My question is how many red sources do you have to play to cast this guy reliably on turn 2? Half of the red sources come into play tapped, and you'd preferably want to drop him than.
While Akroan Hoplite pushes out more damage constantly, I think Daring Skyjek is better simply because of the way he synergizes with the deck. For example my favorite play with him is T1 Solider of the Pantheon, T2 Drop Mutavault + Daring Skyjek, T3 swing 7.
I run 8 red sources for 4 Akroan Hoplite and 4 Boros Charm, 4 Sacred Foundry, 2 Temples, and 2 basic Mountains. I also have Burning Earth in my sideboard. I haven't had much trouble hitting red mana by turn 3.
I actually prefer to drop him turn 3 or 4 as a pseudo - finisher as I run 12 one drops (Soldier, Boros Elite, Dryad Militant) and Precinct Captain.
2-1 vs. Mono-blue
I opened game one with familiar into double boros elite and squeaked out a win with a brave the elements on turn 5. The next game she set up behind omenspeaker and frostburn and eventually landed a master of waves for 8. It killed me. In the last game, she tried to do the same, but eventually I was able to just play more creatures than she could and a well placed banisher priest ended the game. I sandbagged the Banisher priest the whole game for a master of waves that never showed up.
2-0 vs. UW control
Game 1 he 1-1'ed me with removal for a while, but I was always a creature or two ahead. He played a the 3/5 'hexproof' sphinx, which was actually good for me. It would have been worse if he'd had a removal spell -- the sphinx let me use my banisher priests to at least tap it down. I swung past it using the two banisher priest I thought were useless. He didn't have jace or revelation in those two turns and eventually he ran out of gas and I just killed him. In game two and I ran him over with double boros elite and another dude. He didn't find a third land by the time I killed him on turn 5. I lucked out here, he showed me a hand of double detention sphere, verdict, celestial flare, and double jace after he lost.
2-0 vs. Mono-black devotion (with green)
His deck had a lot of grindy stuff - putrify, abrupt decay, reaper of the wilds, whip, and gray merchant. It was very similar to mono-black devotion, but with mana elves and abrupt decay. Game one I was on the play and laid down three 1 drops between turns one and two. He answered with a pack rat. I azorius arrester'ed it and swung for a bunch. He passed with three mana up. I had banisher priest for the rat and he scooped (he would have blocked and gone to 3 or 4 life but then I would have 9 damage on board over 4 bodies). Game two was pretty long. I got off to a quick start but he topped consecutive gray merchants to get back into it. Spear of Heliod and Precinct Captain created a board stall until I eventually drew a banisher priest. He attacked one turn with a single Lifebane Zombie, but it left him vulnerable to removal. I banished a blocker and swung for the win. Just like in the mono-blue matchup, I just draw more creatures and eventually have a bigger board presence if the game stalls. There were a few turns where he could have drawn his two-of whip of erebos to stage a come back, but he couldn't find it.
2-0 vs. White Weenie
He had a more traditional build with boros reckoner and heliod capping his curve. Game one we both curved out, but I was a step faster. He was about to stabilize with an active heliod, but I had the "brave the elements and fortify combo" for the win. Game two I crushed him. I had soldier into double boros elite. He Pasifism'ed the soldier, but on turn three brave the elements taught him a lesson about sideboarding. I dropped an imposing sovereign that turn as well. He played a three drop on turn 4, I swung past it on my turn 4 (it was tapped). He played another three drop on turn 5, but it was tapped and I had azorius arrester to make the first three drop irrelevant. Woo hoo! I came in first!
Overall this deck felt very powerful. The low land count ensures that you'll have more gas than your opponents, so if the game ever stalls, you will eventually have more creatures on board. Then, if they ever start attacking they are in danger of losing to azorius arrester or banisher priest.... and whether or not they attack they're always in danger of losing to brave the elements. My opponents were frustrated because they couldn't really interact. A blazing clock combined with Brave the Elements, Imposing sovereign, Azorius Arrester, and Banisher Priest meant that they could never stop me or even slow me down.
