I saw a few comments up that people were questioning Remand, and you said you were worried about colors. Would Arcane Denial be a good hard counter at 2 mana that is only 1U, or is the opponent's draw too troublesome for you as a combo deck?
Also, the LabMen are absolutely fantastic. I have learned a lot from you guys, and it has improved my YouTube videos as well.
I'm working on a pretty tight budget playing a Padeem, Consul of Innovation list, and Scrap Trawler has been amazing for me, and it would seem like it would add extra value to this list as well, since it sacrifices so frequently. Of course, it might be a win more. What are your thoughts?
If you expect an aggro meta for a tournament, you'd still play Scourge with more Pias rather than Reckoner with more sweepers? My point is that you construct your deck differently depending on the meta you expect. My response was to whether Reckoner or Scourges are better, which is meta dependent. A slower build is worse against aggro.
As for running them side-by-side, I haven't had any problems, but that's a play preference of mine. A 3-1 split means I'm far more likely to hit my Reckoner, so the deck functions mostly the same with the added ability to play a hard to answer threat against control decks.
I think that making a blanket statement on Scourge being better without any context of a meta is blatantly erroneous. Reckoner is clearly better against red removal than is Scourge. He also blocks better. Those two factors make him far superior in an aggro meta because he often two for ones two sources of damage whereas Eternal Scourge provides a 3 mana investment every turn that is an absolutely horrible tempo play in those instances. Now in a control heavy meta, Scourge's resiliency is brilliant because it is a threat that never dies... permanently. However, you have to be careful that control decks running red, particularly Jeskai, don't get wise and start just going face with their burn spells (then you board in Claws). On the flip side, Reckoner becomes worse in every factor except for the potential lethal with Skred.
Depends on your meta. In control metas, the theory is that Scourge is better (though the Jeskai lists can just kill you with burn in a burst). In an aggro meta, Reckoner is much better.
Sarkhan works well in place of a 3rd Stormbreath against Terminate decks. His Flame Slash ability is also relevant and in a slower game his Ult can be quite good.
As for the one Scourge, I think it is still a decent card against control decks, but I found that I didn't like my opponents knowing that it was one of my only threats and being able to deal with it. Unexpectedness wins games.
Yes, to recur Eternal Scourge is the reason the card is good. However, it is awful against a planes walker that can target (Jace VP, new Lili, etc) and if your opponent continues to exile them and beat your face with Colonnades before burning you to death, they aren't that great. I played with it for about a month and found that, thanks to the GP, people have figured out how to exploit Scourge. I like the 3-1 split on Reckoner/Scourge at the moment because Reckoners are far better against aggro, which is the majority of the meta right now, and they can provide an alternate win-con with Skred to speed up your clock.
After testing the GP list for sometime, I have found that it is a little too light for me on threats. My philosophy on Game 1 strategy is that a deck should be as proactive as possible. Thus, I have gone back to a mostly Boros Reckoner list, and my results have been better (back up to a near 70% win rate as opposed to a 55% win rate). Perhaps I was just inexperienced with a Scourge list, but it seemed less viable to me.
I replaced Pyrite Spellbomb with Magma Jet in my list recently, and I haven't been disappointed yet. With the heavy artifact builds, has anyone considered Shrapnel Blast as an option for removal or burst damage? Obviously, it has a lot of downsides, but it can be cast at instant speed and can target the likes of Restoration Angel. I'm not advocating for the card; more just spitballing.
What is your meta like that allows you to play so many Pyroclasms and no Angers? Dredge is everywhere here, and in a larger meta, I feel like you'd need them in the main.
I prefer Sword of War and Peace in the side for additional life gain against burn aside from the Claws. The pro red and white pretty much makes your creature invincible to any of burn's ways of dealing with it aside from killing the weapon, and the life gain is substantial when it's repetitive.
Ricochet Trap is a red counter spell for counters and, sometimes, removal. You bring it in against Grixis, Jeskai... blue decks. If someone tries to Remand your Koth, you play Trap in response and change the target of Remand to Trap. Trap resolves, remand tries to counter it, but can't, and your opponent loses a spell and doesn't draw a card. Snap into bolt to kill a walker? No, bolt kills the snap caster. That's why it's there.
Sagefire, Batterskull is faster, and in an aggro meta, that is better. Also, it is more resilient to decks that don't run Kolaghan's Command]. If your meta is Jund heavy, then I recommend Wurmcoil.
I was reading this thread a bit back, and someone on it said that Molten Rain was better than another land destruction card because the other card did not destroy basics, which is important with Blood Moon. RULES CLARIFICATION: If you are playing this deck, you must know this: Blood Moon does not change the type of a land. If it is an artifact land, it becomes a non-basic artifact mountain. So Molten Rain still does damage. Note that this makes Crumble to Dust weaker with a Moon out because it will search for "Mountain" and will be unable to find another one, unless I am mistaken on this part (please let me know).
Also, here is a link to a video of me playing my recent-ish list against Abzan. Below is my updated decklist since then
Also, the LabMen are absolutely fantastic. I have learned a lot from you guys, and it has improved my YouTube videos as well.
As for running them side-by-side, I haven't had any problems, but that's a play preference of mine. A 3-1 split means I'm far more likely to hit my Reckoner, so the deck functions mostly the same with the added ability to play a hard to answer threat against control decks.
As for the one Scourge, I think it is still a decent card against control decks, but I found that I didn't like my opponents knowing that it was one of my only threats and being able to deal with it. Unexpectedness wins games.
My new list looks like this:
20x Snow-Covered Mountain
2x Scrying Sheets
3x Mind Stone
Removal
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Skred
1x Magma Jet
1x Anger of the Gods
1x Dismember
2x Volcanic Fallout
3x Relic of Progenitus
3x Blood Moon
Threats
3x Boros Reckoner
1x Eternal Scourge
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4x Koth of the Hammer
3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Batterskull
1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2x Stormbreath Dragon
2x Anger of the Gods
2x Crumble to Dust
3x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Pithing Needle
2x Ricochet Trap
1x Shattering Spree
2x Spellskite
1x Vandalblast
1x Wurmcoil Engine
Also, here is a link to a video of me playing my recent-ish list against Abzan. Below is my updated decklist since then
2x Eternal Scourge
1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1x Batterskull
4x Koth of the Hammer
3x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1x Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2x Stormbreath Dragon
Control
3x Anger of the Gods
3x Blood Moon
4x Lightning Bolt
1x Pyrite Spellbomb
4x Relic of Progenitus
1x Roast
4x Skred
4x Mind Stone
2x Scrying Sheets
20x Snow-Covered Mountain
2x Crumble to Dust
2x Dragon's Claw
2x Goblin Rabblemaster
1x Kozilek's Return
1x Pithing Needle
2x Ricochet Trap
1x Shattering Spree
2x Spellskite
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Vandalblast