I stumbled on this Boros Angels deck on various websites, and wow do I like it. I know, I know - it's an "Angels" deck, but it's honestly very spikey - I went 11-1 today with it against all sorts of decks, like boros, golgari, green stompy many times, etc. It's so much fun.
At first I thought maybe Adanto Vanguard was out of place, but there are actually a lot of synergies with it and Deafening Clarion and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice. I admit, it doesn't always fit into things and there's probably something better.
Knight of Graces are just so good right now - a lot of black removal going around.
The life gain in this deck is enormous - it's very capable of recovering from goblins, boros, etc. It's really funny when you just refuse to block a 7/7 or even larger creature because you just don't care. Clarion is actually used to good effect here as the lifelink mode is actually pretty important to this deck sometimes or against these really aggressive matchups.
It's got History of Benalia - so you're going to win some % of games just off of that.
The deck is just really fun though. Making life-linking angel tokens is really fun and powerful. They dodge a lot of removal people are using at the moment. And there's a lot of keywords on these cards that really seem to matter in various matchups.
Oh, and when people play assassin's trophy on your stuff early on, you're pretty happy since they are ramping you to Lyra Dawnbringer.
Deck probably isn't perfect, but I'm so happy there's like 5-6 different Boros decks floating around and they are all viable and different from each other. This is the kind of Boros deck I can get behind since I don't like to play aggro so much.
Im toying with something similar that also runs Rekindling Phoenix in the main and Remorseful Cleric in the SB. Still not sure what kind of removal package this deck wants (burn, exile effects, or something like Justice Strike)
Im toying with something similar that also runs Rekindling Phoenix in the main and Remorseful Cleric in the SB. Still not sure what kind of removal package this deck wants (burn, exile effects, or something like Justice Strike)
For me, I think if a removal spell isn't doing at least 4 damage (if it can't outright kill or exile it), then it's pretty mediocre. Shock and Lightning Strike continue to feel good only against Llanowar elves and red decks. They just seem to scale so poorly, and against a lot of decks, they aren't good to begin with And while that's half of the meta, this deck is so good at recovering and stone-walling the green and red decks... and you got 3 Clarions to wipe their board - that I think running more unconditional removal might just be better.
But yeah, Justice Strike would have some nice targets in those matchups for sure (would miss opponent's Boros Challenger, Aurelia, etc. though). I sort of found myself wanting another Conclave Tribunal - but to be honest, I won 11 games so maybe 2 is the right number and 3 would have just been soul crushing for no real purpose I like the board options though - Doom Whisperer is a thing. Justice Strike is good against that too. I just want catch-alls because the threats are so varied, so I'm thinking another Conclave could only be helpful. Fight with Fire would also probably be good in most situations, but if you're paying 3 @ sorcery speed why not just convoke 4
I think the Phoenixes would also be great cards. I don't have any copies though to play with yet.
Deck is midrangy and it's aggro side will frustrate many other decks. I'm not sure how it handles itself against Jeskai/Sultai control decks or sarkhan's unsealing decks or burn/counterburn decks though the lifegain side should mitigate some of that.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Of course it's too early! I'm not calling it or anything, that's for sure - it's just working well right now against decks people are playing. I find that cool since usually decks that work well at the beginning are aggro decks, not mid-range. I'm enjoying the deck for as long as I can because experience tells me this will probably not last for very long!
Having said that, I think this deck has more legs than Boros Mentor-focused decks. Those decks don't seem to curve out as well as you'd like, and they've actually felt a little underwhelming to me, especially when compared to a turn 2 chain whirler or goblin warboss. For me, turn 3 is all about chainwhirler or history of benalia - nothing else in boros seems to deliver that kind of impact, so I think we're looking at a deck that either focuses a lot on white, or a lot on red if we were to sort of predict the future a little.
