I have a mardu build. Curry Favor and Alter fate from the black knights are too spicy to pass up. Red for the vanguard and steelclaw lance.
Wondering if we need some removal.. or just try to be fast and aggressive to win?
I've been playing Disfigure in Standard. I would probably swap those for Fatal Push. I also run Murderous Rider and Blacklance Paragon in Standard. The former for Swift End - real removal - and the latter for his EtB ability which is sort of pseudo-removal. I've also got some little guys with Deathtouch.
It might be difficult for a Mardu build to support Rider - or at least painful.
The original post contains an updated deck list and some discussion. I placed third tonight after getting out-valued by Lucky Clovers. No, I'm not kidding.
Skyknight Vanguard seems like a decent knight for a boros build.
It has evasion and can help go wide with tokens.
I like creatures that create other creatures for minimal cost, as this time the "cost" is merely to attack. With only one power it feels underwhelming to cast at turn two, but I feel Skyknight Vanguard demands removal from the opponent.. because if left unchecked, it will keep doing damage as well as make blockers for free. Also building a knight deck, and will use 2 or 3 copies of it.
It's certainly worth considering for a Boros build.
Well somepeople talked about Display of Dominance as a good sideboard card. I don't think it would be a huge player but the card has its additional uses outside of being a bad Veil of Summer.
It costs one additional mana and doesn't draw you a card but it can be a agressive sideboard card for key cards of the format:
For non-BGx decks, Display of Dominance seems to be a good side-board card. For GBx, I'm not sure I wouldn't load up on those other two first; I'd certainly max-out on AD in my 75 first.
Embercleave seems like an almost strict upgrade to Fireshrieker in a Boros build. You need 3 creatures attacking and red mana, but other than that it is instant speed and first equip is free.
It may well be, but it is Legendary and costs a few bucks; I have Fireshrieker's out the wazoo.
I'd be surprised if Copter is banned right away. I don't think it will have the impact in Pioneer that it did in Standard. Or did I miss something already?
I wish I had kept my copies of Mental Misstep, They may well get the chop; they were banned from Extended if I recall correctly.
I don't understand the mental misstep comment. The card is not legal in Pioneer, and the highest price of the card is 2.19, getting a playset is not expensive.
Legion's End is pretty good against Field of the Dead. Not as good as an enchantment perhaps, but it also serves as low-CMC creature removal. Bile Blight works too, and is probably better as a creature removal spell but the BB cost is limiting.
Six-drops seem awfully ambitious, but I have certainly played some games where I've gotten to six mana but many games just don't. I'm interested to hear how this plays out for you. Does the Archon make Witch's Vengeance more appealing for the side-board?
Excluding the odd complete non-game, I've had more games where I have hit six mana than ones where I have not. On certain board states, dropping Archon is akin to Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in some ways. It just ends games. It's not always relevant, of course, but then it's pretty easy to side out.
I don't think I would ever put Witch's Vengeance in this deck's sideboard, for any reason. It's too darn unreliable. Sure, the best-case scenario is a Plague Wind against a tribal deck or a deck that happens to line up tribally, but knights is already one of standard's few tribal decks. I would expect the card to be like Victim of Night most of the time, in that it has some huge blind spots. Sure, it would be a sideboard card, but that would beg the question of what I would board it in against. Most of the good times to use the card are actually decent matchups, and I'd like to use my sb slots for either really popular matchups (like Oko) or really bad matchups (like Fires of Invention decks or anything else with lots of sweepers).
With 24 lands, I hate to think how many turns it would take to hit six-mana, none of the online resources I found bother to talk about six-drops and I'm not going to do the math. Does one pitch an opener with a six-drop?
Legion's End would probably be a better card that Witch's Vengeance but I was able to get my hands on a couple copies of WV for cheap. It was for Elementals and Zombie tokens. It absolutely won a game against Golos but Field of the Dead is gone now and Legion's End would have been just as effective. WE would work orders of magnitude better against Elementals and there is a kid who plays them at the store. One plays what one needs for his own environment, it doesn't matter what the cool kids are playing in the big tournaments - unless of course, one is a cool kid playing in a big tournament. I'm neither cool nor a kid and I wouldn't cross the street to play in a tournament with more than five rounds. My side-board needs some work, but WE isn't at the top of the to-go list.
Modern is very competitive at my store and I'm down to Affinity as a deck that has a chance of winning. Burn can win too but I can barely stand to play it. I sometimes can beat one of the combo decks with my janky Hatebears deck which is always a good feeling, but the deck isn't really competitive. The Rock has stunk for some time now and BW Tokens was never a real thing.
If Standard gets that way at the store I will probably quit playing it - again. If Pioneer gets that way - assuming it gets going at all - then I will give up on it too.
History of Benalia probably likes Brave the Elements. The issue with some tribal decks will be the same as in Modern : massive evasion.
It's crucial to kill the opponent, but also to get rid of 3cmc PWs in one sweep. Oko, Tef, Scions, Lili, etc... Brave doesn't work as well vs Vehicles though. So if you can't beat them, join them and play your own vehicles I suppose...
But I believe the splash must be about the spells around the knights, not the knights themselves. Tribal decks can't be 100% linear and win in this metagame. For example I like a Simic Stompy list with the 4 Stubborn Denial splash. Mogis's Marauder is a great finisher for Bx aggro decks too.
If I had to choose between black and red, I'd go black for the great interactive spells.
I quite like Brave the Elements myself - my Vial Knights wore it out. It's a card to consider even in Boros and Orzhoz builds as long as most of the creatures have W in their cost. This is more likely to be the case with Boros than Orzhov. Iroas, God of Victory is another from of evasion.
It might be difficult for a Mardu build to support Rider - or at least painful.
I like Stoneforge Masterwork way more than Steelclaw Lance but I might be optimistic in my assessment.
Golgari Charm would even work but it's an odd choice for the spot.
For non-BGx decks, Display of Dominance seems to be a good side-board card. For GBx, I'm not sure I wouldn't load up on those other two first; I'd certainly max-out on AD in my 75 first.
I need some Storm hate - obviously for Modern, not Pioneer - but I'll try some of the things I already have first.
Legion's End would probably be a better card that Witch's Vengeance but I was able to get my hands on a couple copies of WV for cheap. It was for Elementals and Zombie tokens. It absolutely won a game against Golos but Field of the Dead is gone now and Legion's End would have been just as effective. WE would work orders of magnitude better against Elementals and there is a kid who plays them at the store. One plays what one needs for his own environment, it doesn't matter what the cool kids are playing in the big tournaments - unless of course, one is a cool kid playing in a big tournament. I'm neither cool nor a kid and I wouldn't cross the street to play in a tournament with more than five rounds.
Modern is very competitive at my store and I'm down to Affinity as a deck that has a chance of winning. Burn can win too but I can barely stand to play it. I sometimes can beat one of the combo decks with my janky Hatebears deck which is always a good feeling, but the deck isn't really competitive. The Rock has stunk for some time now and BW Tokens was never a real thing.
If Standard gets that way at the store I will probably quit playing it - again. If Pioneer gets that way - assuming it gets going at all - then I will give up on it too.