Hey everyone, so i'm trying to build the best cheap deck I possibly can (Something that COULD potentially hold its own at FNM). I'm not sure how possible that is, but after looking it around it seems to go mono color is a good way to save (no super expensive land base). I went to my local store and luckily had some store credit, bought almost my entire deck while only spending 52 cents. Here's my deck list so far, i dont have all of the cards for it yet, but 'm trying to get some suggestions before I move forward:
So obviously it needs Stoke The Flames, but are there any other suggestions anyone has? Perhaps splashing white for some better Heroic/Prowess abilities. Or any better spells to target and buff my creatures up? Any help is greatly appreciated, trying to get something solid together before this coming FNM. Thanks in advance!
I wouldn't suggest trying to do RW on a budget starting here. What this is is a stokeless boss sligh list. It really, really needs those stokes but I wouldn't compromise the main strategy too much in the process of trying to compensate for it. Since you lose a bit on push through, I think shifting towards more coordinated assault may be the way to go in the absence of said stokes. However, that's really not the best solution. Stoke is sort of pricy for a reason.
Yeah, my next purchase will be stokes, but that won't be possible until NEXT Friday. So other than adding more coordinated assault and stokes, you think I might be able to hold my own tomorrow night at FNM?
I also dont have magma jets on hand, I do have forked bolt. Other cards I considered putting in are inferno fist and act of treason. Do you think there's a spot for them, or any other cards I might have laying around that could fit into this?
I don't think you need more coordinated assaults after have the stokes. So it'd be instead of, not and.
As a quick heads up, competitive boss sligh often plays a single arena athlete. That's plenty good here too.
I can be done without stokes to some degree. I don't know how competitive your FNM is so I can't answer how well you'll do. But it is close to as good as it will get in absence of stokes.
You can skip the jets as they aren't great in the deck. USe the space for coordinated assaults. Forked bolt isn't standard. Inferno fist isn't terrible but I don't much like getting nailed with the 2 for 1s. Act of treason is usually a sideboard card.., though you usually just play harness by force because once a few blue moons strive will make a difference.
Searing bloods are a decent sideboard card. If you have a hall of triumph, put it in sideboard too. Peak eruption can take up sideboard room if you haven't figured out what else to put there to make the full 15. Magma spray is fine for side too.
If you happen to have firedrinker satyrs, they are good too.
Picked up 2 Stokes while i was there tonight, got a decent deal and got them both for $6. Went 2-3 in the tourney though; Beat an abzan deck 2-0 very easily. Lost to some kind of Mardu control 1-2, just kept killing everything i played and then played butcher of the horde and that was basically game over. Lost to Temur midrange or something of the sort 1-2, beat him down very fast in game 1, then got him down to 4 life and he stabilized and beat me, game 3 got him to 1 life and the same thing. Absolutely stomped on a red/white heroic deck 2-0. And finally (barely) lost to some kind of white/green token deck. Overall not to shabby for a deck i've barely invested in, and have never played before prior to today. I feel like i need just something big to put down on turn 6-7ish to swing for game. Once it gets to that point i just cant do anything to win. I can play a spell on every turn, but once a Knuckleblade or a Butcher gets on the board, i just cant do much. Maybe it was the fact i only had 2 Stoke the flames, pretty sure i only played it 2 times the entire night, and once i totally messed up and lost because i used it to kill a creature instead of hitting to the face when the other guy had 5 life and i could've swung for game next turn. Excuses aside, i had a lot of fun with this deck. Next FNM is on a payday (thank god) any suggestions on what to add when my budget isnt as tight as 52 cents? (haha)
Your "big thing to put down late game" is indeed stoke. Unlike some other decks, boss sligh does not really need late whatever since its cmc mostly caps at 2 with a very sparing 3. Also, it is a deck that grows with the player more than most. Personal skill with the deck makes a huge, huge difference. Beyond stokes, 99% of the work you can do to make the deck better is simply to practice. It is not an autopilot deck at all.
Stoke, stoke, and more stoke? Lol. Firedrinker satyr depending on meta. Play less than 4 satyr hoplites because it is a bad topdeck and there's only so many heroic triggering spells to go around.
I've played Sligh a few times. I, too, have gotten stomped at FNM; if your meta is full of fast Midrange decks, you're just not going to get there without the Stokes. No matter how fast you are, a Seige Rhino ramped out on turn 3 is just going to ruin your day.
Sadly, it's tough even WITH the Strokes; this meta is just terrible for Sligh. It's only a couple months until the next set drops so I'm holding back my red decks to see if we get anything decent in the way of removal in that set. I've found it easy to build from red to Mardu, especially since I played mono-black Devotion all last Standard.
One word of advice: 17 land really hurts. Most decks run 18.
They are not kidding when they say skill counts in piloting this deck! It's all math; sequence everything correctly and think three moves ahead like a chess game. I'm actually partial to Magma Jet simply because draw filtering saves your hide sometimes and it has helped on occasion to know what your next two draws are going to be. You have to be a human calculator and at the same time, playing fast helps tilt your opponent; do not give them time to think and they'll get flustered and make misplays, which will help you. Rattle off your damage like an auctioneer. If you can intimidate them into using removal on you, that's one less counter-threat or blocker they'll have time to put down.
