This is the second version of an aggro Brion Stoutarm built as a red-zone and life-matters deck. The key themes here are:
Equipment: We run many equipment and equipment tutors in force aggro though and generate CA in R/W colors
Life-matters: Life-totals and life-gain triggers matter here
Haste: Aggro decks beat face first, then ask questions later.
Toolbox + engines: This last theme enables the above 3 points
The basic game-plan is to aggro out (pressure) the combo/control players during the early-mid game and use a number of alternative win-cons to snipe off remaining players later.
Aggro
Haste and tempo is most important here as someone is bound to wrath your board when they can't handle the red-zone. Thus, we opt for as many free haste enablers as possible. Hall of the Bandit Lord Haste granting land = tempo beats Anger: Gives all your creatures haste in the yard, not too hard as Brion himself is a sac-outlet. Dragon Breath: Recurrable + free haste + pump to your 6cc or higher beat-sticks. Lightning Greaves: Old school haste + shroud Obsidian Battle-Axe: Free haste on Brion and other warriors (which we selectively run), makes turn 3 axe, turn 4 Brion an actual clock.
On the topic of Obsidian Battle-Axe: We run the following "warriors", Brion Stoutarm: Giving him haste makes fling better Stonehewer Giant: Lets see... beat with Vigilance, tutor up sword of protection from deck, ???, profit Mirror Entity: Changeling, gives you extended fat in late-game, makes Godo, Bandit Warlord even better.
Alternative Win-cons
In the intro, I mentioned that life-gain is important here (not as a resource per-say but as a win-con itself).
Serra Avatar: With more life than my opponents, Brion essentially headshots an opponent Phyrexian Processor: Pay half life, make token, fling token and gain life back!
Two ways of dishing out extra punishment are Grafted Skeleton: Brion equips and flings large fatties for poison damage Bone Hoard: Depending on the decks, the bone hoard grows to epic proportions. Fling away!
Tool-boxes + Engines
R/W is generally lacking good tutor abilities but there are some hidden gems that we can abuse here. Here, I list several tool-box engines that we run.
Ranger of Eos tool-box: This guy actually finds more tutors and aggro pieces early-mid game. Serra Ascendant: Evasive life-linker beater Weathered Wayfarer: Fetches ANY land, very good for finding strip/waste/emeria/mistveil/sunhome Flamekin Harbinger: Fetches to top any "elemental"
With harbinger, we have a sub-tool-box with Reveillark: Recurs all those weenies that ranger just found Mirror Entity: Already mentioned
Skullclamp: More CA is needed and quite useful with token producers or with tokens that die: Kher Keep, Springjack Pasture: Makes small tokens to sac
Last, we have tertiary engines: Adarkar Valkyrie: Recurring flingable creatures + ETB triggers Sun Titan: A source of artifact recursion to play, also hits ramp+ LD potential with fetch lands/strip mine/tec edge/artifact land ramp Twilight Shepherd: Anti-wrath, more value to sac/fling effects Mimic Vat: Make a creature, abuse ETB/ETG effects, swing for damage, fling it at EOT Yosei, the Morning Star + Active Emeria, the Sky Ruin + sac outlet (High Market/Brion) = Lock 1 player
I for one absolutely love using Scroll Rack in combination with Land Tax. It allows you to draw a ton of cards and push land back into your deck. At the beginning of next turn you get to grab 3 more lands and turn them into more cards. Very fun mechanic for white to draw.
Its not cheap to go get a copy but Sneak Attack is very handy for Brion as you can sneek a blocker into play then fling it off for damage. It also gives you psudo haste for an eldrazi or blightsteel to come running out of your deck.
Figure of Destiny is an amazing boros creature that is another target for your Ranger of Eos. He can turn into a very fat creatre given time. Plus it gives you some options for early game agro.
Spitebellows is also a great creature for this deck.
Your decklist looks fairly spot on though. I dont know what I could even suggest cutting from it. Well I will leave the hard part to you
EDIT: well... I guess I could see Cloudgoat Ranger getting the axe as it seems one of the weaker cards in your list.
@ISBPathfinder
Scroll rack is indeed on the consideration list given its superb interaction with Land Tax and other draw effects. Its a possible replacement for wheel of fortune as in MP, letting my opponents draw 7 might me more dangerous than what is worth.
I do own a sneak attack but its true beauty is cheating out huge expensive fatties (e.g. eldrazi) to eat players with. Sadly, most of the deck opted for lower cc efficient fatties with value potential upon removal
I've seen figure of destiny in Ranger decks before but find that in MP, it becomes too much of a mana pit. In 20 life games, it has enough reach. But compare this to something like Serra Ascendant thats most of the time a 6/6 on entry, FoD may be overrated.
Spitebellows is removal/tutorable/flingable yes. But its effect may be too conditional (Brion residing on the board, 6 toughness, no-regen, no indestructible). I prefer RFG effects like archon/path/swords to this.
Cloudgoat is surprisingly relevant with skullclamp/axe and gains evasion on cue.
My current cutting block is actually centered on Taurean Mauler, Wheel of Fortune, karmic guide, Kor Cartographer (for more efficient ramp), shepherd.
EDIT: Other considerations for adding are Martial Coup, true-conviction + academy rector, elspeth knight errant
More fine-tuning. Removed some slow/vanilla fat such as Cloudgoat ranger, mauler. Added better removal such as Duplicant. Packing more ramp now as aggro is so mana hungry. Cut kitty win as its removal bait or a 1 card boorish win.
Future: Possibly hellkite charger + sword of feast and famine but making room for any existing slots is difficult atm
Do you find that you like obsidian battle-axe better than say lightning greaves? On that vein does your playgroup not have a lot of spot removal in it?
Its one of the few global haste enablers in RW colors. I usually prefer greaves due to said protection although the early battle axe makes brion a strong beat-stick to get general damage though. However once NPH Urabrask comes out, it may get cut.
I too have a brion deck. I really like the phyrexian processor.
Inferno Titan > Bogardan Hellkite > Spitebellows. Especially with a Mimic Vat.
My favorite card in my deck so far has been Evangelize. Paying 9 a turn for repeatedly stealing an opponents creature is a lot of fun. It being opponent's choice rarely matters. Just the other day it stole a Bribery'd Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre turn 5 that then went on to singlehandedly win the game. It also steals Uril, the Miststalker and other shroud critters.
Kiki was cut at one point for being triple red and hard to get out at times in an old build. However, since the mana base has changed, I'll probably put it back into the deck once I find a cut.
EDIT: Once urbrask is released, I'll probably cut Emeria and some plains for mountain and an artifact rock for kiki
I know my brion deck is getting an Urabrask as soon as I can. That guy is gonna be a house. Ok well I think I'll stick to greaves for now but when I draw it I'll have to ask which Id prefer since equip cost is irrelevent.
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16 Plains
4 Mountain
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Strip Mine
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Arid Mesa
1 Temple of the False God
1 High Market
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Rugged Prarie
1 Sacred Foundary
1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Miren the Moaning Well
1 Springjack Pasture
1 Battlesteel Forge
1 Naya Panorama
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Ancient Amphitheater
Major Biceps
1 Brion Stoutarm
Ramp/Fixing
1 Sol Ring
1 Land Tax
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Expedition Map
1 Tithe
1 Knight of the White Orchid
1 Eternal Dragon
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Kor Cartographer
1 Mind Stone
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Coalition Relic
1 Mana Vault
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Scrabbling Claws
1 Dawn Charm
1 Stonecloaker
1 Ghostway
1 Wild Richochet
Haste Related
1 Dragon Breath
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Obsidian Battle-Axe
1 Anger
Draw
1 Skullclamp
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Well of Lost Dreams
1 Mind's Eye
Tutors
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Flamekin Harbinger
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sun Forger
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Hoarding Dragon
1 Godo Bandit Warlord
Removal
1 Path to Exile
1 Condemn
1 Sword to Plowshares
1 Orim's Thunder
1 Return to Dust
1 Archon of Justice
1 Austere Command
1 Phyrexian Rebirth
1 Duplicant
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Reveillark
1 Razor Hippogriff
1 Karmic Guide
1 Sun Titan
1 Twilight Shepherd
Flingables
1 Mimic Vat
1 Bonehoard
1 Phyrexian Processor
1 Serra Avatar
Fat
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Mirror Entity
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Adarkar Valkyrie
Kill
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
This is the second version of an aggro Brion Stoutarm built as a red-zone and life-matters deck. The key themes here are:
The basic game-plan is to aggro out (pressure) the combo/control players during the early-mid game and use a number of alternative win-cons to snipe off remaining players later.
Aggro
Haste and tempo is most important here as someone is bound to wrath your board when they can't handle the red-zone. Thus, we opt for as many free haste enablers as possible.
Hall of the Bandit Lord Haste granting land = tempo beats
Anger: Gives all your creatures haste in the yard, not too hard as Brion himself is a sac-outlet.
Dragon Breath: Recurrable + free haste + pump to your 6cc or higher beat-sticks.
Lightning Greaves: Old school haste + shroud
Obsidian Battle-Axe: Free haste on Brion and other warriors (which we selectively run), makes turn 3 axe, turn 4 Brion an actual clock.
On the topic of Obsidian Battle-Axe: We run the following "warriors",
Brion Stoutarm: Giving him haste makes fling better
Stonehewer Giant: Lets see... beat with Vigilance, tutor up sword of protection from deck, ???, profit
Mirror Entity: Changeling, gives you extended fat in late-game, makes Godo, Bandit Warlord even better.
Alternative Win-cons
In the intro, I mentioned that life-gain is important here (not as a resource per-say but as a win-con itself).
Serra Avatar: With more life than my opponents, Brion essentially headshots an opponent
Phyrexian Processor: Pay half life, make token, fling token and gain life back!
Two ways of dishing out extra punishment are
Grafted Skeleton: Brion equips and flings large fatties for poison damage
Bone Hoard: Depending on the decks, the bone hoard grows to epic proportions. Fling away!
R/W is generally lacking good tutor abilities but there are some hidden gems that we can abuse here. Here, I list several tool-box engines that we run.
Sun Forger + Mistveil Plains + instant = recurring tool-box. We have the following arsenal at our disposal
Sword to plowshares, Path to Exile, Condemn = creature removal
Dawn Charm, Ghostway = protection
Return to Dust, Orim's Thunder = enchantment/artifact removal
Enlightened Tutor, Tithe = enchantment/artifact/land tutor
Wild Richochet: Redirects / copies your opponent's timewarps, decree of pains, removal shenanigans
Ranger of Eos tool-box: This guy actually finds more tutors and aggro pieces early-mid game.
Serra Ascendant: Evasive life-linker beater
Weathered Wayfarer: Fetches ANY land, very good for finding strip/waste/emeria/mistveil/sunhome
Flamekin Harbinger: Fetches to top any "elemental"
With harbinger, we have a sub-tool-box with
Reveillark: Recurs all those weenies that ranger just found
Mirror Entity: Already mentioned
Well of Lost Dreams: CA in a life-gain deck is a must. The following are quirky draw-engines with the Well.
Brion Stoutarm, Wurmcoil Engine, Sword of Light and Shadow, Serra Ascendant, Razor Hippogriff: Has life-link or triple as other functions in the deck
High Market, Springjack Pasture: Generates extra cards while doubling as lands
Skullclamp: More CA is needed and quite useful with token producers or with tokens that die:
Kher Keep, Springjack Pasture: Makes small tokens to sac
Last, we have tertiary engines:
Adarkar Valkyrie: Recurring flingable creatures + ETB triggers
Sun Titan: A source of artifact recursion to play, also hits ramp+ LD potential with fetch lands/strip mine/tec edge/artifact land ramp
Twilight Shepherd: Anti-wrath, more value to sac/fling effects
Mimic Vat: Make a creature, abuse ETB/ETG effects, swing for damage, fling it at EOT
Yosei, the Morning Star + Active Emeria, the Sky Ruin + sac outlet (High Market/Brion) = Lock 1 player
Its not cheap to go get a copy but Sneak Attack is very handy for Brion as you can sneek a blocker into play then fling it off for damage. It also gives you psudo haste for an eldrazi or blightsteel to come running out of your deck.
Figure of Destiny is an amazing boros creature that is another target for your Ranger of Eos. He can turn into a very fat creatre given time. Plus it gives you some options for early game agro.
Spitebellows is also a great creature for this deck.
Your decklist looks fairly spot on though. I dont know what I could even suggest cutting from it. Well I will leave the hard part to you
EDIT: well... I guess I could see Cloudgoat Ranger getting the axe as it seems one of the weaker cards in your list.
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[Modern] Allies
Scroll rack is indeed on the consideration list given its superb interaction with Land Tax and other draw effects. Its a possible replacement for wheel of fortune as in MP, letting my opponents draw 7 might me more dangerous than what is worth.
I do own a sneak attack but its true beauty is cheating out huge expensive fatties (e.g. eldrazi) to eat players with. Sadly, most of the deck opted for lower cc efficient fatties with value potential upon removal
I've seen figure of destiny in Ranger decks before but find that in MP, it becomes too much of a mana pit. In 20 life games, it has enough reach. But compare this to something like Serra Ascendant thats most of the time a 6/6 on entry, FoD may be overrated.
Spitebellows is removal/tutorable/flingable yes. But its effect may be too conditional (Brion residing on the board, 6 toughness, no-regen, no indestructible). I prefer RFG effects like archon/path/swords to this.
Cloudgoat is surprisingly relevant with skullclamp/axe and gains evasion on cue.
My current cutting block is actually centered on Taurean Mauler, Wheel of Fortune, karmic guide, Kor Cartographer (for more efficient ramp), shepherd.
EDIT: Other considerations for adding are Martial Coup, true-conviction + academy rector, elspeth knight errant
Future: Possibly hellkite charger + sword of feast and famine but making room for any existing slots is difficult atm
Level 1 Judge
Inferno Titan > Bogardan Hellkite > Spitebellows. Especially with a Mimic Vat.
My favorite card in my deck so far has been Evangelize. Paying 9 a turn for repeatedly stealing an opponents creature is a lot of fun. It being opponent's choice rarely matters. Just the other day it stole a Bribery'd Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre turn 5 that then went on to singlehandedly win the game. It also steals Uril, the Miststalker and other shroud critters.
Where's Kiki-Jiki?
EDIT: Once urbrask is released, I'll probably cut Emeria and some plains for mountain and an artifact rock for kiki
Level 1 Judge