Notable sideboard tech. We may not define as a Stompy/Pillow/lock deck but we def focus on a fair game and if anything from jumping into Legacy has taught me, DnT type plans of making your unfair opponent play fair is often good for myself.
This just seems worth looking at purely as a good value 2/2 for 2. No additional cost to go wide FAST.
I suggest taking a page from the standard Burn lists. Monestary Swiftspears and Goblin Guides will help add another turn faster of punch. Honor the Pure just isn't cutting it. You don't see an Honor and they have a Pyroclasm and you game is over... if really wanting to stay with a low to the ground W based build get some Brimaz. He's a much bigger body and allows you to go wide and make more dudes when their spot removal is likely starting to sputter out. Stayinnin W maybe you need a few early harder punchers like Steppe Lynx. With Fetches he is often a W Goyf if only for the first 2-3 turns.
Since your curve is so low , if you move away from Hinor the Pure try Abbot of Keral Keep. He'll most cases net you a card and you might be able to get a nice 2 for 1 once you have 3-4 lands in play. There is some lines you will have to get used to though. Unless you need the body down right away, always try to wait for turn 3 to cast him, and don't play a land before you cast him as you might flip a land anyways.
If you go back a few pages you can see some of my last lists, ignoring the human centered ones. I too was having an issue closing out some games in my local meta at the time. The Twin decks would stabilize right as I got to the end game and have them in 2-5 life against open mana with counters and maybe a Deceiver Exarch gumming up my attacks. I moved to adding some Vollcanic Fallouts and some other meta game choices like Rending Volley and Celestial Purge.
So the big question is what is holding up. You may need to shift the main deck or you may just need some sideboard tech. Next event you run through take notes and report back where you were having issues and where you were having success.
Hello guys. Earthshaker Khenra is close, but yet not the card i am seeking. I wish it was a 3/1 or had no power limit to his ability to disallow blocking. I will test him though.
Solemnity is a sideboard card. Very flavorful and if the time comes it will be used. Perhaps 2cmc would have been still ok.
Resolute Survivors could have been a nonhaste Hellrider variant, but demands your other creatures to have exert. Meh.
TIdecker88@ I don't know your budget, but i obliged to suggest Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear. Honor of the Pure demands you to go wide and cannot win the game by itself.
EVERY CARD in your deck must be able to WIN the game on the spot if left unchallenged. Always remember this. The only exception is Path to Exile, which is the best removal in the format. I suggest replaing Dismember with a burn spell, such as Searing Blaze. For alternative 1cmc creatures, there is also Zurgo Bellstriker, which works fine as a 1-off in my deck.
I'm not looking to remove Honor of the Pure, it is insane in my build.
The main problem I am having is against large creatures. They gum up the board and prevent me from swinging in until I see a Path to Exile. I am honestly considering a full set of both Path to Exile and Dismember.
Kitchen Finks is especially a problem. I might have to put a full set of Magma Spray in my 75.
I'm not looking to remove Honor of the Pure, it is insane in my build.
The main problem I am having is against large creatures. They gum up the board and prevent me from swinging in until I see a Path to Exile. I am honestly considering a full set of both Path to Exile and Dismember.
Kitchen Finks is especially a problem. I might have to put a full set of Magma Spray in my 75.
Honor is not as good as you think it is purely because you are mid representing it in your mind only by the times it was good. There are surely times it lost you the game drawing it over another attackers or a burn/removal spell. Everyone gets pet cards but just be willing to take advice, especially advice tempered by experience.
Large creatures is a broad statement. Size, color, and maybe even some specifics of the exact creatures giving problems or a metagame break down. Blindly throwing Magma Spray for example won't help against the bigger creatures even at the help of Kitchen Finks matchups. There will be some cards your have to answer not by dealing directly with the card but by using tech that counters the problem else where.
Kind of ties off the last one... The body is an issue on Kitchen Finks but the life gain is the real issue or it's interaction with other creatures. Skullcrack in response or point removal at a Melira or Vizier etc.
Having a bit of success with this list. I don't understand what's not to love about HotP. Then again, I'm more of a white weenie deck than a Boros deck.
Because you can top deck a win off an empty board more often with R. You get board wiped by a sweeper and top decking a HotP could lose you the game. Not to say it doesn't have a virtue but it needs to be as impactful in a good board state as a bad one.
Helix, the life gain is far from nothing. The extra point removal that can also top deck point to their face.
If you REALLY want to continue the W base... Martyr of Sands is a good thing to consider. Gaining 6-12 in the first 2 turns after getting in a swing anyways feels good sometimes.
What's your meta like to want Collective Definance over one of the other removal suites? I don't like pushing 3cmc or higher with out a clear reason. Soul-Scar Mage means you could be casting Volcanic Fallout and cleaning up very well without costing a lot and at Sorcery speed. I'd also like to see one Grim Lavamancer or such as a rescuing "non-combat damage" source for Soul-Scar.
I haven't tested Emerge in a long time and I assume it's a hedge against Fatal Push and Death's Shadow? In that case would it be better moved to the sideboard?
I'd also exchange the 2 Prairies for basic Plains for when you side in those Moons.
I'm bringing my deck with me to work today. New kid at work used to play Magic so I'm gonna check out what he has a d so home some of my stuff. I'll take a run through of my list and try to figure out a good suggestion. It's been so long since I've played now. The meta has shifted a few times since I last played and before that so... But I'm leaning towards suggesting reducing the Soulfure's to 1-2, add Soul-Scars up to 3-4, maybe try some Abbot of Keral Keeps since your curve ATM is low and consistent. Otherwise you could have a Bedlam Reveler or two to reload in the late game and give a larger Fatal Push resistant body. I'm personally a sucker for Prowess. I will freely admit that but it is also an ability that can help throw off opponents' combat math when you surprise drop even a single instant. I believe that was the primary use when I was testing Emerge a couple years ago.
I'm personally eager to start playing again and I want to test both the Ramunap Ruins and the W Desert that can pump your team... At the end of my regular playing I was testing everything I could trying to find a reliable advantage to press in those last points of damage or help scale up my creatures. Kelvin Monoliths could have been great math wise but just never performed. I always wish Barbarian Ring was legal for Modern and Ruins might be that "more balanced" version of it.
Planeswalkers Uniqueness rule will be gone at the release of Ixilan. All Walkers are now Legendary and follow the Legendary rules. Kytheon is now better because you can play him out and still be able to play the other Gideons as when he flips you don't have to pick "do I keep flipped Kytheon or my other Gideon?". We may see a heavy shift toward control in the meta as well as the Boros archetypes may start to merge some more again as you can take that "tribal Gideon" deck and the Boros Pillowfort and literally any other Boros list and mash them together.
This just seems worth looking at purely as a good value 2/2 for 2. No additional cost to go wide FAST.
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Solider of the Pantheon
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
4 Dryad Militant
INSTANTS AND SORCERIES
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Boros Charm
2 Dismember
4 Honor of the Pure
LANDS
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Inspiring Vantage
1 Eiganjo Castle
3 Plains
3 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Leonin Relic-warder
3 Oblivion ring
2 Dismember
1 Disenchant
Since your curve is so low , if you move away from Hinor the Pure try Abbot of Keral Keep. He'll most cases net you a card and you might be able to get a nice 2 for 1 once you have 3-4 lands in play. There is some lines you will have to get used to though. Unless you need the body down right away, always try to wait for turn 3 to cast him, and don't play a land before you cast him as you might flip a land anyways.
If you go back a few pages you can see some of my last lists, ignoring the human centered ones. I too was having an issue closing out some games in my local meta at the time. The Twin decks would stabilize right as I got to the end game and have them in 2-5 life against open mana with counters and maybe a Deceiver Exarch gumming up my attacks. I moved to adding some Vollcanic Fallouts and some other meta game choices like Rending Volley and Celestial Purge.
So the big question is what is holding up. You may need to shift the main deck or you may just need some sideboard tech. Next event you run through take notes and report back where you were having issues and where you were having success.
Earthshaker Khenra is close, but yet not the card i am seeking. I wish it was a 3/1 or had no power limit to his ability to disallow blocking. I will test him though.
Solemnity is a sideboard card. Very flavorful and if the time comes it will be used. Perhaps 2cmc would have been still ok.
Resolute Survivors could have been a nonhaste Hellrider variant, but demands your other creatures to have exert. Meh.
TIdecker88@ I don't know your budget, but i obliged to suggest Goblin Guide and Monastery Swiftspear. Honor of the Pure demands you to go wide and cannot win the game by itself.
EVERY CARD in your deck must be able to WIN the game on the spot if left unchallenged. Always remember this. The only exception is Path to Exile, which is the best removal in the format. I suggest replaing Dismember with a burn spell, such as Searing Blaze. For alternative 1cmc creatures, there is also Zurgo Bellstriker, which works fine as a 1-off in my deck.
The main problem I am having is against large creatures. They gum up the board and prevent me from swinging in until I see a Path to Exile. I am honestly considering a full set of both Path to Exile and Dismember.
Kitchen Finks is especially a problem. I might have to put a full set of Magma Spray in my 75.
4x Arid Mesa
4x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Rugged Prairie
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Wooded Foothills
Planeswalker (3)
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sorcery (3)
2x Collective Defiance
1x Forked Bolt
4x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
3x Emerge Unscathed
Creature (16)
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Soul-Scar Mage
3x Soulfire Grand Master
2x Bedlam Reveler
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Pyroclasm
2x Mirran Crusader
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Wear
Honor is not as good as you think it is purely because you are mid representing it in your mind only by the times it was good. There are surely times it lost you the game drawing it over another attackers or a burn/removal spell. Everyone gets pet cards but just be willing to take advice, especially advice tempered by experience.
Large creatures is a broad statement. Size, color, and maybe even some specifics of the exact creatures giving problems or a metagame break down. Blindly throwing Magma Spray for example won't help against the bigger creatures even at the help of Kitchen Finks matchups. There will be some cards your have to answer not by dealing directly with the card but by using tech that counters the problem else where.
Kind of ties off the last one... The body is an issue on Kitchen Finks but the life gain is the real issue or it's interaction with other creatures. Skullcrack in response or point removal at a Melira or Vizier etc.
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
4 Dryad Militant
3 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
Instants
2 Secure the Wastes
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Boros Charm
4 Honor of the Pure
Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Inspiring Vantage
1 Eiganjo Castle
4 Plains
3 Brave the Elements
3 Pithing Needle
3 Relic of Progenitus
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Leonin Relic-Warder
Having a bit of success with this list. I don't understand what's not to love about HotP. Then again, I'm more of a white weenie deck than a Boros deck.
I've narrowed it down to Ajani Goldmane, Shard Volley, Lightning Helix, Reckless Bushwhacker and Legion Loyalist.
Thoughts?
If you REALLY want to continue the W base... Martyr of Sands is a good thing to consider. Gaining 6-12 in the first 2 turns after getting in a swing anyways feels good sometimes.
4x Arid Mesa
4x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Rugged Prairie
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Wooded Foothills
Planeswalker
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
Sorcery (3)
3x Collective Defiance
4x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
3x Emerge Unscathed
Creature (16)
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Soul-Scar Mage
3x Soulfire Grand Master
2x Bedlam Reveler
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Blood Moon
2x Runed Halo
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Wear
I haven't tested Emerge in a long time and I assume it's a hedge against Fatal Push and Death's Shadow? In that case would it be better moved to the sideboard?
I'd also exchange the 2 Prairies for basic Plains for when you side in those Moons.
As for Soul-Scar and Soupfire together make a Nonbo as the Scar cancels out the Lifelink.
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Soulfire Grand Master
3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Boros Charm
4 Path to Exile
4 Emerge Unscathed
3 [flex slot]
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Windswept Heath
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Mountain
2 Plains
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Blood Moon
2x Blessed Alliance
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Wear
I'm personally eager to start playing again and I want to test both the Ramunap Ruins and the W Desert that can pump your team... At the end of my regular playing I was testing everything I could trying to find a reliable advantage to press in those last points of damage or help scale up my creatures. Kelvin Monoliths could have been great math wise but just never performed. I always wish Barbarian Ring was legal for Modern and Ruins might be that "more balanced" version of it.
4x Arid Mesa
4x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Rugged Prairie
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Wooded Foothills
Planeswalker (3)
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sorcery (2)
2x Collective Defiance
4x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
2x Valorous Stance
1x Burst Lightning
Creature (16)
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Soul-Scar Mage
3x Soulfire Grand Master
2x Bedlam Reveler
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Leyline of Sanctity
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in Peace
2x Anger of the Gods
1x Valorous Stance
1x Aven Mindcensor
2x Wear
With Thraben Inspector, Smuggler's Copter and some Thopter-stuff (Thopter Engineer, Pia and Kiran Nalaar) there is plenty of room for innovation. Along Blood Moon and Wall of Omen (can crew Copter) there are a lot of flicker-targets (Kitchen Finks...)
Green @ it's best
4x Arid Mesa
4x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Rugged Prairie
3x Sacred Foundry
3x Wooded Foothills
Planeswalker (3)
2x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Sorcery (3)
3x Collective Defiance
Instant (18)
4x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
2x Valorous Stance
Creature (15)
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Soul-Scar Mage
4x Soulfire Grand Master
Artifact (1)
1x Sword of War and Peace
Sideboard (15)
2x Blessed Alliance
3x Leyline of Sanctity
3x Volcanic Fallout
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Wear
1x Sword of Light and Shadow