Farewell, my awesome deck. We had fun :<
This is a deck that I've been building and testing for past 6 months and it's seen ton of changes and I think this as good as it gets until the next rotation happens. It is a red white midrange token deck. It used to be white devotion deck with red splash that could deal +20 damage in an instant but it is more consistent the way it is now.The main idea is to spam strong early game creatures and spawn tons of tokens that will trigger the Purphoros, God of the Forge for 2 damage. So each time you use Elspeth, Sun's Champion you deal 6 damage while also having creatures like Boros Reckoner, Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Stormbreath Dragon adding more pressure.
Anyway, let's go to the cards itself.For 1 drop, we have 4 Soldier of the Pantheon which is one of the best white one drops of all time.
Not only is it 2/1, it also has protection from multicolored and you gain life whenever opponent casts multicolor spell.
The only downside is that you can't give himdouble strike from boros charm.
It's one of the best cards against UW control decks because of the damage it can deal and because it cannot be targeted with Detention Sphere.
For 2 drops, we have 4 Precinct Captain which is 2/2 with first strike and you get a soldier token every time it deals combat damage to a player.
The fact that it is has first strike makes it harder to block and it works really well with Purphoros, God of the Forge.
For the second 2 drop, we have two Generator Servant, a 2/1 that you can tap and sacrifice for more mana.
This gives us the possibility to cast something like Stormbreath Dragon at turn 3 or Elspeth, Sun's Champion at turn 4.
You can also use it to Overload Mizzium Mortars early if the board is full of creatures at that point (though you have to remember you need 3 red mana).
You can play more of them but two is enough in my opinion as more two drops could be bit awkward.
Now, for three drops we have 4 Boros Reckoner and 3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos.
Boros Reckoner is a 3/3 with ability to gain first strike for one red or white mana and whenever it is dealt damage, it will deal that much damage to target creature or player.
It basicly works against everything. Mono red or boros burn decks can't deal with it that easily as it will just bounce the damage to something else and bigger creatures without trample might just kill themselves if they attack or block without thinking.
And as it costs 3 red mana, it is really easy to get 5 devotion for Purphoros, God of the Forge to be a creature.
And as for the second 3 drop, there's Brimaz, King of Oreskos which is probably the best white 3 drop in standard and it has seen some play in modern too.
It is a 3/4 with vigilance and whenever it attacks or blocks, it creates a 1/1 cat soldier with vigilance which will also trigger more damage with Purphoros, God of the Forge and it is lot easier to do than with Precinct Captain as you just need to attack, not deal damage.
The fact that is 3/4 is probably one of the better parts of this card as it cannot be removed with lightning strike or lightning bolt in modern.
You need either Mizzium Mortars or you have to block AND burn him to get rid of him which most of times means you will lose 2 cards.
I play 3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos's as having multiple of them in your hand could be bit awkward due to it being legendary.
And now, the main card of this deck, Purphoros, God of the Forge.
It is a 6/5 indestructible god that deals 2 damage everytime a creature enters the battlefield under your control.
You can also buff your creatures with +1/+0. The fact that it needs 5 devotion is not such a big deal as you don't really need him to be a creature and it cannot be removed with something like Chained to the Rocks.
I play 3 of them as I used to play 4 of them but more often than not, I got multiple of them in my hand and it got kinda awkward.
And for our last creature, we have Stormbreath Dragon.
A 4/4 flyer with haste and protection from white for 5 mana makes it one of the best if not best 5 drops in standard.
It cannot be removed with chained to the rocks or Banishing light and it can block Blood Baron without dying or enemy getting life. I play 2 because the mana cost is bit expensive in my opinion and it balances the card amounts a bit.
Now, to the non-creature spells.We have 4 [Chained to the rocks] that attaches to a mountain and exiles a creature until it leaves the battlefield.
For one mana removal, it is a really strong card. The only downside is that you need a mountain and it can be removed with a peak Eruption. When playing against a red deck, consider siding these out.
For two drops, we have 3 Mizzium Mortars and 3 Boros charms.
Mizzum mortars deals 4 damage to a target creature you don't control and it can be overloaded to hit each creature you don't control.
I used to play these in side board but I switched these with Banishing light because it is a bit cheaper and it can deal with Stormbreath dragon and Bloodbaron, two cards that have seen a ton of play.
And the fact that you can wipe the board makes it lot stronger than Banishing light.
As for Boros Charm, you can choose either to deal 4 damage to target player, make your permanents indestructible or give target creature double strikeuntil end of turn.
The fact that none of these abilities are useless makes this probably the best charm in the game. Dealing 4 damage for two mana is really good and it is always played in boros burn because of that and giving each of your creature indestructible has won me numerous games.
It works especially well against control decks that use Supreme Verdict and Planar Cleansing but also against spot removals and Anger of the Gods.
Double strike is also useful as you can buff your precinct captain to get rid of something like Sylvan Caryatid that would otherwise be safe.
I play 3 of them but I also have fourth in the side deck just for control decks.
For the planeswalkers, I play a single Ajani Steadfast and 3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion.
M15 Ajani is pretty strong for a 4 drop as the first ability not only makes it more safe to attack because of first strike and vigilance but you also gain some life, at minimum of 3 in this deck.
The second ability is also really good if you have tons of tokens on board and especially if you have Elspeth because it will give her an extra loyalty counter.
The ultimate ability is also really good, nullifying most of the damage your opponent can deal to you.
I play only one because it's not a card that will necessarily win you the game but it works well with Elspeth which is the next card in our deck.
For a 6 drop, this is probably the best Elspeth so far, at least in standard.
It has seen a ton of play in competitive, so much so that many decks even splash white to play her.
The +1 ability gives you 3 1/1 soldiers which is insane compared to previous Elspeths. If Purphoros, God of the Forge is in the play, that means 6 damage each turn. But you don't need Purphoros to win with her as the ultimate ability most of times seals the game, making your 1/1's to 3/3 flyers.
The -3 ability is also really useful as it'll get rid of Stormbreath Dragons and Blood Barons if you do not have Mizzium mortars in hand.
And obviously it will get rid of any other big creature your enemy has, though you have to remember that it will also kill your own Stormbreath Dragon.
I play 3 Elspeth's because it's such an important card that any less would hurt the deck. 4 would be too much but it might still work.
Now, for our land base we have 10 Plains, 4 Mountains, 4 Temple of Triumph, 4 Sacred Foundry and 2 Battlefield Forge.
I find 24 lands to be a good amount for this deck. I would probably play 4 Battlefield Forges and 2 Mountains if I didn't have Chained to the Rocks.
For the sideboard, we have 2
Glare of Heresy
, 2 Magma Spray, 1 Boros Charm, 2 Nyx-Fleece Ram, 2
Firedrinker Satyr
, 2
Fiendslayer Paladin
,1
Mass Calcify
and 3 Banishing Lights.
The side deck is built mainly against red aggro/boros burn decks and control decks, though most of the cards work against other decks too.
Glare of Heresy
is kinda self explanatory, use it whenever you are facing white. You might not want to use it against bw deck that splashes white forBloodbaron and Obzedat or UW control decks but if it's anything else, it works.
Magma Sprays are mainly against red decks that spam small creatures like Chandra's Phoenix,
Burning-Tree Emissary
s,
Rakdos Cackler
etc.
You want to get rid of them as fast as possible and Chained to the Rocks and Mizzium Mortars might be too slow for that. You should probably sideChained to the Rocks for these as
Peak Eruption
will get rid of your mountains.
Nyx-Fleece Ram and
Fiendslayer Paladin
are also against red decks.
With nyxfleece ram you will get 1 life each turn so you'll have more time to get the bigger cards to the field and it cannot be removed with a single burn spell.
Fiendslayer Paladin
cannot be removed by burn either and it can block most of the creatures a red deck has.And you also get more much needed life. It is also a great card against black decks as it cannot be targeted with black spells either.
The extraBoros Charm and
Firedrinker Satyr
are here for solely against control decks. It raises your chances of getting a Boros Charm to dodge board wipes and deal the last 4 damage that might be crucial.
Having two extra 2/1 drops against control decks speeds up the game quite a bit and you don't have to worry about the drawbacks the card has.
Mass Calcify
is here against decks like jund, gruul etc. Decks that spam a ton of huge creatures. If you haven't won yet, the game is most likely goingto go past turn 6 so you will have plenty of time to get the needed 7 mana.
Last but not least are the 3 Banishing Lights. I originally had them in the main deck but they felt too slow and they could be removed so I decided to swap them for Mizzium Mortars.
But depending on the matchup, you can side them in. Decks that have a ton of enchantments, planeswalkers or strong creatures are the main target.
So there we have our deck. It has won me numerous FNM's and I'm going to participate in a World Magic Cup Qualifier with it and see how it goes.
The decks that give this deck hard time are BW decks and mono red or boros burn decks. I haven't lost against mono black deck in a long time and while UW control decks can be bit tricky, most of times Boros Charm will win the game.
If you don't have all of these cards you can also try playing Evangel of Heliod which was the original card of this deck but in the end it was too inconsistent.
Other cards are Assemble the Legion and Goblin Rabblemaster to get more tokens, Spear of Heliod and Dictate of Heliod to buff those tokens and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to get more out of your devotion, though it is bit troublesome card in this deck because of all the colored mana you need.
