This deck was originally developed by Craig Wescoe. It's a similar deck to Mardu Midrange, but skewed more towards aggro, with less taplands and a lower curve. The deck is built around generating tokens and comboing them with cards such as Eidolon of Countless Battles and Wingmate Roc. More recently Sam Black played a version at Worlds, with a lower curve and running Heliod's Pilgrim
Why play RW Tokens?
Hordeling Outburst is currently one of the best cards in Standard. Midrange decks rely mainly on 1-4-1 removal, so struggle to deal with decks that go wide with their threats. RW tokens takes that idea and runs with it, the gameplan is to quickly flood the board with tokens and overwhelm your opponent before they can stabilize. Game one is generally favourable, with game two a lot closer when your opponent boards in sweepers, however you can also board in hate cards to keep the match-up fairly even. Overall you should be favourite to win against most of the main decks in Standard, the exception being UB control which has problem cards like Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow main deck.
Craig Wescoe wrote two good articles on the deck for tcgplayer, the first a primer and the second a revised, more creature-heavy deck-list:
Primer: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12211
Revised Decklist: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12226
Key Cards:
Hordeling Outburst– The primary reason to play tokens. The card is well positioned against midrange decks, as their removal is mainly 1-4-1. Combos well with Stoke the Flames, Rabblemaster and Wingmate Roc
Goblin Rabblemaster- Generates goblin tokens and combos with existing goblin tokens. Dies to all common removal, but can quickly win the game if left unopposed
Wingmate Roc- Raid can usually be triggered thanks to all of the token generators. A common play is T4 Raise the Alarm on your opponents end step, in to T5 Wingmate Roc. Lifegain is sometimes relevant when racing whip decks or Jeskai. It’s not unusual to go T5 Roc in to T6 Roc, which is close to unbeatable against any decks without a sweeper to hand
Eidolon of Countless Battles- The main plan is to bestow him on to a token, granting pseudo-haste. It also means the opponent has to remove him twice, as he will fall off and turn in to a creature when the token dies. Occasionally he is bestowed on to Seeker of the Way if you need a huge life swing (racing against UW heroic or a whip deck for example)
Seeker of the Way- Triggers Prowess from all of the token creating spells and removal. Lifegain relevant against aggro and burn.
Chandra, Pyromaster- Mainly here for the Falter effect, so you can swing with the team past Coursers, Rhinos etc. The 1 damage ping can be relevant against opposing tokens or weenies. The card draw effect can keep you in longer attritional games
Chained to the Rocks- Premier removal spell. We have plenty of mountains in the deck, so should be able to cast it fairly reliably. Can be a liability in game 2 against Abzan if they board in Erase
Lightning Strike/Magma Jet- Splits are meta-dependant. Jet helps you dig for lands or threats, Strike can deal with problem creatures like Mantis Rider and Fleecemane Lion
Stoke the Flames- Combos nicely with Hordeling Outburst as a tempo play. This is your only answer to Stormbreath Dragon, so only use as a last resort if you think your opponent has it in their deck
Other Cards to Consider for maindeck:
Spear of Heliod- Pumps all your tokens. Removal effect will occasionally be relevant
Dictate of Heliod- Makes all of your tokens in to 3/3s at instant speed. Gets your tokens out of range of Drown in Sorrow
Sarkhan, Dragonspeaker- light synergy with the tokens (as they can protect him while he beats down or blows stuff up)
Elspeth, Suns Champion- Makes tokens, kills fatties. Could be difficult to cast consistently with the 24 land manabase though
Heliod’s Pilgrim- Sam Black played three copies of this in his worlds deck. It can tutor for Chained (but NOT eidolon) and could be a good bestow body for eidolon or raid trigger for Roc
Monastery Swiftspear- Triggers off the token spells, lets you apply early pressure (this was another card played by Sam Black in worlds)
Trumpet Blast- Pump your team for quicker kills
Ajani Steadfast- Pump the team. Give one guy first strike if you have hornet tokens to battle through or lifelink/vigilance if you are racing
Sideboard Tech:
Glare of Heresey- bring in against Abzan as an answer to their main threats. Exile effect can be relevant against whip decks
