Seems to me your creature base needs work to become more consistent. This means including 4-ofs of the cards most helpful to you. To me, it looks like Kruin Striker, Riot Ringleader, and maybe Kessig Malcontents should be playsets. I'd also take out the angels. Boros decks are typically meant to be fast, aggressive decks, and those cards A. won't help the other humans in the deck and B. are not really fast or aggressive. Well, Emancipation Angel can be, but you'd lose one of your own creatures for a turn and the WW mana cost can be restrictive.
I'd definitely add 4 Elite Vanguard as well for early pressure. Not sure how well your enchantments work in this situation, but I'd take out Commander's Authority for another Cathar's Crusade. Maybe add Goldnight Commander or Herald of War?
^I'd definitely agree with that. What did DKA bring to the table other than planeswalkers?
As for AVR, besides the planeswalkers I think it'll be about a month before we start seeing it really twist the metagame. There's nothing in there that absolutely screams "I'm competitive, make a deck out of me!" but there are a lot of fun-looking cards that could morph into strong decks with a bit of brainstorming.
I'd ditch the Sacred Wolf for Wolfir Avenger. Its a combat trick, survives mass destruction, and is overall a pretty spectacular card. Sacred Wolf is good, but that 1 toughness really doesn't help it much IMO. I can see the mana cost being an issue though, and for that you may need to invest in some birds, as someone already mentioned. I could also see you subbing out the 6-mana cards for some extra burn like Incinerate.
I'm actually surprised Wolf Run is still as cheap as it is. Its definitely a great card to have in the deck.
I run a deck pretty similar to this one. First, if you're not going to run reliable duals, then Unburial Rites and Sheoldred should be out of there. I've had very few good experiences running 3-color decks without great duals.
Definitely get another Tracker's Instincts, and replace the Looters with 4 Screeching Skaab. You don't have to wait a turn for them to hit the table and you don't have to worry about whether you should chump block with them. Replace the Pilgrims with Llanowar Elves (or Birds of Paradise if you can get 'em. Seriously, a playset of those helps any deck with green that you'll ever have). I'd also add some control elements just to keep the deck running as smooth as possible. Something like Aether Adept?
Also, Dawntreader Elk is not that great. The Mulch and Elves pairing should be all the acceleration you need.
Sheoldred is, I think, too slow for this deck. Since you'll be dumping a lot of lands into the graveyard, she probably won't see play often enough and won't be as useful as you'd like.
Hey guys. Haven't made a thread here in a looooong time. Been lurking these past few years, but I'm a poor college student now and I've been looking more and more into budget deckbuilding. So a card that really struck me in the spoiler for AVR was Demonic Taskmaster. I love efficient beaters like this one, but it was going to need some creatures to put on some early pressure before this guy hit the table, so I thought why not add some creatures that don't mind dying? Add in some morbid cards for creature removal and Archwing Dragon to deal that last bit of damage and you should get a deck that's pretty speedy.
Okay, admittedly the manabase isn't very budget, I just accumulated the M12 duals over several years through buying/trading and the Blackcleaves were gotten through trades. They can easily be swapped out for 3 of each basic land type. Excluding the duals though this deck can be made for my definition of "budget," which is less than $20. Prices are a combination of midrange tcgplayer prices and what prices my store sold them at.
Card explanations: Goblin Arsonist, Perilous Myr: Cards that are okay with dying to the taskmaster Fume Spitter: Early delver removal Grim Lavamancer: Good late-game way to put those sacrificed cards to good use Lightning Mauler: brings on early-game pressure if you get him out with a one-drop and can help the taskmaster swing early as well. Demonic Taskmaster: The centerpiece of the deck, really. Archwing Dragon: The synergy with the taskmaster and the card advantage of having a recurring source of damage (with evasion!) is too good to pass up. Tragic Slip, Brimstone Volley: Good removal that synergizes with the taskmaster Incinerate, Arc Trail: Extra burn Killing Wave, Whipflare: Good way to get rid of tokens and humans. Killing wave works especially well since you don't have as many creatures to risk as those decks will.
First of all, welcome back to the game! I've been trying to build a competitive bloodthirst deck as well, so I hope this advice helps.
