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https://deckbox.org/sets/782352 <--- my list.
Hey guys, I'm back to annoy the hell outta y'all here on the DB forums with a more-than-likely failed Mardu Aggro attempt. I haven't played in a long while and don't have any money for new cards other than a booster here and there. Feel free to give me hints, tips and any criticism you want about how bad this deck is, as mine normally are. Thanks and appreciate any help given!
Uhh right now, as in this exact moment, i have a literal 0$-1$ budget for cards. got fired from my job the other day; hopefully me and my fiancee are going to get hired onto places soon and i'll have more money for the 20-30$ ones. Like I said, anything is helpful, so ig what i'm saying is, i don't really care how expensive the card is, i'll keep it in mind for when i have the money for it.
See the actual awesome thing about Mardu Aggro is that it is not super expensive. So you might be able to trade for alot of the stuff easily. I'm on a phone now so when I can get to a computer I will totally hook up some advice. I used to have this deck so maybe I can even get you some cards.
XD That'd be awesome; i was looking on tappedout.net and a lot of the decks i found weren't even aggro, they were mardu control (which i managed with a bant control that wrecked, which bounced between a bant and a simic aggro/control, either way it wrecked amazingly) and now i want a decent aggro deck (sadly after RTR went out, the aggro deck I had disappeared.) and now I need to make this into a decent aggro deck.... fun fun fun.
Ok, So first piece of advise, is to get the Butcher of the Horde into the main deck. Remove the Nyx-Fleece Rams. The Rams should be in the SB for the mirror match. You also might have too many creatures at this point as sweepers are everywhere right now (Drown in Sorrow, Anger of the Gods. Crux of Fate, End Hostilities). Maybe think of taking some of the subpar ones and putting in burn spells. That way you have more late game action after you get more aggressive in the early game. They also act as removal for your opponents creatures.
Something i was thinking about was puttig descent of the dragons in SB. umm what would you take out for burns/contol?
Dont do that. At 6 mana that spell is way too over the top for your deck.
I would say take out:
-4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
-4 Grim Haruspex
-4 War-Name Aspirant
-3 Eidolon of Countless Battles
-1 Mardu Ascendancy
Add:
+4 Butcher of the Horde
+4 Battle Brawler
+4 Lightning Strike
+4 Wild Slash
These are all good budget option to improve on the deck. It adds a bit more reach later game with the burn spells. If you ever get an extra $20 you should also replace the Ride Downs with Stoke the Flame.
okay so SB Rams, what about the others? Grim Haruspex I feel could come in handy against some decks that are all about board wipes or control. Battle Brawler is .25 according to SCG.com so that shouldn't be too hard to get a hold of; Lightning Strike I know, 1 and Mt for 2 damage right? Wild Slash shouldn't be too difficult to get a hold of, stoke the flames, if I need an extra 20$ to do it, would be a bit difficult.
You mentioned something about being able to help me get/give me some of the cards? Just curious. And thanks for the advice, my main thing is now where do I put everything I'm taking out? SB or just Scratch it out? Not to mention I noticed you haven't said anything about Utter End, get more or leave it as is?
Except for the Ram, I would just scratch everything. They do no good. Lightning Strike is 1R for 3 damage, also a common. The problem is with dealing with board wipes and control, you want to still be proactive against them, and Grim Haruspex isnt that proactive. Yes if you get him turn 3 and the opponent Angers or something on their turn 3, you are only maybe netting 1-2 cards. If you want to draw 2 cards, I would just say run Read the Bones.
If you are worried about control, then you might look into cards like Feat of Resistance to give your guys pro-color or run Ajani's Presence or Valorous Stance in the sideboard. Valorous Stance is better since it doubles as removal for Midrange decks. I say put 3 in your SB. Also against the control decks I would add in 3 Crackling Dooms to handle their big guys' especially Ojutai. Utter End is pretty good against Siege Rhino, and almost any whip deck.
Yes, I have a few of the cards that I am suggesting. I would be happy to trade them.
Last edited by valdor (2015-05-25 03:23:43)
I just noticed this but you didn't say anything about Iroas being SB. He's now MB until I can get a fourth Butcher of the Horde; should he stay MB, go back to SB, get more for SB or scratch him out completely? He's a nice little powerhouse for a deck like this, I think, seeing as how well he worked in my Boros Aggro when Boros was standard legal.
http://deckbox.org/sets/782352 <--- Updated list. Bought some cards off a guy during A2F this last weekend and even attempted a GPT while there; didn't win anything in the first 3 rounds. What needs to go and what can stay?
Uhh that doesn't tell me anything? But I also have literally no money for cards and dragons are too high mana for an aggro deck.
To expand on that.
Sounds like you want to be competitive with the deck at least some what. Mardu agro isn't particularly great atm. If you play it well then your win % will be decent because sometimes aggro just gets there...
