In all fairness, I played a rangerless boros deck a few times and it was fine by itself. I mean the ranger is still a great card to have, but I don't think it really breaks the deck.
This is true, and I know that Barely Boros and decks like it have done fine on their own without it. I will say, though, that in the Boros late game, there's no other top-deck I'd rather have than Ranger fetching a Lynx and a Bushwhacker.
I love how people try to say that their musical actions and preferences make them a little less nerdy than they believe they are. Nothing wrong with that, certainly, but I can safely say I'm the biggest nerd when it comes to music.
I've been playing the string bass for about as long as I've been playing Magic, which is almost 10 years now. I'm also making it my major in college, and I hope to go on to play in a symphony orchestra out of my graduate studies. Ask me anything about composers of any genre, and I'll tell you about it. I've played music by about 25% of composers in the repertoire, and hope to play a bit of all of their music. Specifically, Im a fan of Tchaikovsky (as you can tell from the avatar) All the Strauss's, Mahler, and Stravinsky. I typically take a strong liking to Russian music, but Austrian and Italian are also good ones. The most thrilling concert I played was just last month, at our university's last orchestra concert: we played Shostakovich's 5th symphony in it's entirety. What a magnificent, thrilling piece.
EDIT: This is not to mean that all I listen to is orchestral music. I also have my roots in Rock, R&B, and even a little county/bluegrass. In reality, there's very little music that I dislike. In terms of concert experiences, though, I've seen Styx live for the last three summers that they've been to Atlanta. The first time in '08, they were with Boston; in '09 they were with REO Speedwagon and 38 special; this past weekend, they were here with Foreigner and Kansas. My girlfriend and I plan to keep going to see them as long as they'll tour. We don't let it bother us that there aren't that many original members left, since it's still great fun to hear them make the music like they do.
...
On another note, I am a nerd in the respect that I'm a die-hard nintendo fan, and have plenty of roms from NES to N64 that I still play, as well as my Wii and DS. In terms of sports, I follow the Braves all the way, with them being my home team for the last 17 years. I also love to play other card games (i.e. Hearts, Spades, etc) and chess, even though I'm not as good at those games.
I guess I'm a nerd in almost every aspect of my life. Wouldn't have it any other way, though.
The more people mention it, the more it seems like this is going to rule Extended.
This + Saffi Eriksdotter + Juniper Order Ranger = infinite combo. Splash red for Fling since it's getting the reprint, and...voila! Man, I'm getting to work on this right away, even if all the cards are over-costed and not fast enough for the current extended format.
For a split second I thought it read "Sundering Titan," and I almost crapped my pants.
This, however, is no such card. Looks pretty playable, though. Could maybe be good in Extended with Momentary Blink and a bunch of good stuff in the yard.
I actually really like this card. Kills Baneslayer with just one bolt? I'll take that. If it were either at 5 mana for 4/4 or even 4 mana for 4/3, it could be viable in Standard, but for now, it'll remain a great limited card, especially with the burn that's been revealed so far.
I don't know, though. It could surprise everyone and become a powerful card in Standard. If Whispersilk Cloak makes it as a reprint, that could be a form of protection for it. Add a bunch of burn, and you could have a red mid-range deck perhaps. I dunno, though, as RDW is fine the way it is.
Eh, we shall see. I'll probably grab a playset incase it does become big in Standard.
Come on, guys...it's pretty clear there will be no PtE with Condemn now.
I do think O-ring or something like it is here to stay. Maybe not in M11, but quite possibly something in SoM. Faith's Fetters would be nice, even if it was 4 cmc.
Hmm...if it came down to Path to Exile v.s. Condemn, I'd be happy with either one. Either way, I have my playset of both, so I'm cool.
Anyway, if it came to life gain v.s. ramping, I'd almost rather have ramping, especially with the removal instead of putting on the bottom of the library. Either way, they get rid of the same amount of threats the same way, so...really, whatever.
