So as soon as I saw Purphoros in the Theros spoiler, I started brewing a token based strategy around him, and have been working on it since. Clearly R/W doesn't have the disruption to fight against combo and control decks the way B/W can, but with a Purphoros in play, it's capable of closing out games pretty quickly with just one or two token producers and a burn spell or two. It's possible Mardu is the way to go with this, splashing for Lingering Souls and Thoughtseize, (and I'm working on that version as well), but the manabase is rough enough as is lol. Opening hands of Mountain/Mutavault/double Spectral Procession can be pretty sad. That being said, I have won more games with the deck than not. However these have been against other semi-casual/non tier 1 decks, as I haven't had the time for any real tournaments lately. So Mods, tell me and we can move this thread to casual if you prefer. Without further ado, the list:
young pyromancer and monastery mentor called to tell you they would love to be in such a spell heavy deck, but they aren't sure how many of them should show up there.
but seriously, I have been working on a similar idea. you seem like you want to lean on purph pretty hard, which is why I suggest young peezy and his mythic white cousin. those cards are threats on their own and you don't need to be tacking on shocks for them to be effective. id maybe replace some number of hordeling outbursts and spectral processions to squeeze them in, but that's just my opinion and I have not tested this deck in any meaningful way.
Thanks for the feedback. I have considered Pyromancer, and mentor seems like he'd be sweet too. My only reasoning behind Brimaz as the only creature was that he's bolt proof. All 3 of them die to decay/cut/terminate etc anyway, so maybe one or both is worth testing. I have peezy, and can just proxy the mentors for now. Do you think cutting the 3 Brimaz and a couple outburst for like a 3/2 split seems good? I feel like Chandra is kind of a flex spot too, but she has won me games, getting that one last burn spell. I'd cut outbursts before procession despite the tough cc just because the evasion has won lots of games where the goblins wouldn't have. What does your build look like?
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Current Decks
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
Young Pyromancer is very good but he seems to shine with cheap spells verse 2/3 cmcs, and I can see Mentor being quite good too.
Mardu seems like a better way to brew over Boros. Deviating from B/W you lose Honor of the Pure, Lingering Souls and Sorin. With Mardu you can still access Sorin and Lingering Souls and hand disruption. You also gain access to Young Pyromancer and Hordeling Outburst.
Personally I would not play Purphuros, and I would add the 4th Fodder and Spectral. Fodder can be replaced with Hordeling Outburst if the double red isnt a problem.
I put duress over thoughtseize to save the life, and the only thing thoughtseize is taking that a duress cant is a creature (which aren't what you are running hand disruption for).
I put path as the removal as its the cheapest and cleanest answer. Those slots could vary from anything to Bolt, Terminate, Smother, Doom Blade etc.
Any token list will differ based on the creatures/PWs you want to run.
Edit: Bitterblossom is also a card....almost forgot.
Not sure if the games go long enough to make it worthwhile, but Rise of the Hobgoblins is a fun card that I run in a red devotion build using Purphoros.
Thanks for the good ideas. I do agree that Mardu would probably be the more competitive choice, but adding Pyromancer and Mentor just turn on all my opponents' removal. This deck plays out more like burn in that you get a couple swings in with tokens, and then just finish them with bolt/helix/Boros charm. The other upside to this build is that I can more easily run Blood Moon out of the board, which as we all know can be a total house.
I do like the idea of mentor though, he's definitely something I'll be proxying up to test. I'm pretty sure there's already a Mardu tokens thread on here, so I'll post a tentative list in there and try to keep this one strictly Boros.
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Current Decks
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
Rabblemaster is a fun idea, I might proxy him and test it out. I don't think I'd replace Purphoros with Outpost Siege, however. I've won so many games with him without even having to attack, just sitting back and doming them for 6 a couple turns in a row with Outburst and Procession.
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Current Decks
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
I like Kher Keep in any deck that has Intangible Virtue and access to Red mana. It is card advantage and just bonus for a colorless land slot. Its legendary so I never run two, but that extra token can do great things, especially if you have any equipment in the deck (even after sideboard).
