Decks

Orzhov Cleric Tribal in MOM: The Aftermath

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

My apologies to anyone who follows my set reviews to see how my Standard B01 Orzhov Cleric Tribal deck evolves when a new set comes out. March of the Machine: The Aftermath came out in May so this is much overdue. On the flip side, part of the reason that I did not rush to post is that there are but two clerics in the set and only one could slot into an Orzhov Cleric Tribal deck.

That sole qualifying cleric is Metropolis Reformer, a 2/3 Angel Cleric with flying and vigilance and gives you hexproof. It additional gains you as much life as it is dealt damage. All for 2 and a W. Not a bomb by any means.

The question now is, does it fit into the deck? If so, what comes out? For the same mana cost, I see two options: Annex Sentry or Yotian Medic. I think the latter makes more sense to cut. The two have the same Power and Toughness so that does not play into my decision. While the Annex Sentry is not a great card, its removal is a more potent ability than lifelink. Easy decision in the end. Besides I have three Yotian Medics in the deck and only two Annex Sentries.

On a note unrelated to this latest set, one additional change I have made is replace the 2 Valorous Stances with 2 Fateful Absences.

Here is what the updated deck looks like:

  • 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
  • 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
  • 2 Fateful Absence (MID) 18
  • 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
  • 9 Plains (THB) 250
  • 7 Swamp (THB) 252
  • 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
  • 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
  • 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
  • 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
  • 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
  • 2 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
  • 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97
  • 3 Metropolis Reformer (MAT) 0004
  • 2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2

Sideboard:

  • 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
  • 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
  • 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

Changes:

  • In: 3 Metropolis Reformer (MAT) 0004
  • Out: 3 Yotian Medic (BRO) 33
  • Out: 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
  • In: 2 Fateful Absence (MID) 18

Let’s see how this new deck does!

As always, feel free to drop us a comment with your thoughts and suggestions for this deck.

Orzhov Cleric Tribal in March of the Machine

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

A new Magic TCG set is always an opportunity to see what opportunities there are to improve my Orzhov Cleric Tribal for Arena B01 Standard. I’m later posting this than I would have liked but once you see how March of the Machine influences the deck, I expect that you’ll understand.

If you’ll recall, Phyrexia: All Will Be One introduced 10 new cleric cards, with seven of them possibilities for an Orzhov deck. March of the Machine only brings five new Clerics, of which four are possible candidates for my purposes. It did not bode well if only based on the quantity of cards.

Let’s have a closer look at those five cards:

Alabaster Host Sanctifier: A 2/2 with Lifelink and no other upside does not offer enough to warrant putting it in the deck at the expense of one of the cards currently in the deck.

Progenitor Cat Cleric: I like Incubate as a mechanic. You can go with a simple artifacts matter strategy or convert them to artifact creatures for a more aggressive strategy). The choice is yours. Unfortunately, it is not cheap, especially if you want to go with the latter. At its cheapest, you get a 1/2 for 1 with no upside (unless you have other Incubate cards). Each Incubate token costs an additional 2 when casting and an additional 2 later to turn each into a creature. Frankly, my deck is slow enough as it is.

Sun-Blessed Guardian is an interesting card. A 2/2 that can transform into a 3/3 and generate an attacking token is certainly worthy of consideration. Except for that cost. 5 mana and two life (given the lack of red mana) is not cheap. And it remains prone to removal. Too expensive for too little.

Quintorius, Loremaster is out simply due to it being Boros rather than Orzhov.

Seedpod Caretaker comes with two ETB options to chose from. The first certainly could work but the second requires at least one source of Incubator tokens. As you saw above, from a Cleric standpoint, pickings are pretty slim.

If I was to consider some substitutions, I think I would need to pull into the deck Progenitor Cat Cleric, Sun Blessed Guardian and Seedpod Caretaker to leverage the synergy between them. But then, what do I pull? I may try it but I have a feeling that it will not work. I’m better off to try to build an Incubate deck instead.

For now, let’s leave the deck as is:

  • 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
  • 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
  • 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
  • 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
  • 9 Plains (THB) 250
  • 7 Swamp (THB) 252
  • 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
  • 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
  • 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
  • 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
  • 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
  • 2 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
  • 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97
  • 3 Yotian Medic (BRO) 33
  • 2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2

Sideboard:

  • 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
  • 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
  • 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

As always, feel free to drop in a comment with your thoughts and suggestions for this deck.

Playing with Ichormoon Gauntlet

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Ever since Ichormoon Gauntlet was spoiled during Phyrexia: All Will Be One previews, I was intrigued and curious how playable it could be. As you can see, this Artifact gives Planeswalkers additional abilities, namely Proliferate for a cost of 0 and an additional turn for a far more expensive 12.

I finally decided to put curiousity to action and built the following Blue deck centered around Jace and Teferi for Arena Standard B01. I burned 5 Mythic wild cards despite some reservations that I was doing so for a foolish quest. But you only live once after all.

Here is the first deck I built. Essentially, I threw a few cards together around the three main ones.

  • 3 Jace, the Perfected Mind (ONE) 57
  • 2 Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim (BRO) 66
  • 4 Delver of Secrets (MID) 47
  • 4 Fading Hope (MID) 51
  • 2 Shore Up (DMU) 64
  • 3 Disdainful Stroke (SNC) 39
  • 4 Ichormoon Gauntlet (ONE) 56
  • 3 Third Path Savant (BRO) 67
  • 2 Academy Loremaster (DMU) 40
  • 4 Stormchaser Drake (VOW) 82
  • 2 Silver Scrutiny (DMU) 65
  • 4 Essence Capture (NEO) 52
  • 23 Island (ONE) 273

After only one game, a loss, it was clear that Third Path Savant was just not a good card. 7 for the ability to draw two cards was simply too expensive. Out it went. I also added an additional Teferi card (using up another wild card) given that the whole idea is to build Planeswalkers up with the extra ability. I also added 2 Prolog To Phyresis for the card draw.

I won my second game thanks to my Stormchaser Drakes but realized that they would not give me much card draw given how few spells I had that could target them. I never drew any of my Planeswalkers, leaving my Ichormoon Gauntlet on the board with little effect.

Here is what the deck looks like now:

  • 3 Jace, the Perfected Mind (ONE) 57
  • 23 Island (ONE) 273
  • 3 Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim (BRO) 66
  • 4 Delver of Secrets (MID) 47
  • 4 Fading Hope (MID) 51
  • 3 Shore Up (DMU) 64
  • 3 Disdainful Stroke (SNC) 39
  • 4 Ichormoon Gauntlet (ONE) 56
  • 2 Academy Loremaster (DMU) 40
  • 4 Stormchaser Drake (VOW) 82
  • 3 Silver Scrutiny (DMU) 65
  • 4 Essence Capture (NEO) 52

Before my third game, in went one additional Shore Up and One Silver Scrutiny in favour of Prolog To Phyresis. That third game was a blowout – Playing against a red aggro deck with 2 lands after turn 4 proved painful.

After a few more games, my record is 2-6. Looks like I have a few things to think about:

  • I need more Planeswalkers if I will make Ichormoon Gauntlet the focus of the deck
  • A mono-Blue deck is probably not the best option. I suspect I will need to add at least one more colour and more likely two.
  • What are the wincons that Ichormoon Gauntlet opens up? It’s great to have the ability to take another turn but what do I do with it? I’m thinking that I need to focus more on the 0 cost Proliferate ability. Is it time to look at Poison counters?
  • I may need to burn more wild cards to get Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus into future decks.

More to come!

Cleric Tribal in Phyrexia: All Will Be One

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

The launch of Magic’s latest set, Phyrexia: All will be One, means that it’s once again time to take a look at what new Clerics have been added to the Standard pool. It’s also time to see if any of these will improve the Orzhov Cleric Tribal deck I like to play.

In case you’re just joining us on this journey, know that the last rotation was not kind to my deck with many crucial cards leaving the format and few good replacements have come to light since unfortunately.

To be honest, I haven’t played much with the deck since I made the last changes. The deck has a 73% winrate at the moment but with only 11 games in Standard B01 Play (not Ranked). I’ve won the last 5 games so maybe there is something still to the deck but I still doubt very much it would do as well in Ranked.

With Phyrexia: All Will Be One, there is a total of 10 new cleric cards to consider. Given that we’re playing Orzhov, three of them can be immediately ruled out. The seven that remain include a Legendary Cat Cleric and the following cards:

Cruel Grimnarch

Given the type of deck I’m playing, cutting Kemba is an easy decision. This is not a Cat tribal deck; nor is it an equipment deck.

Annex Sentry is far more interesting. It is very reminiscent of Brutal Cathar which comes with the same exile ability. I like the fact that it has a toughness of 4. It will be harder to remove from the board than our friend the Cathar.

Cruel Grimnarch feels too expensive. By the time it can enter the battlefield, opponents may not have many cards left in hand.

Indoctrination Attendant also feels expensive but is more interesting. While Toxic 1 is not bad, the return creature to hand ability has limited synergy with the rest of my deck. It certainly has more potential in an Explorer or Pioneer deck where Cleric of Life’s Bond is still legal.

Mandible Justiciar just does not look like a card that I would pull something else out to use instead. Sure it has Lifelink but it is more suited for an artifact deck. Much the same argument can be made for Orthodoxy Enforcer.

Vivisection Evangelist is an expensive card. Without a focused approach using poison counters in the deck, its Corrupted ability will not consistently trigger, further reducing the appeal of this card. Pass.

My first instinct is to replace the recently added Yotian Medics with Annex Sentries. But that means losing some Lifelink depth, something that is needed to build up Voice of the Blessed into a potent threat. I could go deeper along this line and simply cut both Voices and replace them with other Clerics. Alternatively, I could cut the one March of Otherwordly Light and the two Liliana of the Veil, given Annex Sentry’s exile ability. Another option might be to cut the two Valorous Stances and the March, keeping Liliana.

A more drastic change to the deck could be to take on a third colour. Green does offer up a few more clerics with the arrival of the new set but at the cost of a wider mana base. There are no new Cleric cards in either Blue or Red so neither is an option. Back to Green, moving in that direction would likely mean a pivot to a deck more focused on the new Toxic ability. Maybe it’s worth building a separate deck to try this.

In the end, I think I will cut the March and one of the Yotian Medics in favour of 2 Annex Sentries. If the card performs well, I will look to replace more Medics or look at the Valorous Stances instead. More to come on this.

Here is the new deck that I will try once Phyrexia: All Will Be One launches on Arena.

Deck

  • 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
  • 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
  • 1 March of Otherworldly Light (NEO) 28
  • 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
  • 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
  • 9 Plains (THB) 250
  • 7 Swamp (THB) 252
  • 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
  • 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
  • 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 2 Annex Sentry
  • 3 Yotian Medic (BRO)
  • 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
  • 2 Loran’s escape (BRO)
  • 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
  • 3 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
  • 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97

Sideboard (which I need to finish up!)

  • 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
  • 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
  • 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

Feel free to drop a comment below with any suggestions for other changes.

A look at the Clerics in The Brothers’ War

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

If you follow this blog, you know that I have enjoyed playing Orzhov Clerics for some time. Unfortunately, rotation was not kind to my clerics with many potent cards falling out of Standard. There weren’t many strong additions in Dominaria United and the latest iteration of Orzhov Clerics is definitely not a potent deck.

With the release of The Brothers’ War set came hope that new more powerful clerics would help improve this deck. Unfortunately, there are only three new clerics: Airlift Chaplain, Yotian Medic and Evangel of Synthesis. The last one is a Dimir cleric so is immediately out. The other two are simply not that great.

There are some interesting Prototype creatures, like the Steel Seraph or the Phyrexian Fleshgorger, that could slide into the deck to give it some heft but we’re moving away from the deck being cleric tribal.

At this point, I will make two substitutions in the deck:

  • Replace the four Inspiring Overseers with four Yotian Medic to leverage its lifegain capabilities and blocking (thanks to that 4 toughness)
  • Replace the two Boon of Safety with two Loran’s Escape

Here is what the new deck looks like:

Deck

  • 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
  • 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
  • 1 March of Otherworldly Light (NEO) 28
  • 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
  • 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
  • 9 Plains (THB) 250
  • 7 Swamp (THB) 252
  • 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
  • 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
  • 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 4 Yotian Medic (BRO)
  • 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
  • 2 Loran’s escape (BRO)
  • 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
  • 3 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
  • 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97

Sideboard

  • 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
  • 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
  • 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

I don’t think that these changes will turn this deck into a tier one contender but let’s see if it makes it a little more powerful at least.

Warhammer 40,000 Commander for Thanksgiving!

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Thanks to the awesome folks at North of Exile, four new Warhammer 40,000 Commander decks showed up at our door Friday morning.

Christian had been looking forward to this release ever since it was first announced. What can be better than the combination of two his of his favourite games? He had already left for class so I texted him to let him know that there was something awesome waiting for him when he got home.

Christian knew that he would pick up at least one deck as soon as they were unveiled. When further details emerged, he changed his mind and decided to go for two: The Chaos and Tyrannid decks. We chatted some and I told him that I would buy one and it was not long before Noah joined in the fun. Noah opted for the Necron deck and I went for the Imperium one.

North of Exile was able to hook us up with the four decks at a great price even as the decks began to surge in price as previews began.

When Christian got home Friday evening, we immediately cracked open our decks and got ready for war. Christian played his Chaos deck. It was a relatively short game with Noah going out first without ever really being able to mount a credible threat. After a slow start (shuffling new decks is very important I keep telling myself), I was pretty happy with my board state. Then Christian pulled a board wipe and things changed instantaneously. It was still a close affair but in the end, the forces of the Imperium were overwhelmed by Abaddon and his Chaos army.

For our second game, Christian switched to his Tyrannid deck. It was his turn to suffer a slow start. A few turns into the game, I was given the choice of eliminating him or deal with at a growing Necron threat, which included 14 Necron tokens. Christian offered a deal in which he would deal with Noah if I let him live. With a board wipe in hand, I opted to finish off the Tyrnannids, knowing I could deal with the Necrons as well. I turned the deal down and took out Christian. The board wipe then decimated the Necron threat thanks to my having an Assault Intercessor to inflict 2 points of damage for each creature Noah lost. His Psychomancer dulled that damage but when the smoke cleared, he was down to 3 health. Noah was able to rebuild a bit on his turn, showing how powerful the Necron deck can be. Fortunately, on my next turn, I drew a Knight Paladin and the game was over.

For our third game, Christian switched back to his Chaos deck. He opted to bring his Commander out early while Noah and I slowly built up. I drew a number of ramp cards and quickly found myself with an abundance of mana. For his part, Noah had plenty of removal and used it deal with Abaddon not once but several times. The last time Abaddon came out, he cost 11 mana!

While the brothers fought each other, I built up a strong position using all that mana now at my disposal. A very frustrated Christian conceded and Noah turned his attention to me. But by then it was too late and the Imperium once again swept the Necrons out of this part of the universe.

As this is the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, I’m hoping we can squeeze a few more games in. Perhaps we will switch through the decks to get a feel for the different flavours. But I also have to go build more Tau’s for my army! And there’s turkey still to be eaten!

Standard BO1 Orzhov Clerics live on in Dominaria United

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Noah has mocked my Orzhov Cleric tribal decks since I first started playing with them. But they have proven to be fun decks and have performed better than I expected for the most part through various iterations. The first deck I posted here dates back almost a year ago. The recent Standard rotation unfortunately saw a good number of cards drop out of Standard.

With Noah still teasing me about my Cleric decks, I decided that it was time to see whether I could rebuild the deck for the new Standard. The good news is that there are enough new clerics in Dominaria United to make up for the ones lost during rotation. The bad news is that they are not as powerful as the old ones.

The ones that look to be good additions include Shadow-Rite Priest, a lord for clerics, and Evolved Sleeper, which starts as a Human but can quickly become a cleric with an additional Black.

Liliana of the Veil may not be a cleric but is just too powerful not include. I did check with the clerics if they had any objections and they were unanimously happy to have her on their side.

Here is the deck as it stands now (the sideboard remains a work in progress):

Deck

  • 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
  • 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
  • 1 March of Otherworldly Light (NEO) 28
  • 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
  • 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
  • 9 Plains (THB) 250
  • 7 Swamp (THB) 252
  • 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
  • 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
  • 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
  • 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
  • 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
  • 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 4 Inspiring Overseer (SNC) 18
  • 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
  • 2 Boon of Safety (SNC) 4
  • 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
  • 3 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
  • 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97

Sideboard

  • 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
  • 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
  • 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
  • 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
  • 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

Here’s hoping that The Brothers’ War and other upcoming sets bring some additional clerics.

Dominaria United Prerelease

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Is it just me or does it feel like a long time has passed since the Streets of New Capenna Prerelease? While the Labour Day weekend marked the (somewhat official) end of summer, it was also time for a new Magic set to come out and kick off a hopefully exciting new season.

No Mythics in my pool but I found potential for a fun deck with Aron, Benalia’s Ruin, and Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, and Sengir Connoisseur. I added a Captain’s Call to provide some of the necessary fodder to power my trio. I added blue to fill out the deck with Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator and a few defensive cards to protect my strategy.

I also pulled a Defiler but not the green Defiler of Vigor and rather the red Defiler of Instinct. No room for it in my deck unfortunately.

For their part, Christian pulled a Jaya, Fiery Negotiator while Noah did not pull any mythics but ended up with a foiled alternate Adarkar Wastes.

First round was against a younger but quite adept (aren’t they all now though – Young, I mean?) player. The first game went nearly 45 minutes. While my opponent was able to get some large threats on the board early, a mana flood allowed me to catch up and finally get enough damage through to take the win. The second game went much faster as my opponent ran into a painful mana flood. Definitely a frustrating situation for them.

The second round was definitely a fun affair with equally matched decks. I mulliganed down to 5 cards in the first game but it was not the blowout I thought it might be. I put on a solid fight, even thinking that I might have a shot at winning before being overwhelmed. Once again, that first game took a long time. Our second game then went to time. Unfortunately for me, my opponent took both wins.

I also got to see Weatherlight Compleated in action in both games. During previews, I had a hard time wrapping up my mind around how it would play but seeing it in action cleared it up. Definitely an interesting card but I’m not sure it will become a staple.

Lastly, the third match started with a win for each of us. Down to the third game, the mana drought gods decided to pay me a visit. On the other side, a few ramp cards meant that I was looking at 6 mana to my two at the end of turn 3. Anyone want to guess as to how it went from there?

Christian and I both ended with 1-2 records while Noah seemed pleased with his 1-1-1 earned with a control deck.

We made the trek back to North of Exile Games for this pre-release. It has become a tradition to visit Jason and the team at least once a year and hadn’t had a chance to do so yet this year. The store has moved from Penetanguishene to Midland since our last visit and the store had just received its new booth seating a few days before.

The drive up was difficult with a number of accidents hampering our progress. But we made it in time to play. Before heading home, we even stopped in at Xanca for some Mexican.

All in all, another fun prerelease!

Dominiara United Boros Aggro Standard B01 deck

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Rotation has arrived to MTG Arena. While we welcome Dominaria United, we must also say goodbye to Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim (and its awesome giants!), Strixhaven: School of Mages and Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.

With the rotation, a large number of cards are dropping out of Standard. Many of the decks that dominated the competition are going to either have to replace some cards with new ones or may even drop out of favour without suitable alternatives.

One deck that I enjoyed playing was the Boros Aggro deck that rose to become an Arena favourite in early summer. Needless to say, rotation meant the loss of a number of cards but I found it relatively easy to rework with new Dominaria cards (the same cannot be said for my WB Clerics deck and Noah mocked my first attempt but that’s a story for a different time).

Here is the Boros Aggro deck that I’ve begun to play with in Standard B01 (Updated 9/9 – See at end for more on the changes):

Creatures

  • 2 Intrepid Adversary (MID) 25
  • 4 Bloodthirsty Adversary (MID) 129
  • 4 Brutal Cathar (MID) 7
  • 4 Hopeful Initiate (VOW) 20
  • 4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan (NEO) 152
  • 3 Shivan Devastator (DMU) 143
  • 4 Sunrise Cavalier (MID) 244
  • 4 Thundering Raiju (NEO) 166

Spells

  • 4 Lightning Strike (XLN) 149
  • 4 Play with Fire (MID) 154

Lands

  • 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
  • 7 Mountain (SNC) 269
  • 6 Plains (SNC) 263
  • 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance (NEO) 276
  • 4 Sundown Pass (VOW) 266
  • 4 Wind-Scarred Crag (NEO) 282

It is early days but initial indications is that the deck plays much as it did before. The biggest change is the addition of a Shivan Devastator, a useful card to help smooth out the mana curve thanks to its flexible cost. Lightning Bolt took over burn duties from Roil Eruption.

On the creature side, the biggest loss is the stellar Luminarch Aspirant. For now, I’ve replaced the set with Intrepid Adversary but I expect that I could remove one or two in favour of additional Shivan Devastators if the new card’s promise holds up.

Shivan Devastator

On the land side, I expect that the loss of the modal Pathway lands. For now, I’ve replaced them with 4 Wind-scarred Crags. Two Den of the Bugbear made way for a basic Mountain and a Sundown Pass. This will likely slow the deck down but how much remains to be seen.

If you managed to adjust your older Standard B01 Boros deck for rotation, what changes did you make? Let us know below.

Update (9/9): Since I posted the deck list, I have made two adjustments:

  • I removed the 2 Angelfire Ignition and 2 Intrepid Adversaries in favour of 2 additional Shivan Devastators, 1 Bloodthirsty Adversary and 1 Lightning Strike. The Shivan Devastators work nicely across the curve while the Bloodthirsty Adversary’s haste feels more potent than the potential for counters later in the game. Finally, Lightning Strike is simply good removal.
  • I added the 6 Plains I forgot to add in the first post.

Question of the day: Where are all the Snow-covered Plains?

/ Jerome / Leave a comment

Question of the day: With all of the Magic cards that we have in our house, why is it that I’m two Snow-covered Plains short for my new Ruhan Commander deck?

I asked the boys and neither one could provide even one! Not sure if it’s a lack of said cards so much as a lack of organization on their part. Given how many packs of Kaldheim we opened, I’m sure they have those snow lands somewhere but just can’t find them.

I don’t think that the two additional Snow-covered Plains would have made much of a difference in Ruhan’s first game though. Noah brought out his Breena, the Demagogue deck, upgraded from its precon days while Christian chose his Xanathar deck. Needless to say, Christian earned himself a lot of attention early in the game and found himself out before his beholder could behold!

From there, it was between Noah and I. He brought out an Archfiend of Depravity which limited the number of creatures I could have on the board. Meanwhile, he was able to build up his side of the board and Ruhan found himself beaten in short order.

I’ll post the full deck in a bit.