Dies to Removal

So after playing Prowess in my prerelease I've felt that it could have a very powerful impact on aggro in standard. I've come up with a couple of brews to toss around.

First up is a RWU brew that utilizes Jeskai Ascendancy to get a free anthem with every spellcast.

[deck]SPELLS

4x Dragon Mantle
4x Fate Foretold
2x Jeskai Ascendancy
4x Defiant Strike
3x Jeskai Charm
4x Stoke the Flames

CREATURES

3x Akroan Crusader
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
2x Mantis Rider
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Seeker of the Way

LAND

4x Battlefield Forge
4x Flooded Strand
2x Island
3x Mana Confluence
3x Mountain
2x Plains
4x Shivan Reef[/deck]

Also we have a Boros build that uses burn and cantrips to clear the path and pump our creatures.

[deck]SPELLS

2x Launch the Fleet
4x Dragon Mantle
4x Defiant Strike
4x Lightning Strike
4x Stoke the Flames

CREATURES

4x Akroan Crusader
4x Goblin
Rabblemaster
4x Horde Ambusher
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Seeker of the Way

LAND

4x Battlefield Forge
2x Mana Confluence
8x Mountain
4x Plains
4x Temple of Triumph[/deck]

What are your thoughts/opinions? I plan on getting the Boros version to run at FNM this week.

Fate Foretold is quite a pet card of mine, but remember that will not work as we like it against Anger of the Gods nor End Hostilities (correct me if I'm wrong)

Second list seems more interesting for me. But I don't like the morph dude at cmc 2, Horde Ambusher, since for obtaining his effect you would have to pay 3 mana and reveal a card. In such a build something like Arena Athlete seems more appropriate, since you have tons of enablers, and good ones at that.
Another 2-drop with prowess would be good also (I can't remember of any in white or red, maybe next expansion?). But it is a new meta, so who knows. I simply don't like casting 2/2 for 3 mana in an aggro deck.

Defiant strike
seems too weak to me, the cantrip is very good for avoiding being 2 for 1 oh yeah, but Titan's Strenght seems just better for RACING. Especially because you don't have a late game plan other than one-man-show Rabble, which conveniently... dies to removal. Also 1 of God's Willing is a legit trick.

just my 2 cents

I'm interested in your results because I really hope that Akroan Crusader could work in a dedicated build. I'm trying to make it work but the exact concotion of enablers evades me. With 10 you should have the bases covered.

p.s. for now I've put aside the Jeskai version. but thinking of Retraction Helix + Dragon Mantle on a crusader with ascendancy in play... shivers.

edit: any other 2 drop instead of Horde Ambusher seems better than him.

good luck at your FNM!

I wasn't able to get all the cards together so I had to call an audible and ran a slightly modified version of the deck.

[deck]SPELLS
2x Suspension Field
4x Titan's Strength
4x Dragon Mantle
4x Defiant Strike
3x Lightning Strike
4x Stoke the Flames

CREATURES
1x Foundry-Street Denizen
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x War-Name Aspirant
3x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Seeker of the Way

LAND
4x Battlefield Forge
10x Mountain
2x Plains
4x Temple of Triumph

SIDEBOARD
3x Banishing Light
2x Jeering Instigator
4x Eidolon of Great Revel
3x Foundry Street Denizen
2x Magma Spray[/deck]

Things that worked:
Seeker of the Way is a house, Attacking in with a 3/3 or 4/3 lifelink is crazy. I was consistantly over 25 life and he won me several games on his own.
War-Name Aspirant was mediocre, but I think that he was a better choice than [card]Horde
Ambusher[/card]. His bonus attacking through a Caryatid if played Main Phase 2 was very clutch.
Suspension Field was amazing, I think there needs to be 2 more in the side along with Banishing Light.
Burn suite seemed fine, would definitely be better with Akroan Crusader to use with Stoke.

Things that flopped:
Not having Mana Confluence hurt. Definitely needed more white sources.
Foundry-Street Denizen was just garbage.