I'd consider 2 Pack Rats. They make tokens, they also are good at throwing away dead cards. If I had room I'd run a Swarmyard with it, but that's probably too janky and not worth the spot in a three color deck. I think it can be especially good in matchups where you run a lot of targeted discard and you get to later game states where its no longer helpful. But I think you'll need more target discard if not main then in the sideboard when you play decks that can combo off.
I'm going to just throw it out there that a random Batterskull is also a token creature. Its a high end threat that is hard for opponents to completely remove that gets seriously better with an Intangible Virtue on the table.
I personally don't mind playing one of's in my decklists and a one of Rise of the Hobgoblins like Egg Shen suggests is much better than multiples. Its really more of a late game card like Secure the Wastes, but the first Rise that hits the table adds first strike to your tokens, which can be really important when they play defense. A couple Secure the Wastes really aren't a bad idea in this deck 1-3.
A pet sideboard card I've looked at is Storage Matrix. I'm not really sure what it shuts down, but... with a playset of Intangible Virtue it doesn't slow us down much.
Kher Keep is an interesting one, hadn't thought of that. Maybe I'll cut a Mutavault to test one.
Like I said in an earlier post though, this plays out a bit more like burn and I'd like to keep it straight R/W for now. I am working on a Mardu build with Lingering Souls, Thoughtseize, Sorin and possibly a Butcher of the Horde or 2. That is still in development. I'm going to be playtesting the current build with some friends tonight, so I'll post any interesting developments/results.
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Current Decks
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
So far if I get a fast draw it does really well. Too many Path to Exile is a really bad thing because I want to get in before the opponent can set up. In a test against Merfolk I did just that and ramped them into dumping their hand. So I dropped the Path down to 2-of.
The 4x Deflecting Palm in the sideboard is just because I don't know what else to put there right now.
Let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to testing more after the PPTQ (where I'm running something else). I'm still not sold on Seeker of the Way, but it seems to have some synergy.
Been playing a version of this deck; Leyline of the Meek is pretty busted in this strategy. It can give you those explosive unbeatable starts, and its not the worst as a 4 mana anthem.
Boros charm was only ok when i played it; with all our pumps being enchantments instead of creatures we're pretty resilient against wraths, so stockpiling another threat was usually just better. Had 4 Young Pyromancers before, but i always felt just having the tokens would be better, so I cut 2 for Krenko's Command. Ditto for Mogg War Marshal.
Also tried Goblin Assault. Its just too slow to really be good against anything. Repeatable threats are nice against controlling decks, but they usually just win before the goblins become relevant. I might try Hammer of Purphoros combined with Flagstones of Trokair as a sideboard card for grindy matches.
Hammer could also make Krenko, Mob Boss viable, which would want goblin lords and Goblin Grenade. A goblin version might be more powerful.
Beckon Apparition is a great 1 drop, with extra utility as graveyard hate and stifling snapcaster mage.
Split between Hellrider and Goblin Bushwhacker. The 'rider has performed well in this deck. He can win out of nowhere, and by the time he comes down your opponents lightning bolts are usually gone. He's also a great threat on his own if you happen to get wrathed and dont have tokens; 4 damage hasty beats is really good. The 'whacker is ok, being cheap means you can drop a krenkos and slam with them, but topdecking him when you need a threat is pretty bad.
This is the deck I've been playing with pretty good results. Absolutely crushed merfolk, and went 2-1 against jund; having goblin tokens as 5/5s trumps tarmogoyfs
Won one match against Tron once, lost another. Getting all your threats remanded/leaked is bad; have since added molten rain and gutteral response to the SB
4x Arid Mesa
2x Marsh Flats
4x Sacred Foundry
3x Clifftop Retreat
2x Rugged Prairie
5x Plains
1x Mountain
2x Mutavault
Creatures 5
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2x Purphoros, God of the Forge
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Hordeling Outburst
4x Spectral Procession
4x Intangible Virtue
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
4x Path to Exile
3x Boros Charm
1x Chandra, Pyromaster
1x Electrickery
2x Celestial Purge
2x Combust
3x Blood Moon
3x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
2x Shatterstorm
Any thoughts?
