{Developing Competitive} B/R Blightning

[Argopile]

Main
4 akoum refuge
4 dragonskull summit
8 mountain
8 swamp

4 earthquake
4 lightning bolt
4 burst lightning
4 vampire nighthawk
4 bloodghast
4 hell's thunder
4 hellspark elemental
4 blightning
4 mind rot/dregscape zombie

SB
3 thought hemorrhage
4 terminate
4 malakir bloodwitch
4 goblin ruinblaster/volcanic fallout

Simple recursion based agro deck. Has very good reach and is capable of playing out as agro-control when needed.

Was running volcanic fallout over the mind rot but the meta is shifting so that 2 dmg sometimes isn't enough. Another option over mind rot is dregscape zombie. I have also run the bloodwitch main and liked that but decided I didn't want to commit to a 5 drop main.

Anywho try this out and see how it feels. It has game against weenie agro, white based control, jund, and just about everything really.

[Filth]

Without testing the decklist you've posted, I'll just post my opinions about Blightning Aggro.

The best way to get the most out of your Blightnings in an aggro deck is to apply lots of quick pressure in the first ~3 turns. This usually involves dropping some powerful 1-drops like Vampire Lacerator and Goblin Guide, and then adding some Hellspark Elementals and whatever you have to the mix. By forcing the opponent to react to your early game, you force him to throw more and more cards away from his hand. When they're low on cards, that's when you cast Blightning to make sure they don't have enough powerful mid-/lategame tools to stabilize while you continue to go aggro on them with whatever creatures/burn you still have. That's the basic plan.

Your deck isn't quite capable of doing this. You start playing your main beatdown guys, which would appear to be the Nighthawk and Hell's Thunder, on turn 3. Before that, you're not really doing anything significant. Bloodghast and Hellspark Elemental are not very threatening on their own. Blightning is still good in the deck, but not better than in the other decks that play it. Blightning aside, your deck is a burn deck with some vampires in it. I would hardly call it aggro, since it doesn't have a real "clock" to rely on. It's more like my deck, really, but with a lower card quality in the late game.

Here's what I'd play if I wanted to play RB Blightning Aggro:

RB Blightning
Land - 23 4 Dragonskull Summit 12 Swamp 7 Mountain Creature - 19 4 Vampire Lacerator 4 Goblin Guide 4 Hellspark Elemental 4 Black Knight 3 Vampire Nighthawk	Other - 18 4 Bloodchief Ascension 4 Lightning Bolt 4 Burst Lightning 4 Blightning 2 Volcanic Fallout	Sideboard X Goblin Outlander X Volcanic Fallout X Terminate X Duress X Goblin Ruinblaster X whatever, idk

Some things about this list:

1) Stretching the manabase for the Black Knights (instead of just playing Outlanders main) may not be a good choice here, but the Knight is just sooo much better in any aggro mirror. And it's an uncommon, so it has to be good.

2) Bloodchief Ascension is a card that some people hate, while some people would call it an auto-include in this deck. I know I wouldn't play a black aggro deck without the Ascension in it. It's very easy to activate if you get it early (but not impossible later), and it provides infinite reach once active. You can play 4, 3, or 0, but I can't think of a better card for the free slots if you decide not to play it.

3) Volcanic Fallout kills most of your guys. Thus, it requires you to think before casting it. It does so many great things it's definitely worth the slots. Kills small annoying creatures, finishes bigger and even more annoying creatures post-combat, and even Shocks your opponent (possibly activating the Ascension on their turn if you have no other burn).


For the record, everything I just said was pure theorycrafting. Let's hope someone who's more experienced with Blightning Aggro can show up and help you some more.

[Argopile]

Some replies:
The horrible synergy between goblin guide and blightning is hard to realize without playing the deck. G.G. reads: let your opponent get that next land draw out of the way, smooth out his land drops, and make sure he has lands to ditch to blightning instead of business cards. Yes a hasty 2/2 for R is sexy but that downfall is just too much. When a person has a blightning dropped on them they make a choice of 3 things to dump: lands, late game bombs, or midgame threats/answers. 9 times out of 10 I see my opponents drop lands and/or lategame cards. G.G. wrecks that.

Ascension is a HORRIBLE topdeck. I say this from experience. I would rather topdeck a land than an ascension. Every other card in this deck topdecks well. I have played this card many times and just have not ever been satisfied with what it brings to the table.

And yes you are right most of my critters are not there to be a permanent threats on into the late game. But thanks to Earthquake, terminate, burst, bolt, and Fallout neither are my opponents critters. The "clock" is getting them to 10 (very easy) so I can explode. Thus the heavy dose of recursion.

This deck is intended to be played as agro-control. Just sayin.

BTW the Mind Rot was a very late include when I posted the list. That slot is usually filled by Volcanic Fallout. Dropping all of the fallouts was a bad choice. I've since readjusted my list.

Current list is adjusted as follows:
Main
-1 swamp, -2 mind rot, -1 earthquake, -1 burst lightning, -1 nighthawk
+3 volcanic fallout, +3 terminate
Board
-4 terminate
+4 black knight (recent influx of white into my meta)

Thanks for the comments!

Try this deck out people!!

[rabbit]

I was running a B/R Blightning deck until LMSE rolled out. Without Demigod of Revenge as a final beater this deck just doesn't seem as good in the new meta. Sure you have some vampires and goblins, but it really liked Demigod.

[Argopile]

I see what you are sayin. But this isn't a true agro deck. It's somewhere between agro and midrange in how it operates.

Have you tried it out? Proxy it up if you have to but try this out!

[rabbit]

Your deck is leading to a lot more control in my opinion with swings heavy mid-game. Maybe some of this can help.

Discard :
Duress : In this type of deck it can easily set up a good game to get a T1 drop. It sets up with a possible good discard, or at a minimum see what they're running.

Mind Shatter : Could be costly but worth a mention

Scepter of Fugue : A constant discard effect, but can be mana intensive.

Creatures :
Nyxathid : If you pursue more discard/control this could be a pretty huge drop that will need to be taken care of immediately.

Other Spells :
Terminate : You're running RB why not run a great removal spell?

Banefire : I prefer seeing this over Earthquake for some reason, you'll already have V-Fallout and Terminates so a final finishing shot that only targets your opponent I believe would be a better option.


Just some options. I've toyed with this deck a lot since LMSE and heavily since M10.

[Argopile]

My only problem with going heavy control is that it takes away from the hybrid nature of this deck. As it is built now I can adjust between control and beatdown as neccesary.

Also duress mid or late game is a really really bad topdeck. Between blightning and mind rot I shouldn't need anymore discard.

Also I have recently adjusted my maindeck:
-2 mindrot, -1 swamp, -1 nighthawk, -1 burst, -1 EQ
+3 terminate, +3 fallout

The sweeps are just neccesary against boros, nissa, and gobbos. They also push your opponent into burn range very effectively.

The whole philosophy of the deck is to play creatures that survive an earthquake or a fallout or can recur after one, since almost every other deck doesn't have much in the same. Secondary was the idea of having every card be a good topdeck. Agro decks typically play out there hands fairly quickly and this one isn't differant in that aspect. The only slot that wasn't (and kinda still isn't) following that mantra was the mind rot. Blightning still hits for 3 and both sweeps still hit my opponent. So between good topdecks and the recursion the deck still has steam going into the mid-late game.

Anywho thats where it is currently.