JaceTheMindsculptor

I have never seen such a spammy control deck lol. I've seen nephalia drownyard in as a plan B, but never as a staple lol. It could definitely work. I think I would add a bit more synergy with the milling rather than just playing total control and waiting for it to do its work. Adding lazav could be really fun in that regard. Maybe consider Jace's Phantasm just to apply some board pressure as well. Who knows? It could be a secondary win condition. I think it could be a viable alternative as well in case they're running a full playset of elixir of immortality's or the elusive but epic battle of wits deck. Since you're playing BR, I'd run dreadbore instead of murder. It also accounts for a pretty legitimate planeswalker threat like no other card in this deck really does (except cyclonic to some extent). I'd also suggest mortars instead of lightning bolt, since the lightning bolt usually won't be aimed at the player anyway.

Good luck! I'll keep following the updates on this deck.

Lol I'm actually considering mainboarding cyclonic just for that reason. I was also thinking of syncopate as a good way to take out the voice. As long as you're on the play and you have a blue mana open turn 2, you can just cast it for x=1 to take out a turn 2 voice. Seems like it would work well.

How could I possibly forget aetherling? That's a really good option. What would you suggest I take out?

And sorry if I came off as greedy and obnoxious lol I'm fine and happy to look at others stuff, I just want some advice to reciprocate it lol. Comments that say "This is cool. Check this out" teach me nothing.

Alright, so the deck here is the official current version of the deck. I've begun to see that Hellrider is easily the best card in here, and I should probably get more copies. I can't see myself losing the game as long as Hellrider stays alive. I also officially made the sideboard and I could really use some help. In my playtesting, I've found that this deck usually outruns most everything but control (specifically supreme verdict) and some faster junk rites. So those were the decks I sideboarded against most. Here are my thoughts:

Grafdigger's Cage - There is a lot of ammunition against a lot of decks with grafdigger's cage. Effectively takes out flashback, snapcaster, undying, and reanimation all in a single card. It also helps that its an artifact and pretty hard to kill with black and white. The one mana cost is pretty good as well since most of this deck's action happens on turn two. Overall great choice against junk rites and flashback IMO.

Ancient Grudge - I can't really think of an archetype that's artifact heavy, but I have 2 there for the day that I find one.

Gruul Charm - Just like ancient grudge, I have no idea when I would use this, but I'm glad to have it. The third ability might be nice to clear a way for spire tracer early game--other than that I don't think it really hard counters anything in the format too much. Maybe cloudfin raptor?

Skullcrack - The perfect shutdown for sphinx's revelation. Mainly there against azorius control.

Gruul Keyrune - One of the only things in this deck that would survive a supreme verdict. Also there against azorius control.

Wolfir Avenger - Would also usually survive a supreme verdict. Flash is fun against aggro, and regeneration is pretty good for removal as well. Not sure about how well the three mana will fit into the curve though... although, then again, flinthoof boar is usually three mana anyway.

Well, that's my sideboard. Thoughts and suggestions appreciated!

I'm running a gruul aggro at FNM's. Here are some of my observations.

Burning tree doesn't work in this deck. It's a fantastic card, and I'm running 4 in my deck, but it doesn't work here. The only cards you have in here where the mana would line up is zhur-taa druid and the cackler. And that brings me to a whole new point. Zhur-Taa Druid is not really the card you want for aggro. I started out running 4 of them, but I realized that spending two mana on a mana source slows your deck WAY down, even for the damage that zhur-taa druid does. Lightning Maulers or Legion Loyalists are much better uses for that mana.

Scorchwalker is an okay card--I personally prefer Pyrewild shaman. Slightly cheaper, doesn't give quite the same power boost, but has the failsafe of returning to your hand, which is a great thing later on in the game.

Lotleth troll is good, but might not be what you want for this deck. For lotleth troll to work, you would need to go all in. Discard your hand full of creatures and go completely lotleth troll--if they have a removal-heavy deck that would be a problem. You would need to make sure you ALWAYS have mana to regenerate him. Otherwise, I'd only run him in sideboard. No doubt he'd be a good card against Azorius control--able to regenerate him against supreme verdict and whatnot.

Rancor is probably better than forced adaptation. Forced is a good card, but takes a few turns to get going, and I really like the trample with rancor. Not only that, but rancor keeps coming back to your hand, which is incredibly useful later in the game.

Overall, this deck looks fairly solid so far and can have some serious potential. Good luck!

Maybe just under Boros Reckoner and Master Biomancer... but still ;)

With what general?

That too lol

If you're playing bant, you need render silents and supreme verdicts in your deck. Control is what bant is good at :D Not to mention supreme verdict helps you get the token out of voice pretty early on and then can populate it with vitu-ghazi the next turn.

