I'm brainstorming a deck for the new Avacyn, and a few ideas came to mind.
The obvious, a mass land destruction build. Done before. I'd still argue though, no general would support an Armageddon suite better. The tempo swing is just so hard to stop when Avacyn can be cast at end of turn, then you untap and wipe lands, not to mention possibly wiping the board of everything 3/3 or smaller. MLD decks struggle the most with guaranteeing proper timing of their board presence, and this general solves that completely. The rest would build itself - Thaalia, Sphere of Resistance, etc. Solidly in the realm of strong, but not quite competitive tier.
The other idea I had was a casual one. Now, it occurred to me "wisdom too often never comes, so we ought not to reject it merely becuase it comes late". So, this will be that idea.
The best way to descibe the strategy here is by drawing a parallel to an old deck of Ravnica block standard - Angelfire. Basically, imagine a format with as many signets as you want at 2 mana, then Lightning Angel, Lightning Helix, Court Hussar and Remand in the format. It was Jeskai Midrange before there was Jeskai. Unlike a lot of midrange, it happened to thrive in a Standard format with lots of traditional Control like Mystical Teachings. It contested unfavored archetypes with a teriffic late-game card in Demonfire. The original build ran 4x of the card. The way the game would go, you'd beat in with creatures that attacked for free, do the small amount of board state management that your life gain and blockers required you to do, then win abruptly with burn to the dome. It didn't really matter how late-developing or mana-inefficient that burn was, your deck got you to survive to that point. And it didn't matter that you didn't have the creature density to overwhelm any matchup, your burn got you the rest of the way.
So, essentially it worked off of two elements:
1) Life total management. You'd mix in some cost-free attacking with vigilance, some incidental life gain of spells, all just pointed at the idea keeping up some presence. In this EDH deck, this will be accomplished by Avacyn and her threat as a blocker, her flip ability to manage small-sized boards, and her ETB trigger to protect threats like Wurmcoil Engine that prevent you from getting raced.
2) Explosive damage to the dome. Angelfire did this with a small set of one card, but this deck will expand it to a little more of a theme. There are some small things that give Control players fits, like Spellshock and Manabarbs, and then on top is a finish with Price of Progress and Increasing Vengeance off of Sunforger, or alternatively, a Repercussion blowout, or a big-mana Fault Line copied multiple times for the win.
Been thinking a lot about deck strategy for her as well and I'm thinking of an Impact Sisters angle. Looking at the lifegain buffer of white and burn power of red, how the general has both a protect and destroy side, and using token production to feed both Soul's Attendant and Impact Tremors (though let's be honest Purphoros would be there as well and a more reliable win con to Impact Tremors). Token production helps to feed the flip condition for Avacyn, and could also feed both Goblin Bombardment and Vicious Shadows. Avacyn is also a nice rattlesnake against your opponents wrathing the board and destroying your tokens before you're ready to use them. Damage doublers should definitely be in there, Gisela, Dictate, and some X-spells to burn/make tokens. I'm a little shy of Repercussion as would need to play around it some with token production and Blasphemous Act a thing.
Anyways, I'll link when I come up with a decklist.
Trading Post notwithstanding, I don't think you have enough creatures to reliably flip Avacyn.
Has your testing proven otherwise?
No, I think you're probably right. It might be slightly better than it looks after Turn 5-6 or so due to the draw, but also, I am not really building with that in mind.
Here's my rationale on that. If it were an Instant, on-demand effect, I would value it a lot more in stopping Overrun alpha-strikes, Kiki combos, and what have you. But in clearing the board next upkeep of unbuffed Beast tokens, utility creatures, etc, all as a one-time, telegraphed effect from the Command Zone, that's a bit lower priority. If I'd opted for more effects like Conjurer's Closet and Erratic Portal to get her back unflipped again, that would be another direction, and I'd certainly want more creatures. But it would require a lot of deck slots to meeting the two separate goals of getting a creature on board and getting her back unflipped. Not to mention, somehow harmonizing the two effects of laying down creatures and wiping the board without them competing against each other.