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
but seriously, I have been working on a similar idea. you seem like you want to lean on purph pretty hard, which is why I suggest young peezy and his mythic white cousin. those cards are threats on their own and you don't need to be tacking on shocks for them to be effective. id maybe replace some number of hordeling outbursts and spectral processions to squeeze them in, but that's just my opinion and I have not tested this deck in any meaningful way.
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
Mardu seems like a better way to brew over Boros. Deviating from B/W you lose Honor of the Pure, Lingering Souls and Sorin. With Mardu you can still access Sorin and Lingering Souls and hand disruption. You also gain access to Young Pyromancer and Hordeling Outburst.
3x Arid Mesa
3x Bloodstained Mire
3x Marsh Flats
2x Sacred Foundry
3x Godless Shrine
2x Blood Crypt
2x Clifftop Retreat
1x Isolated Chapel
1x Rugged Prairie
1x Fetid Heath
1x Plains
1x Mountain
3x Young Pyromancer
3x Monastery Mentor
2x Purphoros, God of the Forge
Enchantments - 4
4x Intangible Virtue
Planeswalkers - 3
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells - 22
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Lingering Souls
3 Dragon Fodder
3 Spectral Procession
4 Duress
4 Path to Exile
15 ???
Personally I would not play Purphuros, and I would add the 4th Fodder and Spectral. Fodder can be replaced with Hordeling Outburst if the double red isnt a problem.
I put duress over thoughtseize to save the life, and the only thing thoughtseize is taking that a duress cant is a creature (which aren't what you are running hand disruption for).
I put path as the removal as its the cheapest and cleanest answer. Those slots could vary from anything to Bolt, Terminate, Smother, Doom Blade etc.
Any token list will differ based on the creatures/PWs you want to run.
Edit: Bitterblossom is also a card....almost forgot.
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
DCI Rules Advisor as of 5/18/2015
As others have said, Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor deserve spots in the deck. You might also want to look at Goblin Rabblemaster.
I do like the idea of mentor though, he's definitely something I'll be proxying up to test. I'm pretty sure there's already a Mardu tokens thread on here, so I'll post a tentative list in there and try to keep this one strictly Boros.
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
Rabblemaster is a fun idea, I might proxy him and test it out. I don't think I'd replace Purphoros with Outpost Siege, however. I've won so many games with him without even having to attack, just sitting back and doming them for 6 a couple turns in a row with Outburst and Procession.
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
I'd consider 2 Pack Rats. They make tokens, they also are good at throwing away dead cards. If I had room I'd run a Swarmyard with it, but that's probably too janky and not worth the spot in a three color deck. I think it can be especially good in matchups where you run a lot of targeted discard and you get to later game states where its no longer helpful. But I think you'll need more target discard if not main then in the sideboard when you play decks that can combo off.
I'm going to just throw it out there that a random Batterskull is also a token creature. Its a high end threat that is hard for opponents to completely remove that gets seriously better with an Intangible Virtue on the table.
I personally don't mind playing one of's in my decklists and a one of Rise of the Hobgoblins like Egg Shen suggests is much better than multiples. Its really more of a late game card like Secure the Wastes, but the first Rise that hits the table adds first strike to your tokens, which can be really important when they play defense. A couple Secure the Wastes really aren't a bad idea in this deck 1-3.
A pet sideboard card I've looked at is Storage Matrix. I'm not really sure what it shuts down, but... with a playset of Intangible Virtue it doesn't slow us down much.
Another sideboard card that I'd put two or three of in sideboard is Hour of Reckoning. Its a one sided Wrath of God in this deck and with convoke its not as expensive as it looks. Also with Intangible Virtue out, you get more value out of convoke spells. So, I'd also consider Stoke the Flames... We dont' really make enough red tokens and I really hate the Dragon Fodder myself, although Kher Keep, Young Pyromancer, and Rise of the Hobgoblins tokens do count as red.
