Dies to Removal

First of all, yes we know three-color aggro decks are bad right now because of the mana base. However, I believe there's a future for Mardu aggro. In essence, this build is black aggro splashing red and white for high powered cards in Mardu.

This is where I ended up right now:

[deck]
Creatures
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Gnarled Scarhide
4 Tormented Hero
4 War-Name Aspirant
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde

Enchantment
2 Mardu Ascendancy

Instants
3 Crackling Doom
3 Hero's Downfall
3 Mardu Charm

Planeswalkers
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Lands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Mana Confluence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
5 Swamp
2 Mountain
[/deck]

Where testing led me

• The mana base I ended up so far rarely gave me trouble on getting the right colors. However, you take so much damage in your face you better be making the best use of it. Biggest problems are Mana Confluence openers without any other black source. And there are times when you are forced into playing the long game and you can't cast that last saving spell because you will die tapping those lands. Butcher and Sorin helps you alleviate this problem a bit.
• Bad card matchups with regards to aggro still applies. Siege Rhino is painful when played against you. Hornet Queen is also bad. Courser of Kruphix painful against aggro is already a given. Other problematic cards like Nyx-Fleece Ram still applies.
• Mardu Ascendancy allows our creatures to survive Drown in Sorrow and Anger of the Gods. I'm considering increasing the number to three or at least the third one in the board when anticipating the board in.
• Bile Blight might overall be a better maindeck than Crackling Doom. I will still need to test this with my team.
• Play Butcher assuming that it will get killed the next turn. It's rare that it stays for more than 2 turns. Or maybe it's just the gauntlet since they seem to always have an answer when he comes out.
• The deck was originally running a Warrior sub theme and creatures were boosted by Chief of the Edge. However, it's harder to cast overall, and Gnarled Scarhide is just overall better for increasing your turn 1 plays, possible blowouts with Mardu Ascendancy, and its Bestow ability.

So far I've only tested this with my team and it performed better than I expected (while still running to your typical aggro problems), only held back by the current Standard's painful manabase. I'm gonna run this later in the week with this sideboard for further meta testing:

[deck]
Sideboard
3 Thoughtseize
3 Despise
4 Magma Spray
2 Erase
1 Suspension Field
2 Whip of Erebos
[/deck]

I also don't have Sorin yet so if I won't be able to get one I will have Murderous Cut in his slot. So, any suggestions?

Why not just red/black topping out with the phoenix or sarkhan?

Here's where I'm at right now. Haven't been able to test it yet, but hoping to get some time to do so in the near future.

[deck]
Creature (24)
4x Bloodsoaked Champion
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Chief of the Edge
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
3x Mardu Skullhunter
4x Tormented Hero
1x Tymaret, the Murder King
Sorcery (5)
1x Sign in Blood
4x Thoughtseize
Instant (7)
2x Boon of Erebos
4x Crackling Doom
1x Murderous Cut
Land (24)
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Caves of Koilos
11x Swamp
4x Temple of Malice
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/deck]

NOTE: This is just the starting shell, and I'm keeping to a "Warrior" theme in a way, but also each card is a solid aggro card in its own right. When I test I'll be looking to see if Chief of the Edge is worth it, if I want more removal, especially Downfall, and whether a Hall of Triumph or two may be good.

I went with red as my primary. I'm in the process of gathering the rest of the cards I need and then I can test. Here's where I'm at right now:

[DECK]
Lands (23)
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Mana Confluence
5x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
1x Swamp
1x Temple of Triumph

Creatures (24)
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Firedrinker Satyr
4x Foundry Street Denizen
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x War-Name Aspirant

Spells (13)
3x Mardu Ascendancy
2x Ride Down
4x Stoke the Flames
4x Titan's Strength

Sideboard (15)
3x Chained to the Rocks
2x Hall of Triumph
2x Harness by Force
3x Magma Spray
1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
2x Ride Down
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
[/DECK]

Red-based also looks to be good. I've been trashed by other aggro decks and for the fact that I have 8 creatures that can't block. So I went back to the Warrior list and introduced tapped lands since turn 1 isn't as important as before (also I lack one Bloodstained Mire) and to lessen the life loss from the mana (which is mainly the reason of the losses in my tests). I jammed Chief of the Scale in there to test.

