Magic the Gathering - Deck Help

[Zen Toombs]

So I recently decided to get back into standard. Here's the inexpensive deck I threw together to try out for Friday Night Magic.

EDIT: For everyone's reference, this is made to be super duper extra cheap. I know dual lands would be nice, but sadly they are out of my price range. I have two I may be able to beg, borrow or steal from friends, but I'm trying to keep the price of the deck down.

I call it Boros Tokens if I'm being short, 4 color tokens if I'm being silly and technically accurate.

4 x [mtg_card=Galvanic Blast]
4 x [mtg_card=Doomed Traveler]
4 x [mtg_card=Gather the Townsfolk]
4 x [mtg_card=Intangible Virtue]
2 x [mtg_card=Honor of the Pure]
2 x [mtg_card=Ancient Grudge]
3 x [mtg_card=Shrine of Loyal Legions]
4 x [mtg_card=Midnight Haunting]
4 x [mtg_card=Lingering Souls]
2 x [mtg_card=Rally the Peasants]
2 x [mtg_card=Oblivion Ring]
3 x [mtg_card=Hellrider] <--A total champion, by the by.

10 x [mtg_card=Plains]
7 x [mtg_card=Mountain]
4 x [mtg_card=Shimmering Grotto]
1 x [mtg_card=Swamp]

If I'm able to snag what from my friends have for cheap, I'd swap a plains for a [mtg_card=Sunpetal Grove] and a mountain for [mtg_card=Dragonskull Summit].

My planned sideboard is
2 x [mtg_card=Ancient Grudge] (almost always subbed in game 2 if my opponent looks like they are side boarding in ratchet bomb)
4 x [mtg_card=Ray of Revelation] (for mirror matches)
2 x [mtg_card=Nihil Spellbomb] Because my friends have told me the shenanigans the one Frights deck in the group can do. Also Frights is what caused me the most damage when I've played against top decks in Cocatrice.
1 x [mtg_card=Forest] To help with Ray of Revelation
6 x ??

So, what do you all think?

 

[Zeriphor]

This deck doesn't seem to do much until you hit turn 3 and you have very few cards to help control the battlefield. I don't know the meta to be able to say how bad this is, but it is a flaw you should consider.

Also, ancient grudge is useless against ratchet bomb for protecting tokens. You'd need a way to stop them from casting it or activating it.

It looks like a fun idea though, and I wish you luck!

Edit: Just checked for counters to ratchet bomb. Nevermore, phyrexian revoker, stony silence, and surgical extraction are all I could find for white/red.

And another card to consider for lots of tokens is signal pest. Pseudo-flying battlecry for 1 colorless? Yes please.

 

[Zen Toombs]

-snip-

More of the idea for Ancient Grudge was to force it to be activated, as well as blow up any other artifact I wanted. Mirrodin 2.0 is still standard, and the really good decks either run a number of artifacts or at least run a sword or something, and against only okay decks I can deal with one dud. I also wasn't aware that the cards you mentioned (save surgical extraction) were so inexpensive! I may change up my board. And thanks for the reminder about signal pest - I'll have to test it out.

And also, I tested this deck against a number of the top decks I found on MTG salvation, and pre-sideboard it went an average of 3-3 (out of six). For a deck that's under $50, I call that a huge win.

 

[Stealthygamer]

get a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad if you can. He is an amazing token generator

 

[Rack]

Your mana base is a mess, for such a low cut deck you need something way more compelling to go two colour, let alone tri-colour. The times when you're sitting on two mountains and a shimmering grotto and a load of 3 cost white cards are going to outstrip the times you get the hellrider plus a load of tokens. Also for a low-cut deck it isn't that fast, you aren't going to be able to cast 2 spells a turn very often and if the game goes to the mid-game you might struggle if you aren't getting intangible virtue/honor the pure.

I'd see if you can go pure white, maybe keep Shimmering Grotto and see if you can get something else poly-coloured for those buyback costs. Alternatively boost your mana base, again try and get another mana smoother and cut it a little higher.

I suspect you might need something more techy than Ray of Revelation for Mirror matches, if you're expecting something with a similar theme but stronger cards you'll only end up losing less not worth a sideboard choice. Alternatively rather than spreading your sideboard thin pack it with hate against one deck. When doing these kind of disruptive cheap decks I've found building it to be strong against a couple of decks and packing it with hate against another can be very effective. That said your deck is probably vulnerable to a lot of the sideboard tech in there, so you may have trouble anyway.

I'd also consider dropping Shrine of Loyal Legions, you're probably going to see a ton of artifact rmovel, so taking one artifact spell isn't going to help out too often.

 

[Zen Toombs]

get a Sorin, Lord of Innistrad if you can. He is an amazing token generator

I'd totally run BW tokens if I could (I LOVE Sorin) but the man is far too costly. Two of him costs the same as the whole deck I just posted. Thanks for the idea though.

-snip-

Well, for one, I'm not going tri-color. I'm going four color.
As for a compelling reason to play two color... I most definitly have one. For the Red part, Hellrider is an absolute champion. Rally the Peasants is also a very helpful card, and Galvanic Blast is great for either killing off manadorks or [mtg_card=Mirran Crusader] or a number of other threats. Galvanic Blast also gets even better with Shrine of Loyal Legions, which is itself fantastic when played... well, most anything. It easily creates a massive number of tokens (effectively with haste if I pop it on their turn), and I tend to not particularly care if someone kills it.

My mana base is actually pretty good. In all 30+ games I've played with this deck, only twice have I been as thoroughly manascrewed as you described. About one in every five or six games I can't get the flashback colors I want, but that's acceptable considering the flashbacking only helps the deck, and this is a very inexpensive deck anyways.

As for my pacing, it actually has a surprisingly good pace, and early-midgame is actually where this deck tends to shine.

Anyways, my sideboard holds the cards that deal with one of the scariest deck (to mine) in my playgroup (O Ring mainboarded and Nihil Spellbomb sideboarded). I've already taken the suggestion of the very attractive [user]Zeriphor[/user], and will sub in [mtg_card=Nevermore] to deal with either Planeswalkers important cards for a deck or Ratchet Bomb.

In mirror matches, Ray of Revelation is actually pretty techy. It removes two enchantments with one card, and I can usually handle the tokens decently enough. You say I should run something better for mirror matches - what do you propose?

 

[Chamale]

Boros tokens is a good deck, and your problem is in your manabase. Experienced players value a good pile of lands very highly, and right now your lands suck. You also have some strange spell choices like that Shrine, and four Blasts, but I'll chalk that up to personal preference. I would recommend you get some Clifftop Retreats, which are the key to good mana. Having red and white mana available is the most important thing. For your off-colour flashback, Shimmering Grotto isn't ideal, but it won't kill you to not have the flashback on cards. If you buy more rare lands, Isolated Chapel would be better than Dragonskull Summit because you have more Plains than Mountains.

For your sideboard, you don't want Ancient Grudge against Ratchet Bomb. Put either Phyrexian Revoker [http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/122.html] or Stony Silence [http://magiccards.info/isd/en/36.html] in the board. I normally prefer Stony Silence, but you'll need to side out Shrine of Loyal Legions every time you bring in Stony Silence. They're both useful tech against Birthing Pod decks.

For other token decks, you're probably going to be slower than them, so bring in a few more controlling cards. You might want to play something bomby like Hero of Bladehold [http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/8.html] that can win games single-handedly, or just play more Oblivion Rings to defeat their permanents.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

HA! Don't ask me, I haven't played that in quite some time and even when I did I always lost.

 

[Chamale]

Alright let's get moving:

Shimmering Grotto fixes mana, but slows you down. R/W Tokens is about aggression. Take those out, and try [mtg_card=Clifftop Retreat]. If you want flashback on the Souls, go with 2 swamps, or if you want to spend a little, try [mtg_card=Isolated Chapel]

Ancient Grudge is a sideboard card. Side it in if there are artifacts giving you trouble. Also, they can respond to Grudge by detonating the bomb. Since that does bad things to your deck, consider using [mtg_card=Nevermore] declaring Ratchet Bomb to avoid that hassle. Side board of course.

[mtg_card=Slagstorm]would be a nice move in mirror matches, as well as games where things have gone belly up for you. [mtg_card=Faithless Looting] can help accelerate your draw, ditching things not needed.

Shimmering Grotto is useful for flashback costs, as Lingering Souls and Ancient Grudge both cost less to flashback than to cast normally. Adding more Swamps with this deck would be a mistake, the all-basic landbase is already sketchy. Putting in 4 Clifftop Retreat and 2 Isolated Chapel would definitely improve the deck, but I believe it's meant to be budget.

Ancient Grudge is only mainboardable in artifact-heavy metagames. If Zen Toombs finds it to be live in almost every match, it's worth keeping, otherwise it should go to the side.

Sweepers are a good idea for this deck, as it's a bit slower than many tokens builds and might want to kill an aggro deck's start. Day of Judgment is easier to cast than Slagstorm for this deck, and is sideboard-worthy. I don't like Faithless Looting in this deck, because that sort of card filtering is not particularly important to a token-based midrange strategy.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

HA! Don't ask me, I haven't played that in quite some time and even when I did I always lost.

Same here. This thread is bringing back scary high school memories of addiction and regret. The best deck I ever scraped together on my allowance was also a deck that used a lot of tokens ... some cheap version of Squirrel/Opposition.

Just some observations:

1.) That mouseover image site is really, really nifty.
2.) The flavor text isn't as good as it used to be.
3.) "the battlefield" sounds all kinds of corny and is a lot less elegant than "into play".

 

[Rack]

In mirror matches, Ray of Revelation is actually pretty techy. It removes two enchantments with one card, and I can usually handle the tokens decently enough. You say I should run something better for mirror matches - what do you propose?

I'm not sure why you aren't getting big mana problems, I'd constantly be getting stuck without plains if there were only 11 in my deck and with so few cards to cast without them it would cost me a lot of games, while getting 2 mountains out of seven early enough to cast Hellrider or 5/6 total using the Shimmering Grotto seems like, if not a long shot, something that can easily go wrong.

Still, you can't tune a deck out of problems you don't have, but it's something to keep in mind if you do start struggling to cast spells.

When it comes to the sideboard Slagstorm and Day of Judgement would help a lot and might even do very well in the main deck. Without those, Timely reinforcements and Marrow Shards might just help, but you might still have problems with their tech.

 

[Zen Toombs]

-snip-

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, but this deck was specifically designed to be very inexpensive. I know the effect that good dual lands (and lands with other effects like [mtg_card=Vault of the Archangel] or [mtg_card=Gavony Township]) can bring, but I don't have access to the funds to make it so. I might be able to borrow some duals from some friends, but the ones they have are all non-Clifftop Retreat duals. All my friends have available is Dragonskull Summit and Sunpetal Grove, and I don't even know if those are available. To my benefit, the mana has almost always played well, and shimmering grotto seems to help.

As for my board for Ratchet Bomb, I was unfamiliar with all of my options (just rejoining standard and all). I'm actually thinking of putting in 3 Nevermore in game two to take care of Ratchet Bomb, as well as any other main threat if I draw two.

As for Hero of Bladehold, I'd love to play her but she's a touch expensive. I am thinking of cutting the Ancient Grudges and replacing them with another O Ring and... something else. Suggestions that are inexpensive? I could always go with another Plains if need be.

I can also borrow a Day of Judgement or two from friends. For sweepers, what do you think of [mtg_card=Rolling Tremblor]? I wouldn't likely ever get to it's Flashback, but the fact that it misses the majority of my creatures is decent. [small]It's also $.10 on ChannelFireball instead of $4[/small]

EDIT: Just so you know, Shrine has shined through like a champion in a number of games by exploding a silly number of myr tokens after I'd normally be running low on gas, and galvanic blast is in there because I wanted cheap removal for either manadudes or small threats, and of the low cost burn spells Galvanic blast was best due to interaction with Shrine of Loyal Legions.
That's why I play those two cards. ^_^

EDIT 2: Apparently Day of Judgment is less expensive than I thought. Where ChannelFireball usually puts the normal cards, it decided to put the foil ones. 0.o
It only costs $2.50-$3.00.

