Some of you may have seen my list from before, but in case you haven't, here is the original thread.
Major Changes:
The reason I have made a new thread is because I have made some major changes to the deck and the discussion in that thread would be completely irrelevant and potentially muck up further discussion.
The reason I have made these major changes is because there was recently a french tournament in my town (I couldn't go unfortunately, but I expect more of them to come). I wanted my deck to be stronger so that I could compete with the other decks there (which are going to be quite competitive).
The changes I have made are:
- lower curve overall
- more removal
- single card upgrades
- better overall deck synergy with utility creatures
- bad matchup hosers
Description
The idea of the deck is to abuse Tajic's indestructibility with board wipes and then use manlands and various other things that avoid creature board wipes to attack with the battalion trigger. The deck is a lot more control-oriented and the damage it deals is very explosive. The creatures in the deck are either exceptional at helping kill my opponent, or they give me some value when they come into play so that I don't care as much when I kill them with my own board wipes.
Commander
Tajic is awesome because he survives all of my board wipes. He is also a very deadly threat when I can trigger battalion. His flaws are that he is slow to come down (no haste, vulnerable to bounce, if he dies once, it is hard to get him back into play), and he is bad without at least something to support him - battalion or equipment.
Value/Utility Creatures
Very simple idea that many people in the previous thread pointed out - play creatures that give me something when I play them so that when I board wipe or want a battalion, it doesn't matter if they get killed.
Many of the cards in this section are for that, but there are also some creatures in here that are there to pump out advantage. Sun titan and stonehewer giant are basically win conditions by themselves, and demand an answer.
Attacking Creatures
These creatures are great for going on the offense. Boros reckoner can help me close out the game with an earthquake or blasphemous act and all the other creatures have haste and some of them even grant haste which helps for surprise battalions.
Spot Removal
Tons of spot removal for controlling - a lot of them are usable with sunforger as well. Lapse of certainty is really good for tempo and is absolutely busted with sunforger.
Board Wipes
TEN board wipes. That's not even including desolation giant. Winds of rath has no synergy with its non-enchanted clause, but it is a 5-mana board wipe. Volcanic fallout is uncounterable and I can use it with sunforger so it's in for pretty much those reasons alone.
Battalion Support
The cards here help me get battalion without being creatures (meaning they survive my board wipes). They all have some extra utility as well.
Equipment
I think the choices here all make sense. They are basically all extremely powerful cards that demand answers. Depending on the board state, any of these can be a potential win condition.
Tutors
Three land tutors (and weathered wayfarer for a fourth) to help thin my deck, fix my early game mana, and fetch some important lands. Tithe is great value, but it can also be grabbed with sunforger and can get me mistveil plains for the combo. The other two are just for equipment, but enlightened tutor can get me aura of silence if I need it.
Scrabbling claws is there as graveyard hate that can cycle itself.
Boros charm is just fantastic - it can save any permanent (including sunforger which can fetch it!), kill planeswalkers, and get sudden kills with the doublestrike on an unblocked, powerful creature.
Lands
This is a bit of a mess, but the main thing to note is the 7 manlands. Other than that, there is a bunch of stuff that try to make my mana consistent through all of the colourless lands. Advice here would be great!
Strategy
Plan A:
Get Tajic into play and then control my opponent's board with removal and board wipes while I get some deadly equipment on Tajic to attack the opponent with (board wipe and then hit with a sword is very deadly and wins the game in very little time).
Plan B:
Use manlands/other creatures to trigger battalion for Tajic and put on some strong pressure. Board wipes are a little weaker for this strategy, but all the spot removal can be quite deadly.
Plan C:
Use manlands/other creatures to carry equipment.
Sunforger + mistveil plains + lapse of certainty - Sunforger can fetch tithe which can fetch mistveil plains, so the whole combo is can start off with just sunforger (or 1 of the 5 equipment tutors in the deck). It's slow, but if you get it down, it's basically game over. Counter anything that is going to stop the combo and you know what they draw next turn.
EDIT
I just want to point out that I have not played against many other french lists and so my observations here are very general problems I have had against other decks (that don't use the french ban list).
Good:
Aggro: Too many board wipes for them to handle most of the time.
Anything with minimal ways to kill Tajic: Gruul colours, mono red, mono green, or any deck that doesn't run much exile, sacrifice, or bounce.
NOTES
Took out some weaker cards as suggested by Clucky (thanks man!) and put in some better cards also suggested by Clucky. The new cards are overall lowering the curve, hopefully helping my mana base a bit, and overall have more impact.
NOTES Ricochet trap was not really performing. It was bad as a pyroblast and it was basically dead in other matchups anyway (4 mana redirect is too much to keep open). Earthquake was one of my weaker board wipes and I wanted to cut something that cost a lot for chandra. Student of warfare adds redundancy with figure of destiny, and chandra is mostly in for a test run. I think she has a good chance of staying in though.
NOTES Inferno titan might be a better 6-drop than aurelia, and being a giant synergizes with a couple cards in my deck (cavern of souls and ancient amphitheatre). Jotun Grunt can act as graveyard hate and is a nice beater. I may try to find a spot for relic of progenitus, and if the grunt is not performing, he will be the card I remove for it. Temple of Triumph > New Benalia. Wild Guess wasn't particularly amazing, so I decided to pull it out for the hammer. The hammer show great potential.
On the Chopping Block:
Current Considerations
None
Already Cut Genju of the Spires - Makes my deck more vulnerable to bounce and is not always useful. Dwarven Blastminer - Still giving this guy a chance for now, but I haven't found him amazing yet; I will have to see. Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - Great when it works, but my mana base is just so flimsy right now and this is probably the least useful land.
I would like feedback on:
- Competitiveness of the deck. Does this deck look like it has a chance?
- The land base and what I should switch around to make it less flimsy (if possible).
- Any general advice. Cards that I should be running, cards that I shouldn't be running, stuff like that.
Note: Some cards in the list are budget options. I don't have a wasteland or real dual land for the deck, and encroaching wastes is basically a stand-in for dust bowl. Additional fetch lands would go in if I had them.
Really cool deck and I like that you laid out your strategy in the thread. This makes suggestions and discussion much easier!
So first I'm going to list some of the includes in your deck I find questionable or replaceable, and then I will list and discuss some cards I think merit consideration and playtesting.
So first:
Lightning Helix - I know, I know, this is the classic :symr::symw: card! But to be completely honest the 3 life gain is rarely relevant in this format and its just acting as a more color intensive Searing Spear. I'd much rather see a Chain Lightning, Parch, Renounce the Guilds, or even the aforementioned spear in its place.
Boros Reckoner - I think this card falls prey to the same logic that Helix does, "It was great in standard and its in my colors". The problem is, as a 3/3 for 3cmc he's a little underwhelming. Added to this fact is that Red is criminally underrepresented in this format and pretty much every time he goes down its gonna be to a Go for the Throat or a Swords to Plowshares. Granted, he is excellent against aggro decks like Doran, but with all the board wipes you play you hardly need more cards against that matchup right?
Anger - This one is probably more personal preference but I play a lot of Red (go Red, woo0!!!) and I always find this guy underwhelming. First off, he's pretty hard to actually get in the yard, and if he's not in the yard he's a 2/2 haste for 4cmc. Yuck... Once he's in the yard he gives all your dudes haste. Which is good. But not great. I'd much rather have an Urabrask on the board than Anger in the yard, and nothing sucks more topdecking this guy when you wanted removal or a titan.
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - You play a lot other colorless lands and lands that come into play tapped. This land costs 5 total mana to use, and with only 36 lands you are going to have a hard time finding 5 extra mana to use. I'd argue that Slayer's Stronhold is better in this deck, but I think you shouldn't play either.
Okay now on to some of my card suggestions!
Grim Lavamancer - The best 1cmc red creature ever printed (sorry Goblin Guide). This guy isn't playable in every list, but seeing as how you are in no rush to end the game quick this guy should be in. My friends and I have nicknamed him the "Brick House". With all the wraths and spells you fling around he is going to live up to that moniker.
