I didn't notice he had haste..... O.o Wow, yeah that guy needs to be run, with Jund running Lingering souls and lots of other 1 or less power dorks around he's sorta great.
However I had to post this thought.. How about testing Molten-Tail Masticore as a 2-off four drop in the deck? With the amount of removal around you'll be able to throw four damage to the opponent's face, if the card survives a turn.
He might be a good surprise factor. You would, however, want to run him instead of other four drops.
/train of thought mode off
I see Card disadvantage.... That's something this deck doesn't always handle well sadly. It uses the 'yard as a resource, something that is highly contested by things that access it faster (Deathrite Shaman, Grim Lavamancer) Overall I'd pass on the Masticore for the time being.
Played against Tom on U/w Merfolk. GG's to him
G1: I got him down to 4, he went to 1 from a Fetch+Shock, but I had no burn to kill him, and I ended up in topdeck mode trying to get through his answers while he gained life from Sejiri Merfolk.
G2: I kept a stupid hand, he removed my one Lynx and my removal didn't buy me the time to get another creature aside from a single Geopede too late for it to be useful, Moon helped a little this game but I drew a TON of land.
Yeah, I'm never running Masticore, ever. The natural lack of CA hurt me enough in those games, I don't want card disadvantage. Tempted to run Magma Jet to improve the quality/consistency of my draws.
I also changed my list around to include Thalia, i gave up my PW'er fandom and cut down on my non-creatures.
I cut Goblin Guide, no regrets there, I feel like there are enough other strong one drops that it's not fully needed.
I took out Dismember, the drawback of Path to Exile is less than it, even with Blood Moon.
Played in my very first Modern event today, and won the whole thing with my Boros deck. It was a Legacy one that I converted to Modern. Here's the list I ran
It was the only deck I had all the cards for, and it did surprisingly well. For some reason no one was prepared to deal with the Scepter, a favorite of mine in every Boros deck I've ever run. Every single non creature spell in the deck is a 1 or 2 mana instant that can go on the scepter, so the deck has a LOT of versatility.
Report
Round 1: RDW
Game 1, pretty similar decks, but he didn't see the scepter coming and had no way to deal with it. Lightning Helix on a Isochron Scepter just feels like cheating. He couldn't outrace my lifegain and I beat his face with a Figure and burn
Game 2, he boarded in Smelts, but I boarded in Kor Firewalker, as soon as it hit the board I ran away with the game
1-0
Round 2: Infect
Game 1, once again, he had no maindeck answers for the scepter. I kept his creatures off the board, stuck a Dawn Charm on a Scepter, and he never dealt combat damage again. Beat face with a 4/4 FoD.
Game 2 was much of the same, I boarded in my Fallouts so I had more sweepers, got in some heavy beats with a Geopede, and got Lightning Bolt on a Scepter for game. Searing Blaze was a real all star against him
2-0
Round 3: BG Aggro Zombies
This was a wierd deck, a modern version of the standard build I guess, it was a tough matchup
Game 1: He had Ranger's Guile MD, so he was foiling my early burn, and he laid down some early beats with a double Rancor'd Strangeroot Giest. Thankfully I stuck a Path on a Scepter and started getting my own beats in clearing out his undying dudes. He had lethal onboard and I only had 1 blocker, so he turned all his guys sideways and said GG, I tapped a plains and played Angel's Grace, a card he apparently had never seen before, I untap, play a fetch, beat 5 to the face with a Geopede and Bolt for the win
Game 2: He boards in artifact hate to deal with the scepters, and ramped early with 2 Deathrite Shamans getting him extra mana off my used fetchs, allowing him to power out an early Garruck and start spawning 3/3's. I started Bolting and Helix'ing tokens, and was able to kill off Garruck and stabilize at around 3 life and he had no cards in hand. I Sceptere'd a Helix, killed his last creature on board, he topdecks a land, I drop a Fetchland to make a 5/5 Geopede, played a Goblin Guide, and Helix'ed for his last 10 life
3-0
I also played some games for fun against Affinity and RG Tron, and absolutely wrecked both of them. Affinity had no answer for my scepters so Dawn Charm or Angels Grace on a scepter was an auto win for me, and Shatterstorm wrecked him. Tron was too slow, he would get Tron online around turn 5, but by then I had him down to burn range and just burned him out.
Thoughts
I've played Scepter Boros for a long time and always lover the deck, it has so much versatility and so many answers. Dawn Charm is such an all star, it can fog and buy you a turn, it can save your beater, or counter Thoughtseize all day long. Angels Grace seems to catch everyone by surprise, and if you stick Angels Grace on a Scepter and their deck has no instant speed damage you cannot lose the game. I wish there was some way to get some draw in there, but overall I'm pretty happy with the deck's performance. And besides the mana base the deck is dirt cheap to build.