For this deck, I am thinking of her flip more along the lines of a "rattlesnake" deterrent effect. I figure that in the most common case for this deck, there will be something like Kurkesh or Baneslayer Angel down, nothing that I really want to lose to get her to flip. But hopefully my opponents won't want to kill it, that's my idea. With Avacyn in the Command Zone, removal goes elsewhere because the creature's protected. Once she's down, if they have a board of small creatures to protect, they still don't want to kill it and flip Avacyn. A third player without a board might wipe, but that would happen anyway. So if something of mine does get targeted, it have to end up being Avacyn, who I can just replay again for effect. Besides, turning a 4/4 vigilance into a 6/5 without is not very enticing for this deck. Even in unflipped form, you should be mostly good from x/3's. For everything else, there's MasterCard... I mean, Sunforger.
In the end though, I really want to add Weathered Wayfarer for Kher Keep. Maybe Expedition Map. I just don't have a feel yet for whether the mana requirements of this deck allow me to use all that mana to tutor and produce Kobolds. That is a possible route though.
Been thinking a lot about deck strategy for her as well and I'm thinking of an Impact Sisters angle. Looking at the lifegain buffer of white and burn power of red, how the general has both a protect and destroy side, and using token production to feed both Soul's Attendant and Impact Tremors (though let's be honest Purphoros would be there as well and a more reliable win con to Impact Tremors). Token production helps to feed the flip condition for Avacyn, and could also feed both Goblin Bombardment and Vicious Shadows. Avacyn is also a nice rattlesnake against your opponents wrathing the board and destroying your tokens before you're ready to use them. Damage doublers should definitely be in there, Gisela, Dictate, and some X-spells to burn/make tokens. I'm a little shy of Repercussion as would need to play around it some with token production and Blasphemous Act a thing.
Anyways, I'll link when I come up with a decklist.
Sounds like a plan.
While we're thinking on it though, the one thing I worry about Boros (and Gruul, Mono-R, W, etc) is threat density. It really competes directly with synergy, since synergetic pieces have less impact on their own. The only way to solve the problem, of course, is draw and tutors, which is why the concern in these colors.
My list above is pretty low on synergy, admittedly. And, I'm sure there is a pretty strong Purph win somewhere in a given RW deck. I'm just not very adventerous in these colors. For me, it always just comes down to - stick two mana rocks, tutor Sunforger, spend the next little while preventing the table from killing said Sunforger... profit??? I suppose next step could be Enlightened Tutor for something, maybe Purph, but that is a really long way in getting to Purph. That's probably not the route you're thinking.
I just have nightmares of the hands a deck can give you like - 3x land, 1x mana rock, 1x Auriok Champion, 1x Impact Tremors, 1x instant, draw or other such card, and then no token producers for 10 cards deep. Seems like Assemble the Legion has to follow a card like Purph very closely for either to be at their best. Not that Purph/Impact tremors gets killed, but more for the ramp-up time. Same thing could be said about ramp-up time for Manabarbs, Spellshock, etc, but at least those lock out players pretty well who are on less than 10'ish life, as I've experienced multiple times. Pro tip I learned in our group, have respect for Bloodchief Ascension when your deck likes casting Intuition.
I goldfished the deck some, and tested this build for the first time in a game on Cocka. The game was labeled casual, but a Living Death combo was what went down. I'm not sure that isn't casual relative to Cocka, but that is just the deal. The decks I play for fun and get stomped with on Cocka get me booted from games on MODO, much less paper. I'll continue to hold the Sunforger, Lapse of Certainty, Oblation set as necessary to a late-developing Boros deck without MLD, until I see that it isn't.
Anyway, the first step is deciding what you want to do, second step is getting it to do that. Seems ok so far, not quite there. Having Sun Titan, Emeria Shepherd, and Welder in the deck seems definitely like what I'll be wanting. I drew Shepherd in the game not having ever played her before, and she was very solid.
The bad, the deck doesn't have nearly as much mana as my Aurelia deck, seems to be the main problem. Cards I want to make room for - Weathered Wayfarer, Everflowing Chalice, Mirrorworks. I would play Grim Monolith too if I weren't planning on building this in paper (don't own one).
I definitely will put the Wayfarer in, somehow. The deck has really wanted to get Terrain Generator, ideally with Ancient Tomb beforehand. Aurelia nearly always makes a mana rock at 2cmc, this deck never does, and so failing to make extra mana on three also is terrible every time it happens.
