Blubber, I haven't played the deck competitively recently. I did 4-0 a few dailies with the monowhite list and go 4-0, 4-0, and 3-1 in the FNMs I played with the deck, though (I ended up preferring the monowhite list to the B/W one). The deck is a reasonable competitive choice. I'm preparing for the PTQ season and I'll likely bring a heroic soldier list to one or two higher-level competitive events.
I'm not sure I'd run back the same list, though. I feel like the deck wants some number of Brimaz, but I'm not sure if I can find space for it. Brimaz is becoming a stronger threat with the increase in popularity of Mardu, and has obvious synergy with the rest of the deck. It can be a bit slow, though. Another possibility is going Jeskai and adding Akroan Crusader/Dragon Mantle/Jeskai Ascendancy. Right now I'm testing a red splash for Anax and Cymede. I have some spare brewing time, and I'll post a new list if I figure out a list I prefer to the monowhite list I posted a few weeks ago.
A stock Boss Sligh deck is a great game one deck against most of the field. The green midrange decks don't have much early interaction, and the red midrange/aggro decks don't have much board presence.
Postboard everything becomes a lot harder. Most decks have access to 3-4 Anger or Drown postboard plus more cheap removal and maybe a Nyx-Fleece Ram or two. You don't have much ability to fight through hate, and everyone's packing some. A decent draw and smart play can beat a cheap sweeper or a dab of lifegain, but often you won't have much of a chance.
I've been trying a bunch of traditional curve-out style aggro decks (with one, two, three, and four mana spells) and I'm not very impressed with how they match up against the tricolour midrange decks. A decent draw can put a lot of pressure on a slower deck, and you are much more resilient to hate, but you don't have the degenerate starts that Boss Sligh is capable of. G/W and Abzan aggro have performed reasonably well for me, but they both just feel like downgraded versions of the Selesnya aggro deck that was popular last season.
Mono red is a fine choice for an FNM. If your meta is Mardu-heavy, I'd advise going with something else, but it feels like it has game in most other matchups. I'd focus on improving your play more than anything else.
Dom, I think you'd be well-served by trying Obelisk. It's incredibly powerful and just gives you free wins. Your list has the ability to produce more soldiers than mine, so I couldn't justify Obelisk being anything less than a 4-of.
Phalanx Leader works better in a list with Obelisk because you're mainly playing to a creatures + mass pump strategy, and Phalanx Leader is great at pumping. Phalanx Leader in multiples is fine because the mass pump ability is very useful.
I found that I was producing enough creatures without the full set of Vanguards and felt that 8 2CMC creatures that wanted protection mana was clunky, so I cut Vanguards. Losing Vanguards is a good hedge against Drown/Anger as well.
I really like Seeker. It's not a soldier, but it's a great creature and has a lot of synergy with the deck. I did try playing with it for a while and I could see playing a few copies. Between Raise, Vanguard, and Phalanx Leader, there's already a lot of bulk at the 2-drop spot though, and Seeker runs counter to a creatures + mass pump strategy. In a build without Obelisk I'd definitely include him, but Obelisk is just too good to not run.
I'd like to see a variation on the tribal lands from Lorwyn:
U/B Reveal Land
As U/B Reveal Land enters the battlefield, you may reveal a blue or black card from your hand. If you don't, U/B Reveal Land enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add U or B to your mana pool.
I think there might have been some cards in Shadowmoor/Eventide that used a similar mechanic. The lands seem really powerful, but the shared information would allow for more interesting games.
Nev, I agree. I put a few more hours into U/W heroic and figured out a list that I was fairly satisfied with. I still prefer W/r and monowhite, but I can certainly see the appeal of U/W. I feel like my new lists (posted below) are a fair bit more consistent than the U/W list I was testing with.
Jackbro, the deck does have problems with sweepers. With the protection spells and Raise the Alarm, you do have some ability to play around them, though. After your creatures get pumped usually only End Hostilities/Perilous Vault are concerns. Also, you can cut some number of creatures for postboard games if you think Drown/Anger are coming in.
I don't like the idea of running Feats over Presence. Presence only costs one mana, which is a huge deal. If you want to play around removal while running out a Vanguard or Phalanx Leader, you will have to wait until you have 4+ land if you're holding a Feat. There are some removal spells Presence doesn't blank, but it blanks enough of them to be very useful.
Sorin is something this deck needed. His +1 is a great anthem effect that allows you to easily win races, his -2 is awesome against control, and his ultimate is easy to reach and is typically game over. If you’re ahead, Sorin will usually win you the game. If you’re behind, Sorin will catch you up.
I cut 2 Vanguards, 2 Ajani's Presences, and 1 Gods Willing. I feel like the deck has enough ways to generate soldiers without running the full set of Vanguards, and lowering the amount of creatures that we want to hold up protection mana for makes the deck run more smoothly. With some Vanguards gone, cutting a few protection effects makes sense.
