Primer: R/w/x Aggro

[Lightning_Dolt]

I like mine

[Khaospawn]

I played Masayasu Tanahashi in round 4 (scumbag, more on that later), Pang Ming Wee in round 6 (Pro from Malaysia, nice guy), and (I think, maybe just looks similar) Naoki Shimizu (nice guy) in round 11.

In round 6, I hope you screamed, "DEATH TO MING! "

[LaZerBurn]

I played Masayasu Tanahashi in round 4 (scumbag, more on that later), Pang Ming Wee in round 6 (Pro from Malaysia, nice guy), and (I think, maybe just looks similar) Naoki Shimizu (nice guy) in round 11.

In round 6, I hope you screamed, "DEATH TO MING! "

I like you Khaos, you make me smile

[LaZerBurn]

I like mine

Awesome report Johnny, pics n everything

[Khaospawn]

I played Masayasu Tanahashi in round 4 (scumbag, more on that later), Pang Ming Wee in round 6 (Pro from Malaysia, nice guy), and (I think, maybe just looks similar) Naoki Shimizu (nice guy) in round 11.

In round 6, I hope you screamed, "DEATH TO MING! "

I like you Khaos, you make me smile

I have that
effect on some people.

[magicdownunder]

Johnny_Spike ya reckon its time to revisit Elspeth? She slaughters the R and G Devotions decks - I don't recall any one reporting losses with the Elspeth deck either, she just kinda annoying since she rots in our hands and makes SB'ing a pain vs Black (not that black is a bad MU when you have Elspeth).

- - - - - - - - -

I jumped onto MODO today to test out a random Boros Brew:

[deck]Boros Aggro Test[/deck]

The key change with this list is the swap between Chandra, Pyromaster and Boros Reckoner MD/SB, I found that G1 when were still in maximum damage mode she isn't as strong while G2+3 when we go into control mode is when she really shines - both Chandra and Reck are semi-decent in every MU.

I theorized based on Pedros MUs that Midrange was getting more poplar in the 1700-1800 bracket while the 1800-1900+ bracket was mainly Black, Esper and Blue (top8 in poty was pretty much all Esper) since I don't have much time for DE and mainly play SE I expect most people to be in the 1700-1800 bracket thus I ran Shocks and Boros Reckoners.

Anyhow I tested the list in one SE which I 3-0'ed and a few T.P. it seems quite good for a open meta though I'm not sure if its the right choice for MOCS2 (yet) and I still want to re-explore Elsepth again.

EDIT: I scroll through my older post and recalled why I cut her, I don't think
she has a place in the 75

[Lightning_Dolt]

Honestly, I think I could have gone undefeated Day 1 if I had played better. I lost to GR due to my misplays and for no other reason. If I had drawn a chain, it would have been a different story too. I think the 75 is close to perfect.

[LaZerBurn]

@ MDU - No love for Assemble?

[Lightning_Dolt]

@ MDU - No love for Assemble?

Assrmble did seem kind of meh.

[montu]

@ MDU - No love for Assemble?

If I understand MDU correctly, he expects to be playing against more midrange, where Assemble is less than relevant.

[magicdownunder]

@ MDU - No love for Assemble?

I couldn't find room since I like Boros Charm, Shock and Skullcrack

If I understand MDU correctly, he expects to be playing against more midrange, where Assemble is less than relevant.

Yep this is a meta thing, you may have notice Shock on MTGO seem important since people like aggro on MTGO (heck I seen some of the top200 run Red FoM/
RDW) I would run Assemble over Shock in a GP or MOCS.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Last Time

---

[deck=MDU's Boros Aggro]Lands 25
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Temple of Silence
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mutavault
11 Mountains

Creatures 19
1 Boros Reckoner
2 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells 10
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Enchantments 04
1 Legion's Initiative
3 Chained to the Rocks

Planeswalker 02
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Sideboard 15
1 Flames of the Firebrand
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Last Breath
2 Boros Charm
2 Boros Reckoner
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Assemble the Legion
3 Skullcrack[/deck]
I have four SE to share, MOCS1 turned out to be a sham just like MOCS12 (Queued MOCS?? WTF wizards, twice in a row even...) so my 35 QPs are wasted - thus killing my motivation for competitive magic (for the time being) I may take a break
until MOCS2 starts (Jan 4th) or just play Modern/Pauper - anyhow here is the first SE:

Standard Elimination Report (6472330)
Standard Elimination R1: Boros Aggro vs Junk (Event 6472330)
Standard Elimination R2: Boros Aggro vs Ux Devotion (Event 6472330)
Standard Elimination R3: Split

2nd SE report 6472946
Standard Elimination R1: Boros Aggro vs Br Control (Event 6472946)
Standard Elimination R2: Boros Aggro vs Bx Devotion (Event 6472946)
Standard Elimination R3: Boros Aggro vs Ux Devotion (Event 6472946)

3rd SE report 6481403
nStandard Elimination R1: Boros Aggro vs Bx Devotion (Event 6481403)
Standard Elimination R2: Boros Aggro vs BW Control (Event 6481403)
Standard Elimination R3: Boros Aggro vs Gu Devotion (Event 6481403)

I'll post the last report tomorrow .