Played in my very first Modern event today, and won the whole thing with my Boros deck. It was a Legacy one that I converted to Modern. Here's the list I ran
Thoughts
I've played Scepter Boros for a long time and always lover the deck, it has so much versatility and so many answers. Dawn Charm is such an all star, it can fog and buy you a turn, it can save your beater, or counter Thoughtseize all day long. Angels Grace seems to catch everyone by surprise, and if you stick Angels Grace on a Scepter and their deck has no instant speed damage you cannot lose the game. I wish there was some way to get some draw in there, but overall I'm pretty happy with the deck's performance. And besides the mana base the deck is dirt cheap to build.
Very nice list congrats. I may have to put up a section for Scepter Boros.
Very nice list congrats. I may have to put up a section for Scepter Boros.
I've always been a big fan of it, If you wait till you have 4 mana, even if the have artifact hate you can still get a use of the spell you imprint. It just makes the deck so versatile. If you want me to do a Scepter Boros Primer, I'd be happy to give it a shot.
My Legacy version had a different strategy, it had Boros Swiftblades, Fencing Ace's, and pump spells like Brute Force and Reckless Charge. You cleared the way with burn and then swung in for huge double strike damage. But Reckless Charge isn't Modern legal.
I may try and squeeze in some disenchants in the SB, O-ring/Detention Sphere would be a problem.
This list is nuts...I seriously would have no idea how to even play it. o.o
It's not that hard. You beat face with the traditional Boros aggro package, and stick whatever is most handy at the time on an Isochron Scepter and got to town. If you are facing an aggro deck, you Scepter Dawn charm and shut down combat damage forever, if you are facing burn you imprint helix and gain a ton of life, if you are facing combo you imprint Angels Grace and never lose, etc.
What's nice about it is that aside from Abrupt Decay, there's not a whole lot of MD artifact hate, so you can usually just straight run away with Game 1, and still get a lot of value out of them post board.
If you want to write something up I'd love to put it in the primer.
Alright, I'll whip something up. How's this?
Scepter Boros plays the aggressive creatures from the more standard Boros builds, and combines them with Isochron Scepter, plus the best 1-2 mana instants those colors have in Modern. The repeat value you get out of casting these spells over and over again gives you a huge advantage over your opponents. You can go a more control route or a more aggro route in each game, depending on what you choose to put on you Scepter. This makes the deck highly versatile, and able to adapt to challenges on the fly.
The deck tops out at 2 mana. It seeks to play out it's threats fast, and to stick a Scepter with the most appropriate spell on it to win the game
Card Choices
Creatures: Goblin Guide, Plated Geopede, Figure of Destiny, Steppe Lynx
1 drops are important as you want to apply pressure early so you can mop up with the Scepter as early in the game as you can. I found the above creature package to work well. Given your repeatable Instant casting, Kiln Fiend is also not a bad choice
Instants: Lightning Bolt: Best Burn spell in the game Path to Exile: Best Removal spell in the game Lightning Helix: Damage and lifegain at instant speed. Having one of these on a Scepter honestly feels like cheating, it's so good Searing Blaze: A double bolt most of the time. However, since it relies on landfall, I recommend against putting it on a Scepter. Angel's Grace: Can be an instant win for you on a Scepter if they don't have instant speed damage. An often overlooked spell, no one sees it coming. I have won games by opponents having more than lethal on board, swinging with all their creatures and saying "Good Game", only to see me tap a plains, play Angels Grace, and watch their jaws drop as I untap and win on my turn. Dawn Charm: Scepter, meet utility. Utility, meet Scepter. The primary use of this card is to prevent combat damage every turn by casting it from Isochron Scepter. Shutting down combat damage slows down almost every deck out there, and completely shuts down some decks (Infect, Affinity). You can also regenerate your beater, giving you CA by wasting their removal, and in a pinch you can counter spells that target you (Thoughtseize being a favorite, countering burn is also a good plan.)
Artifacts Isochron Scepter: As the name says, the key to the deck. It gives you incredible value out of your instants, which are already the best the format has to offer. If you suspect that your opponent has artifact hate, wait until you have 4 mana open to play it so you can still get a one shot use off if whatever you imprint.
Lands
I have found that 20 lands is enough given that the deck tops out at 2 mana. 10 fetchs seem to be a good # for your landfall creatures.
Looks nice, I'll put it in the primer Thanks a ton.
Awesome man, thanks! This was the very first deck I brewed up myself when I first started going to FNM's (they played Legacy there). Cool to see it as a primer!
Awesome man, thanks! This was the very first deck I brewed up myself when I first started going to FNM's (they played Legacy there). Cool to see it as a primer!
Any chance of a mulligan guide for dummies? I am worried I would not know when to mulligan for men or sceptre. Also would magma jet smooth draws? Being cheeky - a match guide for a simple gauntlet would be appreciated eg jund, affinity, storm, white lifegain- assuming o ring, tron, pod. Kudos on the deck.
