Though Niv-Mizzet will take up too much space on a card size, I think the overall effect makes the soldiers look more badass, advancing in perfect and unbreaking formation against this massive ****-off dragon.
The thing is there's just too few soldiers to really convey that. I agree a zoomed out perspective from directly behind the soldiers would have been much better.
For the most part my play group gives most generals a fair shake. The only general I honestly don't like to see isMerieki Ri Berit mostly because the play who runs that deck is a hard core control combo player so it kind of rubs off on my perception of the card.
I think an army of Boros soldiers marching fearlessly toward an angry 80ft tall Niv Mizzet is pretty bad ass, actually. Niv Mizzet probably takes up too much of the card, but that's probably to remind you of how huge he is.
Wouldn't a angel from above be better for that, I mean I only see like 3 soldiers on the card, I can kind of make out another formation behind up still. Also again, the focus of the piece of Niv-Mizzet, not the legion.
Is it just me or is this art a poor match for the card? What get's me as it first glance, you don't get the impression of Boros, you get Niv-Mizzet, just chilling and taking up 60% of the card.
I'm not saying the art is bad, just that, for the Boros mythic, the art doesn't look Mythic or Boros at all.
The general idea of the deck is to abuse solid creatures like Reckoner and Geist to control the early middle game with support from burn and Snapcaster. As the game goes late Assemble the Legion provides a large degree of inevitability is most cases.
"But Wait!" You scream, "Why the Legion's Initiative?" and my answer is, because I want to. Admittedly I'm struggling with whether or not its worth it. I do like it for the most part as a crusade effect, and the blink has been relevant several times with the tricks of offers. As a sweeper defender, as a combat trick, and as a way to rebuy Snapcasters and Viashino Firstblades its been outstanding. I am open to changing up the numbers I'm running, I could probably stand to go down to three.
I mean yeah, Naya Blitz is a tight deck and sideboarding choices can be really difficult.... but to just say "screw it" and go with out one? Seems iffy. Then again there was that Belcher deck that top 8'd with a 15 island sideboard.
As far as no spells go, I could see it I guess, still I think Boros Charm and Searing Spear are pretty nifty to have around.
Should we even talk about Consecrated Sphinx? Once one comes down it becomes the center of the game, and if it gets cloned it not only becomes a trigger nightmare, it also allows two players to effectively draw there decks, just like trade secrets.
Yet trade secrets is a one off and it gets banned?
Where did this planeswalker go? I thought he was going to be in Ravnica but based on the mythic information we have, is he not suppose in this set? Anyone read the comics have any ideas?
Wizards is pretty iffy on making a card out of him, and the R/U walker needed to be Ral'Zarek as he was established as a character in a Wizards product, unlike Dak.
I'm playing blitz/humans and I run 21 land. 4 temple gardens (green/white is most important to have untapped turn 1) 3 Sacred foundry, 3 stomping grounds, 4 cavern of souls, then filling out the check lands.
In general its worked for me, though I have had games on only check lands and its a pain in the ass, so I'm thinking about going to 4/4/4 shocklands.
My reasoning is that I'm not in this for the long game, and I'm going to put pretty much any deck on the defensive, so ultimately shocking myself shouldn't matter very much. If its to the point to where my opponent can profitably swing back then I've probably already lost.
He's saying that the deck is very tweakable to dominate certain match ups, but its lacking consistently good cards that do well in most situations, which I can agree with. We've got powerful hosers and answers, they're just pretty specific.
Aggro isn't as good as you think it is. This archetype is slow and clunky (talking about the decklists that have been having success, not sure what yours is like). Turn 1 has no play, turn 2 can be removal, but you are potentially delaying a shockland a turn or playing said shockland and then playing faithless looting. Boros reckoner is great, but he doesn't save you. Compare him to Huntmaster. Jund has a a 64% chance of having a turn 3 huntmaster (using standard decklists). This is incredibly stronger than Boros Reckoner. It gains them two life, two blockers, and threatens to remove a creature the following turn. Boros reckoner is guaranteed to kill at least one creature and that is it.
On top of that, the mass removal is subpar. We obviously don't want to run bonfire due to our faithless lootings, but it hurts. Mizzium mortars overload is extermely weak compared to that clutch turn 3-4 bonfire that Jund can pull out.
On top of that, as someone said before, our archetype is worse than Jund when it comes to drawing the wrong thing at the wrong time. If you don't turn 3 boros/lingering souls, you probably lost. Targeted removal only gets you so far against a deck that is spilling out its hand.
To be fair the two jund matches I played where more all in Aggro with hellriders/thundermaws then hunt masters so I don't have that much experience with that play.
I don't consider mizzium mortars to really be a board wipe as it costs 6 mana, I'm more likely to use it on something more pressing then holding it to over load.
The real value usually is rolling temblor, granted its no pyroclasm (which is sorely needed) but it does a good job of sweeping most things of the field, and with a Reckoner out its almost like a bonfire for 2
This deck has some glaring flaws, after sufficiently testing I feel this isn't a very competitive deck in the meta right now.
