Any advice or questions? I know I ask for advice on this deck alot, but as a relative newcomer to competitive magic, I still am wonky on sideboard building in particular and kind of feel like I need as much advice as I can get.
Sorry if this has already been discussed, but I am interested in Nighthawk's potential as a sideboard card in BR Aggro. I think it could work as an option against other aggro decks to give you a solid blocker and evasion if you need it. Not to mention lifegain, which can add turns to the clock. Only trouble is it does get killed by all but one burn spell worth a damn right now.
Has anybody tried it, and if so how has it worked out for you?
Well, now that I have actually sat back and thought about it abit I have decided that wolf is better for what I need it to do, especially since it is not vulnerable to the surprise Resto. Angel, which is really popular at my store. Not to mention this led me onto another train of thought which is why the hell am I not siding Thunderbolt. Answers threats like Olivia, Angel and even enemy Aristocrats in a pinch, not to mention spare burn is never a bad thing, so here is what I'm thinking now.
3 Pyrehearts replacing Cathars in mainboard
3 Thunderbolts replacing Pyrehearts in sideboard.
EDIT:
New thought, trying to decide if I want to keep MoM in sideboard or replace it with Act of Aggression
Moar Edits!
Decided to add another MoM in instead of a Thunderbolt and movea wolf to the sideboard to maindeck it, since there are so many decks it can be useful against, can't decide if I want to replace it and the others with Act of aggression though.
Alright, so did a pretty major retool of the deck, here is the current list
Temblor is to deal with the odd mirror or RDW matchup, and also to deal with Geist when he comes around, though that role isn't quite as necessary now that I'm running a set of KoI. I do like flames, and am not a huge fan of Mortars, so I am trying to squeeze on more in there somewhere. Like I said, I may take out a stonewright since on his own he is practically useless and it really sucks to get him when I'm forced into top deck mode after a board wipe. Rakdos's Return is more in there as a curiosity then against any particular matchups, I typically take out burn for it against the slower decks, though I don't usually have enough mana to make it really effective.
The meta at my store is lots of Selesnya and Bant, with the odd rdw, reanimator, and one or two zombie decks mixed in. Any suggestions for my board?
EDIT:
As for Aristocrat, I have been thinking about adding in another one, but I cannot think where as I do not want to cut any Hellriders as he tends to be a gamewinner in a lot of my matchups. Don't get me wrong, Aristocrat is damn good, but she is just too frail on her own and lacks the punch that hellrider can deliver.
MORE EDITS:
Made some changes to the deck:
-1 Stonewright
- 3 Pyreheart Wolf
+1 Pillar of Flames
+3 Fervent Cathar
Sideboard
-1 Flames of the Firebrand
-2 Rakdos's Return
+3 Pyreheart Wolf
I feel like Cathar will be more useful against more matchups then wolf, but I want to have the option to have wolf when I'm facing weenies, or lots of board sweepers.
Rakdos's Return was not performing to well for me, if it were random discard I would love it to pieces but its not so I don't. Flames, as I said before wasn't performing to well so I'll probably just use it as a 1:1 replacement against weenie and mirror matches for Brimstone Volley which doesn't do too much there.
Currently trying to decide whether or not I want a 4th Cavern, also thinking about cutting out a Stonewright for a fourth Pillar.
The sideboard also needs some work, Flames of the Firebrand in particular seemed like a good idea, but in practice most weenies these days are 2/2, so it tends to 1:1 most of the time.
I traded a Thoughtseize for a Hypnotic Specter during Lorwyn Standard... Regretted that ever since, though in my defense I'd only been playing FNM for a couple weeks at that point.
I've been running and refining a similar deck for a while, though my deck leans much further red then the one presented in the primer the idea is essentially the same.
Currently am wondering if I may want to throw another Aristocrat in there somewhere, since I'm not sure if I should completely rely on Rider as a finisher.
Unfortunately don't have any CoSs on hand atm, so for right now I'm thinking of leaving the 2 swamps in, replacing 1 mountain and the mountain I was going to add with Guildgates.
2 Swamps
10 Mountains
2 Rakdos Guildgates
4 DS Summit
4 Blood Crypt
Sounds like a plan, I'm just wondering if I should throw in a couple swamps though with 4, don't want to risk a dead draw, especially since it is competing with Ash Zealot at that drop.
After seeing some of the advice seen here and in the deck garage, I am seeing a lot of hate for Flailer, and now I do agree that he isn't really needed. Overexpensive burn and a not so great beater. I think I will throw them out for more burn and try out 3 Stonewrights. Pillar of Flame has been kind of meh to me. The fact that it is a sorcery leaves me with little to do with it and the meta at my store at least has very few zombies atm so the Exile effect doesn't really come into play often. This is what I'm thinking so far:
EDIT:
After some thought I am also going to take out the remaining 2 freaks and one Chainwalker for 3 KoIs, I need some white hate mainboard since just about everyone I've played these last few weeks seemed to at least be splashing white.
Hi folks, looking for some advice on this deck I've been working on since RTR hit the shelves. Its main issue seems to be consistency right now as it is either performing well or failing spectacularly, and its worst matchups are easily lifegain and Junk matchups.
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
1 Mark of Mutiny
2 Ultimate Price
Lands
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blood Crypt
3 Cavern of Souls
9 Mountains
3 Swamps
3 Appetite for Brains
1 Ultimate Price
1 Pillar of Flame
2 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Slaughter Games
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Vampire Nighthawk
Any advice or questions? I know I ask for advice on this deck alot, but as a relative newcomer to competitive magic, I still am wonky on sideboard building in particular and kind of feel like I need as much advice as I can get.
Has anybody tried it, and if so how has it worked out for you?
3 Pyrehearts replacing Cathars in mainboard
3 Thunderbolts replacing Pyrehearts in sideboard.
EDIT:
New thought, trying to decide if I want to keep MoM in sideboard or replace it with Act of Aggression
Moar Edits!
Decided to add another MoM in instead of a Thunderbolt and movea wolf to the sideboard to maindeck it, since there are so many decks it can be useful against, can't decide if I want to replace it and the others with Act of aggression though.
Alright, so did a pretty major retool of the deck, here is the current list
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
2 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
Spells
3 Pillar of Flame
1 Ultimate Price
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley
1 Mark of Mutiny
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Cavern of Souls
2 Swamps
9 Mountains
1 Pillar of Flame
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Ultimate Price
3 Slaughter Games
2 Rolling Temblor
1 Pyreheart Wolf
1 Mizzium Mortars
Really looking for some input on Cathar vs Pyreheart.
The meta at my store is lots of Selesnya and Bant, with the odd rdw, reanimator, and one or two zombie decks mixed in. Any suggestions for my board?
EDIT:
As for Aristocrat, I have been thinking about adding in another one, but I cannot think where as I do not want to cut any Hellriders as he tends to be a gamewinner in a lot of my matchups. Don't get me wrong, Aristocrat is damn good, but she is just too frail on her own and lacks the punch that hellrider can deliver.
MORE EDITS:
Made some changes to the deck:
-1 Stonewright
- 3 Pyreheart Wolf
+1 Pillar of Flames
+3 Fervent Cathar
Sideboard
-1 Flames of the Firebrand
-2 Rakdos's Return
+3 Pyreheart Wolf
I feel like Cathar will be more useful against more matchups then wolf, but I want to have the option to have wolf when I'm facing weenies, or lots of board sweepers.
Rakdos's Return was not performing to well for me, if it were random discard I would love it to pieces but its not so I don't. Flames, as I said before wasn't performing to well so I'll probably just use it as a 1:1 replacement against weenie and mirror matches for Brimstone Volley which doesn't do too much there.
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stonewright
4 Knight of Infamy
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley
Lands (22)
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Swamp
10 Mountains
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Rolling Temblor
2 Mark of Mutiny
3 Slaughter Games
Currently trying to decide whether or not I want a 4th Cavern, also thinking about cutting out a Stonewright for a fourth Pillar.
The sideboard also needs some work, Flames of the Firebrand in particular seemed like a good idea, but in practice most weenies these days are 2/2, so it tends to 1:1 most of the time.
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stonewright
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
2 Brimstone Volley
Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Rakdos Guildgate
2 Swamp
10 Mountain
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Rakdos's Return
3 Flames of the Firebrand
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Slaughter Games
Fits the mission statement according to that decks page: Slam em hard, kill em fast. Small critters early game backed up by late game threats.
10 Mountains
2 Swamps
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Slaughter Games
Anybody have anymore advice?
I'm starting to wonder if the Rolling Temblor is a little bit redundant now that I've got KoI for Geist hate.
Also I'm thinking this deck may actually fall under the Sledghammer Archetype, in which case sorry to the mods, and feel free to move it.
10 Mountains
2 Swamps
2 Rakdos Guildgate
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Noble
3 Stonewright
4 Ash Zealot
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
3 Pillar of Flame
4 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Slaughter Games
Currently am wondering if I may want to throw another Aristocrat in there somewhere, since I'm not sure if I should completely rely on Rider as a finisher.
2 Swamps
10 Mountains
2 Rakdos Guildgates
4 DS Summit
4 Blood Crypt
- 4 Hellhole Flailers
+3 Stonewright
+1 Searing Spear
- 2 Swamps
+2 Rakdos Guildgate
-2 Shred Freak
+1 Mountain
+1 Hellrider
EDIT:
After some thought I am also going to take out the remaining 2 freaks and one Chainwalker for 3 KoIs, I need some white hate mainboard since just about everyone I've played these last few weeks seemed to at least be splashing white.
2 Swamps
11 Mountains
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blood Crypt
Creatures
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Stromkirk Nobles
4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
3 Gore House Chainwalker
4 Ash Zealot
3 Pyreheart Wolf
4 Hellhole Flailer
3 Hellrider
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Pillar of Flame
3 Searing Spear
3 Brimstone Volley
3 Appetite for Brains
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Rakdos's Return
2 Rolling Temblor
3 Flames of the Firebrand
3 Slaughter Games
Any advice is greatly appreciated.