YEAH! A discard deck would be GREAT in the current standard with this card now. It is, after all, much better than Megrim since it's loss of life instead of damage, so it can't be so easily prevented. Also, there's a great amount of discard in standard right now ranging from 1-3 cmc (i.e. Inquisition of Kozilek, Duress assuming it's in M11, Blightning, Mind Sludge, Mind Shatter assuming that as well will still be in M11, and to a lesser extent, Mind Rot). Also, with the power house of all discard dependent creatures Nyxathid and even good black/red creatures like Hell's Thunder, Bogardan Hellkite which also may or may not be in M11, etc., it could potentially be a fun deck to run!
The only downside is that enchantments have multiple ways to be dealt with, and there are very few ways (if any at all) for Black OR Red to protect them. These answers include, but are not limited to, the following:
Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And more than HALF of those see plenty of play in the current format.
Sadly, it seems like it would be a lot of fun, but you would run into SOOOOOO much trouble against control decks, and not be able to out-race ANY aggro deck, that it would just be frustrating to try and make it a viable strategy. Now don't get me wrong: a turn 3 blightning that reads "target player discards two cards and loses 7 life" is awfully attractive, but hardly supportable. Sure, with Quest for the Nihil Stone and Bloodchief Ascension, it could MAYBE work. But like I said, there's so much hate against all the aforementioned cards that it's just too hard to pull off.
If they reprinted Damnation again to help against aggro, then maybe you could win with if 50% of the time, but that would even be a stretch. I may actually run it myself for a few FNMs if it becomes at least T1.5 viable. Until then, though, It's just a hard and inconsistent deck to make work effectively.
EDIT: Also, people will HATE you if you play a deck like this against them, for the same reason they'll hate you if you play some form of Land Destruction of Turbo Fog against them.
I certainly hope Polymorph WON'T die in the literal respect. Right now, there's one card slot it could be in for M11, and that slot could also belong to Ponder or Phantom Warrior. Granted, Polymorph seems likely, but we still don't know. EDIT: Hope this isn't considered M11 discussion...
Also, just because a deck isn't as well represented doesn't mean it's not competitive anymore. It was pushed up to competitive pretty much solely because of Emrakul, and he'll be around for quite some time.
I'd say both Spreading Seas AND Blightning have the title. They both practically make the decks their most commonly in. By this, I mean that UW(r) control and Jund both need the cards for their respective colors or else they're not nearly as powerful.
For that matter, I'm surprised Blightning is a dollar-fifty common and Spreading Seas is only a quarter.
First of all, I would like to say one thing: BIG congrats to Galarraga. I don't know what it is about this year, but pitchers are doing much better in terms of their games. Seriously, we had Halladay pitch a perfect game against the marlins and Braden pitch a perfect game against the Rays. That's two in the same YEAR (already rare enough) but then in the same MONTH (I mean, wow...). Surely pitching a perfect game is one of the rarest and hardest thing to do in all of sports, and these guys deserve all the credit for being great players.
That being said, in this particular case, an Instant Replay would be very important to have. Not exactly sure how handy it would be in other cases, though. Perhaps that's the problem: why have something set up if you're only going to use it for a few select instances which don't happen all that often anyway?
Certainly, though, this game proved that umpires, while trained to see things we don't see, still have their faults. I think a system would be good to have. Not sure what it would require in terms of funding (since it would have to be set up in every single stadium in the country if they implemented it) but it's absolutely something the MLB should investigate.
I noticed that the thread title is "What exactly happened to Vampires and how can they get back on track?". I thought about it for a moment, then realized the question can have a lot of deck names put into it, such as Boros Bushwhacker, Elfdrazi, Baneslayer Junk, Jacerator, etc. etc. etc. All these decks have the same answer:
Decks rotate when they don't get any love. Deal with it!!!
Personally, I love playing Boros Bushwhacker, and will play it until Zendikar rotates out probably. (Not exactly sure what I'll do when/if Ranger rotates out, but that's another day.) The thing is that these decks still have their charm, can still be consistent, and can be fun to play. However, their playing field is predominantly FNM and local tournaments. They just can't compete with the metagame of big tournaments being predominantly 1/3 UW(r) Control, 1/3 Mythic Conscription, and 1/3 Jund. Sure there's the occasional RDW, Polymorph, etc but for the most part, those are the big 3 right now. So for a deck to compete at a level like that, you have to have good match-ups against them, or be playing one of them.
