[MTG][Standard] Homebrew Mardu Control

[Alice Moonflowyr]

"Mardu Control". Two words that, by all means, really shouldn't be in a sentence together. But this idea intrigued me because my favorite deck in Standard so far has been the old Naya Control list that existed in pre-Born of the Gods standard, with Ravnica Block, M14, and Theros.

 

[spoiler=The Naya List]Creatures (8)

4 Stormbreath Dragon

4 Loxodon Smiter

 

Spells (27)

4 Selesnya Charm

4 Anger of the Gods

4 Mizzium Mortars

4 Chained to the Rocks

3 Xenagos, the Reveler

2 Advent of the Wurm

2 Assemble the Legion

2 Selesnya Keyrune

2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

 

Lands (25)

4 Stomping Ground

4 Temple Garden

4 Sacred Foundry

2 Temple of Abandon

2 Temple of Triumph

2 Mutavault

3 Forest

2 Plains

2 Mountain[/spoiler]

 

This list was a Control deck that used Assemble the Legion, Elspeth, Stormbreath, and Selesnya Keyrune as its main win conditions. It acted as control by keeping the opponents board under control with a whopping 16 straight removal spells, and 20 removal spells if you count Advent and Elspeth's minus. It curbstomped the decks like Jund Monsters and Mono-Black Devotion, and had a very good matchup post-board against Esper Control by siding in Ruric Thar, Mistcutter Hydra, Wear//Tear, and Bramblecrush.

 

I wanted to recreate this type of deck that had hard-to-answer big threats, while keeping the opponents boardstate minimal with just straight removal. I looked at my options, and Naya had lost a lot of stuff. It lost a huge win con with Assemble the Legion, 2 of its big removal spells with Mizzium Mortars and Selesnya Charm, Chained to the Rocks fell out of favor when Sacred Foundry and Stomping Ground rotated, and it lost Loxodon Smiter and Selesnya Keyrune as early, hard to answer pressure. Yes, we kept Stormbreath Dragon, Elspeth, Anger of the Gods, and Xenagos, but the core of the deck was heavily compromised.

 

So I looked at the 10 Tri-color combinations and tried to figure out what color combination was best at emulating that style Naya Control used to win. Esper was too flimsy without Supreme Verdict and Sphinxes Revelation, and focused more on hand advantage and counterspells. Jund was much more oriented towards the midrange style with Polukranos, Stormbreath, Courser of Kruphix, and Sarkhan.

 

I eventually narrowed down my choices to Abzan, and Mardu. Abzan, for a while, was my primary choice. Abzan Charm, Hero's Downfall, Banishing Light, Sylvan Caryatid, Elspeth, Murderous Cut, End Hostilities, it had pretty much everything I was looking for. But I didn't want to build midrange. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was just following the herd and building Abzan Midrange. Which is what I didn't want.

 

So I turned to Mardu. Mardu had very similar things to Abzan, but initially I thought it had far less resiliency and a much harder path to victory without the solidness and consistency of Abzan. I didn't want to run Butcher of the Horde, and I thought that without using an agro strategy, Mardu had a very hard time winning. Then I discovered 2 cards that changed how I built Mardu.

 

Crater's Claws, and Avacyn, Guardian Angel. Those two cards made me do a huge 180 on how exactly I was going to do this.

 

[spoiler=The Initial List]Creatures (14)

2 Avacyn, Guardian Angel

2 Stormbreath Dragon

4 Nyx-Fleece Ram

1 Resolute Archangel

4 Herald of Anafenza

1 Necropolis Fiend

 

Spells (21)

4 Hero's Downfall

4 Despise

4 Murderous Cut

2 Kill Shot

2 Bile Blight

2 Whip of Erebos

1 Hammer of Purphoros

3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

 

Land (25)

4 Temple of Triumph

4 Temple of Malice

4 Temple of Silence

2 Battlefield Forge

2 Caves of Koilos

2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Mana Confluence

2 Mountain

2 Swamp

2 Plains[/spoiler]

 

This list...had some issues. Bile Blight and Kill Shot never did enough, Hammer didn't do what I intended it to do, and Whip never really pulled its weight. Herald, while nice, was always dead a turn or two after I played it, and Necropolis Fiend was a hunch that turned out to be a bust.

 

After a lot of testing and tweaking, I managed to make a ton of changes and discovered Crater's Claws, which gave the deck a much more streamlined purpose.

 

[spoiler=Final List] Creatures (6)

3 Avacyn, Guardian Angel

2 Stormbreath Dragon

1 Resolute Archangel

 

Spells (26)

4 Hero's Downfall

4 Anger of the Gods

4 Despise

4 Crater's Claws

4 Murderous Cut

4 End Hostilities

2 Empty the Pits

 

Planeswalkers (3)

3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker

 

Land (25)

4 Temple of Triumph

4 Temple of Malice

4 Temple of Silence

2 Battlefield Forge

2 Caves of Koilos

2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

1 Mana Confluence

2 Mountain

2 Plains

2 Swamp[/spoiler]

 

24. Twenty-four spells designed to keep the opponents board, CLEAR. Once I got this set up, any creature based deck had almost 0 chance to defeat me. Even creatures like Sagu Mauler were able to be dealt with thanks to End Hostilities, and early creatures like Elvish Mystic, Sylvan Caryatid, Soldier of the Pantheon, and Goblin Rabblemaster all fell prey to Anger of the Gods, while bigger threats like Polukranos, Seige Rhino, Courser of Kruphix, Stormbreath Dragon, and any planeswalker would die to my array of Downfalls, Murderous Cuts, Despises, and Crater's Claws.

 

The deck wins 80% of its games with Avacyn, Empty the Pits, or a supercharged Claws.

 

Avacyn is HIGHLY underrated I think. Yes, she has no protection from spot removal. But think about this for a second. She is the same CMC as Arbor Colossus, but sacrifices 1 power and 2 toughness for Flying and Vigilance. She has 2 great abilities that turn any creature into an amazing chump blocker, or protect you from damage of any color. Arbor Colossus is praised as a very good card, and although it is certainly better than Avacyn, she isn't far behind. In Standard anyway.

 

Empty the Pits is just hilarious. With 24 spells that all want to be used and in the graveyard, this deck can power Delve extremely well. Pits can easily get up to 9 or 10 in a good game, and has won me multiple games.

 

Crater's Claws...is hilarious. Not only does it have the potential to burn out any non-hexproof/indestructible/pro red creature, it can also punch your opponent in the face for upwards of 10+ damage when you need it to. The two extra damage from Ferocious is highly appreciated, and easily triggered with Stormbreath, Avacyn, Sarkhan, or Archangel.

 

Speaking of which, Resolute Archangel is great as a one-of against Burn or Sligh. If I can survive till turn 7 and drop Archangel, odds are I just undid a WHOLE ton of hard work that those decks put into burning me out.

 

Anyway, this is my latest idea that works hilariously well against any creature-based decks, which is basically my meta right now. It even has a very nice game 2 versus control with appropriate sideboard options.