What about Crackling Doom ? Abzan Midrange is a thing that casts beefy things so it might be a good idea over Act of Treason ?

Act of Treason allows hit to steal a creature, attack with it then sac it. Crack only removes a threat

I just love what you said about rabble master. SCREW HIM. a lot of people like him, but I don't. He isnt a card I wouldn't run in my deck

Exactly what Invisible_Hand. said about crackling doom. I could sideboard it against hexproof though...

And nothing in Magic makes me happier than beating someone who paid $80+ for a playset of rabblemaster.

I would love to see just 1 Ankle Shanker in here

Ehhhh, I don't think Ankle Shanker's super relevant to the strategies going on here. There is a lot of attacking with Black Cat / Bloodsoaked Champion / Mardu Ascendancy though, so maybe you could come up with some sort of variation on the deck. I just can't get over Ankle Shanker's casting cost -- it's so high for a 2/2.

jayprev because if he was a 3drop he would be broken :)

Jayprev check out my Mardu deck build. It actually started off the concept you run here but it kinda evolved on me. Let me know what you think and any SB suggestions would be welcomed.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mardu-she-wrote-20/

xGhostx My head just exploded thinking about all the crazy decks you could build with a 3-drop Ankle Shanker xD

What about Waste Not ?

I advise against Waste Not, unless you significantly increase your hand hate. In this deck it would run slowly. However, if you increased your hand hate and added the cards which cause people to discard hands and draw new ones...

Oh i just noticed, I dont believe Athreos and Ashcloud Phoenix work as a combo. But it is a great end game card.

Souljacker: Waste Not is one of my favorite cards, but it doesn't fit here. The Waste Not deck is a whole different thing.

Invisible_Hand.: Nope, Athreos and Ashcloud don't combo, which is a shame! But yeah, Ashcloud's killer as a finisher once you have six mana open. It combos really well with the Butcher since it basically becomes immune to removal -- you can just sack it at instant speed as a response to being targeted. Works as a repeated trigger for Dictate of Erebos or Grim Haruspex and it can toggle Mogis, God of Slaughter from creature to non-creature situationally. Plus, he's able to attack every turn to trigger Mardu Ascendancy .

get things with bestow, Herald of Torment to make killing the cat more necessary for opponent.

Hmmm... that's interesting. I hadn't had that idea but it could be awesome. For the first turn or two, the opponent's probably going to choose to take one damage from the kitty instead of discarding a card. Once Athreos and one of the other triggers are in place they really don't want to kill it, so I like the idea of making it a tougher decision. "Should I keep taking four damage from this thing, or discard a card, pay three life, etc. to deal with it?" Plus, the bestow mechanic works, because: 1) once the creature it's bestowed to is sacrificed you're left with a bestow creature; and 2) it builds devotion to the gods.

I could probably only play it as a 1-of, since it would need the cat on the field to really be effective. Then there's the problem of what to take out for it. It seems like Ashcloud Phoenix would be the sub, since it's about on-curve, but I love Ashcloud Phoenix =(

needs more Storm Crow

Haldred: Wow. Just, wow. Had no idea about that card. Hold on, scrapping the deck. It's so obvious now -- 60x Storm Crow is the only deck capable of toppling Abzan Midrange. "Oh, you have a Siege Rhino ? Say hello to my five Storm Crows." Just nasty. And it combos with itself beautifully -- with two on the field, you can attack with one and block with one. OP.

I feel like Crackling Doom is good enough to be mainboarded, possibly over Lightning Strike or Deflecting Palm . it jus thits everything, even if you're at rabble red once they swing with rabblemaster it kills him. solves Prognostic Sphinx in control, whatever abzan has, Butcher of the Horde vs mardu, whatever guy just got some prowess triggers in jeskai, whatever guy is the biggest in temur. it's just all over good.

Indulgent Tormentor could possibly become the Herald of Torment . I know he's good but, well, dies to removal and /will/ get hit with removal. I could also see the Ashcloud Phoenix coming out. I know it's a good card, but the herald of torment is just as good at pressure and adds to your strategy.

I would probably run the mardu tri-land over Mana Confluence . the damage is not really necessary, you only have 3 one-drops, so ideally you won't even take a tempo loss to it.

asasinater13: That's great advice, thank you!

I feel the same way about Mana Confluence , that was an easy decision. I've actually been playing this deck with Nomad Outpost anyway because I'm unwilling to pay $15 for confluence haha -- it's almost never a problem for tempo.

I finally pulled the trigger and swapped in Herald of Torment for Ashcloud Phoenix . Both play the role of late-game finisher and I just think Herald's the better fit.

Indulgent Tormentor is totally a lightning rod for removal, but to me he's really important for the flavor of this deck. Plus, being a lightning rod might not be a bad thing, since it diverts removal from Athreos / Haruspex / Butcher, the main combo. If I wind up playing this build in a more competitive environment though, I'll probably sub him out with either Ashcloud Phoenix , another copy of Herald of Torment , or another copy of Mogis, God of Slaughter .

I have a lot more respect for Crackling Doom after reading your comment, I definitely want two copies in the mainboard. I took out one Lightning Strike for one copy of it and I'm still figuring out how to fit in the second. Cutting down to one lightning strike just seems awkward, and I don't want to get rid of any Deflecting Palm since my main goal here is to get in my opponent's head and it's awesome at that. I'll probably leave it how it is, with one in the main and two in the sideboard.

alright. Crackling Doom is just really good in the format right now. It also does hit at the head, for only one less point than Lightning Strike does. I haven't personally used it, but watching some people play mardu midrange, they ran it as a 4-of and it was never a bad draw (okay, bad in multiples against control) but at worst it's a Shock , at best it can take you from a bad board state to being in the lead. also good to note is that it's one of not many things in the format that can kill a monstrous Fleecemane Lion , which is kind of relevant against abzan.

+1'd. I really love the synergy in this deck, it may very well be the Mardu deck I've been looking for.

Cool! Really fresh brew, dude. +1 from me!