Creature (25)
- 2x Athreos, God of Passage
- 4x Bloodsoaked Champion
- 4x Butcher of the Horde
- 3x Generator Servant
- 4x Grim Haruspex
- 4x Ornithopter
- 4x Scuttling Doom Engine
Land (22)
Instant (8)
Sideboard
Sorcery (2)
Maybeboard
The Butcher of Mardu
Playing three colors is tricky business; especially when you need all 3 to pull off early combinations. This deck allows you to hit the floor running by establishing a nasty threat by turn 3. If all goes well you'll be shuffling your deck for the next game by the 5 round. If you like to play aggressive, draw extra cards, and gain life while delivering a major beat down, then the The Butcher of Mardu is for you.
Early Game
I love fast and aggressive play, so my eyes lit up when I first came across the Generator Servant . A ramp card with a haste kicker was begging to be put to good use, and the Khans of Tarkir expansion has me excited about this rotation of standard. The servant's ability plays a crucial role for turn 3 Scuttling Doom Engine or a Butcher of the Horde swinging in for a hasty chunk of damage.
- Turn 1:
- Turn 2:
Mountain, Generator Servant , attack for 2 damage with Champion
- Turn 3:
Plains, sac Generator Servant , play Scuttling Doom Engine, swing for more damage
Here is an ideal start:
I'll always drop in a Scuttling Doom Engine over the Butcher of the Horde for a few reasons. One, you can do more damage with the Doom Engine. Second, the Doom Engine has a really great feature that allows it to slip by smaller creatures, which will likely be your only opposition. Third, if it gets burned the moment you drop it into play you'll still do 6 points of damage anyway. Then on turn 4 play the Butcher of the Horde and keep the pressure on.
If the Doom Engine survives going into the fourth round then you're in pretty good shape since you can sac the Ornithopter for haste, swing, and then sac the the Scuttling Doom Engine after combat damage to end the game. Assuming that all goes through, it's 28 points of damage before your 5 turn.
Mid Game
So your opponent has managed to survive the initial onslaught, which leaves you unhappy, but luckily you are prepared! Use your Crackling Doom and Banishing Light to extinguish any kind of momentum your opponent may be building. Get the Grim Haruspex into play and start accelerating your game. Sacrifice the Bloodsoaked Champion or the Ornithopter to draw as needed.
With Athreos, God of Passage in play your opponents will be forced to take the loss of life to stop and infinite draw loop when you sac the Ornithopter instead of your Bloodsoaked Champion, but even then you'll just end up getting the champion back onto the battlefield a little cheaper. With the draw working in your favor you'll be setting yourself up to play another massive damage combo, which should end the game, but we'll discuss more of that in the End Game.
End Game
Having the ability to point and shoot 11 points of damage can be a crippling blow, and in most cases will end the game. When this combination comes to fruition the game is nearly within grasp, and a blast like this is a touch overkill, but I enjoy overkill as I image many others do as well. More often than not I would be swinging in with the Butcher Doom Engine, and then Shrapnel Blast to deliver a whopping 22 points. The Scuttling Doom Engine is my new best friend in standard.
15 Cards
Putting a deck together can be challenging enough, and the sideboard, in my opinion, is even trickier. You have a mere 15 cards that must be carefully selected to help your deck battle certain situations that may arise. You also have to keep the color balance and mana curve within proportion or you'll throw everything off and hand your opponent an easy victory. I look forward to building a sideboard about as much as doing my taxes, but alas it must be done.
This portion is an ever changing work in progress that will likely change often, so don't get to discouraged if some of the text here doesn't quite match up with the card list below. I'll update when I can and changed things based upon good suggestions. I always appreciate thoughtful input, and gladly return the favor with your decks as well.
Sideboard
- Deflecting Palm: good when you're playing against burn decks.
- Circle of Flame : lots of decks utilizing the Goblin Rabblemaster, and this is an effective stop to a rushing horde.
- Hushwing Gryff: if your opponent is playing Goblin Rabblemaster there is a good chance that they'll be playing Purphoros, God of the Forge as well, and this is a cheap way of preventing that damage.
- Utter End: best all around removal. I'll swap this in place of Banishing Light if my opponent has enchantment removal.
- Perilous Vault : great board wipe, just costly to pull off same round, but an exile wipe has it advantages.
- End Hostilities: great to clear creates and all their buffs as long as they aren't indestructible.
Strength & Weakness
It's obvious strength is that it can be fast and aggressive. A turn 4 win is pretty good, but isn't ground breaking. You can pull off just as much damage turn 3 with a 0/4 creature playing Abzan; well technically just G/W, but that's another discussion. If you're opponent can't handle the initial pace you'll coast to an easy victory. There is enough removal to keep the board clear and the doors open so you can get your creature damage in, but if the game lingers into the later rounds this deck can struggle a bit if you can't establish your extra draw. Enchantment and artifact removal is only possible through Banishing Light or the sideboard, and a heavy heroic/bestow type deck is a challenge along with aggro decks that feature Goblin Rabblemaster; but to counter that just slot in a few Circle of Flame .
I look forward to reading your comments and using your feedback to really polish this deck up. It may not be a tournament winner, but it is a lot of fun to play within your regular circle. If you take the time to comment and +1 you can expect me to do the same for you.
Thanks for Looking
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| Top Ranked |
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| Date added | 10 years |
| Last updated | 9 years |
| Legality | This deck is not Standard legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 3 - 2 Mythic Rares 27 - 9 Rares 18 - 4 Uncommons 3 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 61 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.46 |
| Tokens | Morph 2/2 C |
| Folders | mardu ideas, interesting decks, Mardu, New Standard Inspiration, KTK Builds, Red white black, Favorites, Good decks, HTML Wizard, decks |
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