Scratch that, the real first thing's first is that you need better ways of getting bloodthirst creatures online ASAP and you need to do it for cheap. The Fireslingers and the Arsonist are good starts, but adding Tormented Soul to your cheap one-drop pool should do wonders. Its unblockable, so you'll always be hitting for one, which is almost guaranteed bloodthirst. Next, Child of Night doesn't help the main theme of your deck, and you want to have something big to play your next turn with your fancy new Fireslinger, Arsonist, or Soul. So adding bloodthirsty two-drops like Stormblood Berserker and Duskhunter Bats will help your cause more. Plus, they both have some kind of evasion, meaning that after those pitiful 1/1's die, you'll still have something swinging and something to enable bloodthirst.
I don't like Bloodrage Vampire. I'd replace it either with Blood Ogre, which gets the ever-useful first strike. Maybe run in with Porcelain Legionnaire. It costs you two life, but its worth it.
For the 4-drop bloodthirst guy, it depends on whether you value a 5/5 vanilla creature or a 4/4 lifelinker. You could go with either Vampire Outcasts or Gorehorn Minotaurs for this slot. I think it'll depend on personal preference.
Take out the Bloodlords and the Hellkite. These kind of decks are geared to be fast and aggressive, and the Hellkite won't be coming out anytime soon, especially with only one in the deck. The Bloodlords are nearly useless since you don't have enough vampires to really take advantage of them.
Both of your artifacts are too slow and can't deal with creatures that are in the way. Lightning Bolt, Gut Shot, Shock, and Doom Blade will be much more helpful.
Sorin's also kinda slow for a planeswalker in this deck. Ideally you want the game over by turn 5. Chandra, the Firebrand, while more expensive ($$ wise), is a better option.
There's a lot of debate whether you should run a massive amount of pump spells, or go heavier on the creatures... but PERSONALLY - id rather have a hand full of pump to protect my fewer creatures and provide power when needed. I would NOT want a hand full of creatures, because they're all sub par by themselves (and most likely won't win you the game).
ALSO, there was RG infect deck that went top 16(?) @ PT Paris - the list looked strange, though.
Not seeing it on the M:tG site. Have a decklist?
EDIT: of course, right as I was typing that, I found it. Agree its a very odd list, but it got to the top 16! I think making Infect standard-viable has gotten slightly easier with Besieged, but it still has a way to go. Great FNM decks though.
I'm REALLY liking Karsten's Battle Cry version of the deck. I haven't missed Stoneforge Mystic at all, though I do think that Outfitters would be good in the side against board-sweepers. Still working with it. Signal Pest is the BOMB.
I really like infect. Combining the (nearly useless) poisonous/old poison mechanic with wither and making the amount of poison counters equal to a creature's power was a very smart move. I'd say it is different than "just another life total," because, as others said, poison can't be removed, and opens up new ideas in deckbuilding. Suddenly, cards that give your opponent life have no drawbacks! Suddenly, single-target pump is more useful!
I mean, infect creatures are still fairly weak outside of the rare cards (Plauge Stinger and Necropede being the only exceptions), so no one really has to worry about infect dominating everything unless they have no answers for creatures. Honestly, the only issue with infect is that MBS didn't have more of it, and sort of diluted its importance to the Phyrexian side. Scars Phyrexia seemed to be all about poison. MBS sort of tossed it to the wayside a bit in favor of more classic-style "evil" cards.
Plus, its perfect for a guy like me who can't afford those Titans and 2.0 Jace and would prefer to run something different than one of the five big decks in standard.
I see a few lists running Plague Myr to accelerate into Vatmother. I'm all for the basic idea of rushing into a big fattie, but wouldn't Sphere of the Suns be a better option in case you don't have the two black mana you need? I mean, the myr's pretty fragile.
I don't think Tezz has any place in a UB infect deck unless you build around him like Borgua did. Even then, a slagstorm wipes your army away 99% of the time.
There was a UB Infect thread a while back, and going by everything that thread said and my own playtesting, Livewire Lash is way too slow. Really cool idea, but slow. The Rebound cards like Distortion Strike and fast creatures are THE way to go with this deck. Midrange strategies just doesn't get your opponents dead fast enough Not even Skithyrix. I've found proliferate isn't really worth it either. Wish I could playtest it more, but I haven't had much time for Magic with school, and I left my decks back home in another state
Your deck is really doing that well without any Doom Blades or Mana Leaks in the main? I feel that Doom Blade has been pretty essential, esp. compared to the spellbomb.
