Vintage Madness Primer (Part 1 of 2)

[Hyperion]

Vintage Madness Primer

by Andrew Lambe and Brad Granberry

Table of Contents

I. Introduction                  

II. Decklists/History             
A. Type II and Extended Madness   
B. Type I Madness   

III. Card Choices   
A. Maindeck Cards   
B. Mana    
C. Sideboard Cards                  

IV. “Virtual Insanity”—The Suggested Madness Build   

V. Playing Strategy
A. General   
B. Specific Matchups   

VI. Conclusion   

I. Introduction

Over a year ago, Odyssey Block gave rise to an aggressive deck that would go on to dominate Standard for most of the time it was legal in the format. It was of of only two playable archetype in Block format, and even made a splash in Extended as well. This deck was unique in that it was able to incorporate two new Odyssey Block mechanics that turned discarding into an advantage: Madness and Flashback. Its creature base was powerful enough to overwhelm other aggressive decks, which had even less chance at beating it after Wonder was released in Judgment. In addition, it ran a minimal disruption element in the form of Circular Logic, which would stave off the opponent’s potentially game-ending spells just long enough to seal the game. Even those players that knew very little about the Standard format recognized this deck by its most common moniker: “U/G Madness”. There are only a handful of archetypes that have dominated Magic’s most widely-played format, and Madness is one of those decks: its brutal aggression, straightforward game play, and ease of assembly made it immensely popular.

Over time, even Type I players began to experiment with elements of the Madness deck as well, as the creature base was comparable—and in many cases even favorable—to those of other aggressive decks that saw play. However, the glaring weakness with Madness decks is its inconsistency. If the opponent is able to deal with the Madness deck’s group of essential cards—usually referred to as “madness outlets”—or if Madness is unable to draw them, it will usually choke on a hand of overcosted spells and be unable to put up much of a fight. This is probably the main reason Madness never amounted to much in Type I for such a long time; because with a larger and stronger card pool, there are many more answers to such a deck. But over time as more people began working on it and older cards that seemed almost custom-built for the Madness decks were incorporated (Bazaar of Baghdad and Lion’s Eye Diamond), it has begun posting good tournament results in the last few months. This article traces the evolution of Madness in Vintage, presents a suggested build for the current environment, and analyzes matchups against the more common archetypes you can expect to face.

II.  Decklists and History

A. Type II Madness Decklists

U/G Madness, by Jeff Cunningham (May 2003)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Aquamoeba
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Wonder
2 Roar of the Wurm
 
4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
3 Unsummon
3 Deep Analysis
3 Quiet Speculation

11 Island
10 Forest
1 City of Brass

4 Compost
4 Merfolk Looter
2 Turbulent Dreams
2 Roar of the Wurm
2 Ray of Revelation
1 Unsummon

As Regionals approached last Spring, this was considered the optimal Madness build in Standard. Merfolk Looter was a maindeck staple in the deck even as far back as the release of Torment, but was relegated to the sideboard by Cunningham because the format called for making it more aggressive to have a better shot against the prevalent control decks. Other than that, it is fairly representative of most Madness builds at the time. This deck could be reliably called upon to beat aggressive decks and had the sideboard cards to beat control decks. While its influence on the format has dropped off recently, the following build was played to a Top 8 finish at Worlds:

U/G Madness, by David Humphreys (August 2003)

4  Basking Rootwalla
4  Aquamoeba
4  Wild Mongrel
3  Arrogant Wurm
3  Wonder  
3  Roar of the Wurm
4  Circular Logic
1  Ray of Revelation
3  Unsummon
4  Careful Study
2  Deep Analysis
2  Quiet Speculation
1  Krosan Reclamation

11 Island
8  Forest
2  City of Brass
1  Centaur Garden
 
2  Nantuko Vigilante
1  Ray of Revelation
1  Deep Analysis
2  Envelop
2  Mana Leak
1  Krosan Reclamation
1  Wonder
2  Stupefying Touch
2  Phantom Centaur
1  Unsummon

which shows many similarities to Cunningham’s build. Nonetheless, other, more “radical” versions have also enjoyed success at high-profile tournaments. A good example is

U/G Madness, by Ken Ho (2nd place at PT Chicago Masters, January 2003)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
3 Werebear
3 Merfolk Looter
2 Arrogant Wurm
4 Roar of the Wurm
3 Wonder
 
4 Careful Study
4 Circular Logic
4 Standstill
2 Upheaval

10 Island
10 Forest
3 City of Brass

4 Compost
3 Equilibrium
3 Ravenous Baloth
3 Callous Opressor
2 Deep Analysis

While Madness has had far less of an impact in the Extended format, it has enjoyed limited success there as well. Here is a decklist from the Extended portion of the 2003 World Championships:

U/G Madness, by Robert Jurkovic (August 2003)

4 Wild Mongrel
3  Aquamoeba
4  Basking Rootwalla
3  Arrogant Wurm
1  Genesis
1  Gilded Drake
3  Waterfront Bouncer
1  Wonder
1  Masticore

3  Careful Study
3  Daze
4  Circular Logic
1  Stifle
2  Roar of the Wurm
2  Intuition
2  Deep Analysis

11  Island
7  Forest
4  Yavimaya Coast

3  Ravenous Baloth
1  Spellbane Centaur
1  Gilded Drake
1  Waterfront Bouncer
3  Rushing River
3  Arcane Laboratory
2  Stifle
1  Masticore

B. Type I Madness Decklists

Toronto Stompy, by Paul Shriar (August 2002)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Nimble Mongoose
4 Call of the Herd
4 Roar of the Wurm
3 Arrogant Wurm
2 Wonder

4 Accumulated Knowledge
3 Deep Analysis
2 Rites of Spring
1 Frantic Search
1 Compulsion
1 Time Walk
1 Berserk
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timetwister
6 Forest
1 Island
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
4 Elvish Spirit Guide
4 Tropical Island
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring
 
4 Defense Grid
4 Interdict
4 Emerald Charm
3 Null Brooch
 
The premise of Toronto Stompy was fairly straightforward. It sought to abuse Lion’s Eye Diamond by using a creature base that can be played off discard effects (with the exception of Nimble Mongoose), thereby churning out 3/3’s, 4/4’s and 6/6’s at the same rate “traditional” Stompy would be playing 2/1’s and 2/2’s. The draw engine also has obvious synergy with the discard-minded nature of Toronto Stompy. A version later posted by Paul in January 2003 retained this basic structure, but dropped Rites of Spring for Circular Logic in the maindeck and Emerald Charm for Naturalize in the sideboard.

Italian Madness, by Giuseppe de Luca  (January 2003)

4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Basking Rootwalla
3 Roar of the Wurm
1 Wonder
1 Anger
 
4 Fiery Temper
4 Circular Logic

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Frantic Search
1 Time Walk
1 Regrowth
1 Timetwister
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Windfall

4 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
4 Volcanic Island
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
 
4 Red Elemental Blast
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Meltdown
3 Null Rod
2 Blue Elemental Blast

Like Toronto Stompy, de Luca's deck sought to abuse Lion’s Eye Diamond by using a creature base that was fully compatible with it. Important additions are Bazaar of Baghdad and the red splash for more madness spells, Anger, and additional SB options. Note that the fetchlands are largely responsible for making it possible to run a 3-color build like de Luca’s.
 
