Fast aggro decks haven't been performing very well lately. When most of the other decks are playing creatures that provide some form of card advantage, it can be difficult to keep up. Adding to the problem is the prevalence of cards like Restoration Angel and Thragtusk that make attacking profitably much more difficult. However, I believe there may still be hope for a fast aggro deck in this format—one that has some card advantage as well as the ability to go in for the kill despite any blockers your opponent might have. Here's what I've been working with:

"Burning Tokens"

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Doomed Traveler
• 4 Hellrider

• Spells (28)
• 2 Rally the Peasants
• 4 Midnight Haunting
• 3 Burn at the Stake
• 4 Gather the Townsfolk
• 4 Krenko's Command
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 3 Oblivion Ring
• 4 Intangible Virtue

• Lands (24)
• 2 Swamp
• 7 Mountain
• 7 Plains
• 4 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Increasing Devotion
• 4 Timely Reinforcements
• 3 Pillar of Flame
• 3 Revoke Existence
• 3 Celestial Purge

Buy This Deck

The Threats

Hellrider lets you push quite a bit of damage in before your opponent even has a chance to block. With Krenko's Command as a redundant 2-drop, you'll usually be attacking for at least 12 damage when you cast this on turn four. Even when cast on turn five or six, it has the potential to win the game on the spot.

Krenko's Command and Gather the Townsfolk combine to ensure that this deck will almost always be making two tokens on turn two. The redundancy provided by Krenko's Command is key to making this deck perform consistently and greatly increases the viability of Burn at the Stake.

Midnight Haunting and Lingering Souls fulfill a similar function, consistently providing two tokens—this time with flying—on turn three. Each of these comes with an additional advantage, however. Midnight Haunting can be cast at instant speed, allowing you to play around counterspells and sweepers as well as surprise your opponent with a lethal Burn at the Stake. Lingering Souls will make another two tokens if you find black mana, giving you the potential for an enormous amount of damage with just one card.

The Support

Rally the Peasants is another win condition, allowing you to attack for an absurd amount of damage with your army of tokens. Casting it is often enough to end the game, and even if your opponent manages to survive, you can cast it a second time the following turn. If you make it up to 6 mana, those four Spirit tokens will once again be capable of inflicting the full 20 damage in one swing.

I believe I've mentioned Burn at the Stake a time or two already, but it's worth talking about. It allows you to completely ignore blockers such as Restoration Angel and go straight for the kill. If you get seven creatures on the board, it's instantly lethal, and it can be a real killer even with fewer. One thing I learned while doing preliminary testing is that you can't be afraid to cast Burn at the Stake for less than lethal damage. You can often tap four or five creatures to drop your opponent down to just a few life, at which point you'll be able to attack for lethal despite a blocker or two. If you try this in the opposite order, one or two of your creatures will usually be killed in combat, greatly reducing the burn spell's effectiveness.

Oblivion Ring, oh, Oblivion Ring, thou most mighty and versatile removal spell, what would we ever do without thee? Sword of War and Peace is still seeing some play and is obviously a significant problem for this deck, so having a way to get rid of it in the main deck is often key to success. Birthing Pod has also been rising in popularity lately, and the great ring can eliminate the Pod or any of its minions.

The Sideboard

Timely Reinforcements creates big problems for decks hoping to win with creatures such as Strangleroot Geist and Huntmaster of the Fells. If you're playing carefully, this one spell will often put you ahead on the board and ahead in life instantly. It can also line you up for a turn-five kill with Burn at the Stake even if you didn't have a Doomed Traveler on turn one.

Pillar of Flame eliminates smaller threats more cheaply and easily than Oblivion Ring, while similarly preventing any graveyard shenanigans. In matchups in which you need efficiency rather than versatility, this is a valuable tool.

Revoke Existence gives you more tools to deal with Swords and Birthing Pods as well as the new kid on the block: Rancor. Permanently dealing with the resilient Aura makes creatures such as Dungrove Elder much less threatening.