1) It just losses to aggro, most people MB 1-3 answers...thats not good. Especially to aggro with reach so when/if you stabilize you get pounded into the grounded.
2) Its painfully slow, there is no ramp as there is in Jund/Naya midrange which makes the mirror hard, and reanimator harder to play against.
It's decent against control, but that's it.
I'm sorry what? Aggro is litterally THE match up for us. We've got all the 1 to 1 removal, access to two potentially under costed sweepers, and lingering souls/reckoner to stall the board.
I have to yet to lose a match to aggro (RDW, R/g, Naya Blitz, Jund) because they burn out so quickly it becomes trivial.
The match up I hate most is Bant/Esper, at least game 1, since sphinx's revelation just puts them so far over the top its not even funny, but our sideboard is good for that, we got duress, slaughter games, and Rakdos's return.
I think its competitive, it is slow, I agree with you on that, its going to be grindy, but it shifts pretty quickly from control to beat down and has game across the field.
Shouldn't I win? He is the active player so his Reckoner trigger goes on the stack first, then mine goes on. Since the stack resolves First in Last Out style shouldn't mine resolve first and kill him?
The thing is there's just too few soldiers to really convey that. I agree a zoomed out perspective from directly behind the soldiers would have been much better.
Wouldn't a angel from above be better for that, I mean I only see like 3 soldiers on the card, I can kind of make out another formation behind up still. Also again, the focus of the piece of Niv-Mizzet, not the legion.
I'm not saying the art is bad, just that, for the Boros mythic, the art doesn't look Mythic or Boros at all.
For reference:
3 Geist of Saint Traft
4 Legion's Initiative
4 Snapcaster Mage
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Viashino Firstblade
2 Sunhome Guildmage
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
Spells(11):
4 Searing Spear
3 Azorius Charm
2 Supreme Verdict
2 Mizzium Mortars
3 Assemble the Legion
Lands(25):
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Hallowed Fountain
3 Clifftop Retreat
3 Steam Vents
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Sulfur Falls
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Island
1 Supreme Verdict
3 Rolling Temblor
2 Council of the Absolute
2 Sphinx's Revelation
2 Electrickery
3 Purify the Grave
2 Safe Passage
The general idea of the deck is to abuse solid creatures like Reckoner and Geist to control the early middle game with support from burn and Snapcaster. As the game goes late Assemble the Legion provides a large degree of inevitability is most cases.
"But Wait!" You scream, "Why the Legion's Initiative?" and my answer is, because I want to. Admittedly I'm struggling with whether or not its worth it. I do like it for the most part as a crusade effect, and the blink has been relevant several times with the tricks of offers. As a sweeper defender, as a combat trick, and as a way to rebuy Snapcasters and Viashino Firstblades its been outstanding. I am open to changing up the numbers I'm running, I could probably stand to go down to three.
As far as no spells go, I could see it I guess, still I think Boros Charm and Searing Spear are pretty nifty to have around.
Yet trade secrets is a one off and it gets banned?
Wizards is pretty iffy on making a card out of him, and the R/U walker needed to be Ral'Zarek as he was established as a character in a Wizards product, unlike Dak.
It exiles itself, Sun Titan can't fetch it.
In general its worked for me, though I have had games on only check lands and its a pain in the ass, so I'm thinking about going to 4/4/4 shocklands.
My reasoning is that I'm not in this for the long game, and I'm going to put pretty much any deck on the defensive, so ultimately shocking myself shouldn't matter very much. If its to the point to where my opponent can profitably swing back then I've probably already lost.
To be fair the two jund matches I played where more all in Aggro with hellriders/thundermaws then hunt masters so I don't have that much experience with that play.
I don't consider mizzium mortars to really be a board wipe as it costs 6 mana, I'm more likely to use it on something more pressing then holding it to over load.
The real value usually is rolling temblor, granted its no pyroclasm (which is sorely needed) but it does a good job of sweeping most things of the field, and with a Reckoner out its almost like a bonfire for 2
I'm sorry what? Aggro is litterally THE match up for us. We've got all the 1 to 1 removal, access to two potentially under costed sweepers, and lingering souls/reckoner to stall the board.
I have to yet to lose a match to aggro (RDW, R/g, Naya Blitz, Jund) because they burn out so quickly it becomes trivial.
The match up I hate most is Bant/Esper, at least game 1, since sphinx's revelation just puts them so far over the top its not even funny, but our sideboard is good for that, we got duress, slaughter games, and Rakdos's return.
I think its competitive, it is slow, I agree with you on that, its going to be grindy, but it shifts pretty quickly from control to beat down and has game across the field.
Me: 8 life
Opponent: 9 life
We each control a Boros Reckoner. On his turn he casts a Blasphemous Act.
Shouldn't I win? He is the active player so his Reckoner trigger goes on the stack first, then mine goes on. Since the stack resolves First in Last Out style shouldn't mine resolve first and kill him?