I ran the below deck on Friday, went 4-1 the only loss I had was to Esper. And to be honest I am not sure how this deck deals with Esper right now. If we can't get out fast and win before they kill everything, then we have no chance. Once they have the mana up and can use Sphinx or cast the Atherling it's all over.
I had zero issues winning any other games. Faced Junk Midrange (whip) and Soldier was the all star there. Faced two different RDW decks both were decent but really Fiendslayer is all you need there. And then a random sliver deck that some how won enough to face me in round 4 when I was 2-1. Not sure how he won at all to be fair.
I really feel this deck is strong against the field minus the Esper control that is running around.
I'm starting to like reckoner over medic again. The indestructible is irrelevant when i can use brave the elements for 1 mana. Reckoner can get first strike, has damage redirect, and is crazy good for heliod's devotion.
EDIT: Another card of interest over possibly ajani or the spear is Gift of Orzhova.
I think the proper 3 drops outside of Ajani are either Spear of Heliod or Boros Reckoner. There is little you want to see above that (or you're probably dead at that point). I think it's odd seeing all these lists running Heliod because I would hope my opponent is almost dead by the time I get that much mana.
I think the proper 3 drops outside of Ajani are either Spear of Heliod or Boros Reckoner. There is little you want to see above that (or you're probably dead at that point). I think it's odd seeing all these lists running Heliod because I would hope my opponent is almost dead by the time I get that much mana.
I have to disagree having both Banisher Priest and Fiendslayer at 3 is so good. Banisher is great at clearing out a blocker or a trouble some creature if you are not holding Brave the Elements.
And Fiendslayer is nothing but good vs all the red and black in the format. Plus I can't say enough about the lifelink. Yeah it's only 2 but that can all add up if it turns into a race.
As for Heliod, yeah ideally the game is over before he hits. But let me tell you when he does even if for some odd reason he is not a creature the advantage of the vigilance is good, coupled with having a mana-dump to make the 2/1 clerics is not bad. Plus I have won many a games turn 5 off of dropping a Ajani using his -3 and swinging with Heliod.
Reckoneer just seems to damn slow for this deck IMO, I might give it a try but really I am very very happy with my creature package right now.
Hey guys, recent White Weenies convert. I wanted to take my version of the deck in a bit less aggro of a fashion, to try and give it more reach and stability. It would probably get outclassed in the long-run, but it's been performing very well against all manor of decks. Some brief points on my decisions.
- I'm not running Mutavault or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx because of the intensive colour requirements.
- I'm unsure what to do in terms of removal. Smite was another consideration because it works well with the captain's tokens.
- I'm considering 4x another white flyer as I currently have very little ability to deal with flying attackers.
Any pointers on the main or sideboard would be very welcome!
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For one, Ethereal Armor isn't particularly strong with only five potential Enchants to really power it up (three of which are itself). Since it's only there to enable Phalanx Leader, you'd probably be better off with something like Gift of Orzhova (stronger on its own) or Chosen by Heliod ("free" spell).
Hey guys, recent White Weenies convert. I wanted to take my version of the deck in a bit less aggro of a fashion, to try and give it more reach and stability. It would probably get outclassed in the long-run, but it's been performing very well against all manor of decks. Some brief points on my decisions.
- I'm not running Mutavault or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx because of the intensive colour requirements.
- I'm unsure what to do in terms of removal. Smite was another consideration because it works well with the captain's tokens.
- I'm considering 4x another white flyer as I currently have very little ability to deal with flying attackers.
Any pointers on the main or sideboard would be very welcome!
Ok I now I am sure many people are going to disagree with me but first and foremost cut the Reckoner's and put at least 3 vaults in. Look if you are going to run the Pegasus the vaults are so much better as they gain the benefit. Plus you talk about the intensive colour requirements you do know the only card that is causing that issue is the aforementioned reckoner right? I have tried a build with them and I never found a place I would want one out.
Removal is not a big deal mainboard IMO really we are an aggro deck first and foremost and with things like the Pegasus and Brave The Elements combined with our speed worrying about what our opponents play is kind secondary. That being said somewhere in your 75 you need Banisher Priest it does a great job of removing spot blockers and is also going to solve your other problem of worrying about other flyers as you just grab them.
Ethereal Armour just has no place as your are not running enough other enchantments to make this worth it.
Brave the Elements and Rootborn should be the only instants in your MB, both serve the purpose of letting you win quicker. Brave clears the way for a lethal swing and vs control Rootborn will crush them if you can cast it the first chance they get to cast verdict.
Wondering about the lack of Imposing Sovereign yeah it's a dead card vs control but almost every other matchup it does it's job well.
I posted my list from last week in this thread all ready. I have made some changes to it but over all I think it's a super solid build. Once I test the new one I will post that as well.
