+1 for Double Strike

Celestial Flare can be a pretty useful sideboard card that can get rid of opponent's attackers or potentially save one of your creatures when you attack

keira5577: This is very true. I love the card. It gets through hexproof (unless of course the player him/herself has hexproof via Aegis of the Gods ) and indestructible. Unfortunately, the drawback is that you cannot choose which creature gets sacrificed if there are multiple creatures your opponent is controlling in combat.

I ran 4x of this card in the sideboard for my first 2 FNMs. I didn't end up using it all that much, though it did save me in a couple of games. I ended up boarding it out in favor of Chained to the Rocks . There are advantages and disadvantages to each. 'Chained is half the price, more splash-able, and can target. Like 'Flare, it ignores toughness. However, it is less permanent than 'Flare, as land destruction and/or enchantment removal can handle it. However, it does synergize with Ethereal Armor , which is a nice bonus.

I have yet to play with the new SB, but I'll let you know how 'Chained does in comparison to 'Flare.

Thanks for the comment, please +1 if you like! :)

Hi Jake, nice deck! Will try and trade for the cards needed to play it!

I have a R/W Auras deck that may interest you when JIN comes out. Perhaps not as competitive but it's great fun!

ShrewLover: Thanks for your kind words! I'd love to check out your auras deck.

I really dig the deck, my friend! Very aggressive, and very nasty. My best success, semi-goldfishing against it, was using my superfriends-type deck that I've been working on. Need to re-tool it, but getting two Silence plus holding a boatload of control and removal was my only solace. Against other decks, it was a swift and relentless beating! I dig! +1 all the way!

Thanks man! Quick control spells like Silence and even Swan Song can be big trouble for this deck. :) Thanks for checking it out!

looks good, the shieldmate is the only thing that stands out. its main thing is that its one cheaper to bestow than Hopeful Eidolon , since hopeful is clearly a more effective thing to bestow on one of your double strikers, right? but if its a question of speed and cost, then why not Nyxborn Rollicker ? in this kind of doublestrike blitz strategy does that extra toughness changes much?

Nyxborn Rollicker isn't a bad choice at all. I considered Hopeful Eidolon for some time as well! since life gain helps me get an edge in mirror matches. Ultimately, however, its bestow cost is a touch beyond the curve for the deck. Nyxborn Shieldmate has been my choice for the following reasons: it is white, so it benefits from the protection of Brave the Elements ; its bestow cost is 3 (and can be further reduced by Hero of Iroas ); and the 2 toughness gives it an edge against tokens, such as those produced by Precinct Captain or Brimaz, King of Oreskos . The 2 toughness is also nice because it puts creatures like Hero of Iroas and Fabled Hero out of reach of some of the more powerful burns, like Mizzium Mortars . Usually I'm not going to block anyone, but a 4/5 Hero of Iroas is a pretty decent roadblock.

I've been wondering a lot about Nyxborn Rollicker though. The fact that it's one mana less is pretty significant in a hyper aggro deck like this. Do you think it would be worth it to put it in?

ive used the rollicker a few times. its fairly 'understated' but that doesnt mean it doesnt work or couldnt work here. i ran 4x hopeful eidolon at grand prix beijing here in march (standard) and i was quite surprised by how quiet it was at the highest level of competition. it was all but useless as a one drop, despite my 4x ethereal armor, and while bestowing it was definitely way more potent, at 4cmc to bestow (hero of iroas made it easier for sure) it was difficult to execute and stay on pace with all of the black decks. i theorized about switching 2 out for 2 shieldmates, but im not sold on the shieldmate yet. try some rollickers and see how they do. its a fairly 'understated' option because honestly, things like Volcanic Strength (already rotated) or the izzet one from RTR block that has U: flying are almost more desirable since they give fabled hero a full +3/+3. the rollicker is a 'flexibility' trade since he can jump down onto the board earlier if you are desperate for a creature, and can survive a boardwipe if he was bestowed, but in terms of pure aggro power Pursuit of Flight actually just gives more power for less mana.

while i was looking up the english name of pursuit of flight, i realized theres two other pretty new options that fit into this slot as well. Everflame Eidolon and Mogis's Warhound , and in the discussion of potential firebreathing on a doublestriker, Dragon Mantle 's card draw might make it playable in this setup too.

and also, on the topic of new toys, have you tried Prophetic Flamespeaker yet? I havent tried it in standard yet, but its been an absolute terror in sealed and draft so far. definitely one of my absolute favorite cards from JOU.