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Come to think of it, I did used to run Scepter as a one of in one of my older lists and it was never that good. However, you've managed to build your deck around it, what appears to be somewhat effective...I may have to test you're list out, some of those spells seem a little to cute to really be worth a slot.
The key I used when picking those spells was, which ones would be completely backbreaking against the deck I am trying to face. Stopping combat damage with Dawn Charm shuts down aggro decks completely, unless they get the scepter off the field, you cannot lose, period. Same thing with most non red decks, they can't do instant speed damage, so Angel's Grace on a stick and it's impossible to lose. Against burn, helix on a stick is almost impossible for them to beat.
I used to run Rebuff the Wicked to protect the Scepters, but artifact hate pretty much vanished from maindecks, so I stopped bothering.
As for a matchup guide, I haven;t really played the deck in Modern too much, like I said, this was my first Modern event ever But the key to the deck is getting the correct shutdown spell on a scepter and going to town. If they are aggro, get a Path or Dawn Charm on it, Combo, get Angel's Grace, Burn get Helix.
As for mulligan, as long as I have a 1 drop and a 2 drop, a fetch, and bolt or helix, I usually keep. You should be able to keep them on the defensive until you draw a scepter.
One thing you need to do in this deck is not give up. Even if they beat you down to 1-2 life, if you have a Dawn Charm or Angels Grace, just keep Time Walking, because it's not hard to flip the game on it's head with the right card on a Scepter.
Also would magma jet smooth draws?
Try it out, my list is certainly not an optimal one. If I had Magma Jets lying around I might swap out bolts for them, Scrying every turn seems nice.
Also, considering Jund (with Abrupt Decay) is a large portion of the meta, and Spell Snare is a card, I don't see Scepter sticking successfully all that often.
I love Scepter, but it's disappointing when your opponents are prepared for it.
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MODERN RGB Jund BGR WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY RUGB Delver GURB
EDH UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR BBB Skithiryx Control BB
I'm also pretty sure the Flagstones/Ghost Quarter Pack isn't really needed with just four Steppe Lynx as the enablers.
Remember lavamancer needs bin fodder too, and GQ is great vs tron.
I am working on a RW boros conventional landfall-ish build and a man heavy human version using slayers' stronghold and cavern of souls . Will post my latest testing lists and notes later. But to sum up - silverblade paladin is a star in the man heavy version with marauders, champions of the parish and hard to block bloodthirst dudes coming early. But in the regular version he did not work that well- mirran crusader was way better.......
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This is the only part that concerns me, the idea sounds very powerful on paper, however, the Scepter is going to be public enemy in game two and with just a bunch of one and two drop dorks, you're gonna' run out of gas pretty quickly and get outclassed on the board almost immediately.
9 times out of ten, when they go to blow up the scepter, you get a use out of whatever is imprinted. If so, it's just like you cast the card from your hand, they are just wasting a card blowing up a scepter and getting no value out of it.
20 lands is not nearly enough to support 11 landfall cards, so I'd either add more land, or cut Searing Blaze for Magma Jet.
You only need 2 mana to cast everything in the deck. You don't play out your fetchs as fast as you can. You play them when you need them for landfall
Dawn Charm was way to much of a do nothing, as no one ever attacks into it, once it's under a Scepter. Same goes for Angel's Grace, however Angel's Grace was only any good when played from hand.
Umm, that's the whole point, if they aren't attacking into your Dawn Charm, that's a good thing I've won more games off Dawn Charm than any other card on the deck.
The Scepter is very weak against Tron, once they hit Karn, you lose; mostly due to the card disadvantage.
Sorry to sound so negative, but the results I had against proven decks were pretty meh.
Sorry you had bad results, I played 3 games vs Tron and beat it handily each time. I had them below 10 life every time before they got Tron online, then they cast Karn or O stone, but by that point I just killed them with burn from my hand. They are just too slow for Boros.
Honestly, the reliance on one card just isn't where you want to be.
It doesn't rely on one card. I won games with scepter never hitting play. You are still playing the core Boros creature package and a lot of burn and utility.
The point about Dawn Charm/Angel's Grace is that it's literally going to do nothing and just be wasted under a Scepter. The charm very easy to play around, so it really is just sheer card disadvantage to have these under a Scepter.
For pure aggro decks like Infect and Affinity, it's not easy to play around, and competely trumps them,.
I'm not saying it's the end all and be all of Boros decks, far from it. I just posted a list I personally had success with. If you don't like it, don't play it.
Lost to Jund first round,
Was stuck on two land. Didn't see any other land and died to a pair of BBE's in G1.
G2 Was really close, but I really wish I had some actually SB hate against Jund, I think I would've gotten their if I did.
Second Round was Storm,
G1 I dropped THalia T2 and he couldn't beat it.
