Here's how to get him out on turn 3.
Turn 1 Arbor Elf, turn 2 Verdant Haven, than bam! Ruric Thar.
Turn 3 is too early for them to counter him.
I'm curious how you're casting Ruric Thar on turn 3 with a maximum of 5 mana on the board.
If you actually want to drop him turn 3, you'd need to play 2 sources of ramp on turn 2, like a farseek and an arbor elf, two arbor elves, a zhur-taa druid and an arbor elf, elvish archdruid, etc.
I think Rakdos' Return is a little redundant with all that land D. Since your opponent is ideally not casting his/her spells anyway, you don't need to RR them? I would cut them for some more land D, such as slimes as someone mentioned.
Rakdos' Return looks to me like a wincon, not a stopgap.
I'd suggest Devil's Play instead, though, as you get more damage from a single card that way. Kessig Wolf Run is another wincon with all your ramp, and I don't think that Nicol Bolas is a very good fit here. Replace him with Bramblecrush perhaps?
there are definitely some better options then fencing ace. even with double strike, it really only performs will with rancor. consider truefire paladin , elite inquisitor , or upping your mana curve for silverblade paladin
I already have silverblade paladins in there... the Fencing Aces are to get the most mileage out of the various voltron buffs I've got.
Alpha Authority fits the theme better, but honestly I'd keep some Ranger's Guile around. And it's less good with Double Strike and Trample than it would be with Double Strike and Unblockable, but Inquisitor's Flail could deal a lot of damage in this build.
Hmm. I could see swapping out the Bonds of Faith for Flails, but the Flail seems a little bit slow (in exchange for being sturdier and not prone to 2-for-1). I'll try it though.
I understand the Stalker, not so much the Geist. Is it just "well if you're splashing blue for Stalker you might as well pick up the Geist anyway"? Also, I can't help but think that if Hexproof is really necessary, I could toss Alpha Authority in the SB instead and board it in when I need resilience against targetted removal. It doesn't require opening up a third colour (which means a lot more shocking yourself, or getting screwed on mana), and synergizes with the Ethereal Armors.
I'd probably ditch the Mentor of the Meeks, and drop the O-ring count to 3, and use 4 Alpha Authority in SB.
I was mostly inspired by my friend's Boros humans for this deck.
Any ideas or suggestions for the deck? I made it because I wanted to make a deck that abused Ethereal Armor's ridiculous mana efficiency and scaling, so I figured all of the super cheap double strikers ought to do the job. The Overgrown Tombs instead of Forests are for consistency when playing the Gift of Orzhova.
I've been trying it solitaire against my other decks and it's doing extremely well, but... that's solitaire
Personally, I love Strangleroot Geist and would run 4. He's fast and he's resilient. Two green isn't a big deal, and in this deck, plus haste and undying, it's always a relevant card to draw at any point in the game. Undying is what can really set Gruul apart from other speed agro decks (as well as trample), and give the edge over Boros, Rakdos, and RDW.
It's Ash Zealot I don't like as much, and conflicts with Geist. I'd toss them into the sideboard, subbing in for Geist card for card.
If you're using red one-drops, there's no real reason to pick the geist over the ash zealot. They both haste for 2 on turn 2, and while the geist does have undying which lends it some resiliency, first strike is a real thing, especially with rancor and GCR.
I like geists too - I'm running four of them in my gruul deck. I've built a more green-heavy mana base, though, so it makes sense to have them in my two-drop slot, since I'll be getting them out on turn 2 consistently. (I also have Ash Zealots, but that's just because I'm having trouble finding my 4th Flinthoof Boar, Wolfir Avenger, and Dryad Militant...)
If you plan on using red one-drops, and Hellrider or Hound, it makes more sense to use zealots than geists.
This is the decklist I used based on ideas from a budget forum thread. Despite not having shocklands, I've never had mana problems with this list. The sideboard is super janky since my deck loses 90% of the time to aggro on the draw and its just all the burn I could think of.
Repeated land destruction setting up a lock (recursion through closet), or straight up aggro with kessig wolf run are your win conditions.
If your opponent doesn't run counterspells and can't win until turn 5 at the earliest, this deck does extremely well against them, otherwise you lose. Despite my love for this deck, I unfortunately don't think its competitive at all in the current meta with stuff like boros king. Maybe it will give you guys some ideas.
The closet and the primordial were two things I didn't think about. Revised deck list which has been doing better in solitaire. This deck is actually sort of fun to play, so I'm going to try to keep working on it (it's not too expensive, too, to boot!)
