[Deck] Amazy Madness

[Tacosnape]

(Out of boredom and novelty, I will write this intro from the perspective of the deck itself.)

Dear Reader,

Allow me to introduce myself. I am an aggressive and fiercely loyal 3-color Madness deck capable of winning you games against several variants of aggro, combo, and control. If you like Madness, I might be the deck for you.

I was conceived on a fine midsummer evening from the forbidden love of a mediocre black-green Madness-Survival deck and an extended blue-black-green Psychatog deck. When I was very young, I was forced to watch both my parents desleeved after receiving a brutal beating at the hands of Goblin Lackey and Siege-Gang Commander, only days after having their village plundered by a horde of sixteen Goblin tokens and receiving extensive torture at the hands of Tendrils of Agony. I swore vengeance, and dedicated my life to the study of ridding the world of these horrid injustices. I fled my village and left to the nearby forest, where I was raised by Wild Mongrels. I played in a cemetary plagued by the undead, where I came to understand the zombies there. I recruited them, promising them a feast of goblin brains and the souls of the wizards who summoned them. In my travels I also recruited many other beasts to my cause, and learned many powerful tricks. Now after several months of intense training and development, I emerge from my forest, ready to take revenge. If you will pilot me, I will do my best to guide you to victory.

Before we go any further, allow me to share my secrets with you:

4 Bayou
4 Tropical Island
4 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
1 Island
1 Swamp
4 Chrome Mox

4 Wild Mongrel
4 Aquamoeba
4 Zombie Infestation
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Brain Gorgers
4 Duress
4 Cabal Therapy
1 Stifle
4 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Squee, Goblin Nabob

SB:
4 Engineered Plague
4 Tormod's Crypt
3 Stifle
2 Survival of the Fittest
2 Hydroblast

I sought out the first Goblin encampment I could find upon leaving the forest and immediately set to test what I had learned. I was dismayed to find my very first assault on the Goblins was stopped cold by a Lackey that moved with blazing alacrity, dropping out Siege-Gang Commanders faster than I could react. Dejected, Bruised, and defeated, I retreated to the forest, only to try again with my Engineered Plagues and Hydroblasts at my disposal. This time I was successful, as well as the next time. I had conquered the Goblin camp. But I wasn't done. I sought out many more Goblin camps and found that I could defeat them far more often than not, often on the back of one of my Wild Mongrels or Aquamoebas which I trained to carry Umezawa's Jitte in their mouths or protoplasm, respectively. Often my Zombies would come to my aid, matching the Goblins in numbers.

When I was satisfied at my Goblin-fighting prowess, I set out to tackle those wicked wizards who tortured their opponents with Tendrils of Agony. Again, I was dismayed by my early results, feeling the pain of my parents acutely at my initial failures. I soon came to understand these decks, however, and found that my critters backed with Duress, Cabal Therapy, Stifle, and Tormod's Crypt were a solid match for most of what they could throw at me. I sent my Jittes, Squees, and one of my two Survivals away, brought in the Crypts and Stifles, and it was a whole new ballgame. Later I began to steal early wins with the blazing speed of my team backed up with discard.

I set out on a journey then to test my strengths against the world. I defeated countless decks, meeting only a select few I could not cope with. And now here I stand, waiting to serve you.

I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and mulligan to six fairly well in a pinch. I think Puppies, Zombies, and Amorphous Blobs are the three cutest things in existence, with Lizards and Wurms being close behind. Oh, and I'm most definitely not into Enchantress, Affinity, or 43 Land. I'm just not that sort of deck. If you want to know more about me, just ask!

Here's to the start of a beautiful relationship.

Sincerely,

Amazy Madness

[Maverick676]

Good primer, I especially enjoyed the matchup analysis.

[Andros]

This may be the best primer I have ever read, thanks for the laughs. Especially the "I fled my village and left to the nearby forest, where I was raised by Wild Mongrels" part made me crack. More seriously, wouldn't a single Wonder be good here? Mayby dropping the second Squee? Although I haven't tested the list yet, it looks strong and I'l definetly try it out.

[CynicalSquirrel]

I love the idea of the deck, and I'm a big fan of these types of versatile Madness decks in general. My only question has to do with Brain Gorgers. It just seems really subpar, and even in the madness decks I draft sometimes they end up being underwhelming. It just seems like there must be something better in that slot.

[technogeek5000]

So i put the deck into a magic workstation file and i have a few comments.

Wonder is pretty good, and 4 ummewaza's jitte is to much because i often get it in multiples, this is bad even with all the discard outlets.

The deck needs some form of draw, this deck almost always goes into topdeck mode. Confidant maybe?

The disruption package is meh. Duress and cabal work well, but the singleon stifle realy doesnt help.

I advise against using brain gorgers, its a nifty beater but its only good early, mid game. Also its easily chumpable.

The deck performs great, it just needs some tweaking.

Also great primer, it was pretty amusing.

[Goaswerfraiejen]

My only question has to do with Brain Gorgers. It just seems really subpar, and even in the madness decks I draft sometimes they end up being underwhelming. It just seems like there must be something better in that slot.

