Been doing a little bit more testing. I was doing really well with only two white mana; I was lucky enough to have two Favored Hoplites and a Launch the Fleet. On round 3 there was 6 power's worth of attack in the form of 4 bodies; not bad. Launch the Fleet is a force multiplier; if we only have Heroic creatures, it means we get at least 2 power, one from the extra Heroic counter and one more from the new soldier token. The fact that it's hilariously easy to strive means I should be playing 4 of them.
On the Seeker of the Way argument, I want to keep this heroic-only, but the top Heroic decks are using him, so there must be a reason. For now I'll keep him out.
I will also switch 2 Feat of Resistance for 2 Ajani's Presence, because of casting cost and strive. Feat is great, but when you're stuck on 3 mana and you want to bring a Phalanx Leader out and still have mana left to protect from removal, Ajani's Presence means I have protection even if I don't have Gods Willing. The only problem is that it doesn't shield from exile and can't act as evasion.
I encountered the one boardwipe we can't protect against; Ætherspouts. It doesn't target creatures, so despite me giving protection from blue to my Hoplites, they got spouted away. This is making me consider running Swan Song/Stubborn Denial, despite that cutting down on the creature buff spells. Or at least sideboard.
I was already interested in sleeving up a few Battle Mastery's but now that I have read that I think I will test it tomorrow. I am thinking 2-3 mainboard and possibly one sideboard. Not only does it close out against those durdly three color mid range decks we already prey on, it also might let us actually race the faster aggro decks since a 6/6 double strike flying Hoplite is kinda hard to beat in a race.
I really think they want to run the Skyguard because of the complete lack of competent flyers before turn 5, and it really does make sense..I might up my Stratus Walk by one and try the 2/2 split of Hero and Skyguard.
Battle Mastery is like the Ajani, Caller of the Pride and has that surprise oops I win scenario. You can hold on to the Mastery or play it outright if you feel no 2 for 1's from opponents removing your creature. Plus you don't over extend if your creature has double strike hitting a bunch at opponent's life total.
If you play Battle Mastery with 4 mana open you can even respond to removal with a Gods Willing. I'd recommend against playing this without protection ready because it'll be a huge, massive, obvious target for anything. Unless it's the final swing of the game and the opponent's tapped out, in which case, hooray
Exactly, the card is all upside if you have a protection spell in your hand. You know your opponent will have to pull the trigger on the removal spell in their hand when you play it even if you have one mana up, which just leads to a nice blow out for you as you bait out their removal and get another heroic trigger off Gods willing.
I think I am going to enjoy scrying to see a Battle Mastery on top when I have a 5/5 flying Hero of Iroas on the field.
I was considering running a Disdainful Stroke over Stubborn Denial to protect against End Hostilities or AEtherspouts. I had already decided to cut Stubborn Denial for Feats of resistance to protect against Banishing Light and Chained to the Rocks. It is sad looking at an Ajani's Presence in hand when they target your guy with an enchantment. Also am cutting Prog Sphinx because I think I would rather just Dig for another threat and not assume that they have an answer for every creature.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
I was considering running a Disdainful Stroke over Stubborn Denial to protect against End Hostilities or AEtherspouts. I had already decided to cut Stubborn Denial for Feats of resistance to protect against Banishing Light and Chained to the Rocks. It is sad looking at an Ajani's Presence in hand when they target your guy with an enchantment. Also am cutting Prog Sphinx because I think I would rather just Dig for another threat and not assume that they have an answer for every creature.
Both can be situationally better than the other but I am pretty sure I would want the denial over stroke 9 time out of 10. You say your want stroke for the big aoe removal spells but Swan Song and Stubborn Denial both deal with it just as well considering it is highly likely your opponent is using every last mana for that board wipe at 5 mana, or you have a creature with 4 power.