U/G Madness, by Edward Paltzik and Brian Romano (March 2003)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Aquamoeba
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Roar of the Wurm

4 Force of Will
4 Circular Logic

4 Careful Study
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
    
5 Forest
5 Island
4 Flooded Strand
4 Tropical Island
3 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
 
4 Naturalize
2 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Blue Elemental Blast
4 Waterfront Bouncer
3 Back to Basics

This build bears much more of a resemblance to the typical Type II and Extended versions of U/G Madness, especially with its use of Careful Study, Wild Mongrel and Aquamoeba. This particular list ran a lot more disruption, with Wastelands and Back to Basics in addition to Force of Will and Circular Logic for a permission base.

“Stoopid Madness” is another important take on Madness in the Vintage format. It bears many similarities to “Italian Madness”, with the noticeable differences being the additions of Wild Mongrel and the replacement of Circular Logic and Accumulated Knowledge, resulting in a more aggressive approach. Also, Oath of Scholars is used as a draw engine for the mid- to late-game stages—where the deck has usually exhausted its hand—to avoid running out of gas. “Stoopid Madness” served to spark several discussions on Madness in the forums at themanadrain.com and to raise awareness of the archetype among the online Type I community.

“Bombs over Baghdad”, by Adam Bowers (April 2003)
 
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Roar of the Wurm
 
3 Anger
2 Wonder

3 Fiery Temper
2 Violent Eruption
 
3 Oath of Scholars
3 Obsessive Search
3 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Frantic Search
1 Windfall
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Time Walk
1 Timetwister

4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
3 Wooded Foothills
3 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Forest
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Diamond
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus


“Stoopid Madness”, by Ben Kowal (March 2003)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
2 Roar of the Wurm
2 Anger
2 Wonder

3 Fiery Temper
2 Violent Eruption

3 Oath of Scholars
3 Bazaar of Baghdad
2 Obsessive Search
1 Frantic Search
1 Windfall
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk

4 Wooded Foothills
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
3 Taiga
3 Tropical Island
3 Volcanic Island
1 Forest
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Emerald
1 Black Lotus
1 Sol Ring

You can find a report by Adam Bowers with a more recent Bombs over Baghdad decklist here.

Travis Lee brought further attention to the archetype by recording two top 4 finishes at Origins 2003 with Madness. His build uses a heavier burn component and a SB prepared specifically for GrowAtog and Stax.

Madness, by Travis Lee (June 2003)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
4 Roar of the Wurm
4 Anger
2 Wonder

4 Fiery Temper
3 Violent Eruption

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Deep Analysis

4 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Lion's Eye Diamond
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Diamond
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Forest
1 Riftstone Portal

Sideboard:
4 Maze of Ith
4 Artifact Mutation
3 Blood Moon
2 Ray of Revelation
2 Null Rod

A more control-oriented version of Madness placed 4th at a Vintage side tournament at 2003 Worlds in Berlin. Unlike other Madness builds, it ran Squee, Goblin Nabob for reusable Bazaar fodder, and opted to run Cunning Wish for SB utility cards.

Madness, by Matteo Rubini (August 2003)

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Roar of the Wurm
4 Squee, Goblin Nabob
1 Anger
1 Wonder

4 Circular Logic
4 Force of Will
 
4 Careful Study
2 Deep Analysis
2 Cunning Wish
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
1 Wheel of Fortune

4 Bazaar of Baghdad
1 Library of Alexandria
3 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
1 Volcanic Island
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Sol Ring

Sideboard:
2 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Fire/Ice
1 Gilded Drake
1 Island
3 Naturalize
2 Pyrostatic Pillar
1 Rack and Ruin
3 Red Elemental Blast
1 Waterfront Bouncer


III. Card Choices

A. Maindeck

Creatures

Basking Rootwalla
It is tempting to run less than four Basking Rootwallas, because it is sometimes difficult to use mana for its pump ability when you’d rather play other spells. In actual games, however, there will usually be more situations where you will want to use its ability; namely, against decks with Mana Drain or with global removal. The additional damage you can push through with a pumped Rootwalla will provide more of a tempo advantage than heedlessly playing other spells with expensive converted mana costs and walking into Mana Drain. If you anticipate decks running Powder Keg, Pernicious Deed, Balance, and the like, Basking Rootwalla is also especially useful because will often force your opponent to preemptively use their removal, thereby paving the way for your other threats. Also, its abiltity is especially relevant in combat against other aggressive decks. Four are a must in any madness deck—the “free” madness cost results in amazing synergy with every madness outlet, and unlike the other madness spells it is easily castable without having to resort to its madness cost.

Wild Mongrel
Toronto Stompy and early versions of Italian Madness did not run Wild Mongrel, but this card plays a vital role in the deck as a reliable madness outlet, while lending itself very well to Madness’ aggressive nature in the process. Only Phyrexian Dreadnought, Quirion Dryad and Psychatog can get bigger than Wild Mongrel in the early stages of the game, making it an excellent creature in combat as well. Four are mandatory.

Arrogant Wurm
When played via its madness cost, Arrogant Wurm has a better fixed power/toughness to casting cost ratio than any other creature of comparable casting cost other than Phyrexian Negator. Conveniently enough, Lion’s Eye Diamond produces three mana, making Arrogant Wurm effectively a “free” 4/4 when played off an LED. Four Arrogant Wurms are a must, as Madness has plenty of ways to ensure it gets played with its madness cost.

Roar of the Wurm
Not technically a creature, but for all practical purposes it is. Once it’s in the graveyard it is an unconditional 6/6 for 3G, which is one of the best deals in the game. However, Roar of the Wurm is not necessarily an automatic “4-of”, for several reasons. First, a Wurm creature token has a converted mana cost of zero, which means Powder Keg, Pernicious Deed and Smother deal with it quite handily, all of which see frequent play in Type I. Second, Roar of the Wurm has a converted mana cost of seven, meaning it is a very dangerous spell to get countered by Mana Drain, as well as being unplayable from your hand if you can’t get it in your graveyard. Finally, you usually don’t need to draw more than one during the course of a game for its impact to be felt. With that said, many players run a full complement of these and it is certainly justifiable to do so if you can find room—it is easily pitched to every madness outlet, and can be played at your leisure when you have the necessary mana available.

Anger/Wonder/Genesis
These three Incarnations first saw routine play in TNT because of their synergy with Survival of The Fittest—the TNT player could easily run a single copy of any of the Incarnations to provide a very powerful effect, making them an efficient inclusion in the deck. Because of its tendency to discard cards, Madness is also capable of using the Incarnations to good effect.

Anger dramatically speeds up the kill and provides an element of surprise. If your opponent is low on life, the ability to just drop a creature out of nowhere and attack puts them in an extremely precarious situation. TNT used Anger to good effect in conjunction with Goblin Welder to attack with artifact fat that was Welded into play or tutored for via Survival of the Fittest. Madness decks use it in a similar manner—with a red dual land and any number of ways to discard it, Anger allows for some truly degenerate plays. With an active Bazaar of Baghdad it becomes feasible to resolve a threat every turn and attack for significant damage immediately. Anger is mandatory in any Madness deck using red—and with Onslaught fetch lands there is no reason not to run red. The more important issue is how many to run. Without the tutoring capability of Survival of the Fittest, it is not realistic to run one copy of an Incarnation and expect to draw it often enough to make a difference, making at least two a necessary inclusion unless you have a different way of finding it (such as Intuition). Travis Lee ran four at Origins to ensure he’d draw it reliably, especially with a less powerful draw engine than other Madness builds. Most others run less than four because any additional copies after the first are useless and it’s not worth casting from your hand.