Interesting idea, OP, and I'm in favor of anything that uses metalcraft to its advantage, but I do see some problems:
-Chimeric Mass. Early in the game you want to be putting down easy artifacts to help the metalcraft count or disrupt your opponent by counterburn. Chimeric Mass helps with the early artifact count, but won't be too useful once the force hits. Reduce to maybe a 2/3 of.
-Take out Contagion Clasp. Pretty useless.
-Needs more Lightning Bolt. Maybe Galvanic Blast too.
-Mana Leak replace Stoic Rebuttal. Mostly for early counterspells in case they try and plop something down with more than 5 toughness, and if they do, they probably won't have the 3 mana to stop it. I don't think relying on metalcraft to turn cancel into counterspell is wise, esp. with the lack of fetches.
-I support the Khalni Gem choice of PhoenixM. You can play it right before you start letting the sphinxes and phoenixes hit, and allows you to recover nicely after the force, or to help you ramp into the force as well.
-Take out the wurmcoil for another effigy.
-Jace 2.0 is a good start, but I feel some more card advantage is necessary as well. Preordain?
I haven't playtested this, obviously, but it has the makings of a good FNM deck.
I'd definitely add 4 Elite Vanguard as well for early pressure. Not sure how well your enchantments work in this situation, but I'd take out Commander's Authority for another Cathar's Crusade. Maybe add Goldnight Commander or Herald of War?
As for AVR, besides the planeswalkers I think it'll be about a month before we start seeing it really twist the metagame. There's nothing in there that absolutely screams "I'm competitive, make a deck out of me!" but there are a lot of fun-looking cards that could morph into strong decks with a bit of brainstorming.
I'm actually surprised Wolf Run is still as cheap as it is. Its definitely a great card to have in the deck.
Definitely get another Tracker's Instincts, and replace the Looters with 4 Screeching Skaab. You don't have to wait a turn for them to hit the table and you don't have to worry about whether you should chump block with them. Replace the Pilgrims with Llanowar Elves (or Birds of Paradise if you can get 'em. Seriously, a playset of those helps any deck with green that you'll ever have). I'd also add some control elements just to keep the deck running as smooth as possible. Something like Aether Adept?
Also, Dawntreader Elk is not that great. The Mulch and Elves pairing should be all the acceleration you need.
Sheoldred is, I think, too slow for this deck. Since you'll be dumping a lot of lands into the graveyard, she probably won't see play often enough and won't be as useful as you'd like.
2 Fume Spitter ($.20)
4 Goblin Arsonist ($.40)
2 Grim Lavamancer ($6.00)
3 Perilous Myr ($.30)
4 Lightning Mauler ($1.00)
4 Demonic Taskmaster ($1.00)
2 Archwing Dragon ($2.00)
4 Incinerate ($.60)
4 Brimstone Volley ($.80)
2 Killing Wave ($3.00)
2 Whipflare ($2.00)
3 Tragic Slip ($.75)
2 Arc Trail ($.50)
4 Dragonskull Summit ($16.00)
2 Blackcleave Cliffs ($12.00)
5 Swamp
11 Mountain
Okay, admittedly the manabase isn't very budget, I just accumulated the M12 duals over several years through buying/trading and the Blackcleaves were gotten through trades. They can easily be swapped out for 3 of each basic land type. Excluding the duals though this deck can be made for my definition of "budget," which is less than $20. Prices are a combination of midrange tcgplayer prices and what prices my store sold them at.
Card explanations:
Goblin Arsonist, Perilous Myr: Cards that are okay with dying to the taskmaster
Fume Spitter: Early delver removal
Grim Lavamancer: Good late-game way to put those sacrificed cards to good use
Lightning Mauler: brings on early-game pressure if you get him out with a one-drop and can help the taskmaster swing early as well.
Demonic Taskmaster: The centerpiece of the deck, really.
Archwing Dragon: The synergy with the taskmaster and the card advantage of having a recurring source of damage (with evasion!) is too good to pass up.
Tragic Slip, Brimstone Volley: Good removal that synergizes with the taskmaster
Incinerate, Arc Trail: Extra burn
Killing Wave, Whipflare: Good way to get rid of tokens and humans. Killing wave works especially well since you don't have as many creatures to risk as those decks will.
What do you guys think?