I've got a few more games in with the deck, and once again, the issue just seems to be ironing out the correct mana and draw requirements for the strategy. Typically decks with Sunforger just want mana and lots of it, but this deck actually seems to want more draw than it wants mana. If it hits a major piece like Scroll Rack, Land Tax or Mind's Eye, mana soon works itself out with the amount of rocks here. If that doesn't happen though, the topdecking slog is real. There are just a lot of low-impact and slow-acting cards. Compounding that, the small draw cards (Tormenting Voice, etc) aren't working. There is not enough recursion consistently in the deck to be able to profit off of a discard.
I think the solution is to cut those small pieces, raise the curve a bit to fit in some more volume, then get extremely creative with ways to use mana on Turn 2 and 3. I've already been doing what I can in Thawing Glaciers, Thespian's Stage, Karoo's, and Terrain Generator. I swore off those a long time ago as bad cards, but taking them up now hasn't come back to slap me in the face yet. Otherwise, I'll look for some cantrips and/or cycling. It needs some more goldfishing, then testing.
Cards I want to add: Weathered Wayfarer - as above Mirrorworks - Maybe another mana dump will leave me less hurt when drawing peters out. Solemn Simulacrum - The number of times I have used Welder/Emeria Shepherd to just draw with stuff like Commander's Sphere justify at least one card like this in the deck. Plea for Guidance - Land Tax is one of those things worth 7 mana for this deck. Idyllic Tutor - Same thing with Land Tax. Sword of Fire and Ice - I still feel that all 5 of the current equipments are more important to the deck, but topdecking just sucks that bad. Smash - Replacement for small cycling cards, helps Sunforger be a bit better, and nearly always has a target. Aura Blast - Same thing as above, more commonly lacks for a target. Wants to kill Grave Pact.
Cards I will be cutting in their place: Wild Guess and others, as above. Archangel of Thune - It's honestly third tier here among lifelink creatures (behind Wurmcoil and Baneslayer). Grabbing Hammer is exremely common for this deck too. Besides, I'm not thrilled for budget reasons about getting one just because it's average in this one deck. Stonecloaker - I keep thinking that this is the deck, but it hasn't been. Hallowed Moonlight has been enough for this deck, and honestly recursion based decks are not hard for this strategy to deal with innately, as long as their Grave Pact is taken out. Miraculous Recovery - This one hurts the worst. But only 5 targets that actually end up saving me mana makes this really inconsistent. If I go back to this, it will be Karmic Guide for just working better with Feldon, Displacer, and so on.
I was reminded of an old spellslinger tool recently - Molten Psyche. Considering that Winds of Change has been on and off the radar for this deck, I think I'm going to find room to test it. It seems like another compact piece capable of ending the game with Sunforger into Increasing Vengeance. I count damage of 6x the number of cards in a player's hand with that line just off flashback, and it's all one-sided too.
More importantly, it's also cycling for all the lands that Land Tax can put into your grip. The idea seems to be taking shape.
Yeah my strategy comes down to a few key cards, but they're cards I can reliably find in these colors, and if I'm pumping out tokens a couple of overrun type cards can take advantage of tokens (tokens I can protect with my general). Cathar's Crusade, Mirror Entity(which could be tutored by any creature grab, goblin matron, etc).
I think the key to card advantage in Boros is recognizing how the colors like putting cards in your hand. Tutoring for equipment and enchantments are two things the colors do well. You're on the right path in making sure you have a way to get Land Tax, such a key card to filtering out your deck and fueling Scroll Rack. I'm guessing you're leaving out Academy Rector because of a lack of a reliable way to sac her, though a couple of sac outlets seem good for this deck, letting you flip Avacyn at will. One reason I like tokens in this deck is not only do they fuel Avacyn flips, but they fuel Skullclamp, Boros' favorite card advantage engine since there are at least 6 ways to tutor equipment that I can think of without working too hard.
Two glaring absences that make me wonder if you just forgot to put them in are Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul. The second I love to dance around the top deck with Sensei's Divining Top. Especially if you've been pulling out your lands, your Wheel should be quite profitable. Also, though spendy, Staff of Nin doubling your card draw and giving you a pinger (not to mention a way to kill a 1 toughness creature to fuel Avacyn) might be worth considering.
