So many 1 drops and so many tap lands is a bad combination; hell, so many tap lands in aggro is bad full stop - if you don't curve out, you die. You should be looking at the likes of Dragonskull Summit and more basics before tap lands. You don't have to match the amount of black sources because we have less black cards. Due to rarity restrictions/crappy mana Duels is a slower format and we have a lot of midrange threats, so I think it's necessary to upscale the deck a little, so I'd cut into the 1 drops.

You have enough creatures (some of which aren't optimal (I'd take Engineer over Monitor any day), but I guess I can see their uses) with 3 power that I'd be running Cultivators Caravan over Mobile Garrison - this has the added benefit of easing your mana. Plus you can play a 1 drop off it on turn 3 even if you tap out.

Your creature ratio is also a little high - I'd look to make cuts for the likes of Chandra, Torch of Defiance. As I said, I'd look to go a little higher on your curve.

Nice pointers. I will rework. Thanks.

why stoneforge with no equips? did i miss something?

Maybe SD thinks he fetches artifacts?

Grixis Hulk Menace

The initial idea for this deck came during the KLD Pro Tour. During the limited draft rounds as they are opening from latest sets it can be good to watch. The Japanese player Shota, a recognised clever deck builder, fielded a deck that had Shaeeli's artistry and Noxious Gearhulk. Needless to say in the 40 card deck he was able to complete the combo, recognizing early that the hulks count as both artifact and creature so you can trigger both on the same hulk.

In duels of course they are mythic so we only get 1 of each to play with. To try and compromise I included the Diabolic Tutor. It fits also in being able to fetch one part of the combo. The original build still has some of the original cards with Consultate Skygate being a great early drop to manage both air and ground defense at once.

Other early additions for the blue / black pairing were the confiscation coup and this led to the inclusion of the energy based artifacts and mana. Because you need time to assemble the life gain Prakhata and Kalitas were added along with multiform wonder.

The 1 of Electrostatic pummeler was added for the energy primarily.

In adding red to go Grixis harnessed lighting and unlicensed disintegration were added for a decent removal to go with Languish as a board wipe.

As the creature count was low, rather than add more removal with confiscation coup which is a tempo play mainly and barral's expertise is also great. Aether Tradewinds may look odd but its also great tempo and you can rely on using it to return your own energy generators.

Back to the original idea with blue and black and a lot of instants and good 4 casting cost for Barral's expertise, adding the blue gear hulk in particular can make for a great value play.

Card draw is important in the combo decks so the Telling Time and Glimmer help drawing into the right cards. The singleton Inventor's fair can be important late on.

The 3 hulks require 6 mana as does artistry. To provide insurance for removal of a hulk the singleton mortuary mire and skaab are included.

Ob Nixilis is final card and provides removal and draw.

The mana base appears to be okay. It may need more red but of the 3 hulks Combustible is probably worst to combo off though great late game for the draw. The best hulk is still probably Noxious due to its ETB removal and life gain and menace to boot. Torrential with its flash ability and free instant casting is also very good in this deck.

It's certainly entertaining to play.


Creatures (14)

2 Thriving Turtle
3 Consulate Skygate
1 Electrostatic Pummeler
1 Prakhata Pillar-Bug
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Possessed Skaab
2 Multiform Wonder
1 Torrential Gearhulk
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Combustible Gearhulk

Planeswalkers (1)

1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

Spells (21)

Card Draw (4)

2 Telling Time
2 Glimmer of Genius

Removal (7)

3 Harnessed Lightning
2 Unlicensed Disintegration
2 Languish

Tempo (6)

2 Aether Tradewinds
2 Confiscation Coup
2 Baral's Expertise

Combo (4)

2 Diabolic Tutor
2 Saheeli's Artistry

Lands

4 Island
4 Swamp
2 Mountain
2 Sunken Hollow
2 Drowned Catacomb
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Inventors' Fair
3 Aether Hub
1 Mortuary Mire
3 Evolving Wilds

Steam Ladder Deck

Mardu - Vehicle, PW wannabe

[Deck]