As for me, I'm a casual player. That's why I love playing Boros/Koros, and will play it for a long time. If I really wanted to go to tournaments and be a competitive player and such, I'd most likely save up the money and build Mythic Conscription, as it seems to be a hot deck right now. For now, though, I'm just being the local RW aggro player who loves beating decks occasionally, albeit inconsistently. I don't have much time to dedicate to magic anyway, with being a music major in college, having a girlfriend who I'll be marrying in a few years, and various other things.
The reason lots of people just don't play standard anymore is for this reason: it changes all the time, and you have to be ready to adapt every new season. Some people can, and that's great. THEY are the competitive players who win tournaments with decks and consistently perform well. Casual players like standard enough to keep playing, but are willing to settle on a deck that is Tier 2 and playing at FNM every week.
Cool stuff, man. Thanks for noticing me as a reg. 
For beer, though, it's always Blue Moon.
This is true, and I know that Barely Boros and decks like it have done fine on their own without it. I will say, though, that in the Boros late game, there's no other top-deck I'd rather have than Ranger fetching a Lynx and a Bushwhacker.
Either way, he's just a cool card in general.
I've been playing the string bass for about as long as I've been playing Magic, which is almost 10 years now. I'm also making it my major in college, and I hope to go on to play in a symphony orchestra out of my graduate studies. Ask me anything about composers of any genre, and I'll tell you about it. I've played music by about 25% of composers in the repertoire, and hope to play a bit of all of their music. Specifically, Im a fan of Tchaikovsky (as you can tell from the avatar) All the Strauss's, Mahler, and Stravinsky. I typically take a strong liking to Russian music, but Austrian and Italian are also good ones. The most thrilling concert I played was just last month, at our university's last orchestra concert: we played Shostakovich's 5th symphony in it's entirety. What a magnificent, thrilling piece.
EDIT: This is not to mean that all I listen to is orchestral music. I also have my roots in Rock, R&B, and even a little county/bluegrass. In reality, there's very little music that I dislike. In terms of concert experiences, though, I've seen Styx live for the last three summers that they've been to Atlanta. The first time in '08, they were with Boston; in '09 they were with REO Speedwagon and 38 special; this past weekend, they were here with Foreigner and Kansas. My girlfriend and I plan to keep going to see them as long as they'll tour. We don't let it bother us that there aren't that many original members left, since it's still great fun to hear them make the music like they do.
...
On another note, I am a nerd in the respect that I'm a die-hard nintendo fan, and have plenty of roms from NES to N64 that I still play, as well as my Wii and DS. In terms of sports, I follow the Braves all the way, with them being my home team for the last 17 years. I also love to play other card games (i.e. Hearts, Spades, etc) and chess, even though I'm not as good at those games.
I guess I'm a nerd in almost every aspect of my life. Wouldn't have it any other way, though.
If it is true, YEEEEEAH!!! Bushwhacker get's to live another season in Standard!! No more of that pesky Jund to worry about in this new season. w00t!!
This + Saffi Eriksdotter + Juniper Order Ranger = infinite combo. Splash red for Fling since it's getting the reprint, and...voila! Man, I'm getting to work on this right away, even if all the cards are over-costed and not fast enough for the current extended format.
This, however, is no such card. Looks pretty playable, though. Could maybe be good in Extended with Momentary Blink and a bunch of good stuff in the yard.
I don't know, though. It could surprise everyone and become a powerful card in Standard. If Whispersilk Cloak makes it as a reprint, that could be a form of protection for it. Add a bunch of burn, and you could have a red mid-range deck perhaps. I dunno, though, as RDW is fine the way it is.
Eh, we shall see. I'll probably grab a playset incase it does become big in Standard.
I do think O-ring or something like it is here to stay. Maybe not in M11, but quite possibly something in SoM. Faith's Fetters would be nice, even if it was 4 cmc.