Yeah, I see your point. This deck right now has not had any of the beatdown aspect that I thought it would. I am not sure how to remedy that at the time being, since I'm going to really need a lot of mana, I also want some key spells, and so remaining slots go really fast.
On Academy Rector, that is one of those that unsettles my stomach a bit. Just one of those where I don't want to invite myself (or others) to play to the strengths of it. See it in one game getting Land Tax, see it in the next getting Vicious Shadows, then you are on to using Survival for it, into Omniscience. I might change my mind, but I don't have plans to own one.
Wheel and Reforge, kind of a long explanation. First obvious point is that the higher a deck's curve is relative to others, the worse it is, and this one is about 3.2. Otherwise, if you think you're deck can't lose on its best draw, it's going to be great, but this one I'm not sure. Those two are not usually compelling reasons to keep it out, but it's also that I don't lean very strongly toward Wheel in decks that are likely to force you to pop it. With no control over using it, it becomes a Wheel of Fate. It's when it can sit in your hand a bit and wait for a good spot, then it's a great card. Basically, it lives up to its reputation only in very fast decks, very undermatched decks, or very reactive decks, and it's just that most all decks happen to be one or the other. Maybe this will change when Avacyn is released and I can run it in the MODO environment, but so far for this one, the only spots where I've really wanted Wheel is where I was basically topdecking, and even there it was probably letting 1-2 other players back into the game. Maybe I'm wrong about it though, and there's a lot of work left to do for this deck I'm feeling.
Wheel can definitely invite someone back into the game, I've seen it work more for the opponents than the one playing it. On the other hand, there's nothing as satisfying as casting it when someone has quietly been accumulating combo pieces and you dump them in the yard. Wheel can also make sure cards like Sword of War and Peace and that other number of cards in hand card you mentioned hit with some force.
Speaking of dumping in the yard, Argivian Find deserves a look. Sunforger target, can GET Sunforger back, generally good considering what cards you value in this deck.
One other thought - I've been surprised by Anvil of Bogardan in my decks recently. Not every deck wants to filter via discarding, and it's much better in graveyard oriented decks obviously, but if you've got Land Tax out picking a card to discard is easy. Not as good as Staff of Nin perhaps, but it can come out turn 1 sometimes. Yeah it's sort of a howling mine for your opponents, but they also have to discard. I also appreciate seeing how my opponents decide what to toss, gives you good info on their strategy and gameplay.
On Academy Rector I disagree. You're saying you want the deck to be good without wanting to make it good. I get that Rector has a reputation and if this was a Bant enchantress deck I'd Swords it on sight, but I feel no shame in playing it in a deck that already has a disadvantage in card draw.
I goldfished a bunch more with the deck, got in one game. It was about 6 turns before the clunkiness finally found me, but it did. The clunkiness reminds me of the same sort that I had with the Xenagos deck. What I did there was drop the equips in favor of anything that could beat in on its own.
I might try out that take with Avacyn, only she'd be the after-the-fact make sure your beatstick doesn't eat dirt, rather than before the fact double up your next beater. Not sure, but worth a spin or two.
Honestly, I think one more equip unconditional tutor will have huge impact. Games where I can't draw Sunforger are already in the minority, now that fraction of games will be limited even further. Really happy about this card for EDH.
[Puresteel Paladin] seems pretty good in this deck. Also, [Sword of Fire and Ice] seems to be an obvious choice. I run her as a pseudo voltron general. I run [Mask of Memory] and the other "draw when damage is dealt" equipment. As a mana tutor I run [Sword of the Animist].
The obvious, a mass land destruction build. Done before. I'd still argue though, no general would support an Armageddon suite better. The tempo swing is just so hard to stop when Avacyn can be cast at end of turn, then you untap and wipe lands, not to mention possibly wiping the board of everything 3/3 or smaller. MLD decks struggle the most with guaranteeing proper timing of their board presence, and this general solves that completely. The rest would build itself - Thaalia, Sphere of Resistance, etc. Solidly in the realm of strong, but not quite competitive tier.
The other idea I had was a casual one. Now, it occurred to me "wisdom too often never comes, so we ought not to reject it merely becuase it comes late". So, this will be that idea.
