Cube Archetypes – WR Aggro

The most aggressive archetype in the cube is red white. Red and white have the most one drop creatures (currently 6 in white and 8 in red), plenty of ways to get a blocker out of the way, temporarily or permanently, along with benefits to attacking with multiple creatures.

You do have the traditional problem of running out of steam if your opponent manages to stabilise but there are a few cards available that get you out of that.

Aggressive Creatures

The core of an aggressive deck are the cheap effective creatures. As mentioned one drops, especially two power one drops are a big deal for the deck with the bulk of your deck being at one, two and three CMC.

[mtg_card]Soldier of the Pantheon[/mtg_card] is a good one to take in a cube as heavily multi coloured as this one. [mtg_card]Firedrinker Satyr[/mtg_card] can be costly but has the benefit of being a one cmc creature that can trade up to take out a larger creature or a big toughness blocker. The life loss may become problematic but there are ways to mitigate that, especially in white such as [mtg_card]Alabaster Mage[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Nearheath Pilgrim[/mtg_card] for lifelink or just giving it first strike with [mtg_card]Archetype of Courage[/mtg_card].

At two mana the Battlecry creatures [mtg_card]Accorder Paladin[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Goblin Wardriver[/mtg_card] should be high picks when throwing your creatures at the opponent every turn. [mtg_card]Firefist Striker[/mtg_card] is another one which benefits a beatdown strategy, keeping your opponents best blocker out of the game. [mtg_card]Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit[/mtg_card] is another beneficial effect in a deck that has a lot of smaller creatures.

[mtg_card]Boros Reckoner[/mtg_card] is another favourite card of mine. In Inn/RtR standard I ran it in a mono red deck with the good one drops, [mtg_card]ash zealot[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Hellrider[/mtg_card] etc. Blocking this guy is never fun. The hasty three drops [mtg_card]Skynight Legionnaire[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Viashino Firstblade[/mtg_card] also attack well on the curve.

Game Winners

Your top end bombs in this kind of deck are a lot lower on the curve than for other decks and you probably want fewer of them unless you go for a midrange build. [mtg_card]Assemble the legion[/mtg_card] will eventually win pretty much any game given enough time. [mtg_card]Aurelia, the Warleader[/mtg_card] usually wins the game the turn she hits the field. The big hasty dragons [mtg_card]Stormbreath Dragon[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Thundermaw Hellkite[/mtg_card] are good at ending a game quickly.

Although it lacks haste my favourite for this slot is probably [mtg_card]Baneslayer Angel[/mtg_card]. It severely discourages attacking with anything less than huge the turn it comes down, has protection from a not insignificant selection of cards and keeps you in the game if the game drags on.

Staying Alive

This cube isn’t particularly big on combat tricks but there are a few good ways to keep your creatures alive through combat. [mtg_card]Ride Down[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Celestial Flare[/mtg_card] both get rid of a blocking creature. [mtg_card]Ride Down[/mtg_card] obviously gives you more choice but in the early game removing the first creature your opponent blocks with is going to be significant. Flare also lets you remove a pesky attacker such as a creature with evasion if the game gets close.

[mtg_card]Pyreheart Wolf[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Iroas, God of Victory[/mtg_card] both give you evasion on all your creatures. Iroas also makes your creatures unkillable in combat so I can see games where I would intentionally not get to sufficient devotion to animate him if i think theres a good chance of a path/swords happening.

[mtg_card]Legion’s Initiative[/mtg_card] is yet another of my cards I liked but never really found a use for (beginning to think the ideal format for me is “janky-ass casual 60 card constructed, a format which sadly was brutally murdered by commander). Wrath protection is pretty relevant in this cube between traditional wraths, red damage based sweepers, [mtg_card]Black Sun’s Zenith[/mtg_card], [mtg_card]Deathbringer Regent[/mtg_card] etc there are a LOT of times you can hold a card up in the opponents hand by keeping Initiative on the table and two mana up. Re-triggering all of your enter the battlefield abilities is also relevant (re targeting a [mtg_card]Banisher Priest[/mtg_card] or getting an extra card off of [mtg_card]Abbot of Keral Keep[/mtg_card] are all on the plausible end of the scale…Extra attack steps with Aurelia are closer to magical christmas land, but it’s a nice place to visit)

A Sample Deck

This sample came out pretty much as you would expect. A pile of assorted cheap creatures, a couple of burn spells and a couple of top end cards (the top end being 4 or 5 in this case).

[d title="WR Aggro Tempo/Counters"]
Creatures
1 Dryad Militant
1 Firedrinker Satyr
1 Goblin Guide
1 Mother of Runes
1 Accorder Paladin
1 Elite Inquisitor
1 Firefist Striker
1 Knight of Glory
1 Seeker of the Way
1 Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
1 Banisher Priest
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Fiendslayer Paladin
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Monastery Mentor
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Archetype of Courage
1 Eidolon of Countless Battles

Non-Creature Permanents
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Spells
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Brimstone Volley

Land
9 Plains
7 Mountain

Sideboard
1 Archangel of Tithes
1 Archetype of Aggression
1 Bloodfray Giant
1 Bonesplitter
1 Celestial Flare
1 Chandra's Outrage
1 Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch
1 Gavony Township
1 Gideon Jura
1 Gideon's Lawkeeper
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Halimar Tidecaller
1 Hellrider
1 Honor's Reward
1 Inferno Titan
1 Mulch
1 Ray of Revelation
1 Scorchwalker
1 Skaab Goliath
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 War Priest of Thune[/d]

When I first built the cube I was perhaps overly concerned with aggro strategies being too dominant. As it stands they are viable but not at too many per table which is about where I wanted it.