Purphoros' Passive Army

Standard Competitive Control RBW (Mardu)

Unforgivn_II

Creature (11)

• 3x Boros Reckoner
• 2x Obzedat, Ghost Council
• 3x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 3x Young Pyromancer

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Land (25)

• 4x Blood Crypt
• 4x Godless Shrine
• 6x Mountain
• 4x Sacred Foundry
• 3x Swamp
• 2x Temple of Silence
• 2x Temple of Triumph

Enchantment (4)

• 2x Assemble the Legion
• 2x Chained to the Rocks

Artifact (1)

• 1x Spear of Heliod

Instant (5)

• 2x Hero's Downfall
• 3x Warleader's Helix

Sorcery (12)

• 3x Anger of the Gods
• 3x Dreadbore
• 1x Mizzium Mortars
• 2x Read the Bones
• 3x Thoughtseize

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Sideboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 2x Lifebane Zombie

Artifact (2)

• 2x Pithing Needle

Instant (4)

• 1x Devour Flesh
• 1x Doom Blade
• 2x Sundering Growth

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Anger of the Gods
• 1x Mizzium Mortars
• 2x Rakdos's Return
• 2x Slaughter Games

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When Purphoros, God of the Forge was first spoiled, I wanted to abuse him. I've been working on this for quite awhile now, and after a few major changes and some minor ones, I like where this is at. Anyway, I'll give a card-by-card description so that possible playtesters know how it works at its best, and so that you all will know why everything that's here is here.

Creatures

• Boros Reckoner - Not the most obvious add here. But it was suggested to me (thanks Apoptosis!), and after begrudgingly playtesting with it, I found it to be pretty darn good. Its an excellent answer to aggro (2-for-1 anyone?), and with a hand full of removal, it can do a large amount of damage on its own. The mana cost for him is good for turning Purphoros, God of the Forge into a creature, however this is just a cool interaction. Turning Purphoros "on" isn't something this deck requires, but there's very little downside to it happening.

• Obzedat, Ghost Council - Ghost Dad is a win-con on his own, plus his self-sustaining flicker works nicely with Purphoros. His lifegain is very helpful at putting me out of reach, as well as helping recover from all my self-damage from shocklands, Read the Bones, and Thoughtseize.

• Purphoros, God of the Forge - The card this deck was built to abuse. He's the focus of the deck, however the deck doesn't require him. It just runs so much smoother with him. Assemble the Legion and Elspeth, Sun's Champion make him a damage dealing machine, and his mana sink turns all those tokens into things that need to be blocked.

• Young Pyromancer - This is not the card this deck was built around. Unfortunately, there's a glaring non-bo with him and Anger of the Gods. However, the early board presence he builds with minimal resources is excellent, and even better if Purphoros is on the field.

Enchantments

• Assemble the Legion - Another win-con completely on its own. When Purphoros is out, it becomes a very fast win-con. This one doesn't take too much explaining.

• Chained to the Rocks - You know that if I can run this bad boy, I will. The power of this is very good (Suck it Thassa, God of the Sea), so while you may be able to play it early, wait until there's something that a Dreadbore can't kill before you play it. When playing against red, this probably gets sided out. Getting mauled by a Peak Eruption turns the tide of the game so heavily that its game right there.

• Spear of Heliod - A solid one-of. I never want to see more than one of these in a game. In fact, I don't truly need it. But when it's in my hand, its beautiful card advantage. Recurring removal plus a buff to my weenies is awesome.

Instants

• Hero's Downfall - Removal is key. So is diversity. So this is here because it's good, and is a little different than Dreadbore. Never know when you might need Instant-speed.

• Warleader's Helix - Another not-so-obvious add here. But in order to keep this deck running at full speed, shocklands will need to come in untapped and bones will need to be read (Read the Bones). So I have the ability to gain a significant amount of life while also having the option to deal a large amount of damage to the face or kill an annoying creature. Love utility.