Reckoner can push those last few points of damage through similar to a Brave the Elements. There aren't too many zero-power blockers out there and the only one that comes to mind at least dies when doing so. It's also just, you know, generally bigger than the creatures in other aggro decks (including ours) with the silly damage reflection trigger and first strike active that make it really hard to effectively trade with.
That's not to say it's necessarily better than Mutavault, though I think it is, but Reckoner is a very good card. You can get away with at least 3 off-color mana sources without severely impacting your ability to play your heavy-colored cards though.
For one, Ethereal Armor isn't particularly strong with only five potential Enchants to really power it up (three of which are itself). Since it's only there to enable Phalanx Leader, you'd probably be better off with something like Gift of Orzhova (stronger on its own) or Chosen by Heliod ("free" spell).
Yeah. Fair point. Heliod is an enchantment too, but I see your point. I will definitely try Gift, as I've found evasion is a real issue for me. Considering dropping Phalanx Leader all together and trying to daring Skyjek instead but to be honest, I haven't been impressed so far. He's a 3/1 ground attacker more often than not. Probably better in a more aggressive build.
Ok I now I am sure many people are going to disagree with me but first and foremost cut the Reckoner's and put at least 3 vaults in. Look if you are going to run the Pegasus the vaults are so much better as they gain the benefit. Plus you talk about the intensive colour requirements you do know the only card that is causing that issue is the aforementioned reckoner right? I have tried a build with them and I never found a place I would want one out.
Removal is not a big deal mainboard IMO really we are an aggro deck first and foremost and with things like the Pegasus and Brave The Elements combined with our speed worrying about what our opponents play is kind secondary. That being said somewhere in your 75 you need Banisher Priest it does a great job of removing spot blockers and is also going to solve your other problem of worrying about other flyers as you just grab them.
Ethereal Armour just has no place as your are not running enough other enchantments to make this worth it.
Brave the Elements and Rootborn should be the only instants in your MB, both serve the purpose of letting you win quicker. Brave clears the way for a lethal swing and vs control Rootborn will crush them if you can cast it the first chance they get to cast verdict.
Wondering about the lack of Imposing Sovereign yeah it's a dead card vs control but almost every other matchup it does it's job well.
I posted my list from last week in this thread all ready. I have made some changes to it but over all I think it's a super solid build. Once I test the new one I will post that as well.
Despite disagreement, your input is greatly appreciated, so thank you. The intensive colour requirement I was referring to was that eight out of my twelve 2-drops are WW instead of 1W, and having a mutavault in the opener turns a 2 land hand into a potential mulligan. If I dropped the leader though, I would definitely consider the vaults.
Imposing Sovereign is another consideration. Would definitely help keep the defenders down, but again, not sure what I would drop. The Phallanx Leader is probably what would go. He doesn't trigger enough to be impressive, and ultimately, he's a 1/1 a whole lot.
Reckoner has been great for me in my matchups. People are so unhappy blocking him. They'd prefer to double-block something else than risk putting damage onto Reckoner.
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"No matter what, it's still just cardboard that can be ripped up. And then they have nothing."
Has anyone played against with Mono Blue Devotion? Thoughts? How did the matchup go? Pros and Cons against the deck?
I did at my States top 8 (I ended up losing but he won the whole tournament). Solider of the Pantheon hilariously dodges the majority of their creatures (Master of Waves is the only thing in his deck that could block it). However the decks heavy toughness creatures can make it difficult to score damage.
I'm curious who among the two decks apply the pressure more than the other? The way I see it White Weenie and Mono Blue is quite similar where it utilizes all the aggro it needs to push damage faster and more consistently, and of course, with the help of getting around creatures of your opponent (For WW, Brave the Elements). Probably the only difference here is that they have a devotion creature which they can hugely capitalize on, Master of Waves, while WW don't.
I'm curious who among the two decks apply the pressure more than the other? The way I see it White Weenie and Mono Blue is quite similar where it utilizes all the aggro it needs to push damage faster and more consistently, and of course, with the help of getting around creatures of your opponent (For WW, Brave the Elements). Probably the only difference here is that they have a devotion creature which they can hugely capitalize on, Master of Waves, while WW don't.
WW has Spear of Heliod which can drastically improve you're clock, also most of our dudes are more efficient than theirs. Whenever I play against mono-blue I try to make it a race because you are usually faster and have brave for the last push.
One of our guys was able to win Florida States with a White Weenie list splashing red for Boros Charm. He wrote an in depth article / tournament report, figured the ww crowd might be interested: http://southfloridamagic.com/archives/the-lead-up
A lot of the deck lists from States seemed pretty standard (The Suite of one drops, Splashing red for Boros Charm, and some varation of either Heliod or Ajani). However there was one that caught my eye from Hawaii...
We had talked about a sort of devotion style deck, and from what we've seen all of the other colors manage it quite well. I think this is something we should spend at least a bit of time talking about considering with all the extra white mana it would be very easy to to plop out an army with Heliod, as well as keep mana up for Rootborn Defenses.
A lot of the deck lists from States seemed pretty standard (The Suite of one drops, Splashing red for Boros Charm, and some varation of either Heliod or Ajani). However there was one that caught my eye from Hawaii...
We had talked about a sort of devotion style deck, and from what we've seen all of the other colors manage it quite well. I think this is something we should spend at least a bit of time talking about considering with all the extra white mana it would be very easy to to plop out an army with Heliod, as well as keep mana up for Rootborn Defenses.
This looks interesting. I have wondered when people finally come up with white devotion and this looks promising on the first glance. I guessed it would be a white weenie deck that then goes bigger. Another card that looks promising in a white devotion deck is Devout Invocation since you most likely will have a lot of creatures and Heliod and the Precinct Captain can make more and Angel of Serenity could be good tech against other creature heavy list.
I will keep an eye on this and maybe I even test this out myself.
That shift kinda reminds me how All-in-Red now goes as Big Red. That is a very interesting take on the Mono White Aggro archetype, I was wondering though what the meta is like in that tournament?
I've also been contemplating mono white devotion/midrange. Angel of serenity actually seems to be well positioned right now. I feel like the fact that it is completely lacking any card advantage engines really hurts it though.
While a mono white devotion deck in the style of the mono blue and mono red lists is an interesting concept, I still quite like the traditional low curve white weenie deck. It's worked quite well for me thus far, and continued to do so at Game Day today, which I won. If anybody wants to hear about the matches, I'd be glad to write a bit about them. Otherwise, here's the list, and this (or the white splash red list) is where I think the deck should be.
While a mono white devotion deck in the style of the mono blue and mono red lists is an interesting concept, I still quite like the traditional low curve white weenie deck. It's worked quite well for me thus far, and continued to do so at Game Day today, which I won. If anybody wants to hear about the matches, I'd be glad to write a bit about them. Otherwise, here's the list, and this (or the white splash red list) is where I think the deck should be.
Cavalry Pegasus needs to be answered most of the time, this makes him a much higher priorety than Daring Skyjek, because he enables Mutavault as well as the entire deck to have evasion, so he eats up removal often. Judge's Familar slows down removal and Anger of the Gods, always happy to have it first game. Path of Bravery is a stackable anthem unlike the Spear, and I never find myself wanting the spear secondary effect, the life gain is relevant, and works well with soldier of the pantheon, finally it works VERY well with Frontline Medic. The boros charms prevent getting swept, and they provide reach to finish the game.
Glare of Heresy is for Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, Planeswalkers, gw aggro, and the mirror. Frontline medic and Fiendslayer paladin are for mono red/aggro decks. Celestial Flare and Renounce the Guilds is for Blood Baron, and stormbreath dragon, though I hope to win before they hit. Ajani, is for control decks.
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The red mage lives by the variance and dies by the variance. May the variance be with you, always.
Alright guys, here's my match report and I can talk a little about what I might change after. I've waited a bit long to write these and I didn't take notes so they may not be the most detailed, but I'll give what I have.
Round 1: Junk Midrange (2-0)
Game one, I kept a hand that was something like Dryad Militant, Daring Skyjek, Ajani, Mutavault, and three plains. I won the die roll and that helped a lot. I play my Dryad Militant and pass. His first turn he thoughtseizes me and takes my Ajani, which wasnt a huge deal with both mutavault and daring skyjek in my hand. I went on to draw judge's familiar and banisher priest but all he was able to commit to the board was a fleecemane lion and scavenging ooze.
I sideboarded poorly, forgetting completely about voice. What I brought in was my two pacifisms and the third Ajani, taking out the two frontline medics and a spear of heliod. Nevertheless game two was a steamroll. I curved out normally and when he went turn 2 voice of resurgence into turn 3 unflinching courage, I had the banisher priest to punish. From there it was only a matter of ending the game.
Round 2: B/W Midrange (2-0)
Game One: I win the die roll again and go turn one soldier of the pantheon before passing the turn. He comments something about the mirror before thoughtseizing me to find a precinct captain and imposing sovereign in my hand. He proceeded to not draw this third land having kept a two lander on the draw, so it was easy going.
Game Two: I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, but probably should have found room for at least one celestial flare in the case that he played blood baron. All that ended up happening was me curving out dryad militant, daring skyjek, banisher priest hitting his sin collector (which hit nothing, of course), and just rode the wave from there.
