Boros, Beats, Battlestar Galactica

[hamfactorial]

Affinity, Scapeshift, Bogles, Tezzeret nonsense, etc.

[hamfactorial]

Ok, I played a bunch of matches today and realized some important things:

1. Regardless of how many instants I have in the deck, I still want to put a Lightning Helix or a Boros Charm on it. Bumping up the burn just to smooth out the odds of having something to strap onto it is a bad idea, especially if the extra burn is displacing a quality creature like KFW.

2. I like drawing the first Scepter, Sword or Chandra, but never the second. They're all going to be 1-ofs in the main now, since they all provide conditional CA. Drawing two or more is fine since they aren't providing identical effects.

3. I'm choking on land just slightly, and my HGD primer tells me that 21 land will get to 4 on curve 50% of the time, and then fall off a cliff. I want to get to 3 on curve, then draw gas. The free space left over from the Scepter/Chandra/Sword cut is becoming a land.

[deck]Modern Boros[/deck]

[vieko]

Damn Ham... what a fun deck to play! Thanks for sharing.

[hamfactorial]

you're welcome!

[hamfactorial]

I'm waiting for round 3 of the daily, currently 1-1 after the most irritating matches of my life.

Here's what I'm playing -

[deck]Modern Boros[/deck]

I'm playing Relics over Boros Charm as a maindeck way to deal with stupid GY combo decks like Jeskai Ascendancy, Pod, Storm, etc, that I don't have SB space for. The Boros Charms were becoming win-more.

I don't like the swords at all. I'm going to put 2 Stoke the Flames back in.

The first round was vs. Soul Sisters I got destroyed in game 1 by a mull to 4, followed by a bunch of Swiftspears vs. his 6/6 flying lifelinkers.

Game 2 went better, ending up in a giant stalemate where I was chipping away his life total and preserving my own with a Seeker of the Way. I had a particularly clutch play at 1 life, choosing to Seek him to exile a Spectral Procession, giving my Seeker lifelink and +1/+1, then cast Hide on his Honor of the Pure to eat his Kor Firewalker, followed by Crackling Doom after untap to clear his board and get back in. Eventually I landed a Chandra and drowned him in CA while his clock wound down. He conceded and tried to race me in G3 with about 2 minutes left. Didn't work out for him, I just stalled until he timed out

Round 2 I played JohnnyHotSauce and kept an opener with Relic, since JHS ALWAYS plays Storm. To my chagrin, he was on some sort of awful Naya blitz deck with Mutagenic Growth, Swiftspear, Goblin Guide and Wild Nacatl. I took him to G3 but the random number generator hosed me while I looked at a Mountain, a Sacred Foundry and four Kor Firewalkers in hand while I died to a Goblin Guide


I'll update soon with rounds 3 and 4, if I make it.

[hamfactorial]

Apparently I'm in the rogue deck bracket, facing the same shitty blitz brew from round 2.

EDIT: Nevermind, it's RG Zoo.

Won 2-1, even though I totally spaced out and missed an on-board kill, instead leaving him at 1 with a chance to kill me

POOR PLAY TONIGHT, GENTLEMEN!

[hamfactorial]

Lost round 4 to some RG Valakut ramp monstrosity. What happened to the Pod/Delver decks that this brew is designed to beat? You know, the fucking meta...

[hamfactorial]

quitting Magic forever etc

[Valdarith]

Such is the life of meta decks. When you don't face the expected meta, the odds are not in your favor.

[hamfactorial]

Yeah, the salt has diffused and I'm back to enjoying life. the deck actually performed well when it was drawing actual spells instead of flooding/screwing me.

I'm thinking about Student of Warfare as another Fallout-proof creature that doesn't suck in the late game. It makes the mana better suited in a heavy white deck, which I need for timely Kor Firewalkers.

I'm going to try Pyroclasm instead of Fallout, since I get stuck on 2 mana more often than I'd like, and the extra turn may help me hold the line against small aggro. I can hold Relic mana up vs. Pod that way, which may prove valuable.

[Valdarith]

I prefer Fallout just because it hoses Delver so hard. You might want to go to 21 land, especially with Chandra in the deck. It's not like you don't have mana sinks in the deck.

[hamfactorial]

Agreed, I went to 20 because of all the extra card draw from the Relics, but still got choked too often.

I'd feel best on 22 land if I had Student and FoD.

[hamfactorial]

Waiting around for round 4 of the daily to start, playing this -

[deck]Modern Boros[/deck]

I put Path back in, in place of Relic, since it accomplishes much the same thing and I'm getting run over by Siege Rhinos a little too often in testing.

