I have been a fan of Red and Black decks and the Rakdos guild ever since Satanic Sligh became popular way back in the first edition of Ravnica block. My successful finish on those colors was BR Vampires in Zendikar and my recent take was the Devotion to Black splash with Red for Mortars and Rakdos’s Return. This next endeavor is a workaround for Theros’ Murder King, Tymaret.

I initially tried to fit him in a Mardu Midrange build but he’s more of a game finisher which is not the main strategy of the deck. I thought that the list will just be a plain and simple Black Red aggro strategy. Below is the list I have come up with after scouring various references.

Creatures
4 Ashcloud Phoenix
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Purphoros, God of the Forge
4 Spiteful Returned
4 Tymaret, the Murder King

Spells
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Lightning Strike
2 Necromancer’s Stockpile
4 Stoke the Flames

Lands
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Temple of Malice
1 Mana Confluence
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Bloodfell Caves
10 Mountain

The main combo of the deck is Tymaret and Bloodsoaked Champion’s Raid ability. You can either go with the straightforward beatdown route or whittle the opponent’s life with Tymaret and Purphoros ‘ping’. The best play is to resolve and untap into Purphoros, God of the Forge as you can quickly finish off the opponent if you had a starting curve of Bloodsoaked Champion, a two drop and Rabblemaster/ Outburst.

The support creatures are Goblin Rabblemaster, Ashcloud Phoenix and Spiteful Returned. Rabblemaster is already a standard three-drop for Red decks whereas Ashcloud Phoenix is a pseudo-removal evasive four-drop four-power flyer. Both also benefits from the ‘ping’ plan. Spiteful Returned was my other creature of choice because of an Enchantment which I’ll explain later on.

As for the spells, we have Red’s two best burn spells in the current Standard: Lightning Strike and Stoke the Flames. Hordeling Outburst is another creature source which fuels Tymaret, and deal six damage to opponents with Purphoros. Also, the 1/1 Goblin tokens are pretty much a nuisance to spot removals and can attack into Caryatids and Elvish Mystics.

The one card that is somewhat a peculiar choice in this deck is Necromancer’s Stockpile. First of, Tymaret is a Zombie so it can be discarded to the stockpile to draw a card and generate a 2/2 Zombie token. That is also the same with Spiteful Returned. If he was drawn into an awkward situation, you can just cycle him to a new card while having a token at the same time.

Necromancer’s Stockpile can also be activated if you have drawn into multiple copies of Tymaret or Purphoros. Against midrange decks, you can use it to draw into your finishing burn spell or removal to their best creature.

The twenty-three lands looks decent to accommodate this build (four Bloodstained Mires for mana fixing and to filter the draws). You would not worry on flooding out as the extra mana can be used on Purphoros’ pump ability or to power Tymaret’s recurring ping. Your long game plan revolves around these two cards.

As a wrap-up, I think the deck has a potential especially in this current Standard metagame of three-color strategies. You can quickly punish them for a few turns of mana stumble and take advantage of their slow start.

I might have missed a few things on this build which you can then point out on your comments and suggestions. I’d be glad to hear them from you.

Until next time and thanks for reading.