My view on the matchup is that it would have been substantially harder had he played the updated list with banisher priests in the main over sin collectors. I feel that, outside of the pro tour meta, such a change is absolutely necessary.
Round 3: G/B Aggro homebrew (2-0)
I wont go into too much detail about this match because it was an ineffective deck overall. He played experiment one and elvish mystic and renegade krasis and corpsejack menace paired with some removal. You will never see this guy playing anything approaching a "net deck", so I knew to expect something funky.
Round 4: W/G Aggro (2-1)
My opponent's deck was an interesting version of g/w that was built to abuse brave the elements. He played imposing sovereign, loxodon smiter, banisher priest, voice of resurgence, fleecemane lion, brave the elements, selesnya charm.
Game One:
I lost the die roll, and both of us played turn tow imposing sovereign, leading to a clogged board state. He eventually won by hitting brave the elements two turns in a row, just running me over.
Game Two:
I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, two pacifisms, and three boros reckoner. I curved out turn one soldier of the pantheon, turn two imposing sovereign, turn three boros reckoner, and from there I held the advantage with a banisher priest in hand. Relatively short game.
Game Three:
This was a tough game for me, as he ended up drawing two unflinching courages. I mulled to six and kept a hand with imposing sovereign, dryad militant, glare of heresy, mutavault, and two plains. I spent my third turn casting glare of heresy on his loxodon smiter, somewhat hesitantly, for fear of the unflinching courage. The mutavault was super awkward in this game, as I ended up with two boros reckoners rotting away in my hand. I dealt with his first unflinching courage through a banisher priest, but he was able to get his creature back with a priest of his own. Later in the game, I was able to establish a fairly favorable board position against his until he played a second unflinching courage, this time on an imposing sovereign. There we traded blows for two turns until I was at six life and he was at ten. I left behind my mutavault and an additional blocker that turn because he had shown me selesnya charm in a previous game, but he tapped out to play two fleecemane lions pre-combat, which guaranteed me the win. I took the four damage, going down to two, and played the spear of heliod that had been sitting in my hand to swing back for lethal.
Round 5: Esper Control (2-1)
I was sitting as the last undefeated at the end of the fourth round as the other 3-0s, an american control deck and an exper control deck went to turns and ended up tying. Thankfully I played against the esper list, which I feel is probably an enormously better match up without anger of the gods to worry about.
Game One: I was silly, riding the positive tilt from previous rounds, and kept a triple judge's familiar, dryad militant, one land, two other card hand. He won the roll and so I drew the land i needed right off the bat. I played dryad militant turn one and then the precinct captain that had been in my hand, which I feel was a mistake. I probably should have just committed the judge's familiars to the board, given the matchup. This was a long grindy game where he hit all the key cards: Jace, AoT on turn four, supreme verdict the following turn, and sphinx's revelation and elspeth waiting in the wings.
Game Two: I side in my two glare of heresy, two rootborn defenses, Ajani, and Heliod, taking out two frontline medic and four banisher priest. On the play this game, after we both mulliganed, I opened with a soldier of the pantheon into a daring skyjek. I don't recall this being a particularly difficult game - just a matter of me being on the play against his mono scry land draw.
Game Three: This game I keep a hand somewhat similar to the one from the first game. I have three judge's familiars, dryad militant, two plains, and one other card. This time I opened with the dryad militant into double judge's familiar. Where the game got tough was when he went turn four Jace, AoT and was at a healthy fourteen life. I was forced into committing more to the board to try and deal with jace as fast as possible, but he never hit the verdict luckily. However, the turn after I killed the jace, he promptly played another, leaving him with one card in his hand. A turn later, after attacking Jace down to two, I drew Heliod which hit the board uncountered, sealing the game away. I swung my three dryad militants at him and the next turn I began the quick two turn beat down lead by Heliod.
Against this opponent, I almost sided in celestial flare for game three, when I was on the draw, but I had him pegged as being on a list more like Wafo-Tapa's essentially creatureless and ashiokless list.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the list. If I were to change something about the list, it would probably be to find a way to squeeze another daring skyjek in there. The card is very aggressive, and helps enormously against a Jace, AoT, having one of the highest powers in the deck. I probably also will drop a pacifism for a third glare of heresy in the future, as the card does serious work.
Reckoner forces damage through for our deck, and Heliod allows us to recover from wrath effects, as well as gives all of our creatures vigilance. I think Frontline medic was a better card when we were also dealing with Bonfire of the Damned but every time I try and play him, I end up cutting him for something else.
On another note I managed to go 4-0 (A week after going 4-1-1 and top 8ing at states) at FNM with the same deck, but round 3 was probably the most interesting.
One of the stores better pilots (Several PTQ wins) was playing the Mono-Blue Devotion deck. I managed to beat it convincingly 2-0, though he did draw a lot of lands.
