And if you're not feeling the slight Heroic theme here, you can always replace Martial Glory with Brave the Elements and Phalanx Leader with Imposing Sovereign. It would probably look like a more traditional Boros Weenie deck at that point. However, I would like to point out there is a certain benefit to having a source of creature pump that can also attack, and Phalanx Leader can serve that role quite well.
I honestly think the best use of a Heroic creature right now is Phalanx Leader. Giving everyone +1/+1 is viable, and works great if Precinct Captain can somehow get through.
Anax and Cymede is also a pretty powerful Heroic dude for much of the same reason Phalanx Leader is. Here is my WW-like version of a Boros aggro deck that utilizes both cards rather well:
I'm going to make a case for the unpopular +1/+1 counter heros, and the ordeals.
What we're trying to do anyway is overwhelm our opponent with threats early on and I think the ordeals can assist that. Stacking +1/+1 counters fast and sac-ing it for 3 damage while swinging with a 4/5 on turn 3. That's an Ember Swallower before it's monstrous.
A good draw would be
T1-Land, Favored Hopolite
T2-Land, Ordeal of Purphoros, Swing for 3
T3-Land, 3 Drop, Swing for 4, ping for 3.
A nut draw could be
T1-Land, Favored Hopolite
T2-Land, Ordeal of Purphoros, Swing for 3
T3-Land, Boros Charm (double strike), Gods Willing (to bypass blockers), Ping for 3, swing for 12
Fast, inexpensive, fast growing creatures. Madcap Skills and Gods Willing can push damage through, Chained to the Mountains and Ordeal of Purphoros can remove blockers or small threats while Boros Charm and your creatures can end games.
It looks like you have a decent start with what you're trying to do. A few things, though:
-Your list seems a bit creature-light being that you only have 20 creatures+2 enchantments that can sometimes be creatures in ideal conditions. I'd get rid of the two Gods and two other cards to get a play set of some other creature card. Preferably a 2-drop, like Precinct Captain or Truefire Paladin, I reckon.
-Four Anax and Cemede might be a little much since they are Legendary. Maybe you can -1 them and -1 Fabled Hero and replace them with 2 Boros Reckoner for an aggressive alternative or 2 Banisher Priest if you wish to have a more controlling option.
-I would at least play test Boros Elite in Soldier of the Pantheon's place. A 3/3 for one is no joke.
-Spear of Heliod is good for giving your dudes an unconditional boost. Maybe you should consider play testing this card?
-Martial Glory can trigger two creature's heroic triggers at once. This is probably another card worth looking at.
Well, I've been playing and fine-tuning this deck for a while, so I guess I can share my thought on what you have here:
-3-color fast aggro decks will be near impossible to achieve in this format. If I were you, I'd chose either to go for Boros or Azorius.
-Soldier of the Pantheon may not as good as Boros Elite for this deck. Battalion isn't that hard to activate for us, and I think we would rather have a 3/3 than a 2/1, even one with pro-multicolor, on the attack.
-I think you should be running at least three Boros Reckoners in your deck. He is better than Fabled Hero in a lot of situations.
-You may want to consider Martial Glory since it can trigger to instances of heroic at once.
-Every deck needs some sort of removal, but yours has none. I would consider running at least two Banisher Priest or two Chained to the Rock.
You have pretty problematic mana cost issues in that list imo.
Things like the following won't be viable because the mana is not good enough:
One drops of both colors
Akroan Crusader -> Phalanx Leader
From what I've seen thus far, I have either a source of Red and White or two White sources in my opening hand most of the time.
And yes, Akroan Crusader -> Phalanx Leader isn't possible most of the time. However, there are 14 other cards that can be played on turn two in the list, so I'm not sweating it too much right now.
I'm having alot of trouble getting behind Heroic as a constructed mechanic. Combat tricks and auras are 23rd cards in draft decks, an environment with much less instant speed removal and where weaker creatures are the norm. in constructed your opponent is HIGHLY likely to have the removal spell for the blowout, and you can choose any creature you want, including creatures with natural stats that are just better than the heroic guys.