It needs tuning, but it seems decent. I’m a little squeamish about including the full set of Thoughtseize in the board with only 8 black sources though. 1 or 2 maindeck Mana Confluence or Scoured Barrens may be correct.
Cutting some number of early creatures is a good idea against decks that board in Drowns/Angers. I board out Vanguards against any deck that I think will be boarding in sweepers and board in some Thoughtseizes. Vanguard is a great soldier generator, but he plays into 3CMC wraths a little too much.
Of course, this new list isn’t even close to budget. I did spend some time working on a budget list, though:
This deck is fairly similar in power level. It is a little bit faster, and the lack of duals makes the deck more consistent. Sorin is obviously a house, but dropping him has advantages.
I tried Ajani Steadfast in the monowhite list and I was unimpressed. He’s usually only good for his anthem effect and then dies to some combination of creatures and burn. He’s pretty bad if you don’t already have a solid board as well. He’s not awful, but I think Hall of Triumph/Spear of Heliod are just better.
Let me know what you guys think. I spent a few days testing Abzan in paper, but now I’m back online jamming soldier heroic decks. I just 3-1’d my first two dailies with the B/W list, so I think it has some legs.
I 3-1'd a daily a few hours ago (would have 4-0'd if not for a deeply stupid misplay I made in the last game) and I have some notes on matchups:
Abzan/Jeskai seem about even. Jeskai is a bit tricky because they almost always have early removal for our creatures. Abzan has a lot of powerful creatures and can Thoughtseize our Obelisks and Phalanx Leaders. Both have access to a 3CMC sweeper and End Hostilities. Jeskai has trouble with our high power/toughness creatures and Abzan doesn't have very many early ways to interact with our board. Neither feels particularly good or particularly bad.
Green Devotion seems unfavourable. If they drop Hornet Nest/Hornet Queen winning becomes tough and they can deploy great blockers like Polukranos early. We can generate enough creatures to brute force our way through some insect tokens, but it delays us by 1-3 turns typically.
Control seems unfavourable. Thoughtseize + spot removal + sweepers + counters hurts us a lot. We generally want to play decks that have fewer ways to interact with our strategy, and control has a lot of ways to screw with us. This is a matchup I want to find good sideboard cards for.
Red aggro seems very favourable. Preboard we have lots of tokens and pump effects to play a good defensive game. Postboard we can bring in tons of hate. I think I'll end up with at least 5 or so cards dedicated to this matchup in the board because of its popularity on MTGO.
I haven't played against Ascendancy Combo with this deck, but I'm guessing it's about even. We usually assemble a turn 5-6 kill without disruption and so do they. Preboard we don't have any ways to interact with their combo and they don't have any ways to interact with ours. A few copies of Erase might be good in the sideboard if this strategy becomes more popular.
Some general notes:
You generally want hands with Phalanx Leader or Obelisk in them. Obelisk + any soldier + a non-zero amount of land is an automatic keep. The deck doesn't mulligan very well so avoid going below six.
Obelisk is by far the strongest card in the deck. It makes your soldiers huge and it’s really hard to remove. A turn 3 or 4 Obelisk is game over in most matches.
You usually don't want to drop Phalanx Leader or Vanguard of Brimaz without protection mana up against any deck with spot removal or sweepers (AKA almost all of them). Raise the Alarm is something you almost always want to cast on your opponent's end step. Your protection spells are a limited resource so use them carefully.
I tried this deck because I wanted to play 2/2s for WW. It looked fun but I didn’t think it would be competitive. Right now I actually have a better win/loss with this list than with Jeskai which is kind of crazy, and I plan to keep running it for a while. I might just be getting lucky but it feels really powerful. At the very least it's probably the best bang-for-buck deck in Standard.
Cutting the Heralds hasn't made the deck threat light in my experience. Between Raise the Alarm, Launch the Fleet, and Vanguard of Brimaz the deck has an easy time creating a lot of creatures quickly (it's not like I shaved that many threats to begin with—I went -3 Herald +1 Raise). The deck is hurting for anthem effects though. Including a Hall of Triumph and a Spear of Heliod (cutting some number of Ajani's Presence/Gods Willing) might work well. You'll see an Obelisk or a Phalanx Leader in most games, but it can be hard to win without some kind of anthem effect.
The lifegain from Ordeal of Heliod is only really relevant against mono-red and I think the mono-red hate I have in my sideboard is just better.
I don't hate U/W heroic. It's a fun deck and it could be a good choice for some midrange-heavy metagames. It just has a lot of moving parts and it's soft to some of the faster decks in Standard. Tom Ross likes it, which makes me hesitant to dismiss it out of hand, but every time I've given the deck a shot it's felt underpowered.