I was actually just mulling over a LD R/G deck last night. This is what I came up with, but I think it either needs A) a lot of improvement or B) to be dropped in a dumpster faster than a prom baby.
The point is to ramp hard and then use that ramp to dome them with devil's play or miracle'd bonfire (which also sweeps any blockers they might've got out early). I had Dawntreader Elk instead of Arbor Elf in a prior incarnation to thin the deck more and get to the important cards when you draw (because you'll be topdecking a lot with this deck), but I think the arbor elf is better on the curve because of how it helps you ramp, and sticks around as a 1/1 beater (which is actually important...)
The sideboard has more red sweepers for aggro and stuff, but I think the deck needs improvement.
There is good synergy between Grafdigger's Cage and Ghost Quarter that essentially gives you the ability to strip mine your opponent. Add Treasure Find to bring back your ld spells.
There is literally no synergy between Grafdigger's Cage and Ghost Quarter.
replace skullcrack and brimstone with 4x Searing Spear, maybe put last brimstone into another Furor.
Also you have 6 pillars total between MB and SB.
Finally, you have very, very many spells for an aggro deck. 18 spells and 24 creatures. You'll probably have a lot of opening hands where you don't get the 1 or 2 drops that you need. Consider cutting down on some of the spells for a couple more bodies? You could just give it a shot as-is, of course. It would probably do fine. You'd need to mulligan a lot, but you need to mulligan a lot with aggro anyway.
I think you've got a glaring hole as far as aggro is concerned. Even if you're on the play you're not dropping mutilate until T4, everything else is single target. Consider some Rolling Temblors. They fit nicely in your curve, and they can sweep twice. They can't deal with Reckoners, but then again not much can...
Aggro has such consistent turn 3/4 wins in this meta that you're solution to aggro has to be a bit better and faster than what's presented here, I think.
I only suggested looking at Ultimate Price because of mana considerations, that's all - you've got a lot of highly specific colour costs.
As it stands now, with the corpsejacks, your curve is a bit top-heavy to only have 19 land. 6 4 drops and 7 3 drops seems like it would be difficult to manage. Maybe cut back 1 each of the Deadbridge Goliath and the Wolfir Avenger (down to 2 each) and go for 4 of experiment one and militant? or put the 2 gravecrawlers back in.
Also, if you're mainboarding that many corpsejack menaces, have you considered Hunger of the Howlpack?
Yeah, it looks hella strong. That's pretty close to what I'd be running if I focused on red. I don't, though, because Boros Reckoners are both 1) necessary and 2) expensive as hell.
I'd run 3-4 madcaps in SB.
Drop the gruul charm and brimstone, bump madcap to 3 and include 3 volcanic strengths for aggro mirror. Mountainwalk is a godsend, I'm saying this from experience. My friend plays Boros aggro and dreads the 2nd and 3rd games because I can side in my volcanic strengths.
Re: Boros Reckoner: look a the damned thing! Turn three, drop the reckoner. Turn four, you're swinging with a 3/3 (potential) first strike which will always, ALWAYS win a fight against another creature. Swagtusk blocks? You can choose to not first strike so that you can eliminate swagtusk AND dome the defending player for 5.
Searing Spear the Reckoner? You just gave the Reckoner's controller a free Searing Spear. Et cetera.
Reckoner is basically impossible for non-black or non-white to remove safely. He's going to do work for you.
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.
I'm curious how you're casting Ruric Thar on turn 3 with a maximum of 5 mana on the board.
If you actually want to drop him turn 3, you'd need to play 2 sources of ramp on turn 2, like a farseek and an arbor elf, two arbor elves, a zhur-taa druid and an arbor elf, elvish archdruid, etc.
Rakdos' Return looks to me like a wincon, not a stopgap.
I'd suggest Devil's Play instead, though, as you get more damage from a single card that way. Kessig Wolf Run is another wincon with all your ramp, and I don't think that Nicol Bolas is a very good fit here. Replace him with Bramblecrush perhaps?
I already have silverblade paladins in there... the Fencing Aces are to get the most mileage out of the various voltron buffs I've got.
Hmm. I could see swapping out the Bonds of Faith for Flails, but the Flail seems a little bit slow (in exchange for being sturdier and not prone to 2-for-1). I'll try it though.
I'd probably ditch the Mentor of the Meeks, and drop the O-ring count to 3, and use 4 Alpha Authority in SB.