The good thing about Boros Charm and Gods Willing and, too a lesser extent, Martial Glory is they offer protection from removal in addition to being a combat trick. I've been testing this thing on Cockatrice and it seems to be testing decently enough at the moment.
I've been testing something similar (test on Cockatrice, save for a lot of morons it's great) albeit I'm not completely convinced of the white splash yet. With this list you probably want to run 4 Shock side for aggro and for control Assemble the Legion seems strong with Purphoros. It will be interesting to see how prevelant enchantment removal will be to figure out if things like the Purphoros + Assemble combo is actually playable and also if Chained to the Rocks is consistent enough removal.
In general I think that big red/Boros is going to be a powerful deck though.
I agree that this deck could use more creatures, but I honestly don't want to shave off the number of any of the aforementioned cards because they're all have important functions. Boros Charm can end the game via 4 damage to the dome and, more importantly, is a good defense against mass destruction spells. Gods Willing can be used defensively to protect Anax and Cymede or Phalanx Leader from targeted removal. And, finally, Martial Glory can trigger two heroic creatures at once which is very good for me, lol.
However, Madcap Skills' only function is to target one of my heroes and to boost their attack thereafter. I'm thinking that I could cut that card out of my list altogether and replace it with two Dryad Militants, so...
Boros aggro is a good deck, mate. You can either go for a 1-3 CMC "fast" aggro shell or go for a 2-5 CMC "sledgehammer" shell if running out of steam is of concern to you.
I would cut all the Truefire Paladins so you could run the full set of Madcap Skills and 2x Brave the Elements. Yeah, it doesn't target, but having more consistency in protection will be great.
Thank you for offering up that suggestion. However, I personally would prefer to have at least 20 creatures in this deck. I also feel like I should at least have one playset of 2/2 for 2s in light of the 3 playsets of 1/1s in the 1-2 CMC slots.
I also feel that mass protection is all that necessary in a deck with Boros Charm and Gods Willing, but I guess only time will tell in regards to that matter.
4 Akroan Hoplite
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Dryad Militant
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Precinct Captain
4 Frontline Medic
3 Boros Elite
3 Spear of Heliod
Instants (8):
4 Brave the Elements
4 Boros Charm
Lands (22):
2 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundries
4 Temple of Triumph
12 Plains
4 Fiendslayer Paladin
4 Rootborn Defenses
4 Truefire Paladin
3 Ratchet Bomb
How about this WW-like Boros deck? It has been testing pretty well on Cockatrice.
4 Boros Elite
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Precinct Captain
4 Truefire Paladin
3 Anax and Cymede
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Banisher Priest
3 Spear of Heliod
Instants (11):
4 Boros Charm
4 Gods Willing
3 Martial Glory
Lands (22):
4 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundries
4 Temple of Triumph
10 Plains
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Frontline Medic
2 Brave the Elements
2 Imposing Sovereign
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Banisher Priest
And if you're not feeling the slight Heroic theme here, you can always replace Martial Glory with Brave the Elements and Phalanx Leader with Imposing Sovereign. It would probably look like a more traditional Boros Weenie deck at that point. However, I would like to point out there is a certain benefit to having a source of creature pump that can also attack, and Phalanx Leader can serve that role quite well.
Anax and Cymede is also a pretty powerful Heroic dude for much of the same reason Phalanx Leader is. Here is my WW-like version of a Boros aggro deck that utilizes both cards rather well:
4 Boros Elite
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Precinct Captain
4 Truefire Paladin
3 Anax and Cymede
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Banisher Priest
3 Spear of Heliod
Instants (11):
4 Boros Charm
4 Gods Willing
3 Martial Glory
Lands (22):
4 Mountain
4 Sacred Foundries
4 Temple of Triumph
10 Plains
3 Fiendslayer Paladin
3 Frontline Medic
2 Brave the Elements
2 Imposing Sovereign
2 Ratchet Bomb
2 Rootborn Defenses
1 Banisher Priest
It looks like you have a decent start with what you're trying to do. A few things, though:
-Your list seems a bit creature-light being that you only have 20 creatures+2 enchantments that can sometimes be creatures in ideal conditions. I'd get rid of the two Gods and two other cards to get a play set of some other creature card. Preferably a 2-drop, like Precinct Captain or Truefire Paladin, I reckon.
