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I played against a friend's red aggro deck and was annoyed/impressed at how strong a turn 2 Stormblood Berserker was. It's nowhere near broken but still very decent. This deck is based on that initial strategy but with a supplementary creature sacrifice strategy with Barrage of Expendables and Evolutionary Leap.Pyroclasm is supposed to clear the board leaving your bloodthirsty 3/3 berserkers unharmed and free to attack. I also wanted to have deck that used Pyroclasm because in theory it would destroy almost all of my decks.This deck supplements a aggressive strategy with a controlling sacrifice element and hopefully also have a chance to win longer games.Barrage of Expendables can kill all your opponents low toughness creatures and Evolutionary Leap can net you card advantage by sacrificing recurring creatures such as Young Wolf and Mogg-War Marshall
One mana cost creatures are used to deal damage to your opponent to trigger Bloodthirst on your second turn. Young Wolf doesn't care if it dies, Wasteland Viper is nice 1/2 for 1 and has deathtouch, and Goblin Arsonist will still deal damage if he is blocked and dies. Young Wolf and Goblin Arsonist have the additional bonus of being good sacrifice fuel.
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This is already quite tight. What I will suggest are small improvements and in some cases I am not even so sure it would work out better (also because this always depends on the meta etc.). I am focussing on what you want to be a the core (the bloodlust Berserker and the sacrifice subtheme) and I assume this will never be played in multiplayer. And I try to keep this both budget and Modern legal ... wow, this is actually alot to think about:) Okay, here we go:* Seal of Fire is a very potent card that I'd like to see here! It's basically a Lightning Bolt which you can delay. So, if you have it in your opening hand you can play it and use it on turn 2 to damage the opponent in order to enable bloodlust. This is a welcome addition because right now you rely on a 1-mana-creature to to the damage but if it gets killed or blocked you won't get bloodlust and might spiral downward into a losing position. I'll make my mind up about what to cut later.* Sylvok Lifestaff - I don't know why you would want lifegain in a deck like this. What you really, really want in this slot is Skullclamp but that is banned in Modern ... the next best thing would be Darksteel Axe which fits your theme much better than the Lifestaff. Another alternative would be Rancor, which is painfully missing here (probably due to budget reasons?.* Ghor-Clan Rampager could replace those Giant Growths. Giant Growth is a great card that proved itself time and again. I just think this deck would benefit more from the flexibility that the Rampager grants you. See, we don't have carddraw (and it's hard to find something decent in Modern) and I imagine this deck running out of steam/cards quickly. The Rampager can either be a pump spell (that grants trample!) or bei a critter himself which would perfectly smooth out the mana curve of this deck for any game that goes beyond a couple of turns.* This deck really, really wants to run Monastery Swiftspear! Please note that Prowess would resolve before the spell you cast, which means it will survive Pyroclasm! It's not exactly budget but should go down in price soon when it rotates out of Standard, so keep an eye on that one.* The Barrages are excellent here, they enable bloodlust, they squeeze one extra damage out of everything that would die anyway and they allow you to deal the final damage in the case the opponent put out enough blockers. However, I don't see the use of the other sacrifice outlet, Evolutionary Leap. What does it do? In the best case it exchanges one small creature for a slightly bigger one. What you would need instead is card draw but I can't come up with anything decent. Browbeat being the closest call, but I guess the Leaps are finally the card we want to cut to make room for my other suggestions.* You listed Mountains from a special edition that cost money. Exchange that for a different edition to lower the price of this deck - you know that that will give you more views here on budget obsessed MTGVault ... ;)* Talking of the mana base, Pinecrest Ridge is really bad. Don't you have any other dualland (that doesn't come into play tapped and can be used every turn)? Even a pain-land would be better than this.So, to sum up, I would modify like this:- 2 Sylvok Lifestaff+ 2 Darksteel Axe / Rancor- 3 Giant Growth+ 3 Ghor-Clan Rampager- 3 Evolutionary Leap+ 3 Seal of Fire- 2 Pinecreast Ridge+ 2 Karplusan Forest / Rootbound CragAnd then try to get my hands on Swiftspears.