4th SE report 6477414
Standard Elimination R1: Boros Aggro vs Bx Devotion (Event 6477414)
Standard Elimination R2: Boros Aggro vs BW Control (Event 6477414)
Standard
Elimination R3: Split

Yay! were finally done with that set

What is happening now?

---

I'm pretty much in agreement with Johnny_Spike its rather hard to make changes with the current 75 - so I'll just be focusing on meta tweaks.

That said I still think these cards are worth thinking about:
[card]Legion's Initiative[/card]
Warleader Helix
Glare of Heresy
[card]Wear // Tear[/card]
Smite

Creatures
Ember Swallower
Minotaur Skullcleaver
Skyknight Legionnaire
Spark Trooper
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
Viashino Firstblade

So that what I'll be doing for the next few days/weeks work on test decks

[Lightning_Dolt]

I think I might swap the Assemble for Elspeth.

[Purp]

While I understand Assemble completely locks down MBC, do we even need it? I feel like I am winning these matchups no problem without it.

@MDU, skynight legionnaire seems infinitely worse than phoenix.

[LP, of the Fires]

I've used assemble to win unwinnable games vs. Mono-black. It's one of the best cards boros has to offer out of the board.

[magicdownunder]

Assemble isn't a bad card (in fact its a great card) I'm just testing things to deal with a more aggressive meta and yeah skynight legionnaire is horrible but she compliments your Phoenix's kinda like FotF compliments Lighting Strike.

Does that mean I think its a good card? Heck no, but its food for thought showing that we can still evolve the deck slightly.

Anyhow here is my current anti-aggro tweak is looking now:

[deck]Still Testing[/deck]
I won two SE in a row it seems to be working...

Because I'm a youtube newb I decided to trust the system thus I uploaded all videos in a huge batch and delete the hard copies, now the first set uploaded fine however set G2+3 were stuck in eternal limbo and since the hard copies were gone I can't upload them...

Anyhow here is the only one which didn't get deleted (its a shame because G2 was an epic match vs Ux Devotion)

Standard Elimination R1: Boros Aggro vs Junk (Event 6521649)

[Purp]

I like the list mdu.

How has the one of scry land do e for you? During my testing it was either really good or really bad. It won me games when I see it late, but lost me games if I saw it early.

Two Chandra in the side seems ok, but I really like her vs WW. She is almost a card id want 3 of.

[Purp]

Does anyone have experience against the Esper Midrange list from GP shiz?

[LP, of the Fires]

You're most likely to lose to it from not knowing whats going on. I saw the deck on Modo a week before the GP and(correctly) identified it as something some Japanese Pro probably brewed and did some independent testing with it.

Luckily, most of there cards just die to removal. Flames and Chandra are great against their deck since it's a bunch of X/1s but Xathrid necromancer and Demon can be threatening. Also, be aware that they have Lyvev Skynight at the ready to just randomly turn your cards off.

Overall, I'd say try to just kill everything and peck them to death and postboard, they can go up to 4 doom blades so I'd PROBABLY board out dragons.

[LaZerBurn]

@ MDU I've not had time to do any testing of late so this is purely theory It's nothing new either

All the cards on the list have merit but I'm not sure if we NEED any of them right now. I can see the argument for running Chandra in the board and I like what you have done with the FDS/Reckoner/Shock ratio'. I'm tempted to drop 1 FDS and 1 FotF from the list you have and run 2 Shock MD as a starting point for testing. That gives you an even split in the MD too and you know how I like my balanced numbers

I think that there is always room for meta tweaks but, to echo the thoughts of Johnny and yourself, with the 75 close to perfect we are looking at very minor tweaks
now as opposed to adding an extra dimension to the deck and I think more major adjustments will require shifting to a different archetype altogether, perhaps back to PyroDragons if we start to see a very aggro heavy meta.

[Lightning_Dolt]

Does anyone have experience against the Esper Midrange list from GP shiz?

I think it's going to be difficult, but they do have a lot of X/1s. Boarding all the burn is probably correct. You might even have two burn spells for Ghost Dad. Our mana is infinitely better than theirs, so that's something. I don't think the deck will catch on (seems like such a flash in the pan deck) so keep calm and carry on.

[magicdownunder]

[deck]Still Testing[/deck]
SE Report (6516578)

Standard Elimination R1: Boros Aggro vs Bx Devotion (Event 6516578)
Standard Elimination
R2: Boros Aggro vs Ux Devotion (Event 6516578)

If Esper Aggro becomes a real deck I'm going to put some REAL thought into making room in the SB for [card]Wear // Tear[/card].

[Lightning_Dolt]

The mana is just awful. I don't think many people will be able to pilot it / deal with the variance.

[magicdownunder]

The mana is just awful. I don't think many people will be able to pilot it / deal with the variance.

It took down two PE's in a row back-to-back so under a good pilot (or a lucky one) its solid, but yeah... Dspheres + Whip in an aggressive deck is kinda disgusting...

That said - its not like Bx or Ux where it has 3-4 placing in every event yet so I'm not super concerned, just if it does happen [card]Wear // Tear[/card] here I come.

[LP, of the Fires]

The Esper deck is very good. As for the manabase, now that MODO has a hold of it, if people want to play the deck, it'll get tuned.

Having said that, wear/tear is all of the blowouts.

[Purp]

[deck]Lands 24
1 Boros Guildgate
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mutavault
11 Mountains

Creatures 20
3 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
2 Selfie Legionnaire
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells 12
1 FotF
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
1 Boros Charm

Enchantments 02
2 Chained to the Rocks

Sluts 02
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Sideboard 15
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Chained to the Rocks
1 Shock
1 Last Breath
2 Wear//Tear
2 Boros Charm
2 Mizzium Mortars
2 Skullcrack[/deck]

Just brewing some more ideas here for Saturday. Not sure about Chandra MD.

MDU how has Temple of Silence and Reckoner MD been for you?

[LaZerBurn]

I'd play Big Boros over PyroDragons if your meta is RW Devo heavy Purp, the increase in RW Devo on MTGO was what prompted MDU to switch

[Purp]

It's a tough call because our meta is literally wide open. If I had to rank lists in order from what i have seen the most of to the least: mono b/esper/uw, BW (either midrange or control), WWx (usually WB weenies now), RW devo, mono U/Gr, gw/mono red aggro.

Part of me thinks I am trying to get too cute by doing 1 ofs

[Zooligan]

Seems I always see 1-of's when I don't need them, and don't see them when I do need them.

Unless it's something I only want to see late game in match ups where the game goes longer than normal, I think they just add to variance and cost games as much as they win them.

[Purp]

Does Selfie Legionnaire deserve a spot in Big Boros?

[magicdownunder]

Does Selfie Legionnaire deserve a spot in Big Boros?

I'll give her a shot later (on Tuesday) 10 fliers seems darn appealing, and she has been doing good work for me in PyroSkies.

The only issue with adding her is that since the deck lacks Shocks and YP$ cutting Ash and friends is slightly more painful.

[Zooligan]

Selfie Legionnaire

noice!

[montu]

Made 2nd place at FNM tonight, winning the first 4 rounds and ID the last.

[deck=Montu's Boros Build]Lands 24
2 Boros Guildgate
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Mutavault
10 Mountains

Creatures 21
2 Boros Reckoner
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Ash Zealot
4 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Stormbreath Dragon

Spells 10
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike

Enchantments 03
3 Chained to the Rocks

Planeswalkers 02
2 Chandra, Pyromaster

Sideboard 15
1 Boros Reckoner
1 Chained to the Rocks
2 Shock
2 Last Breath
2 Boros Charm
2 Assemble the Legion
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Skullcrack[/deck]

Match 1 - 2-1

I played that Black-Green-Blue deck again from last week, lost the first game, but stomped him hard the next 2.

Match 2 - 2-0

Esper. Stomped him hard the first game. On Game 2 I mulliganed a high-land
draw, then pulled 2 lands, 1 FDS, and 3 Ash for my 6. Stomped him hard again.

Match 3 - 2-0

Esper again. Match was a bit tougher, but still won both games.

Match 4 - 2-0

Dimir Midrange. He mulliganed to 5, and scooped on the 2nd turn. Game 2 was freakin' awesome, with lots of play. He made 1 small blunder. I made none. I was able to hold back play as needed, which is usually a challenge for me, e.g., I held onto a Dragon for 3 turns until I was able to force him to use up counters and removal.

Match 5 - Intentional Draw


This was my most rewarding FNM yet. I made no tactical errors, and I believed I played very strategically.

