Alright guys and gals, here's the updated list to the greatest warrior for Mirrodin, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer Jor Kadeen is quite the hero, and a wonderful boros colored general to be the head of your destructive deck. Hailing from Mirrordin, Jor is a brave warrior who was a part of the Mirrian Resistance against the Phyrexians, fighting against them to restore Mirrodin to being a pure plane once again. Utilizing many artifacts, this deck sets metalcraft into motion early on. Using mana rocks has a dual purpose. They give me metalcraft early on and provide mana to use when I start throwing down land destruction to keep opponents from being able to cast things to mess with my plans. As opposed to the way I used to run this deck (buff and protect Jor and start swinging), I've decided to take on a more creature heavy approach. Between tokens, utility creatures, and heavy hitters all being buffed, this deck can make some very powerful swings that lead to victory!
Deck History
This deck began as a pure voltron deck. Play some mana rocks, tutor what I want, cast Jor, blow the lands, SWING! This worked very effectively in the beginning when my meta wasn't as competitive, but once stax, stuffing, and taxing effects reared their heads into the meta, I had to fall into a more defensive approach. Over time, the deck developed into taking on a token gen/creature based approach to swing in big quantities for a lot of damage. This approach has worked very well, and there are low drop but BRUTAL creatures to cause plenty of shenanigans (we'll get to those later) strung along in this deck for a good time. This deck can be made faster, and it really should be, but the current iteration of this deck allows for more interactive games. I'd rather have a longer game with penty of interactive options then have a general stuffed from the get go and lose the ability to do anything worth while.
"Yeah Brah!" Versus "Naw Man!"
This is a Boros deck! Boros colors fill you with powerful creatures, a TON of removal, and cards to make for an incredibly aggressive, fast, and hard hitting board state that will send your opponents into a bloodbath of combat, in which they will NOT survive! There are a few Boros generals that I like. For example, one option is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight who doubles damage going out and halves it coming in. A Great general but a tad too expensive for my tastes. She's great in the 99 however, and she's a nightmare when she drops! Aurelia, the Warleader provides dual attack phases which is devastatingly powerful when you have abilities that are triggered via attack or damage. She's super cool, but Jor buffs everyone so I still find him more powerful. Again, like Gisela, Aurelia is in the 99 and she's a powerhouse when she hits the field.
Yeah Brah, I'll try this!
-Explosive early game start ups (turn 2 Jor with haste, shroud, and metalcraft has happened!)
-You don't mind making the mana on the field go bye bye when needed
-You enjoy hitting hard, fast, and relentlessly
-You enjoy these wonderful silver cards we call artifacts!
Naw Man, this isn't for me
-You absolutely positively need to have U
-You love countering. With this deck things will resolve against you, it's your job to work around it! Or destroy it.. whatever comes first!
-You scoop to a board wipe (EDH is full of them, don't let a simple board erasing make you leave! Get out of the mindset, y'all!)
-You don't like to win. Seriously, if you hate winning, don't play this. Ever.
My Meta and I
Since the summer of 2010, my meta has picked up EDH and started playing with various generals packed with pure goodstuff. I jumped into the EDH game in 2011 and originally tried Rafiq of the Many and had no idea what I was doing because I was still very new to magic. Over time I changed colors and decided to try out Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer and instantly fell in love with the colors and the play style. Some of the decks that my deck plays against are Dromar, the Banisher stax(list is here), Adun Oakenshield stax(list is here), Ghauve, Guru of Spores holy hell what is happening combo, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter stax, and other decks that get built and play tested on a regular basis. Two of the players in my meta that were/still are very helpful with card options and what not are also users on the site. Their decks are a PAIN to play against, but it still is a lot of fun! I'm talking about y'all, StyxofTolaria and GotJank?
Well I know you have all been waiting for the big debut, so here it is!
Current Deck CMC: 2.87 (I like my CMC like my current GPA, LOW!)
Well I've got the cards, now how do I pilot this?
As stated before, this deck utilizes artifacts to fire off metalcraft to get Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer's ability to get all your creatures to come out swinging even harder! However, as this is EDH, games can tend to last a pretty good while, so let's talk about early, mid, and late game.
Early Game
This deck is packed full of mana rocks, draw power (as much as you can get out of Boros anyway), and cheap creatures that end up bring rather powerful. Early game you want to hang onto your removal while setting up a board state of mana rocks and some equipment if possible. While you are setting up your metalcraft engaged board, your opponents are setting their roads to victory as well. This is where removal comes in handy! If your opponent has Kismet, Torpor Orb, Bitterblossom, Awakening Zone, or other taxing, stax, and/or token gen cards, KILL THEM NOW! These will only slow your game down and provide chum blockers for your creatures to not connect. You can have every sword imaginable attached to a creature but a stupid Awakening Zone token can still block it. Watch out for colorless!
Mid Game
Now that you have your board state building up, it's time to assure that we have metalcraft and some creatures out. At this point you want some beaters out such as Mirrian Crusader, Urabrask the Hidden, Silverblade Paladin, and some of your other 3 drops. These guys may have low powers but triggering their attacks with swords or with Jor providing a buff of +3/+0 will make them powerful little guys that need answering from your opponents or they'll be killed by the blades of your warriors. Remember, at this point you'll hopefully have drawn into a bigger drop angel which will drop down and wreak havoc on your opponents. If at this time Jor is killed or tucked, don't fret! You can always get there off a 1/1, it happens!
Late Game
This is where the power attacks and broadsides are going to occur. If you have Gisela, Blade of Goldnight or Aurelia the Warleader on the battlefield, someone is about to take a full broadside which may end up killing them. These ladies drop and cause huge problems. Whether it's double damage, dual attack phases, or indestructibility to your permanents, you're going to have a MAJOR advantage that your opponents will be dearly envious of. If you have land wipes in your hand, this is the time to use them. Set your offensive line up and disallow your opponents from being able to respond. This usually brings the game to an end, victory being held in the hands of the Boros Legion and the Mirrian Resistance!
Now, let's talk about some of the cards that we'll be using on the battlefield.
Artifacts
The Artifacts we use will be broken into two segments, Mana Producing and Equipment:
Mana Producing:
These cards help you accelerate into a very early metalcraft Jor Kadeen. How early you say? Turn two has been the earliest! Also, the mana rocks are helpful if the lands get blown away. Take my W's and R's, I've got ROCKS!
Boros Signet- Mana Fixing Iron Myr - Tap for mana and a creature that can pick a sword up! Gold Myr- Tap for mana and a creature that can pick a sword up! Thran Dynamo- Accelerator Darksteel Ingot- Indestructible? Why not! Sol Ring- Accelerator Fellwar Stone- Tap for opponent mana? Good thing my meta is P happy! Mana Vault -Turn two Jor is all thanks to this guy! Boros Keyrune- Mana rock that is also a double striker! Hello, Swords!
Equipment
Here are your tools of war, pick and chose wisely, because your opponents WILL hate you!
Ceatures
Here we shall discuss creatures and their uses:
Aurelia, the Warleader- Double combat phases will ensure a lot of damage with Jor being buffed. Etched Champion- His metalcraft gives him protection from all colors which will help make your sword triggers fire off Gisela, Blade of Goldnight- Doubling damage while halfing damage coming in causes a major headache for opponents and a quick win for you! Hero of Bladehold- Token generation and buffing Legion Loyalist- Not allowing your opponents to block with tokens is creat in a token crazy meta Mirran Crusader- Double strike and protection from two dominate colors at the table makes him a VERY big problem! Fiendslayer Paladin- Protection from Rakdos (so tuck and kill spells) and it has First Strike and Lifelink. The Lifelink is amazing on this powerhouse! Silverblade Paladin- Doublestrike soulbonding, enough said. Stoneforge Mystic- My pet card, a tutor and cheat equipment out for cheaper. Every mana counts! Sun Titan- Recursion and a fatty Urabrask the Hidden- All your creatures gaining haste is great, but causing all others to come into play tapped gives you quite the advantage.
Planeswalkers Koth of the Hammer - This guy is brutal. Primarily used for his +1, the 4/4 mountains turn into 7/4's with Jor's boost. He will literally send them in and rip your opponents into shreds. His ultimate makes your mana base a machine gun that will annihilate your opponents directly. Don't want to swing off the +1? Use it as ramp! Elspeth Tirel - This woman is amazing. She can dump in tokens and as you raise her back up she shoots your life back up. If her ultimate fires off, The board is open for your total domination. Ajani, Caller of the Pride - Ajani is Sun Titanible, can plus up my creatures, and can provide flying and Doublestrike which can be critical with Jor. His ultimate is OK, but he's mainly here for his -2.