Since this was my 3rd time playing the deck I noticed a few things.
1.) Solider of the Panthoen, is nothing but a headache for that deck. The only creatures that can block it are Thasa and Master of Waves. He comes down, gains you a bunch of life to help with the race and beats face. It may be worth aggressive Mulligans to find one in your opening hand.
2.) Heliod trumps Thassa. I play two copies of Heliod in my 75, and when against the mono blue decks, Thasaa sat around kinda twiddling her thumbs wishing she could do something. Since we're faster than they are he couldn't risk attacking in with Thassa, and since Heliod gave vigilance, I could attack in with Heliod (And Solider of the Pantheon, when Thassa was Offline)And he would be force to lose a creature gaining devotion, or chump with thassa.
3.) If they resolve Jace, don't be afraid to use Brave the Elements or Boros Charm to kill him. If they're resolving Jace, chances are they don't have too many other cards on the board to stop you from your assault.
I think the numbers do need some tweaking but I cant really test it that much right now.
I had thought about Mutavault but Obzedat has such a high color requirement that including them would probably be a bad idea. The wrath protection is the Necromancer in that case.
So what do you guys think about it? I think that the black splash has much to offer.
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Modern: UW Control
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I had zero issues winning any other games. Faced Junk Midrange (whip) and Soldier was the all star there. Faced two different RDW decks both were decent but really Fiendslayer is all you need there. And then a random sliver deck that some how won enough to face me in round 4 when I was 2-1. Not sure how he won at all to be fair.
I really feel this deck is strong against the field minus the Esper control that is running around.
4 Boros Elite
4 Cavalry Pegasus
3 Dryad Militant
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
3 Brave the Elements
2 Spear of Heliod
3 Mutavault
18 Plains
1 Banisher Priest
1 Brave the Elements
3 Celestial Flare
1 Frontline Medic
2 Gideon, Champion of Justice
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Rest in Peace
2 Riot Control
EDIT: Another card of interest over possibly ajani or the spear is Gift of Orzhova.
Abzan Midrange
Modern:
Scapeshift
I have to disagree having both Banisher Priest and Fiendslayer at 3 is so good. Banisher is great at clearing out a blocker or a trouble some creature if you are not holding Brave the Elements.
And Fiendslayer is nothing but good vs all the red and black in the format. Plus I can't say enough about the lifelink. Yeah it's only 2 but that can all add up if it turns into a race.
As for Heliod, yeah ideally the game is over before he hits. But let me tell you when he does even if for some odd reason he is not a creature the advantage of the vigilance is good, coupled with having a mana-dump to make the 2/1 clerics is not bad. Plus I have won many a games turn 5 off of dropping a Ajani using his -3 and swinging with Heliod.
Reckoneer just seems to damn slow for this deck IMO, I might give it a try but really I am very very happy with my creature package right now.
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Precinct Captain
4 Cavalry Pegasus
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Boros Reckoner
2 Heliod, God of the Sun
2 Spear of Heliod
2 Celestial Flare
2 Dauntless Onslaught
4 Brave the Elements
1 Gideon, Champion of Justice
3 Glare of Heresy
3 God's Willing
4 Rootborn Defences
Hey guys, recent White Weenies convert. I wanted to take my version of the deck in a bit less aggro of a fashion, to try and give it more reach and stability. It would probably get outclassed in the long-run, but it's been performing very well against all manor of decks. Some brief points on my decisions.
- I'm not running Mutavault or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx because of the intensive colour requirements.
- I'm unsure what to do in terms of removal. Smite was another consideration because it works well with the captain's tokens.
- I'm considering 4x another white flyer as I currently have very little ability to deal with flying attackers.
Any pointers on the main or sideboard would be very welcome!
"No matter what, it's still just cardboard that can be ripped up. And then they have nothing."
Ok I now I am sure many people are going to disagree with me but first and foremost cut the Reckoner's and put at least 3 vaults in. Look if you are going to run the Pegasus the vaults are so much better as they gain the benefit. Plus you talk about the intensive colour requirements you do know the only card that is causing that issue is the aforementioned reckoner right? I have tried a build with them and I never found a place I would want one out.
Removal is not a big deal mainboard IMO really we are an aggro deck first and foremost and with things like the Pegasus and Brave The Elements combined with our speed worrying about what our opponents play is kind secondary. That being said somewhere in your 75 you need Banisher Priest it does a great job of removing spot blockers and is also going to solve your other problem of worrying about other flyers as you just grab them.
Ethereal Armour just has no place as your are not running enough other enchantments to make this worth it.
Brave the Elements and Rootborn should be the only instants in your MB, both serve the purpose of letting you win quicker. Brave clears the way for a lethal swing and vs control Rootborn will crush them if you can cast it the first chance they get to cast verdict.