It has to be said, I don't think I faced many controlish decks in my series of games while playing this. I can easily see them ripping apart specific creatures that create the decks synergy. Hopefully the deck is pretty threat-dense to survive some counters and sweepers. History of Benalia has a lot of good answers in the format too - people aren't running many of them though. At least we have some cards to deal with Settle the Wreckage if we are able to apply enough pressure to cast a Shalai. Banefire in the board could be helpful with those matchups too. But I'm guessing this matchup wouldn't be as good as it is against aggro decks. I'd probably strongly consider swapping Adanto Vanguard with Legion’s Landing/Adanto, The First Fort since that card seems to do very well against control.
Yeah I like the list but it loses to control and has a huge problem of lacking card advantage.
Card advantage has never been a problem with this deck. The threats are so beefy and so dense that everything is a must kill and must counter. The amount of pressure this deck can create forces people to 2-for-1 themselves some of the time.
And while it's not good against control, the number of control decks vs everything else I am playing is quite small. In fact, of those control decks, most of them are Jeskai playing Risk Factors and wasting card slots on Opt... and they're just getting cleaned up by this deck because they haven't figure it out that Azorius or perhaps Esper are massively better than Jeskai. They keep playing shocks and lightning strikes and clarions hoping to beat green decks. They keep trying to Settle the Wreckage when you can just play around it (making their Wreckage into a 4-mana assassin's trophy) or drop a Shalai to ruin their day. Jeskai is hopeless in this meta, and while I would still run some Settle the Wreckages for redundancy, Cleansing Nova is really where it's at. I dunno why you want to run red... that's all of the bad cards. White even has 2-mana targeted exile removal that deals with most threats in this meta besides the vigilance creatures. And if you're playing Jeskai, they're probably running izzet duals with no white mana. Not a good strategy.
Against a good Azorius deck, I'm pretty sure this deck is hopeless, but nobody is playing it even though I have dabbled with it some. So, until the Azorius meta actually starts to form, this deck is a good deck to play. My win rate is astronomically high still. Played 6 games this morning and only lost 1. If you ask me, red, green, selsnya, boros, etc. are still way too popular not to play this deck. It has good game against golgari too.
I did start playing Legion's Landing over Adanto Vanguards. Deck is performing so good now. Every card I am happy to draw and this even ramps me to Lyra faster. Much better.
I don't have time to play too many games, but results are really good last 3 days. I'm pretty sure if my control opponents played differently, or were better deck builders, they could have won more games against me. But that's one of the beautiful things with this deck - it's start off like a boros/white knights deck, and so they play like they need shock or counter every early threat. Then you start putting down major bombs, turn after turn on turn 4 and 5, and they are just screwed. Only Azorius could have enough counters with unconditional sweepers to actually play that kind of game against this deck, but I even beat Azorius because I played a lot of Azorius and I know how the deck works and what most of the cards are, giving me good odds to beat it since I know what it's like to be on that side of the table too.
Splashing for Clarion and Banefire from the side is a strong move for sure. However, I wonder if going any deeper is worth it..
I would imagine you'd be better off dropping the RW angel and a single Lyra for 4 copies of Benalish Marshall for added pressure against control and Stompy decks. Also, swapping Vanguard for Dauntless Bodyguard.
I say this because I ran a similar build that was mono-white that had the same basic gameplan and had a good game against the UW control menace last standard season. I also used Ajani as well though and he makes games get out of control.
Is there any reason to run Mox Amber in this? Seems like it helps ensure you curve and can even sneak out angels against control (turn 3 Shalai). Problem is what do you cut? If you go Legion Landing instead of Adanto, the vampire token can act like a lightning strike, blocking a threat against aggro decks. Then cut the Strikes for Mox's. Still not sure if that is really worth it, but it does make the deck more explosive, if it even needs that.
Also, how's Legion Landing over Adanto now from your experience @katiemtg? Knight of Grace seems too important with all of the Black removal and it's synergy with History.
I don't see how it can beat control with how costly all the creatures are. Seems like if you are not on the play control can lockdown your creatures or counter them if you don't get Shalai out. I may have answered my own question and getting one out is key isn't it haha.
Also, its just the threat density. Every single card is a game ender.
It def needs some tuning but I was on this before i saw it took first at the SCG tournament. I'll refine and take this to my FNM games.
I'm a budget player. Usually only play one deck at a time.
