Joined: Nov 10, 2013 Posts: 17748 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Ok I'm going to start with DJ, Timh and Gabrosins decks. I can't wait to try DJs Cut over Harassed tweak. Points to Timh for making a Duels-tailored decklist. Very easy to build
Round One
Omg DJs deck falls first. I'm up against mono blue mill and I kept a two lander which seemed fine. Both colours, forerunner, heart of kiran, UD, Weldfast, Thopters Engineer. I draw into Scrounger and get the other one up right away. He gets T3 AND T4 Tutelage and then plays all four Take Inventory in a row. I get him to 5 life. I'm at 14-16 cards and he casts some draw 3 spell and gets lucky by flipping same colour once or twice. I can't believe it. One of my favourite decks . But all good things come to pass and I have too many decks as it is. What a horrible loss. DJs deck loses this playtesting 0-1 and retires with an overall record of 92-10. I will miss it . It had two winning streaks of 16 and 19 at one point
TImh's deck is next. I run into a Dimir control deck with lots of fliers. To be fair to DJs deck I decide to keep a risky 2 lander as well. Swamp, Hub, bomat, Copter, ... seemed risky but okay. I get 3-4 cards on bomat and am swinging with Copter who eats fatal push. Another Copter! Whew, another fatal push. I zap his Baral but he's got 3 fliers now and my 3 Fiery tempers need double red. So I ditch the hand and draw mountains which turns my adept into a 5/2 but he anguished him. I got him down to 2 or 5 life but he got me. TImh's deck falls too with a horrid 0-1 showing. Retiring the deck with an overall record of 5-2, awful.
Time for my entry, Gabrosins deck... kept a super risky opener with 3 swamp and plenty of red spells including a double red. Never drew a single mountain but scrap heap, heir and alms pulled it off in their own! Crazy. 1-0 for this playtesting so far. Overall record 10-3. Time to build the rest of these decks to see who else survives round one
Played Sjoks deck against Espère Zombies. I kept removing the Lords but I think I should have removed the lifegain guy, what a pain he is. Kept a risky two lander but the deck came out nicely. Copter helped me dig for the win. Couldn't get a 4th land to play Hazoret and I was 21 cards deep. Still won tho against a guy with 7 land or so, yay. 1-0
Played WWs deck, kept a two lander but it was an awesome hand. I won really fast. 1-0
Havens deck is a blast. Ferrari is 1-0
Modulos Raggros wins it's first match too 1-0
Played Hellbent Madness. I think I'm in love. This is my favourite to play so far. 1-0. Absolutely demolished the AI and first game on ladder. I think the AI conceded, I've never seen that
Played Gems Radkocide. That was a nailbiter. I was against Superfriends and got him down to 12 fast but then Lnguish, ouch. Gem has packed so much burn into this deck, it's awesome. He plays Nissa Vital Force but I have 9 points of burn in hand. He gives me targets for my UDs and I get a Scrounger who ch was awesome. I nailed the Bloodpriest he stole from me, hitting him for 3. I swing with Scrounger, down to 6. I'm holding up another UD, Fiery Temper, Exquisite Firecraft and Shock!!. I have six mana. It takes me forever before I realize I can playshock and firecraft with my 3 mountains, 2 swamps and imprisioned on the moon. Great deck Gem! 1-0
Okay and to end round one, Madness of Radkos eats elves with Insult (I don't think people know what that does) so 1-0 here too
So at the end of the first round of playtesting, two of my favourites , DJ and Timh are eliminated in last place
Joined: Jul 08, 2016 Posts: 762 Location: Central U.S.
have you thought about testing the decks vs a same opponent? especially probably the worst matchup - Jund midrange control. how does the deck get through push lightning radiant flames, and fight against big creatures etc?
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Free 2 play Magic Arena for casual fun. Building the best deck.
So at the end of the first round of playtesting, two of my favourites , DJ and Timh are eliminated in last place
Keeps bad hands, blames losses on the decks.
Seriously tho, you've seen my list, gotta know you can't keep an opening hand that has no repeatable red source unless you're holding something lopsided like Wanderer, Dragoon, Alms and an artifact or two.