Like I said in an earlier post though, this plays out a bit more like burn and I'd like to keep it straight R/W for now. I am working on a Mardu build with Lingering Souls, Thoughtseize, Sorin and possibly a Butcher of the Horde or 2. That is still in development. I'm going to be playtesting the current build with some friends tonight, so I'll post any interesting developments/results.
Legacy: U/R Delvernought
Jund Pyromancer
Junk Depths (on hiatus)
RDW (on hiatus)
Modern: Under Siege 2(Doran)
Boros Tokens
B/G Ramp
U/W Flash
Mardu Superfriends
4x Boros Charm
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
2x Path to Exile
3x Raise the Alarm
2x Secure the Wastes
2x Monastery Mentor
4x Monastery Swiftspear
3x Seeker of the Way
4x Young Pyromancer
2x Mountain
2x Plains
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Temple of Triumph
4x Windswept Heath
4x Lingering Souls
4x Intangible Virtue
2x Blood Moon
4x Mana Tithe
3x Shattering Spree
2x Wear / Tear
4x Deflecting Palm
So far if I get a fast draw it does really well. Too many Path to Exile is a really bad thing because I want to get in before the opponent can set up. In a test against Merfolk I did just that and ramped them into dumping their hand. So I dropped the Path down to 2-of.
The 4x Deflecting Palm in the sideboard is just because I don't know what else to put there right now.
Let me know what you think. I'm looking forward to testing more after the PPTQ (where I'm running something else). I'm still not sold on Seeker of the Way, but it seems to have some synergy.
Modern: Bogles // 8-Whack/Goblins // UW Titan // Hollow One // Affinity // Dredge
EDH: Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Atraxa, Praetor's Voice // Meren of Clan Nel Toth
Boros charm was only ok when i played it; with all our pumps being enchantments instead of creatures we're pretty resilient against wraths, so stockpiling another threat was usually just better. Had 4 Young Pyromancers before, but i always felt just having the tokens would be better, so I cut 2 for Krenko's Command. Ditto for Mogg War Marshal.
Also tried Goblin Assault. Its just too slow to really be good against anything. Repeatable threats are nice against controlling decks, but they usually just win before the goblins become relevant. I might try Hammer of Purphoros combined with Flagstones of Trokair as a sideboard card for grindy matches.
Hammer could also make Krenko, Mob Boss viable, which would want goblin lords and Goblin Grenade. A goblin version might be more powerful.
Beckon Apparition is a great 1 drop, with extra utility as graveyard hate and stifling snapcaster mage.
Split between Hellrider and Goblin Bushwhacker. The 'rider has performed well in this deck. He can win out of nowhere, and by the time he comes down your opponents lightning bolts are usually gone. He's also a great threat on his own if you happen to get wrathed and dont have tokens; 4 damage hasty beats is really good. The 'whacker is ok, being cheap means you can drop a krenkos and slam with them, but topdecking him when you need a threat is pretty bad.
This is the deck I've been playing with pretty good results. Absolutely crushed merfolk, and went 2-1 against jund; having goblin tokens as 5/5s trumps tarmogoyfs
Won one match against Tron once, lost another. Getting all your threats remanded/leaked is bad; have since added molten rain and gutteral response to the SB
2 Windbrisk Heights
1 Kher Keep
1 Slayers' Stronghold
4 Arid Mesa
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Mountain
2 Plains
Token Makers
4 Beckon Apparition
4 Raise the Alarm
3 Gather the Townsfolk
2 Krenko's Command
2 Young Pyromancer
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Goblin Bushwhacker
2 Hellrider
4 Intangible Virtue
4 Leyline of the Meek
Burn
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Stoke the Flames
3 Guttural Response
3 Molten Rain
1 Timely Reinforcements
2 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
2 Sundering Growth
1 Shattering Spree