Four Color Bloodbraid Aggro
Drafted by Kirk
When cube drafting aggro, going into four colors is right around the top of the “never effing do that” list. But Kirk shows us with this Bloodbraid fueled beast-of-a-deck that sometimes, rules are meant to be broken. Though, I would not suggest you try to force decks like this often, it can be done. You will notice that his fixing for this Bloodbraid Pain Factory is phenomenal and the splashes he is supporting are blue for only a time walk (understandable) and black for bitterblossom, terminate, and putrefy (also understandable).
I wouldn’t suggest splashing in aggro for just anything. His splashes are for very powerful cards. Time walk is a card that I, personally, would try to cram into any deck. Bitterblossom is nuts as well. And getting it for free off of a Bloodbraid Elf is fun (most of the time). Relying on having black for two removal spells is a little questionable but given the power of both spells, the fixing in the deck, and the fact that they are the only spot removal in the list, I think he made the right move main-decking them.
Let’s break this mother down
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Goblin Guide
1 Rancor
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Stormblood Beserker
1 Plated Geopede
1 Torch Fiend
1 Skinshifter
1 Tarmogoyf
1 Terminate
1 Bitterblossom
1 Time Walk
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Brimstone Volley
1 Call of the Herd
1 Putrefy
1 Hellrider
1 Hero of Oxid Ridge
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Keldon Champion
1 Bloodbraid Elf
1 Red Sun’s Zenith
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Taiga
1 Tropical Island
1 Stripmine
First, I’d like to talk about that fixing. It’s obvious to me that Kirk really prioritized fixing in this draft. A lot of the time, it’s hard to pass up sweet cards for lands but I cannot stress the importance of this enough.
What is your deck supposed to do? It’s supposed to win. And, you win by casting spells.
How are you supposed to cast spells if you can’t pay their casting cost?
Mana base is hugely important. A solid mana base does what it is supposed to do and facilitates wins. It’s easy to ignore the work your lands are doing when they are making it look easy. I know there’s nothing sexy about dropping a turn one fetch, but the effect of a good mana base is more dramatic than it seems. While it may seem like small potatoes looking at a savannah next to a phantom centaur, but what good will that centaur be if you have three plains and a forest on turn four? You get me?
Time for some deep analysis…
Bloodbraid Elf is certainly a powerful card. Perhaps, for some of you, a 3/2 haste for four mana may seem a little underwhelming. I assure you, you are wrong. Cascading is a really fun ability. Every time I do it, I feel a little like I’m cheating. “Tap four annndddd Bloodbraid Elf… and then I cascade? (Smirking).”
Essentially, what you get for your four mana is a 3/2 haste plus something else out of your deck. This ability makes Bloodbraid elf a very strong card to build around. It can be trying at times to assemble the right pieces to make it godly, but limiting the amount of fizzles you could cascade into isn’t all that difficult. If you look at what Kirk did in this deck, you’ll see that everything in the list is a Bloodbraid target with the exception of the four 4-drops and a Red Sun’s Zenith.
Ah, Red Sun’s Zenith. I’ve had recurring nightmares about this card and it‘s probably Kirk’s fault. As far as red x-spells go, I would have to put this card very close to the top of my list. A lot of the time, exiling the creature you burn with it is going to be relevant because you’ll rarely want to use this card on a creature that isn’t worth exiling. But, my favorite part about this card is how hard is it to get away from it. Shuffling it back in after every cast is vicious. What’s better than getting to turn mana into burn? Not to mention, the shuffling in effect protects you from milling yourself out. (Though, that is clearly irrelevant for this deck) But, talk about a perfect mana sink. It sucks that it isn’t the greatest target for Bloodbraid, but it’s one out of forty, right? Besides, it’ll just end up getting shuffled back in to your library anyway.
Next, I’d like to talk about Sensei’s Divining Top. I know this card is not the most popular cube card, but it has some solid roles. In this deck, the top is an all star. In an aggro deck, you need to be casting creatures constantly. The problem is, decks like this lose their gas. You may open a hand and have turn one two and three sitting right there, but when you get to turn four you’re sitting with a hand full of lands. The top takes care of you. Digging through the top three is nothing to scoff at. What if you need a four drop but its sitting under two lands? “It’s my four drop and I need it now” Another important thing about the top is that it will help you set up your Bloodbraid cascade. Problem creature sitting on the board? Welp, I’ll just bring this terminate up to the top and cast my Bloodbraid elf. Or, you go to top before Bloodbraid and see your red sun’s zenith sitting there, “whhhoooop” that was close.
I feel like the rest of this deck is pretty self explanatory. Fast deck. Fast creatures. Sulfuric vortex.
It’s a lot of fun to blow games out with decks like this. If your looking to build one then look for some sweet one, two, and three drops. I wouldn’t suggest playing this deck, however, without the vortex or the Bloodbraid. It just wouldn’t be the same.
Turn One Magic