Back when I was in high school (I'm about to show my age), there was one little creature that terrorized blue in standard. It was the most annoying creature to deal with until Morphling came along: River Boa
Now a lot of today's players didn't play way back in Tempest block, so they might be scratching there heads. But River Boa was a staple in green aggro, and saw some play in Vintage as well. Islandwalk and Regen made him a nasty little hazard.
Now, after the release of World Wake, there has been a LOT of rumbling about the return of blue. Jace, Treasure Hunt, Calcite Snapper, and the man lands have boosted Grixis Control and RWU Control to a point of stability in the meta. However, a turn 2 River Boa can put a hault to all that. And if your not playing against a blue deck, he can easily be boarded out.
I played both Grixis and RWU against my friends new Mono Green beats deck. River Boa was the all star. Sittign back on Vines of Vastwood made it very difficult to get rid of, and the support of Leatherback Baloth and Wolfbriar Elemental made things very diffcult.
After a Day of Judgment, River Boa was all that remianed. People might soon really miss that extra sentence on Wrath of God.
River Boa produces a great 2 drop for green. You could arguee Nissa's Chosen, but he only regens himself if you have Nissa out. And to be honest, with the new wave of green beats, I don't think mono greens future lies with elves.
Yeah, I definitely think River Boa is gonna be showing up in the future. I'm actually tinkering with a GW stompy deck. The boa seems like it would be perfect for the current meta with blue control decks coming back, as you said, and since so much aggro is running around a regenerating chump blocker sounds pretty good.
However, in today's culture of Justin Bieber, Jersey Shore, and Twilight, where every song on the radio, every program on television and every site on the internet is just another monument to the pinnacle of human stupidity, it's certainly not the worst thing that people could be watching.
its very difficult to tell, blue was so strong back in tempest there wasnt any reason to not play islands in your deck. also back then, the mana fixing was...abysmal, so you more or less needed islands to make your blue deck work.
nowdays, you have EtBT trip lands, EtBT dual lands, halimar depths and so on. they produce blue, but are not islands, which makes walking them harder. sure you could try to path to exile and then hope they fetch an island, but thats probably not the greatest of ways to go.
still, as river boa goes, having 2 power for 2 mana and regen is solid, and really green should be getting more of these kind of guys, rather than stupid craw wurm or arbitrary super huge 6CMC+ fat dork who doesnt have regen or shroud or evasion.
There's a huge reason River Boa is maindecked in my (legacy) 9-land stompy deck. I believe that with the amount of excitement that blue's receiving nowadays, they are now going to be a solid choice for Standard.
I disagree that there's enough nonbasic lands that produce U around to significantly weaken River Boa. If your opponent is playing nothing but EtBT lands, your opponent is always going to be a turn behind. When playing aggro, having your opponent give you an entire extra turn is a godsend. That means Wooly Thoctar is going to be turning sideways when they have 2 mana open, not 3 (if you're going second), and only one mana open if you have the first turn. I realize that there's things (Doom Blade) they can do with two mana, but honestly, if they spend 1 mana something turn 2, and do nothing turn 3 (so they can kill whatever's coming out), in my mind they've already lost.
Point is, any advantage they have by not playing basic Islands is lost tenfold against the deck that gets the most out of River Boa.
Back in my day, Wrath of God didn't kill Black Knight and that's the way we liked it. We also had to pay mana for our 1/1s. Kids and your Memnites. Get off my lawn!
I think he could quite easily make a return, possibly in g/u decks too!
River boa + spreading seas sounds quite fun...
Even still, regen is awsome
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Go go, Matt Linde! (I had his champ deck back then. That was so fun)
I think he is good, but I think his days of terrorizing blue are done honestly. He's good, but I think that the Stag is better. Bigger body, more likely to end up unblockable against many decks running blue, regardless of their mana base. Can't be bounced or countered. Not to mention, the Stag is more versatile in terms of terrorizing vamps or even a good portion of Jund.
It is good to see him back and he is a nightmare in limited though.