Is there any reason to run Lightning Strike over Justice Strike considering the meta? Are you ever using the Strikes at the opponent, or just for spot removal. Banefire looks like the better card for control matches over the Strikes. Similar question, doesn't Lava Coil make more sense than Seal Away, as I imagine Seal Away is used to stop the Gb agro lists. Seems like destroying and exiling a Steel Leaf goes further than using an enchantment which they can destroy with the Brontodon. I'm inclined to SB Lava Coil over Seal, or does instant/flash vs sorcery make that much of a difference with this deck?
Response // Resurgence looks like it could be a great fit as well, especially against control. The Resurgence side seems like a game ender and response could help against the green decks. Looks like it is a MB possibility.
I'm still debating using Legions Landing over Adanto.
Is there any reason to run Lightning Strike over Justice Strike considering the meta? Are you ever using the Strikes at the opponent, or just for spot removal. Banefire looks like the better card for control matches over the Strikes. Similar question, doesn't Lava Coil make more sense than Seal Away, as I imagine Seal Away is used to stop the Gb agro lists. Seems like destroying and exiling a Steel Leaf goes further than using an enchantment which they can destroy with the Brontodon. I'm inclined to SB Lava Coil over Seal, or does instant/flash vs sorcery make that much of a difference with this deck?
Response // Resurgence looks like it could be a great fit as well, especially against control. The Resurgence side seems like a game ender and response could help against the green decks. Looks like it is a MB possibility.
I'm still debating using Legions Landing over Adanto.
I prefer Justice to Lightning. More relevant targets. Lava Coil v Seal Away is an interesting debate. Coil hits SLC, Dream Eater, Djinn, Trostani/Loxodon & Shalai but Seal hits Ferox, Lyra, Aurelia, Phoenix, Ghalta, Whisperer, random Dragons, etc. Granted, Justice Strike answers most of these too, but....
I've basically been playing this deck for the last 3 months (My first take on this sort of deck back in July: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1185147#paper). It does very well in all match-ups but control definitely gives it a hard time unless you have a sideboard prepared for it (Banefire is insane...). I've been tweaking the deck somewhat, and testing out some interesting inclusions such as path of mettle in the 2 drop slot instead of vanguard. I've also tried adding a full playset of skyknight legionnaire to the deck for additional synergy with History of Benaliaand as a hastey, evasive threat. It seems pretty good. This is what I am currently testing.
I was unsure whether Experimental frenzy, Dawn of Hope or Vance's Blasting Cannons is a better source of card advantage in the deck so I will be testing them each in turn. So far, Path of Mettle has been very good in testing...Repeatable removal and a win-con. It feels very good dropping it turn 2 on the play when they have a Llanowar elf and/or Pelt collector on the field... Can't ask for more.
In the sideboard I am no longer running Settle the Wreckagespecifically because of Banefire and mono red. This may change depending on my local meta, but given how many mono red decks are around right now...I don't see that changing anytime soon. Deafening Clarion and Cleansing Novado a good enough job at clearing up boards. I may end up adding an additional Nova to the side...
Honestly, I can see this deck being strong throughout standard. Perhaps we should look into making a proper primer for it given it's success.
I'm thinking Dawn of Hope is my choice of sideboard card advantage for control I want for now. The double duty of card advantage and mana sink is pretty good. I don't think Frenzy is right for the deck since the deck plays to high of a curve to really take advantage of it. Vance is, I don't know.
At first I thought maybe Adanto Vanguard was out of place, but there are actually a lot of synergies with it and Deafening Clarion and Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice. I admit, it doesn't always fit into things and there's probably something better.
Knight of Graces are just so good right now - a lot of black removal going around.
The life gain in this deck is enormous - it's very capable of recovering from goblins, boros, etc. It's really funny when you just refuse to block a 7/7 or even larger creature because you just don't care. Clarion is actually used to good effect here as the lifelink mode is actually pretty important to this deck sometimes or against these really aggressive matchups.
It's got History of Benalia - so you're going to win some % of games just off of that.