Magus of the Moon/Blood Moon - I'm not 100% sure how Moon effects will play out in this deck. On one hand, you wanna play your Manlands, and Moon straight up neuters that strategy. But on the other hand, Moon effects often just win games on turn 3. I'd advise you to playtest them and see how it works for you. If you decide to just play one, always play Magus over Blood Moon because his 2/2 body packs both a neat wincon into the card and an easy out to the Moon effect.
Price of Glory - I see you play Pyroblast and REB. This one hoses blue decks AND anybody who wants to play removal and whatnot at instant speed. Plus it sticks around to threaten your opponent. This is one of Red's unsung heroes and a card I highly recommend.
Elspeth, Knight Errant - The best white planeswalker ever printed, she easily wins games all by herself. Although she costs 1 more than Goblin Assault, and is therefore a turn slower, she more than makes up for it. What does an opponent do against a deck full of wraths and indestructible dudes?
Armageddon and etc. - This is more of a "try it out" than a "must play". I know killing your mainlands goes against your strategy, but these colors give access to the best Armageddon cards in Magic. Who knows you may find that it works, or you may find it doesn't. Either way I think its worth a little experimentation.
Also I personally like Avalanche Riders and would suggest it. I would not put another Disenchant effect in, you already have 4 and probably the best 4 disregarding Krosan Grip. I probably forgot a lot of cards but I hope this helps.
If you're going to have a matchup, you might do a report on each deck archetypes... Not just generalization but detailed report since there'll be different outcomes from each drawing either from luck, manascrewed or manaflood.
@Clucky
Thanks for the tips!
I like your reasoning behind all those suggestions. They seem very reasonable and will probably help a lot.
Lightning Helix - I like it because I have a foil modern masters version I will probably leave it in for now, but maybe if I get a chain lightning I will switch it out since that is probably better. Staying in (for now)
Boros Reckoner - I like what you have to say about him. He's good, but doesn't really add that much to the deck. I also find that with all the colourless lands, he mostly comes out on turn 4 instead of turn 3. Out
Anger - Good assessment. I find what you say is true with my experience. There have been some really nice plays with him (especially with martial coup), but there are probably much better cards to put in. Out
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - Agreed. I just really like it for the times it works. Too many mana screws though lately, so in goes a mountain. Out
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Grim Lavamancer - I had it in there, but I took it out for some reason. It never seemed to do THAT much, but I think it is still worth it to run it. Maybe I just never got it when it really mattered. In
Magus of the Moon/Blood Moon - I haven't tried magus of the moon (don't have one), but I have tried blood moon. It didn't feel that great and I eventually cut it for something else. The magus might work out though because he can attack/carry equipment. Maybe will try magus of the moon
Price of Glory - I have never played with this card before. I am not sure if I will like it, but it's probably worth a try. Will most likely test
Elspeth, Knight Errant - I had it in there, and some magical derpiness caught me and I took it out thinking it was not that good. It dodges my board wipes and makes battalion/evasion! Why the hell did I take this out? In
Armageddon and etc. - I had a ton of this stuff a long time ago (when the deck first started out) and I was really liking the idea of using devastation, destructive force, and wildfire as win conditions with Tajic. It all got abandoned quite a while ago, but some of the elements might be worth testing. Will maybe test out
I also like avalanche riders. I need to get one first though. Thanks again for all the tips!!!
@Acardus
I will update that section with more detail when I get more experience with the deck. I have mostly played it against non-french decks right now so I just put some general expectations and some more general things that I see in regular EDH being a problem.
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Any more suggestions on the land base? Is 36 lands enough? I find it works sometimes, but other times, I get stuck on 3 or 4 mana and it really sucks. However, I've tried running more lands and often found myself with nothing but lands.
As far as manabase goes, I play a Radha, Heir to Keld deck; I play 37 lands, which I am very happy with, but I also have a free mana dork, play 5-6 mana dorks, and probably have a lower curve. So I think you may want to add a land or two. The thing is, you will probably be fine in games where you can Land Tax/Weathered Wayfarer, but if you don't hit them you are in trouble. Another option would be to lower your curve some, but I actually like your choice of 5-6 drops.
When I reread the thread I realized I missed some cards:
Genju of the Spires - I know you mentioned this in your OP, but I second that this should come out. With your land count, there's no way you can afford having a land die.
Guardian Idol - I've never played with this card, so I honestly can't evaluate it. I see a lot of pros (faster Tajic, triggers battalion) but also a lot of cons (rather expensive to activate, weak 2/2 body). I'm interested in how this has worked out for you?
Winds of Rath - This is probably your weakest Wrath, and I think you may find while playtesting that you have more Wraths than you need.
Dwarven Blastminer - This guys is a lot stronger in decks with more LD. I play him and some of his counterparts in my Radha deck where I have a lot of LD. He's a strong t2 play, but at any other time he's going to feel very sub-par to an Avalanche riders or Goblin RB. Plus Ava Rider is a human!
I also think you may be able to take out a Disenchant effect. However this is somewhat meta-dependent and 4 disenchants is totally viable if you see a lot of artifacts/enchantmants.
Figure of Destiny - I can't believe i missed this Boros staple! Like Grim Lavamancer, this guy can evolve into a total tank. Having a good mana sink is actually pretty useful in Duel Commander, as 99 singleton rarely curves perfectly.
Bonfire of the Damned - One-sided wrath? HEYOO! This should probably come in for either Earthquake or Rout. Although its somewhat weaker than Earthquake non-miracled, Boros is mainly topdecking every game.
Chandra, Pyromaster - AKA Chandra, The New One. I have been testing her in Radha, and so far she's been pretty good. Her +1 is more useful then one might imagine as there is a lot 1 toughness dudes and guys I don't want to block. Plus it doesn't even feel bad on a naked board cuz it pings life. When you run out of cards in hand, or digging for answers, her +0 gives you an extra topdeck per turn.
Okay, it looks like I should up my land count then. Do you think buried ruin could go in the place of sunhome, fortress of the legion if I add another mountain in place of a non-land?
Guardian Idol - This card has worked out for me quite well. It is basically exactly how you described it; faster Tajic (or other things) and a battalion trigger if I am a dude short. It's only a 2/2, but I only activate it when I need it to carry a sword or to activate battalion (giving Tajic +5/+5). That said, I can see myself taking it out - it's the only mana rock in the deck.
Winds of Rath - This is most definitely my most bland/weak wrath. I put it in replacing phyrexian rebirth because I wanted the lower casting cost and because I pretty much always got a 1/1 or 2/2 token. It has been pretty good. If I get a copy of bonfire, I will try it in winds of rath's place.
I will consider taking out a disenchant effect, but for now, I will keep my 4. I find that I am often wanting more when I play people, but maybe that's just all the non-french lists getting to me.
Figure of Destiny - I had this guy in and decided he was not pulling his weight. I think I will try him again though. With the lowered curve (from my previous list), I will more often be able to sneak in his pumps while keeping removal mana open.
Chandra, Pyromaster - I have not tried this card at all. Perhaps a test run would help decide what to do with it. A proxy or 2 against the right opponent is perfectly fine in my group, so I will probably do that.
Relic of Progenitus - I will try it out. It will also cycle itself more easily in matchups where it's dead since it doesn't need a target.
I won't have the chance to try out changes for a little while, so I will be a little slow to getting results. I will post any changes I make though. Maybe tomorrow if I have time I will do that. Thanks again for the help!
Here are some cards that I kind of want to run, but am unsure about:
Boros Keyrune - It doesn't have the benefit like guardian idol where it can get Tajic out a turn earlier, but becoming a 1/1 doublestrike can be deadly. It can still ramp into other 5- and 6-drops like stonehewer giant turn 4 or something.
Inferno Titan - I don't know how good he would be, and if he'd be worth it. Another 6-drop might be too much as well. However, arc lightning on each attack and when he enters play can really easily change the tide of the game.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - His big brother works wonders because it is extremely versatile, but also quite aggressive (6/6 for 5 basically). This version is obviously a low weaker, but it only costs 4 mana. On an empty board, he will swing the turn after as a 5/5, so he can be aggressive as well. I haven't tried him out, but he is tempting for his ability to dodge wraths.