1 Toolcraft Exemplar
2 Renegade Map
1 Shock
1 Topan Freeblade
2 Child of Night
2 Veteran Motorist
1 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Smuggler's Copters
1 Reprisal
1 Gideon's Reproach
1 Ride Down
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Hanweir Garrison
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Drana's Emissary
1 Deepala, Pilot Exemplar
1 Skywhaler's shot
1 Borrowed Grace
1 Murder
1 Hungry Flames
1 Collective Effort
1 Read the Bones
1 Kari Zev's Expertise
1 Haunted Dead
1 Akoam Firebird
2 Impetuous Devils
1 Daring Demolition
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

5 Plains
4 Swamp
1 Shambling Vent
2 Clifftop Retreat
2 Isolated Chapel
2 Dragonskull Summit
1 Mortuary Mire
1 Warped Landscape
1 Evolving Wilds

/[deck]

Steam deck built with limited pool
{AER 37%, KLD 46%, EMN 40%, SOI 11%, OGW 6%, BFZ 81%, ORI 76%}

As I had some of the meta vehicles and decent pilots but also trying to use the Mardu Planeswalkers (Have baby Chandra but don't think a good fit).

The current curve is pretty Aggro {0 4 12 14 6 1 0}

It's creatures 18
spells 19
Lands 23

Possibly I could cut a land given the renegade map? There is a lot of removal but not sure there is a better swap given it's Aggro nature. The mana base seems okay for now so losing a land for maybe another creature that fits Aggro.

Creature suite is mixed bar pilots and Aggro. Fleshbag seems to work out okay. Hanweir and Thalia are removal targets of course. Hence the singleton Mortuary Mire. Borrowed grace can really close out a game with enough creatures on board activating both modes. Some of the Mardu vehicle pieces are probably set and good. Toolcraft Exemplar can be good but hence keeping some artifacts. Other artifacts are Walking Ballista but probably not in this deck and Bomat Courier (good in Aggro). Mobile Garrison and Fleetwheel Cruiser (probably a yes).

Please pitch in with suggestions. Cheers.

SD

This seems a bit divided in strategy to me. Vehicles is generally a hard hitting aggro type deck that wants to barf out a bunch of efficiently costed beaters and then smash out a quick win before the opponents have a chance to stabilize and PWs is more about sticking walkers and then guarding them with board wipes and big blockers while they win the game for you. I get that your card pool sort of dictates what you do, but I think you could prolly split this into 2 lists that would both be a bit better at what they usually try to do. That said, without knowing what cards you have unlocked, its hard to make suggestions that aren't general.

I think for the Vehicles build, I'd cut (except maybe as a splash for any Fatal Push/Unlicensed Disintegration you eventually pull and perhaps for recurring Scroungers).
These are the cards I'd consider keeping for the Vehicles aspect:
1 Toolcraft Exemplar
1 Shock
1 Topan Freeblade
2 Veteran Motorist
1 Scrapheap Scrounger
2 Smuggler's Copters
1 Reprisal
1 Ride Down
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Hanweir Garrison
1 Deepala, Pilot Exemplar
1 Skywhaler's shot
1 Borrowed Grace // possibly - depends on how often you cast it for value
1 Hungry Flames
1 Collective Effort
1 Kari Zev's Expertise
1 Akoam Firebird
2 Impetuous Devils
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

Cards I'd look to add are any efficient 1-2 drop creatures (Expedition Envoy, Inventor's Apprentice, etc.), efficient PROACTIVE removal spells that can clear blockers before they block (Galvanic Bombardment, Shock, Fiery Impulse, etc.), and a few more vehicles like Renegade Freighter, Ovalchase (Fleetwheel when you get them), Harvester, and possibly the D-card enchant that gives +3/+0, first strike, and autocrews vehicles, and a Start Your Engines or two as the Curve topper (don't bother with 5-drops).

For the Mardu Walkers deck, I'd be looking for defensive vehicles like Harvester and Heart of Kiran, along with a few good blockers like Gifted Aetherborn, lots of instant removal (Blessed Alliance is fine, but cards like Murder, Fatal Push, Harnessed Lightning, etc. are sort of what you are looking for), more walkers (2 ain't enough - you want Chandra, Torch and Liliana and prolly Sorin for that), and sweepers! Languish, Radiant Flames, Tragic Arrogance, Planar Outburst, etc. Back in EMN season, I had a madness Mardu PW deck that I really liked that used Call the Bloodline with Fiery Temper and some of the other madness spells from SOI to help with defense. Not sure how it would work out now, tho. Flying cars are all the rage these days.