The deck is just really fun though. Making life-linking angel tokens is really fun and powerful. They dodge a lot of removal people are using at the moment. And there's a lot of keywords on these cards that really seem to matter in various matchups.
Oh, and when people play assassin's trophy on your stuff early on, you're pretty happy since they are ramping you to Lyra Dawnbringer.
Deck probably isn't perfect, but I'm so happy there's like 5-6 different Boros decks floating around and they are all viable and different from each other. This is the kind of Boros deck I can get behind since I don't like to play aggro so much.
3 Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
4 Knight of Grace
4 Lyra Dawnbringer
4 Resplendent Angel
3 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
3 Deafening Clarion
4 Lightning Strike
2 Conclave Tribunal
4 History of Benalia
4 Clifftop Retreat
5 Mountain
12 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Deafening Clarion
3 Banefire
1 Ixalan's Binding
4 Seal Away
3 Settle the Wreckage
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
Per Standard forum rules, moving to Deck creation. - hoser2
For me, I think if a removal spell isn't doing at least 4 damage (if it can't outright kill or exile it), then it's pretty mediocre. Shock and Lightning Strike continue to feel good only against Llanowar elves and red decks. They just seem to scale so poorly, and against a lot of decks, they aren't good to begin with And while that's half of the meta, this deck is so good at recovering and stone-walling the green and red decks... and you got 3 Clarions to wipe their board - that I think running more unconditional removal might just be better.
But yeah, Justice Strike would have some nice targets in those matchups for sure (would miss opponent's Boros Challenger, Aurelia, etc. though). I sort of found myself wanting another Conclave Tribunal - but to be honest, I won 11 games so maybe 2 is the right number and 3 would have just been soul crushing for no real purpose I like the board options though - Doom Whisperer is a thing. Justice Strike is good against that too. I just want catch-alls because the threats are so varied, so I'm thinking another Conclave could only be helpful. Fight with Fire would also probably be good in most situations, but if you're paying 3 @ sorcery speed why not just convoke 4
I think the Phoenixes would also be great cards. I don't have any copies though to play with yet.
Deck is midrangy and it's aggro side will frustrate many other decks. I'm not sure how it handles itself against Jeskai/Sultai control decks or sarkhan's unsealing decks or burn/counterburn decks though the lifegain side should mitigate some of that.
The removal for each boros shell is going to be pretty subjective especially with cards like:
Deafening Clarion
Justice Strike
Fight with Fire
conclave tribunal
lava coil
and with punishing cards like Risk Factor it really puts the OP in a tough position.
-Stay Frosty
Having said that, I think this deck has more legs than Boros Mentor-focused decks. Those decks don't seem to curve out as well as you'd like, and they've actually felt a little underwhelming to me, especially when compared to a turn 2 chain whirler or goblin warboss. For me, turn 3 is all about chainwhirler or history of benalia - nothing else in boros seems to deliver that kind of impact, so I think we're looking at a deck that either focuses a lot on white, or a lot on red if we were to sort of predict the future a little.
It has to be said, I don't think I faced many controlish decks in my series of games while playing this. I can easily see them ripping apart specific creatures that create the decks synergy. Hopefully the deck is pretty threat-dense to survive some counters and sweepers. History of Benalia has a lot of good answers in the format too - people aren't running many of them though. At least we have some cards to deal with Settle the Wreckage if we are able to apply enough pressure to cast a Shalai. Banefire in the board could be helpful with those matchups too. But I'm guessing this matchup wouldn't be as good as it is against aggro decks. I'd probably strongly consider swapping Adanto Vanguard with Legion’s Landing/Adanto, The First Fort since that card seems to do very well against control.
You made need to go jeskai for the counters. The mana base appears to support it.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Card advantage has never been a problem with this deck. The threats are so beefy and so dense that everything is a must kill and must counter. The amount of pressure this deck can create forces people to 2-for-1 themselves some of the time.
