Daily Dose of Oath of the Gatewatch - Deck Tech: Mardu Colourless

Welcome to today's edition of the Daily Dose of Oath of the Gatewatch! Today we'll look at a new Standard deck that I’ll be playing come January 22nd.  This is a Mardu Colorless deck, which in some way feels like a four-color deck, although really it just takes advantage of the great colorless creatures and abilities from Oath of the Gatewatch. Let’s take a look at Mardu Colourless:

Mardu Colurless

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Creatures (24)

2 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim

3 Bearer of Silence

2 Eldrazi Obligator

2 Fleshbag Marauder

1 Goblin Dark-Dwellers

3 Hangarback Walker

1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet

2 Liliana, Heretical Healer

4 Matter Reshaper

2 Reality Smasher

2 Thought-Knot Seer

Spells (12)

4 Crackling Doom

2 Fiery Impulse

3 Kolaghan’s Command

2 Painful Truths

1 Utter End

Lands (24)

4 Battlefield Forge

4 Bloodstained Mire

4 Caves of Koilos

2 Crumbling Vestige

2 Mountain

2 Shambling Vent

4 Smoldering Marsh

2 Swamp

Let’s Talk Creautres:

This is a excellent two-drop that will provide great defense against early attackers.  Although it is unlikely you will get to use her second ability, you will most definitely take advantage of the first. You can use it gain some life if your creatures are dying or to activate Liliana, Heretical Healer.  You can also use to sack your Hangarback Walkers to get lots of fun flying Thopters when needed.

Eldrazi Obligator – This can be used as a 3/1 Haste attacker if you need to kill a three-toughness creature or - for even more fun - you can use it to steal one of your opponent’s creatures and deal some double creature damage.  If you have Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim in play as well, you can use her ability to sacrifice your borrowed creature before it goes back to your opponent for added value!

This 4/4 hard-to-defend Menace Goblin, also acts as a Snapcaster Mage for nine of your spells to get some added value out of them.

This is one of the key creatures in this deck, as it provides a lot of value by removing your opponent’s creatures.  This is a great target to bring back with Kolaghan’s Command.  Having it as a 2/1 Flyer will get in some needed damage when necessary as well.

This is a great counter to recursion decks like Rally the Ancestors Decks, where they will have to take out your threat before they can start to kill any of their own creatures for value.  Also just being a 3/4 Lifelink for four-mana is a great card, but don’t worry! After a while you’ll be able to consistently keep this growing thanks to all the Zombies you are producing.

This is one of the best cards from Oath of the Gatewatch.  In this deck, there are 37 out of 59 cards that you could hit to add another permanent on the battlefield to replace it, and even if you don’t you’ll get to draw that card instead.  Great value to use as a blocker or to sacrifice to Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim and Fleshbag Marauder.

Fleshbag Marauder – Another great creature that can get you some value when combined with Matter Reshaper or creatures taken from Eldrazi Obligator.

Liliana, Heretical Healer – As a Planeswalker, there are many worthy targets to reanimate for a lot of value.  There are plenty of ways to activate Liliana so that she turns into a Planeswalker including Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Fleshbag Marauder.  This will allow you go to get a lot more value out of your already value-heavy creatures.

Hangarback Walker – A great creature, you won’t mind dying after a couple of turns.  If not in combat, there are plenty of ways to sacrifice it to get to your army of Thopters.

This late game colorless creature will allow you to start playing a more offensive game as it smashes onto the battlefield to deal five damage.  Its ability punishes your opponent for trying to deal with it giving you card advantage along the way.

This Vendilion Clique-like creature will allow you to remove your opponents top threat from their hand while putting a 4/4 onto the battlefield.  This is a great target when it comes to reanimation from Liliana, Heretical Healer.

The Spell Package:

Utter End – Overall great removal spell for whatever your creatures can’t deal with.

Crackling Doom – One of the best removal spells in the game right now, since it will get your opponents best creature off the battlefield while also dealing 2 damage to them.

Kolaghan’s Command – Can kill early threats as well as get back your powerful creatures. This can also help you kill Hangarback Walker, if needed. This is a card that does so much for so little.

Fiery Impulse – An early removal spell as you build mana up to power out your late game creatures.

Painful Truths – This will allow you to make sure you are hitting your land drops as well as gain the card advantage needed to put you ahead of your opponent.

As for the lands, you will notice there are eight painlands. These will help you power out the colorless creatures in the deck.  The two Crumbling Vestiges will do some temporary mana-fixing as well as making sure you have the colourless mana needed for the deck.

Thanks again for reading today's edition of the Daily Dose of Oath of the Gatewatch and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow as we look at another Deck Tech for the upcoming season!