Ensnaring bridges works well in match ups were you don't want your discards spells but need a way to survive, also in matches were bolt is bad bridge can help out. With k command in the main and other multi purpose cards like rakdous or pia nalar its no big deal to get rid of the bridge when u are read to ultimate. Don't let perfection be the enemy of open mindedness.
I been playing red black for last few weeks and just recently added the white. Basically if your meta is polarized all agro and control then red black is what you want. If you meta if full of grindy mid range then mardu is better. Either way these type of decks are meta game dependant in their success.
2 and 3 damage is only effective in killing a minused sorin, or a xenagost that has only zeroed. Every other walker that pluses, requires you to hit the walker with a creature plus a burn spell.
Chandra and outpost are very weak cards in a deck with 5 cmc cards. I agree the slots are better used for utility spells. Somebody said earlier thay the deck is soft to planeswalkers and I agree. I am playing two utter end in side board but I feel that is not enough.
I would recommend cutting the outpost siege if your looking for another main deck slot. The card advantage provided by outpost really is not significant due to the curve of the deck and the nature of the game it is trying to craft. Taking a turn of early in the game to cast outpost can put you too far behind and outpost will then force you to play spells you would rather have drawn and held for later. The deck seems built as a controlling mid-range deck and outpost does not lend itself effectively to that strategy.
anger is one of the best cards if not the best sb card we have in any match up you want that affect in. If you mean abzan agro then anger and self inflicated wound are nice. For the midrange/control deck additional hand disruption and placing a premium on killing courser have worked for me but it is a tough match up. I also like bringing in rabbles out of the sb to tax there removal spells, i often aggressively trade my rabbles for their courser if my opponent allows it. Try to save your downfalls for their planeswalkers, but that is easier said than done.
And i agree that rabble is one of the best red creatures in standard. i just think that rabble doesn't play very well with black card drawing. In short for rabble to steal games(which it can and does) your hand disruption and removal spells are heavily taxed which in turn put lots of pressure on your other cards to close the game on there own, if the rabble plan doesn't pan out. Certainly if i were to cut the draw affects or add white to the deck then flamewake would the second thing to go. the ability to get back flamewake in the mid to late game helps facilitate using all of your mana every turn. Many games in this standard format come down to who gets to use all of their mana each turn.
To bad see didnt talk more about the card choices outside of the obvious. I think that lack of card draw is a liability. I was thinking on how to add another storm fury to the main deck but I am not super happy cutting a removal spell. The rabble master seems strange. Nearly every deck has a way to deal with an early rabble and he get blocked by so many creatures it hilarious. Whats you list look like
This is the
The deck has been performing very well since i started playing two weeks ago. I have played it against a lot of decks, and not sure about the 2 Executioners in the sb, thinking of changing them to 1 Pyrika's cure and 1 Foul Tongue. Any thoughts on how i could fit another crux of fate into the main deck.
This is thr list plus one liliana and one crux in sb for executioners.
Chandra is really just for some extra CA. I do like Lily, it's just when she drops your opponent probably won't have a hand. Also, if you were going to run her I'd run Dragonlord over storms fury for sure so you don't throw the curve out of whack. Or Sarkhan, he could be good. Like I stated in the primer, there's about 4 flex slot for whatever so if its working for you, why not. I just think there are stronger 3 drops if you were going to go that route.
I totally understand your point about Chandra and card advantage, i was just never able to realize the advantage the way my list is constructed. Often she was netting me a card maybe two then dying or my opponent died to something else i was doing, either is was underwhelming or win more. the black card draw spells have been working better for me than Chandra. Lilly is nice out of the board because she taxes the downfalls in the black decks and helps tutor a certain card. Your right when she lands it is often with and opponent on no cards or none that matter, in which case she assists in closing the game out fast through the tutor effect.
As for three drop, i agree there are more individually more powerful spells to play but flamewake fits nicely against control as it sort of immune to counter spells and removal. It also makes your late game dragons more powerful. I think this kind of attrition/control deck is at its best when you can utilize all of your mana every turn and flamewake helps that. Basically i have found that flamewake allows for me to have opening hands that keep my opponent off balance. It plays nicely with the early hand disruption forcing your opponent to choose between racing or casting reactive cards. If they want to race then our dragons should close the deal faster than they can, if they want to play reactive you can use your removal and hand disruption to play them into a spot where your one threat will carry you to a win.
As for outpost siege. I have played it in many different decks and found that it is best played in burn style decks that top off at 4 mana. That ensures each card you flip over is playable. Taking turn 4 off to play a siege only to flip over a 5cmc and no 5th mana will get you killed or put you so far back that you can't recover. Also with the prevalence of Dromoka's command i am very hesitant running enchantments.