I don't think so. Madcap gives the cyclops the same boost that any other spell would, only it stays around. I'd use it.

I have to say, I hope you feel pretty good looking at the curve. You don't have a single spell worth more than 4 mana. That is WICKED fast.

Alright, now for specific numbers.

-3 Stonewright - It's a good card, no doubt about it, but I don't think it's as good as some others.
+2 Legion Loyalist - Trust me. You want 4.
-2 Plains - This deck doesn't need 24 lands with the low curve that it's at. You can do just fine with 22.
+3 Lightning Mauler - Haste matters with aggro. A lot.
-3 Madcap Skills - Not gonna lie, I love the card, but I just think burn spells would be a better use of space.
+1 Boros Charm - Obvious reasons
+2 Pillar of Flame - Burn. 'Nuff said.

You don't have to take all these suggestions. These are just what I would do if I were making the deck. Playtest them and see how they work out for you.

Why not just madcap skills? You can toss it on the cyclops. Gives it a huge boost to hit and gives it slight evasion as well. Only issue is if it gets made into a target....

IMO, Boros has some of the greatest potential of any of the guilds in terms of aggro. There are so many great one-drops, and the entire guild synergy is based around weenies. You have serious potential for aggro. At the same time, you can use cards like Assemble the Legion and Aurelia, the Warleader to set up some pretty sick late game combos. The choice is really all yours.

I'll critique this deck from each perspective, and you can decide which to go with -

AGGRO:
You're going to want the lowest curve imaginable. Boros requires putting creatures out quickly and consistently in order to be effective. The curve you have right now is pretty good--2 mana mode is pretty good. I think you can add even more one-drops to make it faster. I'd run four of each one drop. That means four Boros Elite, four Legion Loyalist, four doomed travelers, maybe four stromkirks and four vexing devils as well. Did a little research and I'm currently really liking champion of the parish as an option as well. As for two mana cards, lightning mauler is always great, and i'm really digging wojek halberdiers in this deck. In a perfect world, you should be able to trigger battalion by turn 3. I would be wary of putting any cards in for 3 or more mana without really good reason. There are a few exceptions, however. One would be Tajic. Tajic is ridiculous. End of story. Check out Firemane avenger as well. Makes the game end A LOT quicker. I don't know if you're secretly really rich, but Boros Reckoner is easily the most overpowered card in standard right now. If you've got $120 to blow, four boros reckoners would do this deck well. However, the difficulty for every aggro deck is trying to figure out how to keep the deck moving after your opponent can regain their footing. That's where most aggro decks would be done for. I think boros has a few outs though. For one, you need to make sure you have a steady card flow. This is probably the most difficult issue, but reforge the soul is pretty good while its in standard. When your hand is totally gone, reforge can help get it back. The second issue is dealing with big creature threats, or even if your opponent has a full board of their own. I think foundry champion does the trick quite nicely here. I'd also suggest more burn like searing spear, pillar of flame, maybe even harvest pyre. You need to make sure your creatures hit for damage every turn. Arrows of Justice isn't that good of a card, and assault griffin and fortress cyclops are too overpriced for what they do. Trust me, a one or 2 mana based deck may seem week, but with the battalion synergy, it gets ridiculous.

MIDRANGE:
If you're really not much into aggro, there are a few directions you could take this deck. Here are a few general possibilities.

Blaze Commando Burn - Blaze Commando is a sweet boros card and helps fuel the battalion engine. The deck would be mostly burn with some early creature pressure aimed at getting blaze commando out and pumping up your army. In M14 they're printing a card called Young Pyromancer which is 2 mana and does effectively the same thing. I'd consider pulling some red cards from izzet as well if this is your strategy. Toss a dual casting on a thundrous wrath or bonfire of the damned--maybe even nivmagus elemental? You still get the soldiers, even if you lose the spell. Never seen a deck like this made, but thought it would be neat. Definitely a lot of possibilities for guild merging there.

Aurelia - It's no doubt that Aurelia's pretty beast. The difficulty is figuring out how to make use of her second combat phase. Enchantments like madcap skills could definitely make this work, but the waiting on aurelia might not always be worth it.

Legion's Initiative - Expensive card. Have yet to see the ability abused. But it could happen...


Personally, I suggest the aggro approach. I think boros is built as an aggro guild, and you could have immense success with it. Good luck!

PS: WHATEVER YOU DO, NEVER TAKE OUT BOROS CHARM. IT IS EASILY THE BEST OF ANY OF THE CHARMS.

I don't think there are any bases that pursuit of flight covers that artful dodge and madcap skills don't cover better.

This is the spammiest deck I have ever seen (in a good way.) As if Primordial Hydra wasn't OP already, now you have a million and half ways to DOUBLE his OP?!