Instants/Sorceries
Instants:
Wear Tear - Enchantments and Artifacts are huge problems in EDH, especially with Stax. Use this to destroy any affect that will hinder your deck. Chaos Warp - Pesky general? Pesky artifact/enchantment/creature? Let's just send to back to the library to study for a while shall we? Oblation - Same as Chaos Warp, but provides draw. I'm not against tucking my own stuff to draw! Path to Exile - Send it away NOW! Return to Dust - Fantastic card. Hit either artifact or enchantment and exile it. Paramount in EDH. Swords to Plowshares - See ya bye forever, stupid creature!
Sorcery:
Austere Command - Destroy all artifacts, Enchantments, creatures CMC 3 or less or 4 or greater. Oh wait, choose two? That just got MEAN! Catastrophe - Option of killing all creatures or lands, this can win you the game with lands or reset the board with creatures. The option in my opinion is worth the two extra colorless. Faithless Looting - Draw two discard two. Pretty good deal if you ask me! This deck needs help with draw and this provides it. It can also be flashbacked, which gives you another shot at it! Gamble - One of the few tutors in the colors and is a total luck of the draw. Get that blood pumping! Hallowed Burial - Can't exile? Do the next best thing, tuck! Nothing blows worse for an opponent to have a big board state via creatures to lose them all to tucking. Paraselene - Destroy all Enchantments and gain life? Awesome! My meta is enchantment heavy, so this is perfect! Reforge the Soul - Miracle a new hand? Awesome! Steelshaper's Gift - One of the few tutors in the colors, and it grabs equipment. Great card, run it! Terminus - Besides exiling, the next worse thing to do to a creature is tuck it away. This can disrupt a creature based strategy *cough* Ghave *cough* very easily! Vandalblast - FANTASTIC card, one of my favorites! Destroy all artifacts, EXCEPT YOURS! What's not to love?! Wheel of Fortune - Draw power is almost non existent in Boros, this let's you dump out your hand and draw up a new one while sending away your opponent's recently tutored cards. Revoke Existence - As you can tell, I hate my opponent's artifacts/enchantments. If I can destroy it, I will. Molten Psyche - Wheel and damage? this is great! If it can be rigged with a wheel effect it can get degenerate!
Land
Utility:
Rogue's Passage - This makes you unblockable. Unblockability causes connection, and thus sword triggers. These will accelerate your board state and power like you wouldn't believe. Strip Mine - Too useful. Your opponent has Gaea's Cradle or Vorath's Stronghold? Destroy them! Tectonic Edge - Just like Strip Mine, this is useful to destroy problem lands! Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - This card is amazing. Doublestrike is deadly, especially when it's stuck on a land and being pumped into a fatty! High Market - This is your answer to tucking! Someone wants to tuck Jor? Sac him instead! Granted the deck can run without him on the field, it still helps to have him at the ready! Madblind Mountain - This card is disgusting. The shuffle effect breaks Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top wide open!
But wait, how do you combat deck TYPES?
Glad you asked! Well here's how to fight off some of the decks that you may encounter!
Control:
With control, you need to make yourself not look like a threat. Let the other players at the table vomit their hands out and draw off the control spells. This will allow the spells to be burned and get let you play out your hand with minimal garbage to counter you.
Combo:
Combo is a tricky thing to play against. With this, along with all the other types of strategies, you HAVE to play politics. When one player is comboing out, see what is causing the loop. Graveyard being used? Exile it. Creature causing the garbage? Artifact? Whatever? Destroy, exile, etc. Work with your enemies. Remember, the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy. The enemy of my enemy combo player is my pawn.
Recursion:
Tutor something to knock out the graveyard. This is what I usually have a problem with seeing as there aren't many ways to perform this. Sun Titan with Tormod's Crypt at the ready is always a great little engine.
Stax:
My meta is stax infused. This deck has actually been outfitted to fight off the stax. Produce your tokens, pay your sac's, and keep on hitting. This deck is designed to run with a relatively low CMC, so getting your lands ripped away won't hinder you too much. Fall back to defensive mode and wait for the stax player to make a mistake or to make themselves clear their own board. Remember, even if it's turn 15 and the baord is wiped out this deck can still come out and win. It's finely tuned for the stax shenanigans.
Punisher:
Relatively new to my meta, punisher has thrown in quite the curve ball. With this, try to play small plays to lose as little life as possible. With a punisher player, they are hitting the entire board evenly, usually including themselves in the bleeding. Use this to your advantage. Let them whittle them down and you go in for the kill.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths:
Speed- Using the mana rocks early game you make a board presence quick. If you can swing early on, always do it. Forget making enemies, you wanna win!
Aggressiveness- This is a deck based on combat. Your creatures need to keep the heat on your opponents. Don't forget to swing!
Offense- As I said, this deck wins with a heavy and aggressive offense. Keeping your opponents under pressure will lead you to a victory.
Defense- Removal, board wipes, and your rocks will help keep you in the game when creatures are going crazy, lands are wiped, or when you're being taxed into oblivion!
Weaknesses
Removal- Having the heavy hitters, equipment, and rocks hit the graveyard hurts. Yes they're recur-able, but it really slows your game down. Removal can be anythign from spot removing a creature to the dreaded Vandalblast wrecking your artifact collection. But whats worse is...
Exiling- Having your win cons hit the graveyard is one thing, even being stuffed sucks too! Worse than those however is exiling. Once the card is exiled, you better just forget it and look for another answer pronto!
Graveyard Hate- As a part of exiling, if you really need Lightning Greaves back and your about to get it with Sun Titan, you better hope the guy with a Salvaging Station package *cough* StyxofTolaria *cough* doesn't nuke the yard. Bye bye shroud!
Stuffing- Stuffing is an absolute nightmare. This deck can't tutor up creatures so if you have your win con out and it gets hit with a Chaos Warp, you better hope to Bolas you flip something powerful.
How do you deal with these weaknesses? In RW, you don't have access to counter. IF something gets removed you have Sun Titan to bring it back (at 3 CMC or less). The thing about this deck is that it flows well against removal. If you lost one win condition, hit them with the next one! Pick up the sword and swing!
So.. How do I Respond to the Weaknesses?
Now if something gets exiled, all you can do is move to the next option. This deck does not rely on just a few things to win. You have plenty of creatures to annihilate your opponents (I've done it with a 1/1 before). Just keep your head up and press on. This deck is made of warriors! If one dies in battle, the next one will fill the void! Same goes for exiling!
This deck is not very reliant on the graveyard (outside of Crucible of Worlds and Sun Titan). If the yard gets exiled, that's totally fine. They should have aimed it at the recursion player at the table!
Stuffing is a PAIN! This is where High Market SHINES! If someone tries to tuck Jor, sac him away! Yes, he'll cost more due to being in the command zone BUT you can always re cast him!
In Boros colors, it's hard to deal with that above. But fear not! The answer isn't to just cower away when one of your many win cons is stuffed, simply dig out another and pound into the enemy! Boros provides you with resilience! I've seen my deck take on multiple board wipes, land wipes, milling, etc etc and it still rose up and came out as the victor! Don't always put your eggs in one basket, have many baskets with many bloody outcomes for your enemies!
Card Options
Now not every deck is going to agree on certain cards. There are cards my friends or other users may swear by that I absolutely cannot stand using or they have never done the job for me. Here are some examples:
Solemn Simulacrum - Sad robot provides a land and draw power. He's an artifact creature and a 2/2, or 5/2 with Jor out. He seems like he'd be great but at the 4 he costs to drop I don't like him. He doesn't feel "early game" enough for me. Mind's Eye - Mind's Eye seems like it would be a great card to hang on to because it provides draw power in a color combo that lacks a lot of it. Myr Battlesphere - I've been told that this would be a solid addition, but haven't found a slot for it and the 7CMC for this card throws me off some.
Some players run the mana myrs, infect myrs, etc. These are all great options, but I haven't found a slot for them. If I do, I'll definitely tell y'all how they ran!
Change Log
10/21
- Enlightened Tutor + Solemn Simulacrum Sad robot has dual purpose and is an artifact chum blocker, or beat stick is Jor is out. Great creature.
10/25
- True Conviction + Loxodon Warhammer Lifelink with loxodon was fantastic and true conviction is too expensive.
