Jackal Pup -- one of the most fearsome offensive threats of 1998, as well as the centerpiece to a Pro Tour-winning deck -- was a 2/1 Creature for ... With a bit of a drawback. Every time Jackal Pup is dealt damage, it deals the same amount of damage to its controller.

Randy Buehler, a Pro Tour and Grand Prix Champion who would later ascend to a variety of leadership roles at Wizards of the Coast, famously said that Jackal Pup was better than Savannah Lions (the "other" old-school 2/1 Creature for one mana) simply because of its color.

Jackal Pup had a drawback, theoretically; but because it was in Red, a color that could get blockers out of the way, you were not paying for the drawback that often, whereas Red removal ensured it was getting in for damage much more consistently than the White original.

Dwarven Mauler

How about Dwarven Mauler then? The same 2/1 body for the same casting cost. You will probably not see it surrounded by cheap Shocks like the Jackal Pups of the late 1990s, but instead of having Echo (like Goblin Patrol) or a truly horrendous Combat Trigger (like Goblin Cadets), Dwarven Mauler has an additional ability you might actually want.

And not just that... One of Magic's most powerful abilities ever.

Dark Ritual is banned in Historic, Rite of Flame is banned in Modern, and Seething Song is banned in both Historic and Modern.

Essentially, the ability to get or save a mana or two at a low cost gets you banned in tournament Magic. Dwarven Mauler gets you the equivalent of Dark Ritual every turn.

The catch is, you can only exploit it in a deck that has Equip costs to pay, hopefully every turn. If you have cards to cast, but no Equipment in play to actually Equip? Then Dwarven Mauler is still a 2/1 for , but it's not pushing any meaningful envelopes.

Moreover, you don't just need a critical mass of Equipment, you need specific kinds of Equipment to get paid by this mana-saving ability.

Bonesplitter was the first ever piece of Equipment spoiled in any set (and I should know, having written the preview article). Bonesplitter is not currently Standard-legal. But even if it were, this card would be just too efficient to work next to Dwarven Mauler.

Well, maybe not literally. But because its Equip cost is only , you're leaving mana on the table every time you cheat it onto a Mauler.

Instead, you might want extravagant Equip costs (now made reasonable) or at least a lot of stuff for exactly 2 mana (which are de facto free with a Dwarven Mauler on the battlefield). Subtly, you might also look for Equipment that increases Dwarven Mauler's one toughness or otherwise makes it more difficult to remove.

Dwarven Mauler can be under-costed if you're getting one free Equip out of it. But to rip a Dark Ritual's mana out of the economy turn after turn, you both need it to be around and you need Equipment to move onto it multiple turns.

A one-toughness Mauler who dies in combat (and is no longer there to cheat mana) is worse from this perspective than a Bonesplitter, whose chief complaint is that it isn't a little more inefficient.

Leyline Axe

How about this?

Leyline Axe's combination of abilities, when applied to almost any Creature, can be very powerful. Trample is probably the most underrated keyword in all of Magic: The Gathering, and +1 toughness is a lot better at keeping a Creature alive when combined with Double Strike than it looks at first blush (an opposing blocker might never deal it combat damage through the First Strike portion).

This is magnified when you can give your Equipped Creature Deathtouch also (and we'll certainly get to that).

The problem with Leyline Axe is, of course, its rate. Do you want to make basically any Creature at all into a one-man one-Dwarf killing machine? Yes. Do you want to spend, let's see here, seven mana to do that? Not so much.

But how about one mana?

When Leyline Axe is in your opening hand, you can play it for free. Combined with a Dwarven Mauler? Peanut butter and chocolate. You get de facto six damage for only 1 + 1 mana.

Those two together seem great on the first turn, but if you're going to try to make Dwarven Mauler look good, you have to play lots of Equipment (in case you don't draw specifically Leyline Axe) and you ultimately have to play other points of synergy in case you don't draw the best Jackal Pup of all time.

Standard Dwarves & Equipment

Here's one attempt:

Boros Dwarves by DGAR_PO, 5-0 Standard League 8/31/2026

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Bofur, Reliable Guardian
• 4 Dain's Company
• 3 Dwalin, Weaponmaster
• 4 Dwarven Mauler
• 4 Kili the Resourceful
• 3 Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo
• 1 Thorin Oakenshield
• 3 Thorin, Mountain-king

• Artifacts (14)
• 2 Basilisk Collar
• 2 Doc Ock's Tentacles
• 3 Dragonfire Blade
• 3 Lavaspur Boots
• 4 Leyline Axe

• Lands (22)
• 3 Plains
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Sunbillow Verge
• 4 The Lonely Mountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Chainsaw
• 2 Dewdrop Cure
• 2 Mjolnir, Hammer of Thor
• 1 Pinecone Strike
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 1 Seam Rip
• 2 Shattered Acolyte
• 2 The Queen of Dale

Buy This Deck Export text

Just to begin with, this seems like the most important, or at least most The Hobbit-forward. It is also, dare I say, one of the most "unique" Standard decks to come out of our most recent set.

There are lots of cards, both clever and gigantic, that are making appearances in other archetypes; but "Dwarves and Equipment" is a coherent, relatively self-contained, way of doing things that is wholly enabled by The Hobbit (HOB).

