This deck is a new take on Boros Kitty, the winner of the first Gauntlet. The main difference is a more Token centred approach with the very strong card Battle Screech. To be able to support it enough the deck plays Squadron Hawks as well. Besides supporting card advantage, these tokens enable a surprise kill the deck wasnt able to do previously: Rites of Initiation. The Boros Kitty Decks have always been very good in having a lot of cards in hand throughout the entire match. This was mainly because of the constant bouncing of the cantrip artifacts Prophetic Prism and Ichor Wellspring. Boros Garrison and mainly Squadron Hawk now provide backup to that plan.So how do the games generally play out? The core of the deck is still Boros Kitty, which means the deck is rather controlling. You already have a lot of practice with former Boros Kitty, so I dont have to say too much regarding that. As long as you dont already have Rites in hand you should try to play defensively and not trade damage. Use the kill spells at convenient times and grind through the game. As soon as you draw the Rites, (which wont happen every game, because you only play two) you can switch to a more aggressive style and try to get some flying points of damage in, before you can Rites for lethal. But be careful when you go for it! Rites of Initiation demands you to discard cards at random, which means you normally discard all the cards in hand because you cant choose which to keep anyway. That means you end up with no cards in hand afterwards, so your attack should kill the opponent, after blocks and instant kill spells at least in burn range. Also keep in mind that nobody expects this card, so if you didnt show it to your opponent G1, the probably wont see it coming G2 and wont have boarded against it.Setting up Rites:You never need more than 6 mana, most of the time you are ok with 5, sometimes with 4. Dont play excess lands, keep them in hand! The exception of course is Boros Garrison, because it advances your mana while maintaining the same hand size. Also note that if you play Squadron Hawk in the same turn you play Rites, the Hawk represents 3 damage for your team.Watch out for:- Counterspells: The discard clause on Rites is no additional cost, so by the time you choose how many cards to discard, you already know its resolved. This means you dont have to board it out against every deck that plays counters, its rather a must to counter for the blue opponent.- Fogs: They are your biggest foe. Against decks that play fogs and if they already saw the Rites, board it out.- Sweepers: Crypt rats you see coming, Pestilence too. Electrickery is a tough one, be aware of that card!
Sideboard Guide:Please make adjustment according to what you see! Dont ever blind follow the Sideboard Guide!
Affinity: -1 Battle Screech, -1 Kuldotha Rebirth; +1 Kor Sanctifiers, +1 Oblivion Ring
Bogles: -1 Bonesplitter, -2 Lightning Bolt, -3 Journey, -1 Galvanic Blast; +1 Kor Sanctifiers, +2 Prismatic Strands, +3 Standard Bearer, +1 Oblivion Ring
Burn: -4 Battle Screech, -3 Journey, +2 Lone Missionary, +2 Prismatic Strands, +3 Standard Bearer
Delver: -2 Rites of Initiation, -4 Kuldotha Rebirth; +4 Pyroblast, +2 ElectrickeryUse your Pyroblast to kill Delver and Ninja and to force through Battle Screech and the first Hawk.
Delver Fiend: -1 Bonesplitter, -2 Rites, -4 Squadron Hawk, -3 Battle Screech; +4 Pyroblast, +2 Prismatic Strands, +3 Standard Bearer, +1 Oblivion RingWatch out for Flaring Pain in SB.
Elves: -2 Kuldotha Rebirth, -2 Battle Screech, -1 Bonesplitter; +2 Prismatic Strands, +1 Oblivion Ring, +2 ElectrickeryWatch out for Fogs and Scattershot Archers in Games 2 and 3. If they saw Rites G1, you could board it out as well instead of Rebirths.
Familiars: -1 Bonesplitter, -2 Rites, -2 Kuldotha Rebirth, -2 Ichor Wellspring; +4 Pyroblast, +1 Oblivion Ring, +2 ElectrickeryCounter Walls and Flickers and early Cloud of Faeries, if your draw is aggressive enough.
Infect: -2 Rites, -4 Battle Screech, -1 Bonesplitter, -1 Kuldotha Rebirth; +3 Standard Bearer, +3 Prismatic Strands, +2 Electrickery
MBC: No boarding. If you see Pestilence, you could think about boarding Sanctifiers for Rebirths. Make sure you kill those witches dead. Dont overextend into sweepers, you can kill him in the air pretty easily with few creatures and Rites.
Stompy: -1 Bonesplitter, -2 Kuldotha Rebirth, -3 Battle Screech, -2 Rites of Initiation; +2 Prismatic Strands, +3 Standard Bearer, +2 Lone Missionary, +1 Oblivion Ring
Tron: -2 Kuldotha Rebirth; +1 Kor Sanctifiers, +1 Oblivion RingWatch out for Fogs and sweepers G2 and G3. Rolling Thunder even G1! Should be a pretty bad MU, couldnt fit enough Stone Rain into the SB to make it worth it. Try to battle through :P
UB Control: -3 Journey to Nowhere, -1 Lightning Bolt; +4 PyroblastOblivion Ring if Win Condition is Curse of the Bloody Tome.