- Spell Book + Chaos Warp spell book is absolutely pointless in this deck and meta. Chaos Warp is a nightmare I'm EDH.
- Keldon Firebombers + Day of Judgement The Firebombers leave my low cmc meta still a relevant threat so DOJ was just a better spot for it.
11/04
- Glory of Warfare + Mind's Eye Glory was too expensive and Mind's Eye allows for draw power which Boros desperately needs.
- Smelt + Vandalblast Why hit one when you can pump it up and hit all you don't control? It's an obvious improvement.
- EraseParaselene much like above, why hit one when stax players love enchantments?
1/1
-1 GoblinAssault + Skullclamp Goblin assault wasn't doing it for me due to them always having to swing. At this point the deck is becoming less token based and more foodstuff small creatures.
1/23
-1 Tormod's Crypt + Glaring Spotlight Tormod's wasn't seeing much use and glaring spotlight looked amazing with stripping hexproof.
-1 Stonehewer Giant + Avacyn, Angel of Hope Avacyn is back! Hello indestructibility/beat stick.
-1 Fireshrieker + Legion Loyalist legion loyalist is amazing because his ability keeps my token happy meta from blocking with their stupid tokens.
-1 Myr Turbine + Assemble the Legion The Turbine was too slow to keep up with the sac effects I'm plagued with in my meta. Assemble the Legion regurgitates a ridiculous amount of tokens, growing each turn. Oh, you wipes creatures? Let me recast Jor and oh look, 8 more guys came out! AND they're all 4/1's!
-1 Loxodon Warhammer + Boros Charm I decided to cut back on all the equipment and added the godsend that is Boros Charm. Borderline broken for a charm card.
-1 Solemn Simulacrum + Boros Keyrune I've never been a fan of Sad Robot, which makes sense he's so sad! Boros Keyrune is more relevent to my interest (double sword trigger anyone?)
-1 Boros Guildmage + Frontline Medic Frontline Medic is great because he makes all your guys indestructible AND they can't be blocked by tokens, which my meta has infinity of.
-1 Mountain + Plateau <-- Sweet! My first old school dual land!
1/26
-1 Terramorphic Expanse + Expedition Map Expedition map hits any two cards which is fantastically better than Terramorphic in my book.
2/1
-1 Sword of Body and Mind + Aurelia's Fury Body and Mind wasn't a very good sword in my deck, and I decided to try out Aurelia's Fury to see how I liked it.
-1 Evolving Wilds + Strip Mine Strip mine is great in a meta plagued with utility lands. Paired with Crucible of Worlds you have a very destructive engine on your hands!
3/2
-1 Kjeldoran Outpost + Mishra's Factory Kjeldoran was too slow for my book and Mishra's Factory is very powerful. Artifact creature which helps metalcraft and it dodges Sorcery speed mass wipes.
4/29
-1 Glaring Spotlight + Tormod's Crypt Glaring Spotlight ended up being a dead draw in this deck, and Tormod's Crypt NEEDS to be in my meta. The guys I play with abuse the graveyard way too much.
-1 Goblin Welder + Sensei's Divining Top Goblin Welder was cool... the two times he ended up being useful for me. Sensei's Divining Top is an extremely powerful card. Rigging miracles is rather fun!
-1 Aurelia's Fury + Wear Tear Aurelia's Fury was a total waste of time. EDH is full of enchantments and artifacts that need to be destroyed.
-1 Rise of the Hobgoblins + Auriok Edgewright Rise of the Hobgoblins is a one trick pony, and needs to have all your mana dumped into it to be powerful. Edgewright has doublestrike for 3CMC and metalcraft (easily achieved in this deck). He's awesome!
-1 Siege-Gang Commander + Revoke Existence Much like Rise of the Hobgoblins, Siege-Gang just didn't do it for me. I needed more spot removal, so out he went.
6/1
-1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Armageddon After always seeing Avacyn sit in my hand a waste space (plus being 8 CMC), I put some LD back in. Armageddon is usually a fate sealer when it hits with a powerful board state.
7/1
-1 Mountain + Madblind Mountain Madblind Mountain is broken. With Scroll Rack or Sensei's it will draw you into anything you need!
-1 Plains + Enlightened Tutor Too useful. Instant speed tutor is amazing for this deck with so many artifacts
-1 Auriok Edgewright + Relic of Progentius The Edgewright is mildly vanilla and the relic is VERY useful in my graveyard based meta.
-1 Godo, Bandit Warlord + Koth of the Hammer Koth is busted. With Jor he pumps in 7/4 beatsticks!
-1 Grafted Exoskeleton + Elspeth Tirel Grafted kills my own creature and Elspeth gives life gain, creatures, or a wipe! She's brutal!
8/6
-1 Darksteel Plate + Molten Psyche Darksteel Plate isn't very relevant with the amount of exiling, so I decided to add more wheel!
-1 Puresteel Paladin + Fiendslayer Paladin Puresteel's draw effect isn't as relevant anymore because it's too conditional. Fiendslayer's Lifelink pushes him way farther up the food chain.
-1 Frontline Medic + Ajani, Caller of the Pride Frontline's ability was cool, but never fired off. Ajani can cause Jor to be critical with his -2, and he puts counters on creatures which is super helpful.
9/1
- Boros Charm + Legion's Initiative LI protects from exiling/tucking, which is the main issue with Boros Charm, which doesn't touch either.
-1 Assemble the Legion + Blood Moon Blood Moon destroys my opponents, while AtL was there to combat sac effects which aren't as prevalent anymore.
-1 Dispatch + Oblation Dispatch was good, but NEEDING metalcraft allowed Murphy's Law to kick in when I needed it, but didn't have 3 artifacts out. Also, tucking is so good that it's hard to not run Oblation.
-1 Madblind Mountain + Mountain ETB tapped I don't like, and most of my red cards are not permanents so it's ability never triggered off much at all.
10/10
-1 Fervor + Hammer of Purphoros Being able to poop in artifact creatures to feed metalcraft while providing haste at the same mana cost makes this a thousand times better than Fervor.
Deck lists that are well organized generally receive more comments. Try putting the whole deck in [Deck] tags and organizing it by card type (Creature, Land, Enchantments, etc) or by function (Voltron, Card Draw, Removal, etc). Makes it easier to read and thus makes people more likely to spend their time helping. That's how I feel at least.
Deck lists that are well organized generally receive more comments. Try putting the whole deck in [Deck] tags and organizing it by card type (Creature, Land, Enchantments, etc) or by function (Voltron, Card Draw, Removal, etc).
I tried to copy it off a different site but I'll just do it off of mtgvault, brb.
EDIT: Done, looked up a tutorial on how to post a deck list and I think I got it down pretty well!
Chaos Warp seems like it would be great in the list to help deal with all the pesky enchantments in our meta, or to tuck the voltron generals. Another card you might like is Oblation. While I'm not fully sold on it, it does tuck or can be used on your own permanents to draw two.
Chaos Warp seems like it would be great in the list to help deal with all the pesky enchantments in our meta, or to tuck the voltron generals. Another card you might like is Oblation. While I'm not fully sold on it, it does tuck or can be used on your own permanents to draw two.
I agree with both. I've been tossing some ideas around about what to take out because the deck is relatively optimized, almost thinking about dropping Keldon firebombers because even though it destroys all but 3 for each person, our group has such a low mana curve that those 3 mana will still screw me up.
I agree with both. I've been tossing some ideas around about what to take out because the deck is relatively optimized, almost thinking about dropping Keldon firebombers because even though it destroys all but 3 for each person, our group has such a low mana curve that those 3 mana will still screw me up.
I'm still not sold on using Glory of Warfare. You don't really run enough creatures to ever have it really make a difference. I think True Conviction is in a similar boat as well. Paying six mana for just Jor to gain lifelink/double strike seems slightly weak compared to what you might could run. You could still drop Keldon, but I would also consider those other two.
If you have Sunforger available, just add it.
It Tutors answers for you, if you take a look at your instant suite
And people whine about Sunforger being slow. Yes it costs 8 just to tutor up a spell. But you can't think of it like that. It also gives +4. Which in the case of Jor means he's most likely a 12/4 first striking general. Two turn clock = pretty good plan. Add in Sunhome? This isn't necessarily magical Christmas land, it's pretty easy to pull off with the right support.
And if the game goes longer, Sunforger is incredible at picking out those answers. Sulfurous Blast is one of my favorites.
