Check mine out Mr.grizzly The Warriors of Mardu very similar to this but with my taste haha. I'd appreciate any advice and the +1 :)

Hi Mr. Grizzly, I will definitely test that out and get back to you.

My main reason for having those Chief of the Scale in the SB is against burn decks. Instead of bringing in the Return to the Ranks, I bring in the scales, if I resolve 2 then even Lightning Strike doesn't touch most of my warriors, but will see how that strategy plays out.

The removal in indeed much needed in the deck, either to combat early blockers like Courser of Kruphix or to get rid of some early dragons against ramp decks.

The deck is solid, and gives me tons of wins, but it still has issues every once in a little while against attrition decks.

I do like Butcher of the Horde a lot, he's played in most Mardu midrange decks. But basically, I don't generate enough tokens to really abuse his abilities, and sacrificing warriors for him is not the most ideal situation for me (in my experience, i normally get the kill with 2 / 3 warriors out and possibly a sorin). However, if playing mardu midrange, and have ascendency or rabblemaster in your deck, then he's a must. But then you're also foregoing the warrior theme altogether. Not that that's a bad thing, just not what I'm trying to accomplish.

Thank you for your support Mr.grizzly!

I did notice some people using warrior decks running Gravepurge. Which seems like an interesting way of stacking the deck with just the warriors you need without the limitation that comes with Return to the Ranks or Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. And truth be told, those board-wipes are indeed the bain of this deck (which is what it is trying to combat, sometimes effectively, others not).

The fact that it draws a card means you get at least one right away, which could win games after the middle game...It could also be done at opponents EOT to guarantee at least two warriors back in your hand which could definitely swing the game. And 3CMC is not very intense.

At the moment, Return to the Ranks is probably the best addition to the SB since right back on the battlefield has a clear advantage over the deck, but failing that...maybe.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Personally I adore Gravepurge, if you resolve it when boarded against control it almost entirely guarantees that you have more threats then they have answers.

Bane*

And noted DaftVader. I think I'm gonna test it out. After all Return to the Ranks is about to get phased out in a few months so, might need something else and that seems like a good candidate.

Dashing Mardu Strike Leader is great for generating sacs. for Butcher. One can simply drop him and attack or dash him in for the token, especially against U/B control.

psloan indeed I already do that...It's the reason he's in the SB. But generally speaking, he's a slow threat in a deck like this one, and dies fast due to the lack of first strike or double strike, so I've only had success with him in precisely those situations. For a turn 3 I'd rather drop arashin or alesha. Both activate my brawler, and both give great value. That and most of the removal is also in the 3 CMC slot.

Mardu Midrange plays Butcher of the Horde, that kind of deck has the leeway for it. This deck is faster than mardu midrange, it's pure (tribal) aggro. If I mainboard the strike leader to add butcher, I'm wrecking the curve (since we've established that dashing him is the most ideal situation) of a deck that runs on mostly 3 lands. Also, the 4 drops I have currently are pretty good. Both sorin and hordechief are win-cons when I don't miss a drop. To successfully play a butcher I would have to alter the deck quite a bit.

I think I made Butcher of the Horde work in my deck Mardu Warrior Bloodbath take a look and tell me what you think. It's just another perspective of this type of build.

I've gotten a ton of inspiration from this deck. My question for you is would it be worth it running Nomad Outpost. I guess if you're not having mana problems, then this wouldn't be an issue, but I didn't know if you'd considered it in your build.

Also, do you find it useful to run Secure the Wastes? This is a card I've been really flipping back and forth on. I could see how it could definitely play off of your Chief of the Edge and Mardu Woe-Reaper, but do you really find it useful?

Also, also... if you have time could you take a look at my very similar deck? http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/15-07-15-mardu-aggro-warriors/

Big differences are inclusions of Sign in Blood and Despise for card drawing and general removal.

Hi pgowdy13!

