I think Lotus Cobra deserves a place as it ramps you from 3-5 and has great synergy with Gitrog if your extra land is also a fetchland. To deal with hate I think Nature's Claim, Natural State, Maelstrom Pulse are all necessary.
I'm wondering though if the glass cannon version is better though than building a more reliable combo-control deck - without blue you're very susceptible to counterspells and graveyard hate.
I was thinking of trying it in duel commander Radha as the +1/0 is useful (and non-negligible there), its an instant so you can make use of Radha's RR mana, and it cascades.
Radha aside the card has fringe uses for Living End or Hypergenesis as another 3 cmc cascade option. Otherwise in EDH Bloodbraid Elf and Shardless Agent are better as they are always useable two for ones.
For competitive boros I think the mono-color decks viable in legacy (Death and Taxes and Imperial Painter) are the best starting points. To compete with Storm, Hermit Druid, other combo decks you really need to play hate cards (of which Boros has access to some of the best). The formula is then I think:
Acceleration - sol lands, Simian Spirit Guide, moxes, Ring/Crypt, etc.
Hate - Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Ethersworn Canonist, Rest in Peace, Containment Priest, Hushwing Gryff, Torpor Orb, Cataclysm, Armageddon etc.
Cheap Interaction - Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Lightning Bolt, Swords/Path, Strip Mine, etc.
Win Condition - usually your general ...
Where Boros is most lacking is in its access to cards that can quickly end the game - its generals are too high mana cost to be effective, aggro is by nature very slow in finishing off games in multiplayer EDH, and it doesn't have great access to tutorable combos that can kill all opponents (like Painter's Servant/Grindstone in Legacy).
Honestly I think that the Gitrog Monster is a playable for almost any archtype: combo, midrange, stax, lands, aggro, as his abilities are strong, always useful, and he creates a lot of card advantage for himself without needing to adjust your decklist that much.
So to answer your question I think he can do a great job as general of a stax deck.
I really like the angel - art, flavor and abilities are all spot on. And it has room for some brewing potential too - Assault Formation in standard, Mirrorweave or donating it in EDH.
And for RDW as some others have mentioned this card is potentially better than Thunderbreak Regent because of haste and the extra point of toughness. Not dying to Languish is also highly relevant. Depending on the metagame it can see play in the mainboard in standard and be very good there, but in any case this will be a great sideboard card.
Sorry about that, I missed the link to your most recent decklist and didn't see it mentioned in the thread or OP hence my question:)
What are your thoughts on the newly spoiled angel? 4/5 flying haste seems pretty good although the drawback is pretty severe if you're facing another aggro deck
Have you ever tried playing Fiery Confluence? It's pretty flexible in dealing with artifacts or for dealing with low toughness creatures on the board but in any case it can always be six to the dome.
I really like Sin Prodder for Marchesa as well. It either stops you from flooding (top card was a land), or does some free damage/draws you cards. Although it is a punisher mechanic, as a vanilla creature it passes the test and your opponent doesn't have that much to choose - both drawing cards and the damage further your gameplan. It also helps to fuel graveyard synergies (it's particularly good with delve).
Has anyone ever tried Ire Shaman? It's a 2/1 with menace on turn two or later on it becomes a 3/2 menace with a +1/+1 counter and draw a card (nearly) for 4. In the same vein there's Stratus Dancer - solid two drop and good later but it's less proactive.
Okay, I'm really interested in running this or a very similar list as I've fallen in love with how it works. (thanks for the response btw)
My meta is very much less competitive than yours and I'd be interested in running sunforger and some of the associated package (you've already got some really good stuff in here). Is there something you'd cut for it or recommend to cut?
Secondly, why not just run both Rabblemaster and Kalitas? Considering they seemingly have a different role in the list? Rabbles is really aggressive and Kali is grave hate and eventually get's really ig or makes a bunch of 2/2's. You could run both, which would give you an aggro matron choice for fetching.
Also I agree with dropping displacer for resto, plus kiki combo + resto feels really good.
In a less competitive meta I would cut Cataclysm and some of the combo pieces (Teysa, Loyal Retainers, Murderous Redcap) as they are not as good if you're not comboing out. You could also consider cutting out some additional tutors to create some additional space. The hatebears are meta-dependent but I would imagine in slower metas they can be an even greater help in stopping people from durdling around with tutors or excessive card draw. And other than that I would make some substitutions like removing Vindicate for the new Anguished Unmaking or Utter End.
