Primer: Mardu Midrange

[Aodh]

where do i find brads newest list?^^

[deck]
Creatures (12)
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Seeker of the Way

Planeswalkers (7)
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Spells (16)
3 Chained to the Rocks
4 Crackling Doom
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Lightning Strike
1 Murderous Cut

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

Sideboard (15)
3 Anger of the Gods
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 End Hostilities
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Read the Bones
2 Utter End
1 Harness By Force
[/deck]

Why the fuck are the 3 Chained to the Rocks in a deck with 6 mountains?

[Whole]

Well I guess it depends on whether you consider a midrange deck to be more of an aggro or control deck. I just think this is closer to a deck like Abzan midrange than it is to Jeskai Burn & Boss Sligh...and there are no threads in the "controlling variants" right now lol

edit: @Aodh, with 4 Bloodstained Mire, it is effectively 9.5-10 mountains.

[dauntless268]

I think the format is very midrangey at the moment, so the more aggressive decks like Mardu and Jeskai are playing a tempo game against Abzan which has the highest individual card quality. I feel Boss Sligh is the only real aggro deck in the format worth of mention.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Mardu is an Aggressive midrange due to haste + burn etc.

There are 10 mountains effectively. You can usually cast chained by T4 which is when you really need it.

[Aodh]

Well I guess it depends on whether you consider a midrange deck to be more of an aggro or control deck. I just think this is closer to a deck like Abzan midrange than it is to Jeskai Burn & Boss Sligh...and there are no threads in the "controlling variants" right now lol

edit: @Aodh, with 4 Bloodstained Mire, it is effectively 9.5-10 mountains.

Right, I completely overlooked that for some stupid reason haha. Much more reasonable, but still a bit low for my tastes.

[Zooligan]

I cut down to two CttR and lost the Murderous Cut for two Banishing Light main. But then again, I'm apparently not really playing Mardu Midrange

[rcwraspy]

I cut down to two CttR and lost the Murderous Cut for two Banishing Light main. But then again, I'm apparently not really playing Mardu Midrange

When I said "you're not running Mardu Midrange if you run swiftspear" I meant that Swiftspear simply doesn't belong in Midrange. To borrow your phrase, "don't be simple." Sure, you can slot any card in any deck and because it's just a 4-of it doesn't dramatically alter the gameplan of the deck. But it DOES make it worse.

[Zooligan]

I don't know, I think it fits the plan of being aggro game 1.

You know what I think sucks tho, is the extremely overpowered blue cards in the standard format at the moment. With the oodles of cheap counters and great card draw blue has at the moment, you would think the least they could do for fireslingers is give our Hordelings haste or something. How about a Pyroblast reprint WotC?

[Lightning_Dolt]

Did you play last standard? I get to resolve so much more this time around... no complaints about blue here.

[Zooligan]

Played first set of last standard in paper. Playing now online. UB, UW, and Temur seem to have my number. Of course it could be normal variance.

[Lightning_Dolt]

UB only runs 9-10 counters in their 75.

[Jedi_Knight]

What L_D said. Sure, there is Dig. But I can't say that I find that more annoying than Revelation for bazillion outside of burn range. And the most played wrath in the current standard is either pure white and costs five or is RED.

I'll take that over battling Esper or UW any day.

[poppa_f]

Amen brother

[Lightning_Dolt]

Can I get a hell yeah?

[Zooligan]

It's possible that I am playing against folks testing out counter-heavy builds in the tournament practice room, or possible that folks are just drawing counter heavy hands. It's probably more likely that I just don't really understand how to play against blue and around counterspells...

[Zooligan]

See here - http://www.channelfireball.com/articles ... irty-blue/

TWoo know what up wit Blue.

Seriously, how are we supposed to battle 5/5 flying artifact creatures on turn 2 (Ensoul on Ornithopter). This is the kind of shit I've been running into, except they have been playing their Stubborn Denials, Disdainful Strokes, Negates, Nullifys, and Dissolves maindeck.

[Jedi_Knight]

Crackling Doom when on play? Or just crackling doom when they tap out. Seriously, Crackling Doom is like the best shit I've seen from KtK.

Haven't plazed against Ensoul, would love to though.

Started testing on MTGO and so far having problems with Jeskai. Feels like a top deck war each damn time.

[Zooligan]

Crackling Doom when on play? Or just crackling doom when they tap out. Seriously, Crackling Doom is like the best shit I've seen from KtK.

Haven't plazed against Ensoul, would love to though.

Started testing on MTGO and so far having problems with Jeskai. Feels like a top deck war each damn time.

If you can get crackling doom off on turn 2, you are a better mardu player than anyone i know

It does work against Ensoul'ed artifacts when you can set it off, and against the sphinx too. But not so much against the pear lake ancient as they just put it back in their hand.

[Jedi_Knight]

You can LS it if you are on the play! Or Chain it if on the draw.

I kinda forgot that Ensouls costs just two, hence Crackling Doom answer.

[Lightning_Dolt]

You have plenty of answers. Also, deck isn't a real deck.

