[Article] Picking Your Aggro Deck

[photodyer]

This is a port of an article authored by Lauphiette Kincey (LP) a while back over at MTGS. Some of the templated card choices are a bit dated given the current meta, but the analysis of the red subtypes is still on target. All credit to LK for this article...I'm just a mover!

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Currently there are approximately infinite decks in our beloved subforum("Unequivocably the Best Archetype in the Format"). While all of this brewing is fun and I'm a victim of it myself, when it comes to actual tournament time, I want my children possessed of my wisdom so that they may properly and discriminately choose the proper weapon for blazing a path to victory.

I'm going to go over several aggressive decks based on color, give each a rating amongst themselves, explain how they compare to other archetypes in standard and hopefully with that information, you'll
be more confidant in your deck choices. In we go.

Mono Red Aggro

[deck]
2 Stonewright
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
4 Searing Spear
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Flames of the Firebrand

21 Mountains
1 Crucible
[/deck]

Pure. Consistent. Fast. This is what red should be. You're deck can operate on 2 lands and still kill people in a reasonable fashion. You punish any and all stumbles by your opponent by issuing them a Game Loss. And you have meaningful interaction with the board to boot. Thragtusk? Pyreheart wolf doesn't card. Centaur healer? Eat a spear. Lingering souls? Get embarrassed by flames of the firebrand. Mono-red is crisp. This deck is great against most multiple color non-naya decks, beats Bant enchantments, and has a decided edge in most mirror matches do to being one-color(consistent) and generally faster, at least initially. The only things sligh red lack are a high power level and a powerful
sideboard. The sideboard is fine, but limited naturally by being mono-colored. Power is something that you can change, but it's not really necessary when you can goldfish turn 4 and 5 regularly before powerful cards from other decks come online and/or are relavent.

Ratings:
Speed~4/4
Consistency~4/4
Power~2/4
Sideboard~2.5/4

Boros(R/w)

[deck]
2 stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
1 Spark Trooper
4 Searing Spear
3 Boros Charm
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
13 Mountain

sideboard
[/deck]

Boros, ***** yeah!. Boros is slower then mono-red but has more toys. For one, boros charm is an absurdly powerful card. Drawing 2 in game is like having drawn a free card when they're in damage mode and being an anti-wrath and/or combat tool is just icing. Slayers' Stronghold is also exceptionally powerful turning your late game 1-drops into
actual cards that affect the board meaningfully. Outside of those cards, your sideboard options are absurd. You have access to artifact hate, enchantment hate, fogs, lifegain, blind obedience, whatever you want really. That's a mindblowing amount of options for an aggressive deck and ultimately results in boros being virtually unhateable. If boros wants to beat something, it will. The boros deck isn't as consistent or as fast as the red deck, but barely so and the power is definitely higher. I love how boros lets you basically be the jund of agro decks(no bad matchups) with it's sideboard.

Ratings:
Speed~3/4
Consistency~3.5/4
Power~3/4
Sideboard~4/4

Gruul(R/G)

[deck]
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Flinthoof
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Borderland Ranger
4 Hellrider
2 Ghor Clan Rampager
2 Wolfir Silverheart
4 Rancor
2 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Temple Garden
2 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Rootbound Crag
9 Mountains

sideboard
[/deck]

Gruul is the toughest
deck to build, since it has a lot more maindeck choices then say Boros or Rakdos, but one thing is for sure; Rancor is amazing. Gruul is the one R/x agro deck that is actually favorable versus naya game 1 by virtue of trampling through all of Naya's threats. There is no board state that gruuls huge monsters can't punch through when you have Rancor, Wolfir Silverheart, Kessig Wolf Run and Bonfire of the Damned. The key is building the deck to your wants and needs. Do you want Burning Tree Emissary? Huntmaster of the Fells? Arbor Elf even? And what of the burn package? Fitting all these shifting parts together is our challenge as players and Gruul is definitely a tough nut to crack. The good news is all the cards are good so it's hard to mess up. I could see Gruul ultimately being "the" agro deck with it's trample, haste, threat density and overall card quality. It even has a playable planeswaler! Domri Rade is something I could see myself boarding in certain matchup. The only worry I have with
gruul is consistency since it has a relatively greedy manabase compared to the other guild decks, but I think that's justified for the power of the cards you get.

Ratings:
Speed~4/4
Consistency~2.5/4
Power~3.5/4
Sideboard~3/4

Dos Rakis(R/B)

[deck]
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Thrill-Kill Assasin
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Hellrider
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Searing Spear
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Ultimate Price
1 Traitorous Blood
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Godless Shrine
12 Mountain

sideboard
[/deck]

While I don't think this was quite our first love, the affectionately named Dos Rakis no doubt holds a special place in the hearts of the Founding Flames of our clan and this subforum. This. Deck. Is. Power. You have the typical agro curve that all the other agro decks have, but instead of quad hellrider, you have quad falkenrath aristocrat which is tremendously more durable and unrelenting, no matter the board state. There are tons of
tricks that this deck has, especially when you introduce threaten affects and cards like brimstone volley. Sometimes, your opponent doesn't know that they're just dead. This deck has one million haste guys, can recover from anything, and enjoys employing the aid of hasty fliers ignoring board stalls. To boot, black has solid if not exciting board options; aside from Olivia. I love her. The issues come from lacking sufficient(or any) mana sinks and being much more reliant on the 4th land drop then the other red decks. Still, UNLIMITED POWER. The big downside is that you're pretty bad in the mirror. Not the best deck choice in an agro heavy metagame.

Ratings:
Speed~3/4
Consistency~2.5/4
Power~4/4
Sideboard~3/4

Naya Zoo(R/w/g)

I don't think I'll bother with a decklist for this deck, but suffice it to say that you have OPTIONS. Zoo is the fastest most powerful agro deck on the block when built right and this applies to pre- and postboard games. The issue being that the mana base is *ahem*
ambitious at best. But when it comes together, who can beat you? This is definitely a deck for the person who likes taking risks and wants to spike a tournament regardless of what shows up.

Ratings:
Speed~4/4
Consistency~2/4
Power~4/4
Sideboard~3.5-4/4


Hope this all helps. Here's a brief synopsis since that was a lot of information:

Mono-red is the most consistent and great against the mirror and durdling decks but not to hot versus Naya. It makes up with speed what it lacks in power.
Boros is slightly less consistent and fast as mono-red but can be tailored to beat any meta with a proper read do to having a great sideboard.
Gruul is very powerful, can be very fast, and beats naya, but there's no good list and the mana can occasionally be awkward. It will thrive in a midrange environment though.
Rakdos has all the top end power and is favored against most every deck accept the mirror. Falkenrath aristocrat is a very good magic card.
Zoo is the fastest most powerful color option but it
can and will die to it's manabase on occasion. If you're fine with that, then come up with a good list and melt peoples faces.

In closing, I'd like to add that just adding up the cumulative rating points doesn't prove anything and shouldn't be a metric for choosing a deck. Go with what fits your style and hopefully what fits the field you expect. I'd like to say that I advocate all the decklists posted in this thread, though I haven't extensively tested them so take them with a grain of salt.

Hope this is useful. Thanks for reading.