U/R Rabble Robots

Standard* SolidOak

SCORE: 8 | 8 COMMENTS | 2895 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS


Magic Origins Update —July 15, 2015

Finally, some much needed ammo to make Affinity happen in Standard. Bonded Construct is a suitable fill in for Memnite while Chief of the Foundry stands in like a baby Master of Etherium. Hangarback Walker isn't Steel Overseer, but gives you some value if he dies (let's say to Shrapnel Blast) and Pia and Kiran Nalaar can give you some reach in the late game to close it out.

Goblin Rabblemaster still stays as one of the best aggressive threats in the format and can take over when you can cast him on turn 2 off Springleaf Drum. Ramroller is another possible turn 2 drop and can be a big body in this deck. I could see trading it out for Chief of the Foundry but I'll playtest as is for now.

I added 2 Military Intelligence (Much love, shout out to TWoo for turning me onto this card) for card draw along with a 1 of Treasure Cruise.

Finally, to keep the dream of Scuttling Doom Engine + Shrapnel Blast alive, I moved it to the board along with some lands and Chief Engineer to make it easier to cast. The side includes extra card draw and counterspells as well. I should probably take some of the junk out and put in some Siege Rhino answers like Reality Shift or Encase in Ice.

Suggestions and comments welcome as I'm always looking to make this list better.

alliek93 says... #1

I love this deck combo. I ran it at an FNM when Ravnica and M14 were legal and always got my ass beat to Jace and Vraska decks. How are you ranking at FNM's?

November 27, 2014 3:35 a.m.

SolidOak says... #2

I haven't got to run it face to face yet. This build has about a 65% win rate during my play testing on Cockatrice. Those are just the games that have played through to completion. It doesn't count the 10 or so matches where I dropped turn 2 Ensoul Artifact + Ornithopter and my opponent just exited the game.

This deck can really punish any Abzan or Mardu mid-range strategy that stumbles early. I would call those matches in our favor game 1. It get's tougher post-board as they can go very dense on removal. I've found Hammer of Purphoros to be an all star in those matches by giving us a constant board state and making the Shrapnel Blast to the face threat ever present for our opponent. (I'm considering uping to 3 in the sideboard)

I haven't ran into much Jeskai Tempo with it yet but I imagine we are close to even with it most matches as we are on a similar game plan.

The deck's biggest strength I think is that not everyone is familiar with it so it catches a lot of players by surprise. Some of the drawbacks are the lack of card draw and that you get two for oned to removal with Ensoul Artifact.

I've seen some deck lists that solved this and some consistency issues by dipping into Jeskai colors. Honestly, if you are doing that you might as well just run Jeskai Tempo and call it a day.

November 27, 2014 12:16 p.m.

alliek93 says... #3

Hmmm.. I think in my deck i was also running Generator Servant to get out Scuttling Doom Engine turn 4 and wreck. Thoughts?

November 27, 2014 4:53 p.m.

SolidOak says... #4

Absolutely. I was able to get a turn 4 win with the budgety version of the deck running Generator Servant + Scuttling Doom Engine . I basically removed the Servants and replaced them with Rabblemasters. It was amazing when you drew Servant, Doom Engine, and Shrapnel Blast but if you didn't it Generator Servant was a lackluster 2/1 that didn't do much.

Goblin Rabblemaster can be cast as early as turn 2 thanks to Ornithopter + Springleaf Drum and the tokens can even help the convoke from Chief Engineer to cast Scuttling Doom Engine a turn or two early. It's also a must answer threat by itself and often times opponents have a hard time choosing between it and your ensouled Ornithopter for a spot removal target. I've even won a game on the back of a Ghostfire Blade equipped Rabblemaster

I originally thought I would hate cutting Generator Servant but once replaced it with the Goblin Rabblemaster the deck runs much more consistently.

November 27, 2014 6:15 p.m.

thewyzman says... #5

I played against this deck in Cockatrice (was that you?). This deck has some serious power when left unchecked.

February 27, 2015 1:52 p.m.

I love this deck. Any ideas on what changes or additions you might make after DTK drops?

March 15, 2015 3:59 a.m.