Splashing white with the Confluences and the basics certainly is an interesting concept (and easy to pull off with Dryad Militant, I'd almost consider doing Sacred foundrys instead of mountains rather than your choice of Temple Gardens instead of forests but either should work). Might be something worth considering, I'm going to playtest mine at FNM tomorrow as well to get a feel for it.
Curious as to why you think the Warhound is worthy over a pump spell? Costs 3 mana, has to be done sorcery speed to get the damage through, and is abysmal against Boros Reckoners. Maybe if the deck ran Prophetic Flamespeaker (if only....) but I think I'd rather have a Titan's Strength in that spot... you certainly have enough creatures, especially if you're cutting the Lightning Strikes (another potentially questionable choice imo).
I think we initially thought of removing forests for Temple gardens because it gives us 8 white sources while not conflicting with the red sources for casting Boros charm. so 8 white sources Counting confluences and 10 red sources (not counting confluences). If you used mountains and kept your basic forests it would give you the same white count but lower your red count to 8 (not counting confluences).
The thought process on warhound was that it can pump my guys and give me resilience to wipes. and can be put on the 0/5 Ox from U/W control or be put on heavy butts from other midrange decks. When they boardwipe with verdict, you still get it back. It just sticks around longer and at 2 CC is easier to cast as a creature compared to maaka.
The reasoning for pulling out lightning strikes is they were always going to the head and is what I was siding out for skullcracks anyways. So I pulled those for madcap skills. When I played madcap skills it got me 6 damage every time.....and that was mostly against a heavy control deck with mass spot removal..
We also discussed putting boros Reckoners in the side but I personally do not think that is needed.
I went 3-1 last night losing to u/w control. Beat June monsters, American control and bant enchantress? After reviewing the list with my friend that beat me in round 4, I think I am making a few changes.
-4 rubblebelt maaka
-3 lightning strike
+3 madcap skills
+4 mogis warhound
-4 forest
+4 temple garden
+4 boros charm (sideboard-1 madcap skills)
I need to make room for at least 3 destructive revelry in the sideboard but not sure what to remove just yet.
I still have great threat density with 33 creatures and unless they board in the sweeper (which most do not even side at the moment) I can help negate a bit of their spot removal.
I do bring in Madcap skills vs light removal decks. It just depends on how much faster I am than them. On the play, I do not think Monsters (jund, r/g) can recover fast enough so the madcapskills is not as needed. I do side it in on the draw though. vs aggresive matches, I like madcap b/c it can connect over multiple turns and creates a tension on your opponent to answer it before he/she continues to try and race.
The most amazing thing about the 1 mana bloodrushers is that you can still drop a threat and progress the board while either saving your creature and killing theirs (courser with a 4 toughness butt I am looking at you) or putting some serious damage towards their 20 life.
In what matches do the Legion Loyalists get sided in and what do they replace?
They are useful in dodging Elspeth tokens but I personally have them for siding in against packrat tokens and the aggro matchups. I side out firedrinker satyr for them.
I have also incorporated some of Pvtjet's ideas into my list after testing some last night. I still like my main deck. It is faster which is what I always want game 1 but I switched up my sideboard quite a bit.
I like the scout and madcap skills vs burn and black devotion.
If I can stay under the radar a bit at my store then I think this deck is gonna earn a lot of store credit for me over the next few weeks. The only things I am super affraid of are the black and red 3 mana board wipes which are currently nonexistent in my meta. Everyone is all about JUNK, U/W, ESPER and G/B. Very few R/W Burn but I expect that to change (although I match up well to it).
Looks pretty good. I might try the scout over Dryad militant and run madcap skills over slaughter horn. We will see. Or maybe just have the scouts in the board to cover super heavy spot removal matchups.
I am playing tomorrow at my local shop. I'll test a bit before tourney starts and see how it works out.
1. The deck is actually about even but a little heavier on red as far as mana symbols is concerned.
2. I haven't tried flamespeaker because I wanted 2 my curve at 2 to flood the board and be swinging for lethal turn 4 always.
