Dies to Removal

My shot at playing a Mardu midrange strategy.

[deck]Blood and Souls[/deck]

Mardu Charm seems really good here. Kill Courser, get some fodder for Butcher, end phase Duress. My sideboard is a work in progress, but will include some number of Anger of the Gods and Crackling Doom. I am also going to get a few Wingmate Roc and see how they perform in place of some Stormbreaths.

Edit One: Needed some more aggression, so I'm opting for Brimaz. Seems ridiculously synergistic
with Butcher of the Horde. Appropriately, I have bumped Sarkhan to two in the main and altered my spell counts a tad. Creature heavier versions, go nuts with Bloodsoaked Champion plus Butcher of the Horde. I'm not sure if I can justify him in here. Maybe. If Despise/Magma Spray don't work out, I will give the Champion a shot.

Mardu control list post today in Twitter by Tomoharu Saito:



Looks awesome!

You can 'duress' on the draw phase. You see an extra card but your opponent has the opportunity to play instants with his now-untapped land.

Saito's list would match up poorly against the abzan midrange lists, especially preboard. Your best answer to seige rhino and wingmate roc is to hit it with despise, and no way to remove a whip of erebos. Other than that it looks solid. It doesn't die to aggro.
Sideboard would be something like
[deck]
3 Arc Lightning
3 Fated Retribution
3 Banishing Light
2 Pharika's Cure
2 Utter End
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor[/deck]

This Mardu midrange / control list took 2nd at a Japanese tourny this weekend.

[deck]Maindeck

Creature [8]
4 Butcher of the Horde
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
Instant [12]
4 Hero's Downfall
1 Bile Blight
1 Deicide
4 Crackling Doom
2 Last Breath
Sorcery [4]
4 Thoughtseize
Enchantment [2]
2 Suspension Field
Planeswalker [8]
3 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
Land [26]
2 Mountain
2 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Nomad Outpost
1 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Triumph
3 Caves of Koilos
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Temple of Malice
3 Battlefield Forge
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Sideboard

2 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Banishing Light
2 Deicide
1 Utter End
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 End Hostilities
4 Anger of the Gods[/deck]