Sarkhan's Madness - AKA Big Red Midrange

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Guardman
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Post by Guardman » 4 years ago

SARKHAN'S MADNESS






Overview of the Deck

Sarkhan's Madness is a Big Red Midrange deck that wants to use free or repeatable rummaging effects (i.e. discard a card then draw a card) to quickly and efficiently power out madness cards such as Reckless Wurm, Stromkirk Occultist, and Fiery Temper. Thanks to the namesake card Sarkhan, Fireblood the deck also can easily add a small dragon subtheme.

This is the perfect deck for midrange players who want to do something a bit different.

Decklists

Below find two sample decklists. A Non-Budget Version and an Under $50 Budget Version (though even the non-budget version is relatively cheap for a modern deck coming in at around $150).
Sample Non-Budget Sarkhan's Madness
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Sample Under $50 Budget Sarkhan's Madness
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Sample Budget Sarkhans Madness
Approximate Total Cost:

Card Choices

As a general rule you should be looking to have the following number of each category of card in your deck:
  • Lands: 22-24 – At least 17 of which produce red mana
  • Discard Payoff: 8-12
  • Discard Effects: 9-12 – Value discard effects that are Free, Repeatable, and/or Draw a Card.
  • Burn/Removal: 8+ – Meta dependent. In general want a good mix of cheap any target burn and removal that can handle larger creatures/planeswalkers.
  • Mana Ramp: 4-6
  • Dragons: 0-7 – Since the deck includes fast mana and Sarkhan, Fireblood it is easy to add a dragon package to add some extra power and diversify your threats. There is also the option to make the deck more dragon stompy and less madness focused by including more dragons.
  • Other: 0-5
  • Sideboard: 15 – You could run less than 15 sideboard cards. I wouldn't recommend it, but this is a madness deck after all.
SPOILER
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1. Lands
  • Mountain (Run 15+): Does what it needs to do.
    Field of Ruin (Run 0-4): Great against Tron and decks with either important lands or greedy mana bases. Fetches mountains for more mountaintime fun.
  • Ghost Quarter (Run 0): Going down a land is a big cost in this deck. Especially against a deck like Tron. Field of Ruin is better for what you need it for.
  • Blast Zone (Run 0-3): Can be used to destroy permanents that can be hard for red to handle, like enchantments. Great against non-token aggressive decks since they play a lot of 1 and 2 drops while the deck is mostly 3+ drops.
  • Scavenging Grounds (Run 0-3): Good choice in a graveyard heavy meta.
  • Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep (Run 1): If you are running any legendary creatures this is a great one of to have. Works especially well with Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion.
  • Sunbaked Canyon and Fiery Islet (Run 0-4): Good if expecting a bunch of decks where your life total doesn't matter too much. I wouldn't play it if expecting any fast decks.
  • Arid Mesa and other fetchlands (Run 0): The slight deck thinning isn't worth the 1 life. Also the deck can either use the extra lands or rummage them away easily enough.
  • Cavern of Souls (Run 0-2): Run only in a dragon heavy list or very counter heavy meta.
  • Haven of the Spirit Dragon (Run 0-2): Run only in a dragon heavy list.
2. Discard Payoffs
  • Stromkirk Occultist (Run 3-4): The card is a cheap madness payoff that can come down as early as turn two. The true value of her is the fact she has trample and whenever she deals combat damage to a player you impulse draw the top card of your library. Also don't forget to not play a land with her until after you attack with her incase you impulse into a land.
  • Reckless Wurm|Planar Chaos (Run 3-4): Most times Reckless Wurm comes down as a 4/4 trampler for 2R, which is above curve. Add into the fact that depending on your discard outlet it either comes with drawing a card or flash to be a surprise blocker and you get a lot of value with your beef, er… mealwurm.
  • Incorrigible Youths (Run 3-4): Run in place of Reckless Wurm. Both work well. A bit of a meta/deckbuilding call. Works better in a deck with sorcery speed discard and a meta that is less creature based. Also the 3 toughness means it is in bolt range.
  • Malevolent Whispers (Run 0-2): Meta call. In a meta with a lot of large creatures this can act as a surprise finisher. It can also work as two for one removal by grabbing an attacker and then blocking an attacking creature.
  • Avacyn's Judgment (Run 0-2): Works well with Neheb, Dreadhoarde Champion since you can power out a large one to finish off an opponent at 6 or 7 life. Other than that interaction it is a little hit or miss.
  • Bloodmad Vampire (Run 0-4): The most aggressive option. Best in a low creature, low interaction meta since it can come down on turn two and get out of control fast, but is easy to kill thanks to its 1 toughness.
  • Glint-Horn Buccaneer (Run 0-4): It has a big butt with 4 toughness and the main-reason to play it is its triggered ability making it a good choice in a creature aggressive or grindy meta. It also can rummage and has haste which is also not bad.

