This is a very fast version of Minotaur tribal augmented with a couple strong haste creatures. It has served me well at FNM so far: 4-0, 3-1, and 3-1. It has an incredibly strong opening, and it grows an incredibly strong board that generally wins stalemates. I'll try to focus on explaining what weaknesses the deck has in certain matchups, and what the sideboard drops are.
Theme one: Early Rush.
Gnarled Scarhide
,
Spike Jester
,
Minotaur Skullcleaver
, and
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
. These cards are very strong against Esper control and Mono Black due to their speed.
Gnarled Scarhide
is the only one drop Minotaur, so it's an obvious choice.
Ragemonger
allows you to it cast for free later in the game, or bestow for only 3. The bestow can be used on their creatures in a pinch, eliminating a blocker for your alpha strike. Always play him turn 1 though, if possible.
Spike Jester
is an incredibly powerful 2 drop, undeniably better than a lousy
Felhide Brawler
. If you hit your
Gnarled Scarhide
turn one, you swing for 5 one turn two. This is very strong in the current meta. If you're on the play, it's very unlikely they have a creature or even an untapped land. I never board this card out, but I could see boarding it out against white weenie playing Soldier of the Pantheon.
Minotaur Skullcleaver
can eat removal, kill a blocker, or smack them for 4. This is a very strong follow up to
Spike Jester
, but it's likely they have an answer in the form of a creature or some untapped mana. If they have no blockers,
Minotaur Skullcleaver
can scare that Hero's Downfall right out of their hand, clearing the path for your leaders. I never drop this card for sideboard.
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
has performed extremely well in this deck, especially against control. Esper control probably isn't playing any instant speed removal, so a hasty beater like
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
can't be answered immediately. Play her on an empty board after a Supreme Verdict to keep the beatdown coming. Board in the third
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
against control or R/W burn. 4 toughness takes two burn spells or a Warleader's Helix, which r/w burn probably only runs 2 of.
Theme two: Tribal. The Minotaur tribal motif allows you to dump an entire handful of Minotaurs by turn 4 or 5, pumping them like crazy and giving them trample or deathtouch (or both, if you're lucky).
Ragemonger
: Wow, what a card. If they don't remove it, you lay a fistful of minotaurs on the board. It's important to note that it only reduces the cost by one red symbol and one black symbol, never a colorless.
Kragma Warcaller
will cost 3, making it the perfect turn 4 follow up and maybe even leaving one mana for a
Deathbellow Raider
.
Rageblood Shaman
: Bread and butter leader of the deck. It is best to drop him on a board with at least one Minotaur already (i.e.
Deathbellow Raider
, and it's important to note that he does not pump himself.
Felhide Petrifier: I only run two of this bad boy because he has some weak matchups and he's a bit slower. He is my top choice to remove for sideboard. He is very strong against green, and he is an incredible combo with
Rageblood Shaman
's trample. For those unfamiliar with the trample/deathtouch mechanics, the blocking creature will only block 1 damage and the rest will trample through. Ouch!
Kragma Warcaller
: Very very powerful leader. He comes out of nowhere with
Ragemonger
and gives all your Minotaurs +2/0 and Haste (including himself). I often sideboard him out against control because you never get a chance to develop a board and he's very expensive without
Ragemonger
.
Deathbellow Raider
is a solid 2 drop. Turn three you can leave the mana open to regenerate him if they happened to play a Kalonian Tusker, but I generally try to avoid using his regenerate early on. A better follow-up is
Rageblood Shaman
, so he swings as a 3/4. Regenerate is very powerful against control, so if you smell a Supreme Verdict you may want to save the mana.
Sideboard options:
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
: As mentioned above, good against control and burn.
Dreadbore: If they are heavy on Planeswalkers or big black creatures I bring this in. Against control that plays Blood Baron of Vizkopa you may want to drop all of these from the mainboard for Mizzium Mortars.
Mizzium Mortars: This card is necessary for one reason: Blood Baron of Vizkopa. This deck loses to Blood Baron, that simple. Kill him with this. Mizzium Mortars can also be good against R/G or Jund Monsters or constellation shenanigans. Against R/G (or basically anything that plays Courser of Kruphix), drop Lightning Strike for these.
Thoughtseize: There is a good argument for this being mainboard. Do as you will. It takes removal and blockers out of their hand on turn 1. This deck is very light on 1 drops, so it fits in nicely. I board it in against control to steal Supreme Verdict.
Burning Earth
: Devastating against Esper control, which plays almost all non-basic land. Drop some of the leaders to make room for this one.
Doom Blade: Great sideboard against Mono blue and R/G Monsters. Master of Waves is immune to both of your mainboard removal spells and there are probably no plainswalkers in that deck, so drop Dreadbore for these against blue. Against green or R/G, Lightning Strike will be next to useless. Board them out for Doom Blade.
Rakdos Charm: This is a fun idea that I haven't tried out yet. I would be exceptionally good against G/B graveyard decks--to the point where you probably couldn't lose. It is an interesting win condition against decks that want to win with Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Beat them down early, then kill them with their own Elspeth tokens.
Thanks for reading, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!!