IMO, The synergy with dragons right now is too good to pass up for an aggro deck. Thunderbreak regent punishes your opponent for playing removal, and draconic roar is 6 damage for 2 mana which is extremely efficient. For mardu; 4x thuderbreak and 4x stormbreath is about the only way I'd play it, and if you're just going warriors then I think you can cut the red to help your manabase, and use better removal.
Otherwise atarka red just does what you're trying to do here a lot better.
As for crackling doom, it's one of the best removal cards in the format and def the best in your colors hero's downfall notwithstanding. It gets around opposing thunderbreaks, and esper dragons. I think you're also playing way too many non creature spells for a straight aggro deck. Iroas is hot trash and curving out at 4 for butcher then sacing your board to enable him isn't really what you want to be doing (yes, i realize the synergy with blood soaked, it's still not great, it's a huge tempo loss for you to enable him that way).
On blood soaked, I doubt your casting turn one blood soaked champion turn 1 very often with 7 black sources 4 of which come into play tapped. Aggro decks live and die by their curve, if you can't curve out from turn 1 then you're probably not winning against a midrange deck. Rhino/courser/caryatid stone walls over half you're deck and you have about 0 removal for it.
It seems like you don't have a good sense of what you want to be doing with the deck, or it's heavily and specifically tailored to a very weird meta.
The concept isn't bad, but the deck needs refinement, particularly in the manabase.
Decks to look at.
Red/Gruul
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9796&d=256448&f=ST
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9768&d=256255&f=ST
Mardu
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9804&d=256539&f=ST
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9840&d=256715&f=ST
Boros (r/w)
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=9663&d=255562&f=ST
Rakdos (b/r)
Well, like i said, i don't really have any money for cards atm or I would try a Mardu Dragon Aggro build. OFC recently i've been thinking of switching it to black/white warriors splashing red for burn with Athreos, Black God and Whip.
To add to this, taking in consideration of your other post, and the fact that rotation is around the corner (3 months)
I think BW is okay right now while there are cards to support it. Lands, strong removal in hero's downfall etc. But going forward I would keep my options open. The dragon color pairs are more traditional and seem to be stronger atm, and as the commands won't be rotating for a long time, you might pick some of those up.
origins is basically a core set so you won't see much multicolored/fixing there. Maybe a land cycle if we're lucky. And then zendikar is next and it was almost exclusevely mono colored. If that holds true, 2 color decks will be the norm and rare 3rd color splashes.
https://deckbox.org/sets/995906 obviously the mana base needs fixed but other than that i think this could be a decent deck for being less than a hundred dollars to play. maybe closer to rotation and after my job's been fixed and i'm able to sink money into magic again, i'll look at whatever decks are topping 8 at the big tourneys and such.
imo, for your latest iteration. I think some cards need reevaluating.
Hateblade just doesn't do enough. and you'll never be able to activate his ability and still curve out .
harsh sustenance, your creature count is low, this will never yield more than 2-3 life with your current setup.
Secure the waste, realistically, x will be 2-3? tops? Another solid threat in it's place is probably better.
Twin bolt is cute, but 2 mana for 2 damage is inefficient when you compare lighting strike, magma spray, stoke the flames etc...
Last edited by elpablo (2015-06-03 15:16:32)
Yea but if you read my first post, my decks are normally shit when i first start. I don't have any of the resources I did when I was making decks and living on the west coast. I also don't have a job or any trades, so the better cards are hard to come by for me atm. I also said I *think* it could be a decent deck, though I know it needs more work, as most of my decks normally do. Like I said, closer to rotation and when I have the money to sink, I'll look more into the one or two colored dragon decks that run planeswalkers as threats.
And seeing as you keep talking about dragon decks, what do you think of this? http://deckbox.org/sets/997291/ i just threw it together going by what's in Khans block and I think it could be decent; ofc the mana base needs work, i'm never good at that, but other than that i think it could do good.
First off, the only reason i mention the dragons is they're going to be around for a while and standard in general changes a lot, but i feel pretty confident that with the power level of the dragons in the current block that they'll be good for a while. Investing in them isn't bad imo.
About this deck specifically... just my .02 on this style of deck atm.
The mardu dragons deck plays sticky threats, backs them up with solid removal and trys to gain value off the synergy with dragons.
Creatures and Walkers:
Sarkhan is too tough on the manabase and not really worth the splash.
Bolt wing makes for too many 5 drops. I'd cut him for some more solid removal. Dragon whisperer is way too mana intensive to get any value out of him. Another 2 drop like seeker of the way might be better. It seems a lot of decks also use soulfire grandmaster which is nice, since if you land them and cast a draconic roar you're gaining 6 .
Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury does an okay impression of stormbreath and could be a sub, so could the red sarkhan.
Spells:
If your not playing 4xcrackling doom in these colors your doing it wrong 
Sarkahn's triumph is a huge tempo loss in the early game, you don't want to be tutoring in this format IMO. I also think thougthseize is a must and I know it's a little pricey so you could just do , duress. It's not as good, but game 1 you'll likely get some value out of it, )Or you could do a split with despise and side board the other 2 for game 2. Some read the bones or other similar draw spell wouldn't be too bad either.
mana: if you're going to be playing 2 colors and a splash of anything the 3 color lands are a must right now. 4x no less. but don't go over 8-10 tap lands or you risk drawing too many. obviously temples are better while their in the format to fix your topdecks. Also, haven of the spirit dragon helps fix as well at least for the creatures. 24/25 lands is fine for a deck like this though.
Sideboard:
crux of fate is really good because it allows you to play your threats and keep your opponents down and hopefully 2/1 them. 2 or 3 in the side would be ideal. Anger of the gods or something similar is desirable too RDW will run you over.
So cut Sarkhan, that opens up 2 MB and 1 SB and also cuts out the green and blue lands. You're also saying cut Sarkhan's Triumph I do believe? and Boltwing Marauder too? So that opens up 9 slots, so maybe put Sarkhan Dragonspeaker in SB as a one of and 3 Stormbreath Dragons in MB with 3 Soulfire Grandmasters and 3 Crackling Dooms? How would I fit the duress or thoughtseize in?
Same with Crux of Fate and Anger in SB.
Also, on the topic of Walkers, what about Sorin, if i'm splashing white for Crackling Doom? Or Liliana or Ajani at that? Or maybe an Ugin? Idk. Just playing around with options.
Note: I was trying to build this deck based on what we know will be in standard come end of September when Theros block rotates out.
Edit: Does it look better now? I put Anger in as 2 of; maybe get rid of Rending Volley and put in 2 more? or move an Ultimate Price and a Foul-Tongue Invocation and put 2 in MB? Also, playing around with mana base: how important is it to have Bloodstained Mire for search or any of the tap lands in a deck like this? According to the stats I only need 16 Mountain produce, 6 Swamp produce and 3 plains produce, so i modified the mana base to fit that. Would it work properly without the tap/search lands (other than temple of malice) or no? Or should I play around with Evolving Wilds?
Last edited by Ookamirozu (2015-06-04 15:18:27)
Clarification:
I just want to say, whatever deck you decide is probably fine as long as it's executed well. Splashing to much puts strain on the manabase and is bad for agro, like the BW warriors you were trying earlier. Agro decks want to curve out and for that you need a large creature base with some spot removal to take care of things that get in the way. Midrange decks play about half removal half threats, but the threats have more impact on the board and demand answers. Like dragons.
As for this current iteration.
Still don't get the thought process behind dragon whisperer.
I think ugin might be a bad idea. He doesn't really do what you want here. This mardu dragons deck is a midrange deck and wants to keep a threat on board. Also getting to 8 mana can be problematic before you run out of gas. Sorin can be fine, in the right matchup, he does help against opposing dragons and the +1 helps your guys trade with rhinos and other bigger guys. The split on sarkhan/stormbreath is up to you, a meta call really. (if any, personally i think stormbreath is better atm and could be modern playble in the right meta, but sarkhan is cheap $$ and will be a likely replacement after rotation, that's just speculation though)
On rotation:
Building for standard after rotation is always a bad idea. There will be cards released out of the new set that will help define the format at that time. The best thing you can do to be ready for rotation is trade out of cards you're not playing, pick a deck and stick with it, and just try to pick up as many "powerful" cards that aren't rotating. IE: Fetches, planeswalkers, mythic creatures with powerful effects... etc. Though you'll never know if you picked up the right stuff until rotation.
Going forward:
That being said, you'll have to figure out what's important and what's not in your deck. I usually start with a netdeck and modify my cards based on my local meta. Some people thumb their noses at net decks, but if i was building a hot rod or a computer, or a bookshelf for that matter, I would do some research online first and usually you come up with a "template" to start from. Magic is no different, I'm no master craftsman and I'm not master deckbuilder either. I have a job and kids and don't have time to perfect a craft, which evaluating cards and deckbuilding is.
Some general tips for magic though that apply to any format. I don't know you're experience level with magic, but you seem to be going back and forth with these builds a lot.
1. Pick a deck and learn it. You'll do yourself a service by not switching decks all the time. Find something you like, of course, but then stick with it. If you know how to play your deck and know your outs in a given situation, then you'll be much better off. I chose temur at the start of Khans and never looked back. It's changed with each set and it's not highly favored at any particular time, but I place in my top 4/8 at FNMs with it more often than not. Turn 3 knucks, turn 4 stormbreath is pretty good 
2. Know your format. KNow what decks are popular and how to beat them. PLan for the majority of your matches with your mainbaord and sideboard would be the 15 cards you need in matchups that are bad for you, or that you can't fit into your maindeck. Have a sidebaord plan. Know your oppoents potential outs.
3. Take advice, but come to your own conclusions. You know your play style best and what you feel comfortable with. As long as the principles of your deck are sound, manabse and color distribution, a cohesive plan, and a decent curve you can take it pretty much anywhere and do well.
Last edited by elpablo (2015-06-04 15:50:15)
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