The best way to descibe the strategy here is by drawing a parallel to an old deck of Ravnica block standard - Angelfire. Basically, imagine a format with as many signets as you want at 2 mana, then Lightning Angel, Lightning Helix, Court Hussar and Remand in the format. It was Jeskai Midrange before there was Jeskai. Unlike a lot of midrange, it happened to thrive in a Standard format with lots of traditional Control like Mystical Teachings. It contested unfavored archetypes with a teriffic late-game card in Demonfire. The original build ran 4x of the card. The way the game would go, you'd beat in with creatures that attacked for free, do the small amount of board state management that your life gain and blockers required you to do, then win abruptly with burn to the dome. It didn't really matter how late-developing or mana-inefficient that burn was, your deck got you to survive to that point. And it didn't matter that you didn't have the creature density to overwhelm any matchup, your burn got you the rest of the way.
So, essentially it worked off of two elements:
1) Life total management. You'd mix in some cost-free attacking with vigilance, some incidental life gain of spells, all just pointed at the idea keeping up some presence. In this EDH deck, this will be accomplished by Avacyn and her threat as a blocker, her flip ability to manage small-sized boards, and her ETB trigger to protect threats like Wurmcoil Engine that prevent you from getting raced.
2) Explosive damage to the dome. Angelfire did this with a small set of one card, but this deck will expand it to a little more of a theme. There are some small things that give Control players fits, like Spellshock and Manabarbs, and then on top is a finish with Price of Progress and Increasing Vengeance off of Sunforger, or alternatively, a Repercussion blowout, or a big-mana Fault Line copied multiple times for the win.
Here is the first draft:
1 Archangel Avacyn
Artifacts
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault
1 Voltaic Key
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Hedron Archive
1 Mind Stone
1 Scroll Rack
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Basalt Monolith
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Sunforger
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Clock of Omens
1 Trading Post
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Pyromancer's Goggles
1 Mind's Eye
1 Alhammarret's Archive
1 Goblin Welder
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Brass Squire
1 Feldon of the Third Path
1 Eldrazi Displacer
1 Stonecloaker
1 Mondronen Shaman
1 Auriok Windwalker
1 Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 Sun Titan
1 Emeria Shepherd
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Enchantments
1 Land Tax
1 Pyrostatic Pillar
1 Spellshock
1 Repercussion
1 Manabarbs
1 Dictate of the Twin Gods
1 Tithe
1 Cloudshift
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Price of Progress
1 Increasing Vengeance
1 Fault Line
1 Boros Charm
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Arcbond
1 Lapse of Certainty
1 Oblation
1 Comeuppance
1 Miraculous Recovery
Sorcery
1 Magmatic Insight
1 Faithless Looting
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Wild Guess
1 Tormenting Voice
1 Chandra's Ignition
Land
35x As Desired
Enjoy. Any suggestions welcome.
Has your testing proven otherwise?
Anyways, I'll link when I come up with a decklist.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
No, I think you're probably right. It might be slightly better than it looks after Turn 5-6 or so due to the draw, but also, I am not really building with that in mind.
Here's my rationale on that. If it were an Instant, on-demand effect, I would value it a lot more in stopping Overrun alpha-strikes, Kiki combos, and what have you. But in clearing the board next upkeep of unbuffed Beast tokens, utility creatures, etc, all as a one-time, telegraphed effect from the Command Zone, that's a bit lower priority. If I'd opted for more effects like Conjurer's Closet and Erratic Portal to get her back unflipped again, that would be another direction, and I'd certainly want more creatures. But it would require a lot of deck slots to meeting the two separate goals of getting a creature on board and getting her back unflipped. Not to mention, somehow harmonizing the two effects of laying down creatures and wiping the board without them competing against each other.
For this deck, I am thinking of her flip more along the lines of a "rattlesnake" deterrent effect. I figure that in the most common case for this deck, there will be something like Kurkesh or Baneslayer Angel down, nothing that I really want to lose to get her to flip. But hopefully my opponents won't want to kill it, that's my idea. With Avacyn in the Command Zone, removal goes elsewhere because the creature's protected. Once she's down, if they have a board of small creatures to protect, they still don't want to kill it and flip Avacyn. A third player without a board might wipe, but that would happen anyway. So if something of mine does get targeted, it have to end up being Avacyn, who I can just replay again for effect. Besides, turning a 4/4 vigilance into a 6/5 without is not very enticing for this deck. Even in unflipped form, you should be mostly good from x/3's. For everything else, there's MasterCard... I mean, Sunforger.
