utter End (for Whip of Erebos) was key and Harness by Force (taking his Siege Rhino, which lost its ETB due to Hushwing Gryff + Arbor Colossus) then attack + Sac to Butcher of the Horde won the day.

For anyone having trouble against Jeskai, I am 10-1 against them over the weekend with the following plan:

-2 Hushwing Gryff
-2 [card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card]
-1 Mana Confluence
-4 Goblin Rabblemaster

+3 Nyx Fleece Ram
+3 Anger of the Gods
+ 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
+1 Liliana Vess
+1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

I highly recommend this build in Jeskai heavy metagames. It is highly favourable against them. Abzan is about even to slightly unfavourable. UB Control is difficult and slightly to very unfavourable depending on pilots. It's favoured against everything else.

Moving Forward, I think I may want the full set of Gryffs to improve the Abzan m/u.

[Toblakai]

Nicely done, Dolt. Did you rely on Elspeth's tokens for Butcher food?

[Lightning_Dolt]

Came up two or three times, but that situation is almost always win more since Elspeth wins on her own.

[Christen]

I'm waiting for Brad Nelson's list to show up. He ran Hordeling Outburst which peaks my interest.

[Lightning_Dolt]

It's up. Will update primer and post here after The Walking Dead.

I don't like that he runs Wingmate over Stormbreath. Stormbreath is so good right now.

[Lightning_Dolt]

[deck= BARD NARSON – MARDU MIDRANGE, GRAND PRIX LOS ANGELES TOP 8]

Planeswalker (4)
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

Creature (15)
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde
3 Wingmate Roc

Sorcery (4)
4 Hordeling Outburst

Instant (9)
4 Lightning Strike
4 Crackling Doom
1 Murderous Cut

Enchantment (3)
3 Chained to the Rocks

Land (25)
3 Battlefield Forge
6 Mountain
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Swamp
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Temple of Silence

Sideboard (15)
2 Magma Spray
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Glare of Heresy
2 End Hostilities
2 Read the Bones
2 Banishing Light
2 Anger of the Gods[/deck]

[Christen]

-3 Roc, +3 Stormbeath or 2/2 split with Sarkhan.

Sideboard is tight to be honest so I'm not sure what to change. It's too applicable in our local meta as well.

EDIT: Corrected numbers.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Stormbreath > Sarkan.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Things that kill Stormbreath that don't kill Sarkan: Murderous Cut (one or two of max), Stoke the Flames, Sarkan, the Dragon Speaker, [card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card].

Things that kill Sarkan that don't kill Stormbreath: Abzan Charm, Jeskai Charm (kind of, but relevant), Banishing Light, Utter End, Devouring Light, Ashen Rider

Things Sarkan gets chumped by that Stormbreath doesn't: Wingmate Roc / Token, Butcher of the Horde, Mantis Rider, Hushwing Gryff, Ashen Rider, Triplicate Spirits Tokens.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I recon I'll try Roc next time I play, but I doubt I'll prefer it to SBD.

[Christen]

Roc allows you for grindier games and leaves you another token. The meta calls for Stormbreath Dragon though.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Mine certainly does lol.

[Wrathberry]

well, sarkhan has his advantages too.

but i agree that stormbreath is very good in current meta. actualy only heroes downfall and stoke the flames kill him. he cant be blocked by mantis rider. can hold up siege rhinos and so on..

[Wrathberry]

i dont think we have place for roc in mardu btw..

we got sarkhan and stormbreath on 5 mana.

who the hell needs roc there? i think he is just not good on our deck since our alternatives are just better.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I think it's worth testing. Both decks in the top 16 ran Roc. There might be something we're missing.

[Zooligan]

This has been treating me pretty well casually dicking around:

[deck] Mardu Army[/deck]

I had Raise the Alarm in place of Magma Jet at one time, but I REALLY like the scry on the Jet and the ability to point it at the face. I would love to have some 1 drops in here, but there is nothing I really want to drop to make room.

Next, how to build a sideboard. Ideas?

[eldub]

GP LA Tourney Report

Overall I had a great experience at GP LA. I picked up my third loss in the 8th round and my 9th round was a no-show so I ended the day 6-3. Highlight of the day was being paired up against Patrick Chapin in Round 4. I was also seated next to Valentin Mackl that round with whom I made friends and we talked a few times throughout the day about the Mardu list he and Brad were playing with Hordeling Outburst. He was pretty down on the deck early in the day but his attitude changed quite a bit when I caught up with him later in the day sitting at 7-0.

Overall my deck performed well (you can find my list above), the only changes I made were to bring in 2 Anger of the Gods main deck for Seekers which was fine. There was a ton of mono red in the room and I was not at all confident I could keep up without Anger. I followed Valentin and Brad most of the day and caught a few of their off-camera games late Saturday and the card we were actually all missing is Hordeling Outburst. You could talk around in circles about Wingmate vs Stormbreath vs Sarkhan (I'm still in the SBD camp btw), but Outburst really puts the deck in a winning position against Jeskai and agro variants. It synergizes well with so many of the cards in the deck.