Scratch that, the real first thing's first is that you need better ways of getting bloodthirst creatures online ASAP and you need to do it for cheap. The Fireslingers and the Arsonist are good starts, but adding Tormented Soul to your cheap one-drop pool should do wonders. Its unblockable, so you'll always be hitting for one, which is almost guaranteed bloodthirst. Next, Child of Night doesn't help the main theme of your deck, and you want to have something big to play your next turn with your fancy new Fireslinger, Arsonist, or Soul. So adding bloodthirsty two-drops like Stormblood Berserker and Duskhunter Bats will help your cause more. Plus, they both have some kind of evasion, meaning that after those pitiful 1/1's die, you'll still have something swinging and something to enable bloodthirst.
I don't like Bloodrage Vampire. I'd replace it either with Blood Ogre, which gets the ever-useful first strike. Maybe run in with Porcelain Legionnaire. It costs you two life, but its worth it.
For the 4-drop bloodthirst guy, it depends on whether you value a 5/5 vanilla creature or a 4/4 lifelinker. You could go with either Vampire Outcasts or Gorehorn Minotaurs for this slot. I think it'll depend on personal preference.
Take out the Bloodlords and the Hellkite. These kind of decks are geared to be fast and aggressive, and the Hellkite won't be coming out anytime soon, especially with only one in the deck. The Bloodlords are nearly useless since you don't have enough vampires to really take advantage of them.
Both of your artifacts are too slow and can't deal with creatures that are in the way. Lightning Bolt, Gut Shot, Shock, and Doom Blade will be much more helpful.
Sorin's also kinda slow for a planeswalker in this deck. Ideally you want the game over by turn 5. Chandra, the Firebrand, while more expensive ($$ wise), is a better option.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Not seeing it on the M:tG site. Have a decklist?
EDIT: of course, right as I was typing that, I found it. Agree its a very odd list, but it got to the top 16! I think making Infect standard-viable has gotten slightly easier with Besieged, but it still has a way to go. Great FNM decks though.
I mean, infect creatures are still fairly weak outside of the rare cards (Plauge Stinger and Necropede being the only exceptions), so no one really has to worry about infect dominating everything unless they have no answers for creatures. Honestly, the only issue with infect is that MBS didn't have more of it, and sort of diluted its importance to the Phyrexian side. Scars Phyrexia seemed to be all about poison. MBS sort of tossed it to the wayside a bit in favor of more classic-style "evil" cards.
Plus, its perfect for a guy like me who can't afford those Titans and 2.0 Jace and would prefer to run something different than one of the five big decks in standard.
I don't think Tezz has any place in a UB infect deck unless you build around him like Borgua did. Even then, a slagstorm wipes your army away 99% of the time.
Here's my pre-besieged UB infect list:
4 Ichorclaw Myr
4 Plague Stinger
4 Necropede
4 Ichor Rats
4 Hand of the Praetors
4 Distortion Strike
4 Duress
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
Now after:
4 Phyrexian Vatmother
4 Necropede
4 Phyrexian Crusader
4 Distortion Strike
4 Duress
4 Mana Leak
4 Doom Blade (will replace with Go for the Throat soon, I think)
4 Sphere of the Suns
4 Flight Spellbomb
The new one needs testing, obviously, but it should be fun.
Trample and haste > indestructable equipment.
-Chimeric Mass. Early in the game you want to be putting down easy artifacts to help the metalcraft count or disrupt your opponent by counterburn. Chimeric Mass helps with the early artifact count, but won't be too useful once the force hits. Reduce to maybe a 2/3 of.
-Take out Contagion Clasp. Pretty useless.
-Needs more Lightning Bolt. Maybe Galvanic Blast too.
-Mana Leak replace Stoic Rebuttal. Mostly for early counterspells in case they try and plop something down with more than 5 toughness, and if they do, they probably won't have the 3 mana to stop it. I don't think relying on metalcraft to turn cancel into counterspell is wise, esp. with the lack of fetches.
-I support the Khalni Gem choice of PhoenixM. You can play it right before you start letting the sphinxes and phoenixes hit, and allows you to recover nicely after the force, or to help you ramp into the force as well.
-Take out the wurmcoil for another effigy.
-Jace 2.0 is a good start, but I feel some more card advantage is necessary as well. Preordain?
I haven't playtested this, obviously, but it has the makings of a good FNM deck.