Hammer of Purphoros- Great against control. I’ve bought it in against midrange before and it’s been surprisingly good, but is a slight nombo with Roc
Erase- An out against ascendency decks. Good against constellation decks. OK against heroic decks (heroic will still trigger, but can dry up their ordeal card advantage / health engine or get rid of an aqueous form or stratus walk if you need to chump block a big heroic guy)
Banishing Light- Catch-all answer for cards like Perilous Vault or opposing planeswalkers
Arc Lightning- Useful against opposing token decks or mono-red / weenie decks
Notable Decks:
Craig Wescoe Initial Build (burn heavy)
Craig Wescoe Revised Build (creature heavy)
Sam Black Worlds Version
My current build (somewhere between the burn and creature versions)
Game plan and sideboarding:Craig Wescoe did a pretty good job of this in his TCG article, copy here:
Matchup 1: Abzan Midrange
[deck]Abzan Midrange by Steve Rubin[/deck]
Before sideboard, Abzan has a really tough time against us. They have slow and clunky threats and their removal spells are slow and only kill one creature at a time. In contrast, our removal is cheap and our threats go wide in the form of tokens. This means that we start overwhelming them with tokens, forcing them to rely on their creatures as blockers, but then we have Chained to the Rocks and Stoke the Flames to get rid of their blockers.
In addition to our cards matchuping so well against their pre-board, we also have some trumps for the matchup. Since our tokens are largely going unanswered, Eidolon of Countless Battles makes any token into a threat so large they have to either chump block it or use a removal spell on it (and then use another removal spell on it again the next turn when the Eidolon becomes a creature). We also have Chandra, Pyromaster to keep the pressure on by keeping a creature from being able to block. Lastly, since Abzan is unable to deal with our token production, it means we'll nearly always have the ability to trigger raid for Wingmate Roc, which then becomes yet another very problematic card, one that can easily take out their planeswalkers and/or fly over whatever ground defenses they've managed to put up.
Sideboard:
RW Tokens
+4 Glare of Heresy
+2 Chandra, Pyromaster
-4 Chained to the Rocks
-1 Magma Jet
-1 Lightning Strike
Abzan
+3 Bile Blight
+3 Drown in Sorrow
-4 Abzan Charm
-2 Thoughtseize
After sideboard things get a lot closer. They bring in six ways to handle our tokens efficiently, three of which can also take out Seeker of the Way incidentally. Drown in Sorrow really adds a dimension to the matchup that puts the game on equal footing because it means we can't just play all our threats without Abzan being able to punish us for overextending.
While Abzan improves a lot post-board, we also get some of our own upgrades. Chained to the Rocks is a fine removal spell against them, but it can't stop their planeswalkers and it leaves us vulnerable to the mega blowout of unlocking their Siege Rhino mid-combat to block an attacker (and trigger the three point Drain Life again). Glare of Heresy doesn't have either of their downsides. Instead its only downside is not being able to take out a Courser of Kruphix. This is acceptable since we still have four Stoke the Flames to deal with the Courser.
We also bring in the third and fourth copies of Chandra, Pyromaster. This is yet another way to keep Courser of Kruphix from getting in the way of our attacking tokens and Seekers of the Way. It's also a way to keep up with the card advantage generated by Abzan's planeswalkers if we're able to untap with it and start using the +0 ability to “draw cards.”
Wingmate Roc is our best card post-board, so you want to make sure you can always trigger raid. A play that not infrequently comes up is playing something like Hordeling Outburst or Goblin Rabblemaster on the third turn and then passing with four mana on the next turn instead of overextending into Drown in Sorrow. Then during the opponent's end step (after they Drown in Sorrow) you play Raise the Alarm and Magma Jet. The Jet will scry you into the fifth land and the Raise will provide you with attackers to trigger raid the following turn for your Wingmate Roc. Suddenly the turn after the wiped your board they are facing down an even bigger board!
Abzan still has the ability to take over a game with its planeswalkers, but we have the tools to remain toe-to-toe with them post-board. And we're the favorite pre-board, so overall the matchup is in our favor.