3. Mana confluence are extremely important. I didn't want to play the temples because with 18 land you really can not afford a tapped land on turns 1 2 or 3.
4. I played GB twice. You have to make sure you are saving your pumps for when they tap out or target weakest or hybrid creatures (to avoid ultimate price). They honestly are just too slow with ultimate price and downfall being their main removal game 1. I side in 3 Rangers guile and 2 mending touch game 2 and 3.
5. No madcap skills because the 1 mana pump spells trump it on curve and the rampage bloodrush is better in most situations. Also so much enchantment removal. Same reason saito isn't running it in his RB aggro list.
6. If I was running madcap skills I would probably run glade cover scout over experiment one but I just think experiment one is better overall especially with 8 2 drops that turn it into a 3 power.
So tonight I went 5-0 at my FNM. Absolutely destroying everyone I played again. I even had a turn 3 kill.....that is correct. TURN 3!!! I don't have any close major tournaments or I would take this in a heartbeat.
Hello all. I have been playing monogreen aggro for some time now but lately have been wanting to branch into red for the reach it provides. I have had many games lately where I can get my opoonent down to within 3-4 life and not be able to push through the last little bit of damage before they recover. Here is the list I am currently working with. Has anyone seen a list online that can shed some light on what I am attempting?
It has shown consistent and I mean consistent 6 to 8 power on turn 2. Both firefist striker and brushstrider help evolve experiment one to a 3/3 and when I do not get BTE opening hands, I can still manage 2 turn 2 2/2's bringing me to 6 power.
Match 1: 2-0 against a G/W homebrew
First game he couldn't draw a land with 3 on the board. Turned Ember Swallower monstrous and that was that. I really like Nykthos with that card. Even if the game went longer, I felt safe after saccing my lands with all the devotion from the deck.
Match 2: 2-1 against RDW
I was able to stall him game 1 with a Reckoner and then a dragon and phoenix won the game. He took game 2 on the play. Game 3 dragged a bit longer with a Weird and Ember Swallower holding it down until I played Aurelia. She ate a mortars pretty quick but the attack was worth it. Probably going to move her to the sideboard or just cut her all together. The game was over when I played my 7th land with him on 4. Ember Swallower is a house. Never drew Anger of the Gods
Match 3: 2-1 against Esper Control
He took the first game after pretty much answering everything I played. Double Blind Obedience extorted me to death with an Aetherling out lol.
Sided in 2 Doctor P for game 2 and was able to play him pretty early and followed up with a T7 Elspeth. I didn't get to wake the god, but triggers from the soldier tokens did him in.
I got some early damage in during Game 3 with a phoenix and drew really well (he didn't). I was able to resolve a dragon on T5 and made him a monster a couple turns later after he played a Divination with no Supreme Verdict. He didn't draw a Revelation the whole match
Match 4: 1-2 against B/G Midrange
He took the first game with a Desecration Demon after putting a Whip on the board. I chained the Demon and next turn I played Dragon and swung while he had mana open. Abrupt Decay on my chains and then killed my dragon with his Demon. Whoops!
In Game 2 a Demon arrived on T4 and was followed up with a Reaper of the Wilds next turn. I ended up saccing 2 Weirds and a Phoenix to stop his demon until I was able to resolve an Elspeth. Initial tokens slowed him down and then I wiped his creatures with her. He played another but was shut down by tokens and I won with an opportune Phoenix attack, burn and a bunch of tokens.
Game 3 I flooded aside from the Reckoner and Chandra from my opening hand and a few burn spells I drew. He had two underworld connections out before playing a T5 (surprise!) Demon. Chandra couldn't keep up with his card draw, and was only popping more lands anyway. No scry in sight that game.
- Chandra is awesome. I wanted her out every game. I didn't mention her much above, but she really keeps this deck going and works very well with scry.
- I was hesitant on Purphoros, but decided to keep him in the side. I only got to play him once an wasn't able to wake him up, but there were plenty of times where he would have been active on the board. This deck can get to the devotion really easily.
