I'm wondering of a substitute for Purphoros, God of the Forge, devotion for 5 seems steep for a deck with few red cards, but I guess it's great late game.
He's not there to be a creature. He's there to ping opponents and pump tokens. Even without the fact he can be a creature, I'd run him at 4CC just for those abilities alone!
I misread the card! Opps! This guy is nasty in this deck!
I'm wondering of a substitute for Purphoros, God of the Forge, devotion for 5 seems steep for a deck with few red cards, but I guess it's great late game.
I started off the way you describe, but if you don't manage to win early, you have no mid or late game. The Grids give you inevitabilty against most decks and something to do when you cannot yet attack profitably, and, since they can hit creatures, they are great for surviving against swarm decks. Purphoros is there for its two abilities more than to be a creature. If you get a hangarback going with more than a couple counters, they cannot kill him usually, due to the CIP damage of the Thopters, along with the backswing, which can also be pumped. I've found that several flyers that can be pumped are very powerful in this format.
Now, if you want to run the twelve 0 and 1 drop artifact creatures, then I highly recommend the grid, because you can take out some decent sized creatures. You can also run Engineers to allow you to swarm the board, or else you are limited to your mana, which means you need to run more. With the Engineers, you can empty your hand quickly (Day's Undoing to refill?)
I wouldn't advise playing weaker versions of good cards. Instead focus on your pool. Seekers don't get +1/+1 counters. They get +1/+1 till end of turn. The only non-sentinels ways you have to get counters are flame-wreathed which is subpar and feat of resistance which is also not great. Hushwing does not stop rabblemaster (its a triggered ability at start of combat and another on attack, not on etb), mantis rider (haste is not a triggered ability. It is static), and butcher (butcher's abilities are not etb and they are activated). It does, however, stop the drain from siege rhino, raid from wingmate roc... and flame-wreathed phoenix's ability if they don't pay the tribute. Not that that card should be in there anyway.
For chained to the rocks, more red than white is probably better since you can get your white source from dual lands whereas red requires a mountain. That makes it more consistent. And you can accommodate that. Plus your reds have double red. You whites only have single white. Oh, and stokes are great. Don't cut them.
Needs more ferocious triggers for crater's claws if you want to play that.
Not sure why you have high sentinels of arashin. They're rather slow and you aren't even running it in an abuse package. 12 red sources feels very iffy. Ashcloud >>> flame-wreathed. Hushwing is more of a sideboard type card than mainboard unless you know that you're running into a gajillion abzan midranges and sidisi whips or something. Its pretty subpar against most of the rest of the field, I think. Just a few quick things to help you adjust the mainboard. I'm not sure exactly what you're looking to do so I'll refrain from card by card adds and cuts.
I'm trying to make a budget Red/White mid-range arggo type deck. I chose the sentinels of Arashin, because they are cheaper than Wingmate Roc both in $ and mana costs, plus I can play them on the seekers and themselves (expensive yes). I think your right on with the 12 Mana symbols, I may cut out two stokes and add two arc lightnings. I may do away with 1 anger of the gods in the sideboard. The purpose of Hushwing would to stop Rabble Master, Manis rider, Siege Rhino, and Butcher (Which I see a a lot at my local games store). Aegis of the Gods would prevent of a lot of face damage (Stoke, strikes, etc). I added the Crater's Claws, feat of resistance, Deflecting palms, because I would easily set up combos with burn spells and steal wins. I do have one more Ashcloud Phoenix lying around.
The deck might try to do too much, but as a returning player I am trying to get the hang of it (the games has chained a lot since I came back).
Has anyone put any good testing into battle mastery yet? I'm planning on trying to out tomorrow (haven't been able to play standard lately) and just curious how it is working for everyone? On the surface it seems a bit win more but I've also had a lot of close games where I've gotten the opponent to 4 or less before they stabilize and I think this could be a really good silver bullet.
I guess my my specific question is has anyone found it is as good in person as it is in theory or has it fallen flat?
I have not used it, but I am thinking of running Dauntless Onslaught or Divine favor, I think both might be better options, because Divine only costs 2 and Dauntless Onslaught affects 2 creatures.
That's what I did. Eidolon was decent when I was running it, but honestly I haven't missed it at all.
I'm starting to think if you decide to go with high casting cards like Eidolon, I'm starting to think fabled hero might be the better bet with double strike and you don;t have to worry about having a bunch of Auras around. I'm also pondering adding one spirit bonds or launch the fleet might do...creating more havoc.
So I am running the same deck, however I don't have the expensive dual lands yet, I have a lot others but I'll have to trade for them. I am running 4 Tranquil Cove's, 8 Islands, and 10 Plains. Do you think that is a good ratio?