If I could make any changes to the deck, I would replace two plains with two Mutavault and one Fortify with one more spear. In the sideboard I would replace the jank with 1 plains, 1 mutavault, 2 heliod, and 2 boros reckoner. Those changes would really help the UW control matchup. Reckoners would help against other aggro decks, although it might not be needed. Someone at FNM recommended Cavalry Pegasus, I may try it over Precinct Captain or Imposing Sovereign next week. All the 1 drops were solid. The weakest card in the deck is judge's familiar, but you need it to make boros elite, fortify, and spear good. Having 16 one drops lets you play 2 creatures on turns 2 and/or 3, which is normally enough for the opponent to give you the 'I'm probably not winning this game' face.
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
I've been using this so far - trying to go for a White Weenie that goes into devotion for bigger creatures. Any ideas?
I tried a boros kind, and Akroan Hoplite never really worked for me. Either he was an average 2/2 attacker, or 3/2 attacker that was easily blocked. Dunno if maybe I was just doing it wrong though.
Great report and I love your list! It seems a lot like the all in red deck pre-rotation (dynacharge RDW). I'm definitely going to test out something similar.
How valuable has Azorius Arrester been for you? In my mind it is competing against Daring SkyJek, the +1 power and soft evasion or soft removal.
In your opinion should the deck aim for evasive damage in Skyjeks and Ajani -3 for dbl strike flying or aim for consistency on the ground and create problems for blockers. Desecration demon and Nightveil Specter are both popular and mono blue even has 2 more flyers to block it. In my mind arrester slightly takes the edge when you look at the meta, but what are your opinions?
EDIT:Murder Investigation is a card worth looking into for the SB against Mono Black or Control. Rootborn Defences would still have more advantages, but if you wanted to have more than 4+ answers to removal in the SB, it might be worth it.
I've been using this so far - trying to go for a White Weenie that goes into devotion for bigger creatures. Any ideas?
That's how I started my list, as a White Nykthos deck basically before realizing "man this is a WW deck." First, yes you want more land. 21 is appropriate for burn decks, swarm aggro but that many three-drops demands more. Elspeth will usually ask for 4-5 land assuming one is a Nykthos, Heliod can serve as a mana dump if he's on the field.
My only other major suggestion, and really it applies to any WW list featuring Nykthos or not, is Ajani. Two devotion for a three-drop is good and he's very easy to protect and ride to victory with a deck that otherwise clogs the board with cheap bodies he can grow to profitably block for himself. Big Reckoners are awesome, big First Strikers are awesome, big Soldier of the Pantheon against any multi-colored deck is awesome. Couldn't hurt to side the other two Banisher Priest and maybe an Angel of Serenity or two as alternate-Elspeth against big-creature decks.
I've tested that soldier of pantheon is not so valuable in a metagame full of mono color devotion decks. On the other side I won lot of matches with banisher priest. Thinking about replacing SoP with frontline medic or boros elite.
How valuable has Azorius Arrester been for you? In my mind it is competing against Daring SkyJek, the +1 power and soft evasion or soft removal.
I prefer the arrester because he is faster than the skyjek. Let me explain, normally the game will play out like this:
You play a 1 drop
Opponent plays a land and passes
You play a 2 drop or two 1 drops
Opponent plays a land and a creature that can trade with or just block yours
At this point, an azorius arrester allows you to swing for around 5 damage. A skyjek will have another point of power, but you don't want to swing and lose a guy because you'll lose battalion. So, playing skyjek here means your clock will be a full turn slower. This comes up a lot with my build, so I prefer arrester.
What do you guys think of Dauntless Onlslaught? I'm going to replace two fortify in my list with this. It would have been better every time *except* when I drew the "brave the elements and fortify combo," and even then it would have been enough to exactly kill my opponent. It's a little faster than ajani too - 3 mana for 4 damage, right now.
EDIT: Murder Investigation is a card worth looking into for the SB against Mono Black or Control. Rootborn Defences would still have more advantages, but if you wanted to have more than 4+ answers to removal in the SB, it might be worth it.
Murder investigation is probably only going to get you 2 guys. You can get a similar effect just using banisher priest on one of your own creatures (precinct captain is best). Sometimes this is a good way to play around wrath, but sometimes it's not good at all.