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Thank you for your help. I fear I may have to be one of those annoying people who ask advice and then just follow their original plan anyway. I apologise for this and will try and justify my choices. I should have put information in the description before but it feels like no one on this site looks at my decks and it would hardly be worth the bother.*I had briefly thought about adding Seal of Fire before but ending up not as I thought that the 1-mana creatures would be enough but its a good idea as redundancy always helps, and I think I'll add at least one or two.*You are right about Rancor. Its just a bit too expensive. Do you think Bonesplitter would be a better option that Darksteel Axe in most cases? I think the reason I had Sylvok Lifestaff was because I was trying to diversify away from a simple, direct strategy of aggression, which, in my mind, is not as interesting or rewarding to play. Sylvok Lifestaff should be able to prolong games by adding efficiently adding lifegain to my creatures deaths. The one less boost to power, in my opinion when we are comparing to Darksteel, is fairly negligible as it probably would only account in 2-3 more damage. The lower equip is nice too.*My reasons for not already including Bloodrush cards, like Ghor-Clan Rampager was actually the opposite of the reason you say I should add them. The restriction of only being able to be cast on attacking creatures essentially halves their uses. The flexibility to use as pseudo removal by casting on blocking creatures was my main example. I think this is sort of the same thing with Sylvok Lifestaff. I wasn't getting into the aggression idea enough. There definitely is a case for adding Ghor-Clan Rampagers.*I'll keep an eye on Monastery Swiftspear and hopefully it goes down. Do you think I'd need to take out some of my other one mana creatures to add it in? If so which one, because I really want to keep the three that I have? Young Wolf is has great durability, Goblin Arsonist is fun and good to kill some creatures with and Wasteland Viper is an nice 1/2 that can prevent fatties from attacking and having Bloodrush. I might take out a couple Vipers for a couple Swiftspeares. *It's a shame you don't think Evolutionary Leap does anything. I was really wanting to make a deck that used it. As I mentioned before, I want my deck to be more than a simple red aggro deck. Evolutionary Leap, while not being the most efficient, is interactive. It is a solid counter to almost all removal (the only downside is that I'll have to cast the creatures again but with my incredibly low mana curve this shouldn't be an issue), and in the cases of Young Wolf and Mogg-War Marshall it can net me genuine card advantage.*About the basic lands, I was bored and trying to find ones which looked nice. I will change them back though and hopefully that will get me more views ;)Thanks to you and your comment is appears I now have 2 likes XD ;)*I know Pinecrest Ridge is bad but the other options are just too expensive (at least $6 dollars each). I wanted to ensure I had the correct mana to cast a Scab-Clan Marauder on my second turn, while also casting some spell on first, and it was the only budget option I could come up with. Your statement about how what cards are best all depends on the meta is very apt. I will need to playtest to find out which cards really are best in the scenarios I play in and if I find that I am losing too much will probably have to aggressify my overall strategy as most of your suggestions imply. Thank you again for help and I will keep all your suggestions in mind.
I don't have any problem with people not following my advice, especially if they have their reasons like you do. The discussion is valueable in and by itself!About wanting to diversify the deck: I understand you completely, I am just astonished to hear that because you wanted to make a deck around bloodthirst, which asks for aggressive play and more or less a single minded approach!Darksteel Axe/Staff/Bonesplitter:In a deck like this you don't win much by extending the game a bit through lifegain, mostly because your mana curve ends at 2! As I said, what you need is card draw but Skull Clamp is banned. So is Umezawa's Jitte, which would be perfect for you because it can gain life, kill creatures OR pump - the total package. About Bonesplitter/Axe, I prefer the Axe because it's indestructible but that's probably down to the meta again, you probably play against people that don't pack artifact/enchantment removal (at least not maindeck). Duals:I didn't know Karplusan Forest went up like that but Rootbound Crag is listed as a 2 dollar card on average in the states. Karplusan Forest is just 3 Euro over here and Crag about 1.5€Evolutionary Leap:Of course it has it's uses but still, the effect isn't exactly blinder here either, especially since you also run the Barrage and each creature can only be sacrificed once! I would not have said anyhing when combat damage would still use the stack but alas, that's not the case anymore, so most of the tricks don't work. It IS, however, some kind of card drawing power if you sac Young Wolf/War Marshal tokens. It just seems slow and tedious building an army like that (and unintuitive as well considering you run Pyroclasm!). Swiftspear Replacements:Why not replace one each of the other 1-drops? So that you have 3 Arsonists, Wolfs, Vipers and Swiftspears.
