I've been trying a heroic r/b lately. I know heroic decks aren't great in the format, but I'm holding my breath and hoping at least one of them gets a nice buff when the next set comes out. In the meantime, this deck seems faster than W/R heroic aggro, which is still sorta relevant. And unlike other heroic decks, it can actually keep up the steam if the initial barrage fails with card advantage from Read the Bones and direct damage from Magma Jet.
I'm new, and I don't know how to put the cards in the fancy deck format, so if someone would be willing to help me with that, I'll edit my post. In the meantime, here's my card list:
Spells:
1 CMC: 4x Boon of Erebos, 4x Coordinated Assault, 3x Titan's Strength
2 CMC: 3x Magma Jet, 4x Ordeal of Purphoros, 4x Scourgemark
3 CMC: 4x Read the Bones
Total: 26
Lands: x12 Swamp, x10 Mountain
Total: 22
Battles go like this: play 1 drops, get massive damage in on turns 2-3 via heroic creatures and big nasty buffs like Boon of Erebos, Ordeal of Purphoros, and Titan's strength. Then you play your draw engines if you're out of steam, eventually aiming to use a Mogis's Marauder or Magma Jets to finish the kill.
I find that the deck is less susceptible to removal than most heroic decks because you're using the heroic feature only for temporary boosts, not long-term buffs. You're also just trying to amass creatures to get something through for your instant buffs rather than trying to get specific killers like Fabled Hero through.
I know the deck is light on creatures, any of the bigger creatures either lack heroic or are too annoying to cast. Agent of the Fates in particular is a pain to get on the board with its 1BB cost, and red doesn't have much more heroic going on beyond Akroan Crusader. I'd consider something like Minotaur Skullcleaver, but as a 3-drop it'll usually come out after my opponents already have their defenses up.
Nah, I agree, with the OP, Agent of Fates is a trap. Agent might not even come out in a lot of games until turn 4 or 5 or even 6, and if you haven't won by then, then you'd rather have reach than disruption.
You might try Agent in a kind of transformative sideboard to turn the deck into something a bit slower and more disruptive, but with Master of Waves in the format, even that seems kinda subpar.
The weakest cards in the deck are the Ordeals, by far. Yeah, the effect seems awesome, until you realize that there is literally zero way of adding extra counters. So you just have to wait until turn 4 to make the card into anything better than Forced Adaptation. I would try Dragon Mantle in that slot. Much more mana intensive, but it improves your draws and is way less risky when it doesn't pay off.
Also - and this is just my preference for playstyle - I'd remove a land for a misers Titan's Strength. This has the benefit of making opponent really leery of risky blocks that Assault just can't fix, on top of making it easier to race in a lot of situations.
The only other thing I'd say is that Tormented Hero and Akroan Crusader are good against different decks. If your opponent can defend with creatures, then you'd rather not be playing Hero. If your opponent can defend with sweepers, then you'd rather not be playing Crusader. That being the case, I'd move the Crusaders into the sideboard and replace them with something like Arena Athlete.
I know it slows you down quite a bit, but as it stands now, there's not really a matchup where all your cards are good, and that's not a great place to be. At least with a Hero/Athlete mix, you have a really solid game vs any early-game blockers.
Wit's End is the PERFECT answer to your opponent's Monomania however.
Just hold on to your Wit's End when they Monomania, so you can Wit's End them on your next turn!!!
I think this is fairly reminiscent of the "Jace Battles" we have seen in past standards.. My guess is we will soon witness the great Monomania-Wit's End battles.
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I'm new, and I don't know how to put the cards in the fancy deck format, so if someone would be willing to help me with that, I'll edit my post. In the meantime, here's my card list:
Creatures:
1 CMC: 4x Akroan Crusader, 4x Tormented Hero
3 CMC: 4x Mogis's Marauder
Total: 12
Spells:
1 CMC: 4x Boon of Erebos, 4x Coordinated Assault, 3x Titan's Strength
2 CMC: 3x Magma Jet, 4x Ordeal of Purphoros, 4x Scourgemark
3 CMC: 4x Read the Bones
Total: 26
Lands: x12 Swamp, x10 Mountain
Total: 22
Battles go like this: play 1 drops, get massive damage in on turns 2-3 via heroic creatures and big nasty buffs like Boon of Erebos, Ordeal of Purphoros, and Titan's strength. Then you play your draw engines if you're out of steam, eventually aiming to use a Mogis's Marauder or Magma Jets to finish the kill.
I find that the deck is less susceptible to removal than most heroic decks because you're using the heroic feature only for temporary boosts, not long-term buffs. You're also just trying to amass creatures to get something through for your instant buffs rather than trying to get specific killers like Fabled Hero through.
I know the deck is light on creatures, any of the bigger creatures either lack heroic or are too annoying to cast. Agent of the Fates in particular is a pain to get on the board with its 1BB cost, and red doesn't have much more heroic going on beyond Akroan Crusader. I'd consider something like Minotaur Skullcleaver, but as a 3-drop it'll usually come out after my opponents already have their defenses up.
You might try Agent in a kind of transformative sideboard to turn the deck into something a bit slower and more disruptive, but with Master of Waves in the format, even that seems kinda subpar.
The weakest cards in the deck are the Ordeals, by far. Yeah, the effect seems awesome, until you realize that there is literally zero way of adding extra counters. So you just have to wait until turn 4 to make the card into anything better than Forced Adaptation. I would try Dragon Mantle in that slot. Much more mana intensive, but it improves your draws and is way less risky when it doesn't pay off.
Also - and this is just my preference for playstyle - I'd remove a land for a misers Titan's Strength. This has the benefit of making opponent really leery of risky blocks that Assault just can't fix, on top of making it easier to race in a lot of situations.
The only other thing I'd say is that Tormented Hero and Akroan Crusader are good against different decks. If your opponent can defend with creatures, then you'd rather not be playing Hero. If your opponent can defend with sweepers, then you'd rather not be playing Crusader. That being the case, I'd move the Crusaders into the sideboard and replace them with something like Arena Athlete.
I know it slows you down quite a bit, but as it stands now, there's not really a matchup where all your cards are good, and that's not a great place to be. At least with a Hero/Athlete mix, you have a really solid game vs any early-game blockers.