And people whine about Sunforger being slow. Yes it costs 8 just to tutor up a spell. But you can't think of it like that. It also gives +4. Which in the case of Jor means he's most likely a 12/4 first striking general. Two turn clock = pretty good plan. Add in Sunhome? This isn't necessarily magical Christmas land, it's pretty easy to pull off with the right support.
And if the game goes longer, Sunforger is incredible at picking out those answers. Sulfurous Blast is one of my favorites.
Kraus is right that sunforger can be great. I think if you add in Mistveil Plains with it to get a spell engine online late game it can be great. Our meta typically is slow enough once the combo players are out that slow grind cards will get you there with the stax/control decks being the only decks left.
I should probably try Sunforger again, possibly next time I play. Sulfurous blast looks like it could be a great one as well to take care of some of the witchery our meta has. Mistveil would be great but that's also what goblin welder does. Get rid of the mana rocks that I don't need late game, or a useless equipment at the moment and shift them out.
Later tonight or tomorrow I am going to rebuild the deck list to categorize all my cards.
Looking at other peoples lists is nice sometimes, you get ideas that you never even thought of. I've been staring at Silverblade Paladin for a while for my Jenara list, to take the spot of Rafiq to help push some damage in. And have been looking at Mirran Crusader for my JK list, but never made the connection that he would be awesome here.
Some things to consider:
I love stranglehold, and I'm unsure how many extra turn effects you run into. Though Aven Mindcensor, being on a flying evasive body has been really nice for my deck. I've been trying to fit in hold, but it always gets the cut for some reason or another
What has your experience been with Erase and Smelt? Perhaps Aura of Silence could help slow your opponents down, and blow something up? Gives you multiple uses off of Sun Titan triggers as well.
Looking at other peoples lists is nice sometimes, you get ideas that you never even thought of. I've been staring at Silverblade Paladin for a while for my Jenara list, to take the spot of Rafiq to help push some damage in. And have been looking at Mirran Crusader for my JK list, but never made the connection that he would be awesome here.
Some things to consider:
I love stranglehold, and I'm unsure how many extra turn effects you run into. Though Aven Mindcensor, being on a flying evasive body has been really nice for my deck. I've been trying to fit in hold, but it always gets the cut for some reason or another
What has your experience been with Erase and Smelt? Perhaps Aura of Silence could help slow your opponents down, and blow something up? Gives you multiple uses off of Sun Titan triggers as well.
I took out the token gen to put cards in to focus on total voltron more. Stranglehold is in because everyone in my meta like to tutor like it's going out of style, so that card puts a nice hold on it. Good call on Aura of silence, I may proxy it to see how it plays out because there's alot of enchantment usage in my meta as well. Also, Savage Beating looks AWESOME! I'll have to play test that sucker for real. I could probably kill off two players with it! Thanks for the advice!
Dear god the spoilers for Gatecrash are looking like they'll give several goodies to my deck. Time to start looking at what to pull to throw in some proxies for testing.
Coming from that other thread to here, I ran a similar Jor Kadeen deck for a while mostly subbing out a lot of your equipment (among some other things) for more mana rocks and tempo cards. My list was fairly similar to Galspanic's Jor Kadeen list as that's where it got most of its inspiration. The changes from that point were just cards that I didn't like or I thought wouldn't belong in my group. TLDR; I ran a faster list of this than you do.
I often found I was being outgunned in damage and in speed by another deck that's in my group lead by Ezuri, Renegade Leader. The deck can keep itself afloat for a good long while if it was disrupted early but would always end up folding once it hit late game due to the lack of good bombs (besides land d) and lack of card advantage. Tucks would destroy Kadeen and there aren't enough control pieces that would let me slow others down if they started jumping in line. I actually ended up subbing out Kadeen for Aurelia and replacing all of the token generation with creatures that are better off tapping twice and I'm really eager to see how it plays out. I should probably update my sig, though the thread is probably buried on the third page by now.
Coming from that other thread to here, I ran a similar Jor Kadeen deck for a while mostly subbing out a lot of your equipment (among some other things) for more mana rocks and tempo cards. My list was fairly similar to Galspanic's Jor Kadeen list as that's where it got most of its inspiration. The changes from that point were just cards that I didn't like or I thought wouldn't belong in my group. TLDR; I ran a faster list of this than you do.
I often found I was being outgunned in damage and in speed by another deck that's in my group lead by Ezuri, Renegade Leader. The deck can keep itself afloat for a good long while if it was disrupted early but would always end up folding once it hit late game due to the lack of good bombs (besides land d) and lack of card advantage. Tucks would destroy Kadeen and there aren't enough control pieces that would let me slow others down if they started jumping in line. I actually ended up subbing out Kadeen for Aurelia and replacing all of the token generation with creatures that are better off tapping twice and I'm really eager to see how it plays out. I should probably update my sig, though the thread is probably buried on the third page by now.
Replacing equipment I don't need with better tempo stuff feels like I just got smacked in the face with inspiration. I'm going to check your list out to see how it runs. I'm probably going to end up rebuilding this deck into Aurelia, and the spoilers I'm seeing are pushing me more to do so.
I really really like a lot of the new cards, but I haven't seen much for my version of Aurelia yet.
I'm just going to build her as a token swarm deck. The new boros charm will work beautifully in both decks. Float six, make your permanents indestructible, then blow all creatures or lands and go to town.
I'm just going to build her as a token swarm deck. The new boros charm will work beautifully in both decks. Float six, make your permanents indestructible, then blow all creatures or lands and go to town.
The problem with doing this is that you have no reliable way to tutor for either card. I personally run a lot of wraths, but one of those include hallowed burial and I probably have another means by which to get rid of creatures even if they're indestructible. What I'm trying to get at is, don't throw in new cards like Jokulhaups and expect it to be perfect and amazing every time you draw it. Because you're not going to get boros charm every game.
Though building her as a token swarm deck works a lot less well than building Kadeen as a token swarm deck. Giving 5 1/1's two combat phases is 10 damage, whereas giving 5 1/1's +3/+0 is 20 damage. I think you would be much better off sticking to creatures that are useful when they attack or do damage. Comparing three drop Mirran Crusader to a four drop token generator Bettleback Chief you essentially end up gaining four damage x2 in both situations. Crusader works a lot better with swords and other various equipment (umezawa's jitte) whereas beetleback works a lot better with the new boros mechanics (which I don't find very interesting).
The way my deck is set up, I don't want to be reliant on any more cards that I am. Currently I need to wait until I have an adequate number of mana rocks, lands, one threat, and Aurelia before I can play a land d spell. Assuming I draw all of those things, I can generally wrap the game up nice and tidy. If I don't fulfill all of those conditions I generally can't seal the game and instead have to improvise. Adding another stipulation to the mixture just makes the deck more convoluted and difficult to achieve victory. The other stipulation being cards with the new boros mechanic, hellrider, or whatever else is out there. There's a reason I didn't run hellrider in my kadeen list, he's downright outstanding in token swarms but boros just doesn't get enough mana, tutors, and support to swarm appropriately.
The main problem you will have with battalion and going swarm is how much it requires you to overextend. There is a solid amount of board wipes and spot removal floating around in our meta, on top of the stax decks. It might seem like tokens will get there a lot, but one Night of Souls' Betrayal and you're left scrambling, looking for an answer. Like Jason said, you won't be able to reliably get Boros Charm and such every game, so relying on certain cards in particular is a problem. I'm not saying Aurelia and swarm tactics won't work, but remember the meta you're in when playing it. Overextending usually only allows the control players to inevitably stabilize with removal effects, which could leave you in top deck mode with no answers. Give it a test run if you'd like then adapt from there. Tokens can be useful, as the stax decks prove again and again, but that's not usually in a swarm mode. Just a few thoughts.
Banner made by Rivenor at Miraculous Recovery Signatures
Introduction
Alright guys and gals, here's the updated list to the greatest warrior for Mirrodin, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer Jor Kadeen is quite the hero, and a wonderful boros colored general to be the head of your destructive deck. Hailing from Mirrordin, Jor is a brave warrior who was a part of the Mirrian Resistance against the Phyrexians, fighting against them to restore Mirrodin to being a pure plane once again. Utilizing many artifacts, this deck sets metalcraft into motion early on. Using mana rocks has a dual purpose. They give me metalcraft early on and provide mana to use when I start throwing down land destruction to keep opponents from being able to cast things to mess with my plans. As opposed to the way I used to run this deck (buff and protect Jor and start swinging), I've decided to take on a more creature heavy approach. Between tokens, utility creatures, and heavy hitters all being buffed, this deck can make some very powerful swings that lead to victory!
