Primer: Mardu Midrange

[Toblakai]

Anger seems good against the little red guys and the RG/Temur builds. I've faced a few of those, and being able to wipe the dorks has been key to me being able to beat them...I've liked Chandra in my list; Lili seems a tad better if you can swing the double Black in her cost. Did you also play Thoughtseize this time around, or just Chained to the Rocks?

[LP, of the Fires]

Read the bones is for helping you hit land drops since your curve goes up post board.

A friend of mine played Brad's list tonight to 3-1. I played a slightly different deck with mardu charm and raise the alarm over hoard and chained to the rocks.

Charm is fucking terrible, alarm is fine, but overall, brads list is where it's at.

Given what I know, I'd cut 1 read the bones for Lily(since she is great) and I'd probably hedge an anger of the gods to magma spray. On the draw, anger can be too slow so having cheaper interaction is likely great.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I feel like Anger is a must draw or lose card against Red. Magma Spray is also kind of narrow whereas I use anger in multiple match ups.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Anger seems good against the little red guys and the RG/Temur builds. I've faced a few of those, and being able to wipe the dorks has been key to me being able to beat them...I've liked Chandra in my list; Lili seems a tad better if you can swing the double Black in her cost. Did you also play Thoughtseize this time around, or just Chained to the Rocks?

No thoughtseize, 3x chains.

[dpaine88]

Gonna run this shit today at a TCG platinum event.

Any recommendations on mulligans with this deck?

[LP, of the Fires]

Idk, I keep a lot more borderline hands then most people.

Postboard, I'm much less inclined to keep 2 landers though because your curve tends to go up quite a bit.

[Christen]

Hordeling + Sorin steals games. I would love to read what Brad has to say with regards to the latest iteration of his deck.

The Long short of it is that the deck was basically thrown together last minute.

He said Roc felt win more, but Sarkhan was amazing so he made that swap. While not directly stated, it's implied that he wanted more of a tempo edge, so that's why there's a murderous cut added.

Mostly though, it's a giant sideboard guide with tips and tricks thrown in about playing around obvious cards.

Roc was amazing, but I'd have to agree that the card is a win more. Leaving a bird token is necessary if you want it to impact the board in the early game as the main body will always attract removal.

[Toblakai]

I'm thinking about adapting Brad's RWb within the shell of an older Mardu deck that was BRw.

[deck]Horde[/deck]

[Lightning_Dolt]

[deck] Mardu Midrange by Andrew Baekerstrom, 1st at 2014 TCGplayer.com MaxPoint Championship[/deck]

[Lightning_Dolt]

Lots of video coverage added to the spoiler.

[rcwraspy]

So I know that 6 MD PWers and some in the board is a LOT to miss on, but these latest lists look a lot like what I threw together as "Mardu Burn."

Also, how much do folks miss Stoke? With so many token producers it seems more powerful in these lists than most. Is Chained really better than Stoke on 10 mountains (6 mountains, 4 fetches)?

[Lightning_Dolt]

Chained is stupid good when you can use it. I don't miss stoke so much, because this is more about going big with repeatable sources of damage. The deck is very tempo oriented, and Chained is a huge tempo play.

[Christen]

Stoke to the Flames is good yes, but Chained deals with most of the relevant creatures in the format for one mana.

[Christen]

My friend needs to borrow a Sarkhan. What would be the best substitute for it (this is the list running 3). A third Sorin? SBD? I'm leaning towards a 3rd Sorin just because it smoothens out our curve and I'm never sad to see one in my hand. Or maybe the 4th Seeker or 3rd Magma Jet.

[Whole]

I'd say Stormbreath. It fills a very similar role as a finisher.

[poppa_f]

I've been testing with the original GPLA list. The only card I've struggled against is Hornet Queen, going to try running Hushwing Griff in the sideboard as a hedge (had a game where I got oppo down to 1 life, but he managed to hornet queen and then staved me off long enough to ultimate Nissa!)

It's interesting that he's cut the Wingmates, I think it's the right decision as they definitely feel like win more, I've had games where I've had to cast them with no raid trigger, which is miserable. Toss up between Sarkhan and SBD, but I think Sarkhan is better, as he fits in the controlling and aggro shells equally well (SBD slightly worse in control mode imo, as he'll die to your Elspeth or end hostilities sweep).

I'm not convinced about Elspeth main. I want to go as aggro as possible in game 1, as I want my oppo to sideboard in his anti-aggro tech while I sideboard in to full-on grindy control, so I'm sticking with 3 Sorin for now (there's a lot of Jeskai in my local meta as well, and Sorin is way better than Elspeth in that match-up). I also like that there are only 2 Elspeth now, 3 felt like too 1 too many.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Agree with Whole.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I don't mind 1x Elspeth in the main. If you make it to the point where you have 6 mana Elspeth is almost always back breaking.

