Fervent Madness

With the upcoming release of Amonkhet, most of us in the Magic community are eager to answer a very crucial question – what should I play in the upcoming standard season? Do you keep your Mardu Vehicles or Four Colour Saheeli sleeved up? Do you try a home brew? Or do you wait to see what surfaces at the Pro Tour? For me, I look to the past seasons to see if an old classic has got some new tricks to add to its arsenal. It’s easy to forget, but new cards can breathe new life into beloved builds. So, with preview season in full swing, I began to see what I could run out in the standard to come. What I came up with was a new take on an aggressive burn deck (I know, I’m really stepping outside of my comfort zone). What’s more, I have found a home for one of Magic’s latest Gods. So, without further ado, let’s dive in to Fervent Madness.

Red black madness is not a new archetype, but ever since the banning of Smuggler’s Copter it has fallen away from top level play. This is a shame, as the deck was the closest thing we had to standard burn, but the addition of a few new cards may have just given us a reason to dig out our Fiery Tempers for some good, old fashioned, spell based aggro.

 

The first new inclusion to the deck comes in the form of red’s new one drop, Flameblade Adept. As a 1/2 with menace this Jackal Warrior may seem only okay, but nothing special. However, with that second ability in play, we can have a real beat stick on our hands. If we can get this little guy down on turn one, then use a card like Lightning Axe to discard an Alms of the Vein, we can remove a potent early game threat, and take out a quarter of our opponent’s life total. It only gets better in the mid to late game, as cards such as Collective Brutality and Collective Defiance, can allow you to dump a land heavy hand for great value, and let the adept to hit for upwards of four to five damage.

Since we will often be making ourselves Hellbent, it would be rude not to get Hazoret the Fervent in on the action. The red aligned god of Amonkhet packs a hell of a punch, and the drawback is less of an issue in our deck. By turn four, the likelihood is that we will have emptied our hand, at which point, we should be close to closing out the game with this 5/4 haster. What’s more, she works great as a discard outlet, turning any lands we draw after our fourth into a Shock.

The rest of the deck is either enabling madness, or dealing direct damage. Insolent Neonate, Lightning Axe, Collective Brutality, Key to the City and Collective Defiance, all act as great discard outlets, helping us to take advantage of our playsets of Alms of the Vein and Fiery Tempers. Scrapheap Scrounger and Walking Ballista help put on early game pressure and give us all the reason in the world to include a playset of Unlicensed Disintegration. The mana base is pretty simple, as we are only in two colours, and we will include some of the new Canyon Slough for fixing, as well as helping trigger both Flameblade Adept and Hazoret the Fervent.

The sideboard should be versatile, allowing us to handle any threat. Fatal Push and Release the Gremlins can handle any new vehicle brews we may come across. Some hand attack in the form of Harsh Scrutiny, and the new Lay Bare the Heart could also prove to be useful, if standard continues to lean towards a heavy creature meta. Add in some removal and utility cards, and that makes up the seventy-five.

Creatures (18)

4 Insolent Neonate

4 Flameblade Adept

4 Scrapheap Scrounger

4 Walking Ballista

2 Hazoret the Fervent

Spells (20)

2 Lightning Axe

4 Alms of the Vein

4 Fiery Temper

2 Collective Brutality

2 Key to the City

4 Unlicensed Disintegration

2 Collective Defiance

Lands (22)

4 Foreboding Ruins

4 Smoldering Marsh

4 Canyon Slough

6 Mountain

4 Swamp

Sideboard (15)

3 Fatal Push

2 Harsh Scrutiny

2 Lay Bare the Heart

2 Release the Gremlins

2 Shock

1 Lost Legacy

1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers

So, what do you think the new standard will bring? Are you hard at work brewing the next break out deck, or is this the kind of brew you would like to try out come release weekend. Personally, I can’t wait to crack some packs, and see what Amonkhet has to hold. Why not get in touch a leave a comment with what excites you about Amonkhet, or what you plan on playing. You never know, maybe I might be talking about your home brew next time.

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