Boros Bullies
Brighthand bullies is a deck designed around three key elements. It aims to exploit a weakness in the metagame, offer many lines of play to a strong player, and be resilient in a format where reanimator plays huge threats that most decks can't deal with. It exploits the meta by playing a strong lineup of creatures that are either evasive or reach far. It offers many lines of play by being a deck that plays mostly on the opponent's turn and allowing the pilot to make many choices. And most importantly, it freely robs
reanimator of their gimmick.
The deck itself is more or less the brainchild of Fires of Salvation as a whole, and although I (Alex) take the vast majority of the credit in designing the deck, FoS was instrumental in the fine tuning, especially due to the very overwhelming constructive criticisms I received early into the deck's conception. I'm especially grateful to Zemanjaski, Lauphiette Kincey (LP), and Disil for really helping me hammer out the kinks in the armor.
I first played the deck at Grand Prix Charlotte in a rather large side event on Saturday. I didn't get to play in the main event due to having real-life obligations, but I had a lot of success with the beta version of the list, which you can view along with my sideboarding plans for each match here.
Over the past few weeks, especially leading into Dragon's Maze, I've had a lot of success in the playtest gauntlet playing this version of
the deck, and I feel that it is more or less "optimized" with the exception of a few flex slots where I'm trying some things out. I've been trying out Mizzium Mortars, [card]Aurelia's Fury[/card], Pyreheart Wolf, Electrickery, and a number of other random things. Right now I'm a bit in love with Rolling Temblor, but we'll see how the meta shifts once Dragon's Maze is out and decide if that's the card for the slot.
[deck]The Gauntlet Runner[/deck]
At first glance I've had people ask me how the deck wins. I thought it was pretty obvious (beating people down) but I suppose they wonder why there are cards like Restoration Angel being played in the same list as stuff like Hellrider and Midnight Haunting. The thing is, the deck functions by doing as little as possible on your own turn, instead threatening things like Boros Charm and Restoration Angel with any mana you have left over. Good opponents will often play around these cards, so the ability to bluff them even when you aren't holding them can actually change the outcome of the game without the spells ever having been cast. While you threaten these spells, you'll often accrue more and more mana every turn, which can become active damage in the form of
the six to seven maindeck sources of mana dumping. This makes any turn that you spend in a board stall increasingly favorable to you.
Although a good number of your wins will be attributed to "I resolved a Restoration Angel and they couldn't block it so they lost the race," I promise you that the deck offers more depth than that. With so many decisions to be made every turn, the deck appeals to both control and midrange players despite being firmly set in a midrange role.
Honorable mentions
This section is going to break down each converted mana cost and any cards within the CMC range that deserve an honorable mention in the list.
1 CMC
Reckless Waif: I really liked this card in the original version, especially on the play against any deck that was playing shocks, but I eventually replaced
her to make room for more Stonewrights. She does a surprising amount of damage and I think she's pretty underrated in the Return to Shocklands block.
Pillar of Flame: This card is still a beating in any metagame where Undying is a thing. I think this card might become more relevant once Dragon's Maze comes out because the Golgari scavenge lord seems like kind of a beating.
Rakdos Cackler: Still a good card, just not good enough in this list. We're not interested in playing an aggro deck here.
2 CMC
Lightning Mauler: is likely the most playable of any card I've excluded from the list. I think he's probably much, much better than Nearheath Pilgrim. If there was ever a time when I removed [card]Boros
Reckoner[/card] from the deck, I would absolutely without a second thought swap out the pilgrims for these. Lightning Mauler is the actual nuts.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben: People will argue for her, but those people are wrong. You don't want to be playing her in a list with so many instants and sorceries. She stops a Supreme Verdict about as well as a Boros Charm does, which is to say that you shouldn't be playing her even in the face of sweepers.
Gather the Townsfolk: I've had people ask me why I don't play this and why I choose [card]Krenko's Command[/card] instead. The answer is fairly simple; I can't see Fateful Hour being relevant enough of the time to outweigh not being able to block Stromkirk Noble. Heck, if you're at 5 or
less, Stromkirk Noble is probably what beat you down that low in the first place!