EDIT
Forgot to mention, but last night I kind of splurged on a wasteland. They had one at my LGS and I decided that the price was never going to go down, and that I just got paid, and so I should buy it. I think it's my single most expensive card lol. Anyway, it's in my deck now and I took out encroaching wastes. The swap was an obvious choice. I will update the OP to reflect that.
Okay, it looks like I should up my land count then. Do you think buried ruin could go in the place of sunhome, fortress of the legion if I add another mountain in place of a non-land?
Buried Ruin is okay, but you don't really have any artifacts that warrant it. Dust Bowl is probably a better colorless land. Windbrisk Heights or even another basic aren't bad choices.
Boros Keyrune - It doesn't have the benefit like guardian idol where it can get Tajic out a turn earlier, but becoming a 1/1 doublestrike can be deadly. It can still ramp into other 5- and 6-drops like stonehewer giant turn 4 or something.
Inferno Titan - I don't know how good he would be, and if he'd be worth it. Another 6-drop might be too much as well. However, arc lightning on each attack and when he enters play can really easily change the tide of the game.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - His big brother works wonders because it is extremely versatile, but also quite aggressive (6/6 for 5 basically). This version is obviously a low weaker, but it only costs 4 mana. On an empty board, he will swing the turn after as a 5/5, so he can be aggressive as well. I haven't tried him out, but he is tempting for his ability to dodge wraths.
Boros Keyrune - The fact this can't accel Tajic makes it worst than the Idol in my mind. The color fixing it provides is nice, but you don't have any buff effects to make it any better than a 1/1 doublestrike.
Inferno Titan - This card really is a beast. He's totally playable, but I agree with your assessment that you may have hit your limit on 6 drops. You can always playtest it over or alongside your other six-drops.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - This guy. He fights with Tibalt for the worst Planeswalker ever. The problem with new Gideon is that short of being a 5/5 that dodges wraths, he doesn't do anything. And he's not even guaranteed to be a 5/5! Old Gideon was awesome because he could simultaneously acts as a Royal Assasin and beatstick in one. New Gideon is a one trick pony and there are much better 4 drops (like Chandra, the New One, Resto Angel, and Hero of Bladehold) then this guy.
Forgot to mention, but last night I kind of splurged on a wasteland. They had one at my LGS and I decided that the price was never going to go down, and that I just got paid, and so I should buy it. I think it's my single most expensive card lol. Anyway, it's in my deck now and I took out encroaching wastes. The swap was an obvious choice. I will update the OP to reflect that.
LOL, oh man I've done that. Ended up getting half my fetches and Judge Foil Imperial Recruiter that way. But hey Wastelnds probably never going to go down. Next on your list is probably Plateau, which is actually less than Wasteland. But ya, Magic has a way of eating your wallet that I don't really enjoy.
Buried ruin would mainly be for retrieving dead swords
Boros keyrune is weak for the reasons you say, and those are the reasons I have not included it. However, doublestrike is quite awesome with basically all of my equipment (skullclamp doesn't REALLY count as equipment). Double sword triggers can be deadly, and with sunforger, a 5/1 doublestrike can beat almost everything. Double jitte counters is quite tastey too, especially since it can save itself with the 2 counters it gets off the first strike hit.
I agree with your statments on inferno titan and gideon. I will see about testing the titan, and I will probably just pass on gideon.
Hero of bladehold is probably worth a slot too. I have to go find a copy though.
I totally agree with magic eating wallets. My friend actually recently quit (sort of) because he couldn't stop spending money on the game. He sold his cards, but now he is playing again with full proxy EDH decks lol. Plateau would definitely be awesome. I'm glad it's one of the cheaper duals. It would also help my struggling mana base >.<
Made some modifications to the deck! I added a change log section and put the changes in there. They are not all the changes I want to make, but they are cards I already have that are now replacing cards I no longer wanted in the deck. I think the new cards are very obviously better than what I took out.
I added buried ruin for a test run, but if I get colour screwed by it and/or don't ever use it, I will swap it for probably a basic plains. I just have too many bad experiences of getting horribly mana flooded and having this land can help me put some more power onto the battlefield when my hand is running dry. It will basically always be used to retrieve swords that have been destroyed.
I still want to try to get inferno titan into the deck, but I still have to make room for him if I want to use him.
I think your best bet for getting Inferno Titan in is to take Aurelia, the Warleader. Plopping down Aurelia and swinging for 20+ in one turn seems really sick, but I'm worried that she's A) got a really prohibitive mana cost with 2WWRR B) weak if you can't battalion or she's swinging in solo. Inferno Titan always does something if he resolves, and every meager scrap of pseudo card advantage is something you want to take if you're in red/white.
In general, I'm not a fan of loot in mono-red decks. Obviously this deck isn't mono-red, but white is the only other color that has no good ways to draw cards. Faithless Looting actually loses you card advantage, and in this format I've found card advantage to be even more important than 60 card magic. Wild Guess is a little better because it cycles 2 cards instead, but I'm still not sure if its worth a card slot.
Defense Grid is a great card for hating on blue and at 2 mana it can come down before they have a chance to counter it. I actually forgot about this card until I looked through my friends mono-white deck.
What are your thoughts about Anax and Cymede? Seems like if you got tired of Tajic or found him weak this deck could be made into A&C by swapping about 15 cards.
I think your best bet for getting Inferno Titan in is to take Aurelia, the Warleader. Plopping down Aurelia and swinging for 20+ in one turn seems really sick, but I'm worried that she's A) got a really prohibitive mana cost with 2WWRR B) weak if you can't battalion or she's swinging in solo. Inferno Titan always does something if he resolves, and every meager scrap of pseudo card advantage is something you want to take if you're in red/white.
In general, I'm not a fan of loot in mono-red decks. Obviously this deck isn't mono-red, but white is the only other color that has no good ways to draw cards. Faithless Looting actually loses you card advantage, and in this format I've found card advantage to be even more important than 60 card magic. Wild Guess is a little better because it cycles 2 cards instead, but I'm still not sure if its worth a card slot.
Defense Grid is a great card for hating on blue and at 2 mana it can come down before they have a chance to counter it. I actually forgot about this card until I looked through my friends mono-white deck.
What are your thoughts about Anax and Cymede? Seems like if you got tired of Tajic or found him weak this deck could be made into A&C by swapping about 15 cards.
I agree about inferno titan going in to replace aurelia. I just liked having another haste creature and to me, aurelia is basically world at war with a ton of advantages over it. I don't run world at war, so maybe I should just not run aurelia. Extra attack steps are KIND of win more anyway.
The looting cards I put in are to help get rid of some dead cards. I added them when I added red elemental blast and pyroblast which was actually very recent, and so I haven't had much time to test them. I'll leave them in for now and then switch them if they are not helping me.
Anax and Cymede are cool, but I feel like I would just have a weenie deck if I built it for them. With Tajic, I have a very different deck. If Tajic fails too hard, I will definitely consider switching them though (along with a large portion of the deck).
Played some games against a (regular EDH, unfortunately) competitive Azami, Lady of Scrolls deck last night. We played best of 3 (sort of, we just had time for 3 games and it just happened that no one got 2-0'd).
I ultimately lost 2-1, but in the final game, I got him to 10 life (we were playing regular EDH rules), and so I kind of count that as a win
Game 1:
My opening hand is god-like. Kher Keep, Skullclamp, some lands, and I think a sword of fire and ice. There was probably something else in there too, but it didn't really matter.
Turn 1, I play skull clamp, turn 2, land (that comes in tapped, I think it was the guildgate), turn 3, kher keep. He didn't see the combo, but I don't think he could have done anything about it anyway.
I proceeded drawing roughly 3 cards per turn for most of the rest of the game. I finally won when I brought back my sword of fire and ice with my sun titan and killed his azami with it while doing a ton of damage.
Game 2: Goblin assault is freaking good. Makes me so happy. I curved turn 3 goblin assault into turn 4 Tajic. No counters, so I started bashing him with my battalion. Eventually, he cast an overloaded cyclonic rift. He was at 14 commander damage and only 14 life left, so it wasn't that bad considering we started at 40. I still had stuff to put on more pressure, but shortly after the mass bounce, he combod out and I had no removal.