Some of those bestow creatures you mentioned are really quite good. One thing is that I need to make sure I have some board presence early, so if I switch out the Shieldmate, I don't want the replacement to just be an enchantment. Some of those bestow creatures are fairly good. However, I do prefer having the replacement be white, i.e. Brave the Elements . I bought 4x foil Dragon Mantle too because it's great for card advantage. But I really can't cut anything for it, and can't lose anymore creatures off of the board.

As for that and Prophetic Flamespeaker , I made a deck anticipating the coming rotation that features both. I really like Flamespeaker. But his double red casting cost makes him a bit difficult to use reliably in this deck (admittedly Mana Confluence could help with this), and again, he's not white, and therefore harder to protect in this deck. I'm not denying that he has amazing synergy with a lot of this deck's cards though. My other deck I mentioned uses him pretty well, I think though.

nice, yea everything i mentioned kind of pushes the deck way further into red, which is not really what youre doing here. Dont forget about Gods Willing though. I generally prefer it because the 'unblockable attack' function of the three functions that brave and god's have (combat hijinx, counterspell, and unblockable attack) is used WAY WAY less than the other two uses, and god's still has the ability to slip one creature through unblocked. god's willing hits nonwhite creatures, AND it has a further use brave does not have: adding two damage to a fabled hero attack because of heroic triggering. add in the scry function to ship away unneeded lands, and it should definitely be at least under pretty serious consideration. if you build your creature base to support brave then god's isnt necessarily 'better', but limiting your creature options in that respect is at least worth some meditation. that being said, if brave doesnt show up in m15 (id be surprised if it does) then it only has, what, a dozen weeks or so before rotation so you might as well live it up it with it and the fencing ace while theyre around.

also, another situation where god's shines over brave is the mirror match. call pro white or pro red and all your auras fall off :O

and p.s. Blood Baron of Vizkopa is basically game over with your 75 the way it is. he will be around till october :/

I do run 4x Gods Willing in this deck. It is amazing for every one of the reasons you've listed. There is an incredible amount of removal in the meta, however...Hence my 2x Brave the Elements and 4x Boros Charm (charm is great for other reasons too, though). Since mono-black typically runs about 10 removal spells, I want 10 spells to counter it on my end.

And about Blood Baron of Vizkopa ...I used to run 3x Celestial Flare in the sideboard solely for him, and it worked just fine, especially when I wiped the rest of the opponent's board with Anger of the Gods . However, I quickly realized that by the turn Blood Baron can even attack me (T6 at the earliest, usually), I should already have won the game, or be literally within 2-4 damage of doing so. So I swapped out Celestial Flare for Glare of Heresy . It deals with Detention Sphere , Elspeth, Sun's Champion , and a lot of other control staples (Archangel of Thune , too). Even helps against Chained to the Rocks in the mirror match.

Basically, I think Heresy is better for more matchups and I'm ok with losing Flare to make room for it. Blood Baron is usually way too slow to stop me. The only times I lose to it is when the opponent successfully removes my offense from the field (that's kind of what Fiendslayer Paladin is for on the SB) but I've done my best to have answers for that. Still, you are right that Orzhov and Dega midrange decks present a tough matchup for me.

What would you recommend as a Blood Baron countermeasure?

my bad on the god's willing, was also thinking about the brave vs gods debate talking with the brewer of Death to Non-Believers and got my wires crossed.

honestly i dont really know how to stop blood baron with white heavy decks that dont pack a serious burn suite. i tried eccentrically at GP beijing to turn him into a pig via Curse of the Swine with mixed results. but yea, it seems like just racing him out is what you can hope for. with 4x gods and brave as well you might be able to keep the blitz afloat. all the bile blight and devour flesh and heroes downfall and thoughtseize makes for a pretty arduous task getting that t5 lethal consistantly, but i super like your deck and the strategy. im really into your usage of fencing ace!

Thanks man. I think Fencing Ace is pretty undervalued, especially when you can beef him up and give him evasion.

