[Standard] unleash/burn oriented deck needs comments and response!

are you planning to keep the deck standard?  are you playing it casually or taking it to tournaments?

I was planning on keeping it standard but I might change that to just be modern (allows me to do so much more and in my area there are tournaments for that too). What do you have in mind?

Would appreciate if you looked at my sideboards since they are "maybe" cards, especially http://deckbox.org/mtg/Falkenrath%20Aristocrat with the heavy amount of humans in the deck as it is now. I have also considered vexing devil but it might be out of my budget currently tho I might add it later.

Unleash is a good mechanic but there are creatures out there that are just as good as the unleash ones or better for about the same cost.  I'll list a few below. Cackler being the exception probably, it's a pretty solid one drop.

Falkenrath is a superb card and should be main deck.  If you like the black red stuff, then I would suggest looking into black/red zombies.  A quick google search should come up with a few decks.  Exava is an okay replacement for falkenrath but in the format falkenrath is the better card.  The zombies deck doesn't even really care if she sacked a human it's more about the interaction with gravecrawler and keeping her on the field.

If you just want to do a regular aggro deck splashing black then you'll need more 1 drops. Cackler is good, you'll need stromkirk nobles, diregraph ghoul is okay too. Spike jester is a great 2 drop fro BR ash zealot is great too.  Alternately you can use burning tree emmissary and lightning mauler, doesn't match up as well with zealot and spike jester. For 3 drops you could even use boros reckoner even though he's 3 red in the deck.  You can run falkenrath or hellrider.

Remember aggro decks are like pyramids.  One drops make your base then 2 drops then 3, then a very few 4 drops, and depending on the deck a couple 5 drops like thundermaw helkite. Alternately the 5 drops can be 1 2 or 3 drops.  The strategy is to increase the likely hood you'll have a turn 1 play and subsequent plays on the following turns.  Below is the layout for a 30 creature aggro deck.  That gives you about 8 cards worth of spells/removal and 22 lands.

55
4444
333333
22222222
1111111111

Consider this
Spike jester = Shredfreak
Ash Zealot = Chainwalker, 2/2 with first strike haste and a useful ability against decks that cast from the graveyard.
Boros Reckoner = splaterthug (3/3 for 3 without unleash and it can have first strike and it gets a damage redirect ability, much better than splater thug).
Falkenrath = exava (flying to get accross, haste, can sack to be indestructible and/or add counters, much more damage potential than exava)
Hellrider (haste, 3/3 makes all your attackers do extra damage)

Some cards to consider removing. 

Dark Favor, if they remove the creature you put it on then you lose the enchant and the creature so your investment in the enchant went for nothing. We call this a 2-for-1.

Cryptborn horror, the other 3 drops are just better.  Hellhole flailer is a consistent 4/3 with a good ability and doesn't require a conditional circumstance like the horror.  Really a reckoner would be better here, but I know they do cost $$.

Rakdos charm, just bad here.  It's not going to help you enough to include in the deck let alone 4.  You're much better off just adding more dudes.

Shred Freak, for the cost and colors spike jester is just better.   Get some of those to put in its place.

Last edited by elpablo (2013-05-23 14:12:40)

Well, it depends on where you're playing.  If you just want a casual deck then what you have is probably okay.  If you want to do things like gamedays and FNM, then you probably want something  a little more competitive, like the BR zombie decks out there.  They run a fair amount of black, but the red in them is important for various reasons. 

Mono color right now isn't a good idea (assuming you aren't heavily budget restricted) just because the best cards are often in multiple colors.  2-3 and sometimes even 4 color decks are the norm in the current format.  Sticking with one color really limits your card selection. 

Below is one example of a B/R "zombie" deck. 

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1112290

It includes a lot of strong black cards, vampire nighthawk, geralf's messenger, gravecrawler. 

There's also potential for a BG zombie deck, using cards like lotleth troll, blood scrivener and varolz.  I'm working on building something in that vein, but I'm not sure how competitive it will be.

JUND is a strong combination, that's Black Green Red, but the mana base will set you back quite a bit, you'd need the pain lands and tap lands to be able to consistently cast your spells.  If you google jund aggro or go to starcity games and look at the standard tournament deck lists you'll get a good look at what works. And like I tell most newer players, the guys that go to and win those tournaments are some of the best players around and you'd be hard pressed to build a deck that's better than theirs when you're just starting out.  Chances are someone has already thought of the deck.

well, it's supposed to be a bit early game focused. That's the whole point of your thread right?  An aggro deck?

In the current environment if you play aggro you need to be able to get in a win in 5 turns or less (potentially).  There are cards in the deck that make it more resilient - falkenrath + blood artist + messenger + gravecrawler make for a good combo, life gain/loss and damage. 

Also, keep in mind that there isn't really a "burn" deck that's competitive right now.  You really can't just damage people enough with spells to win.  There are a couple exceptions, but they don't count on the burn to win, it's more of a bonus/finisher.

it works fine and was a top tier deck for a while.  However this is an older version of the deck. I'm sure there are updated versions of it.  I would search for a version you like and then build it and make changes as you go. 

Some cards to consider adding, could be... dreadbore, blood scrivener, perhaps a sire of insanity (a bit costly at six, but one or two wouldn't be too bad,and you could up your land count by 1 or 2).  Stromkirk noble might be a good addition as well, naya blitz runs a lot of humans.