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Boros ControlBy Alexander Poulidis on September 26th, 2005 · Filed in Standard (Type 2) · 25 Comments
by Poukis Let’s cut to the chase. So… what will the Kamigawa-9th-Ravnica Standard look like? Let’s try to encompass all the possibilities. It will most likely be a mixture of:
We'll start with decks from the Kamigawa block. The top finishing decks that have a chance outside of a Spirit heavy world (to my guess) are three/four color Gifts, Critical Mass, and Black Hand. All the other Kamigawa decks depend on your opponent:
Now, Ravnica has indeed lots of Spirits (no Arcane spells though) but I don’t think that the Standard will ever revolve around Spirits. Of course, Kamigawa Block isn't going to make much of an impact on Standard in general, but let's move on. We won't be seeing a lot of mono-colored decks, not without at least a little splash of another color. So, I won’t post match-ups from, let’s say, Mono-U, since UB control is much better. Continuing that thought, I don’t think that we will see a WW for a long time, since it will most likely break down to RWeenie and GWeenie (of course the borders of GWeenie, aggro, and beats are a bit hazy, but it’s ok to assume that when someone plays a 1st round Birds of Paradise, it’s not a weenie). Also, I won’t post results from decks that are based on color pairs not in Ravnica. By any means, you should expect some (that blue hunted thingie plus Pyroclasm is quite nasty), but I think that they will mostly be rogue decks. The focus of this article will be on W/R control (or Boros Control, or Bontrol). I really think that it is the sleeper deck of the format [Can formats that don't exist yet have "sleepers?" -Ed]. It seems that people are overestimating RWeenie and dismiss W/R Control. There has been a growing thread in the forums, so I just thought that I’d add my feedback, since I’ve been testing this deck from the minute the Ravnica spoiler was completed. But let’s take the things from the top. I am a usual guest at the Rumor Mill, but something happened in the last few days and I wasn’t able to check my computer. When that was resolved I check the almost finished Ravnica spoiler list and saw the sucky Hour of Reckoning. Thinking it was the set’s Wrath I was totally disappointed. Maybe it was that strong feeling I had when looking it that later made me wanna leap from my chair when I saw Razia’s Purification. Immediately, I thought of Razia, Boros Archangel in play and casting her Purification, leaving almost nothing else standing. With that thought suddenly in mind I abandoned my attempt to make a Golgari Rock and started making a W/R Control deck in Magic Workstation. As I was scanning the W and R candidates I spotted Wildfire, which would surely be included. With Wildfire came Hunted Dragon, since they have so much synergy. Without further ado, here is the first list I made, off of the top of my head.
Scanning the list, I realized that I would do mostly nothing in the first few rounds and then explode. Of course, this would need lots of mana to be viable. That’s why I included, without much thought, Boros Signet and Boros Garrison. It turns out that they were two of the best choices I made! The Signet:[list][*]Gives you a turn 3 Wrath of God.[*]Fixes your mana.[*]Gives you a 2nd turn drop.[*]Most importantly, survives Wildfire![/float]
Some other notes:
***The First Impressions, The First Changes*** Having Razia in the deck is like slapping yourself. You must keep you mana count high to cast her, thus enabling your opponent to cast whatever he wants before you Wildfire or Purify. Sure, Haste saves sometimes, but sadly she wasn’t good enough. Sadly. Hunted Dragon is a real issue. Most likely he will meet a Putrefying death, and you will most likely end up giving your opponent an opportunity for 6 free damage. Maybe not in game one, but surely in game two. Again, Haste can be a life saver, but it’s not good enough. Believe me, I love Dragons and tried everything to keep him in but in the end pure statistics betrayed him. Gift of Estates is good to ensure that you WILL win the mana war after the reset. It also thins out your deck to help you in the topdeck war if something goes wrong. Definitely a keeper. Jitte with counters means Wildfire is a dead card. It’s sad that the whole Boros Legion doesn’t have a WR Naturalize [Obviously your only option is Guildmage + Convoke -Ed]. Mana is not a problem and doesn't need changing. There were no manascrews, and considering the rate at which this deck chews through land, you'd have to try hard to get flooded. Everybody was asking me why I didn’t have any Firemane Angels. Some match results from random decks around the area: The deck proved to be stellar against control decks that didn’t have either counters or heavy discarding but to my surprise I was losing to several types of weenies. I always thought that this deck would trump all things aggro, but there was something missing. It seemed that I was on the right track but some things need to change. So it was: -1 Mountain -1 Wildfire -3 Hunted Dragon -2 Razia, Boros Archangel +1 Lightning Helix +3 Firemane Angel +3 Shining Shoal ***Sideboard*** -4 Pyroclasm -1 Lightning Helix -1 Ivory Mask +1 Suppression Field +1 Shining Shoal +4 Brightflame I'll be mentioning these two bad boys a lot in the article With some minor tweaking, (hmm, why do I need Tendo Ice Bridge? I never tap it for colored mana…) I ended up with the following version and started playtesting against several decks to see the results.
As you see, not many things changed. The Boseijus show up because if you manage to resolve a single Purification or Wildfire against a U (or U/x) control, you just rocked them REALLY hard! On the other hand, I hardly ever sided Ghostly Prison in. The weenie match-up is not a very dangerous one. To the testmobile then! **GoodForm** Number of Games: 7 without Sideboard, 6 with Sideboard I won: 3/7, 2/6 Sideboard: -3 Gift of Estates, +3 Ivory Mask* Brief Impressions: GoodForm, even with its Mirrodin losses, is still a very fast deck (casting Enduring Ideal or Form of the Dragon by the 4th or 5th turn) and pretty much reminds me of Tooth and Nail [Man, remember how awesome R/W Slide was against that? -Ed]. If you can get a single Wildfire, you've won the game. If not (as you can see there were many times in which I didn't) you've lost. It's not just Form of the Dragon, it's all those enchantments. A very neat trick to do is wait for him to cast, bring, or whatever Form of the Dragon and just as he tries to deal 5 damage to you, redirect it to them via a Shining Shoal removing either Firemane Angel, Razia's Purification or whatever! It's very funny and gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside! Anyhow, if it really comes up in your local metagame you could consider adding Tempest of Light to your sideboard. *That is, if your opponent (for some reason) doesn't play Confiscate. If he does you should most likely keep the Gifts. ***Kamigawa Block Decks*** **Gifts Ungiven (Three and Four Colors)** Number of Games: 6 without Sideboard, 4 with Sideboard I won: 4/6, 2/4 Sideboard: -1 Wrath of God, -3 Shining Shoal, either +4 Suppression Field against a Hana Lock, or +3 Ivory Mask against a Cranial Lock Brief Impressions: The king of the Kamigwa Block Constucted... Your games depend largely on the version your opponent is playing. In general it's a very mana-hungry deck, so Wildfire and Purification are your best weapons. The Hana Kami lock does almost nothing to you. The Cranial lock, though very painful, is very difficult and expensive, so shouldn't concern you. The game against Gifts Control, is quite to your favor pre-sideboard. The problem is the it has access to the usual bad things in the sideboard. When I said earlier that the Cranial lock shouldn't concern you, I meant that you shouldn't be afraid of the recurring thing, since it costs 5BBGG/turn. That doesn't mean that 3 stray Wxtractions won't do you off. **Critical Mass** Number of Games: 5 without Sideboard, 5 with Sideboard I won: 3/6, 3/5 Sideboard: -2 Quicksand, +2 Boseiju Brief Impressions: I just tested against Critical Mass, since I believe that it's a very nice example of a Kamigawa block deck... It's heavy and weird, leaning on its fatties to win the game. It's just that from deck to deck, those fatties change. Critical Mass is an aggro/control deck (mostly aggro), and even the small amount of countermagic (8 Spells) makes an impact in the presideboard games. If Boseiju hits play, while you will have your main threats uncounterable, the life loss really helps your opponent when he is beating you down with his Meloku or Kodama. **Black Hand** Number of Games: 5 without Sideboard, 5 with Sideboard I won: 5/5, 3/5 Sideboard: -4 Gift of Estates, -1 Firemane Angel, +4 Suppression Field, +1 Lightning Helix Brief Impressions: It's funny how after sideboard I lost some matches. It's partly Hand having better sideboard choices and partly good and bad hands. In most of the games Suppression Field worked wonders, almost destroying opposing Jittes and O-Naginatas. Many games were a close call (3 of them ending with me at 5-6 life), but most of the time R/W pulls through. Raving Oni-Slave is a card you want them to play, to meet its Helixed death, leaving your opponent with a total disadvantage. Though I haven't tested, I can sense that it would be a much worse matchup if in Yukora's stead your opponent played Mindslicer. ***Ravnica Block Decks*** **RWeenie** Number of Games: 5 without Sideboard, 5 with Sideboard I won: 3/5, 5/5 Sideboard: -4 Razia's Purification, -2 Gift of Estates, +4 Brightflame, +1 Lightning Helix, +1 Shining Shoal Brief Impressions: This is your dream matchup. Everything they do, you can foil. The added benefit of Red on the weenie frame is direct damage. This isn't that bad, since you can offset it with some minor life gain (or pseudo life gain). Sure, there are times when you are too slow (I won one game at one life), but most of the time it's very easy. After sideboard, it gets even better with Brightflame gaining you tons of life. The worst thing that your opponent can do (pre or post sideboard) is a Boros Swiftblade equipped with a Jitte. Therefore the aforementioned little guy should be taken out of the scene very fast and without looking back. Number of Games: 10 without Sideboard, 7 with Sideboard I won: 8/10, 6/7 Sideboard: -4 Razia's Purification, -2 Gift of Estates, +4 Brightflame, +1 Lightning Helix, +1 Shining Shoal Brief Impressions: Another very good matchup. It's very much like the RWeenie, but instead of the direct damage, GWeenie has access to many Saproling-making spells. Also more so in GWeenie than RWeenie (for some reason) your opponent will be playing Promise of Bunrei. That is a very nasty card for you, as 4 2/2 Spirits (via Glorious Anthem) are way better than one 4/4 flyer. Beats is much better. Though it has access to tougher creatures, it has a higher mana curve, thus giving you a chance to "stall" (not like you want to stall, but against a GWeenie if you don't cast that 3rd or 4th turn Wrath you're dead meat). Lockdown is the best matchup out of three. It acts like control (a role in which you're much better) and therefore is much slower than other G/W decks. **UB Control** Number of Games: 5 without Sideboard, 5 with Sideboard I won: 2/5, 2/5 Sideboard: -2 Quicksand, +2 Boseiju Brief Impressions: It's really annoying having some control over your spells. It's ten times more annoying to constantly have someone controlling your spells. As I mentioned before, a single mass destruction spell can swing the game to your favor. Yosei is a star (he he pun) in this matchup. He is basically a big bad Time Walk on wings. Bouncing is pretty bad though. The game sometimes comes down to the better pilot and better hands. Boseiju is a big savior after boarding. If your opponent is playing a milling-heavy deck, then you actually have a much better game since he will be lighter in counterspells than a counter-dedicated deck and Firemane Angel has a (very) late game recursion... Of course when U is involved, almost all games are late... **UB Beats** Number of Games: 7 without Sideboard, 6 with Sideboard I won: 5/7, 3/6 Sideboard: It really depends on his build. I can't give something specific. Choices contain: Boseijus, Ivory Masks, and Suppression Fields. Brief Impressions: Though not as bad as the UB Control matchup, this matchup is not that jolly. It's basically like Critical Mass: aggro with some control. The aggro part, you like. The control, you don't. Worse than Critical Mass, it contains black, thus gaining access to the cards that shall not be named. You should be wary of things that can cause you to discard. You don't like that very much. **BG (Control, Beats... they are pretty much the same thing)** Number of Games: 6 without Sideboard, 5 with Sideboard I won: 4/6, 2/5 Sideboard: Suppression Field, Ivory Mask* Brief Impressions: As long as your opponent plays creatures, you're in control and you're fine, since his rate of casting creatures isn't that high. You are also fine when your opponent is trying to have board control. You are so much better than him at that... It can actually help you with some of your creatures. Your life becomes more difficult after sideboard, since your opponent will most likely side some hated cards in and the game will become a bit more difficult for you. *Once again, I can't recommend a certain sideboard choice, cause it depends on your opponent. If he is playing Jittes, side Suppression Field in; if he is playing Cranial Extraction and the nightmarish card you should side Ivory Mask in. **Mirror match** Number of games: 5 I won: I was playing with myself, so I guess that I won every match. The one named Poukis, not Opponent, won 3 games. Sideboard: None Brief Impressions: You don’t need me to tell you that the match is eeky. It all comes down to who draws the best cards. It can be a very long game. I was playing against a slightly modified build, with Devouring Light instead of Shining Shoal and I just can’t say how much I liked the shoal… Most of the time it acts like a Devouring Light, but it can act as a finisher too, and I guess that this takes it over the top. You may have noticed that I didn’t play many games, but, to my defense, it was a pretty boring matchup… ***Final Verdict*** All in all, if I must summarize this deck into a small phrase, it would have to be that it's a very fun and quite easy deck to play. It has a very good game against aggro and a not so good time against control. You should act up to your local metagame mostly! But be prepeared that it's a deck that can be VERY frustrating to an opponent. It has an interesting card pool and quite many possibilities. That's all I've got! Come back next time. Cards that I could play, but decided not to: **Removal** Final Judgment: Something that costs 6 mana, doesn’t reset the whole (or most of) the board, while removing your creatures from the game is a big no, no  .Hour of Reckoning: Right. Devouring Light: I don't know. I tested with this card and it seems to me that you have too much removal and you are too light on threats. Its a quality card, though, so you can just go ahead and use it if you want to. **Threats** Blinking Spirit: While it survives Wrath effects, it costs a lot, doesn’t have haste, and doesn’t have evasion. Promise of Bunrei: While the thought of resetting the board and having a 4/4 bird and 4 1/1 spirits is funny, Promise is not a threat on its own and it will propably delay you more than help you. It’s weenie tech and your enemy, not your buddy. The Genjus: Now that’s a lot of mana to work. The best case scenario would be to cast Razia’s Purification and be left with a Genju, the land it’s enchanting, and a Boros Garrison. A Wildfire will most certainly kill it. Besides that, you will see that the basic land count is not that high. Deciding to add Genju of the Fields would mean that you would have to draw one of the 9 Plains. You will propably, but you might well get screwed. You also can’t afford to “sacrifice” many lands. Remember that you control a mana-hungry deck. Finally, the Genju of the Spires is a very aggro card. You are not aggro, and you shouldn’t be playng this deck with an aggro attitude. **Utility** Weathered Wayfarer: While he can bring a Boseiju to your hand, I generally dislike having weenies in a deck that Wraths casually. **Ending Note** (No, really it's almost over! Just hang in there) I can accept the fact that the deck, whole or parts of it, may not appeal to someone. I would be very happy to discuss my choices with someone (provided he has made some useful point, not "Teh deck is teh suxxxxorzz!! Ur teh n00b35t!!1!!!1! w00t w00t") I can also provide some decklists I used in the matchups. Finally, you can pm me if you want to test decks (I use only Magic Workstation though.) Most of the above matchups have a quite wide margin of statistical error, since I could only play 10 games of each matchup, which are not that many... Some choices may seem a bit subpar, but I'm trying to encompass all possible ways for the deck to evolve, since the Standard scene hasn't shettled yet. I might do another article with better card choices after we've seen what the standard will be like for the next few months. That's it! You made it! Cheers! ***Thanks to RickCorgan, Spiritual Herder, Shadowlord, Belgareth and so many others for the hours of advice and deck checks.*** ***Thanks to me (!) for the banner and pretty pics within the article; thanks to Qwerty for letting me post this and Goblinboy for editing! *** ***Finally, a big thank you to the readers for devoting your time to read this (and for not being very bad to me in the forums maybe??)*** By Alexander Poulidis on September 26th, 2005 · Filed in Standard (Type 2) · 25 Comments |
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