Getting the Most Out of Your Leyline Axe

Dwarven Mauler is just the first of more than twenty Dwarves that make up roughly one-third of the main. Dwarven Mauler spits on one of Magic's most important safeguards (but only specifically in an Equipment deck). So of course, there are lots of Equipment cards to take advantage of this ability, in case you don't have Leyline Axe in your opening hand.

Basilisk Collar

Basilisk Collar is a versatile piece of Equipment that has excelled in essentially every Standard format that it has ever been legal in. You probably remember the "build your own Baneslayer Angel" days with Stoneforge Mystic, where you could give any attacker Lifelink; or maybe the Izzet deck () that put Splinter Twin on the map, where Basilisk Collar teamed up with Inferno Titan to manage a battlefield in style.

In this deck, Deathtouch really is the killer add-on. Why? Because Leyline Axe already gives the Equipped Creature both Trample and Double Strike! A lowly Dwarven Mauler equipped with a Leyline Axe represents a significant threat by itself, possibly starting on turn two... But what happens when you give a three-power Double Striker Deathtouch as well?

First of all, the opponent needs either an adequate First Striker or four blockers minimum before anything and everything they put in front of such a Equipped Dwarf does anything but get mowed down. At four blockers, the defending player still loses all of them and probably takes at least two Trample damage.

But three blockers only? Do they have First Strike or Double Strike? Because if they don't then the Mauler can just put one point of First Striking Deathtouch damage on each and Trample over with all its remaining power.

Deathtouch does a lot of heavy lifting here. Even if "anything" with a Leyline Axe can potentially be worth thinking about, a tough enough blocker should be able to absorb a lot of potential damage. But when First Strike, Deathtouch, and Trample all team up, one thousand toughness doesn't absorb a heck of a lot more than one toughness.

Bofur, Reliable Guardian

Of course, the deck building cost goes both ways. You want more Equipment for Dwarven Mauler, but you can still only play four copies. So, you'll also want more Dwarves to Equip. Bofur, Reliable Guardian isn't the most impressive combat Creature, but like Dwarven Mauler, he comes down for one mana so can get your attacks going early.

Even though Basilisk Collar conveys Lifelink, Bofur's natural Lifelink can make any Equipment into an effective racer.

Neither of these things puts the "Reliable Guardian" over the top, though. Bofur's Adventure mode -- Concerted Care -- is pretty cool. Because what's more annoying than putting a ton of investment into a Creature... And then getting it blown up by a Shoot the Sheriff or Requiting Hex? Concerted Care can effectively Counterspell point removal on any nonland permanent in this deck, and force through damage.

Dain's Company

Dwarven Mauler may be Magic's best-ever Jackal Pup... But is Dain's Company the best card in this deck? Not only does this Creature usually have Lifelink (ditto on Bofur, above), but it's naturally card advantageous.

Because almost every nonland card in this deck is either a Dwarf or an Equipment, Dain's Company will almost always be a two-for-one. Early in the game it can give you another body to replace itself when you start trading, but later it can high roll into your biggest impact spells once you have the mana to cast them.

Kili the Resourceful

Okay, maybe this is the best card in the deck. Kili the Resourceful combines the upsides of both Dwarven Mauler and Dain's Company, can do it all every turn, and often better.

Kili is disadvantageous in that he's a Legend (so you can only have one of these mana-cheaters in play at any given time) and you do need another Dwarf or Equipment before you start drawing extra cards. On the other hand, Dain's Company can potentially miss; it won't miss often, but Kili never will.

Pro Tip: Think about waiting until turn three to play Kili. I mean, don't do that if it means not doing anything on turn two, but if you can play Kili plus Doc Ock's Tentacles or Kili and Basilisk Collar on a single turn you can usually cash in on at least one card advantageous trigger.

Thorin, Mountain-king

Thorin, Mountain-king is one of your biggest impact spells. Not only for his size (3/4 is huge in this deck), but because of how much mana he can move around in a single burst. Imagine you have something like Doc Ock's Tentacles or Leyline Axe in play (or both). Thorin can immediately produce eight mana worth of value and probably kill one of the opponent's Creatures.

And then you can use abilities like Dwarven Mauler's to move Equipment back off at reduced rates. Provided you have some Equipment in play, Thorin can be your Flametongue Kavu; or just under-cost a giant threat straight into The Red Zone, even when it didn't look like you had the mana to activate so much Equipment.

The Lonely Mountain

The most underrated card in the deck is also potentially the most powerful.

This is a deck that can come out quickly; after all it has Jackal Pup-speed offense, sometimes on the back of a card with the word "Leyline" on it. But it's still a Creature deck with essentially no direct damage, which means it can get swept.

Only, when you're getting swept, it's usually your Creatures that are being destroyed, not other types of permanents. In other decks, you can be left with Equipment in play that have nothing to embiggen. Not so here: The Lonely Mountain can spit out 2/2 Dwarves for as low as .

This card is not Legendary. It doesn't damage you to make a 1/1. The Lonely Mountain is a long game path to victory that is notoriously difficult to grind past and can give your powerful Equipment a ceaseless line of bodies to transform into deceptively gigantic attackers.

Conclusion

Dwarven Mauler might not be the most obvious standout in Magic, but with the right support, it can turn its unusual ability into serious advantage. With the right pieces, this deck can apply pressure early while still having plenty of ways to generate value as the game goes long.

LOVE

MIKE