The world of magic may never forgive you.

In all seriousness, I'd go with either vastwood hydra being released in m14 or savageborn hydra from dragon's maze instead. Primordial hydra really doesn't need the help, and both cards could have some sweet synergy with this deck.

Also--this is substantially less important, but I'd consider adding an island and dropping a mountain--you have much more blue than red.

This looks good so far. I really like it. Izzet control I think is underused but still pretty powerful. Now we'll talk numbers.

+2 Nivmagus Elementals - You'll need them. Trust me. They are great early pressure, and if a dissipate accidentally gets caught in an EE you can feed it to the elemental rather than losing a spell.
- 4 Devastation Tide - I misled you. It's not actually that good, especially when combined with EE.
+ 2 Cyclonic Rift - That's a much better card.

Seems like good numbers for right now. Test it out an see how it works! (Note, you can click the "Proxy this deck" link on the side and you can physically print out the cards, sleeve them, and test the deck as it would actually play)

I have a lot of little comments right up front -

First of all, Izzet boilerworks isn't in standard. You're probably thinking of steam vents.

Second, drop the cluestone. 3 Mana for an extra land really isn't worth it. You can be dropping an electromancer for less than that and it does effectively the same thing.

After that, you've gotta start thinking synergy. These guilds provide a lot of room to really narrow down your strategy and figure out what you want to do. The way I see it, with the creatures you have here, you have a few different options.

Dragonshift - This is not necessarily the most coherent deck, but it would be fun as hell to see happen! A good combo is nivmagus elemental and dragonshift, because the +1/+1 counters stay there even while it's a dragon. If you focus on those two cards, you could avoid waiting for overload as well and just hit them early on. Just a thought :)

Epic Experiment - This idea seems pretty clear and obvious. The deck would need to be super instant/sorcery heavy. It could either be aggro-focused, using cheap cards like searing spear, pillar of flame, unsummon, mizzium mortars, dragonshift, (would recommend dropping thundrous wrath) or late game heavy, using much bigger spells. Nivix cyclops and nivmagus elementals would be your best friends, since the cyclops would get epically powered up and you could feed any spells you didn't want to the nivmagus.

Control - Not much needs to be said. Would need nearly as many creatures as you currently have, and would toss in some dissipates instead of some of the burn.

Those are just a few ideas. Izzet can be full of really incredible combos, but it can also be full of really awkward contradictions. For example, using epic experiment with only a nivix cyclops out would be really awesome until you cast a dragonshift using the EE and have to give up the ridiculous cyclops buff. Also, card draw spells have very little synergy with miracle stuff. Also, goblin electromancer can't help cast epic experiment, unsummon, or pillar of flame. These are all minor issues, but all things to think about. Determine how every card in the deck would synch with every other card, and determine your playset like that.

Good luck!

YES. Not only are you attempting competitive rakdos (which is my favorite guild, btw), but you are ACTUALLY RUNNING THE GUILD LEADER. THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME.

Now, down to business.

Rakdos is underplayed partly because the mechanic kind of sucks and they haven't given it any good aggro creatures--which is really the only way to play Rakdos. You seem to have found most of the okay ones--spike jester, cackler, nighthawk, etc. I agree with the above comment for vexing devil--worse comes to worse its a lightning bolt + 1. A good midrange creature might also be carnage gladiator--speeds up the game A LOT. I would drop the daggerdrone. Two mana for a 1/1 flyer is only really good if you draw a deviant glee, and you can probably find something cheaper that doesn't have lifelink to make it slightly faster. Tormented Soul maybe? Can drop glee on it and swing for three every turn. I also like the flailer in there. I like the fling mechanic in case they ever try to knock out a creature--just make sure you leave mana untapped for his ability later in the game :) I'm not sure how fast this deck is, but blood scrivener might be nice to keep the deck moving later on in the game.

Now, let's talk sorceries. There are only 2 Pro-Tour rakdos cards being run repetitively at Pro-Tours--Slaughter Games and Rakdos' Return. I am APALLED to see you are running neither. Rakdos' return is absolutely CRIPPLING early game. Turn 4 Rakdos' Return for 3 will easily take out their hand if they're playing aggro, and they'll have little hope of recovering (maybe if they're playing blue or uw). Not to mention--late game mana dump is a pretty good use as well. And slaughter games--OHMAHGAWD SLAUGHTER GAMES. That card is stupid ridiculously good. Tournament level - Game 2 or 3--knock out their snapcaster or their sphinx' revelation or their thragtusk or their restoration angel--the possibilities are endless. Just run them. Both of them. I think I've made my point.

Hopefully I've given you some advice to work with. Good luck!
May Rakdos smile favorably upon your deeds.