I wanted to try Vexing Devil in the place of Kor Firewalker, but I've absolutely hated it every time I've drawn it. I actively hope NOT to see them in my opener, or at any point during the game. Will try another creature here, likely Student of Warfare.

What I really want is that newly-spoiled 2-drop from FRF.



If only it had prowess!

Round 1: 2-1 Win vs. Mono-G ramp. The dude told me after T2 that he started the daily with the wrong deck and intended to drop. We played it out and I beat him, but he managed to get me really good with a G2 Rude Awakening to kill me from 28 life.

Round 2: 2-1 win vs. Cruise Burn. Things went as expected. He killed me quickly in G1, I clawed my way back in G2 with a lifelinked Seeker protected by a Spellskite, and he eventually hosed himself by playing an Eidolon with me at 10 life. I used the opportunity to flash in an Aven Mindcensor and bolt his Goblin Guide, and he never had enough wiggle room to cast his own burn spells again.

Round 3: 2-1 win vs. Junk Pod. Beat him down G1, we reached a nice board stall in G2 with him at 16 and me at 4 with a fully pumped Figure of Destiny. I had him on a 2 turn clock if I could just draw a creature to chump-block the Voice of Resurgence token and the Birds of Paradise that he kept pumping with Gavony Township. I drew land, he drew more mana dorks, and he won. G3 was a blowout, beating down with a Brimaz and Path/Helix/Crackling Doom to keep the runway clear.

Round 4: Will update soon.

[hamfactorial]

Vexing Devil lost me round 4 vs. Burn. I shuffled one after a Goblin Guide trigger revealed it, then drew it, then drew another one.

[Valdarith]

That's what you get for running that trash.

[hamfactorial]

Heh, I blew it

[Valdarith]

Got VD all in your mouth.

[hamfactorial]

VD is the gift that keeps on taking

[hamfactorial]

My Burn opponent played a G3 Jotun Grunt, which was a spicy addition to a burn deck. I was covered since I boarded in my 1 RiP, but it got me thinking.

It might be a nice addition to this deck in the last creature spot. I enjoyed it in BBBSG, it may perform well as a beater with incidental Treasure Cruise hate, especially since I have very little that deals with the GY in the SB.

[Khaospawn]

Why in the hell did you take Firewalker out for VD????

[hamfactorial]

Because I hate myself

I was finding KFW pretty bad against Pod, and I hadn't faced down Burn in a while.

[Khaospawn]

But don't you just take out the KFW in G2 for Hushwing and/or Mindscensor?

[hamfactorial]

I usually take out Swiftspear since Pod gums up the ground so well.

[Valdarith]

I've been all about Jotun Grunt for awhile.

[hamfactorial]

I'll try him tonight. I liked him MD in BBBSG because I could blink him with Resto to reset, I hope it's still OK here.

[hamfactorial]

Played Grunt a bunch tonight. I like it in the late game because a 4/4 and a full GY to keep him fed is good value. There were too many games where I drew 2 in my opener and just sat looking at them while I died.

I may be better off playing another burn spell (Magma Jet or Boros Charm) to get extra value from Swiftspear and Seeker.

[Valdarith]

Soulfire Grand Master + Volcanic Fallout.

Make it so, Number One.

[hamfactorial]

You know I'll be buying a playset of those guys with the quickness.

[hamfactorial]

As many times as I've tweaked the list, the 20/20/20 has consistently performed the best and had the highest win % of all variants. Until the release of FRF in February, I'll be running something close to this -

[deck]Baby Boros v. 1.00[/deck]

Here are the total stats for this variant -

Daily Events

• 4-0 finish (-6 tickets, +11 KTK packs, -11 KTK packs @2.5 tickets/pack, +27.5 tickets: net change +16.5 tickets)
• 2-2 finish (-6 tickets)
• 3-1 finish (-6 tickets, +6 KTK packs, -6 KTK packs @ 2.5 tickets / pack, +15 tickets: net change + 9 tickets)
• 0-2 drop (-6 tickets)
• 3-1 (-6 tickets, +6 KTK packs, -6 KTK packs @ 2.9 tickets / pack, +17.4 tickets: net change +11.4 tickets)
• 1-2 drop (-6 tickets)

8-man Queues

• 1 match win - (-6 tickets, +3 KTK packs, -3 KTK packs @ 2.5 tickets/pack, +7.5 tickets: net change +1.5 tickets)
• 0 match wins (-6 tickets)
• 3 match wins (-6 tickets, +5 KTK packs, -5 KTK packs @ 2.66 tickets/pack, +13.3 tickets: net change +7.3 tickets)

2-man Queues

• Win (-2 tickets, +1 KTK pack, -1 KTK pack @ 2.8 tickets/pack, +2.8 tickets: net change +0.8 tickets)
• Win (-2 tickets, +1 KTK pack, -1 KTK pack @ 2.8 tickets/pack, +2.8 tickets: net change +0.8 tickets)
• Loss (-2 tickets)
• Loss (-2 tickets)
• Loss (-2 tickets)

Overall: +17.3 tickets
Last updated: 2015-01-17

I'm going to keep track of my performance with each brew going forward, with the goal of each to eventually earn enough tickets to pay for each card in the deck.