- Nykthos was better than I expected and really shows its strength with an Ember Swallower. I think running this over Mutavault is the right move, especially with the Weirds and Reckoners in this deck. I would rather be able to consistently play them early and take advantage of their cost to pump Nykthos and monstrous Swallowers and Dragons.
I played against a Dega Midrange deck afterwards for fun and lost, again to a Demon. Without an Elspeth on the board, that card rips this deck apart. I'll definitely be adding another Chained to the Rocks, likely instead of the Aurelia. I could probably drop to 25 lands as well if she doesn't have a place in the main.
I had limited testing before tonight, but I'm really happy with the way the deck plays and had a lot of fun with it despite a few misplays (especially in the last match). I've been following this thread for the past week and a half or so, but am sure I missed some good posts. My apologies if a lot of this is repetition and has already been answered/discussed!
Tips/feedback/criticism is always appreciated
I would make some room in your sideboard for pithing needle. It is a strong card vs all control matchups and stops eatherling and their planes walkers.
playing multiple reckoners then anger of the gods is cool. Against aggro decks they just let you attack them then you and hit then for a total of 6 to 12! Sexy move! If you have legions initiative then they survive!
Direct damage removal makes is less bad against control.
Really cant wait to get it assembled.
I don't like the scion or legions initiative in the main board. I think ember swallower is a better creature (4 mana and a better butt) and better effects. I also think 2 more burn or pyromaster would be better than legions initiative. Mr. Hammer should also probably be something else too since he has usually done nothing or is win more once you stabalize with elspeth. I could see him as a 2 of in the sideboard for maze ends decks which I am sure will pick up in popularity after the pro tour. Just my 2 cents.
How was peak eruption that decisive? Not really one of my top concerns when going against rdw so far, and there are a lot of them.
on the play game 2, he turn 3 and turn 4 peak me stopping me from wiping his board with anger of the gods. 2 turns in a row.
I decided to speed my list up a bit and lower the curve. I will post both lists. lower curve list is still untested but there were 6 RDWs out of 20 people at my Local magic store tonight. I can only imagine it is just as bad at large events.
Lost to mono red aggro twice tonight. On cell phone bso list is a pain to type. What can we do about peak eruption? Got taken out by it in games 2 and 3 both matches.
Hello guys. I was of the Boros family as of late but I would kill myself if I did not take advantage of (in my personal opinion) the most recent broken 2 drop in Burning Tree Emissary. His synergies are just stupid good and make for some of the fastest aggo plays I have seen since I have been playing magic.
Here is my list which I will be taking to SCG Cincinnati this Saturday. I would love some criticism as I respect many of the other competitive members in these forums.
The only card in the deck I am really unsure about is Wojek Halberdier. He is my weakest 2 drop. If I have multiple 2 drops and I curve into a 3 drop I am usually wanting a Lightning mauler instead. I am thinking of running a miser stonewright and a 3rd lightning mauler instead but I just have not tested with him enough.
I think we initially thought of removing forests for Temple gardens because it gives us 8 white sources while not conflicting with the red sources for casting Boros charm. so 8 white sources Counting confluences and 10 red sources (not counting confluences). If you used mountains and kept your basic forests it would give you the same white count but lower your red count to 8 (not counting confluences).
The thought process on warhound was that it can pump my guys and give me resilience to wipes. and can be put on the 0/5 Ox from U/W control or be put on heavy butts from other midrange decks. When they boardwipe with verdict, you still get it back. It just sticks around longer and at 2 CC is easier to cast as a creature compared to maaka.
The reasoning for pulling out lightning strikes is they were always going to the head and is what I was siding out for skullcracks anyways. So I pulled those for madcap skills. When I played madcap skills it got me 6 damage every time.....and that was mostly against a heavy control deck with mass spot removal..
We also discussed putting boros Reckoners in the side but I personally do not think that is needed.
-4 rubblebelt maaka
-3 lightning strike
+3 madcap skills
+4 mogis warhound
-4 forest
+4 temple garden
+4 boros charm (sideboard-1 madcap skills)
I need to make room for at least 3 destructive revelry in the sideboard but not sure what to remove just yet.
I remove
-4 firedrinker satyr
-4 dryad militiant
-2 rubblebelt maaka
-2 slaughter horn
I add
+2 Legion loyalist
+4 scouts
+4 madcap skills
+2 Rangers guile
I still have great threat density with 33 creatures and unless they board in the sweeper (which most do not even side at the moment) I can help negate a bit of their spot removal.
I do bring in Madcap skills vs light removal decks. It just depends on how much faster I am than them. On the play, I do not think Monsters (jund, r/g) can recover fast enough so the madcapskills is not as needed. I do side it in on the draw though. vs aggresive matches, I like madcap b/c it can connect over multiple turns and creates a tension on your opponent to answer it before he/she continues to try and race.
The most amazing thing about the 1 mana bloodrushers is that you can still drop a threat and progress the board while either saving your creature and killing theirs (courser with a 4 toughness butt I am looking at you) or putting some serious damage towards their 20 life.
They are useful in dodging Elspeth tokens but I personally have them for siding in against packrat tokens and the aggro matchups. I side out firedrinker satyr for them.
I have also incorporated some of Pvtjet's ideas into my list after testing some last night. I still like my main deck. It is faster which is what I always want game 1 but I switched up my sideboard quite a bit.
4 dryad militant
4 experiment one
4 rakdos cackler
4 firedrinker satyr
4 burning-tree emissary
4 Gore-house chainwalker
4 brushstrider
4 rubblebelt maaka
4 ghor-clan rampager
3 slaughter horn
3 lightning strike
Land
4 stomping ground
4 mana confluence
4 Forrest
6 Mountain
2 Legion Loyalist
4 Gladecover Scout
4 Madcap Skills
2 Ranger's Guile
3 Skullcrack
I like the scout and madcap skills vs burn and black devotion.
If I can stay under the radar a bit at my store then I think this deck is gonna earn a lot of store credit for me over the next few weeks. The only things I am super affraid of are the black and red 3 mana board wipes which are currently nonexistent in my meta. Everyone is all about JUNK, U/W, ESPER and G/B. Very few R/W Burn but I expect that to change (although I match up well to it).
I am playing tomorrow at my local shop. I'll test a bit before tourney starts and see how it works out.
2. I haven't tried flamespeaker because I wanted 2 my curve at 2 to flood the board and be swinging for lethal turn 4 always.
3. Mana confluence are extremely important. I didn't want to play the temples because with 18 land you really can not afford a tapped land on turns 1 2 or 3.
4. I played GB twice. You have to make sure you are saving your pumps for when they tap out or target weakest or hybrid creatures (to avoid ultimate price). They honestly are just too slow with ultimate price and downfall being their main removal game 1. I side in 3 Rangers guile and 2 mending touch game 2 and 3.
5. No madcap skills because the 1 mana pump spells trump it on curve and the rampage bloodrush is better in most situations. Also so much enchantment removal. Same reason saito isn't running it in his RB aggro list.
6. If I was running madcap skills I would probably run glade cover scout over experiment one but I just think experiment one is better overall especially with 8 2 drops that turn it into a 3 power.
4 dryad militant
4 experiment one
4 rakdos cackler
4 firedrinker satyr
4 burning-tree emissary
4 Gore-house chainwalker
4 brushstrider
4 rubblebelt maaka
4 ghor-clan rampager
3 slaughter horn
3 lightning strike
Land
4 stomping ground
4 mana confluence
4 Forrest
6 Mountain
3 Legion Loyalist
3 Rangers guile
3 mending touch
3 mistcutter hydra
3 Skullcrack
So tonight I went 5-0 at my FNM. Absolutely destroying everyone I played again. I even had a turn 3 kill.....that is correct. TURN 3!!! I don't have any close major tournaments or I would take this in a heartbeat.