This is the deck I'm running with. I usually try to bait a removal or two with Favored Hoplite, then Battlewise then Hero of Iroas. If they don't shoot them I'll start enchanting Battlewise and always keep one or two protection spells in hand. If I draw Fabled Hero I will never play him on three lands. I always wait until 4th or maybe 5th land so I can protect him. If I untap with him on my board I will win 90% of the time.
It actually plays more like a combo deck than an aggro deck, to me, mostly because we're in an extremely targeted removal-heavy Standard right now. The idea is that you try to never play a threat without at least one protection spell to back it up. They don't block your guy early because there's always a threat of them being blown out (or you have Aqueous Form on it) and then by like turn 5-6 when they tap out to drop a Siege Rhino or Stormbreath Dragon or whatever you can play 2-3 Heroic spells and swing in for the last 8-10 to kill them all at once. The guys past the first one you play a lot of times just end up being chump blockers to protect your life total as you build up your Super Human.
That's why I kept increasing the amount of protection spells in the deck, because it's backbreaking to your chances of winning when they kill your main guy, and you're not really running enough creatures to go wide.
The worst cards I have played against have been Crackling Doom and Whip of Erebos, both of those are basically unbeatable if the opponent resolves them. That's why I put the Negates main deck. But I admit I forgot about Swan Song, and that seems way better because who cares about a 2/2 when you're swinging every turn with a 5/5. Swan Song counters every possible spell you care about: kill spells, enchantment removal like Banishing Light, and of course the dreaded Whip. I'll probably swap out the Negates for those straight up, so it'll be 2 SS main, 2 SS 2 SD in the sideboard.
Battle Mastery has been good for me, as has Stratus Walk. Perhaps it's been match-up dependent but I haven't had Ordeal of Heliod do much work for me. Also haven't even had a chance to cast Return to the Ranks so that's probably fine to be just another Erase or Suspension Field. I also probably want to try Triton Tactics although generally you'll only have 1 blue mana so that might be in the sideboard as "can only come in when I'm not AS dependent on Swan Song."
For the mana, I have Mana Confluence in my paper deck but online I just put Tranquil Cove in there. It doesn't seem to hurt you very much, and at least once that single point of life allowed me to win a damage race. It just means that every couple of rounds you might have to wait all the way until like turn 3 to play a guy because you had to keep a Temple + Cove opening hand. But since you're not racing most of the time with the deck, I'm not sure the Confluence is worth the life payment requirement.
I like the Artisan of Forms, just seems so fun in combination with ajani's presence to black and keep their own card or feat of resistance making our guy a little stronger and survive or surprise! I'm actually going to make swing in with your Master of the Feast for 5 flying then retarget it again so you can't draw, but I will!
Regarding Ephemeral Shields I do thing the possibility to trick your opponent into trying to remove your creature and then convoking it would be sweet but I am just finding I like protection from colors more than I am liking indestructibility, since exile is actually pretty popular right now.
I am currently testing a list without Soldier right now and do tend to miss him a big as the early 2-4 damage can be game changing, not to mention his lifegain and protection. With him out I cute Mana Confluence all together to allow more tap lands since I have to worry less about turn 1 plays.
Also I updated my list with what I am currently testing and cant decide if I like the skyguard or Hero of Iroas more..
So I'm taking Boco_T's deck for a spin on XMage since it's what I'll be attempting to build in paper tomorrow. I don't want to have to spend tons of bucks on Brimaz and Elspeth for my soldier deck, since I have most of Boco_T's deck in paper already.
First match: against Jeskai. First game reminded me of the prime lesson; don't let your creatures out without protection. A turn 1 Favored Hoplite got burnt away by Lightning Strike when I couldn't do anything about it. Never mind, get a Battlewise Hoplite out, get an Ordeal of Thassa on him too, swing in for 5 when the opponent tries to burn him and I use Gods Willing to prevent that. Sadly next turn he Jeskai Charms him away and I only had Ajani's Presence, which wouldn't have helped. I had Negate too, but only one open mana. So next turn I bring out Battlewise again, without the Ordeal. Opponent Magma Jets, I use Ajani's Presence, opponent brings out another Magma Jet. Well heck. At least I got a scry, eh? Bring out a Hero of Iroas, and I have enough open mana for a Negate. Opponent brings out a bloody Sarkhan, but he's not a creature so I can Negate him, and I do. Now I have an empty hand; draw and cast a Favored Hoplite. Opponent brings out Mantis Rider. Like magic, I get a Stratus Walk and cast it on the Hero of Iroas, so that he can block and kill the Mantis if needed. But before that resolves, of course Iroas gets Lightning Struck. So I'm left with only a Favored Hoplite, and of course the opponent topdecks another Mantis. I concede.
