So I've been seeing a lot of threads with mono white, mono red, UW and so on utilizing the heroic and prowess abilities. I saw a this deck on the thrift shop thread and thought I would give it a try on MTGO.
I haven't played MTG for nearly 2 years and I am just now coming back, so please excuse my lack of knowledge of some of the new mechanics and card names. here is the decklist I've been playing with, it's about 75-80 win% over 2 days on MTGO.
I have deviated some from the original deck found here.
It still feels a bit off, most games I will just blow my opponents away, but sometimes it just stalls out. The mana base has gotten me a few times too. Where I either can't get the 2nd W or I can't find R. I'm sure getting some duals would help , but that's just not in the budget (yet).
Here are my thoughts on some of the cards Dictate of Heliod-. When I have been able to play it, it just seems underwhelming for a 5cc card. It just feels like more-win and could be replaced by something that flows better with the low cost of the deck.
Dragon Mantle- Sure it hits all the triggers and cantrips, but again feels underwhelming. Rarely do I ever have the Rto spare for the firebreathing.
Chained to the Rocks- only once did I find myself without a mountain when I wanted to play this. It's not often that I need removal as I'm finishing most games by turn 5-6, but when I do need one, this has been great
Launch the Fleet- I was a bit skeptical about this card to begin with, but not anymore. It's an absolute bomb, triggers everything and doubles the size of your army. The only thing I wish it did more was actually crate the tokens instead of giving the ability to creat tokens to your creatures, but then i guess it wouldn't really trigger the heroics if it did that. It's an amazing 2 of.
Phalanx Leader-I'm kind of on the fence about having this as a 4 of. Having WW as my first 2 land drops really slows down the powerful 1cc red drops Monastery Swiftspear and Akroan Crusader. Whne it sticks its crazy powerful and becomes my main target for pumps (as a side note when Phalanx Leader and Akroan Crusader both trigger be sure to place the Leaders ability on the stack first so the Crusaders ability triggers first and the token that he creates gets the counter from Leader. I screwed that up a few times.)
Gods Willing-Moved it from 2 to 4 from the original decklist as I found it to be very powerful and was always wanting one in hand.
Spear of Heliod-Added this as a 1 of and have been pleased with it. Its an anthem that has removal, meh removal ,but removal none the less.
Ride Down- Maybe it's just the way I play aggro but this felt very sluggish and situational, I ended up cutting it altogether.
The other cards I have not mention are just so OP that the deck would be paltry without them. What I'm looking for now is a sideboard and some critique of the deck. So far some of the cards I've been thinking of are
Return to the Ranks-to replace Launch the Fleet vs Control Oppressive Rays- for Dictate vs Tempo and other aggro Lagonna-Band Trailblazer- another possible vs aggro or RDW Ajani's Presenceand Ephemeral Shields- possibles vs deck with sweeper like control Glare of Heresy- was skeptical of this till I saw how used white was in top tier decks very good removal for planeswalkers and such. Lightning Strike-removal and can go to the face, seems good, oh how I miss Lightning Bolt Magma Jet- was so close to putting this mainboard, and i may still, one of my favorite burn spells ever printed Titan's Strength- another one that may end up MB Hammerhand- this card wants a home , but I'm just not sure where. I like it, just not sure how much I like it.
That's what I have so far. Please let me know what you think.
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Standard
UWU/W Heroic UW
BMono Black Aggro B
"Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake."-Napoleon Bonaparte;)
Phalanx leader decks are naturally a bit hit and miss. I don't think you need to guess why. Personally, I think an even split between heroic and prowess is a bit incorrect. The reason being is that your phalanx leaders want you to dump your creatures out before proceeding. Prowess wants to drop just enough and proceed to support with spells quickly. The timing does not jive. That brings me to the mana base. You have white heavy but with red one drops. This is hard on the mana base when lacking money. Instead consider making it more white heavy and less red. This does lose you chained to the rocks but gives you much greater consistency. Losing the swiftspears (I know they are good) and swapping for a white one drop instead will allow you to tilt your mana base towards white to help consistency. You can also consider obelisk of urd due to your human/soldier concentration. This is in a way a step up over dictate because casting it with only 3-4 lands is reasonable.
There is a WW costing heroic that is similar to akroan crusader if you care.
Also if you don't mind going a tiny bit slower, playing evolving wilds can help you hit your red.
Thanks for your reply Nev, I agree Phalanx Leader feels more like he should be in the core of a WW deck. As far as the mana base goes, I will try to get more duals when I can, but I have hit snags where I have a 1cc red play and only plains in my hand. I kinda want to go in more of the prowess direction. When I played before I normally played either a tempo deck or control, and going with a more tempo like deck which the prowess creatures would do just feels more comfortable to me. Phalanx Leaders desire to puke your hand up asap, just makes me uncomfortable. Ive not played the UW version yet and wonder if its something more my style but based on what I've seen so far speed is very relevant. Are there any UW decklists you would recommend to look at?
