Mardu Deck's Popularity with Khans?
Standard forum
Posted on Sept. 16, 2014, 2:40 p.m. by BGLENN68
I myself really want to build a Mardu Midrange deck. I've just recently asked about mana fixing with this type of deck. Now I'm just curious what everyone's opinions are on cards that MUST be in a Mardu midrange. I personally think that Athreos, God of Passage , Butcher of the Horde , and Purphoros, God of the Forge are necessary. Any other suggestions or combos that would work together well in a Mardu Midrange?
Rasta_Viking29 says... #3
Athreos, God of Passage , Butcher of the Horde , and Purphoros, God of the Forge do not seem necessary to me at all.
I think you would start with the best cards in the colors: Elspeth, Sun's Champion , Stormbreath Dragon , Thoughtseize , and Hero's Downfall . From there fill in the gaps.
September 16, 2014 3:42 p.m.
I do have Elspeth, Sun's Champion , Stormbreath Dragon , and Hero's Downfall already mainboarded. I just would cards that combo well with each other in a specific theme, not that are just good cards on their own.
September 16, 2014 5:01 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #5
The nice thing about Khans is there are ALL sorts of options. I would be tempted to go between the two suggested builds and do some kind of token/control build using Purphoros for attrition damage, Butcher of the Horde
for a fatty beatdown, and the control elements Rasta_Viking29 suggested, as well as a couple Utter End
.
The Butcher may end up losing slots to Stormbreath simply because the protection is relevant.
September 16, 2014 5:06 p.m.
What do you think of sarkhan 3.0? He competes for slots with with stormbreath, but maybe deserves a sb slot versus nonwhite decks.
September 16, 2014 5:51 p.m.
I think Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker would fit in well. I also think that Sorin, Solemn Visitor would work well too. He's a 4 drop and only 2 loyalty counters away from his ultimate. I can definitely see swamping Sarkhan and Stormbreath in and out for each other, depending on the deck you play against.
September 16, 2014 5:58 p.m.
BGLENN68 "I just would cards that combo well with each other in a specific theme, not that are just good cards on their own."
To some extent, that's kind of the antithesis of what midrange is all about though. In order to do well, midrange needs enough disruption to stay alive against aggro and enough diversity of threats to foil control long enough. There's typically not enough room in the deck for synergy nor a guarantee that you can keep them on the board. Its fine to maybe include a few cards that interact well with each other, but these tend to be incidental rather than dependent. Midrange typically just wants raw power.
September 16, 2014 7:03 p.m.
Slycne respectfully I disagree, my midrange deck Hark the Herald v2.0 has lots of fatties and amazing synergies between the cards. Last rotation (Innistrad/RTR) we saw the classic synergy between Restoration Angel and Thragtusk .Finding those synergies that work well on a consistent basis is what separates a great midrange build from a good stuff deck. After Kahns rotates in expect to see a lot of the latter eventually replaced by the former.
September 16, 2014 9:23 p.m.
Dalektable says... #10
I'm a big fan of Mardu Ascendancy , as well as Goblin Rabblemaster . I came up with a deck list for Mardu Aristocrats except with the demon. Pretty fun, I'm enjoying it.
September 16, 2014 10:27 p.m.
Apoptosis The way I see it, I think all those examples fall under my clause about incidental versus dependent. Though perhaps incidental was a poor choice of word. What I was getting at was that Restoration Angel , Thragtusk or the cards in your deck are all fine Magic cards on their own when played on an empty board or top decked. That they happen to synergies on some level is just gravy.
To use an theoretical example for this Mardu deck. I think it would be the difference between having Purphoros, God of the Forge and Mardu Ascendancy over say Goblin Rabblemaster and Butcher of the Horde . The former two do absolutely nothing on their own while the later enjoy having synergy along with just being decent enough cards by themselves as well. With midrange being pulled in a bunch of different directions I think it's prudent to look for power first and then let any synergy and favorable interactions split the decisions on cards.
Also, I think it's possible to make a super-synergistic decks as well, the recent constellation decks are a good example, but I'd argue that those are almost more akin to combo decks than midrange - they just get lumped into midrange because they are slower.
September 16, 2014 11:20 p.m.
Slycne well said! Cards with great potential for synergies that do nothing on their own are certainly weaker in a midrange build then the bombs a good midrange should be building up to. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Apoptosis says... #2
Raise the Alarm , Elspeth, Sun's Champion , brimaz...
September 16, 2014 3:21 p.m.