Wondering about the lack of Imposing Sovereign yeah it's a dead card vs control but almost every other matchup it does it's job well.
I posted my list from last week in this thread all ready. I have made some changes to it but over all I think it's a super solid build. Once I test the new one I will post that as well.
That's not to say it's necessarily better than Mutavault, though I think it is, but Reckoner is a very good card. You can get away with at least 3 off-color mana sources without severely impacting your ability to play your heavy-colored cards though.
Yeah. Fair point. Heliod is an enchantment too, but I see your point. I will definitely try Gift, as I've found evasion is a real issue for me. Considering dropping Phalanx Leader all together and trying to daring Skyjek instead but to be honest, I haven't been impressed so far. He's a 3/1 ground attacker more often than not. Probably better in a more aggressive build.
Despite disagreement, your input is greatly appreciated, so thank you. The intensive colour requirement I was referring to was that eight out of my twelve 2-drops are WW instead of 1W, and having a mutavault in the opener turns a 2 land hand into a potential mulligan. If I dropped the leader though, I would definitely consider the vaults.
Imposing Sovereign is another consideration. Would definitely help keep the defenders down, but again, not sure what I would drop. The Phallanx Leader is probably what would go. He doesn't trigger enough to be impressive, and ultimately, he's a 1/1 a whole lot.
Reckoner has been great for me in my matchups. People are so unhappy blocking him. They'd prefer to double-block something else than risk putting damage onto Reckoner.
"No matter what, it's still just cardboard that can be ripped up. And then they have nothing."
4 Soldier of Pantheon
4 Dryad Militant
4 Judges Familiar
2 Boros Elite
4 Precinct Captain
3 Imposing Sovereign
2 Daring Skyjek
1 Syndicate of Tithes
4 Banisher Priest
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Brave the Elements
3 Spear of Heliod
Land (22)
4 Mutavualt
18 Plains
The plays very well against Mono-Blue and red deck wins but has a little trouble vs Supreme Verdict.
He's going to have to play lands to win - Paul Cheon
Decks:
Standard:
WBWb Weenie/Almost Orzhov AggroWB
UWUW ControlUW
Modern:
UWRUWR ControlUWR
I did at my States top 8 (I ended up losing but he won the whole tournament). Solider of the Pantheon hilariously dodges the majority of their creatures (Master of Waves is the only thing in his deck that could block it). However the decks heavy toughness creatures can make it difficult to score damage.
I won the first game by riding two Solider of the Pantheon, and than playing Brave the Elements to alpha strike.
The big card that caused me to lose both games however was Nightveil Specter. Since we have limited fliers (Judge's Familar) we really don't have a way to answer it outside of Banisher Priest which we may need to save for Master of Waves.
A solution could be to use Spear of Heliod to kill it, but it's iffy.
Standard
WUW/U HumansUW
Modern
WBW/B TokensBW
WW has Spear of Heliod which can drastically improve you're clock, also most of our dudes are more efficient than theirs. Whenever I play against mono-blue I try to make it a race because you are usually faster and have brave for the last push.
He's going to have to play lands to win - Paul Cheon
Decks:
Standard:
WBWb Weenie/Almost Orzhov AggroWB
UWUW ControlUW
Modern:
UWRUWR ControlUWR
4 Archangel of Thune
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
Planeswalkers: 2
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Blind Obedience
4 Brave the Elements
3 Path of Bravery
2 Spear of Heliod
Lands: 23
2 Mutavault
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
20 Plains
3 Celestial Flare
2 Pacifism
2 Pithing Needle
2 Rest in Peace
3 Rootborn Defenses
3 Sundering Growth
We had talked about a sort of devotion style deck, and from what we've seen all of the other colors manage it quite well. I think this is something we should spend at least a bit of time talking about considering with all the extra white mana it would be very easy to to plop out an army with Heliod, as well as keep mana up for Rootborn Defenses.
Standard
WUW/U HumansUW
Modern
WBW/B TokensBW
This looks interesting. I have wondered when people finally come up with white devotion and this looks promising on the first glance. I guessed it would be a white weenie deck that then goes bigger. Another card that looks promising in a white devotion deck is Devout Invocation since you most likely will have a lot of creatures and Heliod and the Precinct Captain can make more and Angel of Serenity could be good tech against other creature heavy list.
I will keep an eye on this and maybe I even test this out myself.
4 Dryad Militant
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
3 Daring Skyjek
3 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Banisher Priest
2 Frontline Medic
2 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
4 Brave the Elements
3 Spear of Heliod
Lands [23]
4 Mutavault
19 Plains
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Celestial Flare
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Heliod, God of the Sun
2 Pacifism
2 Rootborn Defenses
Nice looking deck! Would love to see match descriptions.