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"The meta" varies a lot unless you're both talking GP and stuff. But the OP is talking FNM. I call 17 or 18 a taste thing but I do respect the legitimacy of both. I personally don't like jet all that much in sligh. The scry is nice but I feel like I'd value searing blood more often enough that I'd bring it out of the side before playing jet. Reason is that the searing blood has ample targets unless your meta is control heavy (its decently likely to get used as opposed to whiffing) and I like the extra damage. It also goes back into that played up fear factor that you'll ideally induce. Imo, the scry is nice to know but not that objectively potent. The value of knowing is more useful to you than the actual filtering and I also feel that once you get used to the deck enough, that value of knowing is diminished. The jet just doesn't hit as hard as I'd like it to.
I have been playing a budget Boss deck for the last few FNMs I 3-1 the first one and 4-0 last week. played against Abzan and Temur beat them both. here's my list
With 37 1 drops the deck can run really well with only 17 lands. i win a lot of my games with only 2 mana ever in play. As for the side boarded games that 1 mountain is crucial! All the sideboard cards cost more then 1 mana so it help even everything out. Crowd's Favor gets the boot for the land and 4 of the worst creatures in the MU for some hate. Foundry Street Denizen mostly. But this is all for my meta. You might have to change it up. Eidolon of the Great Revel is a card that for me has never come up. not so budget either so this week I'm not even going to bring it. I like playing with speed and punching in super fast and that guy kind of gets in the way of that. I would recommend not getting that for a while unless there is a lot of combo in your FNM.
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4 Akroan Crusader
3 Frenzied Goblin
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Satyr Hoplite
3 War-name Aspirant
2 Mogis's Warhound
4 Hammerhand
4 Lightning Strike
2 Magma Jet
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Titan's Strength
1 Coordinated Assault
So obviously it needs Stoke The Flames, but are there any other suggestions anyone has? Perhaps splashing white for some better Heroic/Prowess abilities. Or any better spells to target and buff my creatures up? Any help is greatly appreciated, trying to get something solid together before this coming FNM. Thanks in advance!
As a quick heads up, competitive boss sligh often plays a single arena athlete. That's plenty good here too.
I can be done without stokes to some degree. I don't know how competitive your FNM is so I can't answer how well you'll do. But it is close to as good as it will get in absence of stokes.
You can skip the jets as they aren't great in the deck. USe the space for coordinated assaults. Forked bolt isn't standard. Inferno fist isn't terrible but I don't much like getting nailed with the 2 for 1s. Act of treason is usually a sideboard card.., though you usually just play harness by force because once a few blue moons strive will make a difference.
Searing bloods are a decent sideboard card. If you have a hall of triumph, put it in sideboard too. Peak eruption can take up sideboard room if you haven't figured out what else to put there to make the full 15. Magma spray is fine for side too.
If you happen to have firedrinker satyrs, they are good too.
Sadly, it's tough even WITH the Strokes; this meta is just terrible for Sligh. It's only a couple months until the next set drops so I'm holding back my red decks to see if we get anything decent in the way of removal in that set. I've found it easy to build from red to Mardu, especially since I played mono-black Devotion all last Standard.
One word of advice: 17 land really hurts. Most decks run 18.
They are not kidding when they say skill counts in piloting this deck! It's all math; sequence everything correctly and think three moves ahead like a chess game. I'm actually partial to Magma Jet simply because draw filtering saves your hide sometimes and it has helped on occasion to know what your next two draws are going to be. You have to be a human calculator and at the same time, playing fast helps tilt your opponent; do not give them time to think and they'll get flustered and make misplays, which will help you. Rattle off your damage like an auctioneer. If you can intimidate them into using removal on you, that's one less counter-threat or blocker they'll have time to put down.
1 Arena Athlete
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Frenzied Goblin
4 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Arc Lightning
3 Lightning Strike
1 Stoke the Flames
4 Titan's Strength
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Coordinated Assault
4 Hammerhand
The relevant sideboard cards for me last time were
1 Scouring Sands
2 Ordeal of Purphoros
2 Magma Spray
3 Searing Blood
Blinding Flare is always fun. target your own heroic creature get a bonus.
I love the combo of Coordinated Assault+Satyr Hoplite+Akroan Crusader+Monastery Swiftspear that makes for a very big turn three. Coordinated Assault with 2 Akroan Crusader and a Foundry Street Denizen is also great. I love Coordinated Assault in the deck it gives some game agains big creatures with the Satyr and a lot of explosion with the Crusader.
With 37 1 drops the deck can run really well with only 17 lands. i win a lot of my games with only 2 mana ever in play. As for the side boarded games that 1 mountain is crucial! All the sideboard cards cost more then 1 mana so it help even everything out. Crowd's Favor gets the boot for the land and 4 of the worst creatures in the MU for some hate. Foundry Street Denizen mostly. But this is all for my meta. You might have to change it up. Eidolon of the Great Revel is a card that for me has never come up. not so budget either so this week I'm not even going to bring it. I like playing with speed and punching in super fast and that guy kind of gets in the way of that. I would recommend not getting that for a while unless there is a lot of combo in your FNM.