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Standard: BRG Jund Midrange GRB //// B Vampire Aggro B //// WRU Patriot Control URW
Extended: RGW Zoo WGR
Legacy: RUG Canadian Thresh GUR
Go go, Matt Linde! (I had his champ deck back then. That was so fun)
I think he is good, but I think his days of terrorizing blue are done honestly. He's good, but I think that the Stag is better. Bigger body, more likely to end up unblockable against many decks running blue, regardless of their mana base. Can't be bounced or countered. Not to mention, the Stag is more versatile in terms of terrorizing vamps or even a good portion of Jund.
It is good to see him back and he is a nightmare in limited though.
thats why you play both, and watch a blue deck ☺☺☺☺ themselved when you go turn 1 scute mob,turn2 riverboa,turn3 GSS
I just dont see the point of Scute Mob in mono green. Hes a terrible turn 1 drop, and he doesnt really shine unless you are playing Ranger of Eos. Turn 1 should be a mana dork.
I agree, GSS is pretty nice. But when we were building my friend deck we decided River Boa was probably the best 2 drop in green.
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Now a lot of today's players didn't play way back in Tempest block, so they might be scratching there heads. But River Boa was a staple in green aggro, and saw some play in Vintage as well. Islandwalk and Regen made him a nasty little hazard.
Now, after the release of World Wake, there has been a LOT of rumbling about the return of blue. Jace, Treasure Hunt, Calcite Snapper, and the man lands have boosted Grixis Control and RWU Control to a point of stability in the meta. However, a turn 2 River Boa can put a hault to all that. And if your not playing against a blue deck, he can easily be boarded out.
I played both Grixis and RWU against my friends new Mono Green beats deck. River Boa was the all star. Sittign back on Vines of Vastwood made it very difficult to get rid of, and the support of Leatherback Baloth and Wolfbriar Elemental made things very diffcult.
After a Day of Judgment, River Boa was all that remianed. People might soon really miss that extra sentence on Wrath of God.
River Boa produces a great 2 drop for green. You could arguee Nissa's Chosen, but he only regens himself if you have Nissa out. And to be honest, with the new wave of green beats, I don't think mono greens future lies with elves.
River Boa. He's back !
I'm Da_Man on Cockatrice
nowdays, you have EtBT trip lands, EtBT dual lands, halimar depths and so on. they produce blue, but are not islands, which makes walking them harder. sure you could try to path to exile and then hope they fetch an island, but thats probably not the greatest of ways to go.
still, as river boa goes, having 2 power for 2 mana and regen is solid, and really green should be getting more of these kind of guys, rather than stupid craw wurm or arbitrary super huge 6CMC+ fat dork who doesnt have regen or shroud or evasion.
I disagree that there's enough nonbasic lands that produce U around to significantly weaken River Boa. If your opponent is playing nothing but EtBT lands, your opponent is always going to be a turn behind. When playing aggro, having your opponent give you an entire extra turn is a godsend. That means Wooly Thoctar is going to be turning sideways when they have 2 mana open, not 3 (if you're going second), and only one mana open if you have the first turn. I realize that there's things (Doom Blade) they can do with two mana, but honestly, if they spend 1 mana something turn 2, and do nothing turn 3 (so they can kill whatever's coming out), in my mind they've already lost.
Point is, any advantage they have by not playing basic Islands is lost tenfold against the deck that gets the most out of River Boa.
River boa + spreading seas sounds quite fun...
Even still, regen is awsome
I think he is good, but I think his days of terrorizing blue are done honestly. He's good, but I think that the Stag is better. Bigger body, more likely to end up unblockable against many decks running blue, regardless of their mana base. Can't be bounced or countered. Not to mention, the Stag is more versatile in terms of terrorizing vamps or even a good portion of Jund.
It is good to see him back and he is a nightmare in limited though.
BRG Jund Midrange GRB //// B Vampire Aggro B //// WRU Patriot Control URW
Extended:
RGW Zoo WGR
Legacy:
RUG Canadian Thresh GUR
EDH:
U Arcum Dagsson U //// WB Teysa, Orzhov Scion BW //// UR Jhoira of the Ghitu RU
Special thanks to spiderboy4 of High~Light Studios for the banner
thats why you play both, and watch a blue deck ☺☺☺☺ themselved when you go turn 1 scute mob,turn2 riverboa,turn3 GSS
I agree, GSS is pretty nice. But when we were building my friend deck we decided River Boa was probably the best 2 drop in green.