The abysmal performance of the Vexing Devil variant really hosed me (it was responsible for the 0-2 daily and the single 8-man ending before it should), but the shell is strong.

[hamfactorial]

Won an 8-man this morning, beating Affinity, Griselbrand Reanimator, then Kiki Pod.

Burn seems to be falling off, I'm considering playing another burn spell in Kor Firewalker's place. Arc Trail strikes me as the most useful in a Delver/Pod meta.

[hamfactorial]

Shoot, maybe Chained to the Rocks is worthwhile with Twin absent from the meta.

[Valdarith]

I think Chained to the Rocks is a great sideboard option. A lot of decks you want the effect for won't be able to deal with it and won't see it coming in game two. Even game three you'd be hard pressed to find someone bring in enchantment removal just to get rid of the card, but you would have to be wary of Tec Edge.

[Valdarith]

Next thing you know, Ham is going to start maindecking them and turn into a white devotion build.

[hamfactorial]

ALL THE WHITE MANAS!

Tec Edge can't hit basic Mountain, but I see what you're saying. I'll try them in Path's spot just to see how it goes. I just really hate giving Pod the extra land or Pathing some mana dork because I haven't drawn a Bolt.

[Valdarith]

Yeah sorry, I meant Ghost Quarter. It seems to be picking up in popularity but I'd still consider it fringe. Just don't put Chained on a Foundry to avoid Tec Edge.

Against decks you'd want Path, giving an extra land is pretty big for sure.

[hamfactorial]

[deck]Baby Boros[/deck]

3-1 in today's daily.

Round 1: 2-1 vs UR Delver (lost game 1 due to shitty draws, beat him to death after SB with zero changes to maindeck)
Round 2: 2-1 vs UR Delver (lost game 1 due to shitty draws, beat him to death after SB with zero changes to maindeck)
Round 3: 0-2 vs. RG Tron (G1 I kept a Monastery Swiftspear + 2 land + 4 Burn spells, he had natural Tron into Pyroclasm into Wurmcoil into Karn. In G2 I got him to 5 life, then he drew his 4 Wurmcoils while I only drew 3 of my Chained to the Rocks )
Round 4: 2-0 vs Mono-R Goblins (curbstomp)

I finally got to play a daily vs. Delver, instead of the nonsense Soul Sisters / Mill / 5 color humans horseshit I keep facing. Maybe it's my timezone, nothing but insane brewers.

Anyway, the deck beats Delver and small aggro. It falls on its ass vs. Tron though, so it's no panacea

[Valdarith]

Seems like you want Molten Rain for the Tron and UWR control matches. Why do you have three Cages and four Wear / Tear in the board? What are you taking out to put those in? Both seem like too many and it seems like your board lacks diversity.

[hamfactorial]

Yup, my sideboards are always awful because I spend too many slots on fixing unwinnable matchups

I bring in 3 cages and 1 Torpor Orb vs. Pod, take out the Monastery Swiftspears.

I bring in the 4 Wear // Tears vs. Affinity, take out the Monastery Swiftspears. I bring them in against Twin in place of CttR. I also bring them in against that awful Primeval Titan Amulet deck, since I always end up facing it when I play. I was bringing them in against Pyromancer Ascension Storm and Jeskai Ascendancy before I started playing with the Eidolons. The Eidolons are better, so I can likely trade the Wear // Tears for a Shattering Spree and another Stony Silence, and some Molten Rains per your excellent suggestion

[hamfactorial]

Proper sideboard construction is a huge weakness of mine.

[Valdarith]

Molten Rain is huge against Bloom Titan and in my experience much better than Wear / Tear. My friend plays the deck and getting rid of Amulet only slows him down a little. They can still Summer Bloom and Explore into an early Titan and just kill you like Tron does with Wurmcoil. Molten Rain at least gets rid of their pseudo Ancient Tombs. Blood Moon is a lot better against them and UWR control but obviously worse against Tron which is the matchup you're trying to improve the most.