Joined: Mar 18, 2016 Posts: 5359 Location: Anyway the wind blows
Identity: doesnt really matter
Preferred Pronoun Set: to me
You're prob right but I felt better taking direction from steam showdowns runner up as opposed to someone who couldn't even beat Valor in Asskros in fight club.
Day 1 testing session (no AI, if I don't know how to play these hellbent lists by now, then... well, I'm still not gaining any insight from testing them vs AI). No dialogue on this one - new place's living room is too close to sleeping family to talk. I know you'll miss my witty banter and sexy Barry White voice, but such is life.
3 games Sjokwaave's list: 2-1.
Spoiler
G1 played a mirror vs opp rank 35. Believe this was my only match of the session vs someone higher than rank 10 (but at least most opps had good cards unlocked). Kept a 3 lander, never drew another. In the end I was at 14 with opp at 5. I had lethal on next turn so I let 4 damage go through unblocked figuring there was no way opp could surprise me and pop off another 10d. Opp surprised me with Stensia Banquet for 6 damage (seriously, who plays that card???), putting me at 4. I untapped, made a Priest unblockable via Key, cast Insult and swung with the team for the win. I was very lucky here, because opp had Call the Bloodline out with 3 lifelinking tokens in play, one land open and a few cards in hand (at least one thanks to Banquet). I absolutely should not have swung with the team, but Blessed Alliance has me respecting it So Hard I play around it even when opp can't possibly cast it (no damn white even). Thankfully opp didn't realize that they could just Call another token, block with all 4 and end the turn at 1 life, cracking back for the win. So I won instead. I think peeps just don't understand what Insult does... lucky, but I'll take it since I'd have absolutely won if I had just swung with Priest.
G2 I played a Bad Rakdos deck. Rakdos Jank AF I believe was the deck name. The username was something to do with being unlucky. I got stuck on 2 Land the entire game just to spite opps player name, and opp finally killed me when they got to around 7 lands in play - because even the Most Awful decks can beat the Most Awsome decks if the latter can't draw a 3rd land in the first 10 turns or so. **** me. Of course I have a session like this after defending greedy manabases all over this thread.
G3 I played ANOTHER Rakdos deck. Vampires like G1, but worse from what I saw. Game was over pretty quickly. I played tapped Land into Brawler into Hellion into Hellion, and opp didn't play enough things to block with. Hazoret joined the party and GG.
2 games with Black Barney/Gabrosin's deck before my game crashed and I called it a night: 2-0.
Spoiler
G1 vs Jeskai something or other (Midrange? Controlless Control? Idk). Opp didn't do anything until casting Gisela, the Broken Blade T4, but by then it was too late. I had an aggressive board state and Chandra Torch for Dies to Removal Angel. Opp played a Skysovereign T5 with no Pilots, and I untapped with 3 different ways to kill them. GG.
G2 vs Monoblack Tower Control. This game I piloted like a ****ing champ. This is what all the hours I've put in with Hellbent decks have been building towards. I'm on the play. T3 I have a choice to overextend. I just know a sweepers coming T4, but I'll get another turn to deal damage with extra bodies before then (at this point in the match you can see me counting opps lands just to make sure there's only 2 in play). I also have a Bomat Courier collecting cards that I know I can hold up mana for to cash in when that happens, so that makes it a green light play. Sure as ****, Yahenni's Expertise hits T4, and sure as **** I have that red mana held up for Courier. That little bugger draws me 2x Alms of the Vein, and I've got a Key to the City in play with opp at 9 life (here you see me joyfully toggling the two Alms). I top deck Collective Defiance, and that's the last 3d I needed to pull off this epic **** show. GG. Game freezes when trying to end the match. Boo. This decks 3rd game will have to wait.
This is very fun! I can see from the fine decks list submitted that I still have so much to learn on deck building, but frankly I don't know any better way to learn than this one. I can see that there is an argument being made regarding the mana base of some decks, so I was wandering how do you guys came to the right number of lands, I recently watch this video
that basically states that there is a relation between cmc of the deck and the #of lands you should run. I used the magicduelshelper and I got less than 1 cmc from my deck so I decide to run 19 lands, the deck almost never wants more lands and if I happen to drop the 4th one I generally just keep them on hand to enable madness when no better options, I was wandering if this is a useful rule of thumb or it is just wrong.