The inclusion of Wonder is not automatic because unlike Anger, there are some matchups where its effect is useless. However, in those matchups where evasion is important, it will single-handedly win games for you. Wonder is extremely powerful against every aggressive deck in the format, and is even useful against a handful of combo and control decks. I strongly recommend running it even if you don’t anticipate needing the evasion, because it is a potentially game-altering effect that requires no dedication of resources other than discarding it, and you can just sideboard it out if it’s not needed in a particular matchup.

In theory, Genesis would be useful for recurring creatures that were preemptively discarded, as well as a potent mid- to late-game weapon against dedicated control decks. Unfortunately, this theory falls short for a couple reasons. The first is that its 2G activation cost is prohibitive, and the second is that Madness’ creature base does not lend itself well to Genesis recursion. It would cost 6-8 mana to recur and cast Arrogant Wurm in the same turn; Basking Rootwalla and Wild Mongrel are markedly less useful in the later stages of the game, and Wurm tokens can’t be recurred anyway. Genesis is a card that is much better in theory than in practice.

Squee, Goblin Nabob
In other decks that use Bazaar of Baghdad, Squee is usually present to provide reusable discard fodder. While there is tremendous synergy between Squee and Bazaar, these other decks aren’t designed to discard as many cards to Bazaar as Madness is. The argument for running Squee is not nearly as strong as in decks like Worldgorger Dragon combo or Reanimator. It will work, but is not necessary, and there are simply other more worthwhile options.

Merfolk Looter
This was a staple card in Type II Madness decks, but it is just not as potent in a faster format like Type I. In addition to being incredibly vulnerable, Merfolk Looter generates card advantage too slowly to be effective. It is simply outclassed by other available options.

Aquamoeba
This is another creature that saw routine use in Type II builds. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come anywhere close to Wild Mongrel in terms of raw power, and is really too mediocre to be useful in Type I.

Engine Components

Bazaar of Baghdad
One of the cornerstone cards of the Type I Madness decks, Bazaar allows you to rifle through your deck while simultaneously providing a permanent madness outlet. As the game progresses, you will generate incredible card advantage from Bazaar that will be extremely difficult for your opponent to overcome. You should run four because of its importance to the deck and the fact it will be hit immediately by any Wastelands or Strip Mines. While Bazaar’s full impact is not felt in many combo matchups because the games are usually decided before you get a chance to use Bazaar more than once or twice, it gives Madness a significant edge against almost everything else, and attempting to play this deck without Bazaars will result in either mediocre results or failure.

Careful Study
This card’s power is more subtle than Bazaar of Baghdad’s. Its ability to both smooth out the Madness player’s draws and discard Basking Rootwalla, Roar of the Wurm, Wonder, and other madness and flashback spells is crucial. A common misconception is that it is strictly worse than Bazaar of Baghdad, and thus should not be run because Bazaar will be sufficient. In reality, Careful Study has a significant advantage over Bazaar, which is that it allows you to develop your mana base in the first few turns of the game while still drawing through your deck, whereas playing an early Bazaar can stunt mana development for a turn. Furthermore, by providing additional “Bazaar functionality” it makes the deck more consistent, and increases the chance of drawing into a Bazaar in the first place. Above all else, this card’s primary function is to dramatically increase the quality of your opening hands and your early game, rather than provide a backbreaking effect in the later stages of the game like Bazaar. It will let you dig for mana if you want to keep a mana-light, but otherwise strong hand. Conversely, it has a good chance of finding business spells if you have a weaker, mana-flooded hand. It is one of the most important components of the deck and running fewer than four is not acceptable.

Deep Analysis
Deep Analysis has amazing synergy with the rest of the deck, providing discard fodder and subsequent draw power to avoid running out of steam. It is particularly useful for refilling your hand after activating Lion’s Eye Diamond, and is also a decent topdeck in the later stages of the game because of its reasonable casting cost.  However, the life loss associated with its flashback cost is severe enough to not make it an unconditional 4-of. Two or three copies should suffice for most Madness decks and they will usually get sided out against aggressive decks, where your life total is more of an issue.

Intuition
There are a number of potentially degenerate “Intuition scenarios” that can be played out with this card in Madness because of its synergy with Anger, Wonder, Deep Analysis, and Roar of the Wurm. The main problem is that it costs three mana and it can’t be accelerated with Lion’s Eye Diamond, making Intuition too slow to be effective on a consistent basis. However, if you have access to fast artifact mana but not Ancestral Recall or Time Walk, this is a card you may want to consider running, because it certainly can be useful.

Frantic Search
With three lands you can play an Arrogant Wurm for “free” off Frantic Search, or you can get extra mileage out of an active Bazaar. However, it still costs three mana and Madness decks are relatively land-light so the “free” aspect of Frantic Search is somewhat misleading. If Bazaar, Careful Study, Deep Analysis, Ancestral Recall and Time Walk aren’t enough draw power for you and you can find room for it, give it a shot.

Survival of the Fittest
Survival seems like a card that would be very much at home in a Madness deck—it’s in the primary color, it lets you tutor up a chain of Basking Rootwallas and Arrogant Wurms, and can also fetch Anger, Wonder, or even Squee, Goblin Nabob. With that said, in the end Survival should not be played in Madness under any circumstances. Survival makes the deck run much slower by effectively adding an extra G to the madness creatures’ casting cost. Arrogant Wurm is a bargain at 2G, but much less so at 2GG, for example. In TNT, Survival of the Fittest significantly accelerates the ability to play artifact creatures with an active Goblin Welder, but in this deck it cannot provide similar acceleration.

Also, rather than complementing the primary engine card (Bazaar of Baghdad), Survival of the Fittest competes with it. Survival and Bazaar are both cards that need a deck built around them rather than cards to just throw in a deck as supporting cards, because they require all or most of the deck’s resources to work. By trying to discard creature cards to both Bazaar and Survival, you will be stretching the deck’s resources past the point where it would otherwise function cohesively. Other than madness creatures and Incarnations, there aren’t many other options Survival lets you tutor for anyway. Wild Mongrel is not a particularly useful card to fetch if you already have Survival as a madness outlet, and Roar of the Wurm can’t be fetched since it isn’t a creature. And unlike TNT and Vengeur Masques, Madness doesn’t have room to run utility creatures. Because it is mana-intensive and ultimately just too slow, Survival is suboptimal in Madness decks.

Oath of Scholars
This was a card advocated primarily by those that worked on “Toronto Stompy” and “Stoopid Madness”, the idea being that it greatly improves Madness’ late game where it has typically exhausted its hand and may be in topdecking mode. Given the deck’s ability to keep its hand size low, a resolved Oath of Scholars almost guarantees an additional three cards per turn for the Madness player, making it particularly devastating against dedicated control decks if it resolves. Unfortunately, Oath of Scholars has too many drawbacks to be worth running. Many of the top decks will not give you the chance to resolve Oath in time for it to make a difference. The decks that it would theoretically be a game-breaker against—dedicated control decks—will attempt to disrupt your mana base to the point where you won’t be able to cast it anyway. Even if you have the mana to cast it, resolving it against blue-based control decks without the help of Lion’s Eye Diamond is much easier said than done. It is too clunky and awkward to merit serious consideration.

Wheel of Fortune/Windfall/Timetwister
The draw-sevens have an enormous potential upside but also an enormous downside. If you draw into an LED or two and have Anger, a resolved draw-7 will typically win you the game that turn. However, if you don’t get the right cards out of it you will give your opponent a fresh hand and your window of opportunity to win may be gone. Given the sheer explosiveness of most of the best decks, it is very risky to play these cards in the current metagame outside of a dedicated combo deck. Running these will result in flashier kills and occasional random brokenness, but not do much in the way of improving matchups. Run them if you want, but I don’t recommend it. It should be noted that if you want to run the draw-sevens, it's essentially mandatory to run the off-color Moxen as well.