Prismatic, I hadn't considered Return to the Ranks. It might be a nice inclusion in the sideboard against control. I'll give it a shot. Glimpse feels a little low impact to me.
Here's a fun screenshot I saved last night. This deck has some serious power.
We can reliably outrace U/W. It's easy to do 20+ damage in a single turn with an Obelisk or Phalanx draw. We don't have to respect sweepers or removal from U/W, and we have more explosive potential. Ordeal of Heliod can be raced, and it's often not present in the mainboard. U/W is a pretty marginal deck online, but I haven't dropped a match to it yet.
I don't like U/W heroic as an archetype because of its reliance on heroic creatures + enablers + protection to win games. We run protection spells as well, but we get more use out of them as heroic enablers because we don't need to protect a voltron'd creature. The power level of the deck also seems a little low. It is pretty resistant to Anger/Drown though, which is something I like a lot.
I don't like Suspension Field because the deck needs to maintain heroic synergies as much as possible. The Obelisks and non-heroic creatures already push us a little bit in the other direction, and I'd rather have the best proactive game I can. Running some number in the sideboard might be correct though.
I ran a few more dailies and here's an updated list:
I cut Heralds and moved up to the playset of Raise the Alarm to resist Drown/Anger blowouts a little bit more. I like the creature base a bit more now. I'm not 100% satisfied, though. I'll be running this in a few dailies today and I'll see how it goes.
Our worst matchups are probably U/B and U/W control. Early spot removal and sweepers are bad news for us--we need to build a 2+ creature board presence before we can do anything impressive. The board is configured to crush RDW and that seems to be a very good matchup. Outside of that, I can't think of any particularly lopsided matchups. Everything feels pretty even.
One thing I've noticed is that the list is swingy. You usually end the game with a 20+ power board or a >5 power board. You have a lot of ways to make a swarm of creatures, but you really need a Phalanx Leader or Obelisk of Urd to allow them to compete with Siege Rhinos and the like. It reminds me a little of monoblue devotion last standard.
With all that said, I think this archetype is competitive. I've gone 2-2, 3-1, 3-1, and 2-2 in the MTGO dailies I've played with it. It definitely feels weaker than Abzan or Jeskai, but I have no doubt it can put up good finishes in competitive events (at least after someone figures out a more coherent sideboard). I definitely think it's a lot stronger than U/W heroic in particular and I'm surprised to see so much attention put towards that archetype and so little put towards this one.
I'm not in love with going R/W. Akroan Crusader is incredibly powerful, but you lose a lot of consistency with the red splash. The Mountains throw a wrench in your WW production and the Temples hurt a lot. I played Stanislav Cifka's R/W block deck in Standard quite a bit and I like R/W, but I think Obelisk of Urd and Defiant Strike make mono-white similarly viable post-Khans.
I'm playing all the best white heroic creatures and all the best white heroic enablers. Obelisk of Urd is here because all the best white heroic creatures are soldiers. Raise the Alarm is good filler and combines well with instant pump/protection spells. Basic strategy is to swarm out and drop Phalanx Leader or Obelisk to make everyone huge (Obelisk is pretty incredible in a list where the creatures all share a type).
I tried to keep the curve as low as possible to give the deck more game against midrange decks. There's a bit of bulk at 2CMC, but it's not too bad.
Not too many options for sideboarding. Boarding into a Brimaz/Seeker of the Way/Lagonna-Band Trailblazer deck works well against monored, and boarding into Ephemeral Shields is nice against Jeskai. We have to keep our heroic stuff pretty front and center though.
Herald of Anafenza is easily the most playable Outlast creature in my eyes. It's a 1/2 soldier that provides a great way to break through board stalls and spend your mana. I like Abzan Falconer too, but I think I'd rather just have Brimaz in that slot if I ran 3 drops.
I've been doing very well in 2-mans with this and I'll take a shot at some dailies tomorrow.
We basically play all the best white heroic creatures and all the best white heroic enablers. Obelisk of Urd is here because all the best white heroic creatures are soldiers. Raise the Alarm is good filler and combines well with our instant pump/protection spells. I tried to keep the curve as low as possible to give the deck more game against midrange decks. There's a bit of bulk at 2CMC, but it's not too bad.
Not too many options postboard. Boarding into a Brimaz/Seeker of the Way/Lagonna-Band Trailblazer deck works well against monored, and boarding into Ephemeral Shields is nice against Jeskai. We have to keep our heroic stuff pretty front and center, though. The mainboard is designed to be fast enough to beat midrange and devotion strategies.
The mainboard is super budget. I priced it out at StarCity and it was $35. The Brimazes in the sideboard are pretty expensive, but they aren't necessary to make the deck competitive. I didn't build the list with budget in mind, but you could assemble a Brimazless version for very little.