I will be testing the other decks on the ladder to see how that goes, on first impression the "Madness of Rakdos" - Red Acuta has a very solid list will try that one first and then "The old brutal raw power" - WoodlandWanderer that looks interesting.
Joined: Nov 10, 2013 Posts: 17748 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Cucho i love your list
DJ, I'm so sorry . I was heartbroken
Round 2 of playtesting starts tonight!
Up first, Madness of Radkos. I had to mulligan to 5 and kept a 1 lander. How can Barney possibly win against a full RDW deck? Especially after his t1 bomat courier to fix his hand gets harassed lightninged immediately?! Brawlers ftw! RDW can't touch these bastards. What a humiliating loss for opponent. 2-0
Going to take a break to go to Western Union and then dinner. Moar later
Were back baby, Gems radkocide deck is next... I can't get a damn game going... Ok mulled to 6 and drew an insane amount of cards off of Key versus azorious tempo. Really fun. 2-0
Hellbent madness runs over white weenies getting Always Watching out early and everything. This deck goes soooo wide, i love it. What's the ideal target for Infectious Bloodlust? Any ideas? Karl is tempting but I almost always throw it on Garrison. 2-0
Modulos turn...lol that was fast. I discarded Insult ahead of Scrounger and that was key. Getting to play injury from GY on opponents key card, Wharf Infiltrator, was a back breaker. 2-0
Havens Ferrari is next...win! 2-0
Time for The Old Brutal...won against Radkos vamps. Was close. 2-0
Sjok deck wins too 2-0 against GW. I again had to discard early and went for Scrounger over Insult. I think it was a mistake. Early pressure is good. I ended up discarding Insult with Key so I could Injury his mana dork and that's that. 2-0
Only one left. This round is going really well
Played Gabrosins deck next, my submission! Had an awful opening hand so I Mill to 7 which has a swamp and that land that lets you cycle. I keep it cuz I have key to the city and Alms. I draw only red cards and no mountains against a really strong green deck. So I lose and my own deck is out!! 1-1
So round three tomorrow evening. 7 decks left. All 2-0
Gabrosin: 1.5-0 (only intended to play the 3rd match and move on, but 1st opp got mana screwed and conceded T3 so I played another for an actual game)
Woodland Wanderer: 2-1
DJ0045: 3-0 or maybe 4-0. Games were all pretty quick and dominant so I can't remember if I did 3 or 4. Will watch replay on this one...
Impressions after 2 hellbent, 2 vehicles - vehicles feel more stable than hellbent. However that feeling of living on the edge makes the hellbent ones more fun for me. So far Gabrosin's my favorite for hellbent (had a pretty sick match where I played a Control game as opposed to aggro so that was cool versitility), and DJs is my favorite for vehicles.
Thanks BB coming from you it means a lot! ----- Test #1 Madness of Rakdos 3-0 Game 1 Vs Ramp ... poor guy he did not stand a chance Game 2 Vs Grixis Drake heaven, this one last a little longer but I manage to leave him with 2 life before a Languish then I top deck a Alms veins for the win Game 3 Vs WB zombies, again I overrun the board before he could stabilize, zaping his blockers with shock and fiery temper.
I really enjoyed the deck it is fast and consistent, I would also like to recognise Furyblade Vampire as a great team player allowing all the madness shenanigans to work in perfect timing.
Gabrosin: 1.5-0 (only intended to play the 3rd match and move on, but 1st opp got mana screwed and conceded T3 so I played another for an actual game)
Woodland Wanderer: 2-1
DJ0045: 3-0 or maybe 4-0. Games were all pretty quick and dominant so I can't remember if I did 3 or 4. Will watch replay on this one...