Game 3: Goblin assault again! This time, my commander got countered, so I was just blowing up things he cast and attacking with goblin tokens. At one point, he tapped out, and I top-decked elspeth, knight-errant. He already blew his force of will on my commander and commandeer on my swords to plowshares (targetting Azami and redirecting it to my grim lavamancer - so boss like Clucky was saying), so I cast elspeth uncontested and started doing tons of damage.
After lots of small skirmishes and constant damage from the goblin assault, I eventually got him down to 10 (basically a win for me, but not really I guess). At this point though, he blew up everything with oblivion stone (except Tajic), and then stole him with sower of temptation. I had completely run out of cards in hand, and was going to try to finish him off with a manland battalion, but he set up a lock with archaeomancer and cryptic command (bounce the archaeomancer and counter a spell, then retrieve it next turn). I lost, but I got him to 10, so I am still happy with that. He also had normal EDH ban list, so he had ancient tomb, sol ring, and top in his deck.
EDIT
I wanted to just note some cards from Theros here. Opinions on some of them would be great!
Anger of the Gods - Efficient board sweeper with built-in recursion hate. Could be good if I can find room for it. I probably won't put it in any time soon, but it will always be a card to keep on the watch list.
Chained to the Rocks - Has potential... to get 2-for-1'd. Boomerang getting tempo and card advantage? No thanks. This card is cool, but very risky, which I do not like. Maybe I'm still being to hastey with this though, so if you think there's good reason to run it (1 mana exile that I can tutor for with enlightened tutor), I'd like to hear it
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Could be quite powerful. I'd like opinions on this card. The +1 is just ridiculously strong - setting up battalions and token swarms for chumping/carrying equipment (including skullclamp) - and the -3 is on-theme by being a board wipe. Is this worth it? Maybe I will just have to test it.
Hammer of Purphoros - I am REALLY excited about this. I think it has extremely good potential. First off, it is fervor with a slightly harder mana cost, and so I can have a fervor in my deck. The second ability seems a little weak, and it sort of is, however, in my deck, I can use it to make a battalion when I really need to, or just get a dude to carry some equipment. Five mana and a land is worth it to get a 3/3 equipped with a sword punching, all on the same turn. This is the card I am most excited to try. It will also give my flagstones of trokair a bit more purpose (it was really just a leftover from when my deck had lots of land destruction) than just being a hard-to-kill plains.
Temple of Triumph - Strictly better than new benalia. It will just be a 1-for-1 swap. The only reason I wouldn't run this is if I wanted to reduce my tapped land count, but for now they have not been too problematic. More colour fixing has been really helpful.
Let me know if there are cards I am missing that should be checked out! and again, opinions on some of these cards would be great.
Finding slots for them was quite difficult, and opinions on what to switch out would be nice. For now, I took out earthquake and ricochet trap to put them in.
OUT
Ricochet trap was nice, but I found it was caught between being a weak pyroblast and a really weak card without the trap cost. It's basically a dead card most of the time, and against blue decks, it is just a narrow pyroblast (only affects targeted spells). I may try to stuff this card back into the deck, but I'll wait and see.
Earthquake is really good and I didn't really want to take it out, but I wanted to make sure I took an espensive spell out for chandra, and this is one of my weaker board wipes (in terms of wiping the board - the damage to players can be really useful at times). I'm not sure if this was the best card to take out.
IN
Student of Warfare is just an amazingly costed creature, and it is basically a second figure of destiny. As with any other creature, it can help activate battalion. Other than that, it is just a powerful beat stick that can eat my exceses mana.
Chandra, Pyromaster looks to be really powerful. The +1 ability is not busted, but it is definitely useful. I can use it on weak creatures if there are any, and I can use it to allow Tajic through (or perhaps force a really bad block by targetting their chump with it). The 1 damage to the player is kind of meh, but every bit helps, and it can shoot other planeswalkers. The 0 ability is where the real power comes from. It is a sort of virtual card draw ability that can help with giving me options. Her ultimate ability is quite weak in my deck, and I really don't expect to ever get there. The only thing I imagine it would be useful for is if I REALLY need that one board wipe to save myself or end the game. Looking through the top 10 cards of my deck will very often get me a board wipe. I suppose that even a lightning bolt being cast 3 times could finish off an opponent as well.
------------------------------------------
My friend grabbed a hammer of purphoros at the prerelease for me, so I will be getting that next friday and will test it out. I will need to find another slot for it though
EDIT
I am thinking of putting in jotun grunt in place of scrabbling claws. It would give me some graveyard hate and it is a huge beater for only 2 mana. It also combos with sunforger, and it fits the mini-theme of giants in my deck - the giants help ancient amphitheatre and give me another option with cavern of souls.
I feel like you shouldn't be running board wipes. Your general is indestructible, so I see why you may be going that way, but that's just not how RW plays in my eyes. It usually relies on fast aggro beats. Have you focused on battalion before and just found this to be better for your purposes?
I feel like you shouldn't be running board wipes. Your general is indestructible, so I see why you may be going that way, but that's just not how RW plays in my eyes. It usually relies on fast aggro beats. Have you focused on battalion before and just found this to be better for your purposes?
At first I tried weenie aggro and it was okay, but folded to board wipes and I found it very uninteresting to play (hope I hit everything on curve and then hope my board doesn't get messed up). I think it can still work, but now that anax and cymede is out, if I do a weenie build, it would be with them.
I believe RW can play more of a control strategy if they try to.
You 100% want to play bloodmoon and magus of the moon. With most multi color decks [incorrectly] running so few basics, especially blue variants these your best (and probably few) chances of winning. Red and white are just weak colors so including some cheese cards to win is your best bet as you can't 1:1 blue decks with card quality.
@Beefarew
Thanks for the advice. I like magus of the moon because I can at least have a creature to use if it doesn't really hinder my opponent, but I ran blood moon and found it to be not very useful (unless it was the exact opponent who would just lose to it). My deck doesn't try to kill fast, so if I use this effect, it pretty much has to completely lock them out, or it will not do much.
I will always keep these cards in mind though. They can be extremely powerful, and sometimes even just end the game.
I got my hands on some theros cards today. I got temple of triumph and hammer of purphoros. The temple is an easy swap-in for new benalia, but the hammer is a little harder to fit in. Suggestions would be great.
Right now, I am considering taking out one of these cards for it: Faithless Looting - Card disadvantage. I like it though since it can filter out dead cards (disenchant effects when I don't need them or pyroblast/red elemental blast). Still card disadvantage though. Wild Guess - Equal on card advantage, however, it is actually kind of vulnerable to counterspells which annoys the hell out of me (even though it hasn't come up yet). It's just that if I use it and they counterspell it, I get 2-for-1'd. This is the strongest candidate to me right now. Assemble the Legion - Sort of fills the same function, but being 5 mana makes assemble the legion feel clunky at times. However, this sort of effect has proven to be extremely powerful and if it goes unanswered, it will just win by itself.
I also got 2 new soldier tokens and the enchantment artifact creature golem token (which looks awesome). Those are all sleeved up and ready to go.
The new elspeth was in the display at my LGS and I was so tempted, but it's $40 and I am quite sure it will go down, so I left it for now.
EDIT
Made some changes anyway. You can see them in the change-log in the OP.
Wild Guess - Equal on card advantage, however, it is actually kind of vulnerable to counterspells which annoys the hell out of me (even though it hasn't come up yet). It's just that if I use it and they counterspell it, I get 2-for-1'd. This is the strongest candidate to me right now.
I'd take out Wild Guess. That card is risky, with not quite enough reward.
I'd take out Wild Guess. That card is risky, with not quite enough reward.
That's the one I ended up taking out. I'm also trying inferno titan, and jotun grunt. The changes are in the change log in the OP if anyone's interested.
What are people's thoughts on duergar hedge-mage? Potentially wear // tear with a 2/2 body, but it could fail if I don't have enough basics (which there are not many of in the deck). However, it's just 1 mountain + sacred foundry to make it work, and with a few fetches, it's not TOO terrible to get 2 mountains/plains.
Major Changes:
The reason I have made a new thread is because I have made some major changes to the deck and the discussion in that thread would be completely irrelevant and potentially muck up further discussion.