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Standard
UWU/W Heroic UW
BMono Black Aggro B
"Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake."-Napoleon Bonaparte;)
There are 2 main kinds of UW lists. One is the kind that uses the heliod's pilgrim package plus the one that doesn't. The other doesn't and is more speedy about it but with a little less toolbox. However, the commonality is that they are centered around making one beastly creature to wreck your opponents with. Imo it is stronger and more consistent. Blue doesn't need to be huge. It just needs to give you some key cards like ordeal of thassa and stratus walk. Basically some support to smooth out your engine and some stubborn denial to counter crackling doom if necessary.
If you like prowess, I'd consider ditching heroic and just playing prowess. It isn't as though prowess has the most amazing base there is but playing prowess and goodstuff lets you trigger off of burns and other removal which heroic really doesn't like as much.
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I haven't played MTG for nearly 2 years and I am just now coming back, so please excuse my lack of knowledge of some of the new mechanics and card names. here is the decklist I've been playing with, it's about 75-80 win% over 2 days on MTGO.
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Seeker of the Way
4 Monastery Swiftspear
1 Iroas, God of Victory
4 Defiant Strike
4 Coordinated Assault
4 Gods Willing
Sorcery(2):
2 Launch the Fleet
Enchantments(7):
2 Dragon Mantle
2 Chained to the Rocks
2 Dictate of Heliod
1 Spear of Heliod
4 Wind-Scarred Crag
10 Plains
8 Mountain
I have deviated some from the original deck found here.
It still feels a bit off, most games I will just blow my opponents away, but sometimes it just stalls out. The mana base has gotten me a few times too. Where I either can't get the 2nd W or I can't find R. I'm sure getting some duals would help , but that's just not in the budget (yet).
Here are my thoughts on some of the cards
Dictate of Heliod-. When I have been able to play it, it just seems underwhelming for a 5cc card. It just feels like more-win and could be replaced by something that flows better with the low cost of the deck.
Dragon Mantle- Sure it hits all the triggers and cantrips, but again feels underwhelming. Rarely do I ever have the Rto spare for the firebreathing.
Chained to the Rocks- only once did I find myself without a mountain when I wanted to play this. It's not often that I need removal as I'm finishing most games by turn 5-6, but when I do need one, this has been great
Launch the Fleet- I was a bit skeptical about this card to begin with, but not anymore. It's an absolute bomb, triggers everything and doubles the size of your army. The only thing I wish it did more was actually crate the tokens instead of giving the ability to creat tokens to your creatures, but then i guess it wouldn't really trigger the heroics if it did that. It's an amazing 2 of.
Phalanx Leader-I'm kind of on the fence about having this as a 4 of. Having WW as my first 2 land drops really slows down the powerful 1cc red drops Monastery Swiftspear and Akroan Crusader. Whne it sticks its crazy powerful and becomes my main target for pumps (as a side note when Phalanx Leader and Akroan Crusader both trigger be sure to place the Leaders ability on the stack first so the Crusaders ability triggers first and the token that he creates gets the counter from Leader. I screwed that up a few times.)
Gods Willing-Moved it from 2 to 4 from the original decklist as I found it to be very powerful and was always wanting one in hand.
Spear of Heliod-Added this as a 1 of and have been pleased with it. Its an anthem that has removal, meh removal ,but removal none the less.
Ride Down- Maybe it's just the way I play aggro but this felt very sluggish and situational, I ended up cutting it altogether.
The other cards I have not mention are just so OP that the deck would be paltry without them. What I'm looking for now is a sideboard and some critique of the deck. So far some of the cards I've been thinking of are
Return to the Ranks-to replace Launch the Fleet vs Control
Oppressive Rays- for Dictate vs Tempo and other aggro
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer- another possible vs aggro or RDW
Ajani's Presenceand Ephemeral Shields- possibles vs deck with sweeper like control
Glare of Heresy- was skeptical of this till I saw how used white was in top tier decks very good removal for planeswalkers and such.
Lightning Strike-removal and can go to the face, seems good, oh how I miss Lightning Bolt
Magma Jet- was so close to putting this mainboard, and i may still, one of my favorite burn spells ever printed
Titan's Strength- another one that may end up MB
Hammerhand- this card wants a home , but I'm just not sure where. I like it, just not sure how much I like it.
That's what I have so far. Please let me know what you think.
There is a WW costing heroic that is similar to akroan crusader if you care.
Also if you don't mind going a tiny bit slower, playing evolving wilds can help you hit your red.
If you like prowess, I'd consider ditching heroic and just playing prowess. It isn't as though prowess has the most amazing base there is but playing prowess and goodstuff lets you trigger off of burns and other removal which heroic really doesn't like as much.