First of all: please comment if you have any thoughts! I would really like to hear what you think.
The main goal while building this deck was to have a budget deck for standard tournaments that is
- powerful enough to win some games
- fun to play because it has many synergies and possible ways to win
- easy to play, meaning that the best way to use the cards you get is not rocket science
This deck is not supposed to win tournaments, just to get this clear. I will not include cards like Thoughtseize that are just the best you can get at what they do, but have focused on the budget alternatives, which, when you chose them right, are not so much worse.
This deck is more aggro than control, but is built to use control explicitly as part of the winning strategy, and less as a pure safety measure.
Warriors win by numbers, by being playable early, and by their synergies. There are no dual lands in this deck that come in tapped, since objective is to play a card each turn, from the start. If each creature that comes in (there are 22 of them, which is slightly more than 30% of the deck, which is 4 in the first 12 cards you get, so you can on average play 4 and one creature removal or card removal in the first 5 turns, even if you take a mulligan) can swing once, and the control element takes care of whatever threats your warriors are not able to deal with as they have a max. of 3 power, together with the synergies (bringing cards back onto the battlefield, sacrificing cards for damage @ instant speed before an enemy removal hits them, etc.), the math says that 20 damage to the other guy can work.
Only 2 cards get to be a full 4-set: Bloodsoaked Champion, as his ability amounts to a cheap card-draw, and Diplomacy of the Wastest, which is hugely efficient when played in a warrior deck.
There are four cards with a direct burn component (Tymaret, the Murder King, Blood-Chin Fanatic, Searing Blood and Diplomacy of the Wastes).
The token generations by Secure the Wastes and Mardu Strike Leader, together with the sacrifing abilities of Tymaret, the Murder King and Blood-Chin Fanatic or the +1/+0 ability of Chief of the Edge can be a real pain to the opponent.
Crucial for winning against mass removal, Plainswalkers (damn, so expensive. Maybe I could put two Sorin's in here, that might still be inside budget), and decks with (big) flyers is the ability to get those cards out early with Diplomacy of the Wastes, Sand Explosion, Murderous Cut and Searing Blood. I had 1-2 each of Duress and Despise in as well, but sacrificed them in favor of slightly more creatures. In half of the games you play, you should be able to take out a game-changer card from your opponent's hand by turn 3. Maybe I will revert to putting Duress and Despise back in (one each: Duress against Plainswalkers and mass removal, Despise against Plainswalkers and overpowering creatures), and Searing Blood out, as it is half creature removal as well, which already has 5 cards, and harder to play due to the 2 Mountains needed.
Land-wise, I have included enough Plains that the odds are good to be able to play Chief of the Edge on turn 2 (8 Plains means one on average every 7,5 cards, so in an average game enough to play the Chief even if you mulligan once). I really would like to use Battlefield Forge instead of Wind-Scarred Crag, but those are 4 EUR apiece, which is too much money for a "small" improvement. Mountains also get their share (9), since there needs to be enough for Searing Blood, Tymaret, the Murder King, and the fact that Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Tymaret, the Murder King can bring back creatures with Mountains in their costs. Also, this makes it probably enough that you can play Zurgo on turn 1. He is not that critical on turn one, since you might as well play him for Dash on turn 2 and then "for real" on turn 3 together with another 2-drop. This means that there is less Swamps than the mana costs of the cards would indicate. I will find out how that works.
I have purposefully NOT included Zurgo Helmsmasher, which is about the only white, red or black warrior with 3+ power and abilities that complement this deck. Thing is, you bring him, he attachs directly, probably runs into a block, kills something small, then gets snuffed in the next turn by whatever the opponent has in terms of burn or removal. I pay 5 mana for him, and he gets blown away with 2-3. With 5/4 instead of 7/2, he would be in here.
I looked at the green warriors, too, but since black (Diplomacy of the Wastes) and white (Chief of the Edge, Secure the Wastes) was fixed, red won over green as third color. It gives you Alesha and Tymaret, and makes using Brutal Hordechief's ability much easier. On the other hand, it would have been cool to bring my Siege Rhinos into the deck, if I chose green :-) They are just good wherever they turn up.
One card I am still hesitant about is Battle Brawler, since it's probably only a 50% chance that he will be able to use his ability for +1/+0. Both Seeker of the Way (I do have enough spells for Prowess to trigger often) and Blood-Chin Rager (which essentially opens a path for direct damage) seem better in many scenarios. Let me know what you think!
I have not yet built a sideboard; this is an area where I really need some input! What would a good budget sideboard look like for the current metagame?
Only Tymaret, the Murder King and Searing Blood will be thrown out of Standard in fall already; all other cards are good for about a year now.
Check out my secondary cards deck; in there are most of the cards I also considered while putting this deck together.
Anything else ... Yeah, I hope this deck finds some friends on the net, so that I can get some feedback from other people playtesting it.
Over and out, Jan