The reason I have made these major changes is because there was recently a french tournament in my town (I couldn't go unfortunately, but I expect more of them to come). I wanted my deck to be stronger so that I could compete with the other decks there (which are going to be quite competitive).
The changes I have made are:
- lower curve overall
- more removal
- single card upgrades
- better overall deck synergy with utility creatures
- bad matchup hosers
Description
The idea of the deck is to abuse Tajic's indestructibility with board wipes and then use manlands and various other things that avoid creature board wipes to attack with the battalion trigger. The deck is a lot more control-oriented and the damage it deals is very explosive. The creatures in the deck are either exceptional at helping kill my opponent, or they give me some value when they come into play so that I don't care as much when I kill them with my own board wipes.
Here's the current list:
4 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Value/Utility Creatures - 14
1 Grim Lavamancer
1 Weathered Wayfarer
2 Grand Abolisher
2 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Desolation Giant
4 Flametongue Kavu
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Stonehewer Giant
5 Zealous Conscripts
6 Godo, Bandit Warlord
6 Inferno Titan
6 Sun Titan
Attacking Creatures - 4
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Student of Warfare
2 Jotun Grunt
5 Urabrask the Hidden
Spot Removal - 14
1 Flame Slash
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Oust
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
2 Lightning Helix
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Disenchant
2 Wear // Tear
3 Aura of Silence
3 Orim's Thunder
1 Pyroblast
1 Red Elemental Blast
Board Wipes - 9
2 Breath of Darigaaz
3 Volcanic Fallout
9 Blasphemous Act
4 Day of Judgment
4 Wrath of God
5 Rout
5 Winds of Rath
6 Austere Command
Battalion Support - 7
2 Guardian Idol
3 Goblin Assault
3 Hammer of Purphoros
4 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
4 Koth of the Hammer
5 Assemble the Legion
5 Gideon Jura
Equipment - 6
1 Skullclamp
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Sunforger
3 Sword of Feast and Famine
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sword of Light and Shadow
Tutors - 5
1 Expedition Map
1 Land Tax
1 Tithe
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Faithless Looting
2 Boros Charm
4 Chandra, Pyromaster
Lands - 37
8 Mountain
4 Plains
0 Flagstones of Trokair
0 Mistveil Plains
0 Arid Mesa
0 Marsh Flats
0 Ancient Amphitheater
0 Battlefield Forge
0 Boros Guildgate
0 City of Brass
0 Clifftop Retreat
0 Command Tower
0 Rugged Prairie
0 Sacred Foundry
0 Temple of Triumph
0 Wasteland
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
0 Blinkmoth Nexus
0 Forbidding Watchtower
0 Ghitu Encampment
0 Inkmoth Nexus
0 Kher Keep
0 Mishra's Factory
0 Mutavault
Section Breakdown:
Tajic is awesome because he survives all of my board wipes. He is also a very deadly threat when I can trigger battalion. His flaws are that he is slow to come down (no haste, vulnerable to bounce, if he dies once, it is hard to get him back into play), and he is bad without at least something to support him - battalion or equipment.
Value/Utility Creatures
Very simple idea that many people in the previous thread pointed out - play creatures that give me something when I play them so that when I board wipe or want a battalion, it doesn't matter if they get killed.
Many of the cards in this section are for that, but there are also some creatures in here that are there to pump out advantage. Sun titan and stonehewer giant are basically win conditions by themselves, and demand an answer.
Attacking Creatures
These creatures are great for going on the offense. Boros reckoner can help me close out the game with an earthquake or blasphemous act and all the other creatures have haste and some of them even grant haste which helps for surprise battalions.
Spot Removal
Tons of spot removal for controlling - a lot of them are usable with sunforger as well. Lapse of certainty is really good for tempo and is absolutely busted with sunforger.
Board Wipes
TEN board wipes. That's not even including desolation giant. Winds of rath has no synergy with its non-enchanted clause, but it is a 5-mana board wipe. Volcanic fallout is uncounterable and I can use it with sunforger so it's in for pretty much those reasons alone.
Battalion Support
The cards here help me get battalion without being creatures (meaning they survive my board wipes). They all have some extra utility as well.
Equipment
I think the choices here all make sense. They are basically all extremely powerful cards that demand answers. Depending on the board state, any of these can be a potential win condition.
Tutors
Three land tutors (and weathered wayfarer for a fourth) to help thin my deck, fix my early game mana, and fetch some important lands. Tithe is great value, but it can also be grabbed with sunforger and can get me mistveil plains for the combo. The other two are just for equipment, but enlightened tutor can get me aura of silence if I need it.
Other
Faithless looting and wild guess were added when I added pyroblast and red elemental blast so that I would have some ways to pitch those dead cards. They are also really awesome if I have a land tax in play.
Scrabbling claws is there as graveyard hate that can cycle itself.
Boros charm is just fantastic - it can save any permanent (including sunforger which can fetch it!), kill planeswalkers, and get sudden kills with the doublestrike on an unblocked, powerful creature.
Lands
This is a bit of a mess, but the main thing to note is the 7 manlands. Other than that, there is a bunch of stuff that try to make my mana consistent through all of the colourless lands. Advice here would be great!
Strategy
Get Tajic into play and then control my opponent's board with removal and board wipes while I get some deadly equipment on Tajic to attack the opponent with (board wipe and then hit with a sword is very deadly and wins the game in very little time).
Plan B:
Use manlands/other creatures to trigger battalion for Tajic and put on some strong pressure. Board wipes are a little weaker for this strategy, but all the spot removal can be quite deadly.
Plan C:
Use manlands/other creatures to carry equipment.
Plan D:
Get a win condition in play and control the opponent with massive amounts of removal while the engine finishes the game for you (Stonehewer Giant, Assemble the Legion, Sunforger, Sun Titan).
Card Synergies:
Zealous conscripts + opponent's creature + tajic - Steal their creature with zealous conscripts and swing for massive haste + battalion damage.
Stonehewer Giant + WWR1 - Use stonehewer giant's ability to fetch sunforger and then cast a spell with it out of nowhere.
Matchups:
EDIT
I just want to point out that I have not played against many other french lists and so my observations here are very general problems I have had against other decks (that don't use the french ban list).
Good:
Aggro: Too many board wipes for them to handle most of the time.
Anything with minimal ways to kill Tajic: Gruul colours, mono red, mono green, or any deck that doesn't run much exile, sacrifice, or bounce.
Bad:
Counterspells: Anything with lots of counterspells. I combat this with grand abolisher, cavern of souls, boseiju, who shelters all, red elemental blast, pyroblast, and ricochet trap.
Graveyard Recursion: Stuff like karador, ghost chieftain and balthor the defiled since I don't have much graveyard hate and none of my board wipes exile/tuck.
Powerful Land destruction: My mana base is flimsy and can lose if my opponent can keep me off colours with some land destruction.
Change Log:
OUT
- encroaching wastes
IN
- wasteland
NOTES
Strictly better.
------------------------------------------
14/09/2013
OUT
- Anger
- Genju of the Spires
- Boros Reckoner
- Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
- Dwarven Blastminer
IN
- Mountain
- Buried Ruin
- Elspeth, Knight-Errant
- Figure of Destiny
- Grim Lavamancer
NOTES
Took out some weaker cards as suggested by Clucky (thanks man!) and put in some better cards also suggested by Clucky. The new cards are overall lowering the curve, hopefully helping my mana base a bit, and overall have more impact.
------------------------------------------
23/09/2013
OUT
- Ricochet Trap
- Earthquake
IN
- Student of Warfare
- Chandra, Pyromaster
NOTES
Ricochet trap was not really performing. It was bad as a pyroblast and it was basically dead in other matchups anyway (4 mana redirect is too much to keep open). Earthquake was one of my weaker board wipes and I wanted to cut something that cost a lot for chandra. Student of warfare adds redundancy with figure of destiny, and chandra is mostly in for a test run. I think she has a good chance of staying in though.
