Eleventh place is a very solid finish, but I’m sure Stephen Dykman was looking for something a little more at the Open Series in Indianapolis with his innovative R/B Aggro deck. His deck makes good use out of several new cards, including Forerunner of Slaughter and Drana, Liberator of Malakir.
This deck is very aggressive, threat dense, and has a splash of removal to clear the way. It also curves all the way up to Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury, plus it has Makindi Sliderunner, so having a high number of lands isn’t a bad thing. When your creatures are hasty or provide other value, like Thunderbreak Regent or Bloodsoaked Champion, you don’t actually need to draw many spells to win. Instead, you should focus on accomplishing what you want your deck to do, and if that’s curve out up to five mana, you’re going to need to play a bunch of lands.
With seemingly everyone playing four colors, it’s hard to imagine Self-Inflicted Wound not being an excellent sideboard, if not maindeck, card. Scab-Clan Berserker is also a pretty nice sideboard option against spell-heavy decks. It also adds to the haste sub-theme!
This is the first deck with Drana, Liberator of Malakir that we’ve seen having real success, and it looks pretty legit. I’m surprised to not see a third copy or perhaps some Hangarback Walkers, but I could see Hangarback Walker being a little too slow for what this deck is trying to accomplish. Then again, it has incredibly synergy with Drana and Kolaghan, so maybe it should be in the deck regardless.
Creatures (27)
- 1 Ashcloud Phoenix
- 4 Bloodsoaked Champion
- 2 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
- 3 Flamewake Phoenix
- 4 Thunderbreak Regent
- 3 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 4 Forerunner of Slaughter
- 2 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
- 4 Makindi Sliderunner
Lands (25)
Spells (8)
