Boros, Beats, Battlestar Galactica

[Valdarith]

Squadron Hawk actually sounds really good here.

[NerdBoyWonder]

Squadron Hawk and Prophetic Flamespeaker with swords sounds pretty boss

[hamfactorial]

Ok, yolo mode activated. I'll test out hawk and his buddies over the next few days.

[hamfactorial]

I've somehow made a Boros CawBlade

[hamfactorial]

I got two hours of testing in and I like Squadron Hawk in the 2 slot. It's not very impressive on its own, but the CA and evasion is very good. They managed to carry swords to victory several times, and they hold the line against Affinity's man lands and Signal Pests. I was running a split between F&F and F&I, no Batterskull.

With the impending release of the allied fetches and the relaxed splash, I can adjust my mana base to feature more fetches and more basic Mountain (the most powerful land in Magic).

Grim Lavamancer gets better with more fetches so I'm going to put 2 back in and leave that alone.

With more fetches, landfall is a distinctly more reliable strategy, so I'm going to throw Searing Blaze back in the mix. I'm not sure whether the key to beating RDW is lifegain with Lightning Helix or by 2-for-1s and killing them faster with Blaze. I suspect it's Blaze.

Here's what I'm thinking -

[
Deck=Modern BBBSG v. 1.37]
Creatures:24
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Blade Splicer
4 Prophetic Flamespeaker
4 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Spells:8
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Searing Blaze

Artifacts:2
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice

Planeswalkers:2
1 Ajani Vengeant
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Lands:24
2 Sacred Foundry
1 Blood Crypt
7 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Slayers' Stronghold
4 Arid Mesa
4 Scalding Tarn
4 Bloodstained Mire

Sideboard:15
1 Relic of Progenitus
2 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
4 Hide // Seek
3 Blood Moon
2 Bonfire of the Damned[/deck]

I'm not sure if Blood Moon will get better or worse after the allied fetches become legal.

[Toblakai]

I'm of the opinion that Moon would lose some of its power, as the new batch of fetches make decks less dependent on shocklands. Another player challenged my assumption by citing the Legacy format. He argued that multilands are still rampant in the format, even with its allied and enemy colored fetches. To which I respond, yes, those multilands won't shock you if you chose not to play them tapped. The lifeloss of the fetches, combined with the shocks, have me leaning toward Moon becoming a less desirable source of land disruption.

[hamfactorial]

I think the ubiquity of cheap or free counterspells in Legacy makes Blood Moon less of a mana base concern.

It's harder to deal with a resolved Moon in Modern, but it's also slow without the 2 mana lands like City of Traitors or Chrome Mox. A T3 Moon isn't doing much for me lately.

I'm thinking lately that Fulminator Mage would be better. In a long game, it has great Kiki synergy at least.

The Searing Blazes are testing well, and the heavier red base has been a welcome addition. Not starting T2 at 14 life feels better

[Valdarith]

Blood Moon becomes worse, but maybe not worse enough for it to lose popularity.

The problem Modern currently has is that friendly-color decks (RB and UB immediately come to mind) can't fetch the appropriate basic to dodge Blood Moon. With the new fetchlands coming into Modern this is no longer an issue.

[Khaospawn]

Current deck list please - thanks!

[hamfactorial]

Current deck list please - thanks!

I lold

[hamfactorial]

Deer God how broken would this deck be if Stoneforge Mystic was legal?

[Toblakai]

Fingers crossed that the lithomantic planeswalker is...a planeswalker version of Stoneforge. Hee hee.

[hamfactorial]

Huh, is there a new card spoiled that would go in this deck? I've been watching the KTK spoilers but haven't seen anything yet.

[Toblakai]

Nah, its just likely we'll be getting a kor planeswalker. Sorin, Ugin and the kor lithomancer trapped the Eldrazi on Zendikar. Stoneforge's artwork brings to mind lithomancy...so I'm hopeful that revisiting Ugin, plus a new Sorin in the same set, means we'll get a new mono white kor planeswalker with a Stoneforge Mystic ability.

[NerdBoyWonder]

Huh, is there a new card spoiled that would go in this deck? I've been watching the KTK spoilers but haven't seen anything yet.

Not a damn card so far. KTK for the first week of spoilers has seem a bit underwhelming. A couple of good ones but mostly bad ones and limited fodder. Nothing is even pulling me into playing standard with each card revealed.

Anyway. This is what I am taking to test at FNM tonight and hopefully get a full set of well rounded games:
[deck]Creatures 24
1 Figure of Destiny
2 Grim Lavamancer
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Eidolon of Great Revel
2 Blade Splicer
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Prophetic Flamespeaker
4 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Non-Creature Spells 12
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path To Exile
1
Ajani Vengeant
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Another Sword of bullshit

Lands 24
4 Arid Mesa
2 Marsh Flats
2 Scalding Tarn
4 Sacred Foundry
3 Clifftop Retreat
2 Battlefield Forge
3 Mountain
3 Plains
1 Slayer's Stronghold[/deck]

[hamfactorial]

Good luck NBW! Make me proud, and please let us know how it runs for you.

[NerdBoyWonder]

Good luck NBW! Make me proud, and please let us know how it runs for you.

3-0 no scrump. Played against exalted Bant, White Weenie and Delver.

First 2 decks were free rolls. First round beat the exalted deck because he had mana issues and I was not going to path to mana fix him. Against white weenie curving from figure into eidolon into blade splicer was back breaking.

Against UR delver I went 2-1. Game one I drew some removal and Triple eidolon. Kept him off Delver and YP$. He got rid of one Eidolon and I dropped another 2 with Ajani to close out game one. Game 2 he just manage to achieve YP$ swag. Too many tokens and I didn't draw any threats. Game 3 open strong with removal, a squadron hawk, and eidolon. Drop hawk followed by
eidolon eidolon stays most of the game and puts him too far behind.

