So in another topic Joly admitted he is contemplating running our old friend Mardu Vehicles in the Steam Showdown. And I have to confess I've given it serious thought myself. We didn't get any of the hate cards from Amonkhet, which means it's still a powerhouse and something you should probably expect to see in the Showdown and Fight Club in some iteration or another.

So, what does Mardu vehicles look like now? My previous build was quite low on the curve and it worked, but I've since transitioned into more mid-range build. It can be hard to get in underneath some of the decks on the ladder at the minute and trying to out aggro Hellbent is an exercise in frustration a lot of the time. So we go over them instead. That isn't to say you can't build for speed, but you're better off going Rakdos in that case (DJ has an excellent list you can look up if you're interested).

Anyway, here is how I see the deck at the minute (it has been running like a dream BTW);

Much Mardu About Nothing

Creature
2x Walking Ballista
2x Toolcraft Exemplar
2x Scrapheap Scrounger
2x Selfless Spirit
3x Veteran Motorist
1x Pia Nalaar
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Glorybringer
1x Archangel Avacyn

Instant
3x Fatal Push
2x Harnessed Lightning
3x Unlicensed Disintegration

Sorcery
1x Cut // Ribbons

Planeswalker
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger

Artifact
2x Smuggler's Copter
1x Heart of Kiran
2x Cultivator's Caravan
1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

I've only found room for 2 cards from Amonkhet; Cut // Ribbons which is mandatory as far as I'm concerned; sorcery speed isn't great but the inevitability Ribbons provides is invaluable. Glorybringer also makes the cut because it offers insane value and can close out games all on its own.

Otherwise we've cut early drops in the likes of Inventor's Apprentice to make room for more fat and diverse win cons.

My mana is a work in progress, hence its absence from the list. I think you can get away without running Evolving Wilds (testing in progress) but I'm also considering whether to run all four copies of the man lands etc.

Is anyone else considering giving vehicles another run? Are they on your radar when considering how you tune your deck? Does Amonkhet bring anything to other deck types that make them more resilient against vehicles? Does the addition of Censor mean it can take on the bogeyman?

I've been running vehicles lately (DJ's Radkos list) and the main decks that give me trouble are Mardu and Boros vehicles. The white is a REAL pain. Here's how I usually stumble early:

They T2 drop something like Veteran Motorist or Selfless Spirit which eats my early removal. They then drop Thalia which REALLY kills my deck's speed if I don't have an answer to that. I almost always regret exploding the t2 veteran motorist but I feel like I almost have no choice since that single card makes all of their vehicles better than mine.

Anyway, maybe I play the deck bad against vehicles but i have lots of trouble against them.

It's the obvious choice for spike players to take into the fightclub. Your build is spot on what i expect to see in top 8.

9 removal spells is too much imo and will make your MU vs control/ramp too bad. 5/6 should be enough (I'm running 3 UD, 1 lightning, 2 cut).
Put in 2 glorybringers, the card is too good not to play
This deck keeps slaughtering everything I play but I havent faced many real decks/opponnents

IMO too much 4-drop's
Insult > Cut // Ribbons

How is 4 four drops too many in a midrange deck?

@Joly - if I was to play this in the Showdown (which I have decided against) I very well may have cut into the removal, but for the ladder this has been working like a dream as by far the most popular deck I'm running into is aggro variants. As is I could still see cutting a Push for the second Glorybringer.

I don't really like push, the mana doesn't allow me to cast it when I want if often and triggering revolt is not so easy
Yeah I dont know why people say 4 4 drops is too many, it is a midrange deck after all. I'm running 4 5 drops and 4 4 drops (25 lands) and it has been working fine (sometimes the game shufler is the most stupid thing possible, drawing no more than 3 lands in 3 games in a row than drawing 8 lands out of 10 in the next 3).

My Mardu manabase; accomodates for Push easily:

Lands (24)
5 x Plains
1 x Swamp
3 x Mountain
2 x Smoldering Marsh
2 x Clifftop Retreat
2 x Dragonskull Summit
2 x Isolated Chapel
3 x Aether Hub
4 x Evolving Wilds


14 B for Push; 16 W and R plus two Caravans gives 18 R/W needed for Gideon, Chandra, Avacyn and Glorybringer.

I settled on:

4x Plains
2x Smoldering Marsh
1x Swamp
2x Needle Spires
4x Mountain
2x Dragonskull Summit
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Clifftop Retreat
3x Evolving Wilds
3x Aether Hub

18R 16W 13B plus Caravans. No issues so far.

When going midrange instead on full aggro vehicles, why not esper or grixis for more lasting power?

In my experience the deck is resilient enough as is.

Anyway, I think this will likely end up as my final build for the season;

Creature
2x Walking Ballista
2x Toolcraft Exemplar
2x Scrapheap Scrounger
2x Selfless Spirit
3x Veteran Motorist
1x Pia Nalaar
2x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2x Glorybringer
1x Archangel Avacyn

Instant
2x Fatal Push
2x Harnessed Lightning
3x Unlicensed Disintegration

Sorcery
1x Cut // Ribbons

Planeswalker
1x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Nahiri, the Harbinger

Artifact
2x Smuggler's Copter
1x Heart of Kiran
2x Cultivator's Caravan
1x Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

Land
4x Plains
2x Smoldering Marsh
1x Swamp
2x Needle Spires
4x Mountain
2x Dragonskull Summit
2x Isolated Chapel
2x Clifftop Retreat
3x Evolving Wilds
3x Aether Hub

Be interesting to see if anyone runs something similar in the Showdown.

Yeah; running something similar. Biggest differences are Anguished Unmaking and the third Push over Harnessed/Cut as well as Depala instead of Pia/P&K. Also I'm running Gid over the 25th land.
List is untested, but looks really strong.