(Editors Note: This is my first attempt at both a standard deck and making a deck that is at least some level of competitive. I netdecked a few decks to see what strategies and tried to use the ones that I thought would work best for my play style. Feedback and suggestions on how to make it better are appreciated and will be considered.)

One of the first decks I ever built was a goblins token deck built around Krenko. It made Chris sweat on more than one occasion and remains one of my favorite decks to play. I’m not usually an aggro player, but it is nice to mix it up now and then. When Chris recommended that we try to keep up with the Standard meta with a couple of our decks (more on my thoughts on that tomorrow), I knew I was going aggro and control. The aggro quickly became an RDW (a deck archetype that many choose as their first foray into any format) and I’m still struggling with the control deck. I tried a Blue/White, but it just felt way too slow and the Sultai deck that I like to play is very expensive. I’m not ready to pay for it just yet. I might proxy up some of the cards to practice with the deck and fill in with the actual cards as I can.

Creatures (19)

Foundry Street Denizen (4): These guys are great in any kind of mono red aggro.
Goblin Heelcutter (4): Once you get all that damage on the board, sometimes you need a way to get it to face. This creature helps with that.
Goblin Rabblemaster (2): Once upon a time, I got a Goblin Rabblemaster from a Fat Pack, learned that people were paying crazy prices for it, searched, and could not find it. When putting together this deck, I found him and his brother, so maybe things were meant to be.
Mardu Scout (4): One of these guys might become Zurgo Bellstriker. For now, though, I love dashing these guys.
Monastery Swiftspear (4): Foundry Street Denizens for the burn spells that we have! Huzzah!
Purphoros, God of the Forge (1): I don’t know how useful this guy is, but I had one of them lying around, so I included it in the deck. Might become a sideboard for particularly annoying control decks.

Instants and Sorceries (14)

Blinding Flare (2): More ways to push damage through the blockers to face.
Hordeling Outburst (4): I love my goblin tokens. Combos with both the Denizen and Swiftspear.
Lightning Strike (4): Fry a pesky blocker or apply to face.
Magma Jet (4): I know that I can play Wild Swipe for 1 mana cheaper and I might end up doing that, but I love the Scry mechanic and want to use it as much as possible before it rotates out.

Artifacts (5)

Hall of Triumph (1): Nice little buff for our teeny tiny creatures to trade up/push them out of easy removal range.
Obelisk of Urd (4): 4 might be overdoing it on this one, but I’ll stick with them for now just to bump up those token.

Enchantment (2)

Outpost Siege (2): Being able to possibly play two cards a turn? Sure, why not.

Land (20)

Mountains (19) and one Urborg because isn’t everyone playing that in this meta?

Sideboard (15)

Anger of the Gods (4): Again, 4 might be overkilling it here, but I found that I was having a really difficult time against certain control matchups. I searched for Red sweepers and this one showed up.
Ashcloud Phoenix (2): Decent flying creature that can return to battlefield and pings every time it gets morphed.
Stoke the Flames (3): More potential burn.
Traitorous Instinct (2): Because I can have a lot of fun with this card.
Wild Slash (4): Some (or all) of these might make it into the main deck. We’ll see.

I don’t think this is bad for a first attempt at standard from a guy who admittedly hates monocolored and hates aggro. In playtesting, it actually performs pretty well against some of the bigger decks. Now that things are changing with dragons, it might need some tweaking. That won’t come until next month when I finally get a chance to pick up my Dragons of Tarkir care package at the Star City Games event. I will update with how the deck performs when Chris and I get together next week. Until then!