Impressions after 2 hellbent, 2 vehicles - vehicles feel more stable than hellbent. However that feeling of living on the edge makes the hellbent ones more fun for me. So far Gabrosin's my favorite for hellbent (had a pretty sick match where I played a Control game as opposed to aggro so that was cool versitility), and DJs is my favorite for vehicles.
Gabrosin: 1.5-0 (total 3.5-0)
Spoiler
G2.5 vs Island. Opp conceded after missing land drops T2 & T3, so I played another match for an actual game.
G3 vs Orzhov Creatures. I had a really slow start (a couple Neonates only creatures I played until like T8) and had a hand with a lot of removal. Ended up drawing more removal and playing the role of a control deck rather than an aggro one. I had a couple misplays (once accidentally tapping a sanctum for mana rather than the discard ability to madness out a Fiery Temper, and later being distracted and absent mindedly discarding to Key for the upkeep draw when I needed the mana open for a spell), but nothing I couldn't recover from. I managed opps threats while slowly chipping away with Neonate, until opp finally played out their hand to put 3 creatures on board, which I swept with Avacyn's Judgment. Opp top decked a land next turn and threw in the towel. I kept playing just to see what would happen, and I finally drew some other creatures and won 2 turns later. This match was cool and the deck impressed me by being able to play a solid control game when the aggro cards didn't show up.
Woodland Wanderer: 2-1
Spoiler
G1 vs Mono-Black (maybe Golgari?) Control. Opp cast a Lifecrafter's Bestiary, but I never saw mana. Doubt it was just for scry, but maybe that was it? Maybe to trick people into thinking it wasn't a control deck so they'll play out into a sweeper? Idk... Anyways, I curved out well T1-3 on the play - Apprentice into Scrounger into Disintegration targeting the 2/3 lifelink/deathtouch vampire that Opp cast T2. Opp cast the bestiary T3 so I thought I'd be facing a creature heavy build and I overextended putting an Engineer out for Thopter damage on the open attack, and Opp cast Languish next turn. But I had them down to 4 life and had 2 Tempers in hand along with Scrounger to recur from graveyard so was feeling like it was in the bag. Then I had a bit of a misplay - Opp cast Witness the End but I didn't know what it was so I didn't respond in time by casting a Temper, and lost them both to exile discard. Setback for sure, but not the end of the world because I still had Scrounger to recur EOT on an open board. I untapped, top decked a Forerunner, and attacked for lethal.
G2 vs Superfriends. Opp cast nothing T1-2, Oath of Liliana T3, Liliana, the Last Hope T4, then I untapped and killed them. Moar like Pooperfriends amirite?
G3 vs Mardu Vehicles. Opp on the play with a good start and a lot of timely removal. I had a slower start with less timely removal (no 1 drops to be able to cast more than 1 spell per turn). I had a choice to keep trying to develop my board or holding up mana to try to Disintegrate opps Copter, but I assumed my opponent was smart and wouldn't crew up Copter into open mana that reaks of removal. Idk if opp was really that savvy or had just netdecked a good deck, but I tried developing my board instead of potentially wasting a turn Opp would play around. Lost after getting hit with UD #2. Maybe would have had a shot if not for the UDs and Push keeping my board from building, but as it was, on the draw, I got out muscled.
DJ0045: 4-0.
Spoiler
G1 vs Rakdos Energy Aggro. Opp get a Hellion out and was generating plenty of energy to keep it on board. I had removal for it, but was able to just ignore it thanks to a Harvester and Weldfast gaining me more life than Opp could deal with Hellion. In the end I think Opp misplayed by not Pushing my only pilot on board during their last turn, choosing instead to cast it on my turn when I could respond by crewing (also needed to keep Hellion back for hastey creature - having seen I was running Forefunners - but it really would have just delayed the inevitable). I untapped, cast a Cruiser, responded to the Push on my Forerunner by crewing Harvester, and attacked for lethal.
G2 vs Orzhov Control/Lifedrain. Opp cast Trial of Ambition T2 killing my Siphoner. I cast Forerunner with haste. Opp cast Never // Return on Forerunner. I cast Fleetwheel Cruiser and attacked with haste. Opp cast Cliffhaven Vampire. I cast hastey Glorybringer and Opp conceded.