4 dryad militant
4 experiment one
4 rakdos cackler
4 fire drinker satyr
4 burning tree emissary
4 Gorehouse chainwalker
4 brush strider
4 rubblebelt maaka
4 ghor clan rampager
3 slaughter horn
Land
4 stomping ground
4 mana confluence
4 Forrest
6 Mountain
4 firefist striker / 4 Legion Loyalist
4 Rangers guile
3 mending touch
4 mistcutter hydra
It has shown consistent and I mean consistent 6 to 8 power on turn 2. Both firefist striker and brushstrider help evolve experiment one to a 3/3 and when I do not get BTE opening hands, I can still manage 2 turn 2 2/2's bringing me to 6 power.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
I would make some room in your sideboard for pithing needle. It is a strong card vs all control matchups and stops eatherling and their planes walkers.
I don't like the scion or legions initiative in the main board. I think ember swallower is a better creature (4 mana and a better butt) and better effects. I also think 2 more burn or pyromaster would be better than legions initiative. Mr. Hammer should also probably be something else too since he has usually done nothing or is win more once you stabalize with elspeth. I could see him as a 2 of in the sideboard for maze ends decks which I am sure will pick up in popularity after the pro tour. Just my 2 cents.
on the play game 2, he turn 3 and turn 4 peak me stopping me from wiping his board with anger of the gods. 2 turns in a row.
I decided to speed my list up a bit and lower the curve. I will post both lists. lower curve list is still untested but there were 6 RDWs out of 20 people at my Local magic store tonight. I can only imagine it is just as bad at large events.
This is my current list after lowering curve
4 shock
4 Magma Jet
3 Lightning Strike
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Warleader's Helix
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Ember Swallower
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
10 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Pithing Needle
1 Missium Mortars
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Renounce the Guilds
2 Boros Charm
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Wear // Tear
2 Assemble the Legion
Old list
2 Chained to the rocks
4 Magma Jet
3 Lightning Strike
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Anger of the Gods
3 Warleader's Helix
2 Assemble the Legion
1 Spear of Heliod
3 Ember Swallower
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
11 Mountain
6 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
3 Pithing Needle
1 Missium Mortars
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Renounce the Guilds
2 Boros Charm
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Wear // Tear
1 Spear of Heloid
1 Hammer of Perpheros
I have found that Assemble the Legions is too slow but I think is necessary as an alternate win condition vs the control decks.
Here is my list which I will be taking to SCG Cincinnati this Saturday. I would love some criticism as I respect many of the other competitive members in these forums.
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Burning Tree Emissary
4 Flinthoof Boar
3 Lightning Mauler
3 Ash Zealot
3 Frontline Medic
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Hellrider
2 Thundermaw Hellkite
3 Rancor
3 Searing Spear
Land-23
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Stomping Ground
4 Sacred Foundry
5 Mountain
2 Cavern of souls
3 Boros Charm
3 Rest in Peace
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Mizzium Mortars
3 Volcanic Strength
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Legion Loyalist
2 Lightning Mauler
2 Wojek Halberdiers
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Ash Zealot
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Frontline Medic
4 Hellrider
3 Boros Charm
3 Blasphemous Act
Land
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Cavern of Souls
11 Mountain
3 Stromkirk Nobles
4 Volcanic Strength
2 Rest in peace
3 Searing Spear
3 Skullcrack
The only card in the deck I am really unsure about is Wojek Halberdier. He is my weakest 2 drop. If I have multiple 2 drops and I curve into a 3 drop I am usually wanting a Lightning mauler instead. I am thinking of running a miser stonewright and a 3rd lightning mauler instead but I just have not tested with him enough.
I do really love Frontline Medic's and Legion loyalist's interaction with the deck. You can really do some stupid stuff. Post combat blasphemous Act after an attack with Frontline Medic was pretty fun.
I sideboard stromkirk noble because against really anything except Naya Humans he is a pretty weak 1 drop in my opinion.