I'm a new Modern player and I'm looking for ideas about how to improve this deck and general feedback about it.
I'm still not sure what to sideboard (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Kor Firewalker and Dryad Militant come to mind) so any suggestions are welcome.
I've had a mono white soldiers deck for a little while on Magic Online now and its really fun to play. I don't have the full list one me, but it looks really similar to what you have but includes 4 Dryad Militant, 4 Thalia, 4 Veteran Weaponsmith and 4 Ballyrush Banneret.
All 4 of those cards are really great for the deck. Thalia for slowing down opponents turns, Militant for being an aggressive 1 drop that slows down delve spells, and Ballyrush for letting us play out more creatures in a single turn. Playing Ballyrush on turn 2 and then playing a second plus 2 Preeminent Captains on turn 3 is an amazing play!
I also like Vetran Weaponsmith over Armorsmith, since pumping your powers works really well with all of the first strike your creatures can get.
I also have 4 copies of Path to Exile in the main deck which used to be Sun Lance, both are great.
Thalia is great. If you can't afford her right now, I suggest saving up to get 4 copies. She really helps make
the decks playing more spells than creatures a fair match up.
You want Ballyrush in your deck. It lets you play a 2/1 on turn 2, and then a 2 drop and a 3 drop on turn 3. This means that you are going to be attacking with 1 extra creature on turn 4. Imagine you play turn 2 Ballyrush, turn 3 Ballyrush, Preeminent Captain, Preeminent Captain. You now get to swing with 4 creatures and put 2 more into play on turn 4.
The reason Swordsmith or Paragon of New Dawns is going to be better than Armorsmith in this deck comes from the fact that almost all of your creatures have first strike (they all get first strike when your soldier lord comes down). In that last situation, you have your two 2/1s attacking, and your two 2/1 first strikers attacking. With your 4 mana for the turn you have already played a Field Marshal so they all have +1 power and first strike. Off of the two Captain triggers you put two Swordsmiths into play and you are now attacking with Six 5/2 first strikers. Your opponent is going to have a terrible time trying to block that compared to if you had just boosted their toughness.
Dryad Militant's power comes from its ability to slow down Delve and Snapcaster Mages. A turn 1 dryad prevents your opponent from playing thought scour turn 1 into Grimag Angler on turn 2, which is very tough to beat.
You still have a lot of Humans in that deck to include Champion if you want, but I wouldn't rule out playing the Banneret and Captain. They are probably two of the strongest cards you are going to get for the deck and shouldn't be excluded.
With 4 Field Marshal and 4 Veteran Swordsmiths, you probably don't need the Honor of the Pure. You could probably take both of them out along with the 3 Raise the Alarm to put in 4 Champion of the Parish and your 1 Door or Obelisk of Urd. I'd prefer the Obelisk since it doesn't take more cards beyond its self to be good.
Are you sure that Raise the Alarm isn't worth keeping in this deck ?
It should work well with all the power boosting creatures (and building up Crusader of Odric) or as chump blockers if things go wrong (the tokens can also help convoke spells like Obelisk of Urd or Devouring Light, right?)
Are you sure that Raise the Alarm isn't worth keeping in this deck ?
It should work well with all the power boosting creatures (and building up Crusader of Odric) or as chump blockers if things go wrong (the tokens can also help convoke spells like Obelisk of Urd or Devouring Light, right?)
Once you start getting your anthem creatures out you probably won't have enough creatures entering play with 2 or less power, and the thing with combat tricks is that if you have Thalia in play, they all cost 1 more mana. The only issue I have with raise the alarm is that, if you have any other 2 drop in your hand you are going to cast that. Then you are going to cast your 3 drop, then your 4 drop (or 3 drop + brave the elements). You won't get any time to cast raise the alarm from that point onward. Maybe I'm wrong, and it definitely won't hurt you to try it out. I'd just prefer another 2 cmc soldier like the new Anafenza.
I think Celestial Flare would be the best removal in replacement of Honor of the Pure. Valorous Stance might be better though.
Flare is decent vs. infect and amazing vs. boggles. If you have to play vs. either of those 2 then throw it in. Otherwise Valorous Stance is going to be better. Both are good sideboard cares though. I'd prefer to have Path to Exile in the main deck, or if that costs too much then play Sun Lance.
legionnaire is probably a good choice, since its a 2 drop
Another interesting one is Aegis of the Gods, a soldier that also protects your hand!
A final note on sunlance. Unless they are playing white creatures Sunlance will kill it. Its a white Lighting Bolt in the deck when you want to take out any mana dork, or turn 1 to 2 play from our opponents. Yes you can't cast it after your first strike damage goes through, but if you are worried about those kinds of things just play Path to Exile. You want your removal to be cheap so you can play other spells, so you should look to 1cmc options before going to 2cmc ones. I think I'd even look at playing Oust before I considered playing 4 copies of Valorous Stance or Puncturing Light.
As for the damage prevention spells, you already have Brave the Elements so you probably don't need them in the deck. Divine Deflection looks good but is probably a trap. having to pay 4 mana to redirect a lighting bolt isn't great, and if you want that kind of effect you should look at including Refraction Trap (I think I got that name right)
If Sunlance could hit a player directly or instead deal 4 damage to a creature (like Flame Slash) I would be more willing to use it.
I don't like Oust as well as it only delays the creature and healing the opponent is not something I want to do.
I will try running 2x Puncturing Light for now and maybe try Dismember if doesn't turn out well.
You will probably find that this runs a lot better.
Again on sunlance, its fine that it doesn't hit players since its job is to kill birds of paradise, noble hierarch, delver of secrets and young pyromancer. I'm probably missing something in there too. Righteous Blow is another good one similar to the lance, but you aren't going to be able to hit the mana dorks with it.
Oust is great since it gives you 2 turns where you won't see the creature on the battle field. That's 2 turns of free attacks with every other one of your creatures. Some times they have a pestermite and a goyf out.
You can't name both colours with Brave the elements and your Puncturing Light won't do anything until you actually attack and they declare a block on your creature. When your creature is a 5/3 first strike and you cast puncturing light, none of that damage goes through. I'd rather have them gain 3 life from oust instead of 5 life from PL.
I see your point about the damage not going through, so I should probably replace Puncturing Light with Dismember.
If I use a sorcery speed spell I will probably go with Journey to Nowhere.
Another option is Temporal Isolation but it doesn't prevent activated (or passive) abilities so it seems not as good.
Crusader can probably go. Its a neat card but for 3 mana I think most of the time you would want another creature. Maybe try replacing your 2 Crusaders and the two Puncturing Lights with Journey to Nowhere.
i know it costs more but oblivion ring is a really good removal since its for target permanent...
for even more removal you could run a fiend hunter hes not a soldier but its removal with a body.
I'm still not sure what to sideboard (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Kor Firewalker and Dryad Militant come to mind) so any suggestions are welcome.
Here it is:
1x Odric, Master Tactician
4x Champion of the Parish
2x Crusader of Odric
4x Field Marshal
4x Precinct Captain
4x Preeminent Captain
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Veteran Armorsmith
3x Raise the Alarm
3x Forbidding Watchtower
19x Plains
Other cards that I considered but didn't get included are:
Launch the Fleet, Guardians' Pledge, Even the Odds, Militia's Pride
Dryad Militant, Gideon's Avenger, Ballyrush Banneret, Porcelain Legionnaire, Loyal Cathar, Elite Inquisitor, Loyal Sentry, Boros Elite.
I've had a mono white soldiers deck for a little while on Magic Online now and its really fun to play. I don't have the full list one me, but it looks really similar to what you have but includes 4 Dryad Militant, 4 Thalia, 4 Veteran Weaponsmith and 4 Ballyrush Banneret.
All 4 of those cards are really great for the deck. Thalia for slowing down opponents turns, Militant for being an aggressive 1 drop that slows down delve spells, and Ballyrush for letting us play out more creatures in a single turn. Playing Ballyrush on turn 2 and then playing a second plus 2 Preeminent Captains on turn 3 is an amazing play!