G3 vs Gruul Too Slow. Opp didn't cast a spell before T4, and by that time I had them down to 6 life. I untapped and swung for 8 evasive (unblockable) damage.
Bonus G4 vs Golgari Stuff. I lost track of game count and couldn't remember for sure if I had played 3 games or only 2. Was pretty tired, and last game was so quick it didn't really register. Whatareyougunnado? Opps deck was a little all over the place; some -/- counters stuff (Hapatra at least), some emerge stuff, some crappy Ainok Guide stuff. A lot of Stuff. Not enough good stuff to hold up to the Rakdos Freight Train tho. Steamrolled to a perfect 4-0 showing.
Impressions after 2 hellbent, 2 vehicles - vehicles feel more stable than hellbent. However that feeling of living on the edge makes the hellbent ones more fun for me. So far Gabrosin's my favorite for hellbent (loved that match where I played a Control game, appreciating the versatility), and DJs is my favorite for vehicles. Harvesters proving their value to Rakdos Vehicles.
I've got a busy week so I'm not sure how much testing I'll be able to do. My goal is 5 games per deck, which, hopefully won't take too long - these decks should generally win fast or not at all.
Also, I haven't really ranked up since AKH so my opponents aren't very high level (yet). I forgot to note the rank of the first 3 decks I played against.
So, starting with...
Black as Night, Faster than a Shadow
Game 1 vs. Rakdos Madness: I actually played this 2 nights ago and was pretty zonked while playing so I was making errors. But I managed to just barely eke out a win. Barely.
Game 2 vs. Boros Strikes First: This deck does NOT like facing first strikers. I got a few creatures and 2 Fiery Tempers but no other removal. 2 Brawlers, Scrounger, Hellion, and Pia got me pretty close, but his 2 Consul's Lieutenant, Knight of the White Orchid, and Infectious Bloodlust enchanted Iroas's Champion and 2 Twinbolts helped him weather the storm and turn things around, forcing me to sacrifice creatures every attack to keep pushing damage through. Perhaps I could have switched to control mode and stalemated him for a while instead, but I think he'd have had the advantage in the long run - especially with those Twinbolts.
Game 3 vs. Old-School Thopterz:
Spoiler
I mull a 1 lander into a crappy hand of Mountain, Swamp x3, Flameblade Adept, Pia, and Temper (on the play) T1. Mountain, Adept. Opp drops a Mountain. T2. Top Swamp (great.). Swamp, swing. Opp drops Island. T3. Top Heart of Kirin. Swamp, Heart (I figure I should play it first and then crew it with Pia next turn), swing. Opp plays Mountain and Thopter Engineer and pings me with his hasty Thopter. T4. Top Key to the City (yay!). Swamp, Pia, crew and swing with Heart. I forget about Adept's Menace and don't swing with him. Opp drops another land and plays Ghirapur Gearcrafter and swings with both Thopters. T5. Top UD (!!!). Swamp, Key, and, after some deliberation, UD on his Gearcrafter. I remember Adept's menace and decide that UD clears the way for Adept and takes him close to burn range. Swing with Adept and Heart. He's at 6! He plays Reclusive Artificer, taking out Pia and swings with Artificer, Engineer, and one of his Thopters, leaving just one token untapped. T6. Top Bloodrage Brawler. I use Key to make my Thopter unblockable and pump the Adept and burn face with madness-Temper. Then I swing with 3 unblockable damage ftw.
Game 4 vs. Mono (7):
Spoiler
On the draw with Mountain, Hub, Apprentice, Dragoon, Key, Smuggler's, and Brawler. T1. Opp plays Forest. Top UD, play Mountain and Apprentice. T2. Opp plays Forest. Top Wanderer, play Hub and Smug, but get distracted and forget to swing! T3. Opp plays Forest and Elemental Bond. I have a feeling his deck is gonna be durdly. Top another Dragoon. I play Brawler, discarding Wanderer and use it to crew and swing for 5, looting Dragoon into a much needed Swamp which I play post combat. T4. Opp plays Rec Sage and eats my Copter but misses a land drop. I top another Key and play one of them and swing for 6. He chumps Brawler. T5. Opp plays Longtooth Cub and then concedes.