 

[Rack]

EDIT: Just so you know, Shrine has shined through like a champion in a number of games by exploding a silly number of myr tokens after I'd normally be running low on gas, and galvanic blast is in there because I wanted cheap removal for either manadudes or small threats, and of the low cost burn spells Galvanic blast was best due to interaction with Shrine of Loyal Legions.
That's why I play those two cards. ^_^

WHat you're saying suggests your local metagame is artifact heavy but light on artifact removal. Don't count on that remaining the case, but in the meanwhile enjoy. Rolling Temblor could definitely do you some good. You might also get a lot of traction with Rally the Forces in your sideboard, an opponent expecting Rally the Peasants would get messed up quite badly by that one.

Edit: Oh I forgot to mention, have you considered swapping Galvanic blast for Incinerate and maybe a Harvest pyre? You need all 3 Shrines out to get that extra damage, which sounds like an alarmingly specific situation. On the other hand all those sorceries going straight to your graveyard will fuel Harvest pyre nicely (assuming you don't draw 2) and incinerate will up the amount of things you can normally kill.

 

[Chamale]

EDIT: Just so you know, Shrine has shined through like a champion in a number of games by exploding a silly number of myr tokens after I'd normally be running low on gas, and galvanic blast is in there because I wanted cheap removal for either manadudes or small threats, and of the low cost burn spells Galvanic blast was best due to interaction with Shrine of Loyal Legions.
That's why I play those two cards. ^_^

WHat you're saying suggests your local metagame is artifact heavy but light on artifact removal. Don't count on that remaining the case, but in the meanwhile enjoy. Rolling Temblor could definitely do you some good. You might also get a lot of traction with Rally the Forces in your sideboard, an opponent expecting Rally the Peasants would get messed up quite badly by that one.

Edit: Oh I forgot to mention, have you considered swapping Galvanic blast for Incinerate and maybe a Harvest pyre? You need all 3 Shrines out to get that extra damage, which sounds like an alarmingly specific situation. On the other hand all those sorceries going straight to your graveyard will fuel Harvest pyre nicely (assuming you don't draw 2) and incinerate will up the amount of things you can normally kill.

Shrine makes artifact creatures, so Galvanic Blast is probably live after only 1 activation.

For the mana problems, you should test with 4 Evolving Wilds in place of Shimmering Grotto and just take out Ancient Grudge from the main. Divine Offering [http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/5.html] and Manic Vandal [http://magiccards.info/m12/en/151.html] provide a little extra value when you destroy artifacts. Given your current build of the deck, I would try this:

9 Mountain
8 Plains
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Swamp

This manabase will slow you down a bit, but I think your deck plays more like midrange rather than all-in aggro. You can go ahead and run more Oblivion Rings if pesky permanents are causing problems. I guess you could have a Forest in the board so you can still play Ray of Revelation and Ancient Grudge.

 

[Zen Toombs]

Shrine makes artifact creatures, so Galvanic Blast is probably live after only 1 activation.

For the mana problems, you should test with 4 Evolving Wilds in place of Shimmering Grotto and just take out Ancient Grudge from the main. Divine Offering [http://magiccards.info/mbs/en/5.html] and Manic Vandal [http://magiccards.info/m12/en/151.html] provide a little extra value when you destroy artifacts.

On that first count, yup. ^_^
On that second count, that's actually a pretty cool idea. I'll give that a few playtests. Around Zendikar, I usually played Teramorphic expanse instead of the pain lands like [mtg_card=Misty Rainforest], seeing as I didn't have 50$ to spend on land.
I also cuncur with your third point, I'll see if I can snag some of those.