{From Right Field is a column for Magic players on a budget or players who don’t want to play netdecks. The decks are designed to let the budget-conscious player be competitive in local, Saturday tournaments. They are not decks that will qualify a player for The Pro Tour. As such, the decks written about in this column are, almost by necessity, rogue decks. They contain, at most, eight to twelve rares. When they do contain rares, those cards will either be cheap rares or staples of which new players should be trying to collect a set of four, such as Wildfire, Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], or Birds of Paradise. The decks are also tested by the author, who isn’t very good at playing Magic. His playtest partners, however, are excellent. He will never claim that a deck has an 85% winning percentage against the entire field. He will also let you know when the decks are just plain lousy. Readers should never consider these decks "set in stone" or "done." If you think you can change some cards to make them better, well, you probably can, and the author encourages you to do so.}
For some reason, people are more excited about the Boros deck than the Golgari deck, and I can’t figure out why. The Golgari have Dredge, potentially huge animated lands, and maybe the second-best, three-mana, multi-colored common of all-time in Shambling Shell. (I’m still stunned that the targeted creature gets a +1/+1 counter and not just +1/+1 until the end of the turn.) Maybe the G/B decks spawned by Ravnica just seemed so obviously powerful that the folks who normally read my stuff weren’t impressed. “Duh, G/B’s strong. We get it.” Maybe they like the challenge of taking a weaker color combination and making it work. Maybe they just like Quaker Strawberries and Cream Instant Oatmeal and/or the color pink. I dunno.
As I finished up last week’s column, I had made a small change to the deck, adding in three Shocks. Not much in the way of a change, but the deck had been doing so well that I was afraid to mess too much with success.
Boros! Boros! Boros! V.3.0
23 Lands
10 Mountain
11 Plains
2 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
22 Creatures
2 Suntail Hawk
2 Lantern Kami
4 Leonin Skyhunter
2 Boros Guildmage
4 Boros Swiftblade
4 Skyknight Legionnaire
4 Flame-Kin Zealot
15 Other Spells
3 Bathe in Light
4 Lightning Helix
3 Rally the Righteous
2 Sunforger
3 Shock
This version has a tad more burn in the three Shocks as well as a two fewer creatures (Captain Kos, we hardly knew ye) and one less Plains. Would it matter? Was the deck already so good that nothing else that I could afford to do would help? Or were the last ten games just a fluke? Only one way to find out.
Game 21: This was a R/W Peace of Mind–Searing Meditation deck. While he could gain a few life and deal a few damage to me, two Sunforgers on a creature with enough mana up to grab a Bathe in Light is very bad. (1-0)
Game 22: I love winning games like this because I’m shallow and jealous. His first land was an Overgrown Tomb. He used Farseek to get a Temple Garden. He put Umezawa’s Jitte on a Birds of Paradise. I had Shock, Flame-Kin Zealot, Bathe in Light, Lightning Helix, and Leonin Skyhunter. He conceded. Score one for us cheap b@stards. (2-0)
Game 23: He was obviously trying a decking strategy what with the Howling Mines and Tunnel Visions. The thing is without more control elements, I don’t think you want to give a straight beatdown deck more cards with Howling Mine. Also, when you cast Tunnel Vision naming Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author] because you see R/W and there aren’t any in the deck, that really hurts. On my side, I dropped a creature each turn for four turns. Add in a Lightning Helix and a Shock, and the fat lady didn’t even have time to warm up. (3-0)
Game 24: Ouch. My first two hands had no lands. I kept the five-card hand with three lands even though it had no creatures. I know that Zvi would be mad at me . . . if he were still talking to me. (Long story. I’ll tell you about it later.) Anyway, I never got a Mountain. He got Dark Confidant and removal for any creature I dropped. Frowny face. (3-1)
Game 25: He mulliganned to six, keeping a one-land hand. He missed his second-turn land drop. Meanwhile, I had Boros Swiftblade, two Flame-Kin Zealots, and Bathe in Light. At least he was willing to say "gg" before he dropped out. (4-1)
Game 26: Many of my family and friends are rather disturbed that I get a lot of my philosophy from movies. I’ve found, though, that, as long as you’re quoting someone else, even a character in a movie or T.V. show, people listen more intently. One of my favorite bits of philosophy regarding attitude is embodied in the quote by Han Solo to Luke after Luke shoots down his first TIE Fighter: "Great, kid! Don’t get cocky!" I got cocky in this game. I kept a two-land hand, both Mountains, with no Red spells in sight. I figured that I’d draw a Plains in the first three turns. I didn’t. Nor did I draw a Mountain or any other land until I got a Plains on turn 6. By then, it was too late. It hurt, like a million souls crying out who were suddenly silenced. Or like an effeminate robot who’s fallen and can’t get up. (4-2)
