Topic: Contender #2 Aggro?

So this is the second deck I threw together, I've never played Aggro before in my life and it seems to be really good at killing me so I think if I can figure out how to make a decent suicide aggro deck that I might be better able to play it myself.

Here's what I've got so far, I don't want to go Golgari or Jund, too expensive as I might actually put this together but I'm open to anything: http://deckbox.org/sets/237359

Re: Contender #2 Aggro?

Personally, I think you're trying to go two different ways with your creatures, but you need to pick one and run with it.
You don't have enough zombies to guarantee that you have some to make Gravecrawler worthwhile, and less than half your creatures would be pumped by the Stromkirk Captain, because they aren't Vampires.  Not saying that you can't mix the two in some ways, but it seems like you should lean more towards one of them if you plan on having cards that utilize that fact, or drop those cards to go with a more straight aggro strategy.  For example, Falkenrath Aristocrat is pretty big finisher in BR that you could really benefit from.  And if you're just going for straight Aggro, then Hellrider could be pretty great as well.

Also, Rakdos, Lord of Riots is awesome, but you currently only have 2 creatures in the whole deck that will actually benefit from his cost decrease ability.  How about something like Carnival Hellsteed; nothing like a miracled Bonfire for 4 into a 6/5 haste, first strike for 2 mana.

Also, with so many low cost creatures, you're going to play yourself out of a hand very quickly, so you'll probably want some type of card draw in there.  Bloodgift Demon might fit nicely in that spot and can also benefit from Rakdos' ability.

Re: Contender #2 Aggro?

I'm happy to cut the zombies, as I'm not really a fan in the first place and I don't want to get a playset of gravecrawlers at 11-12$ each, I don't even like them that much.

I like the suggestions, I guess I was just thinking that Rakdos is a good finisher by himself, a 6/6 flying trample for 4 mana seems pretty awesome to me but I could for sure see how well he could work, I like the hellsteed and I also like the demon, especially since neither will break the bank smile, do you guys think Rakdos deserves 3 spots or just 2 since he's legendary?

Lastly should I include Havoc Festival? I don't really think so since it's pretty expensive and my deck will have burnt out before then, any thoughts?

Changes here: http://deckbox.org/sets/237359

I'm not sure if I went the right way, but I don't want to put in aristocrats, too pricy for a more casual deck since they aren't very interesting IMO

Re: Contender #2 Aggro?

Havoc Festival is a no-go in my opinion.  With an aggro deck like this, you will probably have more to lose than them.  For instance, if you have them at 10 life and you're still sitting at 20, then you're going to lose 10 life while they only lose 5, which obviously isn't the ideal.  Although, maybe you can make it work since that is still technically a 5 life loss for them.  Wouldn't be my first choice, I'd rather drop a big creature, or a couple creatures, for that cost.  When you drop that, you basically should end the game on your next turn, because your life total is going to catch up to theirs quickly.

I'm not a huge fan of the Forge Devils either, although I guess they can take out a lot of 1 drops if you're on the draw.  I'd probably prefer something like Diregraf Ghoul if you still want a 1-drop, or if you're willing to up that to a 2-drop (You don't have any) then I would suggest something like Ash Zealot.