The Horde smiles at death - Competitive (budget)
Standard*
SCORE: 51 | 43 COMMENTS | 9294 VIEWS | IN 28 FOLDERS
Local FNM Bust 1-2 (Dropped after) —June 6, 2015
Round 1: Temur Aggro (2-0)
The game went extremely fast, so it's safe to say that I think against other aggro decks, this deck performs well.
I was up at 40 life.
Round 2: Esper Control (0-2)
I wasn't expecting to go up against Esper Control right away but I'm glad I did, since I learned quite a bit from playing against two different versions of it.
Game 1: Opponent was down to 2 life with me having 4 Warrior tokens out and an Obelisk resolved and he top decked Crux of Fate.
Game 2: I dealt quite a bit of damage, getting him down to around 4-5 life. He dropped Icefall Regent and tapped my Arashin Foremost, and then took control of it with Dragonlord Silumgar. I played 2 Zurgo Helmsmasher back to back and cleared the board. He top decked an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and I kept top decking lands.
Round 3: Esper Control (1-2)
I side-boarded better against this time around, but my sideboard wasn't up to par just yet.
Game 1: Opponent played 3 Thoughtseize back to back and got rid of quite a bit of my faster threats off the bat during the first 3 turns. I eventually managed to get Sorin's emblem out, and he literally went through all 4 digs in his deck to ultimately drop Ugin, the Spirit Dragon to end it. The deck survived a Perilous Vault and dealt a plethora of damage before it was over though. He ended at 2 life.
Game 2: The deck really came together and pulled it off.
Game 3: I took quite a bit of damage from my pain lands and he added in Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver to remove a bunch of my threats (and did so effectively) from the game as well as adding a ton more of removal.
I tried to use Mardu Charm as disruption but with as much card advantage as Esper Control runs, it was kind of futile, and won't be making that mistake again. I believe he was at around 10 life.
Changes after reflection
Main Board:
Dropping to 2 Crackling Doom and putting in 2x Hero's Downfall One of the bigger weaknesses was not being able to deal with planeswalkers in the late game with all the removal those decks play. Having a Crackling doom is only strong if your opponent actually has a creature, otherwise it's just a rather expensive 2 damage spell. Put the Crackling Doom in the SB to go against other aggro decks and Hero's Downfall should provide a bit more functionality for G1.
Removed 1x Mana Confluence since in reality, I'm only splashing red and don't have anything that's more than 1 R symbol, which the deck can normally easily produce. Also removed Nomad Outpost, since the scry lands can take care of that and actually help my hand since they'll make the deck slower. This should make the game slightly faster and less painful. Even against aggro decks, most of the damage I took was from my own lands, sometimes going down to 12 just on my lands. Normally Sorin, Solemn Visitor can even that out (I've gone up to 40 life after heavy pain land usage), but it's less than ideal. Added 2x Plains and 1x Swamp.
Sideboard:
Dropped Ajani Steadfast. He is a fantastic card, but he really served no purpose in the SB (as I already suspected) So he's a goner.
Dropped Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury I don't see myself ever putting him in the main board (this was a hard decision, but I'm not particularly worried about fliers and 5 CMC is a bit expensive for a spell in this type of deck. He would have replaced Zurgo Helmsmasher to possibly dash against control, but 7 haste and indestructible is something that can do a lot of damage to those decks.
Dropped End Hostilities. First strike and double-strike has served as the best creature removal so far. I haven't needed to bring in a board wipe yet and I suspect it would do more harm than good.
Dropped Utter End. It's too high-costing and I'm already covering every type of card removal so it was there as a "catch-all" but it is not needed.
Adding 3x Mardu Strike Leader. Mainly due to his dash, he could be an ok 4 drop that can generate tokens against decks with heavy removal and he's not around long enough for them to have their mana untapped. Against control, I'm looking for as many cheap tricks as possible.
Adding 3x Chief of the Scale to help against burn decks and protect against cards like Drown in Sorrow and possibly Bile Blight if an obelisk resolved (specifically useful when tokens are out).
Moved 2x Mardu Charm into the SB to make room for 2x Brutal Hordechief. The 3 CMC slot for this deck is a bit cramped, so spreading it out a bit to 4 makes sense. He also wins if you can have board state. Against control, I'd probably still play the Mardu Charm due to capability of spitting out surprise tokens. Mardu Charm has done awesome stuff for me though, such as having a Battle Brawler out and me triple blocking a Siege Rhino with all first strike creatures for 5. Definitely not a bad play.
Added 2x Erase to complete removal spells (able to remove almost any type of card now). The CMC makes it an easy one to SB, vs something like Utter End.
More suggestions welcome!
U mad bro? This deck beat Abzan aggro and quite a few other so called "top decks" :P
June 5, 2015 12:27 p.m.
ok so ive played warriors and i have to say im surprised to see not so many people playing it. i went to an scg open with mine and went 6-3-0 with it. you have a solid list however i believe you should try to use some cards with stand alone value like rabblemaster who is a warrior. also dont pass on the sieges. outpost is good while citadel is amazing with arashin foremost. i like the athreos in the main, make it painful to kill your arashin. brutal hordechief is good in this list, and wingmate roc is a great finisher. but solid list dude
June 5, 2015 1:18 p.m.
Hi jjdonut7
Thanks for the suggestions! I had not considered Citadel Siege for this deck before... Might have to put that in there if origins has no replacement for the Obelisk of Urd.
For 4 mana tho, I think I prefer obelisk since I have convoked it out with tokens / creatures with only 3 lands. I have seen Goblin Rabblemaster being played in quite a few warrior decks, but I don't like that he produces goblin tokens instead of warrior tokens (with things like Obelisk, Chief of the Edge and Blood-Chin Fanatic can't be used on things created by him). I might consider putting him in there tho, maybe replacing Ajani in the SB. Funny that I just traded away my playset of Outpost Siege away but I think Athreos is much stronger than Outpost and cheaper to cast. In the 5 mana slot I have Zurgo Helmsmasher because I can sac him to deal 7 damage (minimum) to the face and gain 7 life and to cover the fliers that escape the Mardu Charm or Crackling Doom I can bring in Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury to handle them as well as give my attacking creatures a boost.
Even against removal, this deck generates too many creatures for them to be able to get rid of them all. And since most have first strike / double strike, they can beat out most other creatures, letting me use the spells to CMA or protect any that would actually die.
I do indeed like the Brutal Hordechief, If i had more space in the deck he'd be main-board. At the moment I bring him in when Helmsmasher is too slow.
Thanks again for the suggestions!
June 5, 2015 1:39 p.m.
The Arashin Foremost, Battle Brawler, and less interesting Bloodsoaked Champion can all be brought back with Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, triggering the abilities of the first two at the same time, which is usually pretty good. The Athreos is there to do more damage when I sac or go up against removal :)
phDaemon says... #1
After some casual games this week, I've decided to put back Athreos, God of Passage instead of the spears. They don't give enough power to the deck, and at least once Athreos gets affinity (which happens fairly quick) he becomes a serious threat that most decks won't have responses to.
I have also raised the number of Mardu Charm and Crackling Doom. Battle Brawler + Mardu Charm gives you a very nice turn 3 blocker dealing 5 damage first strike, and since you do it in an opponents turn, it is often unexpected, getting rid of any momentum they could have built so far. Crackling Doom is fantastic, and I almost think that 4 might need to be in there, but I'll let that be for now.
June 4, 2015 3:56 a.m.