Thank you! I did a lot of research and playing to figure out the best cards against the meta while keeping the core as consistent as possible. Combine that with all the suggestions from people on the site and it's no wonder why crowdsourcing is becoming a thing!

I actually at one point ran 4x Nomad Outpost. My main reason for minimizing those and lowering the amount of red cards was to make the deck faster. I had 2x Mana Confluence just sitting around, and with the 3rd sorin in the deck, taking the damage early on doesn't make a difference. I dropped 1x Crackling Doom and 1x Zurgo Helmsmasher to now it's basically a small splash of red. That was my main reason for dropping those lands. If your deck runs more red, then you could use them, but as an aggro deck, I tried to stick to the kind of speed that modern offers, usually trying to win by turn 4. With the tap lands I found that the deck was slowing itself down quite a bit. However, I still think that this is strong than straight B/W warriors since some cards in it allow it to come back from a board wipe easier than those decks would.

I do find Secure the Wastes useful. It has many applications including being a wincon when Brutal Hordechief is out, but it's also good against control, burn, and even other aggro. The main reason for it is that it can make dorks during your opponent's turn, usually when they think you have no response for an attack, it can also help resolve a Return to the Ranks. It was better when I had Spear of Heliod or Obelisk of Urd in the deck, since you could resolve an Obelisk much faster, but the consistency of those cards was definitely questionable against the meta.

Thanks for your comments and will definitely check out your deck!

I really appreciate you clearly laying our your logic for the cards I've asked about. I'm just getting back into Magic after a very long time and back when I did play it wasn't competitively.

I see now how dropping Nomad Outpost makes quite a bit of sense. I think I'm underplaying exactly how important it is to move very quickly with this deck, so your rationale really convinced me.

I also see how Secure the Wastes would be a huge help when Brutal Hordechief is on the board. Great play.

Thanks for the explanation!

Also, did you consider Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit? Seems like an awesome two drop for sustained gains with the deck. I guess the argument would be that she isn't a warrior.

Hi pgowdy13:

Indeed I have. But as you yourself said, no warrior so no play. She is nice, but to me, the best 2 drops for warriors are Battle Brawler and Blood-Chin Rager. Bolstering is a bit slow and since we want to win as soon as possible, we won't get a lot of use out of her.

I like the deck. +1 I run a similar build and can't seem to get away from using Butcher of the Horde. How has this deck done with all of the new threats and speed? I dumped Bloodsoaked for Mardu Shadowspear. Shadowspear can block and still hits for two.

Hmm, if you go Butcher of the Horde you need a lot more creatures (or tokens) and you're forgoing the warrior tribal part. I've seen some builds run it, but they are more midrange than aggro and therefore slower.

As far as the Mardu Shadowspear goes, I prefer Bloodsoaked Champion because you can raid him back. This is relevant when getting rid of dorks or after a board wipe.

On untaped.in I haven't lost a single game in a while (Been something like 7-0 this week).

I'm going to take it to FNM again this week and see. I haven't done FNM since the last modifications, but before that I was always coming in top 6 minimum, taking 3rd sometimes and the mirror tied for first a few times.

A warrior build that's extremely similar to this one won 4th place at regional qualifier so we'll see.

untap.in*

Really interesting deck and well written guide. I am definitely trying this out, though I swap out Banishing Light + Hero's Downfall , since I neither have nor want to buy cards of the Theros block anymore. I was thinking about Mardu Ascendancy - more tokens for Sorin/Hordechief synergy and on sacrifice giving your creatures +0/+3 to survive cards like Languish and Eyeblight Massacre. Also Kolaghan's Command + Mardu Charm might provide a bit more utility than Hero's Downfall. Yes, you don't have a way to destroy a planeswalker then and it is a big deal, but I could be fine by sideboarding Utter End, if my opponent is having a good board presence.Also thinking about Ultimate Price and Murderous Cut to put into the sideboard at least.

I think it's funny that 2 years after this standard, this deck is still receiving upvotes. Thank you very much to all that still appreciate the deck. <3