Matchup 2: Mardu Midrange
[deck]Mardu Midrange by Andrew Baeckstrom[/deck]
Similar to the Abzan matchup, it's difficult for Mardu to keep up with our token production pre-board. Their deck is filled with cards like Crackling Doom and Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker which don't match up well against cards like Hordeling Outburst and Raise the Alarm. Unlike Abzan, however, they do have some cheaper removal spells like Lightning Strike to deal with our Goblin Rabblemaster at instant speed before it starts making tokens. The tradeoff, however, is that its late game is not as good as Abzan's late game since it doesn't run Ajani, Mentor of Heroes or Elspeth, Sun's Champion (main deck). Some versions might run Elspeth, but most don't.
When our tokens have free reign, Eidolon of Countless Battles becomes a must-answer card and one that must be answered twice. The game plan is to put them on defense and keep getting damage in while they cast one spell a turn to try and keep up. Then let Wingmate Roc do its thing to pull away with the game. The matchup might not seem great on paper but it is. If we're ahead in the race, then Butcher of the Horde is staying back on defense, which allows us to easily deal with it via Chained to the Rocks. We also have Stoke the Flames to kill it after producing tokens. So we have eight cheap and efficient answers to their four-drop, leaving them at a total value loss. This is unlike the case of Siege Rhino in Abzan where the five-toughness allows it to dodge Stoke the Flames, and even if we kill it with Chained to the Rocks, the three point Drain Life is left behind.
Much like the Abzan matchup though, we are pretty heavily favorite pre-board.
Sideboard:
RW Tokens
-3 Lightning Strike
-4 Chained to the Rocks
+2 Arc Lightning
+1 Glare of Heresy
+2 Banishing Light
+2 Chandra, Pyromaster
Mardu
+2 End Hostilities
+3 Anger of the Gods
+1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
+2 Read the Bones
-3 Chained to the Rocks
-1 Murderous Cut
-3 Seeker of the Way
-1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
After sideboarding, the matchup gets a lot closer for similar reasons as the Abzan matchup. They bring in sweepers that efficiently answer our token generation (Anger of the Gods and End Hostilities). They also bring in a copy of Elspeth, Sun's Champion and can bring in Read the Bones.
Seeker of the Way is pretty bad against us since we're almost always on the offense in this matchup and we have plenty of cards that can easily take care of it (Magma Jet, Lightning Strike). Post-board Mardu gets to move away from the Seeker plan and essentially become a deeper control deck that attempts to win the late game with card draw, wraths, and big threats.
We also get some of our own upgrades though. Lightning Strike is a good answer to Goblin Rabblemaster, but it's generally pretty bad otherwise. We get to upgrade those to Arc Lightnings, which can also single-handedly deal with Hordeling Outburst. The third copy of Lightning Strike becomes a Glare of Heresy, which can deal with Butcher of the Horde or Elspeth, Sun's Champion (or Chained to the Rocks if they have that). It doesn't kill Goblin Rabblemaster or Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker though, so I wouldn't board in more than one or two.
The other upgrade we get is replacing Chained to the Rocks with Banishing Light and Chandra, Pyromaster. Banishing Light can get rid of any planeswalker or Butcher of the Horde or Goblin Rabblemaster. They might bring in a Glare of Heresy against us, but we have plenty of targets for it anyway. And unlike with Siege Rhino, they don't gain a Drain Life out of unlocking their card.
Against Abzan Chandra mostly just targets a big four or five toughness creature to keep it from blocking or it acts as a personal Howling Mine each turn. Against Mardu it actually kills things (opposing tokens) in addition to its Howling Mine mode. It's our way to keep up with Read the Bones and to recover from opposing board sweepers.
In this matchup be sure to conserve your Stoke the Flames. It's our only good answer to Stormbreath Dragon and is also our only instant speed answer to Butcher of the Horde. Keep it as your last removal spell and don't ever point it at the opponent unless there is a clear path to victory.
Post-board the matchup is very close. Wingmate Roc will generally be the way we win games after a board sweeper takes out our early game. Chandra, Pyromaster can give us an edge in the midgame topdeck war, though they have plenty of their own haymakers.
We're pretty heavily favored pre-board and about even post-board, so overall we're favored.
