Mardu Midrange - Rank 1 CLICKBAIT

This deck, along with my FTP Midrange list, got me to rank 1, and has a great matchup against most of the field. It’s also a blast to play!

Short Summary:
Play the best fatties and removal to thouroughly dunk on praxus pledge. Also great against hooru fliers and most any midrangey deck out there. Evenish FTP matchup, and has some trouble with Hooru control.

Unorthodox Card Inclusions:

- Quarry
Helps smooth out draws and gives us something to do in the early turns. Also has a good shot at hitting a Vara/SST for turn 3 5/6.

- Amaran Stinger
Not a huge fan of this guy, but he has felt like the best early game option available. Only 3 copies may seems strange, but he’s often dead if your opponent has blockers, so I prefer to reduce the odds of drawing multiple stingers.

- Moonstone Vanguard
Not a great card, since it’s a 5-drop that dies to removal for no value. However, if it survives it wins the game singlehandedly. 2 copies has felt about right.

- Xenan Temple
One of the powerhouses of this deck, curving a 4-drop into temple to kill their unit is amazing. Scare has added utility as a kill spell for 0-attack units, namely auralian merchant. Also very fun to steal dawnwalkers and maktos with this.

- Dizo’s Office
One of the more questionable cards in the list, but the lifesteal can be super relevant against aggressive decks. The unconditional removal is also useful for dealing with multifaction fatties like cirso and HoV. Don’t want more than 2 copies since there are already a lot of sites in the deck, and they get worse in multiples. Also a 7-drop.

Market:
- Find the Way
Could maybe be a banner, though I like being able to get FTW and then put away one of them with a second merchant for an azindel.

-Azindel
Great finisher against midrange, a little lackluster against control however.

- Xenan Temple
Very nice “midgame durdle” card to get when you don’t really need anything else. Also does some work against hooru control since it draws a card, pops an aegis, and makes an 8/8 eventually.

Card Exclusions:

- Dark Return
Was dead too often.

- Sabotage
Worth thinking about for sure, but not much good against praxis pledge or hooru fliers.

- Vara’s Choice
Just too tempo-negative for our gameplan. We have better removal options.

- Treachery
Same as above.

- Xenan Initiation
Already have xenan temple, dont want too many killer effects. Other removal options are just more reliable.

- Banish
Very useful removal spell, but not quite as good as our current inclusions. Worth thinking about if the meta changes though.

- Scorpion Wasp
Amazing against hooru fliers, but very lackluster against everything else. Not really needed since our hooru matchup is already great.

- Champion of Chaos
A much better 3-drop than stinger, but a little too rough on the influence.

- Statuary Maiden
Worth considering, but the 4-drop slot is already somewhat crowded.

- Mystic Ascendant
Not quite good enough atm, but also worth considering in the future.

- Xo of the Endless Horde
Not enough merchants for this to be worthwhile, and we rarely get to 8 power to hardcast the dragon.

Different builds I’ve tried:

- 3x FTW and 3x Azindel maindeck
Cheap removal meant triple FTW actually worked, but azindel was just too clunky. Lower-to-the-ground version has worked better.

- 4x Champion of Chaos and 3x Dark Return
Influence on champ was too rough, and DR was often dead. Wasn’t good enough when it worked, and didnt work often enough either.

Builds I haven’t tried yet:

4x Teacher of Humility and 4x Amaran Stinger
Teacher into stinger is a great curve, but im not sure we’re aggressive enough to capitalize on it. Double T on turn 2 for teacher also seems questionable.

4x Mystic Ascendant and 4x Worldbearer Behemoth
Worth thinking about, though I’m not sure we need the extra lategame power.

Cheers!
- Erik9099