GL, and brace yourself... I'm sure you are already aware, but set rotations are especially cruel to new players because all the ranks get reset and all the Spikes are playing their T1 decks in the single digit rankings. Next few weeks are gonna be especially hard.

Hey Flaky very informative. I will certainly try out and understand where you are coming from. Yes I did get a freewheel so been added in. Of late to I have found with Gideon it can be best to just sac and get the emblem. As you mention ditching both PW would help the double costed and I could replace with 1 removal (another ride down) and creatures. There are more matches that flood than mana screw. Maybe I can remove 1 more land but would need to try and see.

I have found Fleshbag to be quite good so lose that in ditching black as well as the lifegain from Shambling Vent. But I do understand paying a price for consistency which is probably the key thing in climbing the ladder.

I hear you on the change - oh well I assume until they "get off my lawn" will have to deal. Thing is when AKH is out I will probably not play much at all on steam until I have hit the coin limit on iOS for HOD. At least by then when I return towards end of season it should be clear what the new AKH has brought but I still expect the unexpected in the meta.

Will look at changes and try another round to try and edge the win rate up. Will post revisions but it's a great reply bro so grateful. SD

Post announcement decks

To get a bit of enthusiasm back after the cancellation announcement I thought I would try and go back to basics. In a similar way in iOS tournament which I probably made the wrong call on but wanted to return to some earlier cards and strategies. Maybe 4 colour eldrazi was not smart. I think 3 or more colour builds can be more difficult.

Thought I would return to explore good old 2 colour decks and some earlier cards back to origins but also seeing how new cards would work.

Been playing an tweaking a Gruul build. My idea in principle was to return to good old ramp but recognising chandra's ignition for blow outs. With green as well as ramp the fog and life gain we're principles I started out with.

Here is where I got to

Ignite Me

[deck]
4 Fog - we need time to ramp
2 Sylvan Advocate - a great early green drop and giving we are ramping the 4/5 with vigilance may be telling.
3 Undercity Troll - a good 2 drop that we can use to block even big threats later
1 Nissa, Vaswood Seer - decent I think in this slot & aids ramp of course
1 Rhonas the Indomitable - we have big targets to make him a threat and he can help even lower guys get there
2 - Tireless Tracker - played with other draw cards but this is probably best, with ramp cards clues will not be far behind him
4 - gift of paradise - we like the dual purpose mana ramp and life gain
2 - heaven // earth - other than ignition our key removal and pretty dual purpose. More often than not we will cast heaven for 0 to get access to earth which with our ramp gives us a good board wipe. As we are ramping into bigger creatures this strategy should work
2 - Pulse of Murasa - we run 20 creatures so the fetch and life gain are going to be welcome
2 - Nissa'S pilgrimage - getting our green and ramping. Works well with tireless tracker and Omnath
2 - Champion of Rhonas - we run some high cost ramp creatures. Rhonas can cheat them out earlier for us
1 - Crocodile of the crossing - a 1 of can help put mid and late game pressure and activates Rhonas
1 - Minn and Denn, Wildborn - fills the 4 cc slot and helps us both ramp and return land for Omanth and Tireless Tracker
1 - Arlin Kord - another good card in 4cc slot
1 - Outland Colossus - great in 5cc slot and a great ignition target
1 - Samut, Voice of Dissent - the 5cc spot was tricky but probably good here
2 - Chandra's ignition - one of our key build round cards. Double red but we have ways in mana to try and ensure we have it
2 - Gaea's Revenge. Down side is cannot ignite. Upside is we don't have to worry about counter magic
2 - Plated Crusher. Our main target for ramp and great for ignition. Cheating out with Champion of Rhonas is gravy
1 - Omnath, Locus of Rage. Once at ramp mana the landfall gets us better token than the opponent. Another great cheat creature for Champion of Rhonas
1 - Sandwurm Convergence. I initially had 2 in but it is a win more card.

Now to mana base. Started with standard 24 but with ramp, life gain and fog running 22 seems reasonable.

6 Mountains
8 Forest
2 Cinder Glade
2 Rootbound crag
4 Fertile Thicket - although a tap land useful in particular to fetch red. Possibly Evolving Wilds as a 1 or 2 of in place may be better. Red is really only for removal anyway but this gets green and can help us ramp


As ever comments welcome