After some years of refraining from playing Standard at all, I was sucked in by my Knight fetish. So I bought the Brawl deck and slapped in what I had gotten from the prereleases and a few extras I had picked up along the way. After a couple of practice games I settled on this:
The colors didn't seem to be much of a problem, I was short a B one game and couldn't cast Swift End, but I have plenty of B so that's down to variance and not drawing a fourth land. Not drawing a fourth land in a timely manner was a problem one other game but twenty-four should be plenty to hit the first four land drops reliably, so that seems like bad luck as well.
The deck was completely noncompetitive, which isn't too surprising since it was slapped together in a slip-shod fashion. I was hoping to get an idea of which direction to go, but I'm was not able to discern one. None of the tools in this deck seem viable. Worthy Knight and Corpse Knight are so slow and vulnerable neither seems worth keeping. Order of Midnight can get in some damage, and I did have two out with an Inspiring Veteran once, but it didn't get there. Swift End is useful, but three-mana is actually on the expensive side for a kill spell and two life is not nothing. I hit this guy with Lucky Clover out once and murdered two fatties which was bitter sweet; it keep me in the game for a while but four life smarts. I did get the four back when I fired off Curry Favor a turn later but that was just luck. Still, the Lucky Clover wasn't lucky enough.
Every deck I played outclassed me so badly it wasn't funny. One of the practice games was against Elementals; that went badly. The other practice game was against a Planeswalker deck so we won't use that data in our findings.
The first match was a Boros deck; nearly (?) everything had double strike and he played pump spells. One guy had trample and another created enormous amounts of Goblins. Both games ended very badly.
The second match was a BG brew with some ramp. He had ways of casting and recurring ridiculous things like Feasting Troll King. I killed the guy and he came right back. I killed him again a turn later but it didn't matter.
It doesn't seem to me that the Knights are going to cut it on the aggro road. I see the need for much more removal. The enchantment pseudo-removal appeals because Acclaimed Contender can hit it, but that's slow so I'm not sure that's a viable strategy.
My thought at this point is to drop the W altogether or perhaps reduce it to a splash and make R the secondary color. Play some more B kill spells along with a little burn but the burn seems expensive in this format.
The big guy is probably not playable in Standard, and goofy things like Colossus Hammer are probably just too cute. The R four-drop that flies is an idea, but living to use it is a problem sometimes.
Has anyone else tried Knights, Mardu or otherwise? Any better results? I realize that familiarity with the format will help, but damn, it seems bad.
Am I out of line here?
EDIT: Removed some stupidity. Replaced it with some trivia.
2 Knight of the Ebon Legion
3 Corpse Knight
2 Inspiring Veteran
2 Order of Midnight
2 Smitten Swordmaster
2 Wintermoor Commander
3 Worthy Knight
4 Murderous Rider
1 Acclaimed Contender
1 Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale
1 Blast Zone
2 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodfell Caves
1 Castle Ardenvale
4 Fabled Passage
4 Godless Shrine
1 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Scoured Barrens
2 Swamp
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Tournament Grounds
2 Dead Weight
1 Disfigure
1 Lucky Clover
2 Steelclaw Lance
1 Icon of Ancestry
1 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
1 Mace of the Valiant
1 Mortify
1 Realm-Cloaked Giant
4 Duress
1 Despark
1 Epic Downfall
1 Fry
1 The Elderspell
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Trapped in the Tower
1 Ob Nixilis's Cruelty
1 Kaya's Wrath
1 Bond of Discipline
1 Single Combat
The deck was completely noncompetitive, which isn't too surprising since it was slapped together in a slip-shod fashion. I was hoping to get an idea of which direction to go, but I'm was not able to discern one. None of the tools in this deck seem viable. Worthy Knight and Corpse Knight are so slow and vulnerable neither seems worth keeping. Order of Midnight can get in some damage, and I did have two out with an Inspiring Veteran once, but it didn't get there. Swift End is useful, but three-mana is actually on the expensive side for a kill spell and two life is not nothing. I hit this guy with Lucky Clover out once and murdered two fatties which was bitter sweet; it keep me in the game for a while but four life smarts. I did get the four back when I fired off Curry Favor a turn later but that was just luck. Still, the Lucky Clover wasn't lucky enough.
Every deck I played outclassed me so badly it wasn't funny. One of the practice games was against Elementals; that went badly. The other practice game was against a Planeswalker deck so we won't use that data in our findings.
The first match was a Boros deck; nearly (?) everything had double strike and he played pump spells. One guy had trample and another created enormous amounts of Goblins. Both games ended very badly.
The second match was a BG brew with some ramp. He had ways of casting and recurring ridiculous things like Feasting Troll King. I killed the guy and he came right back. I killed him again a turn later but it didn't matter.
It doesn't seem to me that the Knights are going to cut it on the aggro road. I see the need for much more removal. The enchantment pseudo-removal appeals because Acclaimed Contender can hit it, but that's slow so I'm not sure that's a viable strategy.
My thought at this point is to drop the W altogether or perhaps reduce it to a splash and make R the secondary color. Play some more B kill spells along with a little burn but the burn seems expensive in this format.
The big guy is probably not playable in Standard, and goofy things like Colossus Hammer are probably just too cute. The R four-drop that flies is an idea, but living to use it is a problem sometimes.
Has anyone else tried Knights, Mardu or otherwise? Any better results? I realize that familiarity with the format will help, but damn, it seems bad.
Am I out of line here?
EDIT: Removed some stupidity. Replaced it with some trivia.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn