A more realistic way to punish your foes.
The One Drops:
Goblin Arsonist
A themed 1/1 with a Mogg Fanatic-esque ability. While it isn't on command, he can take down a 1/2 blocker, and can deal damage after being boardwiped by your Pyroclasm or Blasphemous Act. He'll also sneak in for an early 1 or 2 damage early game when your opponent doesn't want to deal with it.
Thraben Inspector An all round solid 1-drop, and produces some draw if you really need it, or for later in the game when your enemy wises up to trying to hit you, that saved mana won't go to waste.
Harm's Way
This little surprise is reliable and cheap. If you win the coin toss, and grab the play agro decks are stunned when their turn one Goblin Guide kills itself. Two damage is also often the difference between a valuable creature surviving and dying.
Skin Invasion
Later in the game, youll definitely want the biggest baddie out there to take a swing at you, and once hes outlived his usefulness, you get a big bug. Early game you can force a utility creature to get got, and then you get a big bug. Get good critter getters.
Gods Willing Essential protection and undeniably useful. Its no fun to watch Stuffy Doll get exiled, so you can save him and scry to boot.
Flame Slash Possibly the best removal for a single red mana, you'll also be using it a fair amount on your own creatures. Remember that it isn't an instant, so plan whether you want to use it before or after combat.
The Board Wipes:
Pyroclasm Two mana for two damage to everything is a great early game cleanup. This deck is best suited to take on decks that do a lot of damage at once, and naturally finds an enemy in tokens. Pyroclasm will keep you safe if you can get it before the token buffs start to appear. It will also kill your one-drops, so remember to attack first and do as much damage as you can with them, and then pyroclasm during Main Phase II. Boros Reckoner has a toughness of three, and will survive, as well as translate two of the damage into face smackin.
Blasphemous Act Oh-ho, thirteen damage is enough to kill gods, and you get to do it to everything. Not only is this a panic button if things start to get out of hand, but you even want to hit your own creatures. Thirteen is 65% of an opponents health. You can knock away two-thirds of their life by paying as little as one red mana. Yup, Blasphemy is more fun with friends, and this will certainly crush the hopes of token decks, even after they put out buffs. If the enemy has one or two creatures of medium to high p/t, its usually late enough in the game (Thanks to you making them second guess every attack) to justify the high cost for removal.
The Bouncers
Boros Reckoner This Minotaur wizard is a reliable turn 3 plop no matter what the opponent has on the board. Red removal is tricky on him, because your foe will be burning themselves whenever they want to deal damage to this guy. He also makes for excellent "motivation" for your opponent not to attack with their insanely buffed hydra. If you feel safe enough to attack, then youve got a pretty high likelihood of doing three damage to an opponent, either because of fear of blocking him, or from the reflection effect. If an opponent tries to pull a combat trick, you can always keep him alive by giving him first strike. If you desperately need damage to an opponent, hes also a good target for Flame Slash.
Stuffy Doll While a higher mana cost than Boros Reckoner, he comes in as an indestructible artifact creature. Hes a glutton for punishment, and just laughs at huge attackers. Unless of course they have trample, in which case, you were gonna get blasted anyways. Hell survive a Blasphemous Act, and if the game isnt over, you can put a clock on it by tapping him at the end of your adversarys turn. Be very careful around -1/-1 effects, as they will remove him from play.
Deflecting Palm
- The core of the deck, just a simple prevent damage, deal damage spell. Such a useful and reliable card. Deflecting Palm notably does not target, and can be used against creatures that have protection or hexproof. Try to keep it a surprise for as long as you can, until your enemy is sure they've got a killing blow, and then do a bugs bunny and turn the barrel of the gun 180.
General:
This deck is very reactive, and can flounder against a mill or sac engine. However, if you go up against a deck that does damage (Usually a lot of them), you've got a way to win. It isn't totally reactive though, you've got win conditions in there, and don't be afraid to get your hands dirty.
I've also left the lands in the deck basic, as everybody has their own limitations and preferences when it comes to stuff like this. There are also 61 cards in the deck, and for this I apologize, but I just preferred the odds like this. Boros Charm is still a slot that's iffy, so you can definitely drop one that if you want.
Evasion is also a problem, and if you want to get some flying in there, feel free to replace whatever you need. You'll occasionally sit on mana and waste it, but don't feel too bad, as soon as an opponent sees what the deal with your deck is, they'll be rethinking their decisions too. The first game is always the most fun with this deck. Enjoy being a smug bastard and asking your friends to "Stop hitting yourself!"
