Deck:
1 x Mardu Hateblade
1 x Ruthless Ripper
1 x Seeker of the Way
1 x Mardu Skullhunter
1 x Highland Game
1 x Rattleclaw Mystic
1 x Chief of the Scale
1 x Abzan Falconer
1 x Kheru Bloodsucker
2 x Alpine Grizzly
1 x Alabaster Kirin
1 x High Sentinels of Arashin
1 x Sultai Scavenger
1 x Hooting Mandrills
1 x Abzan Guide
1 x Woolly Loxodon

3 x Feat of Resistance
1 x Abzan Banner
1 x Dragonscale Boon
1 x Rite of the Serpent

1 x Blossoming Sands
1 x Scoured Barrens
5 x Plains
5 x Swamp
5 x Forest


Sideboard:

I got a little lucky on draws given the mana base. Only had one game in which I couldn't play something.

The deck was so quick people just couldn't get started, once the did I often took my army to the air or had enough combat tricks to take out their army and keep pushing through incremental damage.

First game I have no idea what the opponent was playing, they never had a chance to put anything out. They could produce all 5 colors of mana, I killed a morphed Pine Walker and they cast Weave Fate.

Second Game was against 5 color Trail of Mystery/Secret Plans deck. It actually seemed pretty solid, but it just couldnt keep pace with the expense of Morph. They won the first game cause I mulliganed to 4 in an attempt to get more than one land...still only had one and didnt get a second till turn 3. I still manage to bring them to 8 and would have won next turn but they top decked a Kheru Bloodsucker played it and saced Abomination of Gudul for the last two damage to kill me. Ironically...that's how I planned to kill them next turn. Quite fun.

Third Game was against Abzan Outlast. They gained about 40 life in the second game, but my Woolly Loxodon managed to keep punching through and surprise kill with Dragonscale Boon. An Abzan Falconer kept the game in my favor.

ugh...I may have cursed myself with this post...went 0-3 with a Mardu deck that really should have done better:

1 x Firehoof Cavalry
1 x Mardu Hateblade
1 x Disowned Ancestor
1 x Monastery Swiftspear
1 x Jeskai Student
2 x Horde Ambusher
1 x Valley Dasher
1 x Chief of the Edge
1 x Watcher of the Roost
1 x Unyielding Krumar
1 x Mardu Warshrieker
1 x Summit Prowler
1 x Sage-Eye Harrier
1 x Canyon Lurkers
1 x Zurgo Helmsmasher
1 x Sultai Scavenger
1 x Ponyback Brigade

1 x Ride Down
1 x Kill Shot
1 x Mardu Ascendancy
1 x Mardu Banner
1 x Rush of Battle
1 x Raiders' Spoils

1 x Bloodfell Caves
1 x Bloodstained Mire
1 x Scoured Barrens
1 x Wind-Scarred Crag
4 x Plains
3 x Swamp
5 x Mountain


Sideboard:

First Game was against....B/G Rock? It was a weird deck....nothing but high toughness guys, Dazzling Ramparts, and Venerable Lammasu...the whole deck seemed like garbage individually, but he won the friggin tourney...

The last few games won't show much...I just never drew the lands I needed or the cards I needed...lots of mulliganing, even after upping the land count. Never drew Zurgo, never drew Scavenger, all around misery.

This sentence about a deck featuring Valley Dasher? And Monastery Swiftspear? Without Trumpet Blast? Disowned Ancestor is another really bad fit for an aggro deck. All the colors of the rainbow needed in the first two turns? Only 15 lands? You should realize that a fetch land actually lowers the possibility of you drawing a land naturally in the next turns. The deck you met in round one is fairly common, and a natural foil for the rush tactics you wanted to bring about.

I believe the aggro deck of the format is Jeskai. There, the Swiftspear and the Student, together with the blue tempo plays, may win you matches. They don't fit in Mardu. I posted what I believe is a much more powerful Mardu deck in another thread. It also is not what comes to mind when you think about the clan, but it was powerful and fun to play.

Oh, and please feel free to tell me I'm talking nonsense. I come hear to learn, and both decks you posted were quite interesting.

I didn't think I'd win the tourney, but the deck seemed good enough to crawl up to a 2-1, at the very least a 1-2.

Also, the high toughness stall deck...first time I've seen anything close to that in this format.

Reasons:

Given what I was able to snag (I really wish I had captured each round of Drafting so I could see where I went wrong. I think I should have included Trumpet Blast and Rush of Battle if for no other reason than triggering my early Prowess plays. I guess I just expected one game in which Mardu Ascendancy gave me a huge early lead or Zurgo came down for a last minute face stomp.

Ascendancy was amazing by the way. Especially paired with Raiders' Spoils.

You know about the draft recorder? Or was this (shudder) paper?

I can really say anything about the draft, it may well be this was best you could do. I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised to go 0-3 with it, mainly because of mana inconsistency. If you could count on playing your spells on time, you may well go under some decks. Problem is, a single 0/5 will blanket your best attacker, slowing you down just enough for them to get to late game, where it's easy for stronger spells to take over.