Game 2; not sure what to sideboard really, so I keep my current stuff. Opening hand's only counter-burn is Negate, so I'll have to wait until turn 4 to bring any non-1-CMC creatures out and keep them safe. Luckily I draw an Ajani's Presence so I send out Battlewise on t3. I get an Ordeal on him on t4, scry-keep a Battle Mastery. Swing in for 4 succesfully. Opponent tries a end-step Magma Jet but I block with Presence. Weirdly, I have 3 counters on Battlewise now but the Ordeal doesn't trigger, which sucks. Didn't want to put Battle Mastery on him yet, because I wouldn't have enough mana left for counter-burn, so I chose Stratus Walk. But opponent conceded before I could move further, so yay?
Game 3; Kept a 5-land hand, but one was a scryland and I had a Skyguard with Battle Mastery. I scry-away a Favored Hoplite because I want protection spells only now. By turn 3 still no protection and the opponent's chipping away with a Seeker of the Way. Draw another Skyguard, so I put out one to draw fire. Sure enough, Stoke the Flames removes it. Opponent brings out Mantis Rider, hooray. I'm at 11 now. Still no protection drawn, but I put out the Skyguard anyway. It gets Arc Lightning'ed away. Game over, I die.
New match, game 1: Battlewise Hoplite out, Gods Willing in hand, opponent has a 4/3 Welkin Tern with Ghostfire Blade. Ordeal on Battlewise, swing in for 4. Bring in a Fabled Hero. Opponent sacs Ghostfire Blade to Shrapnel Blast my Battlewise. At least it's just his Tern against my Fabled Hero. Oh wait, Lightning Strike on the Hero. Bring out a Skyguard to at least block the bloody Tern, both creatures die. I lost connection as he was bringing out a Vaporkin.
My feelings; it's good, I think I just got unlucky a lot. It's really all about timing and being able to block removal. So much damn removal, with the prevalence of red in decks today.
Anyone got advice on how to sideboard this? I really don't know what's best to do with this deck.
Against Jeskai, you definitely want to bring in the Denials and Negates, cut Cruise, Masteries, and a Walk. I'd also chuck back a 5-land hand in this match-up, probably even if the 2 action cards were exactly a creature and a Gods Willing.
I do think you were probably unlucky, which is why I knew after I started on Tom Ross's 4 Gods Willing 2 Ajani's Presence that I'd have to go way up from that.
For the Ordeal, it only triggers after you attack. So that's important to remember as well, any Ordeal even on a guy that already has 3 counters still nets you 2 more counters in addition to the Ordeal's bonus, one for the target and one for the attack trigger.
Based on what you said, it does seem like Swan's Song would have been easier for you to cast than Negate, but that Sarkhan would have resolved. Then again, if you have an Aqueous Form or Stratus Walk on your guy, most Planeswalkers are just "one activation then they die" against this deck.
Damn man sounds like the Jeskei deck got literally everything he needed, it happens though. I think both Triton Tactics is what you should be running in the sideboard if you are facing any decks with burn since they are effectively a Gods Willing. If I see a whole bunch of Jeskei decks I will most likely run 2 tactics in the board to increase my protection suite.
To be honest I did not know that is how the ordeals worked...they are even better now in my opinion.
Yep, straight from the Gatherer rulings on the Ordeals:
The check of whether the enchanted creature has three or more +1/+1 counters on it happens as part of the resolution of the attack triggered ability. If the third +1/+1 counter is put on the enchanted creature any other way, you won’t sacrifice the Ordeal until the next time the creature attacks.