Sorceries

• Anger of the Gods - Sure it kills all my tokens. Do you really think I care about tokens? This is great at wiping the board in the early going. Sure it hits Boros Reckoner and Young Pyromancer. Hitting the Reckoner is actually good, it gives it plenty of exile reach because of the Reckoner's ability to share the pain. There isn't much good between Anger and Pyromancer here however. Basically, if both are in hand, Anger first (when the time is right of course) then play Pyromancer. If you topdeck Anger with a Pyromancer down, hold it until it's necessary, or until you have another token generator. But this little inconvenience won't stop me from playing two excellent cards together.

• Dreadbore - The bane of my Autocorrect. Also the bane of my opponent's creatures/planeswalkers.

• Mizzium Mortars - My only answer to Blood Baron of Vizkopa. But aside from that, its an early game kill spell, or a late game one-sided boardwipe. I only use one on the off chance that I need it.

• Read the Bones - I love this card. It gives me late game card advantage, and nearly guarantees that its all threats. Or if I'm not finding the land I need, it helps find it for me as early as turn 3.

• Thoughtseize - After pulling one, a friend of mine told me about how he didn't really like Thoughtseize all that much. I fully agree. Taking hits to life early really doesn't feel good, even if its fairly insignificant. But I replied to him "Nobody likes it, but they play it because it wins". While the lifeloss hurts, the opponent losing the card that very well should have been the reason they kept their hand hurts them even more.

Planeswalkers

• Elspeth, Sun's Champion - The lone planeswalker here. I actually considered Chandra, Pyromaster as well, but I don't feel like making this deck any more expensive... Plus I don't believe she's a great fit. Elspeth, however, is a great fit. Her +1 wins games with Purphoros, and her -3 kills most everything Anger of the Gods doesn't. Her ultimate is fairly irrelevant, but cool if it happens.

Sideboard

• Anger of the Gods - Excellent at stopping aggro. Kills all the mana dorks (even you Sylvan Caryatid), and stops mono-red pretty handily ( Chandra's Phoenix is annoying). It also does a nice job of killing a large amount of mono-blue (sure Master of Waves will live. His tokens will not]]).

• Devour Flesh - I honestly dont know why I put this in here. On the off-chance that I face a Fleecemane Lion that I've got no answer for. Again, variety is key. There isn't too much downside to having it here.

• Doom Blade - Use it when you aren't playing against black. Pretty simple.

• Erebos, God of the Dead - He may not stay here, depending on my meta. I see lifegain being annoying, and he hoses Archangel of Thune too hard. He's double strong against U/W/x Control, as he takes away an important part of Sphinx's Revelation , plus he provides me with the card draw necessary to keep threats coming.

• Lifebane Zombie - Insert "Play when playing against the right colors" statement here. He's not only a board in against G/W only, but anything with even one of those colors (and no black typically). He's quite a beater when they cant block him.

• Mizzium Mortars - Another in here for that darned Blood Baron.

• Pithing Needle - Shuts down Planeswalkers, AEtherling, Thassa, God of the Sea, Mutavault and other possible annoyances.

• Rakdos's Return - Hurts control a lot. Damage is a bonus.

• Slaughter Games - For all those things I can't deal with, or generally just don't want to see. One of the bonuses of running Red and Black, I get access to this.

• Sundering Growth - There are a lot of enchantments and artifacts bouncing around that I don't like. This deals with them farirly well, plus gives me the possible bonus of creating another token. The populate isn't an essential, but (essentially) mono-white artifact/enchantment removal is nice. I'd rather not play Wear / Tear because I don't have any for some reason, and at worst this becomes a Wake the Reflections if I have Purphoros out.

There you go. Hope that gives some insight to why this is the way it is. (Description updated 10/23/13)

Suggestions are greatly appreciated. +1's too!

Top Ranked	Achieved #42 position overall 11 years ago
Date added	11 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 3 Mythic Rares 33 - 8 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons 2 - 4 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.09
Tokens	Elemental 1/1 R, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Soldier 1/1 RW, Soldier 1/1 W
Folders	M14 Standard, Decks I Like or Hate, likies, Op Standard Decks, Interesting decks, Deck Builds That I Like, z_Favorites Decks, Rakdos, bla, Boros