Some facts of magic:
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
That's how I started my list, as a White Nykthos deck basically before realizing "man this is a WW deck." First, yes you want more land. 21 is appropriate for burn decks, swarm aggro but that many three-drops demands more. Elspeth will usually ask for 4-5 land assuming one is a Nykthos, Heliod can serve as a mana dump if he's on the field.
My only other major suggestion, and really it applies to any WW list featuring Nykthos or not, is Ajani. Two devotion for a three-drop is good and he's very easy to protect and ride to victory with a deck that otherwise clogs the board with cheap bodies he can grow to profitably block for himself. Big Reckoners are awesome, big First Strikers are awesome, big Soldier of the Pantheon against any multi-colored deck is awesome. Couldn't hurt to side the other two Banisher Priest and maybe an Angel of Serenity or two as alternate-Elspeth against big-creature decks.
I was thinking of putting Ajani too, going to have to try that.
@Zotob
I value the 2 power 1 drop of it, plus the synergy it has with Pegasus. Also, there's still quite a lot of multicolored creatures used.
Also, it's probably because I'm somewhat new, but I don't quite see the value of Angel of Serenity. Isn't it just a larger, far more expensive Banisher Priest that hits 3 instead of 1?
There are a lot of things I find odd with this list. The starter is the lack of Boros Reckoner any where in the board. Along side of that the choice to not run any Banisher Priest main board is also a bit odd, but understandable with how big Mono-Black has been.
I was also surprised that there was only one Spear of Heliod in the deck.
His mana base is way too shaky to support Boros Reckoner as he has only 18 sources that can cast it on turn 3 while data have shown that you need at least 21 red/white sources to be able to cast it on curve reliably.
I run a similar mana base (One less mutavault, and 23 lands), and cast Reckoner on Turn 3 has never really been an issue due to that all but 3-4 of your lands tap for White. I think reckoner is too good to not consider for other aggro match ups.
I'm kinda sad to see no Heliod but against a meta filled with Mono U, Mono B and Esper I can understand why he's not a very popular choice right now.
Why do you say that? Because of bounce and kill spells? Against RDW and Mono-Blue allowing your creatures to attack with Vigilance has always been game winning for me. I think you either play Heliod or you play Ajani. I don't think you can ever play both in the same deck unless you're going for a mono-white devotion type thing like others are trying.
Also love the 4 Fiendslayer Paladins in the sideboard, he can pretty much win the game by himself vs. Mono R and Mono B if given enough support (Spear + Ajani, ...) .
TBH I'm still not impressed by Fiendlsayer. Though I do like him as a sideboard card against Mono-Black devotion. Not so much against mono-red because Boros Reckoner does his job much better in that match up.
I'm actually running both Ajani and Heliod which has worked out great so far as my meta almost solely consists of R/G Midrange and other aggro decks. Only a few people playing mono U, mono B or control. I do end up siding out one or the other in most matches so I guess you got me there.
As you said, Fiendslayer was a real champ vs mono B. Heliod was a total chump in this matchup because he was just an overcosted vigilance effect and I had trouble keeping any creatures on the board because of the barrage of removal effects and demons...
How often you get enough devotion to make heliod a creature?Heliod and frontline medic sounds great together against aggro and mid range decks
I run a similar mana base (One less mutavault, and 23 lands), and cast Reckoner on Turn 3 has never really been an issue due to that all but 3-4 of your lands tap for White. I think reckoner is too good to not consider for other aggro match ups.
It's just math, you're going to have trouble.
18 sources on the play
63.45% chance to cast him on turn 3
71.11% chance to cast him on turn 4
77.61% chance to cast him on turn 5
This doesn't account for you ripping the 3rd land and having it be a scry land either which has a 7.8% chance of happening on turn 3 if you haven't already drawn a scry land, also doesn't include potential scrys with those scry lands if you do see them. Too lazy to model that fully and include it in the %'s though.
With 21 sources
76.11% chance to cast him on turn 3
82.62% on turn 4
87.66% on turn 5
If you assume with both you can get equally screwed or helped by a scry land, the extra 10-12% in consistency for a card like reckoner can be huge.
Recently I have been trying out an Azorius version of WW and it was falling short in most games I played. After watching the Boros version go to work this weekend I am going to go down that road. I have a few personal tweaks I have tried out and I want to throw past ya'll.
I have gone with a little more burn with Lightning Strikefor anything that can and usually gets in the way. I know some people are going to frown on Spark Trooper, this is how I view it. First, if it sticks the life swing is very crippling, then consider dropping it T4 after a T3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride. Secondly, by the time I drop 1 most decks that use spot removal will usually have used up most of their core and will not be prepared for it G1. Then the next game they will hold removal specifically for it allowing my other beaters to do work. As for my Sideboard, I am flip flopping between Chained to the Rocks or Glare of Heresy. I am going with 1 Assemble the Legion against the control match up. I am foregoing Boros Reckoner's for now as I don't think he is what this deck needs as I like Fiendslayer Paladin against most aggro match-ups, specifically those on the Red or Black menu plan.
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I would probably run Archangel of Thune as it is probably one of white's best 'big creatures' and it combines really well with Elspeth's +1 too, giving you an army of relatively strong creatures over the course of just a few turns.
Once I get the means to, I probably would go for it.
My only concern is how often I'd get to drop it. Outside of Nykthos, there isn't really any real ramp other than just draw the land.
Weenie deck has been running great vs the Grand Prix rakdos deck. Not really much if a challenge, we simply outclass their creatures.
Mogis would like a word with you.
The BR deck is good, make no mistake about it and the fact that they get to run actual removal/disruption and you don't is a pretty big deal. Banisher Priest is big against them. The key is being more aggressive than them and pressuring them into board states that do not favor them going on the offensive. If the Rakdos player develops any kind of a board though, Mogis can and most likely will kill you out of nowhere as anyone who followed Santiago will tell you.
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Brilliant ideas are stupid ideas that worked - Patrick Chapin
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I run 8 red sources for 4 Akroan Hoplite and 4 Boros Charm, 4 Sacred Foundry, 2 Temples, and 2 basic Mountains. I also have Burning Earth in my sideboard. I haven't had much trouble hitting red mana by turn 3.
I actually prefer to drop him turn 3 or 4 as a pseudo - finisher as I run 12 one drops (Soldier, Boros Elite, Dryad Militant) and Precinct Captain.
2x pacifism
2x rootborn defenses
3x glare of heresy
3x Celestial flare
3x boros reckoner
Or
2x pacifism
2x rootborn defenses
3x glare of heresy
3x Celestial flare
2x silence
1x riot control
Having a hard time deciding on a SB for tonight
Boros Reckoner. All day. Every day.
Abzan Midrange
Modern:
Scapeshift
4 Dryad Militant
4 Boros Elite
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Brave the Elements
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Azorius Arrester
3 Fortify
1 Spear of Heliod
20 Plains
4 Rootborn Defenses
4 Keening Apparition
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Ordeal of Heliod
2 Pay no Heed
1 Gift of Orzhova
2-1 vs. Mono-blue
I opened game one with familiar into double boros elite and squeaked out a win with a brave the elements on turn 5. The next game she set up behind omenspeaker and frostburn and eventually landed a master of waves for 8. It killed me. In the last game, she tried to do the same, but eventually I was able to just play more creatures than she could and a well placed banisher priest ended the game. I sandbagged the Banisher priest the whole game for a master of waves that never showed up.
2-0 vs. UW control
Game 1 he 1-1'ed me with removal for a while, but I was always a creature or two ahead. He played a the 3/5 'hexproof' sphinx, which was actually good for me. It would have been worse if he'd had a removal spell -- the sphinx let me use my banisher priests to at least tap it down. I swung past it using the two banisher priest I thought were useless. He didn't have jace or revelation in those two turns and eventually he ran out of gas and I just killed him. In game two and I ran him over with double boros elite and another dude. He didn't find a third land by the time I killed him on turn 5. I lucked out here, he showed me a hand of double detention sphere, verdict, celestial flare, and double jace after he lost.
2-0 vs. Mono-black devotion (with green)
His deck had a lot of grindy stuff - putrify, abrupt decay, reaper of the wilds, whip, and gray merchant. It was very similar to mono-black devotion, but with mana elves and abrupt decay. Game one I was on the play and laid down three 1 drops between turns one and two. He answered with a pack rat. I azorius arrester'ed it and swung for a bunch. He passed with three mana up. I had banisher priest for the rat and he scooped (he would have blocked and gone to 3 or 4 life but then I would have 9 damage on board over 4 bodies). Game two was pretty long. I got off to a quick start but he topped consecutive gray merchants to get back into it. Spear of Heliod and Precinct Captain created a board stall until I eventually drew a banisher priest. He attacked one turn with a single Lifebane Zombie, but it left him vulnerable to removal. I banished a blocker and swung for the win. Just like in the mono-blue matchup, I just draw more creatures and eventually have a bigger board presence if the game stalls. There were a few turns where he could have drawn his two-of whip of erebos to stage a come back, but he couldn't find it.
2-0 vs. White Weenie
He had a more traditional build with boros reckoner and heliod capping his curve. Game one we both curved out, but I was a step faster. He was about to stabilize with an active heliod, but I had the "brave the elements and fortify combo" for the win. Game two I crushed him. I had soldier into double boros elite. He Pasifism'ed the soldier, but on turn three brave the elements taught him a lesson about sideboarding. I dropped an imposing sovereign that turn as well. He played a three drop on turn 4, I swung past it on my turn 4 (it was tapped). He played another three drop on turn 5, but it was tapped and I had azorius arrester to make the first three drop irrelevant. Woo hoo! I came in first!
Overall this deck felt very powerful. The low land count ensures that you'll have more gas than your opponents, so if the game ever stalls, you will eventually have more creatures on board. Then, if they ever start attacking they are in danger of losing to azorius arrester or banisher priest.... and whether or not they attack they're always in danger of losing to brave the elements. My opponents were frustrated because they couldn't really interact. A blazing clock combined with Brave the Elements, Imposing sovereign, Azorius Arrester, and Banisher Priest meant that they could never stop me or even slow me down.
If I could make any changes to the deck, I would replace two plains with two Mutavault and one Fortify with one more spear. In the sideboard I would replace the jank with 1 plains, 1 mutavault, 2 heliod, and 2 boros reckoner. Those changes would really help the UW control matchup. Reckoners would help against other aggro decks, although it might not be needed. Someone at FNM recommended Cavalry Pegasus, I may try it over Precinct Captain or Imposing Sovereign next week. All the 1 drops were solid. The weakest card in the deck is judge's familiar, but you need it to make boros elite, fortify, and spear good. Having 16 one drops lets you play 2 creatures on turns 2 and/or 3, which is normally enough for the opponent to give you the 'I'm probably not winning this game' face.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
4 Judge's Familiar
4 Precinct Captain
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Imposing Sovereign
2 Banisher Priest
4 Cavalry Pegasus
2 Heliod, God of the Sun
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
4 Brave the Elements
3 Nykthos
18 Plains
4 Rootborn Defenses
3 Renounce the Guilds
2 Glare of Heresy
4 Gods Willing
2 Daring Skyjeks
I've been using this so far - trying to go for a White Weenie that goes into devotion for bigger creatures. Any ideas?
I tried a boros kind, and Akroan Hoplite never really worked for me. Either he was an average 2/2 attacker, or 3/2 attacker that was easily blocked. Dunno if maybe I was just doing it wrong though.
Should I have more? I don't think I've had too many land problems yet.
Great report and I love your list! It seems a lot like the all in red deck pre-rotation (dynacharge RDW). I'm definitely going to test out something similar.
How valuable has Azorius Arrester been for you? In my mind it is competing against Daring SkyJek, the +1 power and soft evasion or soft removal.
In your opinion should the deck aim for evasive damage in Skyjeks and Ajani -3 for dbl strike flying or aim for consistency on the ground and create problems for blockers. Desecration demon and Nightveil Specter are both popular and mono blue even has 2 more flyers to block it. In my mind arrester slightly takes the edge when you look at the meta, but what are your opinions?