-Four Anax and Cemede might be a little much since they are Legendary. Maybe you can -1 them and -1 Fabled Hero and replace them with 2 Boros Reckoner for an aggressive alternative or 2 Banisher Priest if you wish to have a more controlling option.
-I would at least play test Boros Elite in Soldier of the Pantheon's place. A 3/3 for one is no joke.
-Spear of Heliod is good for giving your dudes an unconditional boost. Maybe you should consider play testing this card?
-Martial Glory can trigger two creature's heroic triggers at once. This is probably another card worth looking at.
Well, I've been playing and fine-tuning this deck for a while, so I guess I can share my thought on what you have here:
-3-color fast aggro decks will be near impossible to achieve in this format. If I were you, I'd chose either to go for Boros or Azorius.
-Soldier of the Pantheon may not as good as Boros Elite for this deck. Battalion isn't that hard to activate for us, and I think we would rather have a 3/3 than a 2/1, even one with pro-multicolor, on the attack.
-I think you should be running at least three Boros Reckoners in your deck. He is better than Fabled Hero in a lot of situations.
-You may want to consider Martial Glory since it can trigger to instances of heroic at once.
-Every deck needs some sort of removal, but yours has none. I would consider running at least two Banisher Priest or two Chained to the Rock.
-4 Akroan Crusader
-2 Favored Hoplite
-2 Chained to the Rocks
-1 Martial Glory
+4 Precinct Captain
+3 Spear of Heliod
+2 Banisher Priest
The mana-base is completely reworked now. Thanks for the suggestions, one and all. Keep them up :).
From what I've seen thus far, I have either a source of Red and White or two White sources in my opening hand most of the time.
And yes, Akroan Crusader -> Phalanx Leader isn't possible most of the time. However, there are 14 other cards that can be played on turn two in the list, so I'm not sweating it too much right now.
The good thing about Boros Charm and Gods Willing and, too a lesser extent, Martial Glory is they offer protection from removal in addition to being a combat trick. I've been testing this thing on Cockatrice and it seems to be testing decently enough at the moment.
+2 Favored Hoplite
4 Akroan Crusader
4 Boros Elite
4 Phalanx Leader
4 Truefire Paladin
3 Anax and Cymede
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Dryad Militant
2 Chained to the Rocks
Instants (12):
4 Boros Charm
4 Gods Willing
4 Martial Glory
4 Sacred Foundry
7 Mountain
11 Plains
Hasn't Cockatrice been discontinued?
I agree that this deck could use more creatures, but I honestly don't want to shave off the number of any of the aforementioned cards because they're all have important functions. Boros Charm can end the game via 4 damage to the dome and, more importantly, is a good defense against mass destruction spells. Gods Willing can be used defensively to protect Anax and Cymede or Phalanx Leader from targeted removal. And, finally, Martial Glory can trigger two heroic creatures at once which is very good for me, lol.
However, Madcap Skills' only function is to target one of my heroes and to boost their attack thereafter. I'm thinking that I could cut that card out of my list altogether and replace it with two Dryad Militants, so...
-2 Madcap Skills
+2 Dryad Militant
Thank you for offering up that suggestion. However, I personally would prefer to have at least 20 creatures in this deck. I also feel like I should at least have one playset of 2/2 for 2s in light of the 3 playsets of 1/1s in the 1-2 CMC slots.
I also feel that mass protection is all that necessary in a deck with Boros Charm and Gods Willing, but I guess only time will tell in regards to that matter.