Abzan Midrange
Modern:
Scapeshift
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Boros Elite
4 Cavalry Pegasus
3 Imposing Sovereign
3 Precinct Captain
4 Banisher Priest
4 Brave the Elements
4 Boros Charm
3 Path of Bravery
Lands (23)
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
11 Plains
4 Glare of Heresy
2 Frontline Medic
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Celestial Flare
2 Renounce the Guilds
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Cavalry Pegasus needs to be answered most of the time, this makes him a much higher priorety than Daring Skyjek, because he enables Mutavault as well as the entire deck to have evasion, so he eats up removal often. Judge's Familar slows down removal and Anger of the Gods, always happy to have it first game. Path of Bravery is a stackable anthem unlike the Spear, and I never find myself wanting the spear secondary effect, the life gain is relevant, and works well with soldier of the pantheon, finally it works VERY well with Frontline Medic. The boros charms prevent getting swept, and they provide reach to finish the game.
Glare of Heresy is for Boros Reckoner, Chained to the Rocks, Planeswalkers, gw aggro, and the mirror. Frontline medic and Fiendslayer paladin are for mono red/aggro decks. Celestial Flare and Renounce the Guilds is for Blood Baron, and stormbreath dragon, though I hope to win before they hit. Ajani, is for control decks.
Round 1: Junk Midrange (2-0)
Game one, I kept a hand that was something like Dryad Militant, Daring Skyjek, Ajani, Mutavault, and three plains. I won the die roll and that helped a lot. I play my Dryad Militant and pass. His first turn he thoughtseizes me and takes my Ajani, which wasnt a huge deal with both mutavault and daring skyjek in my hand. I went on to draw judge's familiar and banisher priest but all he was able to commit to the board was a fleecemane lion and scavenging ooze.
I sideboarded poorly, forgetting completely about voice. What I brought in was my two pacifisms and the third Ajani, taking out the two frontline medics and a spear of heliod. Nevertheless game two was a steamroll. I curved out normally and when he went turn 2 voice of resurgence into turn 3 unflinching courage, I had the banisher priest to punish. From there it was only a matter of ending the game.
Round 2: B/W Midrange (2-0)
Game One: I win the die roll again and go turn one soldier of the pantheon before passing the turn. He comments something about the mirror before thoughtseizing me to find a precinct captain and imposing sovereign in my hand. He proceeded to not draw this third land having kept a two lander on the draw, so it was easy going.
Game Two: I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, but probably should have found room for at least one celestial flare in the case that he played blood baron. All that ended up happening was me curving out dryad militant, daring skyjek, banisher priest hitting his sin collector (which hit nothing, of course), and just rode the wave from there.
My view on the matchup is that it would have been substantially harder had he played the updated list with banisher priests in the main over sin collectors. I feel that, outside of the pro tour meta, such a change is absolutely necessary.
Round 3: G/B Aggro homebrew (2-0)
I wont go into too much detail about this match because it was an ineffective deck overall. He played experiment one and elvish mystic and renegade krasis and corpsejack menace paired with some removal. You will never see this guy playing anything approaching a "net deck", so I knew to expect something funky.
Round 4: W/G Aggro (2-1)
My opponent's deck was an interesting version of g/w that was built to abuse brave the elements. He played imposing sovereign, loxodon smiter, banisher priest, voice of resurgence, fleecemane lion, brave the elements, selesnya charm.
Game One:
I lost the die roll, and both of us played turn tow imposing sovereign, leading to a clogged board state. He eventually won by hitting brave the elements two turns in a row, just running me over.
Game Two:
I sideboarded in my two glare of heresy, two pacifisms, and three boros reckoner. I curved out turn one soldier of the pantheon, turn two imposing sovereign, turn three boros reckoner, and from there I held the advantage with a banisher priest in hand. Relatively short game.
Game Three:
This was a tough game for me, as he ended up drawing two unflinching courages. I mulled to six and kept a hand with imposing sovereign, dryad militant, glare of heresy, mutavault, and two plains. I spent my third turn casting glare of heresy on his loxodon smiter, somewhat hesitantly, for fear of the unflinching courage. The mutavault was super awkward in this game, as I ended up with two boros reckoners rotting away in my hand. I dealt with his first unflinching courage through a banisher priest, but he was able to get his creature back with a priest of his own. Later in the game, I was able to establish a fairly favorable board position against his until he played a second unflinching courage, this time on an imposing sovereign. There we traded blows for two turns until I was at six life and he was at ten. I left behind my mutavault and an additional blocker that turn because he had shown me selesnya charm in a previous game, but he tapped out to play two fleecemane lions pre-combat, which guaranteed me the win. I took the four damage, going down to two, and played the spear of heliod that had been sitting in my hand to swing back for lethal.