I've been doing very well in 2-mans with this list and I'll take a shot at some dailies tomorrow. Feel free to ask any questions.
Our two-drop creatures are all pretty bad. They're not weak cards when evaluated in a vacuum, but they match up poorly against cards like Courser and Brimaz. It's a better strategy to cut the two drops entirely and run 17-20 one drops. I really like Rabblemaster as a curve topper.
I wouldn't consider any splash unless it made us much more resilient to Drown in Sorrow/Anger of the Gods or Circle of Flame. Circle in particular is very, very scary. I haven't seen it out of any lists in MTGO dailies or 5-3-2-2s so far, but the threat is real. If Circle becomes a common sideboard card, it might be best to mainboard four copies of Battlefield Forge and Mana Confluence to give us access to enchantment removal postboard.
Round One: Beat Abzan Aggro 2-0: Easy wins. God draw second game. Significant misplay (forgeting to declare a Hammerhand falter target) at one point because I was hungover and tired. Opponent was very skilled and matchup was in her favor, but variance saved the day. Round Two: Beat Mardu Tokens 2-0: Easy wins. Deck seemed misbuilt and pilot wasn't playing well. Round Three: Lost to Temur Monsters 0-2: Game one was close. Game two I flooded out. Round Four: Beat Sultai Midrange 2-1: Deck was a little slow but seemed properly built (although I don't like Sultai midrange as an archetype). First two games were close. Third game I stomped him. Round Five: Beat G/r Devotion 2-0: Opponent seemed a little hostile and aggressive, and was playing ~60% Japanese cards which was irritating. I got a really explosive start in game one. Game two was pretty standard. Round Six: Intentional draw to top 8.
Top 8: Lost to R/W heroic 1-2. He rolled higher and was on the play. Game one I had a brilliant draw but his 2 Phalanx Leaders grew his board until it was 7 4+ power creatures and he had enough power to alpha strike me. I had him at 1 for the last four turns and a topdecked Stoke or Hammerhand would have won the game. Game two I boarded in all my removal and Forge Devils and aggressively used Searing Blood/Magma Spray to clear his creatures and left his heroic enablers stranded in hand. Game three was close, but a misplay in the midgame involving priority shut me out. I would have had a good chance of winning if I had played correctly. Not a great matchup (probably 60-40 to 70-30 in his favour).
All the players I faced (with the exception of my round 2 opponent) were very good to excellent players. Top 16 GP finishes, Pro Tour invites, MOCS finishes, etc. etc. I played reasonably well but made some mistakes.
G/R monsters ended up winning the tournament.
I thought my list was good and wouldn't change much. I want to find room for another Magma Spray in the board though, and I think one copy of Coordinated Assault would be nice (maybe cutting a Valley Dasher or Dragon Mantle). I'm still split on Warhound vs. Rabblemaster as well. One to two copies of Lightning Strike would be nice in the main, but I think I want to keep threat density higher.
This deck is crazy fast. To give you some idea of the explosive potential of this list, T1 Akroan Crusader + Crowd's Favor into T2 2x Titan's Strength can bring our opponent to 9 and leave us with 4 1/1s on the board (that's typically before 3-color decks have even cast a spell). We're so fast that a T3 Anger of the Gods or Drown in Sorrow can be too slow.
Card choices: Crowd's Favor is a free spell that triggers heroic/prowess. We'd probably play it if it didn't do anything else, and the +1+0 and first strike makes it excellent here. Coordinated Assault is a better version of Crowd's Favor that isn't free. Rouse the Mob gives us a little bit of reach while still targeting our heroic and prowess dudes and combos well with Favor and Assault.
16 land is sufficient—we don't ever want to see more than 2 mountains. I'm tentatively including 8 fetches for thinning but I'm not sure if that's correct.
I feel like this deck is good, but it has some serious issues. Our sideboarding options, for one, are pretty terrible. We need a critical mass of creatures and targeting spells to combo off, and our curve is too low to accomodate most decent sideboard cards. We can't run any 3CMC bombs like Rabblemaster or Hordeling Outburst and we can't afford to run Stoke the Flames. And we still have some of the archetype weaknesses of Rabble Red like scooping to a Circle of Flame and being soft to sweepers.
I am definitely going to bring this to FNM and try it out in a few dailies though. It might be really good, who knows.
I'm not sure I'd run back the same list, though. I feel like the deck wants some number of Brimaz, but I'm not sure if I can find space for it. Brimaz is becoming a stronger threat with the increase in popularity of Mardu, and has obvious synergy with the rest of the deck. It can be a bit slow, though. Another possibility is going Jeskai and adding Akroan Crusader/Dragon Mantle/Jeskai Ascendancy. Right now I'm testing a red splash for Anax and Cymede. I have some spare brewing time, and I'll post a new list if I figure out a list I prefer to the monowhite list I posted a few weeks ago.