If you're concerned about Hornet Queen, you could board in Anger.

[Christen]

Retesting Roc. There are games where you can actually win on the back of just being able to cast it and leaving a token behind. The only problem is getting those raid triggers which you will likely be getting from Hordeling Outburst.

[Christen]

What do you guys think of Ashcloud Phoenix in this list? It's a very resilient threat, it can be sacc'd to Butcher and come back later if you have the mana, and he's positioned well in the meta right now.

[eldub]

The curve is pretty heavy at 4-5cmc main deck, but I am playing one (and would like to find room for another) in my board. It's quite strong in a few common matchups.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I think Ash Cloud competes with Butcher and Butcher is the reason we're playing this deck.

[Wrathberry]

and i still dont think that ashcloud is really good... without haste he is a 4/1 flyer for 4 who dies to just everything. sure you can flip him and stuff, but that costs so much mana, and does not do that much.
im not a fan of him. butcher is just so much better. i dont think we should play other creatures on the 4-drop. we already have at least 2 sorins and 4 butchers on 4cmc. no reason to play phoenix there too.

[Toblakai]

Question: Is there anything keeping Brad's shell from being able to use the same SBD/Sarkhan split as many of the older Mardu lists (4-2 SBD/Sarkhan)?

[Lightning_Dolt]

No.

[eldub]

My only concern would be playing too many SBD if you're also playing Elspeth which limits how useful her -3 can be from a topdeck situation. If Elspeth were in my 75 I would lean a bit heavier on Sarkhan, but it's a pretty minor issue.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Agree.

[Toblakai]

My only concern would be playing too many SBD if you're also playing Elspeth which limits how useful her -3 can be from a topdeck situation. If Elspeth were in my 75 I would lean a bit heavier on Sarkhan, but it's a pretty minor issue.

At this point, you are also running a pretty heavy top end, say 2 SBD, Elspeth and Sarkhan. I wouldn't play all three in the same deck, and favor the SBD/Sarkhan 4-2.

[Lightning_Dolt]

I like the 6/3/1 curve that Brad ran.

[poppa_f]

I tried the latest version without Wingmate Roc, but did't like it, feels too threat light in game 1. I think the answer is -2 Magma Jet and then +2 SBD or +2 Ashcloud Phoenix. I'm testing with Phoenix at the moment and actually works pretty well. The thing I like about it is you show the Jeskai player Seeker/Goblins/Rabble/Ashcloud and they are almost a lock to sideboard in AoTG against you, which works so well with the gameplan to transform in to the control deck and they're left with a lot of useless cards in that matchup (Anger, Jets, End Hostilities).

One other card I'm considering for game 1 is Altac Bloodseeker. It fits really well with the gameplan of snowballing a threat. 4 is probably too many, but thinking about testing 1-2 to see how they perform. Not 100% sure what to cut, maybe 1 of the Sarkhans, as you want the second copy more for game 2 anyway.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Brads list - 2 Jets, +1 Seeker, + 1 Sorin felt threat dense enough to me.

[Zooligan]

So other than having a Crackling Doom in hand, how else are you guys dealing with Prognostic Sphinx?

[Self Medicated]

End Hostilities would work. You can also try to kill it when your opponent declares their attack and see if they give it hexproof in response. Not good card advantage for you, but it could buy you a few turns.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Outrace it if you don't have a doom. Or atrempt to kill it on their turn so they have to tap it.

[eldub]

I am having great success with my main deck, but struggling with my post-board plans against Top-end Abzan and certain Jeskai configurations. I had a post-board plan of more control/answers, but honestly you're not as good as Abzan nor Jeskai at playing the control role. It felt like setting myself up for failure and my win% reflected that. Went 3-1 last night with only loss to a great Abzan player due to not applying enough pressure before being run over by Elspeth/Roc (won game 1, lost both post-board).