Round 5: Esper Control (2-1)
I was sitting as the last undefeated at the end of the fourth round as the other 3-0s, an american control deck and an exper control deck went to turns and ended up tying. Thankfully I played against the esper list, which I feel is probably an enormously better match up without anger of the gods to worry about.
Game One: I was silly, riding the positive tilt from previous rounds, and kept a triple judge's familiar, dryad militant, one land, two other card hand. He won the roll and so I drew the land i needed right off the bat. I played dryad militant turn one and then the precinct captain that had been in my hand, which I feel was a mistake. I probably should have just committed the judge's familiars to the board, given the matchup. This was a long grindy game where he hit all the key cards: Jace, AoT on turn four, supreme verdict the following turn, and sphinx's revelation and elspeth waiting in the wings.
Game Two: I side in my two glare of heresy, two rootborn defenses, Ajani, and Heliod, taking out two frontline medic and four banisher priest. On the play this game, after we both mulliganed, I opened with a soldier of the pantheon into a daring skyjek. I don't recall this being a particularly difficult game - just a matter of me being on the play against his mono scry land draw.
Game Three: This game I keep a hand somewhat similar to the one from the first game. I have three judge's familiars, dryad militant, two plains, and one other card. This time I opened with the dryad militant into double judge's familiar. Where the game got tough was when he went turn four Jace, AoT and was at a healthy fourteen life. I was forced into committing more to the board to try and deal with jace as fast as possible, but he never hit the verdict luckily. However, the turn after I killed the jace, he promptly played another, leaving him with one card in his hand. A turn later, after attacking Jace down to two, I drew Heliod which hit the board uncountered, sealing the game away. I swung my three dryad militants at him and the next turn I began the quick two turn beat down lead by Heliod.
Against this opponent, I almost sided in celestial flare for game three, when I was on the draw, but I had him pegged as being on a list more like Wafo-Tapa's essentially creatureless and ashiokless list.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the list. If I were to change something about the list, it would probably be to find a way to squeeze another daring skyjek in there. The card is very aggressive, and helps enormously against a Jace, AoT, having one of the highest powers in the deck. I probably also will drop a pacifism for a third glare of heresy in the future, as the card does serious work.
While I personally love Frontline Medic (Can't tell you how many times I won games off him in Naya Blitz, last season) I can't help but feel that Boros Reckoner, Fiendslayer Paladin, or Heliod, God of the Sun out class him in this style of deck.
Reckoner forces damage through for our deck, and Heliod allows us to recover from wrath effects, as well as gives all of our creatures vigilance. I think Frontline medic was a better card when we were also dealing with Bonfire of the Damned but every time I try and play him, I end up cutting him for something else.
On another note I managed to go 4-0 (A week after going 4-1-1 and top 8ing at states) at FNM with the same deck, but round 3 was probably the most interesting.
One of the stores better pilots (Several PTQ wins) was playing the Mono-Blue Devotion deck. I managed to beat it convincingly 2-0, though he did draw a lot of lands.
Since this was my 3rd time playing the deck I noticed a few things.
1.) Solider of the Panthoen, is nothing but a headache for that deck. The only creatures that can block it are Thasa and Master of Waves. He comes down, gains you a bunch of life to help with the race and beats face. It may be worth aggressive Mulligans to find one in your opening hand.
2.) Heliod trumps Thassa. I play two copies of Heliod in my 75, and when against the mono blue decks, Thasaa sat around kinda twiddling her thumbs wishing she could do something. Since we're faster than they are he couldn't risk attacking in with Thassa, and since Heliod gave vigilance, I could attack in with Heliod (And Solider of the Pantheon, when Thassa was Offline)And he would be force to lose a creature gaining devotion, or chump with thassa.
3.) If they resolve Jace, don't be afraid to use Brave the Elements or Boros Charm to kill him. If they're resolving Jace, chances are they don't have too many other cards on the board to stop you from your assault.
Standard
WUW/U HumansUW
Modern
WBW/B TokensBW
I read some article where a guys said that mono-white lacks really threatening late game threats so I brewed a bit. Here it is
3 Banisher Priest
4 Boros Elite
4 Daring Skyjek
3 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Xathrid Necromancer
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Heliod, God of the Sun
4 Brave the Elements
2 Spear of Heliod
Lands: 24
16 Plains
4 Godless Shrine
4 Temple of Silence
2 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Last Breath
2 Pithing Needle
3 Renounce the Guilds
3 Sin Collector
I think the numbers do need some tweaking but I cant really test it that much right now.
I had thought about Mutavault but Obzedat has such a high color requirement that including them would probably be a bad idea. The wrath protection is the Necromancer in that case.
So what do you guys think about it? I think that the black splash has much to offer.