I think the difficulty is that the decklist is incredibly cramped for space so that I try to only exchange cards in the decklist that have the same function to maintain balance. Goblin Rabblemaster is a great card so I can definitely see re-adding it in the future. I forgot to add but there's also Goblin Sharpshooter for Goblin Matron to fetch.
I think Relentless Dead could easily be amazing with just 5-6 other zombies and perhaps the inclusion of Demonic Tutor - because of evasion it stays relevant much longer than Bloodghast and with any other zombie it can becomes a 3 for 1 multiple times over. I was just looking at other zombies that could be potential includes (you already have 3): Withered Wretch - maindeckable graveyard hate Slavering Nulls - is a specter without evasion in this deck Sangrophage - 3/3 for 2 with lifeloss Phyrexian Scuta - 5/5 for 4 with 3 lifeloss attached and 2 given +1/+1 counters Lifebane Zombie - heavily dependent on the metagame, but 3/1 intimidate + great ETB ability in certain matchups might be worth trying Geralf's Messenger - mana cost may be tricky but it hits the opponent for two on ETB and undying works amazingly well with Marchesa Dreadwing - 1 cmc card which can fly over for four damage, good mana sink Anathemancer - it has a good ETB ability, it comes back with unearth and would be a good target for recursion with Marchesa Blood Scrivener - situational card draw so I think it wouldn't make the cut
And have you ever tried Pyreheart Wolf? It also has great synergy with Marchesa although its a bit weak on its own. In addition I was wondering what you thought of Mirri the Cursed compared to Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch. I saw you had Exava in your list before, did you have any specific reason for taking it out? Is the evasion worth more than the potential +1/1 counter on ETB plus granting haste to a bunch of other creatures in your list?
I want to build Marchesa as a paper duel commander deck as I have enjoyed it a lot in multiplayer and I think it has a lot of potential to be one of the premier aggro generals. What really interests me about Marchesa is this constant balancing of doing early damage with triggering dethrone once you drop Marchesa.
I'm looking at playing slightly less creatures and lands (particularly a bit less of the weaker 1/2 drops) to include some more interaction and some of the more powerful spells in the color. A bit more burn and cheap removal options also give the option to play Snapcaster Mage to better effect as well as delve spells, which can be a great addition here I think. I also think painful truths looks very good here as 3 life loss on turn 3 should allow you to trigger dethrone on turn 4.
For the tainted lands I think you could remove the checklands - they are pretty close in power level and the tainted lands at least always ETB untapped. Adding colorless should give enough sources to play at least Thought-Knot Seer which is really insane, especially when you are able to recur it.
With 40 lands I would imagine you get flooded easily, so Wandering Fumarole can be a good mana sink even if it does ETB tapped.
I have never been impressed with pain seer - it's body is ok but the ability is very difficult to trigger and takes at least two turns plus needing it to survive combat unless you have a haste outlet. Asylum Visitor seems much better - it's a great top deck as you'll usually be out of cards by the mid game, and madness has good synergy with new Olivia and Liliana of the Veil.
With even a couple of zombies in the list I think Relentless Dead will also be very good as it self recurs and can randomly recur another zombie if you have one. In any case because of its evasion it's never a dead card and it can become an engine all by itself.
Have you ever tried Eidolon of the Great Revel?
Have you ever tried Reckless Spite / Ashes to Ashes? They give a lot of lifeloss and are a 2 for 1 - I'm just not sure how often the targeting restriction comes up in duel commander. Also Vendetta could be another good 1 cmc removal option. Serendib Efreet also seems pretty good as a 3-drop, the one life can make the difference between turning on dethrone on turn 4 and its a 3 power flier for 3. Maybe better than Taurean Mauler? Similarly Prophetic Flamespeaker doesn't synergize greatly with Marchesa on turn 4, but with dethrone activated it does attack for 4 and it can draw cards too.
I was also wondering if you had ever thought about Fiery Confluence - six damage can be game-ending and it can also in a pinch wipe your opponents board or get rid of troublesome artifacts. Its four mana which is a lot but it offers a lot of reach while not being a dead card like Price of Progress if you're behind.