Postboard everything becomes a lot harder. Most decks have access to 3-4 Anger or Drown postboard plus more cheap removal and maybe a Nyx-Fleece Ram or two. You don't have much ability to fight through hate, and everyone's packing some. A decent draw and smart play can beat a cheap sweeper or a dab of lifegain, but often you won't have much of a chance.
I've been trying a bunch of traditional curve-out style aggro decks (with one, two, three, and four mana spells) and I'm not very impressed with how they match up against the tricolour midrange decks. A decent draw can put a lot of pressure on a slower deck, and you are much more resilient to hate, but you don't have the degenerate starts that Boss Sligh is capable of. G/W and Abzan aggro have performed reasonably well for me, but they both just feel like downgraded versions of the Selesnya aggro deck that was popular last season.
Mono red is a fine choice for an FNM. If your meta is Mardu-heavy, I'd advise going with something else, but it feels like it has game in most other matchups. I'd focus on improving your play more than anything else.
Phalanx Leader works better in a list with Obelisk because you're mainly playing to a creatures + mass pump strategy, and Phalanx Leader is great at pumping. Phalanx Leader in multiples is fine because the mass pump ability is very useful.
I found that I was producing enough creatures without the full set of Vanguards and felt that 8 2CMC creatures that wanted protection mana was clunky, so I cut Vanguards. Losing Vanguards is a good hedge against Drown/Anger as well.
I really like Seeker. It's not a soldier, but it's a great creature and has a lot of synergy with the deck. I did try playing with it for a while and I could see playing a few copies. Between Raise, Vanguard, and Phalanx Leader, there's already a lot of bulk at the 2-drop spot though, and Seeker runs counter to a creatures + mass pump strategy. In a build without Obelisk I'd definitely include him, but Obelisk is just too good to not run.
U/B Reveal Land
As U/B Reveal Land enters the battlefield, you may reveal a blue or black card from your hand. If you don't, U/B Reveal Land enters the battlefield tapped.
T: Add U or B to your mana pool.
I think there might have been some cards in Shadowmoor/Eventide that used a similar mechanic. The lands seem really powerful, but the shared information would allow for more interesting games.
Jackbro, the deck does have problems with sweepers. With the protection spells and Raise the Alarm, you do have some ability to play around them, though. After your creatures get pumped usually only End Hostilities/Perilous Vault are concerns. Also, you can cut some number of creatures for postboard games if you think Drown/Anger are coming in.
I don't like the idea of running Feats over Presence. Presence only costs one mana, which is a huge deal. If you want to play around removal while running out a Vanguard or Phalanx Leader, you will have to wait until you have 4+ land if you're holding a Feat. There are some removal spells Presence doesn't blank, but it blanks enough of them to be very useful.
I made a new list:
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Phalanx Leader
2x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Defiant Strike
4x Launch the Fleet
3x Gods Willing
2x Ajani's Presence
4x Obelisk of Urd
Planeswalkers (3)
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Land (22)
14x Plains
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Temple of Silence
Sorin is something this deck needed. His +1 is a great anthem effect that allows you to easily win races, his -2 is awesome against control, and his ultimate is easy to reach and is typically game over. If you’re ahead, Sorin will usually win you the game. If you’re behind, Sorin will catch you up.
I cut 2 Vanguards, 2 Ajani's Presences, and 1 Gods Willing. I feel like the deck has enough ways to generate soldiers without running the full set of Vanguards, and lowering the amount of creatures that we want to hold up protection mana for makes the deck run more smoothly. With some Vanguards gone, cutting a few protection effects makes sense.
The sideboard is in flux. Right now I'm looking at:
2 Heliod, God of the Sun for control
3-4 Brimaz, King of Oreskos for red deck wins
2-3 Ephemeral Shields for Jeskai
3 Glare of Heresy for white decks
4 Thoughtseize for control/sweepers
It needs tuning, but it seems decent. I’m a little squeamish about including the full set of Thoughtseize in the board with only 8 black sources though. 1 or 2 maindeck Mana Confluence or Scoured Barrens may be correct.
Cutting some number of early creatures is a good idea against decks that board in Drowns/Angers. I board out Vanguards against any deck that I think will be boarding in sweepers and board in some Thoughtseizes. Vanguard is a great soldier generator, but he plays into 3CMC wraths a little too much.