4-0 Daily Event List: 3rd from the top
http://wizards.com/Magic/digital/MagicOnlineTourn.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/tourn/6210710
EDIT: Murder Investigation is a card worth looking into for the SB against Mono Black or Control. Rootborn Defences would still have more advantages, but if you wanted to have more than 4+ answers to removal in the SB, it might be worth it.
EDIT 2: SCG Baby Boros Decklist
http://www.starcitygames.com/events/coverage/deck_tech_boros_aggro_with_ben.html
That's how I started my list, as a White Nykthos deck basically before realizing "man this is a WW deck." First, yes you want more land. 21 is appropriate for burn decks, swarm aggro but that many three-drops demands more. Elspeth will usually ask for 4-5 land assuming one is a Nykthos, Heliod can serve as a mana dump if he's on the field.
My only other major suggestion, and really it applies to any WW list featuring Nykthos or not, is Ajani. Two devotion for a three-drop is good and he's very easy to protect and ride to victory with a deck that otherwise clogs the board with cheap bodies he can grow to profitably block for himself. Big Reckoners are awesome, big First Strikers are awesome, big Soldier of the Pantheon against any multi-colored deck is awesome. Couldn't hurt to side the other two Banisher Priest and maybe an Angel of Serenity or two as alternate-Elspeth against big-creature decks.
I prefer the arrester because he is faster than the skyjek. Let me explain, normally the game will play out like this:
You play a 1 drop
Opponent plays a land and passes
You play a 2 drop or two 1 drops
Opponent plays a land and a creature that can trade with or just block yours
At this point, an azorius arrester allows you to swing for around 5 damage. A skyjek will have another point of power, but you don't want to swing and lose a guy because you'll lose battalion. So, playing skyjek here means your clock will be a full turn slower. This comes up a lot with my build, so I prefer arrester.
What do you guys think of Dauntless Onlslaught? I'm going to replace two fortify in my list with this. It would have been better every time *except* when I drew the "brave the elements and fortify combo," and even then it would have been enough to exactly kill my opponent. It's a little faster than ajani too - 3 mana for 4 damage, right now.
Murder investigation is probably only going to get you 2 guys. You can get a similar effect just using banisher priest on one of your own creatures (precinct captain is best). Sometimes this is a good way to play around wrath, but sometimes it's not good at all.
-Terror is an emotion which, when experienced, results in death.
-The pox was a disease notorious for having killed one-third, rounded up, of Europe’s population. Smallpox, on the other hand, killed only a single person.
-A person riding a horse cannot be stopped by foot soldiers, large animals, walls, archers, or even catapults.
More facts of magic
I was thinking of putting Ajani too, going to have to try that.
@Zotob
I value the 2 power 1 drop of it, plus the synergy it has with Pegasus. Also, there's still quite a lot of multicolored creatures used.
Also, it's probably because I'm somewhat new, but I don't quite see the value of Angel of Serenity. Isn't it just a larger, far more expensive Banisher Priest that hits 3 instead of 1?
2 Azorius Arrester
4 Boros Elite
4 Daring Skyjek
4 Dryad Militant
4 Frontline Medic
4 Precinct Captain
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Boros Charm
4 Brave the Elements
1 Spear Of Heliod
Planeswalkers:3
3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Lands: 22
10 Plains
4 Mutavault
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Banisher Priest
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Burning Earth
1 Pacifism
1 Warleader's Helix
1 Wear
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Mizzium Mortars
There are a lot of things I find odd with this list. The starter is the lack of Boros Reckoner any where in the board. Along side of that the choice to not run any Banisher Priest main board is also a bit odd, but understandable with how big Mono-Black has been.
I was also surprised that there was only one Spear of Heliod in the deck.
Thoughts?
Standard
WUW/U HumansUW
Modern
WBW/B TokensBW
That's like... 3 battalions, and all 4-of.
Is Arrester more effective than Sovereign in that case or something?
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Dryad Militant
4 Boros Elite
4 Daring Skyjek
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precint Captain
4 Banisher Priest
3 Frontline Medic
4 Brave the Elements
2 Fortify
Artifact: 2
2 Spear of Heliod
Lands: 21
21 Plains
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Celestial Flare
3 Renounce the Guilds
2 Rootborn Defenses
2 Glare of Heresy
BTW, went 3-1-1 in FNM (lost to a RG and draw to a Esper) and 4-1 on saturday (lost to a Esper)
I run a similar mana base (One less mutavault, and 23 lands), and cast Reckoner on Turn 3 has never really been an issue due to that all but 3-4 of your lands tap for White. I think reckoner is too good to not consider for other aggro match ups.
Why do you say that? Because of bounce and kill spells? Against RDW and Mono-Blue allowing your creatures to attack with Vigilance has always been game winning for me. I think you either play Heliod or you play Ajani. I don't think you can ever play both in the same deck unless you're going for a mono-white devotion type thing like others are trying.
TBH I'm still not impressed by Fiendlsayer. Though I do like him as a sideboard card against Mono-Black devotion. Not so much against mono-red because Boros Reckoner does his job much better in that match up.
Standard
WUW/U HumansUW
Modern
WBW/B TokensBW
How often you get enough devotion to make heliod a creature?Heliod and frontline medic sounds great together against aggro and mid range decks
Haven't tried Ajani yet, but between 3 spears, boros, and precinct, I've gotten heliod up pretty often.
It's just math, you're going to have trouble.
18 sources on the play
63.45% chance to cast him on turn 3
71.11% chance to cast him on turn 4
77.61% chance to cast him on turn 5
This doesn't account for you ripping the 3rd land and having it be a scry land either which has a 7.8% chance of happening on turn 3 if you haven't already drawn a scry land, also doesn't include potential scrys with those scry lands if you do see them. Too lazy to model that fully and include it in the %'s though.
With 21 sources
76.11% chance to cast him on turn 3
82.62% on turn 4
87.66% on turn 5
If you assume with both you can get equally screwed or helped by a scry land, the extra 10-12% in consistency for a card like reckoner can be huge.
4 Boros Elite
4 Dryad Militant
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Daring Skyjek
4 Precinct Captain
3 Frontline Medic
2 Spark Trooper
SPELLS (9)
3 Brave the Elements
3 Boros Charm
3 Lightning Strike
3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
LANDS (23)
8 Plains
3 Mountain
4 Mutavault
4 Hallowed Fountain
4 Temple of Triumph
2 Banisher Priest
1 Boros Charm
1 Brave the Elements
2 Chained to the Rocks
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Wear / Tear
1 Assemble the Legion
I have gone with a little more burn with Lightning Strikefor anything that can and usually gets in the way. I know some people are going to frown on Spark Trooper, this is how I view it. First, if it sticks the life swing is very crippling, then consider dropping it T4 after a T3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride. Secondly, by the time I drop 1 most decks that use spot removal will usually have used up most of their core and will not be prepared for it G1. Then the next game they will hold removal specifically for it allowing my other beaters to do work. As for my Sideboard, I am flip flopping between Chained to the Rocks or Glare of Heresy. I am going with 1 Assemble the Legion against the control match up. I am foregoing Boros Reckoner's for now as I don't think he is what this deck needs as I like Fiendslayer Paladin against most aggro match-ups, specifically those on the Red or Black menu plan.
Current Decks
Standard : WB Orzhov Vampires BW GUB Sultai Constrictor BUG
Brawl : GB Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons BG
Modern : GB Golgari Elves BG GR Atarka Goblins RG
Pauper : W Heroic W GB Delve BG
Once I get the means to, I probably would go for it.
My only concern is how often I'd get to drop it. Outside of Nykthos, there isn't really any real ramp other than just draw the land.
Mogis would like a word with you.
The BR deck is good, make no mistake about it and the fact that they get to run actual removal/disruption and you don't is a pretty big deal. Banisher Priest is big against them. The key is being more aggressive than them and pressuring them into board states that do not favor them going on the offensive. If the Rakdos player develops any kind of a board though, Mogis can and most likely will kill you out of nowhere as anyone who followed Santiago will tell you.