3. Discard Effects
  • Sarkhan, Fireblood (Run 3-4): The card that makes the deck tick. It gives you a free discard outlet for madness cards, consistent card draw, mana ramp for a dragon package, and a win-con if allowed to stick around.
  • Insolent Neonate (Run 4): The deck's best turn 1 play outside of playing a turn 1 Sarkhan or Blood Moon. It's free rummaging effect allows for consistent turn 2 Stromkirk Occultist and turn 3 Reckless Wurm. Also never forget it has menace, which surprisingly comes up more than you would think.
  • Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion (Run 0-3): Really powerful rummaging outlet. Can let you basically play one or two madness cards for free whenever it connects while drawing you a new hand.
  • Avaricious Dragon (Run 0-4): High risk, high reward card. Upside is that it is a 4/4 dragon for 4 mana that draws you an additional card on your turn. Downside is that you discard your hand at your end step. The discard, while manageable thanks to the madness cards, can backfire by either your opponent killing it in response to its EoT trigger, forcing you to discard a card you would rather keep in hand, or prevent you from interacting on your opponent's turn.
  • Tormenting Voice & Cathartic Reunion (Run 0): Costing 2 mana is a real cost. There are better choices.
  • Bag of Holding (Run 0): A cute card more than anything. Can be a way to get back discarded cards. Note that it doesn't work with any uncast madness card since madness exiles meaning when it goes to the graveyard it wasn't discarded.
  • Opponent's Liliana of the Veil: Because some people can't help but +1 when you have untapped lands.
  • Discarding to hand size: It doesn't come up often, but sometimes this is your best option to madness out a card.
4. Burn/Removal
  • Lightning Bolt (Run 3-4): Bread and butter burn card.
  • Fiery Temper (Run 2-4): Strong burn card that gets added points for having madness. Basically allows the deck to run additional copies of lightning bolt.
  • Lightning Axe (Run 0-3): Big creature removal. The discard cost is an asset in this deck allowing for an easy and cheap way to flash in a madness creature while taking out an opponent's creature.
  • Alchemist's Greeting (Run 0-2): Madness creature removal if killing 4 toughness creatures is important.
  • Magmatic Sinkhole (Run 0-2): Strong removal that can hit big creatures and high loyalty planeswalkers. The deck does a decent job of filling the graveyard once it gets going, but don't rely on it to take care of things in the first few turns.
  • Magma Spray (Run 0-2): Only maindeck in a graveyard heavy meta.
  • Lava Coil (Run 0-2): Only maindeck in a graveyard heavy meta where hitting 3 or 4 toughness creatures is important.
  • Anger of the Gods (Run 0-3): Meta call between this, Pyroclasm, and Sweltering Suns. I would only maindeck a sweeper in a creature heavy meta, otherwise sideboard. Plus side is it exiles creatures.
  • Sweltering Suns (Run 0-3): Meta call between this, Pyroclasm, and Anger of the Gods. I would only maindeck a sweeper in a creature heavy meta, otherwise sideboard. Plus side is the cycling since you can redraw in a match-up where it is bad.
  • Pyroclasm (Run 0-3): Meta call between this, Sweltering Suns, and Anger of the Gods. I would only maindeck a sweeper in a creature heavy meta, otherwise sideboard. Plus side is it costs 2. Downside is it only deals 2 damage with no additional effect.
5. Mana Ramp
  • Simian Spirit Guide (Run 4): The best mana ramp since you can sometimes do stupid things like a turn 1 Sarkhan, Fireblood or Blood Moon. Its nice to sometimes have the option to play a 2/2 for 3. Also relevant is the fact that the exiling is a mana ability, not an activate ability.
  • Desperate Ritual or Pyretic Ritual (Run 0-4): A good budget option. Also works well as Simian Spirit Guides number 5+.
  • Mind Stone (Run 0-4): Lose out on the explosive turn 1 or 2 starts. Best when you are looking for more long term mana. Also useful in a dragon heavier build as a support to Sarkhan, Fireblood's mana ramp. Better than other mana rocks since you can pop it for a card when you don't need it and you should be running enough red producing lands that you don't need the color fixing.
6. Dragons
  • Glorybringer (Run 0-3): My personal favorite 5-drop dragon since the combination of haste plus repeatable removal can completely turn a game around against many creature decks.
  • Stormbreath Dragon (Run 0-3): I would play this over Glorybringer only in a white heavy field due to its protection from white. It's even better in a control/midrange heavy field with a lot of white since those are really the only games that you will get to activate it's Monstrosity.
  • Thundermaw Hellkite (Run 0-3): The second largest, *cough*, of the hasty 5 mana dragons at 5/5, Thundermaw is best in any meta with a lot of 1/1 flyers (i.e. Thopter Foundry, Bitterblossom, Lingering Souls, etc.) or where having 5 toughness is important.
  • Skarrgan Hellkite (Run 0-3): The Jack of all Trades 5-drop dragon. Hasty when you need it, extra size and a repeatable fork bolt when you don't.
  • Thunderbreak Regent (Run 0-4): All hail the king! I would only use them in a dragon heavy list, especially if you are running Avaricious Dragon, as it gives pseudo-protection via it's punisher effect.
  • Verix Bladewing (Run 0-2): The flexible 4-drop dragon. Also the worst "4-drop" dragon, but if you are playing it you playing it for those times you sometimes have 7 mana and can get two 4/4 dragons.
7. Other
  • Blood Moon (Run 0-3): Blood Moon can sometimes just win games on its own, no other work required. It is also the best main deck answer to things like Tron, Amulet Titan, and Twiddle Storm.
  • Chandra, Torch of Defiance (Run 0-3): Extremely strong card. She can ramp, impulse draw, remove creatures, and win the game if she sticks around long enough.
  • Karn, the Great Creator (Run 0-4): While not exactly synergizing with the rest of the deck, thanks to the combination of rummaging, fast mana, and playing plenty of lands Karn can easily slide into the deck and do his thing. Also in an artifact heavy meta he is an easy main deck inclusion.
  • Flamewake Phoenix (Run 0-4): The deck is running plenty of ways to get it into the graveyard and plenty of creatures with 4+ power. There are better options, but it isn't the worst and can give the deck a bit more burst.
8. Sideboard

8a. Artifact/Colorless Removal
  • Shatterstorm: Wrath of God for artifacts. A little slow, but against artifact heavy decks it can be devastating.
  • Abrade: Flexibility at an extremely affordable cost. Especially great against Aether Vial decks like Humans and Merfolk since it hits almost everything that matters.
  • Shattering Spree: Cheap artifact hate that can hit multiple artifacts. Since the deck is mono red it can easily replicate for usually as many artifacts as you need to destroy.
  • Shenanigans: The most repeatable artifact removal. Easy to discard early if needed and let it hangout in your graveyard until needed. Thanks to the number of rummaging effects it is easy to cast it more than once each turn.
  • Goblin Cratermaker: A neat combination of small creature removal and colorless removal. Great against Tron and Eldrazi, doesn't do much against colored artifacts unfortunately.
  • Shattering Blow: For when you need your artifact removal to exile.
8b. Graveyard Hate
  • Relic of Progenitus: The best fit for the deck in terms of graveyard hate since it is repeatable, can exile everything when needed, and can cycle.
  • Tormod's Crypt: The zero mana Relic option. Good budget choice.
  • Grafdigger's Cage: The best option when you expect a lot of Collected Company decks as well. The downside is that it stops a lot, but not all graveyard interactions.
  • Ravenous Trap: Good against graveyard decks that are putting multiple cards in their graveyard per turn and also costs 0 mana (since we can't pay retail). Lose some freedom on when you can cast it however because of the lack of black producing lands.
  • Surgical Extraction: Another "free" graveyard hate. Best when you need to get rid of one card.
  • Leyline of the Void: The nuclear option. I would only suggest playing it in a graveyard heavy meta.
8c. Storm/Big Mana Hate
  • Damping Sphere: It slices, it dices, it makes Urza's Tower, Lotus Veil, and Simic Growth Chamber tap for C. It also makes cards cost 1 more for each other spell they has cast this turn. Good against storm, but can hurt you too with trying madness off of Lightning Axe for example.
  • Crumble to Dust: Great against Tron and decks with a pesky land you have to 100% make sure never returns.
  • Pillage: Abrade-like in that it can destroy lands or artifacts at a good rate. Very slot efficient.
8d. Creature/Planeswalkers Hate
  • Dismember: The reason to play this over something like Magmatic Sinkhole is because either the -5/-5 (for indestructible creatures for example) or the 1 cost is important and the paying 4 life isn't.
  • Fry: Cheap, instant, deals 5 damage and unconterable. The best answer against white or blue planeswalkers or creatures.
  • Blasphemous Act: For when you need the combination of killing a lot of creatures and some of them will have 4+ toughness.
  • Pithing Needle and Sorcerous Spyglass: Good answer to planeswalkers, creature's activated abilities, or anything else that troubles you that has an activated ability.
  • Rampaging Ferocidon: Strong anti-lifegain card. Also good against decks that like to go wide with creatures.
8e. Life Gain
  • Basilisk Collar: Great with a lot of tramplers since the collar gives deathtouch. Good against decks with big creatures such as Eldrazi. The main reason though is it is good against decks like burn. If you can attach it to something with 4 toughness and get a hit in it becomes extremely difficult for burn to win.
  • Dragon's Claw: Good against burn and other red decks. While not giving the power or flexibility of Basilisk Collar it can come down earlier.
Guide to Playing the Deck