[Christen]

Chain and Doom. I haven't had trouble with Ensoul decks and they come up pretty regularly. There will be times you'll be caught without an answer, but that's just Magic being Magic.

[Zooligan]

You have plenty of answers. Also, deck isn't a real deck.

Things that aren't real decks can only be ignored by pros who get byes in tounaments. You've got to play to your local meta, whatever that is.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Lucky for me that I've only faced it once I guess (I crushed it btw).

You have the tools. Play your best and hope to get there.

[Zooligan]

Lucky for me that I've only faced it once I guess (I crushed it btw).

You have the tools. Play your best and hope to get there.

I just crushed one tonight. Seems like a fiddy-fiddy toss-up. Sometimes they got da nutz, sometimes you get the right cards in the right order.

I still think blue has a silly good arsenal of counters, draw, and pushed creatures. Just sayin, last block it was black with all the goods, so far now it's blue. Hopefully other colors will get their chance as well.

[Jedi_Knight]

I for one really miss my Dreadbore... while black, it was also red!

[Zooligan]

Slaughter Games could be sweet now, naming Dig Through Time. Not that Slaughter Games was ever a great card...

But alas, you have to be in blue and/or green to have uncounterable spells in standard. Yet another feather in blue's cap. I guess WotC has to make it over the top or nobody would play that boring-ass color.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I am detecting a high concentration of salt.

[Zooligan]

Not supersaturated, but high.

So anyway, what's the Mardu Plan for the onslaught of jeskai heroic combo decks sure to come down the pike? Erase in the sb? More burn on the main? More permanent exile effects main? That sort of hoses the aggro game 1 strategy, no?

[Lightning_Dolt]

+3 Anger of the Gods
+2 Glare of Heresy
+2 Utter End

-3 Sarkan the Dragonspeaker
-1 [card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card]
-3 Sorin, Solen Visitor

[Christen]

I feel like I should add Magma Sprays now in my SB that my local meta is getting more sligh lists. -2 RtB, +2 Magma Spray seems about right.

[Zooligan]

What do you guys think about going more controlly off the bat? Maybe setting up with some Nyx-Fleece Ram out front as fairly resiliant blockers to protect PWs. Maindeck Chandra can come out and start uncovering lands using her +0 to help cast Elspeth, Sarkhan, and/or possibly Liliana Vess. Maybe keep a few big fliers like Butcher or Stormbreath in to harry the opponent or block opposing fliers while PWs take over the game?

[Christen]

I've playtested last night with this deck's bad matchups and boy they are reaally bad matchups.

- UB is a race on you dealing 20 first and them stabilizing first. My wins were usually on the back of unanswered Seekers, Rabblemasters, or Outbursts. Post-board, we can't side out our creatures, but they will be siding in drowns. The matchup is still in their favor though. Not playing a creature into open mana will be a bit hard, but if you need to do it, do it so that you can drop 2-3 creatures a turn. Seeker of the Way is removal bait, so just play him whenever. A Bile Blight on him is one less for our tokens, and a Downfall is one less for our creatures and walkers. Overall, a very unfavorable matchup, but still winnable.
- Despise and Thoughtseize is, in my opinion, the worst card they could have for us.
- Any GB deck running Doomwake Giant is a nightmare. It's not particularly prevalent in the meta, but when you face this deck, you have to accept that you are most likely to lose game 1. It gets better post board when you side in control cards.
- Oh, did I say Hornet Queen is a very unfair card? If you face this game 1, it's usually gg.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I haven't lost to either of those decks

[Zooligan]

You must have extremely good card draws LD. Some people are just like that. When I played paper, we had two people that were always saying stuff like "I almost lost that, but right at _______ point I drew the only card in my deck that could have saved me blah blah".

[Christen]

I haven't lost to either of those decks

UB needs a competent player, and GB isn't too prevalent in the meta. Try playing around 10 proper games on each of those decks with a proper list with good players and you'll see where we're coming from.

[stuffydollfan]

U/B matches are difficult but in my list i have Tyramet and he helps out a lot in that match up. You have lots of threats in the deck and they cant kill/counter them all *tokens are your best friends here*.

G/B/x Another difficult match. They can go really crazy really fast. The key for me is to try to disrupt their early game just enough so that i can win with my butcher or other flyer. In this match up i am not afraid of wasting my removal on their early mana dorks to slow them down a bit on game 1. Games 2 and 3 i like Anger of the Gods, End the Hostilities, and Hushwing Gryff.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I am having a pretty lucky streak. I also think that players here are so much worse than the players in Japan that it was kind of like training in the gravity chamber.

[rcwraspy]

LD are you an aggressive mulligan-er? What's your normal thought process in game 1 against an unknown opponent?

[Lightning_Dolt]

I don't mulligan often with this deck. If it has at least two lands that match the T2 / T3 cards I keep. 1 or no landers are auto mull, if I don't have a 1-3 drop it's typically a mull if I'm blind.

[rcwraspy]

sounds about right, thanks.