Deck History
This deck began as a pure voltron deck. Play some mana rocks, tutor what I want, cast Jor, blow the lands, SWING! This worked very effectively in the beginning when my meta wasn't as competitive, but once stax, stuffing, and taxing effects reared their heads into the meta, I had to fall into a more defensive approach. Over time, the deck developed into taking on a token gen/creature based approach to swing in big quantities for a lot of damage. This approach has worked very well, and there are low drop but BRUTAL creatures to cause plenty of shenanigans (we'll get to those later) strung along in this deck for a good time. This deck can be made faster, and it really should be, but the current iteration of this deck allows for more interactive games. I'd rather have a longer game with penty of interactive options then have a general stuffed from the get go and lose the ability to do anything worth while.
"Yeah Brah!" Versus "Naw Man!"
This is a Boros deck! Boros colors fill you with powerful creatures, a TON of removal, and cards to make for an incredibly aggressive, fast, and hard hitting board state that will send your opponents into a bloodbath of combat, in which they will NOT survive! There are a few Boros generals that I like. For example, one option is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight who doubles damage going out and halves it coming in. A Great general but a tad too expensive for my tastes. She's great in the 99 however, and she's a nightmare when she drops! Aurelia, the Warleader provides dual attack phases which is devastatingly powerful when you have abilities that are triggered via attack or damage. She's super cool, but Jor buffs everyone so I still find him more powerful. Again, like Gisela, Aurelia is in the 99 and she's a powerhouse when she hits the field.
Yeah Brah, I'll try this!
-Explosive early game start ups (turn 2 Jor with haste, shroud, and metalcraft has happened!)
-You don't mind making the mana on the field go bye bye when needed
-You enjoy hitting hard, fast, and relentlessly
-You enjoy these wonderful silver cards we call artifacts!
Naw Man, this isn't for me
-You absolutely positively need to have U
-You love countering. With this deck things will resolve against you, it's your job to work around it! Or destroy it.. whatever comes first!
-You scoop to a board wipe (EDH is full of them, don't let a simple board erasing make you leave! Get out of the mindset, y'all!)
-You don't like to win. Seriously, if you hate winning, don't play this. Ever.
My Meta and I
Since the summer of 2010, my meta has picked up EDH and started playing with various generals packed with pure goodstuff. I jumped into the EDH game in 2011 and originally tried Rafiq of the Many and had no idea what I was doing because I was still very new to magic. Over time I changed colors and decided to try out Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer and instantly fell in love with the colors and the play style. Some of the decks that my deck plays against are Dromar, the Banisher stax(list is here), Adun Oakenshield stax(list is here), Ghauve, Guru of Spores holy hell what is happening combo, Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter stax, and other decks that get built and play tested on a regular basis. Two of the players in my meta that were/still are very helpful with card options and what not are also users on the site. Their decks are a PAIN to play against, but it still is a lot of fun! I'm talking about y'all, StyxofTolaria and GotJank?
Well I know you have all been waiting for the big debut, so here it is!
1 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
Equipment
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Skullclamp
Mana Rocks/Fetch
1 Boros Signet
1 Iron Myr
1 Gold Myr
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sol Ring
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Mana Vault
1 Boros Keyrune
1 Expedition Map
Helpful Cards for the Meta
1 Legion's Initiative
1 Tormod's Crypt
1 Relic of Progentius
Tutoring/Recursion Stuff
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sun Titan
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Gamble
1 Land Tax
1 Crucible of Worlds
1 Path to Exile
1 Return to Dust
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Oblation
1 Chaos Warp
1 Wear Tear
1 Revoke Existence
Mass Removal/Land Destruction
1 Terminus
1 Hallowed Burial
1 Catastrophe
1 Austere Command
1 Vandalblast
1 Paraselene
1 Armageddon
Draw/Hand Filler
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Molten Psyche
1 Scroll Rack
1 Faithless Looting
1 Sensei's Divining Top
Token Gen
1 Hero of Bladehold
1 Kher Keep
Planeswalkers
1 Koth of the Hammer
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Enchantment Artifact (wat)
1 Hammer of Purphoros
Enchantments.goodstuff
1 Stranglehold
1 Blood Moon
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1 Silverblade Paladin
1 Urabrask, The Hidden
1 Fiendslayer Paladin
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Etched Champion
1 Legion Loyalist
Land
1 Plateau
1 Arid Mesa
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Mishra's Factory
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Command Tower
1 High Market
10 Mountain
10 Plains
1x Boros Signet
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Darksteel Ingot
1x Expedition Map
1x Fellwar Stone
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mana Vault
1x Scroll Rack
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Whispersilk Cloak
1x Tormod's Crypt
1x Relic of Progentius
1x Austere Command
1x Catastrophe
1x Faithless Looting
1x Gamble
1x Hallowed Burial
1x Paraselene
1x Reforge the Soul
1x Molten Psyche
1x Steelshaper's Gift
1x Terminus
1x Vandalblast
1x Wheel of Fortune
1x Revoke Existence
1x Armageddon
1x Chaos Warp
1x Oblation
1x Path to Exile
1x Return to Dust
1x Swords to Plowshares
1x Enlightened Tutor
Enchantment Artifact
1x Hammer of Purphoros
1x Legion's Initiative
1x Land Tax
1x Stranglehold
1x Blood Moon
1x Aurelia, the Warleader
1x Etched Champion
1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
1x Gold Myr
1x Hero of Bladehold
1x Iron Myr
1x Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
1x Legion Loyalist
1x Mirran Crusader
1x Fiendslayer Paladin
1x Silverblade Paladin
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Sun Titan
1x Urabrask the Hidden
Planeswalker (3)
1x Koth of the Hammer
1x Elspeth Tirel
1x Ajani, Caller of the Pride
1x Arid Mesa
1x Battlefield Forge
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Command Tower
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Great Furnace
1x High Market
1x Kher Keep
1x Mishra's Factory
10x Mountain
10x Plains
1x Plateau
1x Rogue's Passage
1x Rugged Prairie
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Strip Mine
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1x Tectonic Edge
Current Deck CMC: 2.87 (I like my CMC like my current GPA, LOW!)
Early Game
This deck is packed full of mana rocks, draw power (as much as you can get out of Boros anyway), and cheap creatures that end up bring rather powerful. Early game you want to hang onto your removal while setting up a board state of mana rocks and some equipment if possible. While you are setting up your metalcraft engaged board, your opponents are setting their roads to victory as well. This is where removal comes in handy! If your opponent has Kismet, Torpor Orb, Bitterblossom, Awakening Zone, or other taxing, stax, and/or token gen cards, KILL THEM NOW! These will only slow your game down and provide chum blockers for your creatures to not connect. You can have every sword imaginable attached to a creature but a stupid Awakening Zone token can still block it. Watch out for colorless!
Mid Game
Now that you have your board state building up, it's time to assure that we have metalcraft and some creatures out. At this point you want some beaters out such as Mirrian Crusader, Urabrask the Hidden, Silverblade Paladin, and some of your other 3 drops. These guys may have low powers but triggering their attacks with swords or with Jor providing a buff of +3/+0 will make them powerful little guys that need answering from your opponents or they'll be killed by the blades of your warriors. Remember, at this point you'll hopefully have drawn into a bigger drop angel which will drop down and wreak havoc on your opponents. If at this time Jor is killed or tucked, don't fret! You can always get there off a 1/1, it happens!
Late Game
This is where the power attacks and broadsides are going to occur. If you have Gisela, Blade of Goldnight or Aurelia the Warleader on the battlefield, someone is about to take a full broadside which may end up killing them. These ladies drop and cause huge problems. Whether it's double damage, dual attack phases, or indestructibility to your permanents, you're going to have a MAJOR advantage that your opponents will be dearly envious of. If you have land wipes in your hand, this is the time to use them. Set your offensive line up and disallow your opponents from being able to respond. This usually brings the game to an end, victory being held in the hands of the Boros Legion and the Mirrian Resistance!
Now, let's talk about some of the cards that we'll be using on the battlefield.
Artifacts
The Artifacts we use will be broken into two segments, Mana Producing and Equipment:
Mana Producing:
These cards help you accelerate into a very early metalcraft Jor Kadeen. How early you say? Turn two has been the earliest! Also, the mana rocks are helpful if the lands get blown away. Take my W's and R's, I've got ROCKS!