The deck isn't that difficult to play, especially compared to some other modern decks, but does have some unique aspects thanks to the rummaging effects and madness cards.

Tips
SPOILER
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  • With Sarkhan, Fireblood and Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion the rummaging effect is one ability. That means you discard, draw, and in the case of Neheb get mana, before you decide whether or not to cast the madness card you discarded.
  • With Insolent Neonate, and other cards where discarding is a cost, you first decide whether or not you cast the madness card you discarded before you draw your card (or any other part of the ability).
  • Discarding to handsize will let you play a madness card.
  • Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion mana lasts until end of turn, which means it can be used to pay for madness cards discarded to handsize or Avaricious Dragon. A rare, but cool interaction.
  • Field of Ruin puts the land into play untapped. This can be relevant for both you and your opponent.
  • Most of the time you want to play your land after you attack with Stromkirk Occultist since you can play lands from her impulse draw.
  • Teferi, Time Raveler prevents you from casting madness cards.
  • Narset, Parter of Veils prevents you from drawing more than one card per turn.
  • The general/ideal starting hand contains three lands, a discard outlet, a madness card (or dragon if the discard outlet is [/card]Sarkhan, Fireblood[/card]), one burn spell, and one fast mana. Though this is very matchup dependant.
Matchups
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Mono-Green Tron

