Surprised no Lightning Helix. Between Bob, fetches, duals, and thoughtsize, you're loosing health fast with no way to recover. Puts burn/aggro decks ahead to far imo. How's testing this? +1 for being Mardu though! Check mine out for a more midrange style. No Snapcaster? No Delver? No Problem!

Actually, this is a midrange version of the deck. Lifegain is a primary reason for running Butcher of the Horde, plus he can get rid of unwanted Bobs. Although I do see your point, so I will playtest a few. Mostly the deck does well, but against U-Tron I need 2-3 extra damage to get through, so maybe another sign I need Lightning Helix. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion!!

Let me know how Butcher works. With not a creature heavy deck I fear he'd just be a 5/4 flyer. Curious to see how he does in modern format.

+1 for sure! this deck is cool! I ran a similar deck in standard a while back and it was great Butcher of the Norm. I found that butcher works best with plenty of things to sac to him, that being said i would increase Lingering Souls to 3 or 4. You dont want Bob being your only sac fodder. I could also see Sorin, Solemn Visitor being good here.

@puhalakaust Thanks for the feedback, glad you like the deck. I will think about putting in more Lingering Souls, as I see your point, but don't want to limit my burn/removal too much.

Sacred Foundry

@diateone At the moment my mana base is covered well with Bloodstained Mire and Godless Shrine, as I can fetch for it, but thank you for the suggestion.

It is, as you say, very well covered, but I had some problems while testing and I think including only one is not gonn do anything but making it more solid. I would take a out for the Sacred Foundry, I mean, life is not something you care about by playing this deck, and Butcher of the Horde migth help you with that. Up to you, anyway a great deck, such a shame that is so expensive for us, regular mortals, to buy LOL.

+1 for me!

@diateone You make a good point :) I will add a sacred foundry to the deck some time in the near future, and glad you liked the deck!

I think you could switch the Grim Lavamancers for 2 Gurmag Anglers. The lavamancer may have burn but with the same graveyard you could have a much larger impact on the game with anglers.

@Gaffa I would agree with you except Gurmag Angler is easy to kill. Grim Lavamancer acts as a creature that lets me gain additional value from spells, beyond just making a simple 5/5 easier to cast. And, it wont use up all my mana, then to just be killed/countered. I can also play it earlier that Gurmag Angler. But thank you for the suggestion!

@Mogis_Mtg:Bro love the deck. The primer is quite good too. Keep it up Im adding it to my cockatrice decks. Lets play sometime.

What exactly does this deck offer over Jund or Abzan, the loss of green is these Mardu midrange decks never seems worth it.

I like Crackling Doom, may be it is something for this deck..... It's mighty against hexproof

@NateJH Well, for starters its not super expensive. Not everyone has $1000+ to spend on modern. Also, it allows for lifegain, and the creatures in this deck don't have massive targets on their head like Tarmogoyf does. Cards like Young Pyromancer can be killed, and will leave behind tokens. This deck is more flexible than other decks because your opponents have removal is not a huge issue, as Kolaghan's Command can bring creatures back, and the creatures are disposable and can easily be replaced with tokens until another bomb comes along. Thank you for the question though.

@Hoschie I will consider Crackling Doom for the sideboard, as it helps against Bogles. Thanks for the suggestion!!

@Mogis_Mtg: I say you run 1 Crackling Doom Mainboard. It is almost never a dead card. Also you need 2 Liliana of the Veil.

Agreed, but what should I take out?

@Mogis_Mtg: Either Command or Path. Also, have you noticed that your graphs and charts are at the bottom left of your page instead of the TOP RIGHT? The same thing has happened to me.

Playtest against this deck: Mardu Token Bloodbath..

I think Pre-Sideboard I have an edge, after being able to grind you out 2 out of 3 games, but after siding Rakdos Charm will murder my two main strategies: Go wide and Equip a few things.

Mainboard matchup analysis: Having more copies of Lingering Souls than you do is also an immense advantage against you. The game you won was due to a well timed end of your own turn Kolaghan's Command versus my own Sword of Light and Shadow.