G2 I had Thalia but not enough other cards to stay alive, died to Goblin tokens.
G3 I dropped Thalia t2, which he bolted, and I then dropped Rule of Law on turn 3. the game went pretty smoothly after that.
Third round was Naya Pod.
G1 Hero of Oxid Ridge actually won, I bolted a Redcap the turn before, which killed my Lynx but slowed his combo enough that Hero won, being unblockable to the Redcap.
G2 I dropped Blood Moon after bolting his one Bird, he conceded.
Last Round I played Jund again
G1 was close, got him down to 5 but not quite there.
G2 Again I wished I brought some Jund hate, I got him to 1 and then died to Olivia and a BBE
Yeah, Silverblade really is useless. He's coming out for Mirran Crusader past that I was pretty happy with everything MD, and I think I'm going to take Sudden Shock out of the SB for Leyline of Sanctity, and switch Volcanic Fallout for Pyroclasm.
I'm glad you've innovated, it's just in my nature to stay competitive, and this just didn't feel competitive to me, sorry to come off so negative as such.
I wish you the best of luck with it, don't get me wrong.
Give it a shot before you discount it. It works pretty well. People seem to have no problem playing Thalia as a trump card and she is far easier to remove than a Scepter with a trump card on it.
Sorry you had bad results, I played 3 games vs Tron and beat it handily each time. I had them below 10 life every time before they got Tron online, then they cast Karn or O stone, but by that point I just killed them with burn from my hand. They are just too slow for Boros.
There are several different tron decks, very, very different speeds
deck (a) RG "midrange" tron- just one emrakul and a.n. other eldrazi, - 4 wurmcoil and noramlly 2-4 pyroclasm/ and all is dust/oblivion stone, with the rest in the board. Normally 4-5 sweepers if they use all is dust, more if they don't.
This hits t3 tron about nearly 50% of the time. Literally. Its very very consistent due to its ability to lay a colorless land, a manawasher and still cast sylvan scrying etc. to get the tron package easily, and it runs wurmcoils and karn- so the odds are if it hits it it will have something to cast.
(b) RG "big tron" this runs the bigger eldrazi, no wurmcoils main deck and normally 4 pyroclasms. It hits tron t3 as often but often has less to cast on it as it just runs karn in the 6-7 slot, and not wurmcoils
(c) UW tron (gifts tron)- this uses the gifts package with norn and iona and casts wrath effects, paths and uses counters, later game dropping emrakul, getting UW via signets.
They are very different decks, and the normal boros landfall engine plays very differently against each of them for obvious reasons.
Just an observation that may explain different results against "tron".
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Lost to Jund first round,
Was stuck on two land. Didn't see any other land and died to a pair of BBE's in G1.
G2 Was really close, but I really wish I had some actually SB hate against Jund, I think I would've gotten their if I did.
Second Round was Storm,
G1 I dropped THalia T2 and he couldn't beat it.
G2 I had Thalia but not enough other cards to stay alive, died to Goblin tokens.
G3 I dropped Thalia t2, which he bolted, and I then dropped Rule of Law on turn 3. the game went pretty smoothly after that.
Third round was Naya Pod.
G1 Hero of Oxid Ridge actually won, I bolted a Redcap the turn before, which killed my Lynx but slowed his combo enough that Hero won, being unblockable to the Redcap.
G2 I dropped Blood Moon after bolting his one Bird, he conceded.
Last Round I played Jund again
G1 was close, got him down to 5 but not quite there.
G2 Again I wished I brought some Jund hate, I got him to 1 and then died to Olivia and a BBE
Yeah, Silverblade really is useless. He's coming out for Mirran Crusader past that I was pretty happy with everything MD, and I think I'm going to take Sudden Shock out of the SB for Leyline of Sanctity, and switch Volcanic Fallout for Pyroclasm.
Will post my traditional list soon, but vs jund I found the best card to be 3x rest in peace, straight swap for lavamancer. I do not use blood moon main and thus have more threats, and found that it did not work in the side either- deathrite fixed their mana too often, and taking out the manlands was not worth it. Would recommend 4 mirran crusader asap here- its an all star, esp if you can squeeze a solitary slayers' stronghold in.......jund has been one of my easier matches to date. RIP knackers over the deathrites, 'goyfs and makes the lingering souls not so good after the first one hits. After that all you need worry about is the CA war vs BBE and lingering souls (I have more CA cards like a ranger of eos and chandra's hasty flyers to make that battle in my favour). Mirran wins matches,and its no slouch vs all the pod deck's black and green men (i.e. nearly all of the deck)
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Hmmm, I'm actually going with Fallout over Pyroclasm. Thought about it for a little and realized there isn't much of a decision to make. Mirran Crusader is in for the Paladins, and I'm thinking about taking out a Figure of Destiny for a third.
Id just like to chime in on the sceptre issue, purely from a theory standpoint. Delver honestly has low threat density. Which means decks can afford to give up some creature removal in place of ways to blow it up. Its also a deck that lives and dies by its spells, if they get crushed, so does the deck.
Conversely, we have a creature based deck. High threat density. Removal cant afford to be lost. And the deck functions perfectly fine without the sceptre. Leaving it as a strong support card as opposed to a centerpiece to be hated out.
And assuming you wait to turn 4 to drop a sceptre(since early you want creatures), you will get at least one use out of it. Meaning if they use a spell to blow it up(their best case), its a 1 for 1, not a 2 for 1.
While this is true, looking at the list Valarin provided (which is one I tested after he posted it) the creatures used have a lower threat density than the average list. Just running small creatures like Goblin Guide and Steppe Lynx that have a tendency to get outclassed very quickly in the late game doesn't give you maximum reliability on your creatures, especially with a low land count of 20.
I would consider adding something like Ranger of Eos to provide extra card advantage. I do like the deck, don't get me wrong, it just seems a little to easily to fizzle out.
The key point I was trying to make was advocating Isochron Sceptre in a vacuum. Not in reference to that particular list. A lot of people seemed to hear the results of testing with that deck and make the conclusion that sceptre was no good altogether. But even if your deck just has bolt, helix, and jet, that gives it a decent backing as at least a 2 of option. It doesnt need to be the centerpiece.
The key point I was trying to make was advocating Isochron Sceptre in a vacuum. Not in reference to that particular list. A lot of people seemed to hear the results of testing with that deck and make the conclusion that sceptre was no good altogether. But even if your deck just has bolt, helix, and jet, that gives it a decent backing as at least a 2 of option. It doesnt need to be the centerpiece.
I would consider a two of option in regular boros with twelve imprint targets min, but ideally 14. Any less and there is too great a chance of the card being dead. The list in question had cards that only work with the artifact, but that was the ultimate in 'sceptre as centre piece' strategy.
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I need to do more updates on the Primer
I see Card disadvantage.... That's something this deck doesn't always handle well sadly. It uses the 'yard as a resource, something that is highly contested by things that access it faster (Deathrite Shaman, Grim Lavamancer) Overall I'd pass on the Masticore for the time being.
Played against Tom on U/w Merfolk. GG's to him
G1: I got him down to 4, he went to 1 from a Fetch+Shock, but I had no burn to kill him, and I ended up in topdeck mode trying to get through his answers while he gained life from Sejiri Merfolk.
G2: I kept a stupid hand, he removed my one Lynx and my removal didn't buy me the time to get another creature aside from a single Geopede too late for it to be useful, Moon helped a little this game but I drew a TON of land.
Yeah, I'm never running Masticore, ever. The natural lack of CA hurt me enough in those games, I don't want card disadvantage. Tempted to run Magma Jet to improve the quality/consistency of my draws.
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Magma Jet
Working very well so far.
I also changed my list around to include Thalia, i gave up my PW'er fandom and cut down on my non-creatures.
I cut Goblin Guide, no regrets there, I feel like there are enough other strong one drops that it's not fully needed.
I took out Dismember, the drawback of Path to Exile is less than it, even with Blood Moon.
4x Goblin Guide
4x Plated Geopede
3x Figure of Destiny
4x Steppe Lynx
Instants
4x Lightning Helix
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Searing Blaze
3x Angels Grace
3x Dawn Charm
4x Isochron Scepter
Lands
4x Arid Mesa
3x Marsh Flats
3x Scalding Tarn
4x Sacred Foundry
3x Mountain
3x Plains
4x Shatterstorm
4x Kor Firewalker
4x Vocanic Fallout
3x Relic of Progenitus
It was the only deck I had all the cards for, and it did surprisingly well. For some reason no one was prepared to deal with the Scepter, a favorite of mine in every Boros deck I've ever run. Every single non creature spell in the deck is a 1 or 2 mana instant that can go on the scepter, so the deck has a LOT of versatility.
Report
Round 1: RDW
Game 1, pretty similar decks, but he didn't see the scepter coming and had no way to deal with it. Lightning Helix on a Isochron Scepter just feels like cheating. He couldn't outrace my lifegain and I beat his face with a Figure and burn
Game 2, he boarded in Smelts, but I boarded in Kor Firewalker, as soon as it hit the board I ran away with the game
1-0
Round 2: Infect
Game 1, once again, he had no maindeck answers for the scepter. I kept his creatures off the board, stuck a Dawn Charm on a Scepter, and he never dealt combat damage again. Beat face with a 4/4 FoD.