Boros Signet- Mana Fixing
Iron Myr - Tap for mana and a creature that can pick a sword up!
Gold Myr- Tap for mana and a creature that can pick a sword up!
Thran Dynamo- Accelerator
Darksteel Ingot- Indestructible? Why not!
Sol Ring- Accelerator
Fellwar Stone- Tap for opponent mana? Good thing my meta is P happy!
Mana Vault -Turn two Jor is all thanks to this guy!
Boros Keyrune- Mana rock that is also a double striker! Hello, Swords!
Equipment
Here are your tools of war, pick and chose wisely, because your opponents WILL hate you!
Sword of Fire and Ice- Card draw and shock someone or something.
Sword of Light and Shadow- Creature recursion, awesome late game!
Sword of Feast and Famine- Untap lands, CRUCIAL!
Sword of War and Peace- Lifelink and extra damage, what's not to love?
Lightning Greaves- Haste and Shroud, can't touch this!
Whispersilk Cloak- Unblockable for direct murder
Skullclamp- Card draw off the weenies, all for the Legion!
Ceatures
Here we shall discuss creatures and their uses:
Aurelia, the Warleader- Double combat phases will ensure a lot of damage with Jor being buffed.
Etched Champion- His metalcraft gives him protection from all colors which will help make your sword triggers fire off
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight- Doubling damage while halfing damage coming in causes a major headache for opponents and a quick win for you!
Hero of Bladehold- Token generation and buffing
Legion Loyalist- Not allowing your opponents to block with tokens is creat in a token crazy meta
Mirran Crusader- Double strike and protection from two dominate colors at the table makes him a VERY big problem!
Fiendslayer Paladin- Protection from Rakdos (so tuck and kill spells) and it has First Strike and Lifelink. The Lifelink is amazing on this powerhouse!
Silverblade Paladin- Doublestrike soulbonding, enough said.
Stoneforge Mystic- My pet card, a tutor and cheat equipment out for cheaper. Every mana counts!
Sun Titan- Recursion and a fatty
Urabrask the Hidden- All your creatures gaining haste is great, but causing all others to come into play tapped gives you quite the advantage.
Planeswalkers
Koth of the Hammer - This guy is brutal. Primarily used for his +1, the 4/4 mountains turn into 7/4's with Jor's boost. He will literally send them in and rip your opponents into shreds. His ultimate makes your mana base a machine gun that will annihilate your opponents directly. Don't want to swing off the +1? Use it as ramp!
Elspeth Tirel - This woman is amazing. She can dump in tokens and as you raise her back up she shoots your life back up. If her ultimate fires off, The board is open for your total domination.
Ajani, Caller of the Pride - Ajani is Sun Titanible, can plus up my creatures, and can provide flying and Doublestrike which can be critical with Jor. His ultimate is OK, but he's mainly here for his -2.
Instants/Sorceries
Instants:
Wear Tear - Enchantments and Artifacts are huge problems in EDH, especially with Stax. Use this to destroy any affect that will hinder your deck.
Chaos Warp - Pesky general? Pesky artifact/enchantment/creature? Let's just send to back to the library to study for a while shall we?
Oblation - Same as Chaos Warp, but provides draw. I'm not against tucking my own stuff to draw!
Path to Exile - Send it away NOW!
Return to Dust - Fantastic card. Hit either artifact or enchantment and exile it. Paramount in EDH.
Swords to Plowshares - See ya bye forever, stupid creature!
Sorcery:
Austere Command - Destroy all artifacts, Enchantments, creatures CMC 3 or less or 4 or greater. Oh wait, choose two? That just got MEAN!
Catastrophe - Option of killing all creatures or lands, this can win you the game with lands or reset the board with creatures. The option in my opinion is worth the two extra colorless.
Faithless Looting - Draw two discard two. Pretty good deal if you ask me! This deck needs help with draw and this provides it. It can also be flashbacked, which gives you another shot at it!
Gamble - One of the few tutors in the colors and is a total luck of the draw. Get that blood pumping!
Hallowed Burial - Can't exile? Do the next best thing, tuck! Nothing blows worse for an opponent to have a big board state via creatures to lose them all to tucking.
Paraselene - Destroy all Enchantments and gain life? Awesome! My meta is enchantment heavy, so this is perfect!
Reforge the Soul - Miracle a new hand? Awesome!
Steelshaper's Gift - One of the few tutors in the colors, and it grabs equipment. Great card, run it!
Terminus - Besides exiling, the next worse thing to do to a creature is tuck it away. This can disrupt a creature based strategy *cough* Ghave *cough* very easily!
Vandalblast - FANTASTIC card, one of my favorites! Destroy all artifacts, EXCEPT YOURS! What's not to love?!
Wheel of Fortune - Draw power is almost non existent in Boros, this let's you dump out your hand and draw up a new one while sending away your opponent's recently tutored cards.
Revoke Existence - As you can tell, I hate my opponent's artifacts/enchantments. If I can destroy it, I will.
Molten Psyche - Wheel and damage? this is great! If it can be rigged with a wheel effect it can get degenerate!
Land
Utility:
Rogue's Passage - This makes you unblockable. Unblockability causes connection, and thus sword triggers. These will accelerate your board state and power like you wouldn't believe.
Strip Mine - Too useful. Your opponent has Gaea's Cradle or Vorath's Stronghold? Destroy them!
Tectonic Edge - Just like Strip Mine, this is useful to destroy problem lands!
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion - This card is amazing. Doublestrike is deadly, especially when it's stuck on a land and being pumped into a fatty!
High Market - This is your answer to tucking! Someone wants to tuck Jor? Sac him instead! Granted the deck can run without him on the field, it still helps to have him at the ready!
Madblind Mountain - This card is disgusting. The shuffle effect breaks Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top wide open!
Control:
With control, you need to make yourself not look like a threat. Let the other players at the table vomit their hands out and draw off the control spells. This will allow the spells to be burned and get let you play out your hand with minimal garbage to counter you.
Combo:
Combo is a tricky thing to play against. With this, along with all the other types of strategies, you HAVE to play politics. When one player is comboing out, see what is causing the loop. Graveyard being used? Exile it. Creature causing the garbage? Artifact? Whatever? Destroy, exile, etc. Work with your enemies. Remember, the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy. The enemy of my enemy combo player is my pawn.
Recursion:
Tutor something to knock out the graveyard. This is what I usually have a problem with seeing as there aren't many ways to perform this. Sun Titan with Tormod's Crypt at the ready is always a great little engine.
Stax:
My meta is stax infused. This deck has actually been outfitted to fight off the stax. Produce your tokens, pay your sac's, and keep on hitting. This deck is designed to run with a relatively low CMC, so getting your lands ripped away won't hinder you too much. Fall back to defensive mode and wait for the stax player to make a mistake or to make themselves clear their own board. Remember, even if it's turn 15 and the baord is wiped out this deck can still come out and win. It's finely tuned for the stax shenanigans.
Punisher:
Relatively new to my meta, punisher has thrown in quite the curve ball. With this, try to play small plays to lose as little life as possible. With a punisher player, they are hitting the entire board evenly, usually including themselves in the bleeding. Use this to your advantage. Let them whittle them down and you go in for the kill.
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths:
Speed- Using the mana rocks early game you make a board presence quick. If you can swing early on, always do it. Forget making enemies, you wanna win!
Aggressiveness- This is a deck based on combat. Your creatures need to keep the heat on your opponents. Don't forget to swing!
Offense- As I said, this deck wins with a heavy and aggressive offense. Keeping your opponents under pressure will lead you to a victory.
Defense- Removal, board wipes, and your rocks will help keep you in the game when creatures are going crazy, lands are wiped, or when you're being taxed into oblivion!
Weaknesses
Removal- Having the heavy hitters, equipment, and rocks hit the graveyard hurts. Yes they're recur-able, but it really slows your game down. Removal can be anythign from spot removing a creature to the dreaded Vandalblast wrecking your artifact collection. But whats worse is...
Exiling- Having your win cons hit the graveyard is one thing, even being stuffed sucks too! Worse than those however is exiling. Once the card is exiled, you better just forget it and look for another answer pronto!
Graveyard Hate- As a part of exiling, if you really need Lightning Greaves back and your about to get it with Sun Titan, you better hope the guy with a Salvaging Station package *cough* StyxofTolaria *cough* doesn't nuke the yard. Bye bye shroud!
Stuffing- Stuffing is an absolute nightmare. This deck can't tutor up creatures so if you have your win con out and it gets hit with a Chaos Warp, you better hope to Bolas you flip something powerful.