Searing Spear: Still a good card. I didn't include it because I had no room, but I'm sure you guys will find room for it. I've not missed my direct burn spells too much but some people like it. I think this card falls under the umbrella of "personal preference."
Frostburn Weird: This is a card for the sideboard that does a lot of work against aggressive matchups. He's good for many of the same reasons that Rhox Faithmender is good, but the advantage of having him is that he comes down as early as turn 2, where Faithmender comes down at 4 and is sometimes too late. A very good card to consider in any Burning-Tree Emissary matchup.
3 CMC
[card]Pyreheart
Wolf[/card]: This card is another one that I'll lump in with Lightning Mauler in the "If I wasn't playing Boros Reckoner..." camp. This card is questionably better, and if you aren't into the whole infinite life business, this card is certainly worth its weight in cardboard. I feel strongly about wanting to play the card somewhere in the 75, but it's hard to give it the impact that I think it deserves when so many of the threats in the deck are already hard to block. It's certainly on my radar though.
Skyknight Legionnaire: While being a surprisingly unplayable constructed card, in a deck like this the card can actually be decent. It becomes better if you're playing a heavier white base since it plays well with Boros Elite and Champion of the Parish, but that's a whole different deck.
Frontline Medic[/b:
1tvjo0to]: I've never really felt that he was that impressive, but maybe in a list that's already playing Lightning Maulers he could really shine. This card certainly isn't horrid, it just really needed haste!
4 CMC
Firemane Avenger: This is just one more card that's exponentially better with Lightning Maulers in the deck. I actually think in a list that can consistently give her haste, she's probably just better than Hellrider because Lightning Helix is very powerful. I'd be interested in hearing what people have to say about her in the hastier version of a deck like this one.
Instigator Gang: The gang can act as a "fifth" Hellrider, which seems alright to me. The card is actually just 100%
certifiably nuts if it flips, and you generally just win the game immediately if you attack with him on his belly. That's something to consider, especially if you're looking at a lot of control matchups where you'll have ample opportunities to flip him over.
Hound of Griselbrand: This is a card that's traditionally very strong in the mono red lists, and I think there might be some merit to it here too just because of how good it is against control matchups. It just refuses to die to anything, which makes it pretty good. I replaced mine in the board with Volcanic Strength, but that may or may not have been right.
Slayer of the Wicked: SotW is actually a decent card against Jund and Naya, so if you expect to see those matchups a lot you can consider this card. He comes down and zaps Olivia, Huntmaster of the Fells, Mayor of Avabruck, all sorts of things.
5
CMC
Assemble the Legion: I don't know how to feel about this card. I haven't played with it a ton, but I can't imagine that it's better at closing out a control matchup as well as our Warleader.
Burn at the Stake: This card is very good, and is often a 5 mana win condition that literally wins on the spot. It gets better if you have more token generators in the deck, so any version of the list that's running 4 Midnight Hauntings and more than 2 [card]Krenko's Command[/card] will get a lot of mileage out of it.
X CMC
Bonfire of the Damned: This card is great if you expect to see a lot of aggro decks in the meta, it can occasionally just win you the game out of nowhere as well. Most people
should consider playing it in their flex spot, but I choose not to because I don't like the inconsistency of Miracles.
[card]Aurelia's Fury[/card]: It's Boros' Cryptic Command generally. You'll play it like Sleep most of the time, but that's not so bad if doing so means that you win the game via attacking. Sometimes it'll be a Fireball @ the opponent, which again, if it's winning you the game, no qualms. It's a versatile card that I think is currently very underrated. I chose to exclude it in this version of the list due to some issues I was having with super-super-super aggressive Burning-Tree Emissary decks, but if those ever stop being a thing I will likely be including them again in the future.
To be continued tomorrow, let me know what you guys think about the changes.
I am very tempted to run my own take (probably at least 65 of the same 75) for Nationals qualifiers.