Game 2 was much of the same, I boarded in my Fallouts so I had more sweepers, got in some heavy beats with a Geopede, and got Lightning Bolt on a Scepter for game. Searing Blaze was a real all star against him
2-0
Round 3: BG Aggro Zombies
This was a wierd deck, a modern version of the standard build I guess, it was a tough matchup
Game 1: He had Ranger's Guile MD, so he was foiling my early burn, and he laid down some early beats with a double Rancor'd Strangeroot Giest. Thankfully I stuck a Path on a Scepter and started getting my own beats in clearing out his undying dudes. He had lethal onboard and I only had 1 blocker, so he turned all his guys sideways and said GG, I tapped a plains and played Angel's Grace, a card he apparently had never seen before, I untap, play a fetch, beat 5 to the face with a Geopede and Bolt for the win
Game 2: He boards in artifact hate to deal with the scepters, and ramped early with 2 Deathrite Shamans getting him extra mana off my used fetchs, allowing him to power out an early Garruck and start spawning 3/3's. I started Bolting and Helix'ing tokens, and was able to kill off Garruck and stabilize at around 3 life and he had no cards in hand. I Sceptere'd a Helix, killed his last creature on board, he topdecks a land, I drop a Fetchland to make a 5/5 Geopede, played a Goblin Guide, and Helix'ed for his last 10 life
3-0
I also played some games for fun against Affinity and RG Tron, and absolutely wrecked both of them. Affinity had no answer for my scepters so Dawn Charm or Angels Grace on a scepter was an auto win for me, and Shatterstorm wrecked him. Tron was too slow, he would get Tron online around turn 5, but by then I had him down to burn range and just burned him out.
Thoughts
I've played Scepter Boros for a long time and always lover the deck, it has so much versatility and so many answers. Dawn Charm is such an all star, it can fog and buy you a turn, it can save your beater, or counter Thoughtseize all day long. Angels Grace seems to catch everyone by surprise, and if you stick Angels Grace on a Scepter and their deck has no instant speed damage you cannot lose the game. I wish there was some way to get some draw in there, but overall I'm pretty happy with the deck's performance. And besides the mana base the deck is dirt cheap to build.
Currently and tentatively:
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Figure of Destiny
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Silverblade Paladin
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
-16 Spells-
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
3 Blood Moon
2 Magma Jet
1 Ajani Vengeant
-23 Land-
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Arid Mesa
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Mountain
4 Plains
2 Marsh flats
2 Sudden Shock
2 Molten Rain
1 Volcanic Fallout
2 Rest in Peace
2 Rule of Law
2 Torpor Orb
2 Combust
Very nice list
I've always been a big fan of it, If you wait till you have 4 mana, even if the have artifact hate you can still get a use of the spell you imprint. It just makes the deck so versatile. If you want me to do a Scepter Boros Primer, I'd be happy to give it a shot.
My Legacy version had a different strategy, it had Boros Swiftblades, Fencing Ace's, and pump spells like Brute Force and Reckless Charge. You cleared the way with burn and then swung in for huge double strike damage. But Reckless Charge isn't Modern legal.
I may try and squeeze in some disenchants in the SB, O-ring/Detention Sphere would be a problem.
If you want to write something up I'd love to put it in the primer.
It's not that hard. You beat face with the traditional Boros aggro package, and stick whatever is most handy at the time on an Isochron Scepter and got to town. If you are facing an aggro deck, you Scepter Dawn charm and shut down combat damage forever, if you are facing burn you imprint helix and gain a ton of life, if you are facing combo you imprint Angels Grace and never lose, etc.
What's nice about it is that aside from Abrupt Decay, there's not a whole lot of MD artifact hate, so you can usually just straight run away with Game 1, and still get a lot of value out of them post board.
Alright, I'll whip something up. How's this?
Scepter Boros plays the aggressive creatures from the more standard Boros builds, and combines them with Isochron Scepter, plus the best 1-2 mana instants those colors have in Modern. The repeat value you get out of casting these spells over and over again gives you a huge advantage over your opponents. You can go a more control route or a more aggro route in each game, depending on what you choose to put on you Scepter. This makes the deck highly versatile, and able to adapt to challenges on the fly.
Example Decklist:
4x Goblin Guide
4x Plated Geopede
3x Figure of Destiny
4x Steppe Lynx
Instants
4x Lightning Helix
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Path to Exile
3x Searing Blaze
3x Angels Grace
3x Dawn Charm
4x Isochron Scepter
Lands
4x Arid Mesa
3x Marsh Flats
3x Scalding Tarn
4x Sacred Foundry
3x Mountain
3x Plains
The deck tops out at 2 mana. It seeks to play out it's threats fast, and to stick a Scepter with the most appropriate spell on it to win the game
Card Choices
Creatures: Goblin Guide, Plated Geopede, Figure of Destiny, Steppe Lynx
1 drops are important as you want to apply pressure early so you can mop up with the Scepter as early in the game as you can. I found the above creature package to work well. Given your repeatable Instant casting, Kiln Fiend is also not a bad choice
Instants:
Lightning Bolt: Best Burn spell in the game
Path to Exile: Best Removal spell in the game
Lightning Helix: Damage and lifegain at instant speed. Having one of these on a Scepter honestly feels like cheating, it's so good
Searing Blaze: A double bolt most of the time. However, since it relies on landfall, I recommend against putting it on a Scepter.