Very build dependent. With maindeck Blood Moon and Field of Ruin this is a good match-up. Pre-board it is mostly using fast mana, Field of Ruin and Blood Moon to keep them off Tron. Post-board should be better as you can bring in cards like Damping Sphere, Pillage, Pithing Needle, Shenanigans or Crumble to Dust. The name of the game is keeping them off of Tron for as long as possible while applying pressure.

Amulet Titan

Very similar to Tron. Mostly use your disruption to keep them off their gameplan while building up your board.

Jund/Rock/BW Tokens/Eldrazi and Taxes

Against this deck these match-ups mostly play out the same. These can be long, grindy games, but funny enough they are often decided in the first couple of turns. The key is you want to put out either a big threat or source of card advantage as soon as possible. Their discard is useful on the first couple of turns and when you are tapped out, otherwise it becomes card disadvantage to them. And Liliana of the Veil is really only a three mana Cruel Edict. Because of this unless they are able to have a fast start you can usually win by burying them in card advantage and grinding them out of resources. Relic of Progenitus is a great sideboard card in these matchups (outside of Eldrazi and Taxes) since it nukes the graveyard and cycles.

UW Control

Note – This analysis is done before Stoneforge Mystic unbanning. Unsure how this will effect the matchup.

A lot of it depends on how they build their deck. Teferi, Time Reveler and Narset, Parter of the Veils can be huge problems. But if you are able to keep them off those two planeswalkers the deck has the ability to grind out wins through getting card advantage through rummaging plus madness.

Whirza

Pre-board the goal is to be as fast as possible and kill Urza, Lord High Artificer on sight. Post-board the match-up is much more of a card check. What you are looking to bring in is a mix of graveyard and artifact hate, plus maybe a Pithing Needle on Thopter Foundry. Do you have the right answer at the right time? If you do the match-up is pretty easy since thopters don't chump block Tramplers well.

EldraziTron

Their creatures are on average the same size or bigger than yours which can cause problems. Plus Thought-Knot Seer has discard that works well against you. This doesn't even include the inevitability Karn, the Great Creator gives them. Not an easy match-up, but winnable. You really want to be as much of the aggressor as you can.

Humans

The deck can be annoying, but is usually beatable. Most times I've lost to humans was due to things like killing the wrong creature or playing a creature when I should have left up burn. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Noble Hierarch and Unsettled Mariner are usually not too big a problem and should be left along since she is tiny. Instead it is better to focus your removal on things like Meddling Mage, Mantis Rider, Champion of the Parish, and Thalia's Lieutenant even if the removal costs extra. The rest of the creatures are usually too small to matter. Sweepers and Abrade are great coming out of the sideboard.

Infect

Sort of a boring match-up. Burn, an early blocker, and Field of Ruin for Inkmoth Nexus can collapse their house of cards leading to an easy win. If you don't have Burn or an early blocker you are usually dead by turn 2 or 3.

Storm & Twiddlestorm

Preboard can be difficult since the deck isn't the fastest and your main way of interacting with them is bolting their Goblin Electromancer if they are traditional storm. Blood Moon on the other hand is great against Twiddlestorm if you have them maindeck and can find it in time. Postboard cards like Damping Sphere[card] and graveyard hate can be a big help. Also don't forget your sweepers in case of [card]Empty the Warrens

Burn & Mono-Red Prowess

A hard match-up since you aren't that fast and have limited ways to interact with them. Basilisk Collar and Dragon's Claw out of the board can give you the time to win.

Neoform

Thoughts and prayers. Literally. You don't have a good way to disrupt them and you are too slow to pressure them.

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