4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Fencing Ace
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Hamlet Captain
4 Silverblade Paladin
Enchantments: 15
4 Rancor
4 Ethereal Armor
3 Bonds of Faith
4 Gift of Orzhova
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Temple Garden
8 Plains
1 Gavony Township
4 Knight of Glory
3 Mentor of the Meek
4 Oblivion Ring
4 Rest in Peace
I was mostly inspired by my friend's Boros humans for this deck.
Any ideas or suggestions for the deck? I made it because I wanted to make a deck that abused Ethereal Armor's ridiculous mana efficiency and scaling, so I figured all of the super cheap double strikers ought to do the job. The Overgrown Tombs instead of Forests are for consistency when playing the Gift of Orzhova.
I've been trying it solitaire against my other decks and it's doing extremely well, but... that's solitaire
If you're using red one-drops, there's no real reason to pick the geist over the ash zealot. They both haste for 2 on turn 2, and while the geist does have undying which lends it some resiliency, first strike is a real thing, especially with rancor and GCR.
I like geists too - I'm running four of them in my gruul deck. I've built a more green-heavy mana base, though, so it makes sense to have them in my two-drop slot, since I'll be getting them out on turn 2 consistently. (I also have Ash Zealots, but that's just because I'm having trouble finding my 4th Flinthoof Boar, Wolfir Avenger, and Dryad Militant...)
If you plan on using red one-drops, and Hellrider or Hound, it makes more sense to use zealots than geists.
The closet and the primordial were two things I didn't think about. Revised deck list which has been doing better in solitaire. This deck is actually sort of fun to play, so I'm going to try to keep working on it (it's not too expensive, too, to boot!)
4 Conjurer's Closet
Creatures
4 Arbor Elf
4 Acidic Slime
4 Sylvan Primordial
Sorceries
4 Farseek
3 Demolish
4 Bramblecrush
4 Frenzied Tilling
3 Devil's Play
2 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Stomping Ground
4 Rootbound Crag
2 Kessig Wolf Run
11 Forest
3 Mountain
4 Arbor Elf
4 Acidic Slime
Sorceries
4 Farseek
4 Craterize
4 Demolish
4 Bramblecrush
4 Frenzied Tilling
4 Bonfire of the Damned
4 Devil's Play
12 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
The point is to ramp hard and then use that ramp to dome them with devil's play or miracle'd bonfire (which also sweeps any blockers they might've got out early). I had Dawntreader Elk instead of Arbor Elf in a prior incarnation to thin the deck more and get to the important cards when you draw (because you'll be topdecking a lot with this deck), but I think the arbor elf is better on the curve because of how it helps you ramp, and sticks around as a 1/1 beater (which is actually important...)
The sideboard has more red sweepers for aggro and stuff, but I think the deck needs improvement.
There is literally no synergy between Grafdigger's Cage and Ghost Quarter.
Also you have 6 pillars total between MB and SB.
Finally, you have very, very many spells for an aggro deck. 18 spells and 24 creatures. You'll probably have a lot of opening hands where you don't get the 1 or 2 drops that you need. Consider cutting down on some of the spells for a couple more bodies? You could just give it a shot as-is, of course. It would probably do fine. You'd need to mulligan a lot, but you need to mulligan a lot with aggro anyway.
Aggro has such consistent turn 3/4 wins in this meta that you're solution to aggro has to be a bit better and faster than what's presented here, I think.
As it stands now, with the corpsejacks, your curve is a bit top-heavy to only have 19 land. 6 4 drops and 7 3 drops seems like it would be difficult to manage. Maybe cut back 1 each of the Deadbridge Goliath and the Wolfir Avenger (down to 2 each) and go for 4 of experiment one and militant? or put the 2 gravecrawlers back in.
Also, if you're mainboarding that many corpsejack menaces, have you considered Hunger of the Howlpack?
I'd run 3-4 madcaps in SB.
Drop the gruul charm and brimstone, bump madcap to 3 and include 3 volcanic strengths for aggro mirror. Mountainwalk is a godsend, I'm saying this from experience. My friend plays Boros aggro and dreads the 2nd and 3rd games because I can side in my volcanic strengths.
Re: Boros Reckoner: look a the damned thing! Turn three, drop the reckoner. Turn four, you're swinging with a 3/3 (potential) first strike which will always, ALWAYS win a fight against another creature. Swagtusk blocks? You can choose to not first strike so that you can eliminate swagtusk AND dome the defending player for 5.
Searing Spear the Reckoner? You just gave the Reckoner's controller a free Searing Spear. Et cetera.
Reckoner is basically impossible for non-black or non-white to remove safely. He's going to do work for you.