U/G Madness

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U/G Madness, or Blue-Green Madness are a type of aggro-control deck for the Collectable Card Game, [[Magic: The Gathering]]. Most U/G Madness decks follow the same structure, aiming to kill the opponent in less than or about 7-8 turns. They are considered 'aggro-control' due to the fast playing speed of the deck, as well as the use of counters such as Circular Logic to attempt to control the board. Many flashback cards (such as Roar of the Wurm) are used in conjunction with Madness, to secure a quick win.

Deck Contents

Basically all U/G Madness decks require 4 copies of the following cards:

Wild Mongrel
Circular Logic
Aquamoeba*
Basking Rootwalla*
Arrogant Wurm*
Careful Study*

These cards aren't 100% necessary, but due to their ability in Madness, most players use them anyway.

Additional cards most players use are:

Roar of the Wurm
Compulsion
Deep Analysis
Wonder
Mana leak (as an additional form of countering spells)
Quiet Speculation (In conjunction with Roar of the Wurm and Deep Analysis)

Also, some players play threshold with Madness, and may choose to include cards such as:

Nimble Mongoose
Werebear
Seton's Scout

U/G Madness decks with 60 cards should have about 20-24 lands. It is necessary for lands to be plentiful. One main land choice of U/G Madness is the painland Yavimaya Coast.

Deck Play

All U/G Madness decks win by reducing the opponent's life to 0. The deck is not equipped to last too many turns, as the opponent can build up his/her army to surpass your own, and thus can not deck the opponent out. Likewise, it contains no trigger-win cards such as Epic Struggle.

The deck relies on Madness, the ability to play a card whilst discarding it. This is an advantage as it not only costs less mana (most of the time) but can be played as an instant. This way, any spare mana can be used at the end of your opponent's turn to discard, for example, an Arrogant Wurm into play, able to attack immediately. However, this is also a drawback if cards which allow you to discard (Wild Mongrel, Aquamoeba, Compulsion, Careful Study) are not acquired quickly.

An ideal game should proceed as follows:

Turn 1: Basking Rootwalla/Nimble Mongoose. (However, if you have a Careful Study and a Basking Rootwalla, it is advised to use the Careful Study to discard the Rootwalla into play)
Turn 2: Wild Mongrel into play, Attack with the Rootwalla.
Turn 3: Attack with both the Mongrel and the Rootwalla/Mongoose, possibly pumping the Mongrel by discarding further cards (Wonder, Roar of the Wurm, Basking Rootwalla, Arrogant Wurm, etc).
Turn 4: (Assume an Arrogant Wurm was discarded into play the previous turn), Attack with all creatures in play, possibly pumping the Rootwalla if there are no cards in your hand which will be of any use before your next turn.
Turn 5: By now your opponent would be on 6 life, assuming the Rootwalla was pumped on turn 5. Attack again and they're dead.

Of course, this game is flawed in that it assumes the opponent has no creatures and does nothing to stop your creatures attacking him/her. Such hinderances often cause the game to lengthen, which is disastrous for a Madness deck. Basically, it is your aim to kill the opponent as fast as possible. Discard your entire hand if necessary to pump a Mongrel/give threshold to a Mongoose, if it means victory.

External links

[A tournament report on U/G Madness]
[U/G Madness matchup strategy]
[A one-year evolution of U/G Madness]

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