So far my the biggest weakness of the deck I have found are vs G/R dragons mostly due to the weakness of foul tongue(and the strength of courser) and heroic decks, again for the same reason, minus the courser but insert protection spells. This has lead me to consider adding white, but i think that takes the deck to a different place as the black card draw spells would need to be cut as the mana base would be unbelievably painful with the pain lands and minus the life gain lands. As it is the mana is very taxed color requirement wise.
Oh, and radiant fountain continues to over preform.
Good. Chandra is a card I have become more and more unimpressed with. She was never in my list but I tried giving her a go and she just fails against so many decks and is only good when we are even with our opponents or ahead. Added a liliana and a crux to the sb. I want to add mardu charms to the deck but am leery of adding white. Flamewake has still been good for me. I understand why some my not like the choice but it offers you the chance play a tempo game vs other dragon decks when u stick a flamewake next turn kill there dragon hit for two, rinse and repeat.
I am testing the Mardu dragons at the moment, without seeker cause I just don't like that card in the current meta..
White gives us 2/3 soulfires for extra lifegain / early game. Crackling doom but to me the best part seems the extra 3/4 scry temples.. I find myself flooded/screwed sometimes because of no way to smooth out draws. In a blue control shell you have more scry and things like anticipate to smooth out your draws, which I severely miss. This gives me the option to ditch the read the bones as well.
All in all I don't have any matchups I hate at the moment, and feel pretty confident going in any match when I don't get trolled by my deck and mana base
I am sorry I meant the Ben stark mardu dragon list.
I actually went up to 26 lands. With only 4 scry lands mana screws are quite common for me. Hitting lands for curve and dragons is crucial cause you want to keep up with removal and by turn 4/5 have the option to play 2 spells.
I've tried out 1 monument but i've swapped that out for the 26th land.
Edit: Ben stark mardu's dragon deck looks really sweet though.. the white splash for crackling doom, utter end in the SB and extra scry temples seems pretty good indeed.
Can you post the list, or a link to it? I am not familiar with the list.
And i agree that rabble is one of the best red creatures in standard. i just think that rabble doesn't play very well with black card drawing. In short for rabble to steal games(which it can and does) your hand disruption and removal spells are heavily taxed which in turn put lots of pressure on your other cards to close the game on there own, if the rabble plan doesn't pan out. Certainly if i were to cut the draw affects or add white to the deck then flamewake would the second thing to go. the ability to get back flamewake in the mid to late game helps facilitate using all of your mana every turn. Many games in this standard format come down to who gets to use all of their mana each turn.
This is thr list plus one liliana and one crux in sb for executioners.
I totally understand your point about Chandra and card advantage, i was just never able to realize the advantage the way my list is constructed. Often she was netting me a card maybe two then dying or my opponent died to something else i was doing, either is was underwhelming or win more. the black card draw spells have been working better for me than Chandra. Lilly is nice out of the board because she taxes the downfalls in the black decks and helps tutor a certain card. Your right when she lands it is often with and opponent on no cards or none that matter, in which case she assists in closing the game out fast through the tutor effect.
As for three drop, i agree there are more individually more powerful spells to play but flamewake fits nicely against control as it sort of immune to counter spells and removal. It also makes your late game dragons more powerful. I think this kind of attrition/control deck is at its best when you can utilize all of your mana every turn and flamewake helps that. Basically i have found that flamewake allows for me to have opening hands that keep my opponent off balance. It plays nicely with the early hand disruption forcing your opponent to choose between racing or casting reactive cards. If they want to race then our dragons should close the deal faster than they can, if they want to play reactive you can use your removal and hand disruption to play them into a spot where your one threat will carry you to a win.
As for outpost siege. I have played it in many different decks and found that it is best played in burn style decks that top off at 4 mana. That ensures each card you flip over is playable. Taking turn 4 off to play a siege only to flip over a 5cmc and no 5th mana will get you killed or put you so far back that you can't recover. Also with the prevalence of Dromoka's command i am very hesitant running enchantments.
So far my the biggest weakness of the deck I have found are vs G/R dragons mostly due to the weakness of foul tongue(and the strength of courser) and heroic decks, again for the same reason, minus the courser but insert protection spells. This has lead me to consider adding white, but i think that takes the deck to a different place as the black card draw spells would need to be cut as the mana base would be unbelievably painful with the pain lands and minus the life gain lands. As it is the mana is very taxed color requirement wise.
Oh, and radiant fountain continues to over preform.
I am sorry I meant the Ben stark mardu dragon list.
Can you post the list, or a link to it? I am not familiar with the list.