I also like Vetran Weaponsmith over Armorsmith, since pumping your powers works really well with all of the first strike your creatures can get.
I also have 4 copies of Path to Exile in the main deck which used to be Sun Lance, both are great.
Edit: Here is the list I've been playing!
4 Brave the Elements
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Preeminent Captain
4 Veteran Swordsmith
4 Field Marshal
2 Captain of the Watch
4 Dryad Militant
4 Ballyrush Banneret
4 Path to Exile
1 Odric, Master Tactician
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Eiganjo Castle
2 Aegis of the Gods
4 Jotun Grunt
4 Kor Firewalker
2 Disenchant
4 Stony Silence
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben seems like a good (but not cheap) investment, but what to take out for it ?
Precinct Captain or Soldier of the Pantheon ?
I obviously want Brimaz, king of oreskos but he is too expensive for me.
I considered Ballyrush Banneret but I don't use that much colorless mana anyway (except for Preeminent Captain maybe and Crusader of Odric because Captain of the Watch is mainly intended to be cheated in by Preeminent Captain ) so I want a better fighter like Precinct Captain which can produce soldier tokens as well.
I prefer the Veteran Armorsmith to the Veteran Swordsmith mainly because of the lower mana cost.
I already have Honor of the Pure and Field Marshal to increase the power of my soldiers.
I like Dryad Militant as well but prefer Soldier of the Pantheon because his passive seems a bit better and he has a better synergy with Champion of the Parish.
Thalia is great. If you can't afford her right now, I suggest saving up to get 4 copies. She really helps make
the decks playing more spells than creatures a fair match up.
You want Ballyrush in your deck. It lets you play a 2/1 on turn 2, and then a 2 drop and a 3 drop on turn 3. This means that you are going to be attacking with 1 extra creature on turn 4. Imagine you play turn 2 Ballyrush, turn 3 Ballyrush, Preeminent Captain, Preeminent Captain. You now get to swing with 4 creatures and put 2 more into play on turn 4.
The reason Swordsmith or Paragon of New Dawns is going to be better than Armorsmith in this deck comes from the fact that almost all of your creatures have first strike (they all get first strike when your soldier lord comes down). In that last situation, you have your two 2/1s attacking, and your two 2/1 first strikers attacking. With your 4 mana for the turn you have already played a Field Marshal so they all have +1 power and first strike. Off of the two Captain triggers you put two Swordsmiths into play and you are now attacking with Six 5/2 first strikers. Your opponent is going to have a terrible time trying to block that compared to if you had just boosted their toughness.
Dryad Militant's power comes from its ability to slow down Delve and Snapcaster Mages. A turn 1 dryad prevents your opponent from playing thought scour turn 1 into Grimag Angler on turn 2, which is very tough to beat.
But if I include 4x Ballyrush Banneret and 4x Dryad Militant together with 4x Preeminent Captain it negates the human theme and makes Champion of the Parish much worse.
So it leads to almost entirely different deck composition altogather, something like this:
1x Odric, Master Tactician
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Crusader of Odric
4x Field Marshal
4x Ballyrush Banneret
4x Preeminent Captain
4x Dryad Militant
4x Veteran Swordsmith
3x Raise the Alarm
2x Honor of the Pure
3x Forbidding Watchtower
18x Plains
Another idea I have is to add something like: Door of Destinies or Coat of Arms or Obelisk of Urd to the deck (probably as a one-of), is it a good idea ?
With 4 Field Marshal and 4 Veteran Swordsmiths, you probably don't need the Honor of the Pure. You could probably take both of them out along with the 3 Raise the Alarm to put in 4 Champion of the Parish and your 1 Door or Obelisk of Urd. I'd prefer the Obelisk since it doesn't take more cards beyond its self to be good.
It should work well with all the power boosting creatures (and building up Crusader of Odric) or as chump blockers if things go wrong (the tokens can also help convoke spells like Obelisk of Urd or Devouring Light, right?)