Due to Suture Priest your Dark Confidant + Young Pyromancer + Lingering Souls were pretty awful for you. It effectively negated the benefit of your own spells triggering Young P and Lingering Souls, especially since I had more souls. During testing whenever I had both Suture Priest and Soulfire Grand Master on the field and Lightning Helix in hand I played it like you saw it coming and prioritized the SFGM for removal leaving the Suture Priest alive. Perhaps playing it differently would have changed things.

Dark Confidant easily dealt at least 7 damage, to you, each game and only helped in those rare instances when he got you to a Path to Exile without dealing 4 damage to you first. Even then it didn't help much. Sometimes I played him on T2, sometimes on T3 along with a bolt or discard triggering Young P.

Have you considered Blood Scrivener? Unless you're playing against a combo deck like Twin then it's fine to spend removal on valid targets in order to get your extra card. I think saving lots of life is way more important than the tiny advantage you eke out putting a +1/+1 counter on Falkenrath Aristocrat.

What's your plan against Merfolk and Faeries? Because it should include Volcanic Fallout. It's totally worth shocking T2 and T3 to keep playing your spells T1 and T2 and then nuke 2-4 faeries/fish.

@kengiczar Wow! I didn't except such a detailed response. Thank you! Anyway, against Merfolk and Faeries, despite Faeries not being super popular in the meta right now I'm think of maybe dropping a Cartel Aristocrat and something else in the mainboard for Wrath of God. Also as for the lifegain I used to run a playset of Butcher of the Horde, but I thought Falkenrath Aristocrat might be more powerful. Would you recommend dropping one Falkenrath Aristocrat for a Butcher of the Horde? I also recently removed a Path to Exile, Kolaghan's Command, and a Thoughtseize to go up to 4 beaters (Falkenrath Aristocrat or Butcher of the Horde) and to go up to 4 Dark Confidant, and to add 1 Liliana of the Veil. Would you recommend undoing some of these changes? Also, I find Dark Confidant keeps me well supplied, and despite the life loss, when I playtest, I find I can usually sac him to butcher and then gain life. But again maybe I need another Butcher of the Horde. To recap, thank you so much for the feedback! This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for. I will also make sure to take a look at your deck.

I really like the deck's concept, but i personally would be worried about investing a creature or 2 into any of your sac creatures if those creatures might just meet a Path to Exile or some other removal.

While that is a problem, that is why I run Falkenrath Aristocrat, because its basically immune to everything except boardwipes and Path to Exile. Also, keep in mind that those beaters are not my only way to win. Burn along with Young Pyromancer, the tokens it generates and Dark Confidant as aggro attackers are another viable strategy.

Sorry my laptop was acting up so I gave up and switched computers after awhile.

Problems:

1. Dark Confidant can cause way to much damage compared to the benefit. You need to either reduce the count of CMC 4 spells or make sure your lower drops have a higher impact, earlier, in turns of damage. For instance Boros Charm deals 4 damage for 2. That's worth flipping.

2. Falkenrath Aristocrat demands more support. You need to be able to reliably blank 3+ "Destroy" effects PER FALCONRATH and the cards you sac need to be actually tailored for the job instead of only having Young Pyromancer and Dark Confidant. I mean what if you "don't" want to sac Confidant but he's all you have for humans? You are damned if you do, damned if you don't.

3. Liliana of the Veil is not being properly supported. Run more removal if you want her, which means you have less gas for your beaters. You also want at least 3x Lingering Souls with her.

Falkenrath Vs Butcher

1. Falkenrath Aristocrat: You gotta have more humans. Bloodsoaked Champion is favorable to Bloodghast. The 2 for recursion isn't as bad as it is for Butcher of the Horde because Falkenrath already has haste and can sac for indestructible and a +1/+1 counter. Champ also doesn't kill you if you flip him off Dark Confidant. Also, unlike with Butcher you cannot afford to sit back and block because Falkenrath has no toughness and can't get life link on her own. Liliana is actually Slow for what Falkenrath wants to do. It can work, but your sacrificing speed and stability for a longer game.

2. Butcher of the Horde: Generally you run the creatures that are the best at trading for their CMC, but that you don't mind sacrificing. It's important to realize that butcher is a transitional creature. He is meant to take a deck from "aggro" to "midrange". If you run him run Bloodghast. He's still risky with Liliana.