------------------------------------------
28/09/2013
OUT
- Aurelia, the Warleader
- Scrabbling Claws
- New Benalia
- Wild Guess
IN
- Inferno Titan
- Jotun Grunt
- Temple of Triumph
- Hammer of Purphoros
NOTES
Inferno titan might be a better 6-drop than aurelia, and being a giant synergizes with a couple cards in my deck (cavern of souls and ancient amphitheatre). Jotun Grunt can act as graveyard hate and is a nice beater. I may try to find a spot for relic of progenitus, and if the grunt is not performing, he will be the card I remove for it. Temple of Triumph > New Benalia. Wild Guess wasn't particularly amazing, so I decided to pull it out for the hammer. The hammer show great potential.
On the Chopping Block:
Current Considerations
None
Already Cut
Genju of the Spires - Makes my deck more vulnerable to bounce and is not always useful.
Dwarven Blastminer - Still giving this guy a chance for now, but I haven't found him amazing yet; I will have to see.
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - Great when it works, but my mana base is just so flimsy right now and this is probably the least useful land.
Current Interesting Cards:
Avalanche Riders - Land destruction and haste for battalion. It will also combo with sword of light and shadow.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - +1 for a battalion/token swarm. -3 for more board-wipe action. Seems like a really powerful 6-drop.
I would like feedback on:
- Competitiveness of the deck. Does this deck look like it has a chance?
- The land base and what I should switch around to make it less flimsy (if possible).
- Any general advice. Cards that I should be running, cards that I shouldn't be running, stuff like that.
Note: Some cards in the list are budget options. I don't have a
wastelandor real dual land for the deck, and encroaching wastes is basically a stand-in for dust bowl. Additional fetch lands would go in if I had them.BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
So first I'm going to list some of the includes in your deck I find questionable or replaceable, and then I will list and discuss some cards I think merit consideration and playtesting.
So first:
Lightning Helix - I know, I know, this is the classic :symr::symw: card! But to be completely honest the 3 life gain is rarely relevant in this format and its just acting as a more color intensive Searing Spear. I'd much rather see a Chain Lightning, Parch, Renounce the Guilds, or even the aforementioned spear in its place.
Boros Reckoner - I think this card falls prey to the same logic that Helix does, "It was great in standard and its in my colors". The problem is, as a 3/3 for 3cmc he's a little underwhelming. Added to this fact is that Red is criminally underrepresented in this format and pretty much every time he goes down its gonna be to a Go for the Throat or a Swords to Plowshares. Granted, he is excellent against aggro decks like Doran, but with all the board wipes you play you hardly need more cards against that matchup right?
Anger - This one is probably more personal preference but I play a lot of Red (go Red, woo0!!!) and I always find this guy underwhelming. First off, he's pretty hard to actually get in the yard, and if he's not in the yard he's a 2/2 haste for 4cmc. Yuck... Once he's in the yard he gives all your dudes haste. Which is good. But not great. I'd much rather have an Urabrask on the board than Anger in the yard, and nothing sucks more topdecking this guy when you wanted removal or a titan.
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - You play a lot other colorless lands and lands that come into play tapped. This land costs 5 total mana to use, and with only 36 lands you are going to have a hard time finding 5 extra mana to use. I'd argue that Slayer's Stronhold is better in this deck, but I think you shouldn't play either.
Okay now on to some of my card suggestions!
Grim Lavamancer - The best 1cmc red creature ever printed (sorry Goblin Guide). This guy isn't playable in every list, but seeing as how you are in no rush to end the game quick this guy should be in. My friends and I have nicknamed him the "Brick House". With all the wraths and spells you fling around he is going to live up to that moniker.
Magus of the Moon/Blood Moon - I'm not 100% sure how Moon effects will play out in this deck. On one hand, you wanna play your Manlands, and Moon straight up neuters that strategy. But on the other hand, Moon effects often just win games on turn 3. I'd advise you to playtest them and see how it works for you. If you decide to just play one, always play Magus over Blood Moon because his 2/2 body packs both a neat wincon into the card and an easy out to the Moon effect.
Price of Glory - I see you play Pyroblast and REB. This one hoses blue decks AND anybody who wants to play removal and whatnot at instant speed. Plus it sticks around to threaten your opponent. This is one of Red's unsung heroes and a card I highly recommend.
Elspeth, Knight Errant - The best white planeswalker ever printed, she easily wins games all by herself. Although she costs 1 more than Goblin Assault, and is therefore a turn slower, she more than makes up for it. What does an opponent do against a deck full of wraths and indestructible dudes?
Armageddon and etc. - This is more of a "try it out" than a "must play". I know killing your mainlands goes against your strategy, but these colors give access to the best Armageddon cards in Magic. Who knows you may find that it works, or you may find it doesn't. Either way I think its worth a little experimentation.
Also I personally like Avalanche Riders and would suggest it. I would not put another Disenchant effect in, you already have 4 and probably the best 4 disregarding Krosan Grip. I probably forgot a lot of cards but I hope this helps.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
@Clucky
Thanks for the tips!
I like your reasoning behind all those suggestions. They seem very reasonable and will probably help a lot.
Lightning Helix - I like it because I have a foil modern masters version I will probably leave it in for now, but maybe if I get a chain lightning I will switch it out since that is probably better.
Staying in (for now)
Boros Reckoner - I like what you have to say about him. He's good, but doesn't really add that much to the deck. I also find that with all the colourless lands, he mostly comes out on turn 4 instead of turn 3.
Out
Anger - Good assessment. I find what you say is true with my experience. There have been some really nice plays with him (especially with martial coup), but there are probably much better cards to put in.
Out
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - Agreed. I just really like it for the times it works. Too many mana screws though lately, so in goes a mountain.
Out
------------------------------
Grim Lavamancer - I had it in there, but I took it out for some reason. It never seemed to do THAT much, but I think it is still worth it to run it. Maybe I just never got it when it really mattered.
In
Magus of the Moon/Blood Moon - I haven't tried magus of the moon (don't have one), but I have tried blood moon. It didn't feel that great and I eventually cut it for something else. The magus might work out though because he can attack/carry equipment.
Maybe will try magus of the moon
Price of Glory - I have never played with this card before. I am not sure if I will like it, but it's probably worth a try.
Will most likely test
Elspeth, Knight Errant - I had it in there, and some magical derpiness caught me and I took it out thinking it was not that good. It dodges my board wipes and makes battalion/evasion! Why the hell did I take this out?
In
Armageddon and etc. - I had a ton of this stuff a long time ago (when the deck first started out) and I was really liking the idea of using devastation, destructive force, and wildfire as win conditions with Tajic. It all got abandoned quite a while ago, but some of the elements might be worth testing.
Will maybe test out
I also like avalanche riders. I need to get one first though. Thanks again for all the tips!!!
@Acardus
I will update that section with more detail when I get more experience with the deck. I have mostly played it against non-french decks right now so I just put some general expectations and some more general things that I see in regular EDH being a problem.
--------------------------------------------
Any more suggestions on the land base? Is 36 lands enough? I find it works sometimes, but other times, I get stuck on 3 or 4 mana and it really sucks. However, I've tried running more lands and often found myself with nothing but lands.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
As far as manabase goes, I play a Radha, Heir to Keld deck; I play 37 lands, which I am very happy with, but I also have a free mana dork, play 5-6 mana dorks, and probably have a lower curve. So I think you may want to add a land or two. The thing is, you will probably be fine in games where you can Land Tax/Weathered Wayfarer, but if you don't hit them you are in trouble. Another option would be to lower your curve some, but I actually like your choice of 5-6 drops.
When I reread the thread I realized I missed some cards:
Genju of the Spires - I know you mentioned this in your OP, but I second that this should come out. With your land count, there's no way you can afford having a land die.
Guardian Idol - I've never played with this card, so I honestly can't evaluate it. I see a lot of pros (faster Tajic, triggers battalion) but also a lot of cons (rather expensive to activate, weak 2/2 body). I'm interested in how this has worked out for you?
Winds of Rath - This is probably your weakest Wrath, and I think you may find while playtesting that you have more Wraths than you need.
Dwarven Blastminer - This guys is a lot stronger in decks with more LD. I play him and some of his counterparts in my Radha deck where I have a lot of LD. He's a strong t2 play, but at any other time he's going to feel very sub-par to an Avalanche riders or Goblin RB. Plus Ava Rider is a human!