How do you deal with these weaknesses? In RW, you don't have access to counter. IF something gets removed you have Sun Titan to bring it back (at 3 CMC or less). The thing about this deck is that it flows well against removal. If you lost one win condition, hit them with the next one! Pick up the sword and swing!
So.. How do I Respond to the Weaknesses?
Now if something gets exiled, all you can do is move to the next option. This deck does not rely on just a few things to win. You have plenty of creatures to annihilate your opponents (I've done it with a 1/1 before). Just keep your head up and press on. This deck is made of warriors! If one dies in battle, the next one will fill the void! Same goes for exiling!
This deck is not very reliant on the graveyard (outside of Crucible of Worlds and Sun Titan). If the yard gets exiled, that's totally fine. They should have aimed it at the recursion player at the table!
Stuffing is a PAIN! This is where High Market SHINES! If someone tries to tuck Jor, sac him away! Yes, he'll cost more due to being in the command zone BUT you can always re cast him!
In Boros colors, it's hard to deal with that above. But fear not! The answer isn't to just cower away when one of your many win cons is stuffed, simply dig out another and pound into the enemy! Boros provides you with resilience! I've seen my deck take on multiple board wipes, land wipes, milling, etc etc and it still rose up and came out as the victor! Don't always put your eggs in one basket, have many baskets with many bloody outcomes for your enemies!
Card Options
Now not every deck is going to agree on certain cards. There are cards my friends or other users may swear by that I absolutely cannot stand using or they have never done the job for me. Here are some examples:
Solemn Simulacrum - Sad robot provides a land and draw power. He's an artifact creature and a 2/2, or 5/2 with Jor out. He seems like he'd be great but at the 4 he costs to drop I don't like him. He doesn't feel "early game" enough for me.
Mind's Eye - Mind's Eye seems like it would be a great card to hang on to because it provides draw power in a color combo that lacks a lot of it.
Myr Battlesphere - I've been told that this would be a solid addition, but haven't found a slot for it and the 7CMC for this card throws me off some.
Some players run the mana myrs, infect myrs, etc. These are all great options, but I haven't found a slot for them. If I do, I'll definitely tell y'all how they ran!
10/21
- Enlightened Tutor + Solemn Simulacrum Sad robot has dual purpose and is an artifact chum blocker, or beat stick is Jor is out. Great creature.
10/25
- True Conviction + Loxodon Warhammer Lifelink with loxodon was fantastic and true conviction is too expensive.
- Spell Book + Chaos Warp spell book is absolutely pointless in this deck and meta. Chaos Warp is a nightmare I'm EDH.
- Keldon Firebombers + Day of Judgement The Firebombers leave my low cmc meta still a relevant threat so DOJ was just a better spot for it.
11/04
- Glory of Warfare + Mind's Eye Glory was too expensive and Mind's Eye allows for draw power which Boros desperately needs.
- Smelt + Vandalblast Why hit one when you can pump it up and hit all you don't control? It's an obvious improvement.
- Erase Paraselene much like above, why hit one when stax players love enchantments?
12/25 Here's where we go into token gen!
- Divine Reckoning + Rise of the Hobgoblins Pump into it and regurgitate tokens to buff, amazing.
- Ruination + Etched Champion Protection from all colors via metalcraft in a mostly artifact deck makes for terrified opponents.
- Mind's Eye + Captain of the Watch The Eye was way too slow, captain allows for tokens!
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Aurelia, the Warleader Avacyn was a bit too expensive and Aurelia allows for dual combat phases.
- Ring of Valkas + Boros Guildmage Valkas never was useful for me and the guildmage can give my creatures useful abilities.
- Swiftfoot Boots + Siege Gang commander Lightning Greaves gets the job done better and Siege Gang allows for token gen.
- Chromatic Lantern + Goblin Assault In dual color you don't need the lantern, and Goblin assault poops in tokens.
- Crucible of Worlds + Mirrian Crusader Less land destruction warranted taking it out. Also, Mirrian Crusader is an absolute nightmare to my opponents.
- 1 Mountain + Kher Keep Token Gen
- 1 Plains + Kjeldoran Outpost Token Gen
1/1
-1 GoblinAssault + Skullclamp Goblin assault wasn't doing it for me due to them always having to swing. At this point the deck is becoming less token based and more foodstuff small creatures.
1/4
-1 Plains + Rogue's Passage Unblockable creatures are too useful. Automatic sword triggers!
-1 Captain of the Watch + Myr Turbine Captain is a one trick pony, the turbine gives a continual supply.
-1 Reliquary Tower + Arid Mesa like spell book, the tower was useless and the Mesa allows for fixing.
1/15
-1 Catastrophe + Hero of Bladehold less destruction and more token gen.
1/23
-1 Tormod's Crypt + Glaring Spotlight Tormod's wasn't seeing much use and glaring spotlight looked amazing with stripping hexproof.
-1 Stonehewer Giant + Avacyn, Angel of Hope Avacyn is back! Hello indestructibility/beat stick.
-1 Fireshrieker + Legion Loyalist legion loyalist is amazing because his ability keeps my token happy meta from blocking with their stupid tokens.
-1 Myr Turbine + Assemble the Legion The Turbine was too slow to keep up with the sac effects I'm plagued with in my meta. Assemble the Legion regurgitates a ridiculous amount of tokens, growing each turn. Oh, you wipes creatures? Let me recast Jor and oh look, 8 more guys came out! AND they're all 4/1's!
-1 Loxodon Warhammer + Boros Charm I decided to cut back on all the equipment and added the godsend that is Boros Charm. Borderline broken for a charm card.
-1 Solemn Simulacrum + Boros Keyrune I've never been a fan of Sad Robot, which makes sense he's so sad! Boros Keyrune is more relevent to my interest (double sword trigger anyone?)
-1 Boros Guildmage + Frontline Medic Frontline Medic is great because he makes all your guys indestructible AND they can't be blocked by tokens, which my meta has infinity of.
-1 Mountain + Plateau <-- Sweet! My first old school dual land!
1/26
-1 Terramorphic Expanse + Expedition Map Expedition map hits any two cards which is fantastically better than Terramorphic in my book.
1/29
-1 Slayer's Stronghold + Tectonic Edge Such a nice addition with all the utility lands we see in EDH.
-1 Impending Disaster + Crucible of Worlds Back again for the land wipes. Too useful to exclude from any deck really.
1/31
-1 Wrath of God + Austere Command Austere Command may be more expensive, but it gives me more options which is paramount.
-1 Armageddon + Gisela, Blade of Goldnight Cutting back on land wipes to throw in a beatstick that makes you VERY dangerous. Wonderful!
-1 Day of Judgement + Catastrophe I like options, and will pay more for them.
2/1
-1 Sword of Body and Mind + Aurelia's Fury Body and Mind wasn't a very good sword in my deck, and I decided to try out Aurelia's Fury to see how I liked it.
-1 Evolving Wilds + Strip Mine Strip mine is great in a meta plagued with utility lands. Paired with Crucible of Worlds you have a very destructive engine on your hands!
3/2
-1 Kjeldoran Outpost + Mishra's Factory Kjeldoran was too slow for my book and Mishra's Factory is very powerful. Artifact creature which helps metalcraft and it dodges Sorcery speed mass wipes.
4/29
-1 Glaring Spotlight + Tormod's Crypt Glaring Spotlight ended up being a dead draw in this deck, and Tormod's Crypt NEEDS to be in my meta. The guys I play with abuse the graveyard way too much.
-1 Goblin Welder + Sensei's Divining Top Goblin Welder was cool... the two times he ended up being useful for me. Sensei's Divining Top is an extremely powerful card. Rigging miracles is rather fun!
-1 Aurelia's Fury + Wear Tear Aurelia's Fury was a total waste of time. EDH is full of enchantments and artifacts that need to be destroyed.
-1 Rise of the Hobgoblins + Auriok Edgewright Rise of the Hobgoblins is a one trick pony, and needs to have all your mana dumped into it to be powerful. Edgewright has doublestrike for 3CMC and metalcraft (easily achieved in this deck). He's awesome!
-1 Siege-Gang Commander + Revoke Existence Much like Rise of the Hobgoblins, Siege-Gang just didn't do it for me. I needed more spot removal, so out he went.
6/1
-1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Armageddon After always seeing Avacyn sit in my hand a waste space (plus being 8 CMC), I put some LD back in. Armageddon is usually a fate sealer when it hits with a powerful board state.