Game 27: Now, this is more like it: an opening hand with three lands and four spells, all of which could be played with those lands. Sadly, he was also playing a Boros deck and got more creatures more quickly than I did. One of them was the Sunhome Enforcer. That lifegain kept me on the defensive. Then, I got a Boros Guildmage. All I needed to do was pump her up and give her First Strike, and she could take out the Enforcer without him gaining life. Or I could give her and another creature First Strike to take him out. That would have been a whole heapin’ helpin’ smarter than what I did, which was to cast Rally the Righteous, a spell that also pumped up his guys. I are a idjit. (4-3)
Game 28: I started out 4-1 and was in danger of being .500 after this game. Man, it’s like my fantasy football season. "Who was your stud receiver? Javon Walker? Ouch. How’d you do in the game he got knocked out for the season? You lost a *tie*? Wow, if only the great catch he’d made on the play that knocked him out hadn’t been called back for a penalty, you’d still have won. How about last week? You got Jonathan Wells in for Domanick Davis, right? No? Why not? Oh, yeah, I guess it was a last-minute switcheroo by The Texans. How’d you do? Lost by a point? Ugh. You don’t still have Daunte Culpepper do you? What’s that? You started him in the game he was knocked out, too? Sorry. How many Packers running back have you had? The first three? The ones that all went down with injuries? Did you get the fourth guy, Samkon Gado? You didn’t, did you? Dude . . . I guess there’s always next year." I was more careful in this game than the past couple, and it paid off. He was playing G/B and quickly had a Grave-Shell Scarab. But I kept plugging away with my fliers until he tapped out for a second Scarab. With him at eleven and with no mana to cast Putrefy, Last Gasp or any removal except Sickening Shoal, in went all three fliers, out came the Rally the Righteous, and Shock ended it. *whew* (5-3)
Game 29: Wow. Another R/W deck. You know what’s bad for the ground pounders? Kami of Old Stone. You know what’s even worse? When he’s backed up by Henry Mancini, the Fevered Dream. I just couldn’t draw enough burn to keep things in order. Sunforger! Where have you been? (5-4)
Game 30: I honestly don’t know what his deck was supposed to be about because mine ran right over it. Lantern Kami, Suntail Hawk, Skyknight Legionnaire, Rally the Righteous, say goodnight, Gracie. (6-4)
I really didn’t want to leave it like this. This version’s record was a respectable 6-4, but I truly feel like two losses were simply because I was tired and/or made horrible decisions. Eight and two is a whole lot better, but can I really be sure I would have won those? Of course, not.
So, I added this sideboard:
2 Smash
Off to the Tournament Practice Room I went.
Match 31: A much better Boros deck than mine. Along with four Helixes (which mine has) and four Shocks (this only has three), he had four Chars. I also didn’t see any Sunforgers in his deck. Come to think of it, mine didn’t show up in the last few games, either. Is it really necessary? It does take a lot of mana to cast and use on the same turn. When you can’t do that, it’s a sitting duck, and you’ve wasted a turn. Anyway, he crushed me two games to none. (I didn’t sideboard at all since there was nothing in there for him, although I guess I could have brought in Faith’s Fetters for his Guildmage.) (0-1)
Match 32: Facing off against G/B when you mulligan to four is just awful. My seven-, six-, and five-card hands either (a) only had Plains or Mountains and needed at least one of each for the spells I had or (b) were devoid of lands. He obviously kept a hand filled with gas because he had a turn 2 Shambling Shell. I don’t remember much else, probably because there wasn’t much else to remember. In game two, the only thing I could think to bring in was Reito Lantern (since I hadn’t seen any artifacts or enchantments in the previous game). What needed to come out, though? (Again, anyone who wants to tutor me in sideboarding, I’d gladly take the time. Like piano lessons, an hour a week. I practice. I come back and show you what I learned the next week. It could be done.) I dropped the Sunforgers since I didn’t think I’d ever have enough mana to use it properly and a Flame-Kin Zealot because I wasn’t sure the game would last long enough for me to get to four mana. The Lantern did a great job keeping his Darkblast (first turn on a Hawk) and Shambling Shell (died to a Shock) from wreaking havoc. It did not, however, keep his Grave-Shell Scarab and Vulturous Zombie from swinging like Disco Stu. (0-2)
Match 33: Great. A mono-Blue deck. I kept a two-land hand that, again, contained only one basic land type, this time Plains. At least I could play some spells. It wasn’t enough, though. Between bounce and countermagic, I was toast. For game two, I dropped three Boros Recruits for Faith’s Fetters. Man, that card is darn good. I applied some early flying beats. He had to tap out to cast Meloku, and I plugged the hole with the Fetters. In game three, my deck finally produced a Sunforger and enough mana to use it. When he didn’t counter it, I just knew that I had the game won. He bounced a couple of creatures, but the Sunforger finally stuck. The Suntail Hawk carrying it got him to three while the Lightning Helix it produced ended the game. Wow, a win. (1-2)
Match 34: Back to my losing ways. I mulliganned to four just to get a land that produced colored mana. He, on the other hand, got Meloku and Umezawa’s Jitte. Okay. Onto game two. I brought in Faith’s Fetters and a Hearth Kami for the four Boros Swiftblades. At least I was able to get him to one before he beat me. (1-3)
Match 35: What an awesome idea. A U/R Wildfire control deck. I simply never had the proper mana to do what I needed to do to stay in it. I dropped the Sunforgers in game two for the Hearth Kamis since I saw some Signets, but it just didn’t matter. (1-4)
Match 36: Another mulligan to five. This is getting silly now, especially against a Godo deck. Through sheer stupidity (cast creature, attack with creature), I got him to one. I never saw a Shock or a Helix, and Umezawa’s Jitte allowed him to get back into it. For game two, I brought in the two Smashes, the two Hearth Kamis, and the three Grasps for the four Swiftblades, the two Sunforgers, and a Rally. He still won. (1-5)
Match 37: Gee, I won one. In game one, his only offense and/or defense was a BoP wearing first one and then a second Moldervine Cloak. For game two, I dropped the Rallies for the Faith’s Fetters. I got one on his Jitte while he was able to again get only one creature. Not a string win. (2-5)
Match 38: This was another cheap win as mana hosing works in my favor. He was playing a U/B control deck of some sort but topped out at three lands in game one. In game two, he seemed okay on mana until he decided that, with only four lands in play, he could afford to pop off a Quicksand to kill a Boros Swiftblade. He never got another before my guys swarmed. (3-5)
Match 39: Now, this is what a real R/W Weenie deck looks like. Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forges[/author], Sacred Foundries. Isamaru. Savannah Lions. Jitte. And me without my mana. (3-6)
Match 40: I didn’t play. Let’s just pretend I did, and it was a struggle that I lost in three games. (3-7)
As you can see, the deck petered out quickly once it hit the Tourney Practice Room. There were several reasons. For one, the deck has a glaring hole that simple sideboarding can not stop: Hideous Laughter. (Although, I guess I could run Warrior’s Honor in the sideboard. Seems like a wasted slot, though.) As the deck is currently built, everything has a toughness of two or less. Only a freshly cast Flame-Kin Zealot changes that. Even Pyroclasm can be dealt with. Yeah, Bathe in Light is quite delicious. I could start messing with the creature base. Sunhome Enforcer is just nutty in this deck. I simply don’t feel comfortable dropping anything for it, though. Nor do I want to raise the mana curve. Maybe Otherworldly Journey in the sideboard to save one of the critters from mass removal? Another great suggestion was one of my favorite pieces of equipment, Loxodon Warhammer. It’s just nuts on the Boros Swiftblade. Again, though, we have the problem of (a) what to drop and (b) raising the mana curve.
Mostly, though, as you can see from the games in which I got blown up or had to mulligan a lot, the deck craves something that it can’t have, at least in a deck From Right Field: really expensive lands. If you have them, please, add four Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forges[/author] and four Sacred Foundries. If you have five Sacred Foundries, please, send me the extras. I’ll send you an autographed card in exchange.
Char fits well, too. Again, there’s that pesky price thing, dadgummit. As far as I can tell from my playtesting, you can’t make a tournament-worthy R/W beatdown deck from two Boros precons and few cheap cards. It looks like you’re going to have to spend real money on some expensive rares and make your deck end up looking like one of the R/W decks that did well at States.
Of course, I could simply be wrong and headed down the wrong road. I’d love to work on this for another month or two, but Ted wants me to move along. So, I will.
Or, rather, I’ll go back to answer the question: is there a creatureless, mono-Black deck in Standard that you’d not be embarrassed to take to a tournament?
Chris Romeo
CBRomeo-at-Travelers-dot-com