Angel's Grace: Can be an instant win for you on a Scepter if they don't have instant speed damage. An often overlooked spell, no one sees it coming. I have won games by opponents having more than lethal on board, swinging with all their creatures and saying "Good Game", only to see me tap a plains, play Angels Grace, and watch their jaws drop as I untap and win on my turn.
Dawn Charm: Scepter, meet utility. Utility, meet Scepter. The primary use of this card is to prevent combat damage every turn by casting it from Isochron Scepter. Shutting down combat damage slows down almost every deck out there, and completely shuts down some decks (Infect, Affinity). You can also regenerate your beater, giving you CA by wasting their removal, and in a pinch you can counter spells that target you (Thoughtseize being a favorite, countering burn is also a good plan.)
Artifacts
Isochron Scepter: As the name says, the key to the deck. It gives you incredible value out of your instants, which are already the best the format has to offer. If you suspect that your opponent has artifact hate, wait until you have 4 mana open to play it so you can still get a one shot use off if whatever you imprint.
Lands
I have found that 20 lands is enough given that the deck tops out at 2 mana. 10 fetchs seem to be a good # for your landfall creatures.
Awesome man, thanks! This was the very first deck I brewed up myself when I first started going to FNM's (they played Legacy there). Cool to see it as a primer!
Any chance of a mulligan guide for dummies? I am worried I would not know when to mulligan for men or sceptre. Also would magma jet smooth draws? Being cheeky - a match guide for a simple gauntlet would be appreciated eg jund, affinity, storm, white lifegain- assuming o ring, tron, pod. Kudos on the deck.
The key I used when picking those spells was, which ones would be completely backbreaking against the deck I am trying to face. Stopping combat damage with Dawn Charm shuts down aggro decks completely, unless they get the scepter off the field, you cannot lose, period. Same thing with most non red decks, they can't do instant speed damage, so Angel's Grace on a stick and it's impossible to lose. Against burn, helix on a stick is almost impossible for them to beat.
I used to run Rebuff the Wicked to protect the Scepters, but artifact hate pretty much vanished from maindecks, so I stopped bothering.
As for a matchup guide, I haven;t really played the deck in Modern too much, like I said, this was my first Modern event ever
As for mulligan, as long as I have a 1 drop and a 2 drop, a fetch, and bolt or helix, I usually keep. You should be able to keep them on the defensive until you draw a scepter.
One thing you need to do in this deck is not give up. Even if they beat you down to 1-2 life, if you have a Dawn Charm or Angels Grace, just keep Time Walking, because it's not hard to flip the game on it's head with the right card on a Scepter.
Try it out, my list is certainly not an optimal one. If I had Magma Jets lying around I might swap out bolts for them, Scrying every turn seems nice.
I love Scepter, but it's disappointing when your opponents are prepared for it.
RGB Jund BGR
WGB Junk/Abzan Company WGB
LEGACY
RUGB Delver GURB
EDH
UW Geist of Saint Traft Aggro-Control WU
RUG Riku of Two Reflections Combo GUR
BBB Skithiryx Control BB
Remember lavamancer needs bin fodder too, and GQ is great vs tron.
I am working on a RW boros conventional landfall-ish build and a man heavy human version using slayers' stronghold and cavern of souls . Will post my latest testing lists and notes later. But to sum up - silverblade paladin is a star in the man heavy version with marauders, champions of the parish and hard to block bloodthirst dudes coming early. But in the regular version he did not work that well- mirran crusader was way better.......
9 times out of ten, when they go to blow up the scepter, you get a use out of whatever is imprinted. If so, it's just like you cast the card from your hand, they are just wasting a card blowing up a scepter and getting no value out of it.
You only need 2 mana to cast everything in the deck. You don't play out your fetchs as fast as you can. You play them when you need them for landfall
Umm, that's the whole point, if they aren't attacking into your Dawn Charm, that's a good thing
Sorry you had bad results, I played 3 games vs Tron and beat it handily each time. I had them below 10 life every time before they got Tron online, then they cast Karn or O stone, but by that point I just killed them with burn from my hand. They are just too slow for Boros.
It doesn't rely on one card. I won games with scepter never hitting play. You are still playing the core Boros creature package and a lot of burn and utility.
For pure aggro decks like Infect and Affinity, it's not easy to play around, and competely trumps them,.
I'm not saying it's the end all and be all of Boros decks, far from it. I just posted a list I personally had success with. If you don't like it, don't play it.