I agree that Honor of Pure seems less necessary now and consider swapping it for:
1. Combat tricks like 2x Guardians' Pledge
2. Removal like: 2x Puncturing Light or 2x Devouring Light or 2x Valorous Stance or 2x Journey to Nowhere.
3. Card Draw like 2x Mentor of the Meek
What do you think?
Once you start getting your anthem creatures out you probably won't have enough creatures entering play with 2 or less power, and the thing with combat tricks is that if you have Thalia in play, they all cost 1 more mana. The only issue I have with raise the alarm is that, if you have any other 2 drop in your hand you are going to cast that. Then you are going to cast your 3 drop, then your 4 drop (or 3 drop + brave the elements). You won't get any time to cast raise the alarm from that point onward. Maybe I'm wrong, and it definitely won't hurt you to try it out. I'd just prefer another 2 cmc soldier like the new Anafenza.
Flare is decent vs. infect and amazing vs. boggles. If you have to play vs. either of those 2 then throw it in. Otherwise Valorous Stance is going to be better. Both are good sideboard cares though. I'd prefer to have Path to Exile in the main deck, or if that costs too much then play Sun Lance.
I think I'd rather go with Valorous Stance or Puncturing Light.
Another spell I thought about is Divine Deflection (or Acolyte's Reward), does it fit this deck ?
I see your point about Raise the Alarm, so I want to choose a 2-drop as a replacement.
I'm not very impressed with Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit so my candidates are: Precinct Captain, Veteran Armorsmith or Elite Inquisitor.
Or maybe a 3-drop like Gideon's Avenger or Porcelain Legionnaire.
Another interesting one is Aegis of the Gods, a soldier that also protects your hand!
A final note on sunlance. Unless they are playing white creatures Sunlance will kill it. Its a white Lighting Bolt in the deck when you want to take out any mana dork, or turn 1 to 2 play from our opponents. Yes you can't cast it after your first strike damage goes through, but if you are worried about those kinds of things just play Path to Exile. You want your removal to be cheap so you can play other spells, so you should look to 1cmc options before going to 2cmc ones. I think I'd even look at playing Oust before I considered playing 4 copies of Valorous Stance or Puncturing Light.
As for the damage prevention spells, you already have Brave the Elements so you probably don't need them in the deck. Divine Deflection looks good but is probably a trap. having to pay 4 mana to redirect a lighting bolt isn't great, and if you want that kind of effect you should look at including Refraction Trap (I think I got that name right)
I don't like Oust as well as it only delays the creature and healing the opponent is not something I want to do.
I will try running 2x Puncturing Light for now and maybe try Dismember if doesn't turn out well.
Here is the updated deck:
3x Captain of the Watch
1x Odric, Master Tactician
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Crusader of Odric
4x Field Marshal
4x Ballyrush Banneret
4x Preeminent Captain
4x Dryad Militant
4x Veteran Swordsmith
3x Porcelain Legionnaire
4x Brave the Elements
2x Puncturing Light
Land (21)
3x Forbidding Watchtower
18x Plains
Again on sunlance, its fine that it doesn't hit players since its job is to kill birds of paradise, noble hierarch, delver of secrets and young pyromancer. I'm probably missing something in there too. Righteous Blow is another good one similar to the lance, but you aren't going to be able to hit the mana dorks with it.
Oust is great since it gives you 2 turns where you won't see the creature on the battle field. That's 2 turns of free attacks with every other one of your creatures. Some times they have a pestermite and a goyf out.
You can't name both colours with Brave the elements and your Puncturing Light won't do anything until you actually attack and they declare a block on your creature. When your creature is a 5/3 first strike and you cast puncturing light, none of that damage goes through. I'd rather have them gain 3 life from oust instead of 5 life from PL.
If I use a sorcery speed spell I will probably go with Journey to Nowhere.
Another option is Temporal Isolation but it doesn't prevent activated (or passive) abilities so it seems not as good.
Should I replace Crusader of Odric ? If so then with what ?
for even more removal you could run a fiend hunter hes not a soldier but its removal with a body.
Removing Gaea's Revenge without DOJ:
Removing Gaea's Revenge without DOJ: