With the release of Amonkhet I am extremely excited with the return of cycling and the perks you attain from discarding cards. I have taken some of the stronger instances of cycling and discarding and made the typically bad actions as perks. I have utilized madness and return from graveyard paired with the perks gained by discarding and cycling to negate the issues with these options.
For the creatures I have put in some bombs that help keep me afloat and the essentials to the deck.
Bloodrage Brawler
is an all star in this deck. He is a large creature for low mana that takes the removal out of the hand of the opponent early on and it gives me a discard to help me late game. Now we get into the bombs that help out the deck. Archfiend of Ifnir is where this deck gets its gas. With all the discard outlets and cycling cards the opponent will never have a board because he will just put -1/-1 counters on them until they're either not a threat or out of the way. Angel of Sanctions works in this deck terrifically. You can play him to take out a threat or discard him because he has the embalm ability so he isn't a dead card in the grave. The last creature in the deck, Bedlam Reveler is going to be an inexpensive card to pop out onto the board that will discard cards for Archfiend and refill my hand with threats.
The spells of this deck are the backbone to the deck and are what makes it work. To capitalize on discarding,
Fiery Temper
will be my go to card to throw out as it will burn the opponent, their walkers, or their creatures. Lightning Axe gets rid of those bigger threats that I won't be able to deal with while also getting a discard value. Collective Brutality is another pro for this deck as it will get me perks for discarding cards at low mana cost. Collective Defiance works perfectly. It can burn an opponent to help tick their life away and it also can kill a creature or discard my hand for a new set of cards while getting benefits from the discard. Finally, Tormenting Voice is another way to discard cards to get more -1/-1 counters on opponent's creatures and filters cards into my hands so that I can run a larger quantity of different cards and still be consistent.
Faith of the Devoted
is another terrific card in this deck. It allows for more value off of a discard and keeps me alive through life gain. Cast Out is never a bad draw in this deck. If they have a threat staring you down, get rid of it. If you need a cycle trigger, cycle it.
Lastly, the planeswalker in the deck. Nahiri, the Harbinger is only value in this deck. She discards cards for me, removes creatures, artifacts, and enchantments threatening me, and lets me go get a creature when I have gotten the value out of discarding and removing creatures.