I also think you may be able to take out a Disenchant effect. However this is somewhat meta-dependent and 4 disenchants is totally viable if you see a lot of artifacts/enchantmants.
Figure of Destiny - I can't believe i missed this Boros staple! Like Grim Lavamancer, this guy can evolve into a total tank. Having a good mana sink is actually pretty useful in Duel Commander, as 99 singleton rarely curves perfectly.
Bonfire of the Damned - One-sided wrath? HEYOO! This should probably come in for either Earthquake or Rout. Although its somewhat weaker than Earthquake non-miracled, Boros is mainly topdecking every game.
Chandra, Pyromaster - AKA Chandra, The New One. I have been testing her in Radha, and so far she's been pretty good. Her +1 is more useful then one might imagine as there is a lot 1 toughness dudes and guys I don't want to block. Plus it doesn't even feel bad on a naked board cuz it pings life. When you run out of cards in hand, or digging for answers, her +0 gives you an extra topdeck per turn.
Relic of Progenitus - This card is generally better than Scrabbling Claws in a deck that doesn't interact with its own graveyard.
Genju of the Spires - Agreed. I just really liked the super aggressive option. I think figure of destiny is a good replacement.
Guardian Idol - This card has worked out for me quite well. It is basically exactly how you described it; faster Tajic (or other things) and a battalion trigger if I am a dude short. It's only a 2/2, but I only activate it when I need it to carry a sword or to activate battalion (giving Tajic +5/+5). That said, I can see myself taking it out - it's the only mana rock in the deck.
Winds of Rath - This is most definitely my most bland/weak wrath. I put it in replacing phyrexian rebirth because I wanted the lower casting cost and because I pretty much always got a 1/1 or 2/2 token. It has been pretty good. If I get a copy of bonfire, I will try it in winds of rath's place.
Dwarven Blastminer - Avalanche riders will be a very good replacement for this guy.
I will consider taking out a disenchant effect, but for now, I will keep my 4. I find that I am often wanting more when I play people, but maybe that's just all the non-french lists getting to me.
Figure of Destiny - I had this guy in and decided he was not pulling his weight. I think I will try him again though. With the lowered curve (from my previous list), I will more often be able to sneak in his pumps while keeping removal mana open.
Bonfire of the Damned - Seems good. I will try to get a copy.
Chandra, Pyromaster - I have not tried this card at all. Perhaps a test run would help decide what to do with it. A proxy or 2 against the right opponent is perfectly fine in my group, so I will probably do that.
Relic of Progenitus - I will try it out. It will also cycle itself more easily in matchups where it's dead since it doesn't need a target.
I won't have the chance to try out changes for a little while, so I will be a little slow to getting results. I will post any changes I make though. Maybe tomorrow if I have time I will do that. Thanks again for the help!
Here are some cards that I kind of want to run, but am unsure about:
Boros Keyrune - It doesn't have the benefit like guardian idol where it can get Tajic out a turn earlier, but becoming a 1/1 doublestrike can be deadly. It can still ramp into other 5- and 6-drops like stonehewer giant turn 4 or something.
Inferno Titan - I don't know how good he would be, and if he'd be worth it. Another 6-drop might be too much as well. However, arc lightning on each attack and when he enters play can really easily change the tide of the game.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - His big brother works wonders because it is extremely versatile, but also quite aggressive (6/6 for 5 basically). This version is obviously a low weaker, but it only costs 4 mana. On an empty board, he will swing the turn after as a 5/5, so he can be aggressive as well. I haven't tried him out, but he is tempting for his ability to dodge wraths.
EDIT
Forgot to mention, but last night I kind of splurged on a wasteland. They had one at my LGS and I decided that the price was never going to go down, and that I just got paid, and so I should buy it. I think it's my single most expensive card lol. Anyway, it's in my deck now and I took out encroaching wastes. The swap was an obvious choice. I will update the OP to reflect that.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
Buried Ruin is okay, but you don't really have any artifacts that warrant it. Dust Bowl is probably a better colorless land. Windbrisk Heights or even another basic aren't bad choices.
Boros Keyrune - The fact this can't accel Tajic makes it worst than the Idol in my mind. The color fixing it provides is nice, but you don't have any buff effects to make it any better than a 1/1 doublestrike.
Inferno Titan - This card really is a beast. He's totally playable, but I agree with your assessment that you may have hit your limit on 6 drops. You can always playtest it over or alongside your other six-drops.
Gideon, Champion of Justice - This guy. He fights with Tibalt for the worst Planeswalker ever. The problem with new Gideon is that short of being a 5/5 that dodges wraths, he doesn't do anything. And he's not even guaranteed to be a 5/5! Old Gideon was awesome because he could simultaneously acts as a Royal Assasin and beatstick in one. New Gideon is a one trick pony and there are much better 4 drops (like Chandra, the New One, Resto Angel, and Hero of Bladehold) then this guy.
LOL, oh man I've done that. Ended up getting half my fetches and Judge Foil Imperial Recruiter that way. But hey Wastelnds probably never going to go down. Next on your list is probably Plateau, which is actually less than Wasteland. But ya, Magic has a way of eating your wallet that I don't really enjoy.
Boros keyrune is weak for the reasons you say, and those are the reasons I have not included it. However, doublestrike is quite awesome with basically all of my equipment (skullclamp doesn't REALLY count as equipment). Double sword triggers can be deadly, and with sunforger, a 5/1 doublestrike can beat almost everything. Double jitte counters is quite tastey too, especially since it can save itself with the 2 counters it gets off the first strike hit.
I agree with your statments on inferno titan and gideon. I will see about testing the titan, and I will probably just pass on gideon.
Hero of bladehold is probably worth a slot too. I have to go find a copy though.
I totally agree with magic eating wallets. My friend actually recently quit (sort of) because he couldn't stop spending money on the game. He sold his cards, but now he is playing again with full proxy EDH decks lol. Plateau would definitely be awesome. I'm glad it's one of the cheaper duals. It would also help my struggling mana base >.<
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
I added buried ruin for a test run, but if I get colour screwed by it and/or don't ever use it, I will swap it for probably a basic plains. I just have too many bad experiences of getting horribly mana flooded and having this land can help me put some more power onto the battlefield when my hand is running dry. It will basically always be used to retrieve swords that have been destroyed.
I still want to try to get inferno titan into the deck, but I still have to make room for him if I want to use him.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
In general, I'm not a fan of loot in mono-red decks. Obviously this deck isn't mono-red, but white is the only other color that has no good ways to draw cards. Faithless Looting actually loses you card advantage, and in this format I've found card advantage to be even more important than 60 card magic. Wild Guess is a little better because it cycles 2 cards instead, but I'm still not sure if its worth a card slot.
Defense Grid is a great card for hating on blue and at 2 mana it can come down before they have a chance to counter it. I actually forgot about this card until I looked through my friends mono-white deck.
What are your thoughts about Anax and Cymede? Seems like if you got tired of Tajic or found him weak this deck could be made into A&C by swapping about 15 cards.
I agree about inferno titan going in to replace aurelia. I just liked having another haste creature and to me, aurelia is basically world at war with a ton of advantages over it. I don't run world at war, so maybe I should just not run aurelia. Extra attack steps are KIND of win more anyway.
The looting cards I put in are to help get rid of some dead cards. I added them when I added red elemental blast and pyroblast which was actually very recent, and so I haven't had much time to test them. I'll leave them in for now and then switch them if they are not helping me.
I have heard of defense grid. I was going to add it to this deck, but I never got a copy, and red elemental blast and pyroblast have been really good at putting the hurt on blue decks. There are also boseiju, who shelters all, cavern of souls, grand abolisher, and ricochet trap for hating on blue. Maybe defense grid is better than some of my other counterspell hate, but it would also interfere with a lot of my own removal.
Anax and Cymede are cool, but I feel like I would just have a weenie deck if I built it for them. With Tajic, I have a very different deck. If Tajic fails too hard, I will definitely consider switching them though (along with a large portion of the deck).
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
I ultimately lost 2-1, but in the final game, I got him to 10 life (we were playing regular EDH rules), and so I kind of count that as a win
Game 1:
My opening hand is god-like. Kher Keep, Skullclamp, some lands, and I think a sword of fire and ice. There was probably something else in there too, but it didn't really matter.