The more I look at Triton Tactics the more I like it. It means I can swing in with my creatures one turn, and on the next opponent's turn, after he's declared attackers, I use Tactics to untap two fresh defenders who will get +1/+4 (because heroic) each, most likely surviving the blocks and come swinging in next turn. And all for one U!
Saturday battle report: match 1, lost against GR ramp. I got a lot of my stuff out but it had too many giant monsters with trample. Arbor Colossus, Nylea, Xenagod... Too much big stuff to handle.
Second match was nearly identical with a nearly identical result. I managed to win a game with Aqueous Form on Fabled Hero, but I forgot mono green has Setessan Tactics as removal so I couldn't stop my game 3 aqueous Fabled Hero from getting removed.
Match 3 I actually won 2-1. First game I got wiped by a Nykthos shrine generating 20 mana and playing a Villanous Wealth, which was...staggering. I managed to win the last 2 games by chipping away with unblockable creatures.
General thoughts; aqueous form is MVP. Absolutely. We love it dearly. Ordeal of Thassa is helpful too. Having a double striker be unblockable or flying is ideal.
Yeah Aqueous Form is a big role player in this deck and the deck should never have lower than 3-4 copies.
Currently I am trying to find the right balance with this deck because it is all about balance. We need enabler with come in two sub categories, Protection and Evasion granters, and they all trigger heroic. But without enough creatures the deck falters, as one or two removal spells can shut you out. Right now I am running 16 creatures, 12 in which have Heroic, as for evasion I have 6 enchantments in the form of Aqueous and Stratus. And finally I have 8 protection spells to keep the pain coming.
The card that has been impressing me a whole lot is Battle Mastery, this might be because I run Eidolon of Countless Battles over Fabled Hero but the surprise "I win now" play on a 5/5 Hero of Iroas is what makes me love this deck. I just enjoy playing such bad magic cards in a deck that just make them so very good..
I played this deck tonight against my brother's Abzan Midrange deck and went 4-2 in matches. The deck is strong when it gets online because there isn't much enchantment hate maindecked and even after sideboarding our deck can stay resilient. Looking forward to more testing.
Seems like it might be "too slow" and the only relevant ability is his +1 and if we are getting board wiped then he doesn't do much for us. Possibly a 1-2 of and maybe out of the sideboard versus more aggro decks since lifelink, vigilance, and first strike would be very relevant there.
Seems like it might be "too slow" and the only relevant ability is his +1 and if we are getting board wiped then he doesn't do much for us. Possibly a 1-2 of and maybe out of the sideboard versus more aggro decks since lifelink, vigilance, and first strike would be very relevant there.
Thinking about it, I could've put my one copy of Jace into the deck I played today since he'd do great against mono-green fatties, return a creature every turn... most other top-tier decks are playing walkers somewhere, I feel like we're at a bit of a disadvantage since we don't have one.
Seems like it might be "too slow" and the only relevant ability is his +1 and if we are getting board wiped then he doesn't do much for us. Possibly a 1-2 of and maybe out of the sideboard versus more aggro decks since lifelink, vigilance, and first strike would be very relevant there.
I more or less agree with ACRR in the fact that drawing a 4-5 drop planeswalker when all you need is some more action and heroic enabler, just feels bad. If you want small tempo plays to screw with big green I recommend Void Snare, or Voyages End unless you want to play the deck with more grind and less speed.
In other news I got every card in the deck in paper for just under $90 and cant wait to tear up my local card store
http://www.starcitygames.com/article/29498_Daily-Digest-We-Need-A-Hero.html
On the Seeker of the Way argument, I want to keep this heroic-only, but the top Heroic decks are using him, so there must be a reason. For now I'll keep him out.
I will also switch 2 Feat of Resistance for 2 Ajani's Presence, because of casting cost and strive. Feat is great, but when you're stuck on 3 mana and you want to bring a Phalanx Leader out and still have mana left to protect from removal, Ajani's Presence means I have protection even if I don't have Gods Willing. The only problem is that it doesn't shield from exile and can't act as evasion.
I encountered the one boardwipe we can't protect against; Ætherspouts. It doesn't target creatures, so despite me giving protection from blue to my Hoplites, they got spouted away. This is making me consider running Swan Song/Stubborn Denial, despite that cutting down on the creature buff spells. Or at least sideboard.
I was already interested in sleeving up a few Battle Mastery's but now that I have read that I think I will test it tomorrow. I am thinking 2-3 mainboard and possibly one sideboard. Not only does it close out against those durdly three color mid range decks we already prey on, it also might let us actually race the faster aggro decks since a 6/6 double strike flying Hoplite is kinda hard to beat in a race.
I really think they want to run the Skyguard because of the complete lack of competent flyers before turn 5, and it really does make sense..I might up my Stratus Walk by one and try the 2/2 split of Hero and Skyguard.
I think I am going to enjoy scrying to see a Battle Mastery on top when I have a 5/5 flying Hero of Iroas on the field.
Both can be situationally better than the other but I am pretty sure I would want the denial over stroke 9 time out of 10. You say your want stroke for the big aoe removal spells but Swan Song and Stubborn Denial both deal with it just as well considering it is highly likely your opponent is using every last mana for that board wipe at 5 mana, or you have a creature with 4 power.
4x Battlewise Hoplite
4x Fabled Hero
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Hero of Iroas
1x Seeker of the Way
Instant (12)
4x Ajani's Presence
4x Feat of Resistance
4x Gods Willing
4x Flooded Strand
4x Island
3x Mana Confluence
6x Plains
4x Temple of Enlightenment
Enchantment (10)
4x Aqueous Form
2x Ordeal of Heliod
4x Ordeal of Thassa
1x Erase
4x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
2x Ordeal of Heliod
2x Stratus Walk
4x Stubborn Denial
2x Triton Tactics
4x Favored Hoplite
2x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
2x Akroan Skyguard
4x Battlewise Hoplite
2x Hero of Iroas
2x Fabled Hero
Instant (10)
4x Ajani's Presence
4x Gods Willing
2x Negate
4x Flooded Strand
2x Island
3x Mana Confluence
8x Plains
4x Temple of Enlightenment
Enchantment (12)
4x Aqueous Form
4x Ordeal of Thassa
2x Stratus Walk
2x Battle Mastery
1x Treasure Cruise
2x Erase
2x Stubborn Denial
2x Negate
3x Ordeal of Heliod
1x Return to the Ranks
3x Singing Bell Strike
2x Suspension Field
It actually plays more like a combo deck than an aggro deck, to me, mostly because we're in an extremely targeted removal-heavy Standard right now. The idea is that you try to never play a threat without at least one protection spell to back it up. They don't block your guy early because there's always a threat of them being blown out (or you have Aqueous Form on it) and then by like turn 5-6 when they tap out to drop a Siege Rhino or Stormbreath Dragon or whatever you can play 2-3 Heroic spells and swing in for the last 8-10 to kill them all at once. The guys past the first one you play a lot of times just end up being chump blockers to protect your life total as you build up your Super Human.
That's why I kept increasing the amount of protection spells in the deck, because it's backbreaking to your chances of winning when they kill your main guy, and you're not really running enough creatures to go wide.
The worst cards I have played against have been Crackling Doom and Whip of Erebos, both of those are basically unbeatable if the opponent resolves them. That's why I put the Negates main deck. But I admit I forgot about Swan Song, and that seems way better because who cares about a 2/2 when you're swinging every turn with a 5/5. Swan Song counters every possible spell you care about: kill spells, enchantment removal like Banishing Light, and of course the dreaded Whip. I'll probably swap out the Negates for those straight up, so it'll be 2 SS main, 2 SS 2 SD in the sideboard.