Previously I had to skew my mana base to 17 White sources to support an on-curve Brimaz, but moving to Hordeling Outburst also enabled enough mountains that Chained to the Rocks comes into play. These two together are a big step forward for the otherwise clunky curve we have (9-10 tap lands).

I've spent a few days testing this week and there are only a few places I have changed the list from Brad's:

- 1x Thoughtseize replacing Murderous Cut main deck and 2x Thoughtseize in place of Read the Bones sideboard. This effect is simply too powerful for me to ignore for my playstyle. I'm very much into 'making a hole' and ending the game as quickly as possible with Hasty Flying Beatdown(tm). This is also a bit of insurance against an Anger/Drown blowout.
- An additional Sarkhan and 2x Stormbreath over 3x Wingmate. This may actually end up being wrong, but my game plan is typically to go under most of the midrange Abzan stuff game one and nothing does that better than Dragon. Jeskai also struggles against Dragon unless they have exactly Stoke the Flames for both butchers and dragons.
- One additional BW mana source over a RW. There's plenty of red sources and I found myself unable to find black+white reliably enough for Turn 3 Crackling Doom with 6 basic mountains.
- Hushwing Gryff + Utter End over Banishing Light + Suspension Field. I played Gryff in my SB over the weekend and it truly over-performed. I also saw quite a few people getting blown out by Erase or other BLs so I'm sticking with Glare + Utter End to get rid of nasty permanents. This also gives me another answer to Sarkhan which we can be soft to.
- 2x Harness by Force + Chandra over 3x Elspeth. This one is almost certainly going to turn heads, but at the end of the day, Elspeth is pretty slow for what my deck is trying to do. I'm not sure that you can actually play the control role vs a list like Chapin's Abzan and win on the draw (which was Brad's plan). I certainly haven't been able to in my testing. I lose to Wingmate Roc a lot in that matchup and Elspeth is terrible against it. Elspeth is also a lot better when your 5-drop is Wingmate Roc since the minus ability only kills butcher. Since I'm playing Dragon and trying to race, this seemed like the best option. Plus my Butchers love Rhino meat .

Here's the list I'll be taking to my LGS tonight:

[DECK]
Land (25)
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
1x Caves of Koilos
6x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
1x Swamp
3x Temple of Silence
2x Temple of Triumph

Planeswalker (5)
2x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Creature (14)
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Seeker of the Way
2x Stormbreath Dragon

Instant (8)
4x Crackling Doom
4x Lightning Strike

Sorcery (5)
4x Hordeling Outburst
1x Thoughtseize

Enchantment (3)
3x Chained to the Rocks

Sideboard
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
2x End Hostilities
2x Glare of Heresy
2x Harness by Force
2x Hushwing Gryff
2x Thoughtseize
2x Utter End
[/DECK]
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mardu-outburst-eldub/

[Lightning_Dolt]

This has been treating me pretty well casually dicking around:

[deck] Mardu Army[/deck]

I had Raise the Alarm in place of Magma Jet at one time, but I REALLY like the scry on the Jet and the ability to point it at the face. I would love to have some 1 drops in here, but there is nothing I really want to drop to make room.

Next, how to build a sideboard. Ideas?

not trying to be a dick, but this just seems like a less refined / powerful version of Nelson's list.

[Lightning_Dolt]

@ eldub, I tried to tell people hordeling outburst was a good card lol.

Glad this result finally settles it.

[Lightning_Dolt]

And congrats on the 6-3. That's almost there and I'm sure you'll get em next time.

[eldub]

This has been treating me pretty well casually dicking around:

[deck] Mardu Army[/deck]

I had Raise the Alarm in place of Magma Jet at one time, but I REALLY like the scry on the Jet and the ability to point it at the face. I would love to have some 1 drops in here, but there is nothing I really want to drop to make room.

Next, how to build a sideboard. Ideas?

A couple of Magma Jet's is definitely fine, but they end up going to the dome a ton with no creature targets and I would hesitate playing more than two. I would also not play Mardu without 4x Crackling Doom and 4x Butcher, so those would be my recommendations for adjustments. Make sure you're getting what you need from Mardu Charm, I have a hard time believing they're more useful than Sorin. Sorin seems to be the card you're missing here with the token theme and you may consider him over Dragons if you stick with the playset of Charms.

Sideboard stuff I would consider is Glare of Heresy, Hushwing Gryff, Suspension Field, Gods Willing, Trumpet Blast & Thoughtseize.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Mardu Charm is the biggest trap card in standard.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Crackling Doom is the real Mardu Charm lol.

[Zooligan]

not trying to be a dick, but this just seems like a less refined / powerful version of Nelson's list.

Maybe, but I can't shell out for 3 Sorin, a Sarkhan, 3 Elspeth, and 3 Wingmate Roc ATM. I guess most problems can be solved with just mo'money.

Wasn't meant to be a "this is the direction Mardu should go" kind of post. Like I said, just a dicking around list. But seems to have some nice interactions. If that kind of convo doesn't belong in this thread just ignore it.