I've used Hellraiser Goblin in multiplayer Marchesa to good effect as haste is just so powerful even if sometimes you run your creatures into the ground. That said if you active dethrone that doesn't really need to be such a problem.
If you manage to stick Kira and Marchesa and get a dethrone counter on Kira on turn 4 it becomes very difficult for your opponent to deal with your board. I would put it above Hypnotic Specter, Taurean Mauler and Mardu Strike Leader in your list. It's kind of like True-Name Nemesis - evasion + hard to deal with.
I searched the thread but only saw two posts on Kira which were inconclusive to me - is there a reason you took it out of the list? It flies, it curves nicely into Marchesa and protects all your creatures from spot removal. And your decklist doesn't really have any of the associated negative synergies with respect to equipment or similar abilities.
In addition I was wondering if you had ever tried to gear the manabase to include a couple more colorless producing lands so that you can include some of the eldrazi creatures. You already have ten lands producing colorless so I think you would only need maybe 3 more to be able to play Matter Reshaper, Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher reasonably consistently, which all seem great here.
Have you tried Wandering Fumarole?
Edit: Tainted Isle / Tainted Peak could be easy additions which produce colored plus colorless mana. Others could be Tendo Ice Bridge (not sure how viable that would be with the heavy colored mana costs) and more utility lands.
Culling Dais and Shivan Harvest are cards I'd forgotten about - thanks for reminding me. I like Shivan Harvest especially as destroying a non-basic land is definitely a powerful ability on a sac outlet.
I'm not a fan of Humble Defector as I think it's a bit too cute as without a sac outlet it's bad and without Yasova it's only mediocre.
I'm wondering though if the glass cannon version is better though than building a more reliable combo-control deck - without blue you're very susceptible to counterspells and graveyard hate.
Radha aside the card has fringe uses for Living End or Hypergenesis as another 3 cmc cascade option. Otherwise in EDH Bloodbraid Elf and Shardless Agent are better as they are always useable two for ones.
Acceleration - sol lands, Simian Spirit Guide, moxes, Ring/Crypt, etc.
Hate - Blood Moon, Magus of the Moon, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Ethersworn Canonist, Rest in Peace, Containment Priest, Hushwing Gryff, Torpor Orb, Cataclysm, Armageddon etc.
Cheap Interaction - Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, Lightning Bolt, Swords/Path, Strip Mine, etc.
Win Condition - usually your general ...
Where Boros is most lacking is in its access to cards that can quickly end the game - its generals are too high mana cost to be effective, aggro is by nature very slow in finishing off games in multiplayer EDH, and it doesn't have great access to tutorable combos that can kill all opponents (like Painter's Servant/Grindstone in Legacy).
So to answer your question I think he can do a great job as general of a stax deck.
And for RDW as some others have mentioned this card is potentially better than Thunderbreak Regent because of haste and the extra point of toughness. Not dying to Languish is also highly relevant. Depending on the metagame it can see play in the mainboard in standard and be very good there, but in any case this will be a great sideboard card.
What are your thoughts on the newly spoiled angel? 4/5 flying haste seems pretty good although the drawback is pretty severe if you're facing another aggro deck
Has anyone ever tried Ire Shaman? It's a 2/1 with menace on turn two or later on it becomes a 3/2 menace with a +1/+1 counter and draw a card (nearly) for 4. In the same vein there's Stratus Dancer - solid two drop and good later but it's less proactive.
Pitiless Horde could be a potential 3/4 drop as well.
In a less competitive meta I would cut Cataclysm and some of the combo pieces (Teysa, Loyal Retainers, Murderous Redcap) as they are not as good if you're not comboing out. You could also consider cutting out some additional tutors to create some additional space. The hatebears are meta-dependent but I would imagine in slower metas they can be an even greater help in stopping people from durdling around with tutors or excessive card draw. And other than that I would make some substitutions like removing Vindicate for the new Anguished Unmaking or Utter End.
I think the difficulty is that the decklist is incredibly cramped for space so that I try to only exchange cards in the decklist that have the same function to maintain balance. Goblin Rabblemaster is a great card so I can definitely see re-adding it in the future. I forgot to add but there's also Goblin Sharpshooter for Goblin Matron to fetch.
Nahiri, the Harbinger definitely looks good.