I've updated my SB to stick with plan A of 'go under' those decks and keep them on the defensive. Here is my current list:

[DECK]
Land (25)
3x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
2x Caves of Koilos
6x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
1x Swamp
2x Temple of Silence
3x 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 (7)
4x Crackling Doom
3x Lightning Strike

Sorcery (6)
4x Hordeling Outburst
2x Thoughtseize

Enchantment (3)
3x Chained to the Rocks

Sideboard (15)
3x Anger of the Gods
1x Erebos, God of the Dead
1x Harness by Force
3x Hushwing Gryff
1x Lightning Strike
2x Magma Spray
2x Stormbreath Dragon
2x Thoughtseize
[/DECK]
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mardu-dragonz/

Primary SB plan against an Ari-like Abzan is:
-3 Lightning Strike
-4 Hordeling Outburst
-1 Seeker
-1 Sorin*
+1 Erebos*
+2 Thoughtseize
+2 Stormbreath Dragon
+3 Hushwing Gryff
+1 Harness by Force

The goal is to stretch their Downfalls thin, thoughtseize either removal or Elspeth depending on the game state and how fast you can end the game. I like Gryff as a pro-active action to do on turn 3-4 which deals with Roc/Rhino triggers. It also has great applications against Whip/Hornet Queen and the Enchantress decks which I am seeing a lot more of. It let's you stay aggressive.

Erebos is a nod to control and Whip decks which durdle around forever. Is Erebos better then either Sorin/Butcher post-board vs Abzan? Negating their lifegain could be a huge benefit if you're trying to race them out.

Anger/Magma Spray is just jammed in there for mono red and possibly Jeskai if I see 4x seeker/rabbles.

Post-board plan was failing me, but overall the main deck has been very strong. Any comments on the board are appreciated.

[eldub]

So other than having a Crackling Doom in hand, how else are you guys dealing with Prognostic Sphinx?

Sphinx hasn't been too bad in my experience.

a) He can't block Butcher
b) He dies to Crackling Doom in decks that rarely have other targets
c) He has a pretty slow clock that you can usually race

[Christen]

The clock isn't really the problem with the Sphinx. Crackling Doom seems to be our only answer. In fairness, our Chained to the Rocks become discard spells if necessary.

[Zooligan]

That is true. CttR acting like a blue tempo card "target opponent discards a card and taps their highest toughness creature".

Blue really does seem to have an awful lot of absurdly overpowered cards this standard season. I wish they had made tapping the Sphinx a cost of giving it Hexproof instead of just an effect of the discard.

[poppa_f]

Tried Altac Bloodseeker as a 1-of, yet to draw him, so not sure if he's any good or not.

There's a new article up on TCG looking at a few different builds: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=12163

A lot of the well performing decks had Wingmate. I like De Tora's build, but I've added a 3rd Sorin and an Elspeth over the 2 Magma Jets and cut a Sarkhan for the 4th Seeker. My local meta is quite Jeskai heavy, so want the extra lifegain and I like the synergy between Elspeth and Sorin, so we'll see how that goes:

[deck]Mardu Midrange[/deck]

I've noticed a few Abzan players are starting to main deck Bile Blight, which is slightly ominous. I was playing last night and got totally blown out. I was down to 4 life, cast Hordling Outburst, +1'd Sorin and passed. Opponent bile blights my tokens and had enough creatures to swing for lethal. Eurgh.

I still feel like the deck is really well positioned, you have a really clear game plan against the main archetypes and can play guessing games about whether you're going to side in to control mode or not.

- Boss Sligh matchup is great, even pre-board, Hordling Outburst, Seeker and Sorin are all a pretty massive beating. Post board you have 3 Angers and some Chandra's and should be favourite if you draw your sweeper or a ton of cheap removal
- Abzan match-up is good if they fall for the aggro in to control switch. If they second guess you and sideboard for control, then I think it's about even
- Jeskai match-up is great. If you get any lifegain stuff going then you should win easily. The only games I've lost are when I've not drawn any seeker/Sorin/Butcher to stop them just burning you out
- Control match-up is great. You have answers for the vault, Crackling Doom for Sphinx and most of your threats can apply a lot of pressure on their own
- Devotion match-up is good if you get to blow them out with a sweeper. It gets trickier if they guessed you were on the sweeper plan and board in all their walkers

One card that feels like it should be in the 75 somewhere is Mardu Charm. It's relevant for all the main match-ups, bar maybe G/x Devotion:
- Boss Sligh you can flash in two 1/1 first strikers to block
- Abzan you can kill Courser or duress their walker / removal
- Jeskai you can kill Mantis Rider or duress their Dig
- Control you can duress their Perilous Vault / Dig / Removal
- Reanimator you grab the pesky Whip

It's hard to fit in to the deck though. You don't really want to cut any cheap removal, as the whole point of the deck is to Snowball. You don't want to cut any Crackling Doom. Maybe it makes sense as a 2-of in the sideboard, over something like Glare of Heresy.

[Lightning_Dolt]

If your meta is jeskai heavy, stormbreath dragon is a nearly unanswerable game ender.

I also think the players on Roc were people who copied Brad's list and didn't have premium to get the updated list.