Turn 1, I play skull clamp, turn 2, land (that comes in tapped, I think it was the guildgate), turn 3, kher keep. He didn't see the combo, but I don't think he could have done anything about it anyway.
I proceeded drawing roughly 3 cards per turn for most of the rest of the game. I finally won when I brought back my sword of fire and ice with my sun titan and killed his azami with it while doing a ton of damage.
Game 2:
Goblin assault is freaking good. Makes me so happy. I curved turn 3 goblin assault into turn 4 Tajic. No counters, so I started bashing him with my battalion. Eventually, he cast an overloaded cyclonic rift. He was at 14 commander damage and only 14 life left, so it wasn't that bad considering we started at 40. I still had stuff to put on more pressure, but shortly after the mass bounce, he combod out and I had no removal.
Game 3:
Goblin assault again! This time, my commander got countered, so I was just blowing up things he cast and attacking with goblin tokens. At one point, he tapped out, and I top-decked elspeth, knight-errant. He already blew his force of will on my commander and commandeer on my swords to plowshares (targetting Azami and redirecting it to my grim lavamancer - so boss like Clucky was saying), so I cast elspeth uncontested and started doing tons of damage.
After lots of small skirmishes and constant damage from the goblin assault, I eventually got him down to 10 (basically a win for me, but not really I guess). At this point though, he blew up everything with oblivion stone (except Tajic), and then stole him with sower of temptation. I had completely run out of cards in hand, and was going to try to finish him off with a manland battalion, but he set up a lock with archaeomancer and cryptic command (bounce the archaeomancer and counter a spell, then retrieve it next turn). I lost, but I got him to 10, so I am still happy with that. He also had normal EDH ban list, so he had ancient tomb, sol ring, and top in his deck.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
You might want to read that card a bit closer.
I wrote it rather poorly, but basically I meant force of will hit my commander and commandeer hit my sword to plowshares. I will edit for clarity.
EDIT
I wanted to just note some cards from Theros here. Opinions on some of them would be great!
Anger of the Gods - Efficient board sweeper with built-in recursion hate. Could be good if I can find room for it. I probably won't put it in any time soon, but it will always be a card to keep on the watch list.
Chained to the Rocks - Has potential... to get 2-for-1'd. Boomerang getting tempo and card advantage? No thanks. This card is cool, but very risky, which I do not like. Maybe I'm still being to hastey with this though, so if you think there's good reason to run it (1 mana exile that I can tutor for with enlightened tutor), I'd like to hear it
Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Could be quite powerful. I'd like opinions on this card. The +1 is just ridiculously strong - setting up battalions and token swarms for chumping/carrying equipment (including skullclamp) - and the -3 is on-theme by being a board wipe. Is this worth it? Maybe I will just have to test it.
Hammer of Purphoros - I am REALLY excited about this. I think it has extremely good potential. First off, it is fervor with a slightly harder mana cost, and so I can have a fervor in my deck. The second ability seems a little weak, and it sort of is, however, in my deck, I can use it to make a battalion when I really need to, or just get a dude to carry some equipment. Five mana and a land is worth it to get a 3/3 equipped with a sword punching, all on the same turn. This is the card I am most excited to try. It will also give my flagstones of trokair a bit more purpose (it was really just a leftover from when my deck had lots of land destruction) than just being a hard-to-kill plains.
Temple of Triumph - Strictly better than new benalia. It will just be a 1-for-1 swap. The only reason I wouldn't run this is if I wanted to reduce my tapped land count, but for now they have not been too problematic. More colour fixing has been really helpful.
Let me know if there are cards I am missing that should be checked out! and again, opinions on some of these cards would be great.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
Finding slots for them was quite difficult, and opinions on what to switch out would be nice. For now, I took out earthquake and ricochet trap to put them in.
OUT
Ricochet trap was nice, but I found it was caught between being a weak pyroblast and a really weak card without the trap cost. It's basically a dead card most of the time, and against blue decks, it is just a narrow pyroblast (only affects targeted spells). I may try to stuff this card back into the deck, but I'll wait and see.
Earthquake is really good and I didn't really want to take it out, but I wanted to make sure I took an espensive spell out for chandra, and this is one of my weaker board wipes (in terms of wiping the board - the damage to players can be really useful at times). I'm not sure if this was the best card to take out.
IN
Student of Warfare is just an amazingly costed creature, and it is basically a second figure of destiny. As with any other creature, it can help activate battalion. Other than that, it is just a powerful beat stick that can eat my exceses mana.
Chandra, Pyromaster looks to be really powerful. The +1 ability is not busted, but it is definitely useful. I can use it on weak creatures if there are any, and I can use it to allow Tajic through (or perhaps force a really bad block by targetting their chump with it). The 1 damage to the player is kind of meh, but every bit helps, and it can shoot other planeswalkers. The 0 ability is where the real power comes from. It is a sort of virtual card draw ability that can help with giving me options. Her ultimate ability is quite weak in my deck, and I really don't expect to ever get there. The only thing I imagine it would be useful for is if I REALLY need that one board wipe to save myself or end the game. Looking through the top 10 cards of my deck will very often get me a board wipe. I suppose that even a lightning bolt being cast 3 times could finish off an opponent as well.
------------------------------------------
My friend grabbed a hammer of purphoros at the prerelease for me, so I will be getting that next friday and will test it out. I will need to find another slot for it though
EDIT
I am thinking of putting in jotun grunt in place of scrabbling claws. It would give me some graveyard hate and it is a huge beater for only 2 mana. It also combos with sunforger, and it fits the mini-theme of giants in my deck - the giants help ancient amphitheatre and give me another option with cavern of souls.
Thoughts?
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
At first I tried weenie aggro and it was okay, but folded to board wipes and I found it very uninteresting to play (hope I hit everything on curve and then hope my board doesn't get messed up). I think it can still work, but now that anax and cymede is out, if I do a weenie build, it would be with them.
I believe RW can play more of a control strategy if they try to.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
Thanks for the advice. I like magus of the moon because I can at least have a creature to use if it doesn't really hinder my opponent, but I ran blood moon and found it to be not very useful (unless it was the exact opponent who would just lose to it). My deck doesn't try to kill fast, so if I use this effect, it pretty much has to completely lock them out, or it will not do much.
I will always keep these cards in mind though. They can be extremely powerful, and sometimes even just end the game.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I got my hands on some theros cards today. I got temple of triumph and hammer of purphoros. The temple is an easy swap-in for new benalia, but the hammer is a little harder to fit in. Suggestions would be great.
Right now, I am considering taking out one of these cards for it:
Faithless Looting - Card disadvantage. I like it though since it can filter out dead cards (disenchant effects when I don't need them or pyroblast/red elemental blast). Still card disadvantage though.
Wild Guess - Equal on card advantage, however, it is actually kind of vulnerable to counterspells which annoys the hell out of me (even though it hasn't come up yet). It's just that if I use it and they counterspell it, I get 2-for-1'd. This is the strongest candidate to me right now.
Assemble the Legion - Sort of fills the same function, but being 5 mana makes assemble the legion feel clunky at times. However, this sort of effect has proven to be extremely powerful and if it goes unanswered, it will just win by itself.
I also got 2 new soldier tokens and the enchantment artifact creature golem token (which looks awesome). Those are all sleeved up and ready to go.
The new elspeth was in the display at my LGS and I was so tempted, but it's $40 and I am quite sure it will go down, so I left it for now.
EDIT
Made some changes anyway. You can see them in the change-log in the OP.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
I'd take out Wild Guess. That card is risky, with not quite enough reward.
That's the one I ended up taking out. I'm also trying inferno titan, and jotun grunt. The changes are in the change log in the OP if anyone's interested.
What are people's thoughts on duergar hedge-mage? Potentially wear // tear with a 2/2 body, but it could fail if I don't have enough basics (which there are not many of in the deck). However, it's just 1 mountain + sacred foundry to make it work, and with a few fetches, it's not TOO terrible to get 2 mountains/plains.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
WUGDerevi Voltron AttritionWUG
WGRMayael of the Cheated CreaturesWGR