Anyway, if it came to life gain v.s. ramping, I'd almost rather have ramping, especially with the removal instead of putting on the bottom of the library. Either way, they get rid of the same amount of threats the same way, so...really, whatever.
The only downside is that enchantments have multiple ways to be dealt with, and there are very few ways (if any at all) for Black OR Red to protect them. These answers include, but are not limited to, the following:
Celestial Purge
Nature's Claim
Filigree Fracture
Dispeller's Capsule
Demystify
Qasali Pridemage
Esper Charm
Relic Crush
Kor Sanctifiers
Naturalize
Solemn Offering
Anything that reads "Counter target (noncreature) spell"
Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And more than HALF of those see plenty of play in the current format.
Sadly, it seems like it would be a lot of fun, but you would run into SOOOOOO much trouble against control decks, and not be able to out-race ANY aggro deck, that it would just be frustrating to try and make it a viable strategy. Now don't get me wrong: a turn 3 blightning that reads "target player discards two cards and loses 7 life" is awfully attractive, but hardly supportable. Sure, with Quest for the Nihil Stone and Bloodchief Ascension, it could MAYBE work. But like I said, there's so much hate against all the aforementioned cards that it's just too hard to pull off.
If they reprinted Damnation again to help against aggro, then maybe you could win with if 50% of the time, but that would even be a stretch. I may actually run it myself for a few FNMs if it becomes at least T1.5 viable. Until then, though, It's just a hard and inconsistent deck to make work effectively.
EDIT: Also, people will HATE you if you play a deck like this against them, for the same reason they'll hate you if you play some form of Land Destruction of Turbo Fog against them.
I certainly hope Polymorph WON'T die in the literal respect. Right now, there's one card slot it could be in for M11, and that slot could also belong to Ponder or Phantom Warrior. Granted, Polymorph seems likely, but we still don't know.EDIT: Hope this isn't considered M11 discussion...Also, just because a deck isn't as well represented doesn't mean it's not competitive anymore. It was pushed up to competitive pretty much solely because of Emrakul, and he'll be around for quite some time.
For that matter, I'm surprised Blightning is a dollar-fifty common and Spreading Seas is only a quarter.
That being said, in this particular case, an Instant Replay would be very important to have. Not exactly sure how handy it would be in other cases, though. Perhaps that's the problem: why have something set up if you're only going to use it for a few select instances which don't happen all that often anyway?
Certainly, though, this game proved that umpires, while trained to see things we don't see, still have their faults. I think a system would be good to have. Not sure what it would require in terms of funding (since it would have to be set up in every single stadium in the country if they implemented it) but it's absolutely something the MLB should investigate.
Decks rotate when they don't get any love. Deal with it!!!
Personally, I love playing Boros Bushwhacker, and will play it until Zendikar rotates out probably. (Not exactly sure what I'll do when/if Ranger rotates out, but that's another day.) The thing is that these decks still have their charm, can still be consistent, and can be fun to play. However, their playing field is predominantly FNM and local tournaments. They just can't compete with the metagame of big tournaments being predominantly 1/3 UW(r) Control, 1/3 Mythic Conscription, and 1/3 Jund. Sure there's the occasional RDW, Polymorph, etc but for the most part, those are the big 3 right now. So for a deck to compete at a level like that, you have to have good match-ups against them, or be playing one of them.
As for me, I'm a casual player. That's why I love playing Boros/Koros, and will play it for a long time. If I really wanted to go to tournaments and be a competitive player and such, I'd most likely save up the money and build Mythic Conscription, as it seems to be a hot deck right now. For now, though, I'm just being the local RW aggro player who loves beating decks occasionally, albeit inconsistently. I don't have much time to dedicate to magic anyway, with being a music major in college, having a girlfriend who I'll be marrying in a few years, and various other things.
The reason lots of people just don't play standard anymore is for this reason: it changes all the time, and you have to be ready to adapt every new season. Some people can, and that's great. THEY are the competitive players who win tournaments with decks and consistently perform well. Casual players like standard enough to keep playing, but are willing to settle on a deck that is Tier 2 and playing at FNM every week.