Based on my Standard Heroic deck from the Theros/Rtr block, my goal is to now make this the best heroic deck possible. I believe that this is a viable modern deck.
With the basic land landbase, this deck costs about 10$, but isn't optimal. The best landbase would to be running 4x
Flooded Strand
2x
Windswept Heath
and 4x
Hallowed Fountain
with 6 Plains and 6 Islands. A more budget friendly option to that is replacing the Strands with
Seachrome Coast
and the Hearths with 2 Plains. As with all decks in modern, the expensive lands are expensive for a reason: they are consistent and they are fast. This sucks because it greatly reduces the chances of cheap decks to be able to compete.
Regardless, for this deck at 10$, it's basic lands only. Although it's hard to guarantee that this deck will have the right amount of each colour mana in any given game, the lands need to be useable turn 1. As such,
Evolving Wilds
is not optimal.
Moving on: the main focus of this deck is, as you probably already guessed, heroic creatures. This means that the deck has lots of spells that target your guys to make them big, then swing for the kill.
(Heroic: if the creature is targeted by a spell you cast, X happens. In this deck it usually puts a +1/+1 on the creature)
Turn four kill example Show
For the majority of games, only one of your creatures will be needed to kill, so the number of creatures in this deck are limited. Most of the instants are protection, but some are also for damage. The enchantments are more for some longevity and utility. I currently find that sorceries are too slow to be super useful; they bring down the flexibility of the deck. I could however see
Distortion Strike
and
Slip Through Space
being usefull; they need some playtesting. The main reason I'm not using artifacts in this deck is because they don't trigger heroic when being equipped, and I want this deck to be unique.
Detailed Creature Explanation Show
As you can see, there are not very many creatures. As a result, the creatures that are in this deck are all very important (I know that there may be some better creatures out there, but I want to make this a heroic deck, so heroic creatures it is). Firstly we have
Favored Hoplite
and
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
. Both of these are one drops, and have some sustainability that makes them easier to throw on the field and not have to worry too much about their survival. I'd like to note that
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
was close to not making it in this deck, but in the modern format where
Lightning Bolt
reigns supreme, having 4 toughness is a nice. Next we have
Battlewise Hoplite
. Many people find him to be an absolute star, with +1 counters and scry for a heroic trigger, there's not much more we can ask for. Finally we
Fabled Hero
, my personal favourite heroic card. He's tough to keep alive when he first get's out, but if he does, his double-strike allows you to kill your opponent in no time. And even when you already have a creature that you're buffing,
Fabled Hero
is still a threat that your opponent has to respect.
There are only instants and enchantments in this deck. Instants are fast, enchantments are lasting, and sorceries are neither. That being said, there are three categories of spells: Attack, Defend and Draw.
The Attack category is the most straight-forward. Although all cards in the deck trigger heroic and allow our creatures to hit harder, these are the cards that ensure big damage, as well as that the damage hits the player. We have three main cards for this:
Artful Maneuver
: Hit harder and it triggers twice with rebound, doubling it's worth.
Defiant Strike
: A small boost, but it triggers heroic and replaces itself.
Aqueous Form
: Primary purpose is allowing our big creature to hit the enemy without worry. Being unblockable is superior to Trample and is one of the main reasons to run this deck as U/W, and not G/W. The scry that comes along with
Aqueous Form
is also more valuable than it first appears; a reliable way of setting up what is being drawn is important to make sure that this deck runs smoothly and avoids running out of fuel.
Ordeal of Thassa
is another notable Attack card, but is used in this deck more for it's card draw (which is why it's here, and not
Ordeal of Heliod
. I would like to note that every spell in this deck triggers Heroic, so they could all be considered Attack spells, these three are just the main ones.
In the Defend category we have main three cards:
Gods Willing
and
Emerge Unscathed
: Both offer protection from colour: protection from murder, burn and creatures. They can also be used for unblockable attacks, should
Aqueous Form
be absent.
Gods Willing
also has added scry for more control, and
Emerge Unscathed
has rebound, effectively doubling it's worth.
Ajani's Presence
: Present mainly to protect against the board wipes, because those don't target and thus cannot be prevented with “protection from X colour”. It also can target multiple creatures, and adds attack power.
Another point to notice is that any spell that targets
Favored Hoplite
will prevent any damage being dealt to him. So even a
Defiant Strike
can work in a pinch.
For Draw we have two major cards:
Curiosity
and
Ordeal of Thassa
. Many cards, creatures and spells alike, offer many opportunities to scry and organize the top of the deck. However,
Curiosity
and
Ordeal of Thassa
allow for this deck to actually draw the cards. This is very important because of the low mana cost of everything; it's easy for the deck to run out of steam.
One combo that works particularly well is Aqueous Form + Curiosity
, allowing for a free scry, and then draw. Card draw is the main reason that U/W is a more viable heroic deck than any other, including the faster R/W and mono W decks, or a more aggressive big G/W deck.
With the sideboard I want to be able to change the deck so that it performs well in a longer, more drawn out match. That is one of the reasons that I like this deck, it can be played as an aggro deck, as well as a slower tempo deck.
Sideboard and Tempo Setup Show
Oblivion Ring
is a spot removal for longer games where you need to respond to threats that your opponents have.
Path to Exile
is an alternative, but it is much more expensive ($ wise) and it only hits creatures. O-Ring can hit a wider range of threats and give you the 1-2 turns you need to finish the game. (Good in sideboard so you can swap them in, and then hold them in hand until a vital combo piece or large threat hits the table).
Hidden Strings
is an absolute beast in a Heroic deck. Why? Because when you have
Aqueous Form
+
Hidden Strings
you can trigger Hidden strings every turn. And
Hidden Strings
allows you to trigger heroic twice. If you choose, you can grant you're attacker psudo-vigilence by using one target of
Hidden Strings
on him every time he swings. Or, you could just target him twice for two +1's. But wait, there's more!
Hidden Strings
can also be used to untap your lands, or tap your opponents. No matter how you decide to use it,
Hidden Strings
grants a level of control that is admirable in an aggro deck. But again, it's a little to slow to be running in a regular match, so it lives in the sideboard.
For more defensive games, in addition to
Hidden Strings
you can use
Triton Tactics
. Due to a slower tempo, it is likely that you will have more than one creature hitting the field and being important. This cards lets you share the target love and buff multiple creatures, as well as either attack without tapping, or untap for a surprise block. While
Triton Tactics
is not the powerhouse that
Hidden Strings
is, it can still be a very useful card.
Next we have Ethereal Armour. This card is excellent. The only reason I chose to take it out of the mainboard is because of the lack of enchantments in general in the mainboard. The only enchantment that works well with it now is
Curiosity
, because
Ordeal of Thassa
blows up, and
Aqueous Form
renders the first strike useless. However, it's still a worthy card, especially if you need to be blocking.
(Just for an illustration: Putting two Ethereal Armours on grants the creature +4/+4 as well as two +1/+1 counters... Yeah). If you want to run this deck with a couple more enchantments and a few less instants, Ethereal Armour will be the best card in your deck.
Last but not least is
Lithomancer's Focus
. This is to deal with artifact decks that get around the "protection from colour" spells that make up the majority of the instants. If artifact creatures are an even bigger threat in your playgroup, I would also recommend adding
Apostle's Blessing
to the sideboard (perhaps replacing
Triton Tactics
?).
