Radical Idea: Standard Mayhem 2099

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Introduction

The most representative villain mechanic of Marvel’s Spider-Man is Mayhem, a variant of the old Madness ability. Although Mayhem cards are stronger than Madness cards in terms of stats, they have timing restrictions and can’t be played around with as freely as Madness. Also, this kind of ability needs a discard first to work: building aggro depends heavily on your hand sequencing, a midrange build gets its tempo disrupted by its own forced discard, and dropping it into an existing loot-style deck feels a bit out of place. Is there any build that can overcome this?

Card Analysis

Without further ado, let’s see what this set’s Mayhem engine looks like.

Shadow of the Goblin / Quint’s Insight
Enchantment
Distorted Vision - At the beginning of your first main phase, discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
Relentless Vengeance - Whenever you play a land or
cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, this enchantment deals 1 damage to each opponent.

*Quint’s Insight is a tentative translation of the card name in the MTGA version.

First, whether it’s Madness or Mayhem, the biggest problem with this type of ability is that you have to pay to cast the card at the moment of discard or on that same turn. Although Madness and Mayhem costs are usually cheaper than the regular cost, once you add the cost of the discard effect itself it may not be so. Shadow of the Goblin automatically loots once during your first main phase, letting you reliably cast one Mayhem spell each turn. But since the loot is forced, when you don’t draw a Mayhem card or can’t use it, you’re forced to discard a card you don’t want to, which may well make you miss your chance or even lose.

The way to overcome this problem is hidden in the blue-black mechanics of this set’s Limited: discard “fodder” that you won’t miss, meaning cards you can use directly from the graveyard, so you don’t need to worry too much when discarding. Whether it’s Flashback, which is already semi-evergreen, or Renew and Harmonize from Tarkir: Dragonstorm, they all fit very well. The list is as follows:

Decklist

The Mayhem payoffs used in this deck are Scarlet Spider, Kaine, Ultimate Green Goblin, Carnage, Crimson Chaos, and Chameleon, Master of Disguise, plus the removal spell Electro’s Bolt and the land Oscorp Industries. Kaine is a highly flexible one-mana Mayhem creature that can also discard an extra card on entering to chain things together. Ultimate Green Goblin is a Mayhem engine designed to soak up fire, with a sturdy body and a discard each turn that also makes Treasure to ramp. The opponent will usually spend removal on it immediately, but if it survives it puts out good output. Carnage digs the graveyard on entering. Although it puts a forced-attack and sacrifice-when-it-hits-a-player debuff on that creature, it’s not a side effect with no way around, which I’ll introduce shortly. And since these creatures are all legendary and not suitable to run in full sets, Chameleon, Master of Disguise, which can become any ally, takes the fourth slot.

Kaine / Ultimate Green Goblin / Carnage MTGA corresponding card art

Chameleon / Electro’s Bolt / Oscorp Industries MTGA corresponding card art

As for the fodder mentioned earlier, I use Qarsi Revenant, Channeled Dragonfire, Glacial Dragonhunt, and Winternight Stories from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Qarsi Revenant is a strong creature in combat with built-in flying, deathtouch, and lifelink, and at three mana it can be dug onto the battlefield by Carnage. Its Renew ability puts these three abilities on a target creature, upgrading a Mayhem creature with only a body into a powerful warrior. The other three sorceries, filling the card draw/filtering and removal slots, are all Harmonize spells that can reduce their cost by tapping a creature for its power. This pairs perfectly with the creature Carnage digs onto the battlefield: tap that creature to reduce the Harmonize cost, thereby stopping it from killing itself.

With the things to be discarded covered, next let’s talk about the supplementary discard effects. Besides Shadow of the Goblin, I also use Bitter Triumph and Highway Robbery. Bitter Triumph is instant-speed removal for creatures and planeswalkers, making up for the range problem of pure damage-based removal, and whether to discard is your choice, so there’s no worry about losing cards. Highway Robbery is a loot spell that can be plotted, giving you the mana to do Mayhem when you loot, and casting it from exile also triggers the direct damage of Shadow of the Goblin, making it the best-synergy spell of its kind in current Standard.

Gameplay Demo

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that I left out one nonland card without introducing it⸺Spider-Man 2099. This cyberpunk Spider-Man from the future has two powerful abilities, vigilance and double strike, and at the end of your turn, if you’ve played a card from anywhere other than your hand, he can deal damage equal to his power to any target. But his body is mediocre, the deck has no way to pump power, and he can only be cast from turn four on, so he looks like a somewhat useful but not especially strong choice… If you think so, you’re underestimating him too much. You think this deck wins by beating people up with creatures? In fact, the direct damage from Shadow of the Goblin is the real way to win, and Spider-Man 2099 can deliver the finishing blow, even better if the double strike connects with the opponent. No evasion, so you can’t reach the opponent? A 2-damage hit can’t remove the opponent’s creature? Then Qarsi Revenant gives him flying, deathtouch, and lifelink, making Spider-Man 2099 a ruthless terminator that can get through, gain life, block, and automatically pick off creatures.

Conclusion

From a Limited design perspective, Mayhem feels like a rather aggressive ability, but once built in practice I found that Mayhem’s overall design actually has strong resource generation, and it’s surprisingly fun to play. For the current format, I personally feel there’s still a fair amount of room for variation, and readers who want to play a Mayhem deck can use this as a reference and try modifying it.