Battle Mastery has been good for me, as has Stratus Walk. Perhaps it's been match-up dependent but I haven't had Ordeal of Heliod do much work for me. Also haven't even had a chance to cast Return to the Ranks so that's probably fine to be just another Erase or Suspension Field. I also probably want to try Triton Tactics although generally you'll only have 1 blue mana so that might be in the sideboard as "can only come in when I'm not AS dependent on Swan Song."
For the mana, I have Mana Confluence in my paper deck but online I just put Tranquil Cove in there. It doesn't seem to hurt you very much, and at least once that single point of life allowed me to win a damage race. It just means that every couple of rounds you might have to wait all the way until like turn 3 to play a guy because you had to keep a Temple + Cove opening hand. But since you're not racing most of the time with the deck, I'm not sure the Confluence is worth the life payment requirement.
Artisan of Forms, Soldier of the Pantheon are also possible creatures for inclusion.
I like the Artisan of Forms, just seems so fun in combination with ajani's presence to black and keep their own card or feat of resistance making our guy a little stronger and survive or surprise! I'm actually going to make swing in with your Master of the Feast for 5 flying then retarget it again so you can't draw, but I will!
Find me on TappedOut also!
Trade with me!! Always in search of cards!
I am currently testing a list without Soldier right now and do tend to miss him a big as the early 2-4 damage can be game changing, not to mention his lifegain and protection. With him out I cute Mana Confluence all together to allow more tap lands since I have to worry less about turn 1 plays.
Also I updated my list with what I am currently testing and cant decide if I like the skyguard or Hero of Iroas more..
First match: against Jeskai. First game reminded me of the prime lesson; don't let your creatures out without protection. A turn 1 Favored Hoplite got burnt away by Lightning Strike when I couldn't do anything about it. Never mind, get a Battlewise Hoplite out, get an Ordeal of Thassa on him too, swing in for 5 when the opponent tries to burn him and I use Gods Willing to prevent that. Sadly next turn he Jeskai Charms him away and I only had Ajani's Presence, which wouldn't have helped. I had Negate too, but only one open mana. So next turn I bring out Battlewise again, without the Ordeal. Opponent Magma Jets, I use Ajani's Presence, opponent brings out another Magma Jet. Well heck. At least I got a scry, eh? Bring out a Hero of Iroas, and I have enough open mana for a Negate. Opponent brings out a bloody Sarkhan, but he's not a creature so I can Negate him, and I do. Now I have an empty hand; draw and cast a Favored Hoplite. Opponent brings out Mantis Rider. Like magic, I get a Stratus Walk and cast it on the Hero of Iroas, so that he can block and kill the Mantis if needed. But before that resolves, of course Iroas gets Lightning Struck. So I'm left with only a Favored Hoplite, and of course the opponent topdecks another Mantis. I concede.
Game 2; not sure what to sideboard really, so I keep my current stuff. Opening hand's only counter-burn is Negate, so I'll have to wait until turn 4 to bring any non-1-CMC creatures out and keep them safe. Luckily I draw an Ajani's Presence so I send out Battlewise on t3. I get an Ordeal on him on t4, scry-keep a Battle Mastery. Swing in for 4 succesfully. Opponent tries a end-step Magma Jet but I block with Presence. Weirdly, I have 3 counters on Battlewise now but the Ordeal doesn't trigger, which sucks. Didn't want to put Battle Mastery on him yet, because I wouldn't have enough mana left for counter-burn, so I chose Stratus Walk. But opponent conceded before I could move further, so yay?
Game 3; Kept a 5-land hand, but one was a scryland and I had a Skyguard with Battle Mastery. I scry-away a Favored Hoplite because I want protection spells only now. By turn 3 still no protection and the opponent's chipping away with a Seeker of the Way. Draw another Skyguard, so I put out one to draw fire. Sure enough, Stoke the Flames removes it. Opponent brings out Mantis Rider, hooray. I'm at 11 now. Still no protection drawn, but I put out the Skyguard anyway. It gets Arc Lightning'ed away. Game over, I die.
