Madness!

[carcharoth]

Yes Madness, the little mechanic that never could, well, not in standard at least. I don't know if someone has made a list or if there is a madness deck around, but I have put together two lists for starting this thread, I hope someone could share ideas and thoughts. I would like a deck maybe not so fast as RDW, but stronger, also the deck has to beat RDW and goif constantly while keeping UBw a good matchup. Yes, is a lot to ask, but who knows. First a RB list:


RB Madness:

1cc
4 mindslash sliver
4 fiery temper
3 rift bolt
4 dead/gone


2cc

4 psychotic episode
4 dauthi slayer

3cc
4 gathan raiders
3 reckless wurm
4 sedge sliver

4cc

5cc
2 words of seizure

4 graven cairns
3 urborg
9 swamps
6 mountains
2 keldon megaliths

I made this deck with the idea of beeing able to play tendrils in the sb against aggro decks, and playing urborg as a wasteland against Bx decks making it harder for them to play tendrils. Also, this deck plays better creatures than RDW and with sedge sliver I can block goif forever.

Then, keeping madness in mind I made the UR version, this is a rough list:

UR Madness:

1cc
4 fiery temper
4 dead/gone
3 sage of epityr

2cc
4 voidmage prodigy
4 looter il-kor
4 delay

3cc
4 gathan raider
4 reckless wurm
3 psionic blast
2 bonded fetch

4 terramorphic expanse
3 gemstone mines
10 islands
7 mountains

Well I think that's all, now I'll go test this decks. I would gladly apreciate anything you have to say about the lists. Lastly, I'm very sorry about my poor english, it is not my main language, I hope that'll not affect your judgement ;), see ya.

[mercury229]

I actually made a URb madness deck, its rather good against alot of the field but I found that if you keep the enablers off the board it just doesnt do well, but any way my list was a bit more of a URb madness//reanimator deck.

3 dreamscape artist
4 bonded fetch
4 looter il-kor
2 cloudseeder
4 arogant wurm
4 fiery temper
2 dark withering
1 akroma AoW
1 akroma AoF
2 Bogardain Hellkites
1 Avatar of Woe
4 Dread Return
2 Body Double
4 think twice

Pretty straight forward, eficient early game and very powerfull late game. What I have found that I like best about the deck is the spellshapers as your discard outlets I really like the black one from future sight that creates the zombie, and the sloudseeder creating the fliers, it gives eficient a whole new meaning. The key to my build however was the dreamscape artists, being able to ramp up your mana fast as to be able to cast your reanimation targets even with out dread return, is just sick. I like the raiders but I am just not sold on a one discard per card outlet its just not very predictable. The deck also just filters through its self lightning fast. well I like it to say the least but it just doesnt beat RDW at all and slivers is a pain as well.

[Shepherd]

I would much rather get Tarmogoyf out of play rather than block it forever... Maybe Dark Withering on the side? The madness engine here is more of a side theme than a main focus, but it looks okay nonetheless...

I think Willbender might be more important for the U/R build than Sage of Epityr. Not sold on Bonded Fetch when you have Looter, but it does look good in theory... Maybe too many lands given the low curve. Tolaria West may help get some utility lands (Desert or the Megaliths as a one-of, perhaps)...

Just a few ideas off the top... Feel free to use or "discard" as needed...

[carcharoth]

mercury:
I like your list, it looks like a lot of fun, sadly, it seems that RDW will be played a lot around here, so I need something that beats it. My only criticism about your deck is that I don't know what it does, as I see it, I don't if it tries to go aggro, or combo or control. I would go for the control/combo side, maybe cutting the wurms for more spot removal. I will give the spellshapers a try.

Shepherd:
Well yeah, I can block tarmogoif and then play dead or another burn on it =P. And in the sb I'm thinking on tendrils and also maybe the witherings. I think I will focus only in the BR build. Also gibbering descent in the sb against control will be very good. Besides that I don't know what else can I do. I need to keep the curve and the speed, but also it seems that there are to few madness enablers.

Thanks for the feedback.