Zombies haven't been seeing as much play lately, but I'm not quite ready to put away my Celestial Purges just yet. They're an extremely valuable tool for fighting the deck, allowing you to easily deal with hard-to-kill threats such as Gravecrawler, Geralf's Messenger, and Falkenrath Aristocrat.

Playtesting

W/U Delver – Game 1

I drew Oblivion Ring, played my Mountain, and cast Intangible Virtue. I passed the turn, and my opponent cast Thought Scour during my end step, milling two Augur of Bolas. On his turn, he played an Island, cast Delver of Secrets, and passed.

I drew Gather the Townsfolk and cast it, making a pair of 2/2 Humans. I ended my turn. My opponent played a Moorland Haunt and passed the turn.

I drew Midnight Haunting and attacked with my Humans. My opponent took the 4, and I cast Doomed Traveler before passing the turn. My opponent exiled an Augur to make a Spirit token with Moorland Haunt during my end step, then untapped and played Talrand, Sky Summoner after laying down an Island. He swung for 1 with his Spirit and passed the turn.

I drew Evolving Wilds and attacked with my creatures. Talrand turned my Doomed Traveler into a Spirit, and my opponent dropped to 12. I played my Evolving Wilds and passed the turn. My opponent played another Island before passing the turn, and I sacrificed my Evolving Wilds for a Swamp.

I drew a Mountain for my turn and cast Oblivion Ring on Talrand. My opponent cast Vapor Snag on my Spirit in response, making a Drake token. Talrand was exiled, and I attacked with my two Humans. Moorland Haunt made another Spirit, and both Spirits blocked one of my Humans with the Drake taking on the other. I played my Mountain and passed the turn. My opponent's Delver transformed thanks to a Gitaxian Probe, which my opponent promptly cast, choosing to pay the mana. He cast a second Gitaxian Probe, then dropped me to 15 with Insectile Aberration. He played a second Delver of Secrets and passed the turn.

I drew Hellrider and ended my turn. My opponent transformed his other Delver with a Thought Scour, which he cast, milling Ponder and Mental Misstep. He attacked with his Insectile Aberrations, and I cast Midnight Haunting, trading a Spirit token for each of them. He passed the turn.

I drew Burn at the Stake on my turn and cast Hellrider. However, my opponent bounced the Rider with Vapor Snag before I declared attackers. I swung with my two Spirits. My opponent made another Spirit with Moorland Haunt and blocked one of my tokens with both, taking 2 from the other. I passed the turn, and my opponent simply played an Island and passed back.

I drew Intangible Virtue and played my Hellrider again. I attacked with it and with my Spirit token, dealing 2 damage to my opponent directly. My opponent cast Snapcaster Mage, flashing back a Vapor Snag to get rid of my final Spirit. He used the Mage to block Hellrider, and he finished it off by paying 2 life for a Gut Shot. I ended my turn, and he made another Spirit token with Moorland Haunt. On his turn, my opponent played a Seachrome Coast and passed.

I drew Clifftop Retreat and cast my second Hellrider. I attacked, dropping my opponent to 5, and he blocked with his token. I played my Clifftop Retreat and passed the turn. My opponent cast Phantasmal Image, copying my Hellrider, and ended his turn.

I drew Oblivion Ring and cast it, killing the Image. Hellrider swung for another point of direct damage, and my opponent made a new Spirit token to block with. I passed the turn, and he drew his card and conceded.

Sideboarding:

−3 Burn at the Stake

−2 Hellrider

−2 Doomed Traveler

+3 Pillar of Flame

+4 Timely Reinforcements

W/U Delver – Game 2

My opponent paid 2 life for a Gitaxian Probe, then cast Delver of Secrets. He played an Island and cast another Ponder, choosing to keep the top three again. He ended his turn. I drew a Plains and attacked with Doomed Traveler for 1. I then played a Clifftop Retreat and cast Krenko's Command before passing the turn.