It's true though. Sometimes I do get mired down in all the black removal and red burn. Thankfully, I have 4x Fiendslayer Paladin waiting in the wings to alleviate some of the pressure. That's when they bring out Agent of the Fates or Devour Flesh . Brimaz, King of Oreskos makes his little token kitties that I can utilize as cannon fodder, so I'm not totally defenseless against force-sac. It's a problem though for sure. To be honest with you, my #1 biggest enemy is hand disruption, a la Thoughtseize , Duress , and the occasional Lifebane Zombie or Sin Collector . This deck has zero draw power, only a bunch of scry. This is why I bought 4x foil Dragon Mantle and Chosen by Heliod , lol. I didn't end up finding a spot for them in this build, though. I just wasn't willing to sacrifice the speed and lethality for card advantage, which admittedly leaves me at a big weakness against hand disruption. If you look at my other deck, you'll see that I've put both of those in, plus an extra land, Mana Confluence , and 4x Prophetic Flamespeaker . So my next Boros aggro build will sacrifice about a turn's worth of speed for a little extra consistency in the mana base and a mountain of card advantage!

It's good to talk intelligently with people like yourself about MTG strategy. It's so hard to make a deck without a least one big weaknesses, especially in Standard. I try my best, but we all have a bit of an Achilles' Heel at the end of the day. :)

this is a nice little set up for a quick win. Fencing ace works really fast for a turn three 14 damage possibility. Crazy. nice build

Thanks! Fencing Ace is the man. Three Ethereal Armor or Titan's Strength on one makes him swing for 20 on T3. Rare but two of the possible T3 win scenarios.

@ xiao.wen:

Wondering if I should drop 2x Nyxborn Shieldmate to complete the playset of Soldier of the Pantheon . Thoughts?

Also, I've been running 4x Fiendslayer Paladin and 4x Chained to the Rocks (from my sideboard) on the main in competitive matchups, siding out 4x Fabled Hero and 4x Titan's Strength . I lose some scry and it makes the T3 win less likely, but the life gain aspect of the Paladin lets me stay in the game longer and outpace aggro builds that want to race me. The hexproofing against black and red means it dodges about 90% of the removal, and thus one of the deck's major stumbling blocks is overcome. I feel like this frees up the 2x Brave the Elements on the main. Maybe I can put 2x Titan's Strength back in?

Chained to the Rocks is great in aggro mirror matches. Again, it cuts down the probability that I'll have lethal on the board by T3, but it's still possible, and T4 wins are still quite common.

Do you find this mainboard configuration to be superior to the one I have currently listed?

when i used soldier of the pantheon competitively at GP beijing this spring i started with 4x as a sideboard in an azorius setup that had Judge's Familiar and Hopeful Eidolon main. by round three, it was my main one drop and probably my best performing creature to be honest. getting it out on t1 really creates board presence and gives you room to work. i havent used the shieldmate much, the two toughness gives it some lasting power and the bestow makes it an ok mid-late game draw, but im concerned the 1 power wont have as much of an impact, basically yea: try 4x soldier.

fiendslayer had similar movement from side to main for me at GP beijing. his resilience and lifegain i also find key. fabled hero is a glass cannon and of higher variance than the paladin. a classic high level sideboarding strategy is to keep your major creature threats on the side for game1 and then side them in at discretion for game 2. fabled hero sounds like it would fit this model quite well.

you should goldfish 20-50 games and write down your T3 win percentage and see if its high enough to worry about. personally, im not a big fan of infinite combos and decks designed around trying to get a super unlikely T2 win or something, so yea, smooth it out if it makes it much more versatile and hardy, but maybe do some scientific process on your T3 win, and figure out which of the major decks right now (mblack, mblue, monsters, borosburn) are most susceptible to it. blue sounds most ready to get some fabled-hero to the face. its really fun to watch netdeckers reaction when your personal brew is finely tuned to take them apart.

I agree, thanks for the good advice. I'm going 4x Soldier. The Shieldmate just isn't making the impact I'd hope. Sure, he makes people harder to burn when bestowed, and he synergizes great with Ethereal Armor , but he hasn't been impacting the game like I'd prefer.

As for Fabled, I also think you're right. It's much better to have a more stable mainboard, and then get aggressive after Game 1 where appropriate. Mono-Blue, Naya/Selesnya Hexproof, and White Weenies are the major matchups that find me siding in Fabled for extra lethality. I like to use him vs UW Control too, as long as they haven't splashed black for removal.

With Fiendslayer Paladin on the main, what do you think about me moving 2 Brave the Elements to the side and putting in 2 Titan's Strength ?