Yeah your card suggestions are understandable as they are very good at keeping the pressure on your opponent in an aggressive strategy.Its true life-gain is not very useful here. But sometimes it is more fun to win a long drawn out game than something really one sided. It might give me an edge. Actually, while that idea is a little un-logical, I think the main scenario where it extra life could be quite nice is up against another highly aggressive deck. What do you think about overkill in Magic? I remember reading this article highlighting why Crucible of Fire is bad. Its generally overkill because if you have several dragons on the battlefield you should be winning and the +3/+3 doesn't help you very much if you don't have any dragons out. If I'm attacking with several creatures and the damage is getting through then I'm winning anyway and the extra two damage is just two damage. Then diversification of strategy is much more important as its harder to disrupt. This context, my deck, is probably a bad example/place to practice this concept as Bonesplitter and Darksteel Axe do give lots of value (nice when you can continually trade 2/2s for 4/4s) but its just interesting to think about.Thanks for heads up about Rootbound Crag. Its just inside my price zone and I'll fit two in the deck.The plan with Evolutionary Leap and Pyroclasm is to sacrifice my creatures that will have die anyway. I can then recast new ones onto a hopefully clearer board. Or if I have Barrage, they can help make an even clearer board by getting the last points of damage for creatures with higher toughness than 2.Good idea about Swiftspear. Funny how I hadn't really thought about that solution. And it diversifies the deck ever more! ;) What do you know about the prices of cards coming out of Standard. I feel like I remember watching some card, I can't remember which, and waiting for it to rotate out but the price didn't seem to go down...Also, as one last thought, do you think Pandemonium could work here? The creatures' powers aren't the highest but eight do come in as 3/3s and it would be helpful for getting the last few points of damage in. Evolutionary Leap would be much more helpful then as I could cycle through creatures while avoiding my opponent's Pandemonium procs.. ;)
Against another highly aggressive deck you'd still better be off with offensive equipments because they help winning the damage race. Lifegain could also win the damage race, of course, the difference here is that Sylvok Staff grants you a one-time life boost per creature that dies while Axe/Splitter deal more damage with every attack. If the Axe helps you to trade for a bigger creature, then the damage you won't receive from that creatrue in future turns could also be considered lifegain, however, creatures that aren't checked will do damage every turn. I wouldn't have said anythin if it was an equipment that grants lifelink because that's life every turn without losing resources. But Loxodon Warhammer doesn't fit the curve and Basilisk Collar is not budget.On the matter of overkill:Of course that's an issue and with Crucible of Fire you named a good example. However, running Darksteel Axe in an aggressive deck isn't overkill. It adds stability and value to a deck that would otherwise risk running out of steam if the game ever leaves early game and the opponent still stands. Casting the umpteenth 2/2 dork won't do much if the opponent has a bunch of 4/4 blockers ready. But, as you said, that equipment allows you to make favourable trades again and again.Evolutionary Leap and Pyroclasm: That works for 2/3 of your creatures but if you sac the Wolf or Mashal to Leap then the tokens respectively reborn wolf will die in the Pyroclasm.HANDS OFF of Pandemonium!!!Evolutionary Leap can't help you avoiding Pandemonium procs because the opponent will apply that damage directly to your face! Pandemonium only ever works in decks with burst damage and that basically means it will be a combo deck. So, adding Pandemonium will be a slippery slope into the realm of combo and before you'll notice all the cards this deck based on are gone and instead you'll have a Pandeburst deck. However, talking of Saproling Burst, it would fit your deck nicely ... it's just not Modern legal. Instead, this deck would work well with Guttr Grime. However, 5 mana is just too much I guess.
If I was going to cast Pyroclasm and I had a Young Wolf or Mogg War Marshall on the field, I wouldn't sacrifice them. I would instead weigh up whether it would be worth to trade their first lives for the death some opponent's creatures. Alternatively, if had enough mana, I could just sacrifice them twice. With Pandemonium, it would greatly increase the outlook on the uses of Sylvok Lifestaff if they were going to deal the damage right to my face. Sylvok isn't that bad either. Don't overlook the power booster. Its not as high as Darksteel but will it still effect the game. Also, if I really want a creature dead I can get the last points of damage in with Barrage or Goblin Arsonist. The lower is equip cost is very important here as I want to keep switch the equipment onto a defensive creature while still keeping mana free for sacrificing. Also, I feel I still would get a lot out of it. For example, a Young Wolf and Barrage would provide a lot of value. I do realise that against some decks, Pandemonium would be suicide. But not all. Shouldn't it at least make good sideboard material?Gutter Grime would be nice true but yeah five is high. What about Fecundity? You did say that I needed card draw. Although, do you think it gives too much to the other player as well?