[LaZerBurn]

I finally got round to putting some stuff up on YouTube Sadly I only went 2-2 with one of my 'win's down to a no show I am currently a much better theorist than player and prone to chronic tilting so these vids are littered with misplays
Feedback is most welcome!

The List -

[deck]Boros LaZerBurn[/deck]

DE6488815 R1 G1 Vs BW
DE6488815 R1 G2 Vs BW
DE6488815 R1 G3 Vs BW
DE6488815 R2 G1 Vs MonoU
DE6488815 R2 G2 Vs MonoU
DE6488815 R3 G1 Vs MonoB
DE6488815 R3 G2 Vs MonoB[/url:
4e6swoo1]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFQSl5XuSaI]DE6488815 R3 G3 Vs MonoB

Apparently not content with being a poor player my It skills are also lacking as I couldn't figure out how to make cute links like MDU either. On the bright side at least I'm aware of my shortcomings and 2014 can only get better

EDIT - Thanks Montu - fixed it!

EDIT - Thanks to MDU for the feedback! I now have a much more accurate view of my play - there are misplays, I do tilt BUT it isn't as bad as I had thought If you've ever considered putting up vids, I'd highly recommend it!

[dauntless268]

[deck]Dauntless 268 Warleader Boros[/deck]

Not completely sure if this is the right place for this hybrid deck. Won an 8-man on MODO yesterday (2-0 WW, 2-0 Mono G and 2-1 Mono U) with this list. I'm very happy with the Manabase and I like Helix MB. Sideboard obviously needs work, admittedly born out of a few frustrating Mono B losses with other builds lately. Probably should add a few shocks somewhere in the 75. Comments welcome!

[montu]

Apparently not content with being a poor player my It skills are also lacking as I couldn't figure out how to make cute links like MDU either. On the bright side at least I'm aware of my shortcomings and 2014 can only get better

Just "quote" his post, and you can see the markup he used to do it. Here's the format, but you need to use square bracket instead of pointy brackets.

<url=youtube_url>Cute Link Goes Here</url>

Anyway, IMO, the best thing you can do is write down your misplays in a binder or something, as soon as they occur. Then a quick review before each match will help you avoid them in the future. (For me, it's
things like, "You can't kill 2 Pack Rats with a Flames of the Firebrand if he has an untapped Mutavault. Doh!")

[magicdownunder]

@Lazerburn: I watched your games

Beside Ux Devotion G1 when you shipped two lands with 2x SBD and 1x Chandra in hand (you may have won that), you didn't make very notable misplay.

R3 G1 vs Bx Devotion, I think I would have taken the same line of play, though with hindsight it would of been better not sac + swing (since he was being aggressive anyways) you may have won that but that wasn't a misplay more of a hindsight thing.

[LaZerBurn]

Thanks for the feedback MDU It is soooooooo helpful!

G1 Vs Mono UI think I was panicking for removal rather than focusing on what I had and what plays where available. Looking at it now shipping the land seems a bit a bad call.

G1 Vs Mono B I was focused on burning him out, it isn't the best line I don't think though I nearly brought it off! I was rushing to win after losing to MonoU which I need to learn not to do.

[magicdownunder]

G1 Vs Mono B I was focused on burning him out, it isn't the best line I don't think though I nearly brought it off!

Like I said I would have most likely done the same thing with that hand you had and the cards you drew, I wouldn't have thought it as a mistake but hindsight is 20/20.

[Lightning_Dolt]

The Esper deck is very good. As for the manabase, now that MODO has a hold of it, if people want to play the deck, it'll get tuned.

Having said that, wear/tear is all of the blowouts.

Not a matter of tuning really. Matter of three colour aggro decks being beyond awkward in an era of scry lands.

[magicdownunder]

@dauntless268

I scanned through his thread so many times - but I keep finding myself looking at your list in amazement, it does everything I like doing but for some reason I keep on dismissing it due to my disdain for Standard Burn.

Arrrrrggghhh I'm just gonna man up and build the darn thing here is my take on the MD:

[deck]Lands 24
4 Temple of Triumph
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Temple of Silence
3 Mutavault
11 Mountains

Creatures 16
4 Rakdos Cackler
4 Firedrinker Satyr
4 Chandra's Phoenix
4 Stormbreath Dragon

Instants/Sorceries 14
2 Mizzium Mortars
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
4 Warleader's Helix

Enchantments 4
4 Chained to the Rocks

Planeswalkers 2
2 Chandra, Pyromaster[/deck]

I don't really like Temple of Silence or running less then 4x [card]Mutavault[/
card] - but in a deck with six 4-drops and four 5-drops scry seems crazy important.

p.s. I forgot to mention, montu your deck LOOKS perfect for the open meta - I highly recommend it