Big Game Hunter? He can kill any scary fatty, and has a dirt-cheap madness cost. Plus, he chumps. ;)

[Tacosnape]

The thing about Brain Gorgers is this. He's a 4/2 for 2 mana. That's incredibly good. There's only three situations you'll play him, too.

1. When your opponent has no creatures. In this case, he's an incredible combo beater or 4/2 against Control.
2. When your opponent has small useless creatures. This covers Goblins and Survival, and possibly Madness mirrors.
3. When your opponent has large or useful creatures. If your opponent's sacrificing Nimble Mongeese, Meddling Mages, Dark Confidants, or any decent-sized creatures to Brain Gorgers, he did his job for :1::b:.

I had a feeling people would jump all over Wonder. Even some of my local people suggested it. I just don't feel like it makes that big of a difference when you have so many pumpable creatures like Mongrel and 'Moeba. I also didn't like the fact that with only one I usually had to dig him out with Survival. I don't like spending my Survival mana for anything but Madness drops, or occasionally Squee if I have Zombie Infestation on the table.

If you're going to play Wonder, cut a Gorgers for it, not a Jitte. The deck has no other threat removal and no draw to dig into it. Brainstorm didn't impress me when I ran it, and Careful Study just tends to suck. The deck succeeds through redundancy and the ability to pitch away any redundant pieces. (This is the same reason why I'll tell you Aquamoeba belongs in Faerie Stompy.) You have 12 Madness-enablers to which you can pitch excess Jittes, and having one Jitte is absolutely game-wrecking against any deck playing creatures. Especially on bodies as sturdy as Mongrel and 'Moeba.

[Gheizen64]

Why no Lion's Eye Diamond? :confused:


It seems to me that they are the nuts in this deck, allowing things like turn one 4/4 hasted trampler and various 1/1 plus lot of card in the graveyard.

It's also very good with flashback spell (that you don't play i know :cool: ) and equipment. But maybe you want a more controllish route.

For Madness i would play a list more like this ...

4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking rootwalla
3 Brain Gorgers
3 Anger
3 Reckless Wurm
2 Squee
2 Krovikan Horror/Ashen Ghoul ?

3 Duress
4 Cabal therapy
4 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Survival

4 Lion's Eye diamond
Some lands

And go for the uber-fast beatdown with fatties :wink: .

[Bane of the Living]

And go for the uber-fast beatdown with fatties :wink: .

And play Übermadness? Really thats the direction LED takes the deck. You build around it not just throw it in the deck.

Whats with the single copy of Stifle? Cant that be the Wonder?

In all my testing against Goblins with Übermadness it basically came down to Wonder. Even though your guys are bigger and faster, theirs are many and chump block you all day long. You really need him to break the defenses for you.

[Tacosnape]

The lone Stifle was there mostly because I couldn't fit four copies in the board. It could indeed be Wonder.

[Aggro_zombies]

I'm going to bump this because I've taken an interest in this deck.

Have you tested Tarmogoyf at all? It isn't terribly good if you're looking for madness outlets, but it also seems like you could make it huge, fast. Is there any room for it, or is the list too tight right now?

[xsockmonkeyx]

@Amazy Madness: What kind of matchups do you have against various decks? Also, if you were a tree then what kind of tree would you be and why?

[Tacosnape]

@Amazy Madness: What kind of matchups do you have against various decks? Also, if you were a tree then what kind of tree would you be and why?

Dear Sockmonkey,

I boast moderately favorable matchups against most combo decks, due to my fast clock and versatile black, blue, and artifact disruption cards. Duress, Cabal Therapy, and Stifle help against nearly every combo deck in existence, and thanks to my shiny Chrome Moxes powering out my Engineered Plagues and my ability to generate hordes of creatures fast I can sometimes get around medium-sized (Read as no more than 10-12) first turn Empty the Warrenses. Empties the Warren. Emp...whatever. Tormod's Crypt lets me stop graveyard-based combo, as well.

I also boast moderately favorable matchups against most aggro decks, including Goblins. With Duress, Cabal Therapy, and Umezawa's Jitte, I can almost always win Jitte-versus-Jitte wars, and I can produce hordes of zombies or pumping Mongrels that lots of decks just can't deal with. Every now and then a Goblin Lackey will sneak through before I can move, but usually between going first or having a Chrome Mox or a Hydroblast I can stop those pesky varmints.

I frequently dominate blue-based aggro-control matches, though a new threat called a Tarmogoyf has emerged that causes problems for my Mongrels. For the most part, however, my madness outlets are too many and versatile to effectively disrupt with Pithing Needle or creature removal.

Black-based aggro control matches are often also in my favor, though on rare occasion their disruption will cause me problems.

I struggle against most dedicated control decks, as well as decks that are dedicated to a sole permanent type, such as Enchantress, Affinity, or 43 Land.

If I were a tree, I would be a cherry tree, like the kind that blossom in every anime set in normal-time Japan whilst dramatic or romantic music played in the background.

Sincerely,

Amazy Madness