Game 5 vs. Izzet Manaskrood? (15):
Spoiler
Yes. Yes it Izz. I mull a 1 lander into a terrible hand of 2x Swamp, Scrounger, Smuggler, Hazoret, Bloodhall, and UD. I'm scared to mull to 6 with the low land count and since I have Looter-Scooter and Scrounger, I figure I'll give it a go. T1. Opp drops a Hub. I top Brawler and drop a Swamp. T2. Opp plays a Mountain. I top Pia and play Swamp and Smuggy. Opp plays Telling Time at my EOT. T3. Opp passes. I top Dragonskull Summit right on time and play Pia. I crew and swing, looting my Scrounger into a Flameblade (possibly a misplay?) T4. Opp peeks at his draw and concedes.
I'm going to simplify my summary for this challenge. Theme is a pointless metric since they are all aggro and all Rakdos so they'd all get 5/5. Fun factor is irrelevant because these are supposed to be Spike decks. Who cares if they are fun. They just need to be effective. Originality is also irrelevant. So I'm just gonna do a tally and give my thoughts, sans rating this time.
5 Game Verdict:
Spoiler
Performance: 4-1
Thoughts: This deck seems pretty consistent. The UDs and Tempers give it some much needed reach to help finish up games. It seemed to struggle a bit against similarly fast decks, and the Boros first strike deck was its Kryptonite. I had a few games where the mana barely pulled through - maybe swap a single Swamp for Cinder Barrens? I hate ETB tapped lands in aggro builds, but this deck really wants 2 red sources to set up stuff like hardcast Temper or Brawler/Temper value. I also think Firecraft might be worth a slot, but I'm not sure what to cut for it.
Joined: Nov 10, 2013 Posts: 17748 Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
RoUnd three has begun of playtesting !!
Sjok up first ...wins against...something. 3-0 for black as night
WWs old brutal up next...win! 3-0
Havens Ferrari time for a drive...win 3-0
Raggros next, i only had 2 mana for most of the game and still won against Dimir yet again. 3-0
Oh boy Cuchos deck is next, can't wait...win against mono green caca. 3-0
Gem is up...ugh lost bad against Abzan investigate energy (you know, the standard build). I think I misplayed bomat courier early and ran it with two cards into a 1/1 death touch thing that would have made tokens. Anyway 2-1 gems deck is eliminated
Up next...Madness of Radkos...win! 3-0
Onto round four of playtesting. Six decks remain, all 3-0
Madness of radkos wins. 4-0
Cuchos deck also wins, 4-0.
Modulo is next...yay big win against mono black. Insult with Flameblades and Neonate a! The red manace. 4-0
Who's up next? Let's see... ah yes, havens Ferrari....ugh, played against Dimir Control. Lots of counters and sweepers but I stuck to it and the cruisers did lots of work with the Nalaars saving the day in the end with some timely UDs as well. 4-0
Old Brutal is up next by WW...ouf.. outlasts mono black. That guy had so much removal. All I had left was a bomat courier stacked with cards. UD took out that scary counters demon, whew. And I tricked him into losing Yaheeli, yay 4-0
Closing out the fourth round will be Sjoks Black by Night...win! Against Orzhov that can't find a plains for the life of him. My T3 was three fiery tempers with Dragoon on T2, lol. No moar board for opponent. 4-0
Well another time for round five of playtesting. Still 6 decks left with 4-0 records...
G1 vs Mono-White Too Slow. Opp mulled to 3. I prob should have counted this as a half game, but I didn't. Opp hit their land drops but didn't cast any spells. I did my thing, casting spells, dealing damage. Opp was at 10 life T4, and the first spell they cast was Siegecraft targeting one of my creatures... I took the hint and played out just enough of my hand to kill them so we could both move on.