[deck]
Creatures
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Tormented Hero
3 War-Name Aspirant
3 Chief of the Edge
2 Chief of the Scale
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde

Spells
3 Crackling Doom
3 Thoughtseize
3 Bile Blight
3 Hero's Downfall

Planeswalker
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Lands
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Mana Confluence
3 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
1 Bloodfell Caves
1 Wind-Scarred Crag
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Swamp
1 Mountain

Sideboard
4 Magma Spray
2 Erase
2 Despise
2 Suspension Field
3 Mardu Charm
2 Whip of Erebos
[/deck]

I'll test with two Sorins main once I get hold of another one.

still not getting in much testing but this is where I'm at now. Adding Seeker makes me want to shave some creatures off the list, though. And even though Seeker is a warrior it also makes me want to abandon the warrior sub-theme and play Soldier of the Pantheon in the 1 instead of Tormented Hero.

[deck]
Creature (24)
4x Bloodsoaked Champion
4x Tormented Hero
4x Chief of the Edge
4x Seeker of the Way
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x Butcher of the Horde

Instant (9)
4x Boon of Erebos
4x Crackling Doom
1x Murderous Cut

Sorcery (4)
4x Thoughtseize

Land (23)
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Caves of Koilos
10x Swamp
2x Temple of Malice
2x Temple of Silence
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
[/deck]

At that point, I would probably drop Bloodsoaked Champion as well. Not comfortable with awkward colored 1-drops with out current manabase. Seeker is ok though, though we can't really proc Prowess too much.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdat ... ckID=73494

Mardu Agro. I like some choices, however dont like Chief of the Scale, imo not enought removal and too many lands? Also not sure about !4! Grim Haruspex in MD.

[deck]
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Chief of the Edge
4 Chief of the Scale
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Grim Haruspex
4 Tormented Hero

3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

1 Mountain
2 Plains
3 Swamp
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
4 Mana Confluence
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

2 Crackling Doom
3 Mardu Charm

Sideboard
2 Mardu Ascendancy
3 Suspension Field
1 Crackling Doom
1 Deicide
2 Erase
2 Raise the Alarm
4 Drown in Sorrow[/deck]

I'd remove Chief of the Scale for Hero's Downfall personally.

should also swap the numbers between crackling doom and charm. Doom imo is far superior to charm.

Crackling Doom has been a superstar so far. You want to remove their highest power almost every time.

Right now my list looks something like this:

Creatures
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
4 Butcher of the Horde

Spells
4 Thoughtseize
4 Raise the Alarm
3 Mardu Charm
3 Stoke the Flames
4 Crackling Doom
3 Sarkhan, The Dragonspeaker
3 Sorin, the Solemn Visitor

Seeker and Alarm make for great early game as well as fodder for butcher. Crackling Doom does both things I want Stoke to do at the same time. Generally you can take a game away without butcher via Sorin and tokens getting pumped. Mardu Charm tokens are a great defense versus opposing Rabblemasters.

Here's the list I am currently working on.

[deck]Creatures (22)
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Tormented Hero
4 Chief of the Edge
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Grim Haruspex
4 Butcher of the Horde

Instants (8)
2 Hero's Downfall
4 Stoke the Flames
2 Utter End

Enchantments (2)
2 Mardu Ascendancy

Planeswalkers (4)
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

Lands (24)
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Caves of Koilos
3 Mountain
2 Nomad Outpost
2 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard (15)
3 Despise
2 Erase
3 Magma Spray
2 Thoughtseize
2 Bile Blight
2 Crackling Doom
1 Grim Haruspex[/deck]

I still need 3 Battlefield Forge, 3 Bloodstained Mire, 1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor, and 1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker to finish the deck. I probably won't have it finished for this weekend, but after talking with my team, this is what we decided is best for my play-style. They are all control players and feel this would be a difficult aggro deck to deal with.

I am a Mono-Red/RDW player for three years now. I've played the Dos Rakis deck from Innistrad/Return to Ravnica Standard, as well as some Orzhov builds along the way. This deck allows me to combine all three of those decks into one and it should do well. After testing, if I find Tymaret, the Murder King and Grim Haruspex to be lacking, I will probably swap in Hushwing Gryff to deal with Siege Rhino and other ETB creatures.