Compulsion
Much like Survival of the Fittest, this card is too cumbersome because it costs mana to discard cards, which is something you don’t want to be doing on top of paying madness costs.

Read the Runes
Again, the only cost you want to be paying when discarding something is the madness cost itself. You usually won’t have enough mana lying around to sink into something like Read the Runes as well.

Utility Spells

Fiery Temper
Fiery Temper is a card some people shy away from. However, it is a useful spell because it speeds up the kill, handles creatures that could otherwise present problems—Withered Wretch, Nantuko Shade, Goblin Welder, Meddling Mage, and Metalworker in particular—and is rarely a dead draw. With Careful Study, Wild Mongrel, Lion’s Eye Diamond and Bazaar the deck has sixteen easy ways to play it via its madness cost. While it gets sided out in a number of combo and control matchups, you should play four in the maindeck because of its sheer versatility.

Violent Eruption
This is a card that will tear apart other aggressive decks, and deserves serious consideration somewhere between the maindeck and sideboard depending on the anticipated metagame. The madness cost can be difficult to manage at times, especially against aggro decks packing a full complement of Wastelands. Despite its difficult cost, the gamebreaking effect it provides is usually worth the trouble, and between intelligent use of fetchlands and Lion’s Eye Diamond you can usually get two red mana when you need it. With that said, the relative difficulty in setting up Violent Eruption is such that it’s something you generally don’t want to run more than 2-3 copies of if you decide to play it. You may find it difficult to justify sideboarding Violent Eruption when it would normally be brought in against matchups that are already favorable. Unfortunately these decks will usually get stronger after sideboarding by bringing in removal or other hate, so if you only rely on the maindeck to carry you it may not be enough all the time.

Circular Logic/Force of Will
In more controlling Madness builds, these are worth consideration. Otherwise, they are too reactive and it’s difficult to use them effectively when you’re running Lion’s Eye Diamond. If you go overboard with countermagic, you risk taking away the aggressive nature of the deck, which is counterproductive.

Ancestral Recall/Time Walk
If you have them, run them. Otherwise, don’t worry about it too much because while these cards are a nice boost, they are not fundamental to the way the deck works so you can get by without them if you need to (as long as you have the other necessary elements of the deck).

Berserk
The idea of casting Berserk on a Wild Mongrel pumped several times, or a Wurm, may sound appealing to you as a means to induce signficant damage quickly. Unfortunately Berserk is a sufficiently conditional card that just should not be in Madness. Unlike decks that can support it (GrowAtog and Hulk), you can't just grab it from the SB when you can use it—without a resolved threat, Berserk is just a dead draw. Also, Berserk doesn't make any of your creatures lethal by itself except in conjuntion with other pump effects, making it less devastating here. And finally, you don't have the countermagic to protect your Berserked creature from being hit by spot removal.


B. Mana

Dual Lands
You must have access to dual lands if you are going to play Madness. Green is the primary color so it’s a good idea to run the full complement of Taigas and Tropical Islands, and usually a couple Volcanic Islands as well.

Fetch Lands
You also need fetch lands for color stability and the ability to fetch basic lands, should you decide to run them. Four Wooded Foothills are sufficient; you don’t want to go overboard and run additional fetch lands because you have to pass priority when activating a fetchland, which has consequences that will be elaborated on in Part V of this primer, “Rules and Card Interactions”.

Basic Lands
With fetch lands, it’s easy enough to run a single basic Forest for a resilient mana source in your primary color so you can avoid getting hosed by something like Blood Moon. You don’t really need any more than that, because dual lands and fetch lands are incredibly important for color consistency and chances are that you’d need to cut those to make room for additional basic lands.

Lion’s Eye Diamond (LED)
Four LEDs are mandatory, as this card is a potent mana accelerator for madness and flashback spells and a free discard outlet. This is a particularly tricky card that takes some amount of practice to become comfortable playing it.

Black Lotus
It’s Black Lotus, play it.

Moxen
The on-color Moxen should be played unconditionally. Off-color Moxen are used in some builds, and while legitimate, there are enough reasons to shy away from them as well. Madness is consistently fast already with just the on-color Moxen, and since it’s heavy in all three colors it’s difficult to run more than a couple colorless mana sources before having problems with color consistency. Furthermore, the additional Moxen make cards like Null Rod, Powder Keg, Pernicious Deed and Sphere of Resistance that much more devasting against you. Finally, you need to have enough actual lands in the deck to ensure you’ll be able to use Anger and Wonder. As for Mox Diamond, you usually can’t afford to discard lands to it unless you have an extremely mana-flooded hand. You should only give it a second thought if you don’t have all three of the on-color Moxen.

Sol Ring
Play it. It is better than the off-color moxen because it will provide more mana with which to accelerate Arrogant Wurm, Roar of the Wurm, and Deep Analysis over the course of several turns.

Mana Crypt
Mana Crypt is a card to consider if you want to play Madness, but don't have the full complement of on-color Moxen or a Black Lotus. In a powered build, though, making room for Mana Crypt is more difficult than it appears at first glance, as to do so you would have to cut multilands, fetch lands, the basic Forest, or the artifact mana already in the deck.
It will result in more broken hands occasionally, but is generally not better than the other mana sources already used. It also results in additional vulnerability to Null Rod, Powder Keg, Pernicious Deed, Sphere of Resistance, Chalice of the Void, and just randomly losing to Mana Crypt damage if you stall out because you won't have a way to get rid of it.

Riftstone Portal
Some people run Riftstone Portal for protection against Blood Moon, the ability to run Blood Moon themselves, or to allow their Bazaars to function as mana sources. While this is a nice trick, it isn’t necessary or even that useful in practice. With a basic land, fetchlands, and plenty of artifact mana Blood Moon can be a nuisance, but not to the point where it’s worth compromising your mana base even further. And while there are certainly some scenarios where being able to use Bazaars as mana sources is convenient, usually you want to just draw cards instead, and if you’re short on mana Bazaar will draw into additional lands anyway. Additionally, Riftstone Portal is sometimes run in the sideboard in those Madness builds that sideboard Blood Moon themselves, but it is difficult to justify dedicating sideboard space to Riftstone Portal when space is tight already and there are many cards that are much more useful.

Wasteland/Strip Mine
Madness can’t really afford to drop dual lands or artifact mana for these, and is pretty mana-hungry once it gets online. These might be welcome in more control-oriented builds, but that’s about it.

C. Sideboard

Red Elemental Blast
This is one of the most potent sideboard cards in the format, and along with Anger is one of the best cards you get by running red. It is a mandatory sideboard inclusion, usually in 3-4 copies.

Artifact Mutation/Naturalize/Crumble/Ray of Revelation
There are a number of archetypes that rely on powerful artifacts and enchantments as part of their strategy, and these are the best available options for dealing with them. It is usually worthwhile to dedicate sideboard space for at least one of these cards. They all have advantages and disadvantages relative to each other, and whichever one you settle on depends on the anticipated metagame.

Naturalize is easily the most versatile card of the lot and should be given serious consideration in an unknown metagame because it deals with so many potentially problematic cards—Survival of the Fittest, Pernicious Deed, Null Rod, Blood Moon, Control Magic, The Abyss, artifact fat, Tangle Wire, Smokestack, and Sphere of Resistance. However, the price you pay for additional versatility is that it is not nearly as devastating against specific archetypes as other narrower options are.