G2 vs 5 Color WTF? This time it was my turn to get mull fuct. I got greedy and tossed back an opening hand of 3 Mountains, 1 Swamp, 1 Ballista, 1 Thopter Engineer, 1 Pia Nalaar thinking I could get a more aggressive opening hand. I then proceeded to toss back a series of 1 and 0 Land hands until finally keeping 4 cards: 2 Mountain, 1 Apprentice, 1 Glorybringer. **** me. I had no business winning this game and would have surely lost to any half way competent deck. Opp appeared to only have access to D cards so I shouldn't be too hard on them, but you can build a better deck with D cards. Opps 1st spell was a T4 Razorfoot Griffin followed by a T5 Siegecraft (again! Different Opp tho, and this time casting it on their creature). This game so ugly I can't even bring myself to watch the playback for exact details. Opp ended up going a little wide with the green emerge creature that puts a pair of tokens into play, but then, apparently not understanding how menace works, they only left 1 blocker back at 6 life with me having the 3/3 menace dood, a Copter, and a pilot in play. They learned the hard way that you can't block menace with a single creature...
G3 vs 4C Too Slow (walkers maybe?). This was a rank 35 opponent who had Lili avatar and sleeves and ****, but conceded T4 with RUGB lands out and no spells cast. One thing you absolutely can not do against these decks is wait until T4 to cast your first spell. Even T3 is too long to wait, but by T4 the game is basically over. God this was a terrible string of games, which (through no fault of Haven's deck) leaves a bad taste in my mouth for it... I'm expecting to get a round 2 in, especially if the deadline gets extended - so hopefully I'll feel better about it later. 3-0, but yuck.
Modulo 3-0
Spoiler
G1 vs Orzhov Tokens. I was on the play. Had a slightly slower start than I wanted (2nd land was a Wilds so I couldn't play a 2 drop after T1 Courier). Didn't matter, Opp threw in the towel after I cast Brawler + madness Temper T3. I played it out because all I had seen was 2 Plains and a Copter and I was curious. AI went super wide playing a bunch of token stuff and Syndicate Trafficker, but I had a Key to make my Brawler unblockable and that was that.
G2 vs Gruul Beatdown. I beatdown harder. On the play, T1 Neonate into T2 Brawler discarding a Neonate. Opp cast Sylvan Advocate T2 but let Brawler through on my next attack. T3 I cast another Brawler discarding Scrounger. Opp cast Relentless Hunter T3. If I had 2 black sources to cast Push T4 (sacing Neonate to get Revolt) and recur Scrounger, my opp prob would have conceded on the spot. As it was I swung with the team trading a Brawler for Hunter and taking Opp to 9. Opp untapped and cast Firecraft on my last Brawler, and swung with Advocate dealing the only 2d I took, and I flashed back Scrounger. Untapped, drew that 2nd black source I wanted last turn, Pushed Advocate, cast Insult, swung with Scrounger and Neonate and Opp conceded. GG.
G3 vs Gruul Werewolves. Had timely removal to Push early wolves away and keep attacking. Once Opp started sticking blockers, I had a Copter and Bone Picker wolves couldn't stop. GG. Regarding Bone Picker - I was really curious to try it out, but could never get the cheap trigger. I think I might have drawn it all 3 games but def had it 2 games where I was trying to make it work, but just couldn't do it. Still a 3/2 flyer in the game I did get to cast it, but paying 4 mana made my heart hurt a little. It reminded me of Revolt and how bad it feels when you can't get your triggers on time. Idk if I like it here. Maybe if the deck skewed Black more - I kept having Push to trigger it but not enough black mana to do both.
Me 3-0
Spoiler
G1 vs Selesnya (Bant) Ramp. Believe was just a splash, Opp never searched it up on several opportunities, but played an island T5ish. I had a decent start, but you can see me make a funny misplay T3 where I screw up the order of creatures I want to cast - dropping a Brawler PRE combat and a Courier POST combat. Stupid brain fart, and you see me highlighting the card over and over in hilarious realization of my goof. Opp played a couple Renegade Maps early but didn't cast a creature until dropping Gisela, the Broken Blade T4. I responded by casting a 2nd Brawler and discarding Temper to madness burn Dies to Removal Angel. That's becoming a trend in this challenge round; like waiting till T4 to cast a spell, you simply can not let Gisela be your first creature cast - 3 butt dies to so many things that you haven't drawn out by playing any threats before her. And vs aggro where your backs against the wall you might as well call her Herald of Death Angel. Your death. Anyways, back on track; Opps next turn is a feeble Explosive Vegetation, laying down for my lethal swing next turn.
