So, I love Boros, and I want to make a balls to the wall Iroas, God of Victory aggro deck.
My original thought, was to have my creature curve end at 4 with a few exceptions, mainly Aurelia, the Warleader, maybe Stonehewer Giant, and maybe one or two other creatures. And then have my only spells over 4 be the extra combat step spells (Waves of Aggression and the like)
My questions for you guys:
Is stopping at 4 the correct number?
How many creatures should I run for such a deck and how much removal and artifact ramp?
Should I run an equipment package alongside Stoneforge Mystic, Steelshaper's Gift, and Stonehewer Giant, or is that too slow for this type of super fast aggro deck?
You may want to have two or three cards at 5-6 since that gets you the peerless recursion team of Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Sun Titan.
Beyond that, don't worry overly much about removal outside of maybe five pieces of spot removal. Instead shift your disruption toward cards that keep the game from advancing to the mid/late game. Winter Orb (not static orb, that shuts down your attackers), Hokori, Dust Drinker, Armageddon, Ravages of War (if you want to buy the judges promo), Keldon Firebombers (it's 5cmc though, hmmm...), backed up by Crucible of Worlds to get your stuff back. Suppression field also does some serious work, but also can backfire if you're set on pushing an equipment theme.
Some means of dramatically increasing your combat damage out of the blue will also give you a bit of an edge here, so Mirror Entity and Marton Stromgald ought to do some good work. Ogre Battledriver gives dudes power boosts and haste on ETB. Dropping something like Hero of Bladehold post Battledriver can be devastating. Kicked, Goblin Bushwhacker does something similar, and he's a one drop that can be tutored with Ranger of Eos.
I will definitely make an exception for Keldon Firebombers. I can't justify the cost of a crucible though. It shouldn't really be a problem if my curve is low. Either make my fifth land drop or use artifact mana t help, sandbag some lands then be able to recover.
I don't have an LGS within an hour and a half of my house, but I will look into getting some of the MLD cards when I head over for the prerelease. I think I might have a goblin bushwhacker, but if not, I'm sure I can pick one up. And, I think I will finally get a Ranger of Eos along with some of the more useful pieces of a boros package for him.
Those are some great suggestions Lonk. Boros has always been my favorite guild, and I've always wanted to build an EDH deck around Iroas. I could never get it to work out quite right.
Your suggestions of MLD, Winter Orb, and other similar effects are great ideas. I never thought of slowing the game down to favor the small creature aggro strategy. I will definitely need to retry building Iroas with these cards in mind.
I'd run the lower cost mana rocks like mana vault and mox diamond over things like thran dynamo and gilded lotus. An equipment package can help push through damage if you use the swords cycle since it's likely that there will be times when your opponents do manage to put up a defense. Plus equipments can help you build a sizable threat out of the lowliest creatures if you do get board wiped. Sunforger is pretty mana intensive, but it does give a good amount of utility. Batterskull works well with stoneforge mystic and is also resilient to board wipes.
Given that board wipes generally start around turn four I think you should also consider recursion options even if they don't contribute directly to a hyper aggro plan. Return to the ranks and proclamation of rebirth are good choices if you're keeping your curve really low. Marshall's anthem provides a boost to your creatures while also having some late game utility as a recursion spell. Lapse of certainty and even mana tithe can also be good options if you anticipate your hyper agressiveness forcing opponents to tap out to cast their board wipes. They also work off of sunforger.
My original thought, was to have my creature curve end at 4 with a few exceptions, mainly Aurelia, the Warleader, maybe Stonehewer Giant, and maybe one or two other creatures. And then have my only spells over 4 be the extra combat step spells (Waves of Aggression and the like)
My questions for you guys:
Is stopping at 4 the correct number?
How many creatures should I run for such a deck and how much removal and artifact ramp?
Should I run an equipment package alongside Stoneforge Mystic, Steelshaper's Gift, and Stonehewer Giant, or is that too slow for this type of super fast aggro deck?
Modern
Beyond that, don't worry overly much about removal outside of maybe five pieces of spot removal. Instead shift your disruption toward cards that keep the game from advancing to the mid/late game. Winter Orb (not static orb, that shuts down your attackers), Hokori, Dust Drinker, Armageddon, Ravages of War (if you want to buy the judges promo), Keldon Firebombers (it's 5cmc though, hmmm...), backed up by Crucible of Worlds to get your stuff back. Suppression field also does some serious work, but also can backfire if you're set on pushing an equipment theme.
Some means of dramatically increasing your combat damage out of the blue will also give you a bit of an edge here, so Mirror Entity and Marton Stromgald ought to do some good work. Ogre Battledriver gives dudes power boosts and haste on ETB. Dropping something like Hero of Bladehold post Battledriver can be devastating. Kicked, Goblin Bushwhacker does something similar, and he's a one drop that can be tutored with Ranger of Eos.
Oh Rider, my heart will go on...
I don't have an LGS within an hour and a half of my house, but I will look into getting some of the MLD cards when I head over for the prerelease. I think I might have a goblin bushwhacker, but if not, I'm sure I can pick one up. And, I think I will finally get a Ranger of Eos along with some of the more useful pieces of a boros package for him.
Modern
Your suggestions of MLD, Winter Orb, and other similar effects are great ideas. I never thought of slowing the game down to favor the small creature aggro strategy. I will definitely need to retry building Iroas with these cards in mind.
Given that board wipes generally start around turn four I think you should also consider recursion options even if they don't contribute directly to a hyper aggro plan. Return to the ranks and proclamation of rebirth are good choices if you're keeping your curve really low. Marshall's anthem provides a boost to your creatures while also having some late game utility as a recursion spell. Lapse of certainty and even mana tithe can also be good options if you anticipate your hyper agressiveness forcing opponents to tap out to cast their board wipes. They also work off of sunforger.
In terms of removal it'll probably also help to have them attached to bodies. Soltari visionary and duergar hedge-mage come to mind.