So I posted really late last night and just wanted to turn in my tournament reports and go to bed. Now I have the time to review the deck's strategy and make some drastic changes.
So I feel I have fell into one of the most common trappings of deckbuilding; I am essentially pre-boarding a bunch of different answers (Seeker of the Way, Suspension Field, Abzan falconer) instead of just executing my gameplan as redundantly as possible. I diluted the core strategy with answers instead of doubling down on what the deck is trying to accomplish.
And now to address the new dynamic deck choices.
Mortal Obstinacy this is basically a +2/+2 enchantment for W with a lot of upside between Phalanx Leader and the second ability. I actually think this is going to be very good and anticipate adding a second one. I see the powerful opening of Favored Hoplite into Obstinacy plus protection mana. On the draw this is exceptional where you often lag behind.
Now I'm aware Battlewise Valor appears to be limited jank, but in our current standard this is a fine card. The next comparable card is Titanic Growth
which has the same CMC, doesn't scry, and doesn't give a counter. Yeah having a slightly bigger boost is nice, but certainly not worth splashing for. Don't compare this to Giant Growth, we don't have it in this standard, I expect this card to play fine, but could definitely see myself cutting it for mortal Obstinacy for more explosive starts.
Now Battle Mastery could easily be Phalanx Formation but anyone that has played Fabled Hero knows he is a nightmare after pumps, this is basically turning your already pumped creature into a fabled hero and I expect will steal some games. The games where perilous vault turns up turn 4 and we can just drop this card and win. And like I said this could just be Phalanx Formation, if a giant double striker hasn't one in the next two turns there was probably no way we could have won.
Sideboard is pretty straight forward, life gain against burn and aggro variants, more protection spells against control, some removal against cards like siege rhino, butcher of the horde, probably tasigur imminently, and to fight off U/W heroic which usually trims protection spells against us. Banishing Light is an out against Perilous Vault and could easily be a 2 of. I havent banished a vault but I imagine tapping out for it then it doing nothing is probably devastating.
Ok so little update. I am dying to get this into a tournament because I am destroying the tournament lobby on MTGO, but this weather...... Ugin is still unanswerable but this deck is more consistent than it has ever been. People like to bash Heroic for needing a certain compilation of spells to function but this is by far the most redundant version of the deck. Typically I want to go wide if possible, deploy at least two creatures depending on how fast they're deploying or if I'm facing control or not. Trailblazer is a safe bet against burn and control.
Now the first thing you have to do after deciding whether to go wide (multiple creatures) or go deep (one creature you build and protect) is threaten your opponent. I call this getting the ball rolling.
These are your enablers. They're extremely versatile and have compound benefits. They never simply trigger heroic, because they always have a useful second AND third benefit this makes the deck competitive.
Obstinacy triggers heroic, gives an extra +1/+1 boost, AND destroys courser, whip, banishing light, chained to the rocks. This deck was born to play this card. It creates powerful starts and moves hoplite out of early kill spell range (bile blight, magma jet, lightning strike).
Ordeal of Heliod triggers heroic, gives more counters, AND gains a massive 10 life. This is insane value. Cracking this off Trailblazer makes aggro extremely difficult to lose to, 7 toughness creature and 30 life? Good luck.
Launch the fleet I absolutely love and have destroyed with. Your opponent has to contest big Launches and especially back to back launches. This card triggers heroic, makes hasted soldiers essentially, AND strive gets gross really fast. A common scenario is when going wide I'll have 2 creatures with a Phalanx Leader, crack this for 3, I get a hordeling outburst with haste, and everyone else gets 2 +1/+1 counters. It's insane pressure, the strive is beautiful making this card amazing turn 3 and relevant turn 8, even if it didn't make soldiers this card would be relevant. Now the most important thing to determine is when the best time it is to crack this card. Obviously when going wide this card is insane, but there are times when you don't strive it for 1 just to get the ball rolling, while not ideal it's not going to lose you the game. And these soldier tokens are not a waste, I have won with a lone soldier token. They are great chump blockers, and when you run out of creatures you can build it up, they're not worthless, you don't have to bend over backwards to save them either, but there's usually a time and place to utilize them.
Defiant Strike doesn't need an explanation. This card is the gas, the oil, the engine, and the window washer fluid. I haven't kept notes but I strongly believe every Defiant Strike you draw increases your odds of winning the game. This card's insane. This card isn't a mandatory combat trick, you can just cash it in, I admit snagging a caryatid or courser with this is very satisfying but that's not your prerogative. A little obvious trick with this, that has lost me a distinct game that I could have won is dropping a phalanx leader and casting defiant strike to give my team an anthem effect. It's a simple concept but I have let it slip by me more than once. Finally a little note on chasing the dream. There are games where you like need Defiant Strike into something amazing to win the game. In these situations its dangerous to go for the kill if you're not going to die next turn. Part of playing a deck like this is learning to anticipate attacks and blocks. This is how you win those tough games. As a veteran of drafting I feel that if I'm good at any aspect of magic its combat. You need to know when and if your opponent goes for the kill, and you have to play to your outs. If your opponent is going to kill you next turn, or force such bad blocks theres no realistic way to win then play to your outs, take every step you can to win no matter how unlikely.
Part of learning this deck is learning how to play these cards properly. Fundamentally you cast these in response to kill spells, easy squeezy, but it is far more complicated than that. You have to determine when you'd rather have Ajani's Presence for striving or Wrath effects, or when you want the other two for the pro-color option. Wraths are tough, but they are not unbeatable, have 5 anti-wrath cards, could go to 6 depending on the meta, this deck has the tools to win, you just need a little luck, and a lot of skill with the deck. Now it might seem intuitive to side out your protection spells against devotion decks that don't really run kill spells, this is completely wrong. The most common scenario is you're going to deploy a 1 or 2 drop, or a 1 and 2 drop, get in 5-8 points of damage then absurd things start hitting the board. Now if you're going deep it's possible to overpower them, but also leaves you susceptible to chump blocks and counter attacks. These essentially pro-green cards can steal games you have no business winning. In fact, the more pro green cards you draw the more likely you are to win, there's a strong correlation.
For example, last night I played an absurdly intense game against green devotion. Game 1 went deeper than was appropriate and I still dominated. Game 2 was a nailbiter. Had a 4/4 Phalanx Leader, 5/5 Akroan Skyguard, 3/4 Hoplite, and another 2/2 Skyguard. My opponent had a 9/9 Arbor Colossus, 11/11 Polukranos, 5 mana dorks, 4 hornet tokens, and then dropped a 24/24 mistcutter hydra on me.....and I won. I completely stole the game. I feel combat math makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and if you don't like a strategic aspect of magic then you need to expose yourself to it ad nauseum. I am excellent at combat math, and he made a lot of mistakes. He swung in with everything, I made the blocks I needed to make, killed his hydra, was put to 4, then I cracked back for 22 points of damage. This is a beautiful deck that rewards high skill level.
Now these two cards are expressly for stealing games. Have you ever finished a game and asked who even plays that card? Well I would bet money that was a game you lost. Part of being really good at magic is knowing what your opponent is playing. Anything in standard I face I have a strong idea of what is in their deck and what to watch out for. If your decklist can afford it, have these surprises in there, the ones that steal games. Both these cards have won me games where there was a good chance I was going to lose. When battling something like U/B control and I just can't kill them before a wrath, Phalanx Formation has stolen the game. I strongly urge people to play the fun-of.
Couple of extraneous strategy notes. I have become comfortable going wide more often. Probably because 75% of the time I'm facing a R/W aggro deck, Green Midrange, or U/W heroic. Going wide can be scary, leaving mana down is rough when you instinctively always leave one up. Also, our instinct is to pound our opponent like a drum until they lose. That's great when you have ordeal to buffer the counter attacks, or fodder creatures for chump blocks, but sometimes when they're dropping heat, those seekers make racing impossible, or polukranos into big genesis hydra makes the race too close, you have to sit back and pick your shots. Now this just comews from practice, you have to be able to anticipate attacks and blocks, especially in this creature based metagame if anything. I don't understand how anyone that plays for prizes can accept they're not great at combat math. Get better at it, if you want to play uno with a control deck that's fine, but if you want to play creatures in your deck you have to learn the chess aspects of this game.
Another thing about attacking and holding back. You can't hold back if they're ramping into Ugin, that card will shut you down. We do not have the top deck game a devotion deck has. Yeah they have a lot of junk, but our junk needs to be glued together first. Ugin is the silver bullet. Now sometimes, often, you just don't know if they have Ugin. Now anticipating blocks when you must attack is hard, you might find out that the genesis hydra or polukranos is expendable. You have to understand that when you're deciding if you can afford to wait for a critical mass of damage they're determining if they can take the hit. This is the deck of bluffs, you must learn when it's acceptable to bluff, when it's necessary, and not doing it just because you can. There's nothing more insidious than a 3/3 Phalanx Leader attacking into a polukranos when there are 3 plains open. Holding back against R/W is often the correct choice waiting for an Ordeal to tip things in your favor. This deck is above average at blocking and can gain massive chunks of life.
Now something I noticed when playing U/B control. On the play with a decent draw this deck is a nightmare, they need that Crux turn 5 to even stand a chance. On the draw it feels like you can't win. It's not wrong to deploy a turn 2 1 drop with a protection spell. Unless you have the fodder hand where you have 2-3 sacrificial lambs to pitch to kill spells, slow rolling is viable. Ugin is a turn 8 spell, this isn't revelation standard where control has inevitability. As man times as I was overpowered by control, I have seen them fizzle, drawing drown in sorrows and bile blights that couldn't tag my one creature that went deep. But murklurker man....woooo that card is rough. I don't know what it is but for some reason when ever I faced a murklurker I couldn't over power it. If this card appears in more than one deck at your LGS you need sideboard answers, and there are good ones Suspension Field.
Don't be afraid to go late, some of my most memorable games I have gone past turn 20 and won, this deck doesn't instantly rollover to the late game, I showed you the cards that steal wins in these scenarios.
Final note on mulligans, I have mulled to 5 several times and still came back. This deck is extremely redundant, give yourself a chance to win.
I actually used to mainboard Falconer as a hedge against green midrange decks that often struggle with flyers. Falconer is a completely reasonable sideboard card against green midrange decks. I'm not sure Bond kin is of any use. When you attack with this deck you're either being chump blocked with mana dorks or tokens or out of desperation, or your opponent doesn't want to get blown out by a combat trick, OR you simply are going unblocked.
What I found was just every maindeck card should reinforce the core strategy, and the sideboard is just for answers and I honestly wouldn't rework the list I posted except for the sideboard which should vary greatly depending on your local metagame.
4 Favored Hoplite
4 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
3 Phalanx Leader
2 Akroan Skyguard
2 Fabled Hero
Spells 24
4 Gods Willing
3 Ajani's Presence
2 Feat of Resistance
4 Defiant Strike
4 Ordeal of Heliod
3 Launch the Fleet
1 Mortal Obstinacy
1 Battlewise Valor
1 Dauntless Onslaught
1 Battle Mastery
2 Feat of Resistance
1 Ajani's Presence
2 Mortal's Ardor
2 Seeker of the Way
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Erase
1 Banishing Light
1 Akroan Skyguard
1 Reprisal
1 Mortal Obstinacy
So I feel I have fell into one of the most common trappings of deckbuilding; I am essentially pre-boarding a bunch of different answers (Seeker of the Way, Suspension Field, Abzan falconer) instead of just executing my gameplan as redundantly as possible. I diluted the core strategy with answers instead of doubling down on what the deck is trying to accomplish.
And now to address the new dynamic deck choices.
Mortal Obstinacy this is basically a +2/+2 enchantment for W with a lot of upside between Phalanx Leader and the second ability. I actually think this is going to be very good and anticipate adding a second one. I see the powerful opening of Favored Hoplite into Obstinacy plus protection mana. On the draw this is exceptional where you often lag behind.
Now I'm aware Battlewise Valor appears to be limited jank, but in our current standard this is a fine card. The next comparable card is Titanic Growth
which has the same CMC, doesn't scry, and doesn't give a counter. Yeah having a slightly bigger boost is nice, but certainly not worth splashing for. Don't compare this to Giant Growth, we don't have it in this standard, I expect this card to play fine, but could definitely see myself cutting it for mortal Obstinacy for more explosive starts.
Now Battle Mastery could easily be Phalanx Formation but anyone that has played Fabled Hero knows he is a nightmare after pumps, this is basically turning your already pumped creature into a fabled hero and I expect will steal some games. The games where perilous vault turns up turn 4 and we can just drop this card and win. And like I said this could just be Phalanx Formation, if a giant double striker hasn't one in the next two turns there was probably no way we could have won.
Sideboard is pretty straight forward, life gain against burn and aggro variants, more protection spells against control, some removal against cards like siege rhino, butcher of the horde, probably tasigur imminently, and to fight off U/W heroic which usually trims protection spells against us. Banishing Light is an out against Perilous Vault and could easily be a 2 of. I havent banished a vault but I imagine tapping out for it then it doing nothing is probably devastating.
Now the first thing you have to do after deciding whether to go wide (multiple creatures) or go deep (one creature you build and protect) is threaten your opponent. I call this getting the ball rolling.
These are your enablers. They're extremely versatile and have compound benefits. They never simply trigger heroic, because they always have a useful second AND third benefit this makes the deck competitive.
Obstinacy triggers heroic, gives an extra +1/+1 boost, AND destroys courser, whip, banishing light, chained to the rocks. This deck was born to play this card. It creates powerful starts and moves hoplite out of early kill spell range (bile blight, magma jet, lightning strike).
Ordeal of Heliod triggers heroic, gives more counters, AND gains a massive 10 life. This is insane value. Cracking this off Trailblazer makes aggro extremely difficult to lose to, 7 toughness creature and 30 life? Good luck.
Launch the fleet I absolutely love and have destroyed with. Your opponent has to contest big Launches and especially back to back launches. This card triggers heroic, makes hasted soldiers essentially, AND strive gets gross really fast. A common scenario is when going wide I'll have 2 creatures with a Phalanx Leader, crack this for 3, I get a hordeling outburst with haste, and everyone else gets 2 +1/+1 counters. It's insane pressure, the strive is beautiful making this card amazing turn 3 and relevant turn 8, even if it didn't make soldiers this card would be relevant. Now the most important thing to determine is when the best time it is to crack this card. Obviously when going wide this card is insane, but there are times when you don't strive it for 1 just to get the ball rolling, while not ideal it's not going to lose you the game. And these soldier tokens are not a waste, I have won with a lone soldier token. They are great chump blockers, and when you run out of creatures you can build it up, they're not worthless, you don't have to bend over backwards to save them either, but there's usually a time and place to utilize them.
Defiant Strike doesn't need an explanation. This card is the gas, the oil, the engine, and the window washer fluid. I haven't kept notes but I strongly believe every Defiant Strike you draw increases your odds of winning the game. This card's insane. This card isn't a mandatory combat trick, you can just cash it in, I admit snagging a caryatid or courser with this is very satisfying but that's not your prerogative. A little obvious trick with this, that has lost me a distinct game that I could have won is dropping a phalanx leader and casting defiant strike to give my team an anthem effect. It's a simple concept but I have let it slip by me more than once. Finally a little note on chasing the dream. There are games where you like need Defiant Strike into something amazing to win the game. In these situations its dangerous to go for the kill if you're not going to die next turn. Part of playing a deck like this is learning to anticipate attacks and blocks. This is how you win those tough games. As a veteran of drafting I feel that if I'm good at any aspect of magic its combat. You need to know when and if your opponent goes for the kill, and you have to play to your outs. If your opponent is going to kill you next turn, or force such bad blocks theres no realistic way to win then play to your outs, take every step you can to win no matter how unlikely.
Part of learning this deck is learning how to play these cards properly. Fundamentally you cast these in response to kill spells, easy squeezy, but it is far more complicated than that. You have to determine when you'd rather have Ajani's Presence for striving or Wrath effects, or when you want the other two for the pro-color option. Wraths are tough, but they are not unbeatable, have 5 anti-wrath cards, could go to 6 depending on the meta, this deck has the tools to win, you just need a little luck, and a lot of skill with the deck. Now it might seem intuitive to side out your protection spells against devotion decks that don't really run kill spells, this is completely wrong. The most common scenario is you're going to deploy a 1 or 2 drop, or a 1 and 2 drop, get in 5-8 points of damage then absurd things start hitting the board. Now if you're going deep it's possible to overpower them, but also leaves you susceptible to chump blocks and counter attacks. These essentially pro-green cards can steal games you have no business winning. In fact, the more pro green cards you draw the more likely you are to win, there's a strong correlation.
For example, last night I played an absurdly intense game against green devotion. Game 1 went deeper than was appropriate and I still dominated. Game 2 was a nailbiter. Had a 4/4 Phalanx Leader, 5/5 Akroan Skyguard, 3/4 Hoplite, and another 2/2 Skyguard. My opponent had a 9/9 Arbor Colossus, 11/11 Polukranos, 5 mana dorks, 4 hornet tokens, and then dropped a 24/24 mistcutter hydra on me.....and I won. I completely stole the game. I feel combat math makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and if you don't like a strategic aspect of magic then you need to expose yourself to it ad nauseum. I am excellent at combat math, and he made a lot of mistakes. He swung in with everything, I made the blocks I needed to make, killed his hydra, was put to 4, then I cracked back for 22 points of damage. This is a beautiful deck that rewards high skill level.