Interesting discussion on Falconer, while watching the cup, I got the sense that this deck needs something slight bigger to match Azban Midrange, I am really tempted to use high sentinels of arashin or more suspension fields. Once it came into play, Heroic Aggro had a really difficult time dealing with it. Damn I hate that card! Too good!
@ Bogaragaraga & Tyberius I appreciate both of your suggestions/comments.
Keep in mind a few weeks of ago this deck was under the radar. Now, everyone has us on their radar and while we wont be completely hated out, we do have to make some concessions to ensure our match ups are still very reasonable. The main reason I moved 2 Stubborn denial to the main is for Mardu/4c Midrange/control all of which have been growing in the last couple weeks.
I am not a 100% on what the meta game will be at the Prelim Ptq, what i am going to anticipate it to look like will be something like
Abzan mid, Mardu mid, 4c mid, Gb devo, G/R monsters as the big 5 then Sidisi Whip, Jeskai Burn, W/u Heroic (very popular down here), Jeskai Ascendancy tokens Combo as the next 5 with control decks making some portion of the meta game, along with your aggro strats.
These are what i have been grinding against in prep for it.
I'm actually thinking of replacing the Heliod's Pilgrim with Abzan Falconer, would give my guys flying, stronger 2/3, and can outlast for one mana.
I misread the card! Opps! This guy is nasty in this deck!
Maybe sub Clever Impersonator for Thopter Spy Network ?
I ended up going mono white
24x Plains
Creatures
2x Avacyn, Guardian Angel
3x Cavalry Pegasus
2x Fabled Hero
4x High Sentinels of Arashin
4x Loyal Pegasus
3x Seeker of the Way
2x Soul of Theros
4x Feat of Resistance
3x Gods Willing
2x Reprisal
Enchantment (7)
4x Oppressive Rays
3x Suspension Field
2x Banishing Light
1x Battle Mastery
2x Battlewise Valor
1x Dauntless Onslaught
2x Eidolon of Countless Battles
1x End Hostilities
2x Glare of Heresy
1x Gods Willing
2x Spear of Heliod
1x Spirit Bonds
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
I'm trying to make a budget Red/White mid-range arggo type deck. I chose the sentinels of Arashin, because they are cheaper than Wingmate Roc both in $ and mana costs, plus I can play them on the seekers and themselves (expensive yes). I think your right on with the 12 Mana symbols, I may cut out two stokes and add two arc lightnings. I may do away with 1 anger of the gods in the sideboard. The purpose of Hushwing would to stop Rabble Master, Manis rider, Siege Rhino, and Butcher (Which I see a a lot at my local games store). Aegis of the Gods would prevent of a lot of face damage (Stoke, strikes, etc). I added the Crater's Claws, feat of resistance, Deflecting palms, because I would easily set up combos with burn spells and steal wins. I do have one more Ashcloud Phoenix lying around.
The deck might try to do too much, but as a returning player I am trying to get the hang of it (the games has chained a lot since I came back).
Thanks for the reply!
2x Deflecting Palm
2x Feat of Resistance
4x Lightning Strike
2x Reprisal
4x Stoke the Flames
Land (24)
8x Mountain
12x Plains
4x Wind-Scarred Crag
Creature (16)
2x Ashcloud Phoenix
2x Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
4x High Sentinels of Arashin
4x Hushwing Gryff
4x Seeker of the Way
3x Chained to the Rocks
4x Suspension Field
Sorcery (4)
4x Crater's Claws
3x Aegis of the Gods
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Banishing Light
2x End Hostilities
2x Magma Jet
2x Revoke Existence
2x Searing Blood
Maybeboard (17)
2x Arc Lightning
2x Avacyn, Guardian Angel
2x Devouring Light
2x Glare of Heresy
4x Nyx-Fleece Ram
1x Resolute Archangel
2x Serra Angel
2x Soul of Theros
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
There are 65 cards in the deck and I am not sure what to add/keep. Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
I have not used it, but I am thinking of running Dauntless Onslaught or Divine favor, I think both might be better options, because Divine only costs 2 and Dauntless Onslaught affects 2 creatures.
I'm starting to think if you decide to go with high casting cards like Eidolon, I'm starting to think fabled hero might be the better bet with double strike and you don;t have to worry about having a bunch of Auras around. I'm also pondering adding one spirit bonds or launch the fleet might do...creating more havoc.
So I am running the same deck, however I don't have the expensive dual lands yet, I have a lot others but I'll have to trade for them. I am running 4 Tranquil Cove's, 8 Islands, and 10 Plains. Do you think that is a good ratio?
Can you post the deck, please?
I'm actually thinking of replacing the Heliod's Pilgrim with Abzan Falconer, would give my guys flying, stronger 2/3, and can outlast for one mana.