This looks like the kind of deck that sounds good on paper, but probably performs bad in testing.
Your only reach is from rancors. Otherwise you're just swinging at dudes and hoping to bash your way through. You have creatures with regenerate/undying to try to make that strategy viable, but that just slows you down in numerous ways. You don't deal damage to them until you manage to bust open their defences, and it ties up your limited mana resources (requipping flail/fireshrieker, regenerating wolfir avenger). I doubt you can get people to lethal before their decks get online, and my money's on the midrange/control decks by that point.
Door of Destinies is just bad, 5 mana, and then you need to play slivers after that for it to do anything. Casual favorites aren't always good cards.
Door of Destinies is only 4 mana. It's slow, but it's a sliver-booster that dodges removal. It sticks around after a verdict. Not to mention that with the gemhide reprint, slivers can ramp to 4 pretty fast.
You can make do without the Falkenrath Aristocrat - that changes the way the deck would play, anyway. B/W tokens seems like a better fit for dark prophecy anyway, given how colour-specific it is. Retool it a bit to B/W tokens with some aura love and it seems like a fun deck to play (intangible virtue also adds to the ethereal armor count).
Yea the biggest issues i have been having is vs control bouncing a lot of my guys that is why skylasher is in the sideboard
the other bigger issue i am having is getting the game overwith by turn 5-6 because once we hit that point a lot of my guys seem to be dying to removal and or bigger blockers and i end up trading and needing to try and burn them out
The first issue is just something that happens and you have to play around. The best way to do so is having such a large threat density early game that their Azorius Charm etc can't sufffice.
If you want to tune your clock, you have to look carefully at the way your deck fits together. Alpha Authority doesn't affect the clock. Most of your burn doesn't affect the clock that much - for an aggro deck, burn is used more for evasion (remove blockers) than for straight damage. Take out the skullcracks and put them in the sideboard, since they fill a niche role (Revelation hate and pounding through turbofog).
Since you want a high threat density, try to cut down on non-creature spells. Domri Rade is the next to go - he's sideboard material, not mainboard. He comes in versus certain matchups where you need to keep the gas going (like control).
You only have 4 creatures with 1 CMC. Aim for 8, minimum.
22 lands is a lot for only 2 hellriders. Either run 4 hellriders or drop to 21 (or even 20).
Try to stick to a particular colour to help with consistency. R/g gives you the reckoners and hellriders, G/r gives you strangleroot geists, experiment ones and rancors.
When you're looking at building your sideboard (and also at actually boarding in cards when the time comes), you have to think about what the sideboard actually does for you. You don't want to change your gameplan too much - you're an aggro deck. You want to smash face fast and hard. Don't try to dilute that too much. Pithing Needles... I dunno, if they work for you, go ahead, but that's a card slot wasted. I can imagine they might help against Tamiyo but that doesn't seem like what you want to do.
Also, Wild Beastmaster is just hot garbage. She's a trap. She doesn't activate until turn 4, and she's not useful unless you've got something to pump her.
Some quick advice: don't do that. When Innistrad actually rotates out, there will be 5 sets to build from, not 4. Theros might bring some key components to the table that entirely alter how your deck will function.
Build a deck for now, with the Innistrad components in it, and don't think about post-rotation until it actually rotates.
Building a deck like this without Blood Artist is criminal.
The absolute most important thing to pick up is the duals. It's almost impossible to run a fast dual-color deck without dual lands. You lose a whole bunch of consistency if you don't have 4 of each.
Since the token creation resolves before the aura, the token exists as a legal object and the aura can be attached according to the ruling above.
If the aura is Unflinching Courage and you wait for the aura to resolve before Doom Blading, your opponent does get 2 for (1+token)ed.
That doesn't make it a good card, but please think about what Wizards is trying to do here.
Please refer to the post IMMEDIATELY above yours. Token creation triggers after the aura resolves. It doesn't trigger on cast, it triggers on entering the battlefield. Read the card.
DTG99 you are correct. If he had bothered to actually read through the post I explained how it works.
The entire point of this guy is to prevent the 2 for 1 that removal creates vs auras.
It doesn't say "whenever you cast an enchantment", it says "whenever an enchantment enters the battlefield under your control". It doesn't trigger until the enchantment spell resolves. The enchantment spell won't resolve if it's an aura and you remove the aura's target. Talrand at least has the decency of triggering off of the cast. This is just a terrible version of Talrand, with a more restrictive triggering mechanism, a less useful result, with a less useful card type. My guess is it will be playable in almost nothing except specific build-arounds that are some sort of turbo fog/enchantment pillow fort shenanigans.