My opponent transformed his Delver with a Thought Scour, then attacked with his new Insectile Aberration, dropping me to 17. He then cast a second Delver of Secrets and passed the turn. I drew another Clifftop Retreat and cast Doomed Traveler. I then played the Retreat and cast Intangible Virtue. I swung for 5 and passed the turn.

My opponent transformed his second Delver with a Mana Leak and attacked with both for 6. He cast Augur of Bolas, failing to find an instant or sorcery, and passed the turn. I drew Timely Reinforcements and cast it. My opponent countered it with Mana Leak, and I attacked with my creatures. Augur of Bolas blocked a Goblin token, and my opponent dropped to 8. I played another Clifftop Retreat and passed the turn. My opponent dropped me to 5 with his Aberrations and ended his turn.

I drew Oblivion Ring and attacked with everything. Augur of Bolas blocked a Goblin again, and my opponent dropped to 4. I cast Oblivion Ring, and my opponent cast two Thought Scours in response before letting it resolve. I exiled an Insectile Aberration and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Ponder, choosing to shuffle. He then dropped me to 2 with the second Aberration and passed the turn. I drew a Mountain and attacked with my creatures. Augur of Bolas blocked one Goblin token, and a Vapor Snag took out the other. I dropped to 1, he dropped to 2, and I died to Insectile Aberration on his turn.

W/U Delver – Game 3

I sacrificed my Evolving Wilds for a Mountain during his end step. On my turn, I drew Hellrider, played my Plains, and cast Gather the Townsfolk. I ended my turn. My opponent paid 2 life for a Gitaxian Probe, then cast Augur of Bolas, grabbing a Vapor Snag off the top. He passed the turn.

I drew Clifftop Retreat, played it, and cast Midnight Haunting. I ended my turn. My opponent cast Ponder, choosing to keep the top three, then cast Delver of Secrets. He played a Glacial Fortress before passing the turn.

I drew Timely Reinforcements and attacked with my two Spirit tokens. My opponent dropped to 16, and I passed the turn. My opponent played an Island and cast Talrand, Sky Summoner before passing the turn.

I drew Clifftop Retreat and cast Pillar of Flame on Talrand. I attacked with my Spirits again, then played the land and ended my turn. My opponent played a land and cast Sword of War and Peace. He equipped it to Delver of Secrets and attacked. I dropped to 13, and he went up to 18 before passing the turn.

I drew Krenko's Command and attacked with my two Human tokens. My opponent took the 2 damage and made a Spirit with Moorland Haunt when I passed the turn. My opponent attacked with Insectile Aberration, and I cast Midnight Haunting. I blocked with all four Spirit tokens. My opponent cast two Vapor Snags to get rid of two of them, then cast Snapcaster Mage to flash one back. The last Spirit died to the actual Insectile Aberration, and my opponent passed the turn.

I drew another Krenko's Command and cast Timely Reinforcements, going up to 13 and putting three Soldier tokens onto the battlefield. I passed the turn. My opponent swung for 4 with Insectile Aberration and the Spirit token, then played a land and passed the turn.

I drew a Plains, played it, and cast both copies of Krenko's Command. I passed the turn. My opponent attacked for another 4, then played a land, cast Talrand, Sky Summoner, and passed the turn.

I drew Intangible Virtue, cast Hellrider, and attacked with everything. My opponent dropped to 4 from the Hellrider triggers alone and died from the combat damage that followed it.

Wrapping Up

Despite my terrible job at sideboarding during this match, I think this deck proved how well it can hang in for the long game despite being predominantly an aggro deck. I'm not totally sure what the correct sideboarding plan is against Delver, but I'm fairly certain it involves not leaving in any Doomed Travelers. Doomed Traveler is meant to die, and Delver just doesn't do a very good job of killing it.

This deck pumps out creatures in a volume unmatched by any other deck in Standard, and as the last game showed, it often takes just a single copy of any of your damage multipliers to get the job done. If you like making gigantic token armies or if the idea of doming your opponent for 21 with Burn at the Stake makes you smile, give this deck a try.