7/1
-1 Mountain + Madblind Mountain Madblind Mountain is broken. With Scroll Rack or Sensei's it will draw you into anything you need!
-1 Plains + Enlightened Tutor Too useful. Instant speed tutor is amazing for this deck with so many artifacts
-1 Auriok Edgewright + Relic of Progentius The Edgewright is mildly vanilla and the relic is VERY useful in my graveyard based meta.
-1 Godo, Bandit Warlord + Koth of the Hammer Koth is busted. With Jor he pumps in 7/4 beatsticks!
-1 Grafted Exoskeleton + Elspeth Tirel Grafted kills my own creature and Elspeth gives life gain, creatures, or a wipe! She's brutal!
8/6
-1 Darksteel Plate + Molten Psyche Darksteel Plate isn't very relevant with the amount of exiling, so I decided to add more wheel!
-1 Puresteel Paladin + Fiendslayer Paladin Puresteel's draw effect isn't as relevant anymore because it's too conditional. Fiendslayer's Lifelink pushes him way farther up the food chain.
-1 Frontline Medic + Ajani, Caller of the Pride Frontline's ability was cool, but never fired off. Ajani can cause Jor to be critical with his -2, and he puts counters on creatures which is super helpful.
9/1
- Boros Charm + Legion's Initiative LI protects from exiling/tucking, which is the main issue with Boros Charm, which doesn't touch either.
-1 Assemble the Legion + Blood Moon Blood Moon destroys my opponents, while AtL was there to combat sac effects which aren't as prevalent anymore.
-1 Dispatch + Oblation Dispatch was good, but NEEDING metalcraft allowed Murphy's Law to kick in when I needed it, but didn't have 3 artifacts out. Also, tucking is so good that it's hard to not run Oblation.
-1 Madblind Mountain + Mountain ETB tapped I don't like, and most of my red cards are not permanents so it's ability never triggered off much at all.
10/10
-1 Fervor + Hammer of Purphoros Being able to poop in artifact creatures to feed metalcraft while providing haste at the same mana cost makes this a thousand times better than Fervor.
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
Whatever I build from my Box-o-EDH stuff
Legacy
Sneak and Show
UR Delver
Scapeshift Nic Fit
Modern
Merfolk
I tried to copy it off a different site but I'll just do it off of mtgvault, brb.
EDIT: Done, looked up a tutorial on how to post a deck list and I think I got it down pretty well!
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] WUB Dromar, the Banisher Stax [SOON TO BE OLORO]
I agree with both. I've been tossing some ideas around about what to take out because the deck is relatively optimized, almost thinking about dropping Keldon firebombers because even though it destroys all but 3 for each person, our group has such a low mana curve that those 3 mana will still screw me up.
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
I'm still not sold on using Glory of Warfare. You don't really run enough creatures to ever have it really make a difference. I think True Conviction is in a similar boat as well. Paying six mana for just Jor to gain lifelink/double strike seems slightly weak compared to what you might could run. You could still drop Keldon, but I would also consider those other two.
[Primer] WUB Dromar, the Banisher Stax [SOON TO BE OLORO]
It Tutors answers for you, if you take a look at your instant suite
And people whine about Sunforger being slow. Yes it costs 8 just to tutor up a spell. But you can't think of it like that. It also gives +4. Which in the case of Jor means he's most likely a 12/4 first striking general. Two turn clock = pretty good plan. Add in Sunhome? This isn't necessarily magical Christmas land, it's pretty easy to pull off with the right support.
And if the game goes longer, Sunforger is incredible at picking out those answers. Sulfurous Blast is one of my favorites.
WUBRG Some of these decks can actually win games...WUBRG
How I know I should build a deck:
Kraus is right that sunforger can be great. I think if you add in Mistveil Plains with it to get a spell engine online late game it can be great. Our meta typically is slow enough once the combo players are out that slow grind cards will get you there with the stax/control decks being the only decks left.
[Primer] WUB Dromar, the Banisher Stax [SOON TO BE OLORO]
Later tonight or tomorrow I am going to rebuild the deck list to categorize all my cards.
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
Some things to consider:
I love stranglehold, and I'm unsure how many extra turn effects you run into. Though Aven Mindcensor, being on a flying evasive body has been really nice for my deck. I've been trying to fit in hold, but it always gets the cut for some reason or another
Why did you take out all the token gen?
Savage Beating can be pretty dirty with those swords.
What has your experience been with Erase and Smelt? Perhaps Aura of Silence could help slow your opponents down, and blow something up? Gives you multiple uses off of Sun Titan triggers as well.
Your colored sources probably aren't killer in your deck. Have you thought about Mishra's Factory, Blinkmoth Nexus, Inkmoth Nexus?
I took out the token gen to put cards in to focus on total voltron more. Stranglehold is in because everyone in my meta like to tutor like it's going out of style, so that card puts a nice hold on it. Good call on Aura of silence, I may proxy it to see how it plays out because there's alot of enchantment usage in my meta as well. Also, Savage Beating looks AWESOME! I'll have to play test that sucker for real. I could probably kill off two players with it! Thanks for the advice!
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
- Divine Reckoning + Rise of the Hobgoblins
- Ruination + Etched Champion
- Mind's Eye + Captain of the Watch
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope + Aurelia, the Warleader
- Ring of Valkas + Boros Guildmage
- Swiftfoot Boots + Siege Gang commander
- Chromatic Lantern + Goblin Assault
- Crucible of Worlds + Mirrian Crusader
- 1 Mountain + Kher Keep
- 1 Plains + Kjeldoran Outpost
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
I often found I was being outgunned in damage and in speed by another deck that's in my group lead by Ezuri, Renegade Leader. The deck can keep itself afloat for a good long while if it was disrupted early but would always end up folding once it hit late game due to the lack of good bombs (besides land d) and lack of card advantage. Tucks would destroy Kadeen and there aren't enough control pieces that would let me slow others down if they started jumping in line. I actually ended up subbing out Kadeen for Aurelia and replacing all of the token generation with creatures that are better off tapping twice and I'm really eager to see how it plays out. I should probably update my sig, though the thread is probably buried on the third page by now.
Replacing equipment I don't need with better tempo stuff feels like I just got smacked in the face with inspiration. I'm going to check your list out to see how it runs. I'm probably going to end up rebuilding this deck into Aurelia, and the spoilers I'm seeing are pushing me more to do so.
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
I'm just going to build her as a token swarm deck. The new boros charm will work beautifully in both decks. Float six, make your permanents indestructible, then blow all creatures or lands and go to town.
[Primer] - Jor Kadeen, Boros Legionnaire
WUBRGSliver Legion, Slynergistic Slivertastic BeatdownWUBRG
Here are some of the EDH decks I have to deal with...
[Primer] WUBDromar, the Banisher Esper StaxWUB
The problem with doing this is that you have no reliable way to tutor for either card. I personally run a lot of wraths, but one of those include hallowed burial and I probably have another means by which to get rid of creatures even if they're indestructible. What I'm trying to get at is, don't throw in new cards like Jokulhaups and expect it to be perfect and amazing every time you draw it. Because you're not going to get boros charm every game.
Though building her as a token swarm deck works a lot less well than building Kadeen as a token swarm deck. Giving 5 1/1's two combat phases is 10 damage, whereas giving 5 1/1's +3/+0 is 20 damage. I think you would be much better off sticking to creatures that are useful when they attack or do damage. Comparing three drop Mirran Crusader to a four drop token generator Bettleback Chief you essentially end up gaining four damage x2 in both situations. Crusader works a lot better with swords and other various equipment (umezawa's jitte) whereas beetleback works a lot better with the new boros mechanics (which I don't find very interesting).
The way my deck is set up, I don't want to be reliant on any more cards that I am. Currently I need to wait until I have an adequate number of mana rocks, lands, one threat, and Aurelia before I can play a land d spell. Assuming I draw all of those things, I can generally wrap the game up nice and tidy. If I don't fulfill all of those conditions I generally can't seal the game and instead have to improvise. Adding another stipulation to the mixture just makes the deck more convoluted and difficult to achieve victory. The other stipulation being cards with the new boros mechanic, hellrider, or whatever else is out there. There's a reason I didn't run hellrider in my kadeen list, he's downright outstanding in token swarms but boros just doesn't get enough mana, tutors, and support to swarm appropriately.
[Primer] WUB Dromar, the Banisher Stax [SOON TO BE OLORO]