Of course, this new list isn’t even close to budget. I did spend some time working on a budget list, though:
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Phalanx Leader
2x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Defiant Strike
4x Launch the Fleet
4x Gods Willing
2x Ajani's Presence
4x Obelisk of Urd
2x Spear of Heliod
1x Hall of Triumph
Land (21)
21x Plains
The sideboard should probably look something like this:
3 Glare of Heresy for white decks
2-3 Ephemeral Shields for Jeskai
2 Heliod, God of the Sun for control
4 Lagonna-Band Trailblazer for red deck wins
1 Return to the Ranks for control
2-3 Seeker of the Way for red deck wins
This deck is fairly similar in power level. It is a little bit faster, and the lack of duals makes the deck more consistent. Sorin is obviously a house, but dropping him has advantages.
I tried Ajani Steadfast in the monowhite list and I was unimpressed. He’s usually only good for his anthem effect and then dies to some combination of creatures and burn. He’s pretty bad if you don’t already have a solid board as well. He’s not awful, but I think Hall of Triumph/Spear of Heliod are just better.
Let me know what you guys think. I spent a few days testing Abzan in paper, but now I’m back online jamming soldier heroic decks. I just 3-1’d my first two dailies with the B/W list, so I think it has some legs.
Abzan/Jeskai seem about even. Jeskai is a bit tricky because they almost always have early removal for our creatures. Abzan has a lot of powerful creatures and can Thoughtseize our Obelisks and Phalanx Leaders. Both have access to a 3CMC sweeper and End Hostilities. Jeskai has trouble with our high power/toughness creatures and Abzan doesn't have very many early ways to interact with our board. Neither feels particularly good or particularly bad.
Green Devotion seems unfavourable. If they drop Hornet Nest/Hornet Queen winning becomes tough and they can deploy great blockers like Polukranos early. We can generate enough creatures to brute force our way through some insect tokens, but it delays us by 1-3 turns typically.
Control seems unfavourable. Thoughtseize + spot removal + sweepers + counters hurts us a lot. We generally want to play decks that have fewer ways to interact with our strategy, and control has a lot of ways to screw with us. This is a matchup I want to find good sideboard cards for.
Red aggro seems very favourable. Preboard we have lots of tokens and pump effects to play a good defensive game. Postboard we can bring in tons of hate. I think I'll end up with at least 5 or so cards dedicated to this matchup in the board because of its popularity on MTGO.
I haven't played against Ascendancy Combo with this deck, but I'm guessing it's about even. We usually assemble a turn 5-6 kill without disruption and so do they. Preboard we don't have any ways to interact with their combo and they don't have any ways to interact with ours. A few copies of Erase might be good in the sideboard if this strategy becomes more popular.
Some general notes:
You generally want hands with Phalanx Leader or Obelisk in them. Obelisk + any soldier + a non-zero amount of land is an automatic keep. The deck doesn't mulligan very well so avoid going below six.
Obelisk is by far the strongest card in the deck. It makes your soldiers huge and it’s really hard to remove. A turn 3 or 4 Obelisk is game over in most matches.
You usually don't want to drop Phalanx Leader or Vanguard of Brimaz without protection mana up against any deck with spot removal or sweepers (AKA almost all of them). Raise the Alarm is something you almost always want to cast on your opponent's end step. Your protection spells are a limited resource so use them carefully.
I tried this deck because I wanted to play 2/2s for WW. It looked fun but I didn’t think it would be competitive. Right now I actually have a better win/loss with this list than with Jeskai which is kind of crazy, and I plan to keep running it for a while. I might just be getting lucky but it feels really powerful. At the very least it's probably the best bang-for-buck deck in Standard.
The lifegain from Ordeal of Heliod is only really relevant against mono-red and I think the mono-red hate I have in my sideboard is just better.
I don't hate U/W heroic. It's a fun deck and it could be a good choice for some midrange-heavy metagames. It just has a lot of moving parts and it's soft to some of the faster decks in Standard. Tom Ross likes it, which makes me hesitant to dismiss it out of hand, but every time I've given the deck a shot it's felt underpowered.
Prismatic, I hadn't considered Return to the Ranks. It might be a nice inclusion in the sideboard against control. I'll give it a shot. Glimpse feels a little low impact to me.
Here's a fun screenshot I saved last night. This deck has some serious power.
I don't like U/W heroic as an archetype because of its reliance on heroic creatures + enablers + protection to win games. We run protection spells as well, but we get more use out of them as heroic enablers because we don't need to protect a voltron'd creature. The power level of the deck also seems a little low. It is pretty resistant to Anger/Drown though, which is something I like a lot.
I don't like Suspension Field because the deck needs to maintain heroic synergies as much as possible. The Obelisks and non-heroic creatures already push us a little bit in the other direction, and I'd rather have the best proactive game I can. Running some number in the sideboard might be correct though.
I ran a few more dailies and here's an updated list:
4x Favored Hero
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Phalanx Leader
Noncreature Spells (24)
4x Raise the Alarm
4x Obelisk of Urd
4x Launch the Fleet
4x Defiant Strike
4x Gods Willing
4x Ajani's Presence
20x Plains
4x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Seeker of the Way
4x Lagonna-band Trailblazer
1x Plains
2x Ephemeral Shields
I cut Heralds and moved up to the playset of Raise the Alarm to resist Drown/Anger blowouts a little bit more. I like the creature base a bit more now. I'm not 100% satisfied, though. I'll be running this in a few dailies today and I'll see how it goes.
One thing I've noticed is that the list is swingy. You usually end the game with a 20+ power board or a >5 power board. You have a lot of ways to make a swarm of creatures, but you really need a Phalanx Leader or Obelisk of Urd to allow them to compete with Siege Rhinos and the like. It reminds me a little of monoblue devotion last standard.
With all that said, I think this archetype is competitive. I've gone 2-2, 3-1, 3-1, and 2-2 in the MTGO dailies I've played with it. It definitely feels weaker than Abzan or Jeskai, but I have no doubt it can put up good finishes in competitive events (at least after someone figures out a more coherent sideboard). I definitely think it's a lot stronger than U/W heroic in particular and I'm surprised to see so much attention put towards that archetype and so little put towards this one.
I'm not in love with going R/W. Akroan Crusader is incredibly powerful, but you lose a lot of consistency with the red splash. The Mountains throw a wrench in your WW production and the Temples hurt a lot. I played Stanislav Cifka's R/W block deck in Standard quite a bit and I like R/W, but I think Obelisk of Urd and Defiant Strike make mono-white similarly viable post-Khans.
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
3x Herald of Anafenza
4x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Phalanx Leader
Noncreature Spells (22)
3x Raise the Alarm
4x Defiant Strike
4x Launch the Fleet
4x Gods Willing
3x Ajani's Presence
4x Obelisk of Urd
19x Plains
3x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
3x Seeker of the Way
4x Ephemeral Shields
4x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Plains
I'm playing all the best white heroic creatures and all the best white heroic enablers. Obelisk of Urd is here because all the best white heroic creatures are soldiers. Raise the Alarm is good filler and combines well with instant pump/protection spells. Basic strategy is to swarm out and drop Phalanx Leader or Obelisk to make everyone huge (Obelisk is pretty incredible in a list where the creatures all share a type).
I tried to keep the curve as low as possible to give the deck more game against midrange decks. There's a bit of bulk at 2CMC, but it's not too bad.
Not too many options for sideboarding. Boarding into a Brimaz/Seeker of the Way/Lagonna-Band Trailblazer deck works well against monored, and boarding into Ephemeral Shields is nice against Jeskai. We have to keep our heroic stuff pretty front and center though.
Herald of Anafenza is easily the most playable Outlast creature in my eyes. It's a 1/2 soldier that provides a great way to break through board stalls and spend your mana. I like Abzan Falconer too, but I think I'd rather just have Brimaz in that slot if I ran 3 drops.
I've been doing very well in 2-mans with this and I'll take a shot at some dailies tomorrow.
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
3x Herald of Anafenza
4x Vanguard of Brimaz
4x Phalanx Leader
Noncreature Spells (22)
3x Raise the Alarm
4x Defiant Strike
4x Launch the Fleet
4x Gods Willing
3x Ajani's Presence
4x Obelisk of Urd
19x Plains
3x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
3x Seeker of the Way
4x Ephemeral Shields
4x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
1x Plains
We basically play all the best white heroic creatures and all the best white heroic enablers. Obelisk of Urd is here because all the best white heroic creatures are soldiers. Raise the Alarm is good filler and combines well with our instant pump/protection spells. I tried to keep the curve as low as possible to give the deck more game against midrange decks. There's a bit of bulk at 2CMC, but it's not too bad.
Not too many options postboard. Boarding into a Brimaz/Seeker of the Way/Lagonna-Band Trailblazer deck works well against monored, and boarding into Ephemeral Shields is nice against Jeskai. We have to keep our heroic stuff pretty front and center, though. The mainboard is designed to be fast enough to beat midrange and devotion strategies.
The mainboard is super budget. I priced it out at StarCity and it was $35. The Brimazes in the sideboard are pretty expensive, but they aren't necessary to make the deck competitive. I didn't build the list with budget in mind, but you could assemble a Brimazless version for very little.
I've been doing very well in 2-mans with this list and I'll take a shot at some dailies tomorrow. Feel free to ask any questions.
I wouldn't consider any splash unless it made us much more resilient to Drown in Sorrow/Anger of the Gods or Circle of Flame. Circle in particular is very, very scary. I haven't seen it out of any lists in MTGO dailies or 5-3-2-2s so far, but the threat is real. If Circle becomes a common sideboard card, it might be best to mainboard four copies of Battlefield Forge and Mana Confluence to give us access to enchantment removal postboard.
As far as lists go, I really like Denis Ulanov's (http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1218912). I'd cut a Coordinated Assault for a Mountain though.