Withered Wretch - maindeckable graveyard hate
Slavering Nulls - is a specter without evasion in this deck
Sangrophage - 3/3 for 2 with lifeloss
Phyrexian Scuta - 5/5 for 4 with 3 lifeloss attached and 2 given +1/+1 counters
Lifebane Zombie - heavily dependent on the metagame, but 3/1 intimidate + great ETB ability in certain matchups might be worth trying
Geralf's Messenger - mana cost may be tricky but it hits the opponent for two on ETB and undying works amazingly well with Marchesa
Dreadwing - 1 cmc card which can fly over for four damage, good mana sink
Anathemancer - it has a good ETB ability, it comes back with unearth and would be a good target for recursion with Marchesa
Blood Scrivener - situational card draw so I think it wouldn't make the cut
Of these I think Phyrexian Scuta, Lifebane Zombie (if metagame is favorable), Geralf's Messenger and Sangrophage especially have potential as they all have synergies with Marchesa (through lifeloss, counters and or ETB effects).
And have you ever tried Pyreheart Wolf? It also has great synergy with Marchesa although its a bit weak on its own. In addition I was wondering what you thought of Mirri the Cursed compared to Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch. I saw you had Exava in your list before, did you have any specific reason for taking it out? Is the evasion worth more than the potential +1/1 counter on ETB plus granting haste to a bunch of other creatures in your list?
I'm looking at playing slightly less creatures and lands (particularly a bit less of the weaker 1/2 drops) to include some more interaction and some of the more powerful spells in the color. A bit more burn and cheap removal options also give the option to play Snapcaster Mage to better effect as well as delve spells, which can be a great addition here I think. I also think painful truths looks very good here as 3 life loss on turn 3 should allow you to trigger dethrone on turn 4.
For the tainted lands I think you could remove the checklands - they are pretty close in power level and the tainted lands at least always ETB untapped. Adding colorless should give enough sources to play at least Thought-Knot Seer which is really insane, especially when you are able to recur it.
With 40 lands I would imagine you get flooded easily, so Wandering Fumarole can be a good mana sink even if it does ETB tapped.
I have never been impressed with pain seer - it's body is ok but the ability is very difficult to trigger and takes at least two turns plus needing it to survive combat unless you have a haste outlet. Asylum Visitor seems much better - it's a great top deck as you'll usually be out of cards by the mid game, and madness has good synergy with new Olivia and Liliana of the Veil.
With even a couple of zombies in the list I think Relentless Dead will also be very good as it self recurs and can randomly recur another zombie if you have one. In any case because of its evasion it's never a dead card and it can become an engine all by itself.
Have you ever tried Eidolon of the Great Revel?
Serendib Efreet also seems pretty good as a 3-drop, the one life can make the difference between turning on dethrone on turn 4 and its a 3 power flier for 3. Maybe better than Taurean Mauler? Similarly Prophetic Flamespeaker doesn't synergize greatly with Marchesa on turn 4, but with dethrone activated it does attack for 4 and it can draw cards too.
I was also wondering if you had ever thought about Fiery Confluence - six damage can be game-ending and it can also in a pinch wipe your opponents board or get rid of troublesome artifacts. Its four mana which is a lot but it offers a lot of reach while not being a dead card like Price of Progress if you're behind.
I've used Hellraiser Goblin in multiplayer Marchesa to good effect as haste is just so powerful even if sometimes you run your creatures into the ground. That said if you active dethrone that doesn't really need to be such a problem.
In addition I was wondering if you had ever tried to gear the manabase to include a couple more colorless producing lands so that you can include some of the eldrazi creatures. You already have ten lands producing colorless so I think you would only need maybe 3 more to be able to play Matter Reshaper, Thought-Knot Seer and Reality Smasher reasonably consistently, which all seem great here.
Have you tried Wandering Fumarole?
Edit: Tainted Isle / Tainted Peak could be easy additions which produce colored plus colorless mana. Others could be Tendo Ice Bridge (not sure how viable that would be with the heavy colored mana costs) and more utility lands.
Culling Dais and Shivan Harvest are cards I'd forgotten about - thanks for reminding me. I like Shivan Harvest especially as destroying a non-basic land is definitely a powerful ability on a sac outlet.
I'm not a fan of Humble Defector as I think it's a bit too cute as without a sac outlet it's bad and without Yasova it's only mediocre.