For me the real joy of Magic is not so much playing, it is the chance to sit down and to be a little creative and make a new deck. Sometimes it is fun to go and draw obscure cards and build around them, other times it is enjoyable to limit the pool to only commons, but sometimes I want to dabble in making a Standard legal deck. Standard is extremely popular and the number of impressive deck lists across the internet is truly amazing, so to try and do something that is uniquely your own is difficult. Also, I like to ensure that my decks are reasonably priced so that I don’t overspend on my deck, but this further complicates the process of putting together a deck. Today I’m going to go through a budget Standard deck that exploits the Heroic mechanic from Theros and can offer a lot of fun and can be surprisingly challenging to play.
I have seen a number of Boros Burn decks that play virtually no creatures apart from Young Pyromancer and Chandra’s Phoenix. However, my take on a budget brew goes the opposite direction. I want a load of creatures and then I want cheap Heroic enablers to pump my creatures and punish my opponents as quickly as possible.
In evaluating the cards available to me two things were needed: a) creatures needed to be inexpensive and carry the Heroic trigger b) enablers needed to be inexpensive and versatile. The first point was quite straightforward to put together starting with Favored Hoplite, Phalanx Leader, Wingsteed Rider, Akroan Crusader and Fabled Hero. The enablers were trickier because I had the choice of using Enchantments and Auras or going with Instants and combat tricks. In the end, I opted to go the route of combat tricks and instants rather than the enchantments due to the versatility because they could be cast on either my turn pre combat, as a combat trick to tip combat in my favor, or on my opponents turn to protect my creatures. Enchantments are slower, and while often allow a more powerful punch, the lack of flexibility could be a point of vulnerability. The deck can cast every card in the deck for four mana or less, also ensuring that you rarely find yourself jammed for mana and at a loss for something to do. Let’s take a look at what I’ve put together.
Here is the Standard decklist:
The game plan seems simple enough: Cast your dudes, pump them with your combat tricks, and smash your opponent until they quit, or you’re dead. However, it is not quite so simple in order to maximize the explosiveness of this relatively innocuous deck. Sometimes you have tricky decisions in order to maximize damage, but still hold back enough so as to not 2 for 1 yourself by committing overly to the board. In other situations, you may be tempted to go for the throat but need to hold back to avoid getting caught by a removal spell or a sweeper. The target of your spells to maximize the benefits of the Heroic triggers is also a point to be considered and something that takes practice to get. However, once these have been weighed, considerable damage can be done in short order. Here’s a plan to curve out into some massive damage.
Turn 1- Mountain, Akroan Crusader
Turn 2- Plains, Cast Titan’s strength on Akroan Crusader, Heroic trigger gets you a soldier token, and attack for 5. Second main phase, Cast Favored Hoplite.
Turn 3- Mountain, cast Coordinated Assault on Favored Hoplite and Akroan Crusader. Heroic trigger on Soldier Token gives it +1/+1 making it 2/3 and then the +1/+0 and first strike from Coordinated Assault, and another Soldier Token from Crusader. Attack for 7. Second main phase cast Firefist Striker,
Turn 4- Plains, Cast Dauntless Onslaught on Crusader and Hoplite. Heroic Triggers. So now Hoplite is 3/4 and then get’s +2/+2 from Dauntless Onslaught so is hitting as a 5/6. Cusader is now 3/3 for the turn, and another soldier token. Swing with the team, trigger Battalion on Firefist Striker and punch through for a whopping 13. Game over.
Yes, this is against a gold fish with no answers…but this is TURN 4 and you’ve crunched them for 25! That’s not something to mess with. Oh, and you haven’t even got to the creatures that get silly like the Boros Reckoner, Tajic, or Fabled Hero.
You’ve seen how things like Dauntless Onslaught and Coordinated Assault can be used to produce cheap Heroic triggers that yield startling amount of damage, but what about some of the other pieces to the deck? Battelwise Valor is another option for a Heroic trigger and a sizeable +2/+2 boost. The nice piece with this common is the scry ability on the card to help ensure you continue to draw into what you need and not flood out. Gods Willing can play double duty as an offensive trick to allow your most powerful creature to punch through for a bunch, or as a defensive trick to protect a creature in danger of dying. It also triggers Heroic for a very reasonable cost and comes with Scry. It’s a real All star. Boros Charm is a no brainer in this sort of deck. It can provide you with the reach to burn out an opponent if they can stem the bleeding from an early barrage, it can grant a creature double strike to crunch them for a huge amount of damage, or it can be used to protect your creatures by giving them indestructibility. The other additions of a pair of Spear of Heliod and the Assemble the Legion are very complementary and can further push through damage and overwhelm an opponent if you get to that stage of the game
The creatures in the deck are mostly Heroic creatures. Favored Hoplite and Akroan Crusader are crucial 1 drops. The Crusader is a mini Assemble the Legion and can quickly get out of control and flood the board with soldier tokens. The Hoplite very quickly becomes a menace and is quite resilient in combat damage because the moment Heroic is targeted, all damage to it is prevented. At the 2 spot Firefist Striker is terrific to help ensure your creatures can punch through for damage. By the time you are attacking with this guy the board can very easily be flooding out with soldiers and inexpensive creatures so the battalion ability is very relevant. Phalanx Leader is the ultimate in Heroic triggers for the whole team and is an auto-include in this deck. At 3 we have Wingsteed Rider just in case the ground game stalls and you need over the top. Fabled Hero is a brutally unfair card because of the Double-strike and with the Heroic trigger can very easily get out of control for a ton of damage. Boros Reckoner is a 1 of and is just a terrific creature, so no need to spend much time explaining this selection. Tajic is the only 4 drop that is very resilient, and in a deck that can very easily be swarming all over the board can easily see the Battalion ability be triggered…which is gross.
The mana base for this deck is as simple as I can make it, with 16 basic lands (10 plains, 6 mountains). 4 Temples of Triumph allow for the Scry ability, which is extremely useful to continue to draw into the gas you need to keep the pressure on, and since they are on colour are an easy fit. The Boros Guildgates are the only piece that I would change if I would be looking to upgrade the mana base in favour of Sacred Foundry. However, in the interest of keeping this as budget as possible, Boros Guildgate is perfectly acceptable.
For me, the best part of this deck, apart from the ridiculous amount of damage it can inflict in short order, is the price tag. This runs for a very reasonable $50, which in an age where Standard legal decks can cost far more, is a bargain. So, for a modest investment you too can sit down and sling cards in Standard and still have money for the bus home, or a coffee. Good deal! Is this deck going to redefine Standard? No. Will it be a fun deck to run and let you have some fun games? Absolutely.
As always, if you have any suggestions to help spruce up this deck and make it a little more enjoyable, I’m always open to suggestions. Nothing would make me happier than looking at some fun ideas to tweak this deck, even if only in a sideboard (which is currently, sadly lacking). I’d love the feedback and look forward to hearing from you because my next Casual Encounter is coming up and I want to be ready.
Take care and be good.
Bruce Gray
Creatures (21)
Spells (15)
Sideboard
While this deck is billed as a Bant Aggro list it is in essence a White Weenie variant. With its mana base such as it is sporting eight Scry lands there is no one drop in the deck instead looking to open with a Scry of the bat. The two drops then power the deck out of the gate with Voice of Resurgence, Precinct Captain and Fleecemane Lion to start laying the beats. Then we have the popular newcomer Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Loxodon Smiter next at three on the curve. Also filling at three mana there is the decks utility removal Detention Sphere and the creature buff Spear Of Heliod. All of that serves to build the devotion count for the two gods which fill the four drop slot with Heliod, God of the Sun able to clutter the board while granting Vigilance to all your creatures and Ephara, God of the Polis which serves as the decks primary draw engine. In true White Weenie form this deck uses Brave the Elements as both a way to save it’s creatures from targeted removal and as an enabler for Alpha Strike wins. Finally we have utility from Selesnya Charm which is able to either push a creature over the top, exile a big nuisance creature including a god or just add an extra body to the board to keep the pressure on. All in all a powerful and exciting deck sure to hold a spot in the meta.
Orzhov Human – White Weenie
Ryo Nakada
1st place GP Shizuoka 2013
Lands (22)
Creatures (29)
Other Spells (9)
Sideboard
Ryo Nakada piloted this Orzhov Human list to take down the final Grand Prix of the year in Shizuoka. The first thing we notice about the deck is that it is basically a White Weenie deck with a splash color similar to the Boros ‘white weenie’ that Ben Lundquist used to win SCG L.A. in November. This time we see a black splash instead of red for Xathrid Necromancer and Orzhov Charm in the main as well as a plethora of answers in the sideboard.
Generally White Weenie comes out of the gates fast, but then is weak to sweepers like Supreme Verdict and Mizzium Mortars. Enter Xathrid Necromancer which can be dropped on turn 3 making your opponents sweepers awkward to use by leaving an army of 2/2 Zombies behind to deal with. The Orzhov Charm in the main is used as cheap instant removal to clear the path for your team or can also be used to bring back a 1-drop in your graveyard onto the battlefield. The black becomes more then a splash once you look into the sideboard, with all black except for a singleton Pithing Needle. Bringing in Dark Betrayal against the strong and popular Mono-Black Devotion decks. A fourth Xathrid Necromancer to use against sweepers from UW and Esper control decks. Profit // Loss against the mirror and other popular ‘White Weenie” versions and probably also good against burn decks like Boros Burn. I imagine the Sin Collectors are used to get your opponents removal and sweepers. The Thoughtseize and Pithing Needle is the decks only answers to planeswalkers.
This version of White Weenie curves out almost like its predecessor with the exception of a turn 3 Xathrid Necromancer instead of Ajani, Caller of the Pride or Frontline Medic. Orzhov Humans starts off with a turn 1 Boros Elite, Dryad Militant or Soldier of the Pantheon followed on turn 2 with a Daring Skyjek, a Precinct Captain or an Imposing Sovereign and finally comes turn 3 with a Banisher Priest to clear the path for more beats or Xathrid Necromancer to “protect the team”. Spear of Heliod helps speed your clock by pumping your team and can act as removal against big threats. And in classic White Weenie fashion Brave the Elements protects your team against targeted spells or helps push through an alpha strike for the win.
W/R Aggro (White Weenie)
Ben Lundquist
1st Place at StarCityGames Standard Open on 11/3/2013
Lands (22)
Creatures (26)
Planeswalkers (3)
Other spells (9)
Sideboard (15)
A couple weeks ago I introduced a Boros”White weenie” deck that made top 8 at Grand Prix Louisville piloted by Justin Herrell. This weekend Ben Lundquist piloted a Boros deck similar to this white weenie strategy and took down the standard SCG Open in L.A.
Ben’s version uses Boros Elite and Frontline Medic with the Battalion abilities which can get activated early on thanks to Mutavault. Brave the Elements is very powerful as a win condition or to protect against removal. Boros Charm seems better versus control, to protect against sweepers or to hit 4 points to a Planeswalker like a Jace, Architect of Thought which will nerf you’re already small creatures. Ajani, Caller of the Pride in the main instead of the sideboard looks interesting as well, reminds me of Elspeth, Knight-Erant in some of the old White Weenie decks. Another new bear that we didn’t see in the old list is Azorius Arrester in the main instead of Banisher Priest which are now in the sideboard. Once you board in those Priest against Aggro it gives you good tempo. I imagine the Fiendslayer Paladin are great against Mono red and Mono Black which are prominent in this meta.
Last big obvious change is the extra red spells in the sideboard instead of just Boros Charm in the main. Mizzium Mortars and Warleader’s Helix against aggro and Burning Earth probably against control like Sphinx’s revelation strategies.
Boros “White Weenie”
Justin Herrell
Grand Prix Louisville – Top 16 Theros Standard
Main Deck
60 cards
23 lands
26 creatures
11 other spells
Sideboard
15 sideboard cards
This interesting Boros deck popped at GP Louisville this weekend, which is more like a white weenie with a splash of red for the four of the powerful Boros Charm. It has a low curve with powerful one-drops and bears that all have good abilities. Small cost for a low budget with Mutavault being the highest value which is a great investment since there played in all the formats (At this point everyone should have 4 in there collection). The Imposing Sovereign is a good tempo because your opponents have to wait 1 turn before they can effectively block with creatures they just summoned. The Precinct Captain helps your army grow. Spear of Heliod as your Glorious anthem and removal as an added bonus. Banisher Priest as removal is going to come as a surprise for most opponents and then you get to bash him with it too. The splash for Boros charm also makes total sense with so many sweepers like supreme verdict, Mizzium Mortars and Anger of the gods in this meta. The other two options are possible finishers or even combat tricks if you really need it. The Brave the Elements is also a good finisher when you want to go all out especially against Mono-Blue, Mono-Black and Mono-Red which are rampant in this meta and Mono-Green and the mirror while were at it too! This deck earns an honorable mention for getting Justin Herrell into the Top 16 of Grand Prix Louisville. Its fast and it looks really fun with all its cool useful small drops.
I love the flavor of this card, an excellent ode to the Trojan horse.
This is definitely a weapon that control decks will be using. Scry is exactly what you want on a counterspell.
Could very easily find a way into Red Deck Wins style decks. Imagine Legion Loyalist into Ash Zealot into Boros Reckoner into Fanatic of Mogis kind of shenanigans.
Another one of those build around Heroic cards. Might find some kind of niche play.
Interesting cards these Bestow creatures. This one has a pretty useful ability.
Basically a Glorious Anthem with upside. This ability will definitely cause a few big creatures to think twice about attacking.
A pretty sweet one-drop for black, albeit not exactly in a well supported tribe for that color. Can gain you some incremental advantage if you can abuse it well. Definitely draftable if you are running a fair amount of combat tricks.
WOW !!! I love all of these Weapons of the Gods, but this is just sickeningly powerful. I have no doubt that this card is going to be used to astonishing effect. The Lifelink is just the icing on the cake.