Matchup 3: Jeskai Tempo
[deck]Jeskai Tempo by Matej Zatlkaj[/deck]
This was our best matchup at the MaxPoint Championship. Our burn spells match up very well against their threats while their spells match up very poorly against our tokens. We also pressure them enough to where they can't just point all their burn spells at our face. Otherwise we Overrun them with creatures and win that way. So assuming average draws from both players, it's very difficult for Jeskai to formulate a winning game plan against us no matter which path they take.
Sideboard:
RW Tokens
+1 Lightning Strike
-1 Chained to the Rocks
Jeskai
+2 Arc Lightning
+2 Negate
-1 Banishing Light
-1 Stoke the Flames
-2 Jeskai Charm
I'm not entirely sure what their best sideboard plan is against us because, like I said, it's very hard for their cards to line up well against ours. They do have Arc Lightning post-board though, which allows them to answer a Hordeling Outburst efficiently. We get our fourth Lightning Strike though, which can efficiently answer just about any of their threats. We even have three copies of Chained to the Rocks remaining, which can get rid of an Ashchloud Phoenix for good.
Negate seems like a card that could potentially keep them in a game if cast at the right moment. It can stop a Hordeling Outburst or a timely removal spell if they're somehow able to get ahead. It might not be right to board it in, though again I'm not exactly sure what their best plan is against us. Things really have to line up well for them to win, I know that much. This is the deck I played at the Pro Tour and at the following Grand Prix and I gave it up in favor of RW Tokens, largely because this matchup was close to unwinnable (and also because I couldn't get the midrange matchups to more than 50%).
Those are the Tier 1 matchups, but I want to go over one more quickly because it used to be my worst matchup before making a few changes.
Matchup 4: Jeskai Ascendancy Combo (Caryatid version)
[deck]Jeskai Ascendancy Combo[/deck]
Second turn Sylvan Caryatid is the key to this deck's success. We have plenty of ways to answer all their other creatures, but we have no answer to the hexproof creature. So we should win every game that does not involve a quick Caryatid followed by the combo. We also pressure them a lot, forcing them to find the combo pretty quickly, so we will even win some of the games they have Sylvan Caryatid if they can't assemble the combo quickly enough.
Sideboard:
RW Tokens
+4 Erase
+1 Lightning Strike
-4 Chained to the Rocks
-1 Wingmate Roc
Ascendancy
+2 Negate
+3 AEtherspouts
-2 Dig Through Time
-3 Twinflame
Post-board things get much better for us. We still have all our answers to their non-Caryatid creatures, so they're still forced to find the Caryatid in order to have any hope of winning. But instead of just having to rely on pressuring them to beat their Caryatid draws, we now have four trumps in the form of Erase. In general you want to Erase their Jeskai Ascendancy as soon as possible, usually during their end step the turn they play it or in response to the Retraction Helix if they try to go off on the same turn as casting the Ascendancy.
There are a few different versions of the deck and I think the AEtherspouts version is best against us because it offers a plan that forces us either play around it or give them multiple extra turns to set up. We're still at a pretty significant advantage as long as we don't overextend into it too badly. They have minimal removal spells, so our creatures will generally deal a lot of damage.
I only had two copies of Erase at the Championship, but you really need all four copies to make this a favorable matchup. Mardu has Crackling Doom to beat their Sylvan Caryatid draws but we do not, so one concession that needs to be made in RW that Mardu doesn't have to make is sideboarding four copies of Erase. It certainly comes in handy in the Constellation matchup though too!
Other match-ups
Mono-red:
This match up is very favourable. Our token producers are a nightmare for them, as they trade 1-4-1 with most of their creatures. Post-board we bring in removal and Chandra for Rocs (too slow)
RW Tokens
-4 Wingmate Roc
+2 Chandra, Pyromaster
+1 Lightning Strike
+1 Stoke the Flames
UB Control:
This is probably our toughest match-up. They will have a lot of sweepers for our tokens. Our best bet is to resolve a hammer of Purphoros when they are tapped out.
RW Tokens
+2 Chandra, Pyromaster
+2 Hammer of Purphoros
+2 Banishing Light
-4 Chained to the Rocks
-2 Hordeling Outburst
(bring in Banishing Light as an answer to Vault and Ashiok)