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Figure of Destiny
3 Grim Lavamancer
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Silverblade Paladin
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
-16 Spells-
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
3 Path to Exile
3 Blood Moon
2 Magma Jet
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Ajani Vengeant
-23 Land-
4 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
4 Arid Mesa
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Mountain
4 Plains
2 Marsh flats
2 Stony Silence
2 Sudden Shock
2 Sowing Salt
2 Volcanic Fallout
2 Rest in Peace
2 Rule of Law
2 Torpor Orb
1 Combust
I went 2-2, which I guess isn't that bad,
Lost to Jund first round,
Was stuck on two land. Didn't see any other land and died to a pair of BBE's in G1.
G2 Was really close, but I really wish I had some actually SB hate against Jund, I think I would've gotten their if I did.
Second Round was Storm,
G1 I dropped THalia T2 and he couldn't beat it.
G2 I had Thalia but not enough other cards to stay alive, died to Goblin tokens.
G3 I dropped Thalia t2, which he bolted, and I then dropped Rule of Law on turn 3. the game went pretty smoothly after that.
Third round was Naya Pod.
G1 Hero of Oxid Ridge actually won, I bolted a Redcap the turn before, which killed my Lynx but slowed his combo enough that Hero won, being unblockable to the Redcap.
G2 I dropped Blood Moon after bolting his one Bird, he conceded.
Last Round I played Jund again
G1 was close, got him down to 5 but not quite there.
G2 Again I wished I brought some Jund hate, I got him to 1 and then died to Olivia and a BBE
Yeah, Silverblade really is useless. He's coming out for Mirran Crusader past that I was pretty happy with everything MD, and I think I'm going to take Sudden Shock out of the SB for Leyline of Sanctity, and switch Volcanic Fallout for Pyroclasm.
Give it a shot before you discount it. It works pretty well. People seem to have no problem playing Thalia as a trump card and she is far easier to remove than a Scepter with a trump card on it.
There are several different tron decks, very, very different speeds
deck (a) RG "midrange" tron- just one emrakul and a.n. other eldrazi, - 4 wurmcoil and noramlly 2-4 pyroclasm/ and all is dust/oblivion stone, with the rest in the board. Normally 4-5 sweepers if they use all is dust, more if they don't.
This hits t3 tron about nearly 50% of the time. Literally. Its very very consistent due to its ability to lay a colorless land, a manawasher and still cast sylvan scrying etc. to get the tron package easily, and it runs wurmcoils and karn- so the odds are if it hits it it will have something to cast.
(b) RG "big tron" this runs the bigger eldrazi, no wurmcoils main deck and normally 4 pyroclasms. It hits tron t3 as often but often has less to cast on it as it just runs karn in the 6-7 slot, and not wurmcoils
(c) UW tron (gifts tron)- this uses the gifts package with norn and iona and casts wrath effects, paths and uses counters, later game dropping emrakul, getting UW via signets.
They are very different decks, and the normal boros landfall engine plays very differently against each of them for obvious reasons.
Just an observation that may explain different results against "tron".
Will post my traditional list soon, but vs jund I found the best card to be 3x rest in peace, straight swap for lavamancer. I do not use blood moon main and thus have more threats, and found that it did not work in the side either- deathrite fixed their mana too often, and taking out the manlands was not worth it. Would recommend 4 mirran crusader asap here- its an all star, esp if you can squeeze a solitary slayers' stronghold in.......jund has been one of my easier matches to date. RIP knackers over the deathrites, 'goyfs and makes the lingering souls not so good after the first one hits. After that all you need worry about is the CA war vs BBE and lingering souls (I have more CA cards like a ranger of eos and chandra's hasty flyers to make that battle in my favour). Mirran wins matches,and its no slouch vs all the pod deck's black and green men (i.e. nearly all of the deck)
SB-wise I think I'm actually going for a 3 Rest in Peace and Volcanic Fallout over the Leylines
Conversely, we have a creature based deck. High threat density. Removal cant afford to be lost. And the deck functions perfectly fine without the sceptre. Leaving it as a strong support card as opposed to a centerpiece to be hated out.
And assuming you wait to turn 4 to drop a sceptre(since early you want creatures), you will get at least one use out of it. Meaning if they use a spell to blow it up(their best case), its a 1 for 1, not a 2 for 1.
The key point I was trying to make was advocating Isochron Sceptre in a vacuum. Not in reference to that particular list. A lot of people seemed to hear the results of testing with that deck and make the conclusion that sceptre was no good altogether. But even if your deck just has bolt, helix, and jet, that gives it a decent backing as at least a 2 of option. It doesnt need to be the centerpiece.
I would consider a two of option in regular boros with twelve imprint targets min, but ideally 14. Any less and there is too great a chance of the card being dead. The list in question had cards that only work with the artifact, but that was the ultimate in 'sceptre as centre piece' strategy.