And while it's not good against control, the number of control decks vs everything else I am playing is quite small. In fact, of those control decks, most of them are Jeskai playing Risk Factors and wasting card slots on Opt... and they're just getting cleaned up by this deck because they haven't figure it out that Azorius or perhaps Esper are massively better than Jeskai. They keep playing shocks and lightning strikes and clarions hoping to beat green decks. They keep trying to Settle the Wreckage when you can just play around it (making their Wreckage into a 4-mana assassin's trophy) or drop a Shalai to ruin their day. Jeskai is hopeless in this meta, and while I would still run some Settle the Wreckages for redundancy, Cleansing Nova is really where it's at. I dunno why you want to run red... that's all of the bad cards. White even has 2-mana targeted exile removal that deals with most threats in this meta besides the vigilance creatures. And if you're playing Jeskai, they're probably running izzet duals with no white mana. Not a good strategy.
Against a good Azorius deck, I'm pretty sure this deck is hopeless, but nobody is playing it even though I have dabbled with it some. So, until the Azorius meta actually starts to form, this deck is a good deck to play. My win rate is astronomically high still. Played 6 games this morning and only lost 1. If you ask me, red, green, selsnya, boros, etc. are still way too popular not to play this deck. It has good game against golgari too.
I did start playing Legion's Landing over Adanto Vanguards. Deck is performing so good now. Every card I am happy to draw and this even ramps me to Lyra faster. Much better.
I would imagine you'd be better off dropping the RW angel and a single Lyra for 4 copies of Benalish Marshall for added pressure against control and Stompy decks. Also, swapping Vanguard for Dauntless Bodyguard.
I say this because I ran a similar build that was mono-white that had the same basic gameplan and had a good game against the UW control menace last standard season. I also used Ajani as well though and he makes games get out of control.
Also, how's Legion Landing over Adanto now from your experience @katiemtg? Knight of Grace seems too important with all of the Black removal and it's synergy with History.
It def needs some tuning but I was on this before i saw it took first at the SCG tournament. I'll refine and take this to my FNM games.
I'm a budget player. Usually only play one deck at a time.
Is there any reason to run Lightning Strike over Justice Strike considering the meta? Are you ever using the Strikes at the opponent, or just for spot removal. Banefire looks like the better card for control matches over the Strikes. Similar question, doesn't Lava Coil make more sense than Seal Away, as I imagine Seal Away is used to stop the Gb agro lists. Seems like destroying and exiling a Steel Leaf goes further than using an enchantment which they can destroy with the Brontodon. I'm inclined to SB Lava Coil over Seal, or does instant/flash vs sorcery make that much of a difference with this deck?
Response // Resurgence looks like it could be a great fit as well, especially against control. The Resurgence side seems like a game ender and response could help against the green decks. Looks like it is a MB possibility.
I'm still debating using Legions Landing over Adanto.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/1372355#paper
I was unsure whether Experimental frenzy, Dawn of Hope or Vance's Blasting Cannons is a better source of card advantage in the deck so I will be testing them each in turn. So far, Path of Mettle has been very good in testing...Repeatable removal and a win-con. It feels very good dropping it turn 2 on the play when they have a Llanowar elf and/or Pelt collector on the field... Can't ask for more.
As far as removal goes, I am not a fan of seal away/Conclave tribunal/Ixalan's binding right now. Between the prevalence of Thrashing Brontodon, Knight of Autumn and Assassin's Trophy, I think you leave yourself open to being blown out by utilising these enchantment-based removal options. Justice strike hits pretty much everything in the format this deck would consider to be a threat and Integrity//Intervention is just so versatile it warrants and inclusion in the deck I feel.
In the sideboard I am no longer running Settle the Wreckagespecifically because of Banefire and mono red. This may change depending on my local meta, but given how many mono red decks are around right now...I don't see that changing anytime soon. Deafening Clarion and Cleansing Novado a good enough job at clearing up boards. I may end up adding an additional Nova to the side...
Honestly, I can see this deck being strong throughout standard. Perhaps we should look into making a proper primer for it given it's success.
Wr Midrange
Mono white aggro
WR aggro
Modern decks:
Naya burn
Bushwhacker zoo
8 Whack
Legacy decks:
Burn
Maybe the Jeskai splash is a good call?
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles