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BOROS DECK WINS!
The Legion continues its march through the Dragon's Maze, and here's how we're going to achieve glorious victory on the battlefield:
Champion of the Parish
- The only time this guy isn't good is when you topdeck him late. Perfect for this deck.
Nearheath Pilgrim
and Lightning Mauler
- Lightning Mauler
hastes up my Silverblade Paladin
and Frontline Medic
. Nearheath Pilgrim
helps win the aggro race by keeping my life total ahead and also gives me the infinite life combo with Boros Reckoner
and Boros Charm
/Frontline Medic
.
Silverblade Paladin
, Frontline Medic
, and Boros Reckoner
- Paladin was a no-brainer, and Medic has an unbelievable power level when combined with Lightning Mauler
. The beats come early and fast thanks to indestructibility. Boros Reckoner
is a solid all-around card that makes some matchups very difficult for opponents.
Hellrider
and Tajic, Blade of the Legion
- The only other non-human after Boros Reckoner
, Hellrider
is a closer that can win a game out of nowhere. Tajic, Blade of the Legion
is a paragon of resilience and is fantastic to pair with any of my soulbond creatures to ramp his power level through the roof and over 9000.
Boros Charm
and Searing Spear
- The charm is possibly the best ever printed. Its first two modes are extremely relevant in this deck, and its final mode is occasionally useful as well. Searing Spear
functions as both reach and removal.
Rally the Peasants - A favorite finisher, a wonderful combat trick, and a huge friend of Silverblade Paladin . This card won me countless games in the previous Standard environment, and I expect it to do the same here.
Ajani, Caller of the Pride
- An excellent ally for making my creatures either bigger or downright lethal.
If you like aggro decks, be sure to also check out Knights of the Blood Oath!
My recent success in events with my new deck, The Nayan Apocalypse, has led to me retiring this deck. This has easily been my most popular and well-received deck on TappedOut, and I'm very grateful to all the support the community provided.
I'm especially thankful for the input from other users on card choices and suggestions, as they guided me through the deckbuilding process. This is still my most successful deck to date in terms of event results, leading me to a money finish at SCG Daytona and multiple FNM top 8s.
As for my recommendations on the current viability of the deck, I think that it's great to have the consistency of two colors over a Naya build, but right now, this deck has an extremely difficult matchup against Voice of Resurgence decks. Ideally, this deck should be adjusted to be more red-based to include Pillar of Flame or should be re-purposed as a Naya Humans or Naya Zoo build. As always, feel free to comment on the deck if you have any questions about specific matchups or card choices. Thanks for reading!
-2 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
-1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
-1 Mountain
+1 Frontline Medic
+2 Blind Obedience
+1 Searing Spear
Tajic, Blade of the Legion
wasn't working out. I think he's better in a deck that can give him trample, either through Legion Loyalist
, Rancor
, Unflinching Courage
, or other means. He otherwise gets chumped for days or crashes into a Boros Reckoner
and hurts me in the process. I especially think he's quite brutal with Unflinching Courage
, and will consider him in Naya decks in the future.
What results from the changes are a return to the Blind Obedience days, where I got to attack without fear of flash blockers (even more dangerous now with RUG Flash and Advent of the Wurm in addition to Restoration Angel ) and kick my burn spells up a notch. I also went ahead and maxed on Frontline Medic and Lightning Mauler to take advantage of that interaction.
I removed:
3x Boros Elite
2x Blind Obedience
1x Cavern of Souls
and added:
1x Searing Spear
1x Lightning Mauler
2x Tajic, Blade of the Legion
2x Mountain
The result is a slower than usual aggro deck that maintains its strength through the mid-game. Tajic, Blade of the Legion
in particular makes the deck quite resilient and plays very well with Ajani, Caller of the Pride
. I may consider adding a second Ajani after more testing. I would still like to try Legion's Initiative
in the deck at some point if I can get at least three to try in place of a few non-creature spells. There are so many theoretical advantages and hindrances it presents that I think I can only find out its level of effectiveness by trying it out.
Feel free to discuss my changes and make suggestions in the comments!
Here are the changes I'm considering for Dragon's Maze:
-2 Blind Obedience
-1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
-1 Hellrider
+2 Tajic, Blade of the Legion
+1 Lightning Mauler
+1 Mountain
Big thanks to everyone who has commented on and upvoted this deck. It reached 100 score recently and I want to thank everyone for their support! This deck is really fun to play and I think it stands out among other Boros decks because of my unique card choices and dedication to updating and posting event results.
Brief FNM reports for March 1 and March 15. Let's start with 3/1/13:
Match 1: Red Deck Wins, W 2-0
Nearheath Pilgrim
is a boss. I went as high as 31 life. AGAINST AGGRO.
Match 2: The Aristocrats, W 2-1
Zealous Conscripts
was used as an inefficient but effective kill spell for Falkenrath Aristocrat
, followed by a second Zealous Conscripts
to swing for the win.
Match 3: Naya Midrange, L 0-2
Can't beat the curve of Boros Reckoner
-> Huntmaster of the Fells
Flip
-> Thragtusk
-> Aurelia, the Warleader
.
Match 4: Omnidoor, W 2-0
This is an easy matchup for aggro, especially since they rely on sweepers and Boros Charm
beats those.
Match 5: Red Boros, W 2-0
Silverblade Paladin
did work in this one.
I drew into top 8 in round 6. Now for the results of FNM on 3/15/13!
Match 1: BUG Delver, L 1-2
Game one was close due to lots of extorting with Blind Obedience
, but I lost. I won game two handily and lost game three handily.
Match 2: Gruul Aggro, W 2-0
I was matched against my friend running the Gruul deck I designed for him, Predator Gruuze. I was much too fast for him to put up a fight.
Match 3: Bant Control, W 2-0
Both of us had Blind Obedience
in game one, and we extorted the hell out of each other. I extorted 8 times and he extorted 9 times, but I won that game. The next game was significantly faster for me.
Match 4: Red Boros, W 2-0
I got Nearheath Pilgrim
going in both games. He makes aggro matchups so easy.
Match 5: UW Delver, W 2-0
Blazing fast draws for me, bad hands for him.
Match 6: UWR Flash, W 2-1
I had to play this round because my opponent had to draw in a previous round. I came out too fast in game one. I forgot to counter an Aurelia's Fury
with my Frontline Medic
in game two, which cost me the match as he started chaining Sphinx's Revelation
s. I was again too fast in game three.
This deck has less speed than Naya Blitz or Jund Aggro, but uses less cards to achieve equivalent damage potential on turns 3-4, making it less likely to get blown out by effective removal. This is largely accomplished by Silverblade Paladin , which remains a ridiculous card in most matchups. While on the slow side, having good mana, playing Silverblade Paladin and Boros Charm , and being straight Boros keeps me enjoying this deck.
I took the Legion for a spin at the Orlando 5K, here's how it went!
Match 1: UWR Flash, W 2-0
Both games were very close. Game two was especially close, as I won at 2 life when he was at 3. I'm surprised that I keep managing to win this matchup despite how bad it seems for me.
Match 2: Esper Spirits, W 2-1
I win game one too quickly to know what he's playing, so I sideboard in for Esper Control. Instead, my Skullcrack
s are rendered useless as he bashes me over the head with an army of spirits. Game three is much better for me once I put my Nearheath Pilgrim
s back in.
Match 3: Jund Aggro, L 0-2
I played against Nicholas Werner, the person who ended up making the finals of the event. Burning-Tree Emissary
into Mogg Flunkies
is actually an awesome play, one that completely blows me out before I can ever get going. No Nearheath Pilgrim
s really hurt me here.
Match 4: Naya Humans, W 2-1
If I got a Nearheath Pilgrim
out, I won, and if I didn't I lost. Thankfully, I got one out in two games.
Match 5: Naya Humans, W 2-1
Same story. Nearheath Pilgrim
+ Silverblade Paladin
+ Rally the Peasants
puts aggro to sleep fast.
Match 6: Prime Speaker Bant, L 1-2
I won game one with a moderately fast hand. He managed to stabilize a little but I was able to end it before he could come back. I got crushed by massive creatures in the next two games, Angel of Serenity
being the worst of them.
Match 7: Esper Control, W 2-1
I lost game one after getting mana screwed. I got him to 1 life quickly in game two, where he stayed for a long time until I drew the Skullcrack
after throwing creature after creature at him to empty his hand. Game three was very fast for me.
Match 8: Jund Aggro, L 1-2
I lost game one, got out a Nearheath Pilgrim
in game two (so I won), and made an atrocious misplay in game three that cost me the game and the match.
Match 9: Lucky Charms, L 0-2
This is the UWR Flash deck centered around Boros Reckoner
, using him with Azorius Charm
/Moment of Heroism
and Boros Charm
to gain infinite life and Blasphemous Act
to finish any opponent at 13 or less life. This deck absolutely stomps aggro, which it did to me.
Overall, The Sunfist Brigade performed well, although I still lament my poor draws and my round 8 misplay that kept me from having a shot at top 32 or higher. The deck is still quite potent, though perhaps not as much so as Naya or Jund Aggro. I still think that this Boros and Mono-green Aggro are perhaps the next best aggressive decks after those two, and would highly advocate this list for any local tournaments, especially FNMs.
| Date added | 5 months |
| Last updated | 3 weeks |
| Legal formats | Commander / EDH, Extended, Legacy, Modern, Standard, Vintage |
| Sets | |
| Cards | 60 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.47 |
| Top rank | #5 on 2013-02-04 |
Embed code |
|
| +1 | Ajani, Caller of the Pride | main |
| +2 | Blind Obedience | main |
| -3 | Legion Loyalist | main |