With Workshop decks so prevalent in Type I right now, Artifact Mutation usually gets the nod. Stax, MUD/wMUD, and Stacker all operate on the underlying principle of putting more permanents into play than their opponent and using that “permanent advantage” to keep them from doing anything. This card will single-handedly win games against Workshop decks, with the downside that it lacks the versatility of Naturalize and is more difficult to cast at times because of its color requirements.

Crumble is usually not worth running over Artifact Mutation, but it has a couple minor advantages against one Workshop deck in particular (MUD) that makes it at least worth mentioning. Firstly, it allows you to destroy a first-turn Metalworker before they get a chance to use it, and if the MUD player gets the opportunity to use Metalworker on their second turn there’s a good chance you’ll be locked up for good as they will often have 8-12 mana to play out several lock components. Secondly, given that MUD runs the full complement of Wastelands and in some cases Petrified Fields to get extra mileage out of their Wastelands, Crumble can be easier to cast in the face of land destruction. Thirdly, it is easier to cast under a Sphere of Resistance. With that said, it doesn’t produce the game-breaking effect that a resolved Artifact Mutation does against the artifact prison decks, nor is it as versatile as Naturalize.

Ray of Revelation is a card that may seem appealing because it can be pitched to any of the deck’s madness outlets. This is useful because Madness often gets slightly weakened after sideboarding because so many of the cards work well with each other that replacing them with cards that can’t be freely discarded makes it run less fluidly. Thus, Ray of Revelation doesn’t weaken it in this manner due to its flashback cost. Nonetheless, there are far fewer matchups where Madness has to worry about enchantments than artifacts, and because of that it should only be considered if you have already dedicated space for Artifact Mutation and still have room. Even then, its advantages over Naturalize are questionable, since Naturalize is more versatile and doesn’t need to be discarded to be castable. Some people like this card but I would avoid it unless you have a strange metagame that calls for it, whatever that might be.

Tormod’s Crypt
Decks are getting better and better at using the graveyard as a resource, making Crypt a powerful weapon indeed. It is particularly useful against Academy Rector-based combo decks because it prevents them from finding Yawgmoth's Bargain by sacrificing Rector, and it also effectively counters Yawgmoth’s Will. There are a handful of other decks it is potentially useful against, such as Worldgorger Dragon, Reanimator, and even the mirror match. Because Madness often uses most of its available mana, the zero casting cost of Tormod’s Crypt makes it a very appealing option. It is also easily played out early if you have an LED to use.

Krosan Reclamation
The flashback nature of this card may attract your attention, but having to keep two mana in reserve to use Krosan Reclamation may hinder your ability to do other things. In most scenarious, Tormod’s Crypt will serve you better.

Stifle
Stifle is a versatile sideboard option that will be randomly useful in virtually every matchup, and devasting against a handful of specific decks. It has many of the advantages that Tormod’s Crypt does against combo decks, with the ability to effectively counter the Storm part of Tendrils of Agony and Mind’s Desire. It is useful for hindering the use of fetchlands, which is no small feat considering how prevalent they are in Type I. Stifle also protects your own lands against Wasteland and Strip Mine, and is useful against cards like Pernicious Deed. Unfortunately, the more reactive nature of Stifle is a drawback, since combo decks with hand disruption will just pluck it from your hand and sometimes Madness can’t afford to keep U open to use Stifle.

Null Rod
Null Rod is a card to consider if you anticipate running into combo decks a lot, as a large portion of their mana base is artifact mana that gets shut down by Null Rod. Unfortunately, Null Rod also shuts down your own Moxen, Lotus, and LEDs. Some people have used it successfully and in matchups like Burning Academy the drawback to you is negligible if you can completely shut down their game plan. However, shutting down almost 40% of your mana base is a significant downside to using Null Rod and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a combo-ripe metagame to prepare for.

Pyrostatic Pillar
Another card that is devastating against combo decks, and usually a safer choice than Null Rod. Unfortunately, a Pyrostatic Pillar will typically deal a significant amount of damage to the Madness player as well because almost half the deck’s spells will trigger it. However, the ability to just win an otherwise very difficult matchup like Academy is a convincing reason to run Pyrostatic Pillar if you can anticipate running into a number of combo decks.

Energy Flux
Its usefulness is obvious against the artifact prison decks. However, it is more expensive than Artifact Mutation and not nearly as proactive. It is not strictly inferior and in some scenarios it may even be superior, but I would not advocate running this card over Artifact Mutation, which will also be useful against Mask decks as well (where Flux will generally not be).

Blood Moon
While Madness doesn’t use it as well as Workshop decks because its win conditions aren’t artifacts, a Forest is all you need to be able to cast most of your spells under a Blood Moon. I don’t use it because it is still relatively slow with an awkward casting cost that can’t be accelerated with LED. In addition, if you don’t draw the Forest or enough artifact mana to operate under it Blood Moon will be useless to you anyway.  However, because it’s a potentially game-winning spell in the right matchups if it resolves, Blood Moon is always worth considering.

Blue Elemental Blast
The cards you’d mainly want this to deal with are Goblin Welder and Blood Moon, and it is handy against Sligh as well. However, Madness has a number of more versatile cards to deal with Welder and Blood Moon already, and it can’t really afford to dedicate sideboard space for just Sligh. This card is generally not worth running.

Waterfront Bouncer
Against aggressive or aggro-control decks without removal, Waterfront Bouncer is an interesting option, providing a great source of tempo and doubling as a madness outlet. It has the potential to be devastating against decks like GrowAtog and Reanimator in particular. However, Madness already has answers to these decks that are more useful against the rest of the format, but if your metagame calls for it this is a card worth considering.

Gilded Drake
Being able to steal a Dreadnought, Psychatog, or reanimated fat creature is potentially game-breaking, but that’s about it. Drake is not better than most of your other options and unless you expect to play against Mask and Reanimator decks a lot it is a bit narrow to be worth a second thought.

Hurkyl’s Recall
The main reason to consider this card is its usefulness against Workshop decks; especially MUD/wMUD, which is particularly vulnerable to it since it runs Grafted Skullcap. But other than that, something like Artifact Mutation is generally a better choice.

IV. “Virtual Insanity”—The Suggested Madness Build

Here is what we consider to be the optimal Madness decklist for the current Type I metagame.

Maindeck

4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Arrogant Wurm
3 Roar of the Wurm

2 Anger
2 Wonder

4 Fiery Temper
4 Careful Study
4 Bazaar of Baghdad
3 Deep Analysis
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk

4 Wooded Foothills
4 Taiga
4 Tropical Island
2 Volcanic Island
1 Forest
4 Lion’s Eye Diamond
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus

Sample sideboard for a low-powered metagame

4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Naturalize or 4 Artifact Mutation
4 Tormod’s Crypt or 4 Stifle
3 Violent Eruption

Sample sideboard for a high-powered metagame

4 Red Elemental Blast
4 Artifact Mutation
4 Pyrostatic Pillar
3 Tormod’s Crypt or 3 Stifle

Part 2\n\n

[Montana_Gamer]

I read through this earlyer, and re-read through this just now, all i can say is bazaar is the most overated card. It isn't as good as pure threats. you don't want to miss a land drop early, and late in the game it is not near as good as what you are saying, plus it is wasteland target. plus 3 intuition is a MUST!

[Vegeta2711]

AHAHAHHA, are you nuts? Bazaar is insane in this deck, either you're just talking out of your ass here or your not playing the deck right.\n\n

[Mykeatog]

I don't mean to clamour up this thread but I thought I would give my two cents on everything that has been said.