G2 vs RDW. I'm on the play which help the aggro mirror. I have Temper for opps flip Chandra, and two Alms for a 12 HP swing, which also helps in the aggro mirror. I cast Hazoret with 1 card in hand, Opp at 5 life and no untapped blockers, and Opp graciously accepted defeat by casting a Savage Alliance to give Hazoret trample. GG.
G3 vs Golgari Midrange. Rank 40 opponent with new Liliana avatar and AoI sleeves. Alright, this should be good. I'm on the play, sorry Opp not sorry. T1 Wanderer. Opp T1 0/3 wall that gains life when play a land. Dammit. T2 Heart of Kiran. Opp T2 Elvish Visionary. T3 Olivia, crew Heart, swing for 4. Opp T3 Recsage and blows up Heart. Dammit. T4 drop land, cast Key, cast Brawler with only Adept in hand knowing Olivia's trigger will resolve first (Duels pro-tip) and discard Adept to give Brawler +1/+1 and haste - swing with the team (hoping Wanderer takes out a creature), Opp trades Visionary for Wanderer and let's Brawlers 5d through. Bad choice, I'm tapped out, block Wanderer with the wall and chump Brawler yo. Hommie don't know bout dis hellbent. Opp goes to 10 and I have a Key in play. Opp T4 plays an Alchemist's Vial and I think, crap gonna hold back my Key/Brawler for a turn, but then they follow that up with another Visionary. Bad choice, I think. T5 I untap, top a mountain, discard to Key making Brawler unblockable and swing with the team putting Opp at 3 (dead if not for stupid lifegain wall). I flashback Wanderer and pass turn. T5 Opp casts Conclave Naturalists and blows up my Key, gaining a life for land and getting out of Olivia's reach. Dammit. T6 I top a MOTHA****ING ALMS OF THE VEIN! Attack for 3 flying and drain 3 from the Vein. GG.
Idk what your prob is Barney, it worked fine for me. Learn 2 Mull
I know it's a little narcissistic to play my own deck in this challenge, but playing these other builds got me hankering for mine to see how it felt after trying other good lists. I'm still really happy with it. Idk what's up with the land. What you see in the video is par for course in all my testing. 19 lands shouldn't work but it keeps working anyways. Barney, you know how much I was agonizing over that in the lead up to submissions - idk why it keeps working for me. It's like the game's RNG favors odd numbered mana bases and gives them better land drops. Or I'm just lucky as ****. I do have some pretty great kids so maybe it is that.
Current tally is Vehicles 9-1, Hellbents 11.5-1 Thats the last time I'm going to mention the .5.
Overall Rakdos Aggro Challenge record 20-2. Not too shabby fellas.
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. But all good things come to pass and I have too many decks as it is. What a horrible loss. 
mana. Doubt it was just for scry, but maybe that was it? Maybe to trick people into thinking it wasn't a control deck so they'll play out into a sweeper? Idk... Anyways, I curved out well T1-3 on the play - Apprentice into Scrounger into Disintegration targeting the 2/3 lifelink/deathtouch vampire that Opp cast T2. Opp cast the bestiary T3 so I thought I'd be facing a creature heavy build and I overextended putting an Engineer out for Thopter damage on the open attack, and Opp cast Languish next turn. But I had them down to 4 life and had 2 Tempers in hand along with Scrounger to recur from graveyard so was feeling like it was in the bag. Then I had a bit of a misplay - Opp cast 
was just a splash, Opp never searched it up on several opportunities, but played an island T5ish. I had a decent start, but you can see me make a funny misplay T3 where I screw up the order of creatures I want to cast - dropping a Brawler PRE combat and a Courier POST combat. Stupid brain fart, and you see me highlighting the card over and over in hilarious realization of my goof. Opp played a couple