Things to test:
Need to test with more Suspension Field. Seems really nice against many of the Monster Decks that are popping up.
Maybe replace Dragon Mantle with Dragon Grip to push through damage with seeker.

Anyways I'll update when I get more playtesting done.

Played some games against Jeskai Control last night. This is the current version of the deck

[deck]SPELLS
2x Ride Down
4x Titan's Strength
4x Hammerhand
3x Defiant Strike
3x Lightning Strike
4x Stoke the Flames

CREATURES
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Goblin Rabblemaster
4x War-Name Aspirant
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Seeker of the Way

LAND
4x Battlefield Forge
8x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Mana Confluence
4x Temple of Triumph

SIDEBOARD
3x Banishing Light
2x Suspension Field
4x Eidolon of Great Revel
3x God's Willing
2x Magma Spray[/deck]

In the near future I'll be testing new cards for the deck, most notably I'll be testing Raise the Alarm and Trumpet Blast.

excellent work!

how as been ride down against control? I assume everybody is playing at least some creatures in their decks these days.

A rules doubt: if you have a White soldier token and a red soldier tokens, the die both from things like Echoing Truth?

The only difference that i could see is 1-2 dragon mantle instead of defiant strike, but for sure you will know better than me.

I don't know, but in the late game you could threaten letal damage with it use it as a mana sink? You play enough land to make it worth.

On a different note, have you tried to side in eidolon? Has it worked?

For now, due to deckbuilding constraints, I'm taking out the Akroan Crusaders but I hope to find a way to make them work as a pseudo-trasformational sideboard...

Raise the alarm seems strong against counterspells_based control.
I
would have some embarass to play it against midrange strategies.
Last suggestion is to look into Obelisc of Urd, against midrange.

excellent work!

how as been ride down against control? I assume everybody is playing at least some creatures in their decks these days.

I feel like it is the new Firefist Striker, except at instant speed and it removes the creature from play.

A rules doubt: if you have a White soldier token and a red soldier tokens, the die both from things like Echoing Truth?

Yes, Bile Blight was able to hit the Red/White Soldiers from Assemble the Legion and [card:
3tzms9pb]Akroan Crusader[/card].

The only difference that i could see is 1-2 dragon mantle instead of defiant strike, but for sure you will know better than me.

I don't know, but in the late game you could threaten letal damage with it use it as a mana sink? You play enough land to make it worth.

The biggest problem I had with Dragon Mantle was that it didn't have flash, and more often than not it was a dud as they would kill the creature on the stack and I wouldn't get the draw. Hammerhand has been much better as a replacement.

On a different note, have you tried to side in eidolon? Has it worked?[/
quote]

I've only gotten Eidolon in one of my games and I used it as a finisher when the opponent was at 5 and had used all their removal.

Raise the alarm seems strong against counterspells_based control.
I would have some embarass to play it against midrange strategies.

I'm thinking it could be sideboard for this purpose. I like it a lot because it enables our buff spells when we have no creatures on the board.

Last suggestion is to look into Obelisc of Urd, against midrange.

I think Obelisk of Urd would only be good with Raise the Alarm. This deck
has worked best when I cast my spells in response to their casts or when they're tapped out.

Updated the deck to try and get some card advantage better than Defiant Strike.

[deck]SPELLS
2x Ride Down
4x Titan's Strength
4x Hammerhand
3x God's Willing
3x Lightning Strike
4x Stoke the Flames

CREATURES
4x Akroan Crusader
4x Prophetic Flamespeaker
4x War-Name Aspirant
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Seeker of the Way

LAND
4x Battlefield Forge
8x Mountain
2x Plains
2x Mana Confluence
4x Temple of Triumph

SIDEBOARD
3x Defiant Strike
2x Suspension Field
4x Eidolon of Great Revel
1x Ride Down
2x Magma Spray[/deck]

The Sideboard is still a work in progress. I haven't been to any tournaments and the meta is still so fluid I'm not sure what the best package would be.