Now these two cards are expressly for stealing games. Have you ever finished a game and asked who even plays that card? Well I would bet money that was a game you lost. Part of being really good at magic is knowing what your opponent is playing. Anything in standard I face I have a strong idea of what is in their deck and what to watch out for. If your decklist can afford it, have these surprises in there, the ones that steal games. Both these cards have won me games where there was a good chance I was going to lose. When battling something like U/B control and I just can't kill them before a wrath, Phalanx Formation has stolen the game. I strongly urge people to play the fun-of.
Couple of extraneous strategy notes. I have become comfortable going wide more often. Probably because 75% of the time I'm facing a R/W aggro deck, Green Midrange, or U/W heroic. Going wide can be scary, leaving mana down is rough when you instinctively always leave one up. Also, our instinct is to pound our opponent like a drum until they lose. That's great when you have ordeal to buffer the counter attacks, or fodder creatures for chump blocks, but sometimes when they're dropping heat, those seekers make racing impossible, or polukranos into big genesis hydra makes the race too close, you have to sit back and pick your shots. Now this just comews from practice, you have to be able to anticipate attacks and blocks, especially in this creature based metagame if anything. I don't understand how anyone that plays for prizes can accept they're not great at combat math. Get better at it, if you want to play uno with a control deck that's fine, but if you want to play creatures in your deck you have to learn the chess aspects of this game.
Another thing about attacking and holding back. You can't hold back if they're ramping into Ugin, that card will shut you down. We do not have the top deck game a devotion deck has. Yeah they have a lot of junk, but our junk needs to be glued together first. Ugin is the silver bullet. Now sometimes, often, you just don't know if they have Ugin. Now anticipating blocks when you must attack is hard, you might find out that the genesis hydra or polukranos is expendable. You have to understand that when you're deciding if you can afford to wait for a critical mass of damage they're determining if they can take the hit. This is the deck of bluffs, you must learn when it's acceptable to bluff, when it's necessary, and not doing it just because you can. There's nothing more insidious than a 3/3 Phalanx Leader attacking into a polukranos when there are 3 plains open. Holding back against R/W is often the correct choice waiting for an Ordeal to tip things in your favor. This deck is above average at blocking and can gain massive chunks of life.
Now something I noticed when playing U/B control. On the play with a decent draw this deck is a nightmare, they need that Crux turn 5 to even stand a chance. On the draw it feels like you can't win. It's not wrong to deploy a turn 2 1 drop with a protection spell. Unless you have the fodder hand where you have 2-3 sacrificial lambs to pitch to kill spells, slow rolling is viable. Ugin is a turn 8 spell, this isn't revelation standard where control has inevitability. As man times as I was overpowered by control, I have seen them fizzle, drawing drown in sorrows and bile blights that couldn't tag my one creature that went deep. But murklurker man....woooo that card is rough. I don't know what it is but for some reason when ever I faced a murklurker I couldn't over power it. If this card appears in more than one deck at your LGS you need sideboard answers, and there are good ones Suspension Field.
Don't be afraid to go late, some of my most memorable games I have gone past turn 20 and won, this deck doesn't instantly rollover to the late game, I showed you the cards that steal wins in these scenarios.
Final note on mulligans, I have mulled to 5 several times and still came back. This deck is extremely redundant, give yourself a chance to win.
What I found was just every maindeck card should reinforce the core strategy, and the sideboard is just for answers and I honestly wouldn't rework the list I posted except for the sideboard which should vary greatly depending on your local metagame.
1 spear of heliod
1 hall of triumph
1 akroan skyguard
1 anafenza, kin-tree spirit
1 battle mastery
1 banishing light
1 phalanx leader
4 defiant strike
4 favored hoplite
2 launch the fleet
4 ordeal of heliod
2 ajani's presence
4 gods willing
2 brimaz, king of oreshos
2 feat of resistance
3 lagonna-band trailblazer
2 seeker of the way
2 vanguard of brimaz
1 ajani's presence
3 erase
2 banishing light
3 glare of heresy
3 devouring light
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
2x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
4x Phalanx Leader
2x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Defiant Strike
4x Gods Willing
4x Launch the Fleet
3x Raise the Alarm
3x Ajani's Presence
2x Center Soul
3x Obelisk of Urd
21x Plains
I think this or something very close to this is optimal. It's been working pretty well on MTGO.