1.) I am pretty sure that you can cast madness stuff even if you tap moxen; So long as you cast them before the tapping resolves (Unless moxen count an mana, like I originally thought. In which case, you can just make madness guys go.)

2.) BizZar Bazaar is the REASON this is a deck. Without BizZar Bazaar  this wouldn't be a contender in the meta, and I think that anyone who has seen the deck in action knows that this is the case. As a matter of fact, everytime I see a dropped BizZar Bazaar, and I can't deal with it I know that it is scoop time.

3.) This article was an excellent read. The only thing that I think really sucks for this deck is that if a combo deck wants to go off, it isn't dealing with any sort of threats at all. I am assuming that winning by turn 3 is as effective as it is going to get as far as 'disrupting' but I would be more comfortable if some sort of 'just say no' was incorperated.

...for the record, Madness is my arch-nemesis deck.

Edit: Clearly THAT is how you spell it.  

[wuaffiliate]

Quote (Montana_Gamer @ Sep. 14 2003,03:33)I read through this earlyer, and re-read through this just now, all i can say is bazaar is the most overated card. It isn't as good as pure threats. you don't want to miss a land drop early, and late in the game it is not near as good as what you are saying, plus it is wasteland target. plus 3 intuition is a MUST!

how in gods name did you slip through the membership screening?

also, andy great read (again) i think it came out really well and i know you put alot of work into this so i hope it gets the recognition it deserves.\n\n

[Equal Damage]

I totally agree, BizarreBazaar  is monstrous in this deck... even a single use can make all the difference in the world.

In playing decks similar to the build you are suggesting I keep looking at Squee.  He does the same job as the Oath of Scholars late game as used in the Toronto Stompy build.  But,  as much as I have tested him and loved him to bits,  I can see how he can easily get the axe.  I think it's just my metagame speaking where combo seems to be less and less prevelent.

Eqd\n\n

[mrieff]

Good read.

I think I would cut a Wonder however, but maybe thats just my meta full of Combo and Workshops.

[Hyperion]

Quote I read through this earlyer, and re-read through this just now, all i can say is bazaar is the most overated card. It isn't as good as pure threats. you don't want to miss a land drop early, and late in the game it is not near as good as what you are saying, plus it is wasteland target. plus 3 intuition is a MUST!

No one is going to take you seriously when you say something like this. I have already addressed those points that you've mentioned and explained how to play the deck correctly to avoid getting mana development stunted in the early game and to increase your chances of not getting it hit by Wasteland. "late in the game it is not near as good as what you are saying"? Care to explain your reasoning there?

It is immediately obvious that this statement is entirely based on theory with no actual testing results to back it up.

Quote 1.) I am pretty sure that you can cast madness stuff even if you tap moxen; So long as you cast them before the tapping resolves (Unless moxen count an mana, like I originally thought. In which case, you can just make madness guys go.)

I do not recall saying something to the contrary. I DID say that you can't discard a card with the madness ability, play a Mox, and then pay its madness cost because you would have to pass priority for the Mox to resolve, which puts any RFG madness spells in your graveyard. If you drew the conclusion that I have actually said you can't pay for madness costs with Moxen, please highlight the part to me where I said that so it can be fixed. Thanks!

Quote 3.) This article was an excellent read. The only thing that I think really sucks for this deck is that if a combo deck wants to go off, it isn't dealing with any sort of threats at all. I am assuming that winning by turn 3 is as effective as it is going to get as far as 'disrupting' but I would be more comfortable if some sort of 'just say no' was incorperated.

Even traditional "just say no" methods of recourse are a lot less effective against the Storm combo decks. Tormod's Crypt, Pyrostatic Pillar, Stifle, and even Null Rod are available from the sideboard for the combo matchups. Crypt *will* effectively counter an active Rector's use and foil their attempts to use Yawgmoth's Will. Stifle has obvious applications as well.

Quote  think I would cut a Wonder however, but maybe thats just my meta full of Combo and Workshops.

"Without the tutoring capability of Survival of the Fittest, it is not realistic to run one Anger and expect to draw it often enough to make a difference, making at least two a necessary inclusion unless you have a different way of finding it (such as Intuition)."

I suppose I should have made it clearer, but this statement is also applicable to Wonder. I will amend this statment to say "one copy of an Incarnation". Either run 2+, or don't run any, unless you decide to use Intuition.\n\n

[Grand Inquisitor]

Quote I keep looking at Squee.  He does the same job as the Oath of Scholars late game

Squee gets the cut for the same reason the above statement is false.  While squee has excellent synergy with many of the decks components, he does nothing by himself.  If you don't have a bazaar out, he does nothing close to Oath in the late game.  He might pump a mongrel, woohoo.  Where he would shine late game, is with a bazaar, but if you have a bazaar out, there should be no late game.

[Ferrismonk]

My deck was quoted! Who hoo!  Good primer over all.  I think you got the flavor of the deck right.  It can seem simple, but madness rules CAN get quite tricky.

I appreciate that you explained HOW to play bazaar.  It is easy to just play it first because it's good and keep tapping.  Mind you, in my deck I often did just this to peel off burn spells for the win, but I also wasted a lot of good wurms.  

Also, because of this primer, I am going to reanalyze my deck and try out the careful studies.  I can see where they might be quite good.  

Once again , great job!

-Travis-

[Shock Wave]

That's was an interesting read. Good work!  

Quote all i can say is bazaar is the most overated card. It isn't as good as pure threats. you don't want to miss a land drop early, and late in the game it is not near as good as what you are saying, plus it is wasteland target.

Yeah, I agree. Let's cut LOA from Keeper and Mishra's Workshop from Welder Mud, seeing as how they are Wasteland targets. Let's cut Dark Ritual from Sui too, seeing as how it isn't as good as a "pure threat".

[DryCow]

Richard are you being sarcastic?

I couldn't tell.

[Diablos8]

Of course it was sarcasm. He was just making fun of the guy who suggested removing Bazaar. Just love how people make comments without actually seeing it in action.

Great Primer. It was a good read.

[BillTheDuck]

I played this deck in NH this weekend and came one life point away from winning a mox. I have a few comments on what I experienced.

First of all, I ran 2 careful studies, and I really really liked them. I never liked the draw 7s. Adam did beat me in the mirror, but no studies or draw 7s were cast either game. The deciding factor was bazaar getting (and I think he would agree).

If anything I would add a wonder, not take them away. They were so good, and are essential vs tog.

Blood moons always seemed to shut me down as much as the opponent, even with portals. They usually ended up as discard fodder.

Red blasts are great.

TORMOLDS FUCKING CRYPT IS THE BEST CARD EVER (*high 5's Zherbus*). Run them, they are so good against tog and combo. Its like 2 extra turns of living against combo, and 2 extra turns of living for you is 10-20 damage to them. Its such a good feeling when you use it too.

I had to update my best cards of all time list because of tormolds crypt. It is now:

1) Aura fracture
2) Tormold's Crypt
3) Red Elemental Blast

[Matt The Great]

"U, draw two" is better than "2U, draw seven and the opponent draws seven too". That shouldn't even need testing, the logic is right there. One third the effect, one third the cost, but it's not symmetrical and costing one-third is more than three times as powerful (cost:effect ratios do not scale linearly in this game).

You are also correct in that Wonder is what makes or breaks your game against Tog.

[Grand Inquisitor]

Quote U, draw two" is better than "2U, draw seven and the opponent draws seven too

I think the argument is a little more complex than this.  Your opponent drawing 7 cards is only good if he gets to use them.  However, as Madness gets more streamlined, tools that are random with a high amount of variance (including symmetrical effects, especially draw-7s) are going to fall by the wayside.

Nick, how dependent is the deck on finding and abusing bazaar?  Also, in a deck that can support both, would you run crypt over coffin purge?  And you're forgetting, the order is:
1) SOL RING
2) future sight
3) brainstorm

[BillTheDuck]

If I was running a deck with wish, I would run 1 purge and 2-3 crypts (I know it takes a lot of space). In something without wishes, like madness, crypts all the way. I would run 4 if I played the deck again.

Also, in regards to brainstorm, I put your quote in my profile.

[Hyperion]

Quote First of all, I ran 2 careful studies, and I really really liked them. I never liked the draw 7s.

I think I PM'd you asking for your list last Saturday but received no response. I would be interested in seeing it at some point unless you feel the need to keep it under wraps, for some reason.

Quote how dependent is the deck on finding and abusing bazaar?

The answer is that if you run 4 Careful Study, not only is it much less dependent on Bazaar, but it makes your chances of finding it better in the first place. This is why I tried to stress in this primer just how important it is to run the full complement of Careful Studies. Bazaar is less important against combo and aggro - I outlined reasons for the former in my primer, and agains the latter Madness' creatures are often sufficient by themselves. This isn't to say Bazaar isn't ridiculous if it gets online, of course. However, Bazaar is very important against aggro-control and dedicated control decks.

[Matt The Great]

Careful Study is to this deck what Deep Analysis is to Tog.

[Ocifer]

First, I gotta say I thoroughly enjoyed the read, this is a deck that I have loved (and personally tweaked) since the day I first saw it. Of course, my version has always varied extremely from the "norm". So I'm not too shocked to see that my decklist didn't make it in, though I've had marked success with it personally.
I did find the lack of certain cards in the analysis to be a bit disconcerting though. Given though, these are cards I've always chosen to run that others have found less than suitable. Also, most of these cards make little sense on their own, but when taken as a package can be seen to have amazing senergy.

Reckless Charge: this card has obvious uses in this deck and yet was not included in the card analysis. I personally have chosen to run them over Angers as I find it more difficult to get both Anger in the graveyard and a Taiga on the table than I do to simply get a red source on the table (or an LED to flash it from the grave). This card also has great interaction with the next card I mention...

Berserk: I think this card is worth running. If your goal is to win as quickly and consistantly as possible then 3 Berserk will almost guarantee you a 12/6 Trampling Wurm token in a very short time. When combined with Charge you can even get 14/4 trampling, hasty Arrogants for the price of RGG2- a little awkward, but I've done it, on more than one occasion.

Now 3 Cards that will seem a little far-fetched, but when you look at them as a whole you can see why I'd run them.
Land Grant - Elvish Spirit Guide - Bounty of the Hunt

Land Grant: Basically just an alternative Fetchland, except it "can" be countered. How often does this actually happen? 1:100 games, or less. And you usually don't lose that game anyway. Can be pitched to Bounty when you just don't need the land to fuel a big creature or an insane Berserk combo-out.
ESG: An uncounterable lotus petal that you can play 4-of. Also pitchable to Bounty. I use these to fuel speedier Berserks and big creature outputs. Also a "reasonable" creature in it's own right when you get desperate. Best for smoothing out big mana requirements like the aforementioned RGG2.
Bounty of the Hunt: For when you just can't find a way to get the mana to put out that Wurm token, just pitch Roar to Bounty instead and make your Arrogant into a 7/7 for a little while.

Given these are very unconventional methods, but it speeds the deck up by leaps and bounds. It also stifles the consistency by a bit and forces tight card decisions. You also can run out of speed very quickly with my version, which is why I have always found Deep Analysis to be beneficial in my deck, but probably not in others. I guess I'd just have to show you a decklist. Here's my only version, which happens to be 4 months old and in need of revision, which will occur shortly after this post:

Anal Toronto Stompy:
        4 Bazaar of Baghdad
        4 Taiga
        4 Tropical Island
        1 Black Lotus
        1 Mox Ruby
        1 Mox Sapphire
        1 Mox Emerald
        4 Land Grant
        4 Lion's Eye Diamond
        1 Ancestral Recall
        1 Time Walk
        3 Elvish Spirit Guide
        3 Berserk
        3 Bounty of the Hunt
        3 Roar of the Wurm
        4 Basking Rootwalla
        4 Arrogant Wurm
        4 Careful Study
        4 Deep Analysis
        3 Fiery Temper
        4 Reckless Charge

Notable is the lack of Mongrels. A tough cut for me, but I've found 12 Madness outlets to be plenty. He should probably be in there, and I'll work him in on my revisions. As you can see, it's a totally different version than most would consider running, but it suits my personal style. It's obviously tuned to play faster but to run out of steam quickly, 11 threats for this deck can leave you hard pressed to find a threat after one is removed. Hence the need to recover the hand after an early charge. Anyway, it's just another veiw on the deck to consider.

[bebe]

Your Anal Toronto Stompy looks quite good to me. Obviously I changed my deck as well over time but I always kept it a two color deck with basic land back up. Compulsion was replaced by Studies long ago and four Berserks made it into the deck. Razor in Jan - right after your posted version got me to add the Bazaars ( I did not have any for awhile - couldn't find them as everyone bought them up for Reanimator).
I still use four ESGs for the speed and remember I can and have played them out as speed bumps.
I have a very hokey sideboard as well - Waterfront Bouncers, Arcane Lab, B2B and Naturalizes.
Circular Logics are still in the deck. Three copies and I love them.
One card that really slows down three color Madness is Choke and they are played around here by a few of us.
I still have the deck but the Bazaars are being used in my Dragon deck which is IMHO faster and more consistent but that is an entirely different discussion.
A new madness deck is being designed now that only uses Rootwallas, EsG and Werebears as creatures and relies heavily on burn ( fiery tempers, hammers and violent eruptions, etc.), pump ( bounties and berserks) and counters. So your creature base looks fine to me. I have played the four Rootwalla deck and was surprised. It is quite efficient.
I do not believe that a standard has yet been set for the best possible version. I think the meta dictates to large extent what version should be played.

[Hyperion]

Quote Reckless Charge: this card has obvious uses in this deck and yet was not included in the card analysis. I personally have chosen to run them over Angers as I find it more difficult to get both Anger in the graveyard and a Taiga on the table than I do to simply get a red source on the table (or an LED to flash it from the grave). This card also has great interaction with the next card I mention...

It was not included because I took it as given (and assumed the reader would as well) that Anger is just better. Anger's effect is uncounterable and requires no dedication of resources other than getting it the graveyard. Reckless Charge needs mana, is counterable, and makes you more vulnerable to spot removal. Besides, it's less amazing in Madness than in, say, Goblin Sligh...where you are much more likely to have 1- and 2-drops early on. This is not always the case with Madness. If you are having problems getting a Mountain for Anger I don't see how it can be any easier to keep a Mountain in play for Reckless Charge. And blowing an LED to flashback a Reckless Charge is certainly not an efficient use of the card.

Quote Berserk: I think this card is worth running. If your goal is to win as quickly and consistantly as possible then 3 Berserk will almost guarantee you a 12/6 Trampling Wurm token in a very short time. When combined with Charge you can even get 14/4 trampling, hasty Arrogants for the price of RGG2- a little awkward, but I've done it, on more than one occasion.

Berserk probably is a card that should be included in the analysis. I tended to shy away from cards that I didn't test myself or see tested extensively in other builds. However, I am familiar enough with the deck that I can provide a satisfactory argument for not running it. Berserk is a sufficiently conditional card that I would not recommend using it in Madness. Unlike Hulk, you can't just grab it from the SB when you can use it - without a resolved threat, Berserk is just a dead draw. Also unlike Hulk, Berserk doesn't make any of your creatures lethal by itself except in conjuntion with other pump effects, making it less devastating here. And finally, you don't have the countermagic to protect your Berserked creature from being hit by spot removal.

Quote Land Grant: Basically just an alternative Fetchland, except it "can" be countered. How often does this actually happen? 1:100 games, or less. And you usually don't lose that game anyway. Can be pitched to Bounty when you just don't need the land to fuel a big creature or an insane Berserk combo-out.

The only advantage over fetch lands that you've pointed out here is that it pitches to Bounty of the Hunt. Not only can Land Grant be countered (and it will happen if your opponent realizes you're dependent on it resolving), but it lets your opponent see your hand too. It can also be Duressed away before you get a chance to use it. In addition, Land Grant doesn't let you find Volcanic Islands. This is irrelevant in your build, but in the lists that do run Volcanic Islands (and I think I've already adequately covered the reasons why it should be run), it is very relevant.

Quote Bounty of the Hunt: For when you just can't find a way to get the mana to put out that Wurm token, just pitch Roar to Bounty instead and make your Arrogant into a 7/7 for a little while

Between Careful Study, Bazaar, and LED, there are already a number of cards in Madness that you risk suffering card disadvantage with by playing. I would be reluctant to play any more such cards, especially when they're as conditional as this card.

Quote Given these are very unconventional methods, but it speeds the deck up by leaps and bounds. It also stifles the consistency by a bit

This is really the crucial observation. Madness already suffers from inconsistency every now and then, and that's without all the potentially dead draws that I see in your list. I could very well see it goldfishing faster, but I doubt it would improve matchups against the prevalent aggro, aggro-control, or control decks in the format. It might make it more feasible to race dedicated combo decks, but in my opinion that's not a valid argument for making these other matchups worse, and still probably not being effective enough to make much of a difference against the likes of Tendrils or Burning Academy decks.

Thanks for your response - I will add Berserk to the card-by-card analysis soon. Further comments/criticisms/feedback from anyone is appreciated.\n\n

[bebe]

I think your primer is excellent but I think that you are missing the point on Bounties. It serves a mulyiyude of purposes in some builds. Remember, if you are going the Berserk route, Bounty is six extra damage and a possible creature in the grave or Wurm. Granted your build uses Mongrels and the other discard effects but his does not nor do I yet ( I'm going to test your basic build - it looks better then mine).
I agree on Anger for the most part but again with the Berserks it is a six pump.
As to Land Grants - I agree entirely. If playing three colors, which seems the trend, fetches are far better even with Bounties. I never liked the Bounty arguement for Land Grants.
I must say that I've really enjoyed your primer and I'm pretty much converted to your basic build. Ijust liked the consistency of two colors but it gives up alot.

[BillTheDuck]

Er I would agree on almost every point with Hyperion.

Bounties, berserks, and ESGs are card disadvantage that gets you pretty much un needed effects. The deck has plenty of acceleration already, and making a 6/6 bigger isn't really necessary, especially at the cost of a card in hand. Your guys are already huge.

I also cannot understand at all how you could leave out wild mongrel. I would consider him to be the backbone of the deck. The first turn mongrel ditch anger is an incredibly powerful way to start the game, not to mention that he is an AWESOME discard outlet.

I feel that your deck is far more similar to stompy. Madness is not a deck that doesn't care about card advantage, it cares about it very much. The most efficient way I have found to play it is to not ditch your hand untill most of the non madness/flashback stuff is gone.

PS - Charge is just godawful.

[jpmeyer]

Not playing Wild Mongrel makes the baby Rakso cry.

[Ocifer]

Hey, I was the first to say that my build was extremely unconventional and not widely played or accepted. I never said it was better, just different and worthy of analysis. There was absolutely no ill-temper or chastizing even remotely involved. I beleive I even said that my version was "outdated" and "needed revision". Or something very close to that.
Besides, I've never enjoyed playing everyone elses version of anything, and just because anyone here says my version is suboptimal doesn't mean I'm going to change one card of it.\n\n

[Jaapmans]

Excellent article. I enjoyed reading it.

In the games I've played, my Bazaars were wasted to fast to my taste. I included the land Petrified Field (allows you to return a land from your graveyard) and it gives colorless mana. It's basically an extra Bazaar.

Also, in here (Netherlands) combo is *the* meta game. And it realy is hard to win from combo. Anyone has more suggestions but the original ones?\n\n

[MoreFling]

I wouldn't run petrified field if I were you Jaap. You can hardly afford to miss a colored land drop over getting your Bazaar back. You also still have Careful Study and Wild Mongrel as madness outlets. And then there's that LED...

The only way you can battle combo is Pyrostatic Pillar. You can't really afford to run any of the other hosers in Madness. Null Rod doens't really work, and the new Chalice will also shut your own Loti (LEDS + Lotus) and your moxen down, and you really need the explosive developement of your mana base, in order to come out in full force.

The only other route you could try is running the control-oriented madness, with FoW's and Logics to back up your threaths. It's pretty much a metagame call I guess.

[Siral]

However also the control oriented version have a really bad matchup vs combo since only force of will can be casted in first 2 turn and logic, if we are not in mid-late game, it's not a problem for a deck that can produce a lot of mana like combo.

But in the control version of madness that dont use LED null rod or chalice can be played with less problems (you however use 5-7 mana artifact in madness decks)

[Hyperion]

Quote In the games I've played, my Bazaars were wasted to fast to my taste. I included the land Petrified Field (allows you to return a land from your graveyard) and it gives colorless mana. It's basically an extra Bazaar.

While I could see the usefulness of Petrified Field to get extra mileage out of Bazaars, there are several disadvantages to this approach as well, that I think ultimately should discourage its use in Madness.

Madness is a very tempo-oriented deck; as such, the potential usefulness of Petrified Field here is more difficult to realize. It takes an additional turn after you play this before you can retrieve and recast a Bazaar in your graveyard, which, more likely than not, will result in a significant tempo loss in the early- to mid-game. True, it will be better in the late game, but Madness is not focused on winning the late game. I think it's more along the lines of winning the early game and resorting to Bazaar in the mid-game to avoid running out of steam.

Running Petrified Field means you have to cut artifact mana or multilands, which are at a premium already.

It's virtually useless when you don't have Bazaars to reuse with it. One of the points I've tried to stress here is that for Madness to be successful, it has to rely on Bazaar only as much as is absolutely necessary, and be fully functional if it doesn't find Bazaar. Running additional cards that are only really useful in conjunction with Bazaar does not accomplish this goal.

Quote Also, in here (Netherlands) combo is *the* meta game. And it realy is hard to win from combo. Anyone has more suggestions but the original ones?

I actually would give Chalice of the Void a shot - it should be very effective against dedicated combo decks with the added benefit of hosing Sligh as well if you can't find room for Violent Eruption in a more high-powered metagame. The key difference between using Chalice and using Null Rod is that with Chalice, one can play out any the artifact mana first, then Chalice. Like Pyrostatic Pillar and Null Rod, a Chalice (set at 0) may backfire on you now and then, but this is irrelevant if it single-handedly destroys the deck that is probably Madness' most difficult matchup (Burning Academy). And since Chalice is much easier to resolve in time for it to matter, I would definitely SB it in a combo-heavy metagame. The mere presence of this card may discourage play of dedicated combo decks anyway, which would be great for Madness.\n\n