They See Me Trollin', They Hatin' (Arena MTG Deck)

Arena's first FNM let me build decks with cards I didn't actually own, and with it being best-of-one I decided to try something fun and janky that people would not prepare for: Mardu Trollhusher. Pretty sure I saw Crim (TheAsianAvenger) running this on his channel at some point but don't know where it originated, suffice to say the shell certainly existed before I got a hold of it. The idea is to use Hush Money to silence the Clackbridge Troll so that the opponent doesn't get the tokens and you've paid five for an 8/8 hasty trampler. Or you can play Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger to stick on turn three, who is real scary even without the ETB trigger. She absolutely hosed Gyruda, Doom of Depths; Agent of Treachery; Risen Reef and pretty much all of Rakdos Sacrifice when they were relevant in Standard, and continues to perform extremely well in Explorer against decks like Goblins and Angel Sisters.

While waiting on a timely troll or giant there are low-cost discard spells (bringing Thoughtseize to Arena was an absolute godsend to fight combo and control) followed by targeted removal and sweepers at 3/4 CMC in order to remain interactive and shut down whatever the opponent is trying to do. Luminous Broodmoth and Dirge Bat provide some flexibility plus a decent flying clock to close out games and threaten planeswalkers. We run Sorin to recur creatures back from the graveyard if necessary - Kroxa or a Hushbringer only cost two loyalty - and provide a distraction while we find answers. Honestly most of the time he just sits around draining the opponent for one every turn while they desperately try to attack him with everything but giving your trolls and giants lifelink is pretty baller too as shocks and Thoughtseizes do hurt. Outside of big beaters our other win-con is Ethereal Absolution generating enough tokens to close out the game, but Zealous Persecution on a permanent can also be enough to rescue us from some strategies. There is a sideboard but honestly I tend to stick to best-of-one play with this. It's an absolute blast to pilot and has got such an amusingly high number of ragequits online that I'm building a paper version for Pioneer.

The deck has gone through a few iterations as Standard progressed: losing shocks, Sorin and some top-tier removal was hard when we left Ravnica but later sets found replacement cards in Temples and Liliana, Waker of the Dead. Although a non-bo with Hushbringer I also had fun with a version which followed up trolls with a Massacre Wurm, and explored various amounts of MDFCs in Standard before conceding the the manabase simply didn't have room for mono lands that weren't fetchable with Fabled Passage. Most cards that I have played or considered are in the maybeboard.

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"To fight monsters, we...created flying trolls?" — April 23, 2020

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Ikoria has brought some strong additions to this deck. First up there's a great fixer in Savai Triome that we don't really mind entering tapped in the first turns and can cycle later. Creature-wise there's nothing to add to the list of Hushbringer fans (though list of stuff she nullifies continues to grow!), but Dirge Bat turns a troll into a flier the turn after it comes down while also removing something and dodges Ritual of Soot so two of those will go straight in. Memory Leak fits into our curve comfortably, hits so much more than Duress and cycles if necessary so a direct upgrade there. Finally Unbreakable Bond is a strictly better Bond of Revival because the trolls already have haste, and the lifelink counter provides some insurance against Heartless Act - which is so good we're also playing a couple of copies.

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Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Arena legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 41 - 6 Rares 5 - 2 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.31
Tokens	Goat 0/1 W, Human 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB
Folders	Standard, Arena
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