Skullcrack is more of a sideboard card than a mainboard card, and I'm not particularly sold on Brimstone Volley - if you want the extra reach or removal, Pillar of Flame is probably a better choice.
Alright, with all that out of the way:
If you want true speed, R/G aggro is the way to go. Your curve tops out at 2, you run 18 lands, and you have a ****load of fast damage. Turn 4 wins are the norm.
Here's the G/R aggro deck that I take to FNMs. It's pretty much what you're looking for, but I run Wolfir Avenger as my curve topper, so I run 20 lands.
It means that your first closet could flicker your Zealous Conscripts allowing you to gain control of a creature until end of turn, and your second closet could flicker your opponents creature after you gain control of it from Zealous Conscript's ETB effect. When a creature leave and re-enters the battlefield it is not the same creature it was when it left. The game treats the entering creature as if you played it from your hand since its entering the game under your control.
That's what I figured he meant.
Unfortunately, it's not true. You have to declare targets for each ability when you place it on the stack, and it specifically says "target creature you control". You don't gain control of an opponent's creature until one of them *resolves* and bounces your Conscripts. For one to resolve, the other has to have already been placed on the stack, and since the other is already on the stack it cannot be targetting the creature you took with Conscripts.
The Cacklers are pretty important. You really want a 2 power 1 drop every game to start applying the pressure.
Why not use Dryad Militants instead of Cacklers? Is it because you're spreading the mana too thin at that point? The only red one-drop (other than the hybrid cackler) is the Vexing Devil, which doesn't strike me as an important T1 play. The militant has a small butt, but it hits hard, scavenges for 2 instead of 1 (the cackler is a poor scavenger), and hates on snapcaster/think twice/etc as an added bonus. It can also chump in a pinch.
Zealous Conscripts is fantastic against decks that play huge creatures (such as Junk Rites), but it absolutely shines with the Closet. With a Closet already in play, you drop your Conscript down, claim a baddy from your opponent, attack with both, and then bounce your newly-found friend out and back onto your battlefield and gain permanent control for the rest of the game (or until it dies). With two Closets in play, you can begin to take every creature of your opponents.
Can you explain what you mean by this bolded sentence here?
Turn one Arbor Elf ends your turn with 2 mana sources.
Turn two Verdant Haven on a Forest ends your turn with 5 mana sources.
If you play a land on turn 3, you have access to 6 mana.
Which means that Arbor Elf is probably going do die on the spot, making me sad.
My favourite card is Wirewood Symbiote. I first played in Odyssey/Onslaught, and I was enamored of Elves. Wirewood Symbiote was, and remains, one of the most versatile and interesting cards to play when you're doing anything Elven.
Your only reach is from rancors. Otherwise you're just swinging at dudes and hoping to bash your way through. You have creatures with regenerate/undying to try to make that strategy viable, but that just slows you down in numerous ways. You don't deal damage to them until you manage to bust open their defences, and it ties up your limited mana resources (requipping flail/fireshrieker, regenerating wolfir avenger). I doubt you can get people to lethal before their decks get online, and my money's on the midrange/control decks by that point.
Door of Destinies is only 4 mana. It's slow, but it's a sliver-booster that dodges removal. It sticks around after a verdict. Not to mention that with the gemhide reprint, slivers can ramp to 4 pretty fast.
It triggers on *your* upkeep.
It's not narrow, it's utter trash.
The first issue is just something that happens and you have to play around. The best way to do so is having such a large threat density early game that their Azorius Charm etc can't sufffice.
If you want to tune your clock, you have to look carefully at the way your deck fits together. Alpha Authority doesn't affect the clock. Most of your burn doesn't affect the clock that much - for an aggro deck, burn is used more for evasion (remove blockers) than for straight damage. Take out the skullcracks and put them in the sideboard, since they fill a niche role (Revelation hate and pounding through turbofog).
Since you want a high threat density, try to cut down on non-creature spells. Domri Rade is the next to go - he's sideboard material, not mainboard. He comes in versus certain matchups where you need to keep the gas going (like control).
You only have 4 creatures with 1 CMC. Aim for 8, minimum.
22 lands is a lot for only 2 hellriders. Either run 4 hellriders or drop to 21 (or even 20).
Try to stick to a particular colour to help with consistency. R/g gives you the reckoners and hellriders, G/r gives you strangleroot geists, experiment ones and rancors.