[hamfactorial]

fuck yeah, deck is the best

[hamfactorial]

Super tilted right now, scrumped another daily to Burn.

[Khaospawn]

Current deck list please - thanks!

[hamfactorial]

[Khaospawn]

All joking aside, maybe it's time to pack either Dragon's Claw or Leyline?

Also, are you taking out Eidolon in the draw?

[hamfactorial]

I'm putting Dragon's Claw in as we speak, since i think it's better against Storm (if that ever comes up again)

I leave Eidolon in, but I'm ready and willing to be told why that's bad.

[Khaospawn]

eidolon is terrible against burn on the draw because you will almost always be behind. any incremental and self inflicted damage you take from it just makes their job easier. when you're ahead, it's great though.

[hamfactorial]

I figured that against Burn, they have to cast spells and aim them at me. Eidolon directly affects their life total while they do that, and there's nothing else I'm typically doing on T2.

Is that a mistake?

[Valdarith]

Yes. That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. Eidolon does nothing for you against burn where something like Thalia + Finks would be much more effective and good in other matchups.

[Khaospawn]

Eidolon is going to keep you from getting ahead so you can take over the game. They'll be more than happy to shock themselves if it means bolting you.

I know I would be.

The thing is, almost everything you have to play after turn 2 will hurt you and you may not have enough time to get to your 4-drops to take over the game. Especially if they're gripping a lot of heat. Also, unearthing Hellspark won't even hurt them if they're forced to do that.

[hamfactorial]

Ok, if Eidolon is just a bad fit for the deck, it's time to go. Still happy with Hawk though, it delivered today.

[hamfactorial]

Khaos:

What's the highest impact card I could bring in against you playing Burn? Dragon's Claw seems very good, curious what else might deserve a spot.

[Valdarith]

Kor Firewalker.

[hamfactorial]

Ah, much better than Dragon's Claw. Arigato, Val.

[LP, of the Fires]

Eidolons not bad in the deck, just bad in the matchup.

In standard, It's good against burn since they generally are killing creatures for a while.

In modern, it's all going to v the face, and searing blaze always deals damage on resolution.

[hamfactorial]

Ok, easy addition to the SB. May require a bit of mana base adjustment to accommodate a T2 play.

[Khaospawn]

Kor Firewalker is very good against Burn, but don't block with him if the Burn player has cards in hand since they could play Skullcrack before damage happens to kill the Firewalker. I did that twice last night against Pod players.

[hamfactorial]

Ok, I have enough blockers to hold the line against Burn. It's the fast goldfish I've has issues with.

[Toblakai]

Back in 2010 Extended, I played the Demigod RDW with a 24-12-24 split of Creatures/Other Spells/Lands. Curved out at 4 Demigods. It didn't have anything quite as resilient as your Brimaz and Bladesplicers, nor the Kiki Combo. It did run a full set of Goblin Guides, however. Would this be too risky for your build? The haste might help your clock, Ham. Plus it can double as a chump if need be.

[hamfactorial]

I think Goblin Guide would be a good creature for early pressure, and it plays very well with swords in the late game after the 2/2 body becomes irrelevant.

The only trouble with Goblin Guide is this: to put 4 of him in (and GG needs to be 4), what do I take out? The deck is already very tight, and I think the benefit of an aggressive 1-drop is offset by the value I lose from cutting other cards.

My first instinct is to cut 1 Sword, the 4th Flamespeaker and the 2 Planeswalkers. Worth it? I'll test it, but it seems like a bad swap.

[hamfactorial]

Took down an 8-man with this -

[deck]BBBSG v. 1.38[/deck]

2-1 vs. 4C Gifts - He surprised me with some sort of EOT Gifts Ungiven into Unburial Rites Woodfall Primus combo before I could kill him. I boarded in my cages and easily stopped him G2. In G3 he kept a no-lander with Leyline of Sanctity, and never played land the rest of the game while I beat him with a FoD into Eidolon into Brimaz.
2-1 vs. UR Delver - I lost game 1 in a nail-biter, boarded in my
Volcanic Fallouts and rolled over him the next 2 games.
2-1 vs. 4C Midrange - I combo'd off to win G1. He showed me a Kitchen Finks, Murderous Redcap, and a Kiki-Jiki, so I boarded all my Cages in for G2 thinking he was a Pod deck. In game 2 he just went for a bunch of value stuff but still no Pod. When he fetched for a Steam Vents and flashed in a Deceiver Exarch, I figured he was just a 4 color midrange value deck. I took the cages back out and brought in the Volcanic Fallouts.

I need to diversify the sideboard more, but I wanted something for two problem matchups (UR Delver and Burn) so I maxed out the Volcanic Fallouts and Kor Firewalkers.

The other 7 slots should go towards fighting the Pod, Tron and Twin matchups. Hide//Seek helps me against Twin and Tron, but those matchups are becoming more rare.

[hamfactorial]

I made some swaps in the maindeck to free up room in the SB. I had issues with Burn, so I was leaning hard on Kor Firewalker out of the SB. In games where I didn't see him, I lost. LOOSE!

By playing Kitchen Finks instead of Blade Splicer and adding Lightning Helix, I fix the Burn matchup and free up 4 narrow slots in the SB for cards that are more broadly applicable. Nice!

[deck]BBBSG v. 1.39[/deck]

2014-10-01 testing

2-1 vs. Storm
2-1 vs. Scapeshift
2-0 vs. UR Delver
2-1 vs. Jund
2-1 vs. Norin Soul Sisters
2-0 vs. shitty mono-black discard brew

[Valdarith]

Finally you bring in Kitchen Finks!