New match, game 1: Battlewise Hoplite out, Gods Willing in hand, opponent has a 4/3 Welkin Tern with Ghostfire Blade. Ordeal on Battlewise, swing in for 4. Bring in a Fabled Hero. Opponent sacs Ghostfire Blade to Shrapnel Blast my Battlewise. At least it's just his Tern against my Fabled Hero. Oh wait, Lightning Strike on the Hero. Bring out a Skyguard to at least block the bloody Tern, both creatures die. I lost connection as he was bringing out a Vaporkin.
My feelings; it's good, I think I just got unlucky a lot. It's really all about timing and being able to block removal. So much damn removal, with the prevalence of red in decks today.
Anyone got advice on how to sideboard this? I really don't know what's best to do with this deck.
I do think you were probably unlucky, which is why I knew after I started on Tom Ross's 4 Gods Willing 2 Ajani's Presence that I'd have to go way up from that.
For the Ordeal, it only triggers after you attack. So that's important to remember as well, any Ordeal even on a guy that already has 3 counters still nets you 2 more counters in addition to the Ordeal's bonus, one for the target and one for the attack trigger.
Based on what you said, it does seem like Swan's Song would have been easier for you to cast than Negate, but that Sarkhan would have resolved. Then again, if you have an Aqueous Form or Stratus Walk on your guy, most Planeswalkers are just "one activation then they die" against this deck.
Negate was useful. Yeah it's a 2 drop but unless it's the very start of the game it should be ok.
Have you considered Triton Tactics? Useful as a Heroic trigger and for removing blocks in the next turn...
To be honest I did not know that is how the ordeals worked...they are even better now in my opinion.
Second match was nearly identical with a nearly identical result. I managed to win a game with Aqueous Form on Fabled Hero, but I forgot mono green has Setessan Tactics as removal so I couldn't stop my game 3 aqueous Fabled Hero from getting removed.
Match 3 I actually won 2-1. First game I got wiped by a Nykthos shrine generating 20 mana and playing a Villanous Wealth, which was...staggering. I managed to win the last 2 games by chipping away with unblockable creatures.
General thoughts; aqueous form is MVP. Absolutely. We love it dearly. Ordeal of Thassa is helpful too. Having a double striker be unblockable or flying is ideal.
Currently I am trying to find the right balance with this deck because it is all about balance. We need enabler with come in two sub categories, Protection and Evasion granters, and they all trigger heroic. But without enough creatures the deck falters, as one or two removal spells can shut you out. Right now I am running 16 creatures, 12 in which have Heroic, as for evasion I have 6 enchantments in the form of Aqueous and Stratus. And finally I have 8 protection spells to keep the pain coming.
The card that has been impressing me a whole lot is Battle Mastery, this might be because I run Eidolon of Countless Battles over Fabled Hero but the surprise "I win now" play on a 5/5 Hero of Iroas is what makes me love this deck. I just enjoy playing such bad magic cards in a deck that just make them so very good..
I played this deck tonight against my brother's Abzan Midrange deck and went 4-2 in matches. The deck is strong when it gets online because there isn't much enchantment hate maindecked and even after sideboarding our deck can stay resilient. Looking forward to more testing.
Modern: RW Burn
Seems like it might be "too slow" and the only relevant ability is his +1 and if we are getting board wiped then he doesn't do much for us. Possibly a 1-2 of and maybe out of the sideboard versus more aggro decks since lifelink, vigilance, and first strike would be very relevant there.
Modern: RW Burn
I more or less agree with ACRR in the fact that drawing a 4-5 drop planeswalker when all you need is some more action and heroic enabler, just feels bad. If you want small tempo plays to screw with big green I recommend Void Snare, or Voyages End unless you want to play the deck with more grind and less speed.
In other news I got every card in the deck in paper for just under $90 and cant wait to tear up my local card store
Just updated the front page with two takes on the deck that have gone 3-1 at major magic online tournaments.