[mercury229]

The deck can play both, This deck can beat RDW, its just not the favorite matchup, and a madness deck never really will, what gives my deck game against rdw is the reanimator strategy, and this is where the bonded fetch comes in handy, you will at least be able to activate it once due to haste. dont get me wrong the deck has game against RDW just not its best, when i posted I was thinking about my encounters with another deck. Id say that RDW with just your madness engine will give you a 40/60 game vs. RDW the reanimation strategy pumps that up to about 45/55 or even close to an even game. Id say try it out, the best thing about the deck is it just mops the floor with WG tarmagoyf decks, and I mean brutaly, they cant get anything going.

[old bog]

Madness is one of my favorite mechanisms, but sadly, I too think it will never be competitive. I do think that in tenth, any madness deck w/red should have goblin lore. Just seems to be a usefull draw/madness enabler that really could have helped decks this time around.

[ScaryHairyGuy]

Madness has never been competitive? Are you people that unaware?! On to the point, i saw a pretty nice RB deck which had a few madness cards at a recent GPT: Lightning Axe gives a good way to deal with Teferi as well as a bloated Goyf, Mindless Automaton should make the cut in any deck like this, and Tombstalker is some good as a late (or sometimes not so late) finisher.

[carcharoth]

mercury: I will try your deck, but as it stands I don't think my build have that bad of a matchup against RDW, I play better creatures, and I have almost the same removal, it is only a little slower.

After a little testing I have came to a solid build I think :P. Here it is:


RB Madness:

1cc
4 mindslash sliver
4 fiery temper
3 rift bolt
3 dark withering


2cc

4 psychotic episode
4 dauthi slayer
4 skirk ridge exhumer

3cc
4 gathan raiders
3 reckless wurm
4 sedge sliver


4 graven cairns
2 urborg
9 swamps
6 mountains
2 keldon megaliths

sb:
3 dead/gone
3 tendrils
3 gibbering descent
4 augur of skulls
2??

Well, I followed the advice from mercury and added the spellshapers. They are awesome, they keep the curve smooth and fill the last madness enablers that I needed. I also added the dark witherings instead of dead/gone, to have something to kill tarmogoif and other things. I cut the words, and also a land cause now the mana curve ends on 3. In the sb, against aggro is quite simple. Against control I have the augurs and the gibbering, I think they can crush UB control. I'll post if I have an update about the deck.


ScaryHairyGuy: What I meant is that madness didn't make it in today standard, everybody knows how good was madness back in those days ;).

[finalfuryownsu]

sounds like you have great deck ideas

[mercury229]

I like the deck but you should think about replacing something with the bonded fetch, I diddn't have him in my original builds but it made the deck just fly the minute I put it in, being a repetitive source of discard I feel is better than a rather decent sized creature with only one source of discard, Just my two cents. Also really like the idea of mindless automaton, at least in the board it could just WRECK control to no extent and it gives you a cheap continuous discard outlet.

[v88]

where are themagus of the bazaars? They dig through a madness deck so fast. Also, i really like the tombstalkers, they're awesome. How about Jaya, reusable burn sounds good. Also she's pretty good against all og the teachings decks out there with teferi and aeon chronicler

[mercury229]

@v88
Magus of the bazaar sounds nice on paper but too often she creates card disadvantage and it will loose you more games than you want. It can sometimes find its way into decks like mine sence I use the reanimation strategy as well. As for Jaya, shes nice but I dont think so relavant in the main deck being that she hoses blue so well its a great card for the board.

How is everyone else doing so far?

[carcharoth]

Hi, I've testing on magic league, sadly I can't find every time players to play with. Nevertheless, I have made some changes:

1cc:
3 dark withering
3 lightning axe
4 rift bolt
4 fiery temper

2cc
4 augur of skulls
4 skirk ridge exhumer
4 psychotic episode

3cc
4 gathan raiders
4 reckless wurm

>3cc
3 tombstalker

3 keldon megaliths
4 graven cairns
11 swamps
5 mountains

sb:
3 rough/tumble
3 dead/gone
4 the rack
3 mindlash sliver
2 word of seizing

So far the deck has perform very well. I have beat every control deck I've faced, it has awesome sinergy. The tombstalkers are indeed great, and the axes+withering are also very nice, and quite cheap removal. I think the MD is good as it is, I have some trouble with the sb, many times I don't know what to take out. I put the rough/tumble after I was beated by a wild pair slivers deck. I also add the rack cause everytime I play against control they and up withuot hand. I don't like mindless automatom, I think it is to expensive for what it does, I need cheap madness enablers. I'll give an update later, also, anyone who wants to test in MWS please post here to play some matches.