In the end though, I really want to add Weathered Wayfarer for Kher Keep. Maybe Expedition Map. I just don't have a feel yet for whether the mana requirements of this deck allow me to use all that mana to tutor and produce Kobolds. That is a possible route though.
Sounds like a plan.
While we're thinking on it though, the one thing I worry about Boros (and Gruul, Mono-R, W, etc) is threat density. It really competes directly with synergy, since synergetic pieces have less impact on their own. The only way to solve the problem, of course, is draw and tutors, which is why the concern in these colors.
My list above is pretty low on synergy, admittedly. And, I'm sure there is a pretty strong Purph win somewhere in a given RW deck. I'm just not very adventerous in these colors. For me, it always just comes down to - stick two mana rocks, tutor Sunforger, spend the next little while preventing the table from killing said Sunforger... profit??? I suppose next step could be Enlightened Tutor for something, maybe Purph, but that is a really long way in getting to Purph. That's probably not the route you're thinking.
I just have nightmares of the hands a deck can give you like - 3x land, 1x mana rock, 1x Auriok Champion, 1x Impact Tremors, 1x instant, draw or other such card, and then no token producers for 10 cards deep. Seems like Assemble the Legion has to follow a card like Purph very closely for either to be at their best. Not that Purph/Impact tremors gets killed, but more for the ramp-up time. Same thing could be said about ramp-up time for Manabarbs, Spellshock, etc, but at least those lock out players pretty well who are on less than 10'ish life, as I've experienced multiple times. Pro tip I learned in our group, have respect for Bloodchief Ascension when your deck likes casting Intuition.
Anyway, the first step is deciding what you want to do, second step is getting it to do that. Seems ok so far, not quite there. Having Sun Titan, Emeria Shepherd, and Welder in the deck seems definitely like what I'll be wanting. I drew Shepherd in the game not having ever played her before, and she was very solid.
The bad, the deck doesn't have nearly as much mana as my Aurelia deck, seems to be the main problem. Cards I want to make room for - Weathered Wayfarer, Everflowing Chalice, Mirrorworks. I would play Grim Monolith too if I weren't planning on building this in paper (don't own one).
I definitely will put the Wayfarer in, somehow. The deck has really wanted to get Terrain Generator, ideally with Ancient Tomb beforehand. Aurelia nearly always makes a mana rock at 2cmc, this deck never does, and so failing to make extra mana on three also is terrible every time it happens.
I think the solution is to cut those small pieces, raise the curve a bit to fit in some more volume, then get extremely creative with ways to use mana on Turn 2 and 3. I've already been doing what I can in Thawing Glaciers, Thespian's Stage, Karoo's, and Terrain Generator. I swore off those a long time ago as bad cards, but taking them up now hasn't come back to slap me in the face yet. Otherwise, I'll look for some cantrips and/or cycling. It needs some more goldfishing, then testing.
Cards I want to add:
Weathered Wayfarer - as above
Mirrorworks - Maybe another mana dump will leave me less hurt when drawing peters out.
Solemn Simulacrum - The number of times I have used Welder/Emeria Shepherd to just draw with stuff like Commander's Sphere justify at least one card like this in the deck.
Plea for Guidance - Land Tax is one of those things worth 7 mana for this deck.
Idyllic Tutor - Same thing with Land Tax.
Sword of Fire and Ice - I still feel that all 5 of the current equipments are more important to the deck, but topdecking just sucks that bad.
Smash - Replacement for small cycling cards, helps Sunforger be a bit better, and nearly always has a target.
Aura Blast - Same thing as above, more commonly lacks for a target. Wants to kill Grave Pact.
Cards I will be cutting in their place:
Wild Guess and others, as above.
Archangel of Thune - It's honestly third tier here among lifelink creatures (behind Wurmcoil and Baneslayer). Grabbing Hammer is exremely common for this deck too. Besides, I'm not thrilled for budget reasons about getting one just because it's average in this one deck.