When you're looking at building your sideboard (and also at actually boarding in cards when the time comes), you have to think about what the sideboard actually does for you. You don't want to change your gameplan too much - you're an aggro deck. You want to smash face fast and hard. Don't try to dilute that too much. Pithing Needles... I dunno, if they work for you, go ahead, but that's a card slot wasted. I can imagine they might help against Tamiyo but that doesn't seem like what you want to do.
Also, Wild Beastmaster is just hot garbage. She's a trap. She doesn't activate until turn 4, and she's not useful unless you've got something to pump her.
Build a deck for now, with the Innistrad components in it, and don't think about post-rotation until it actually rotates.
Building a deck like this without Blood Artist is criminal.
4 Experiment One
3 Dryad Militant
2 Rakdos Cackler
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Lightning Mauler
3 Flinthoof Boar
3 Strangleroot Geist
2 Ash Zealot
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Rancor
4 Madcap Skills
Other (5)
3 Searing Spear
2 Pillar of Flame
Lands (18)
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
6 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Skullcrack
3 Volcanic Strength
2 Pillar of Flame
1 Searing Spear
2 Gruul Charm
2 Mizzium Mortars
1 Ash Zealot
The absolute most important thing to pick up is the duals. It's almost impossible to run a fast dual-color deck without dual lands. You lose a whole bunch of consistency if you don't have 4 of each.
Please refer to the post IMMEDIATELY above yours. Token creation triggers after the aura resolves. It doesn't trigger on cast, it triggers on entering the battlefield. Read the card.
It doesn't say "whenever you cast an enchantment", it says "whenever an enchantment enters the battlefield under your control". It doesn't trigger until the enchantment spell resolves. The enchantment spell won't resolve if it's an aura and you remove the aura's target. Talrand at least has the decency of triggering off of the cast. This is just a terrible version of Talrand, with a more restrictive triggering mechanism, a less useful result, with a less useful card type. My guess is it will be playable in almost nothing except specific build-arounds that are some sort of turbo fog/enchantment pillow fort shenanigans.
First, some comments on individual cards:
Lightning Mauler does pretty much nothing for you in this deck, since practically everything has haste already.
Rakdos Shred-Freak is just a worse Lightning Mauler.
Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch and Archwing Dragon are decent curve-toppers, but you're better off topping with Hellrider. Also, if you're topping out at 4CMC, you're going to want 21 lands minimum.
Stensia Bloodhall is literally awful for aggro. If you want an aggressive land, Hellion Crucible is decent in RDW-style decks.
Rakdos's Return doesn't fit very well into aggro either, nor does Thunderous Wrath.
Skullcrack is more of a sideboard card than a mainboard card, and I'm not particularly sold on Brimstone Volley - if you want the extra reach or removal, Pillar of Flame is probably a better choice.
Alright, with all that out of the way:
If you want true speed, R/G aggro is the way to go. Your curve tops out at 2, you run 18 lands, and you have a ****load of fast damage. Turn 4 wins are the norm.
Here's the G/R aggro deck that I take to FNMs. It's pretty much what you're looking for, but I run Wolfir Avenger as my curve topper, so I run 20 lands.
4 Experiment One
4 Dryad Militant
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Strangleroot Geist
3 Flinthoof Boar
2 Ash Zealot
3 Wolfir Avenger
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
4 Rancor
4 Madcap Skills
4 Searing Spear
Lands
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
7 Forest
5 Mountain
That's what I figured he meant.
Unfortunately, it's not true. You have to declare targets for each ability when you place it on the stack, and it specifically says "target creature you control". You don't gain control of an opponent's creature until one of them *resolves* and bounces your Conscripts. For one to resolve, the other has to have already been placed on the stack, and since the other is already on the stack it cannot be targetting the creature you took with Conscripts.
Why not use Dryad Militants instead of Cacklers? Is it because you're spreading the mana too thin at that point? The only red one-drop (other than the hybrid cackler) is the Vexing Devil, which doesn't strike me as an important T1 play. The militant has a small butt, but it hits hard, scavenges for 2 instead of 1 (the cackler is a poor scavenger), and hates on snapcaster/think twice/etc as an added bonus. It can also chump in a pinch.
Can you explain what you mean by this bolded sentence here?
5? Let's count them:
T1:
Land (1), Arbor Elf (1)
T2:
Land (1), Verdant Haven (1)
That's 4.
Ranger's Path costs 4 mana, you can't do that unfortunately.