This deck was built around
The Circle of Loyalty
. I've loved the card since the moment it was spoiled but quickly accepted it was bad. However, I realized the only way it could be really good is if you played 3 1-drop knights on turns one and two to follow it with
The Circle of Loyalty
on turn 3. That could lead to a blistering fast win.
To accomplish this, I wanted to make a boros knights deck but realized that the twelve knight one drops couldn't cut it. So I made it mardu to be able to run full playsets of all five of the 1-drop knights in standard.
Embercleave
is there because it is broken (especially when you can easily get it on turn three) and also is the only legendary spell
The Circle of Loyalty
that gives you a free knight with
The Circle of Loyalty
.
The Circle of Loyalty
definitely isn't broken in a long game but it does significantly help if the game goes long. I've won against Doom Fortold in a 15+ turn game just because of the card.
Worthy Knight
might seem questionable since the only pump for the tokens is
The Circle of Loyalty
but the fact that we run so many 1-drop knights means we can easily trigger the ability multiple times the turn of or after casting
Worthy Knight
. Also, it is insanely good with
Venerated Loxodon
.
The mana base: It is quite consistent accept for
The Circle of Loyalty
due to the fact that it is double white and can't be cast using colored mana from
Tournament Grounds
. If one does make a sideboard for this deck be wary of the fact that the deck isn't very consistent at getting black for non-knight/equipment spells.
Improvements: The one of
Midnight Reaper
and one of
Venerated Loxodon
is because I wasn't sure what to do with those last top end slots and I only own one of each in my collection. I've found that
Midnight Reaper
can be really useful against board wipes but at the same time is probably too slow for the main deck as you don't add any pressure on turn three by playing it.
Venerated Loxodon
on the other hand is much better for its synergy with
Worthy Knight
and generally large pressure play despite having to tap your creatures for a turn. It is especially good due to the fact that we are running a lot of 1-drops. I could easily see going up to three copies. A place to potentially cut cards is in
Weaselback Redcap
, the worst 1-drop in the deck. It is only good against decks with board wipes when you are trying to pressure the opponent without fully committing to the board because of his activated ability and this combo:
Embercleave
+
Weaselback Redcap
. Cutting two to four of them can open slots for more
Venerated Loxodon
s,
Shock
s, or even some
Justice Strike
s and
Conclave Tribunal
s. If you are feeling spicy you can even cut a land or two.
Weakest match up: By far the worst in BO1 from my experience is Jeskai Fires. Their three mana board sweep in
Deafening Clarion
stall us enough for them to quickly to kill us with big haste creatures which we have no removal for.
Justice Strike
would be a good instant speed response to such creatures and also
Nightpack Ambusher
which usually requires an immediate kill spell.
Making a sideboard: You will need anti-boardwipe cards like
Unbreakable Formation
and
Midnight Reaper
, as well as cheap removal to make up for the lack of it in the main board. Remember, it will be very hard to cast black non-knight/equipment spells so stuff like
Duress
isn't viable.