Stonecloaker - I keep thinking that this is the deck, but it hasn't been. Hallowed Moonlight has been enough for this deck, and honestly recursion based decks are not hard for this strategy to deal with innately, as long as their Grave Pact is taken out.
Miraculous Recovery - This one hurts the worst. But only 5 targets that actually end up saving me mana makes this really inconsistent. If I go back to this, it will be Karmic Guide for just working better with Feldon, Displacer, and so on.
This deck still has a long way to go.
More importantly, it's also cycling for all the lands that Land Tax can put into your grip. The idea seems to be taking shape.
I think the key to card advantage in Boros is recognizing how the colors like putting cards in your hand. Tutoring for equipment and enchantments are two things the colors do well. You're on the right path in making sure you have a way to get Land Tax, such a key card to filtering out your deck and fueling Scroll Rack. I'm guessing you're leaving out Academy Rector because of a lack of a reliable way to sac her, though a couple of sac outlets seem good for this deck, letting you flip Avacyn at will. One reason I like tokens in this deck is not only do they fuel Avacyn flips, but they fuel Skullclamp, Boros' favorite card advantage engine since there are at least 6 ways to tutor equipment that I can think of without working too hard.
Two glaring absences that make me wonder if you just forgot to put them in are Wheel of Fortune and Reforge the Soul. The second I love to dance around the top deck with Sensei's Divining Top. Especially if you've been pulling out your lands, your Wheel should be quite profitable. Also, though spendy, Staff of Nin doubling your card draw and giving you a pinger (not to mention a way to kill a 1 toughness creature to fuel Avacyn) might be worth considering.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
On Academy Rector, that is one of those that unsettles my stomach a bit. Just one of those where I don't want to invite myself (or others) to play to the strengths of it. See it in one game getting Land Tax, see it in the next getting Vicious Shadows, then you are on to using Survival for it, into Omniscience. I might change my mind, but I don't have plans to own one.
Wheel and Reforge, kind of a long explanation. First obvious point is that the higher a deck's curve is relative to others, the worse it is, and this one is about 3.2. Otherwise, if you think you're deck can't lose on its best draw, it's going to be great, but this one I'm not sure. Those two are not usually compelling reasons to keep it out, but it's also that I don't lean very strongly toward Wheel in decks that are likely to force you to pop it. With no control over using it, it becomes a Wheel of Fate. It's when it can sit in your hand a bit and wait for a good spot, then it's a great card. Basically, it lives up to its reputation only in very fast decks, very undermatched decks, or very reactive decks, and it's just that most all decks happen to be one or the other. Maybe this will change when Avacyn is released and I can run it in the MODO environment, but so far for this one, the only spots where I've really wanted Wheel is where I was basically topdecking, and even there it was probably letting 1-2 other players back into the game. Maybe I'm wrong about it though, and there's a lot of work left to do for this deck I'm feeling.
Speaking of dumping in the yard, Argivian Find deserves a look. Sunforger target, can GET Sunforger back, generally good considering what cards you value in this deck.
One other thought - I've been surprised by Anvil of Bogardan in my decks recently. Not every deck wants to filter via discarding, and it's much better in graveyard oriented decks obviously, but if you've got Land Tax out picking a card to discard is easy. Not as good as Staff of Nin perhaps, but it can come out turn 1 sometimes. Yeah it's sort of a howling mine for your opponents, but they also have to discard. I also appreciate seeing how my opponents decide what to toss, gives you good info on their strategy and gameplay.
On Academy Rector I disagree. You're saying you want the deck to be good without wanting to make it good. I get that Rector has a reputation and if this was a Bant enchantress deck I'd Swords it on sight, but I feel no shame in playing it in a deck that already has a disadvantage in card draw.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
I might try out that take with Avacyn, only she'd be the after-the-fact make sure your beatstick doesn't eat dirt, rather than before the fact double up your next beater. Not sure, but worth a spin or two.
Honestly, I think one more equip unconditional tutor will have huge impact. Games where I can't draw Sunforger are already in the minority, now that fraction of games will be limited even further. Really happy about this card for EDH.
WUBG Atraxa, Praetors' Voice (Planeswalkers)