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Firedrinker Satyr
4x Foundry Street Denizen
4x Frenzied Goblin
2x Valley Dasher
4x Mogis's Warhound
4x Titan's Strength
4x Hammerhand
4x Dragon Mantle
4x Stoke the Flames
Land (18)
18x Mountain
1x Magma Spray
4x Searing Blood
2x Lightning Strike
2x Forge Devil
2x Blinding Flare
3x Eidolon of the Great Revel
1x Hall of Triumph
Round One: Beat Abzan Aggro 2-0: Easy wins. God draw second game. Significant misplay (forgeting to declare a Hammerhand falter target) at one point because I was hungover and tired. Opponent was very skilled and matchup was in her favor, but variance saved the day.
Round Two: Beat Mardu Tokens 2-0: Easy wins. Deck seemed misbuilt and pilot wasn't playing well.
Round Three: Lost to Temur Monsters 0-2: Game one was close. Game two I flooded out.
Round Four: Beat Sultai Midrange 2-1: Deck was a little slow but seemed properly built (although I don't like Sultai midrange as an archetype). First two games were close. Third game I stomped him.
Round Five: Beat G/r Devotion 2-0: Opponent seemed a little hostile and aggressive, and was playing ~60% Japanese cards which was irritating. I got a really explosive start in game one. Game two was pretty standard.
Round Six: Intentional draw to top 8.
Top 8: Lost to R/W heroic 1-2. He rolled higher and was on the play. Game one I had a brilliant draw but his 2 Phalanx Leaders grew his board until it was 7 4+ power creatures and he had enough power to alpha strike me. I had him at 1 for the last four turns and a topdecked Stoke or Hammerhand would have won the game. Game two I boarded in all my removal and Forge Devils and aggressively used Searing Blood/Magma Spray to clear his creatures and left his heroic enablers stranded in hand. Game three was close, but a misplay in the midgame involving priority shut me out. I would have had a good chance of winning if I had played correctly. Not a great matchup (probably 60-40 to 70-30 in his favour).
All the players I faced (with the exception of my round 2 opponent) were very good to excellent players. Top 16 GP finishes, Pro Tour invites, MOCS finishes, etc. etc. I played reasonably well but made some mistakes.
G/R monsters ended up winning the tournament.
I thought my list was good and wouldn't change much. I want to find room for another Magma Spray in the board though, and I think one copy of Coordinated Assault would be nice (maybe cutting a Valley Dasher or Dragon Mantle). I'm still split on Warhound vs. Rabblemaster as well. One to two copies of Lightning Strike would be nice in the main, but I think I want to keep threat density higher.
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Satyr Hoplite
4 Frenzied Goblin
Noncreature Spells (20)
4 Titan's Strength
4 Dragon Mantle
4 Hammerhand
4 Crowd's Favor
3 Coordinated Assault
1 Rouse the Mob
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
8 Mountain
4 Blinding Flare
3 Rouse the Mob
1 Coordinated Assault
4 Magma Spray
3 Scouring Sands
This deck is crazy fast. To give you some idea of the explosive potential of this list, T1 Akroan Crusader + Crowd's Favor into T2 2x Titan's Strength can bring our opponent to 9 and leave us with 4 1/1s on the board (that's typically before 3-color decks have even cast a spell). We're so fast that a T3 Anger of the Gods or Drown in Sorrow can be too slow.
Card choices: Crowd's Favor is a free spell that triggers heroic/prowess. We'd probably play it if it didn't do anything else, and the +1+0 and first strike makes it excellent here. Coordinated Assault is a better version of Crowd's Favor that isn't free. Rouse the Mob gives us a little bit of reach while still targeting our heroic and prowess dudes and combos well with Favor and Assault.
16 land is sufficient—we don't ever want to see more than 2 mountains. I'm tentatively including 8 fetches for thinning but I'm not sure if that's correct.
I feel like this deck is good, but it has some serious issues. Our sideboarding options, for one, are pretty terrible. We need a critical mass of creatures and targeting spells to combo off, and our curve is too low to accomodate most decent sideboard cards. We can't run any 3CMC bombs like Rabblemaster or Hordeling Outburst and we can't afford to run Stoke the Flames. And we still have some of the archetype weaknesses of Rabble Red like scooping to a Circle of Flame and being soft to sweepers.
I am definitely going to bring this to FNM and try it out in a few dailies though. It might be really good, who knows.
Edit: another list
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Favored Hoplite
4x Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Satyr Hoplite
4 Titan’s Strength
3 Dragon Mantle
4 Hammerhand
4 Coordinated Assault
4 Defiant Strike
4 Launch The Fleet
4 Mana Confluence
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Battlefield Forge
3 Wind-Scarred Crag
2 Mountain