I had Oblivion Ring before shifting to Volcanic Strength for winning aggro races. It may earn a spot back in place of one Assemble the Legion and one Thalia, Guardian of Thraben . The sideboard is fairly tight as is, though, and I'm loathe to adjust it until my next tournament results.

Skullcrack combats all lifegain effects, Thragtusk , card:Sphinx's Revelation, and the commonly used Centaur Healer from sideboards chief among them. I can't count the number of times I've made it an 8-damage spell for a mere two mana in response to a Thragtusk .

Is Blind Obedience needed in the deck? It does slow down aggro but control?

Against control it turns my late draws into miniature burn spells. Most control decks also have some number of Restoration Angel or Thragtusk , and Blind Obedience is particularly useful against both of them.

Great Deck, I was looking for a nice Boros deck that isn't the typical More Red based! Would you mind if I got this together and tested out at an FNM?

I guess that is a valid reason. But couldn't it be filled up with a better spell? And as for a replacement for Hellrider maybe take out two and put in two Firemane Avenger Their flying and battalion are great. Plus a curve with Champion of the Parish > Lightning Mauler > Frontline Medic > Firemane Avenger . Curve there or replace medic with silverblade.

I will use Firemane Avenger after rotation. Right now she's a little too slow for my taste and runs right into Restoration Angel unprofitably. Hellrider is the best we can do for now, and once they both leave the format I'll be more than happy to use Firemane Avenger .

Also, Blind Obedience is one of those cards that you don't know how good it is until you play with it. I thought it would be useless more often than not, but realistically it has helped me win games I had no business winning by attacking past tapped Thragtusk s. It has also helped my RDW matchup by keeping enemy Hellrider s and Ash Zealot s in check.

I might put this together. Think it would do well against the metagame that is in my location. Mostly control. ugh!

If Olivia is your problem like she was for me, play searing spear. 4x all day. No reason not too. =) well done in tourney!

Searing Spear is only good against players who don't use Olivia Voldaren correctly. Most good players will leave ping mana up to grow her to 4/4 in response to a Searing Spear , and if you don't spear, they get to untap and have triple ping open. Searing Spear is woefully ineffective in that regard.

I preempt that by playing as aggressively as possible to deny them the chance to get to 6 mana, as many players assume that I have Searing Spear when I don't. Rally the Peasants is instead worth much more damage than Searing Spear in almost all cases.

The older versions of this deck had Searing Spear but it was removed because it underperformed with the rise of Boros Reckoner .

I have the same problem with Olivia Voldaren but thats why I side in Thunderbolt which works with Restoration Angel as well

I have the same problem with Olivia Voldaren but thats why I side in Thunderbolt which works with Restoration Angel as well

I love this deck runs good

Ok. So I don't have all the dual lands for this deck. Any suggestions as to replacing? I have 3 Sacred Foundry And also I do not have the Cavern of Souls Hard to find people willing to part with them in my area. So land suggestions?

Spear is still amazing, even with Reckoner on play, he can be easily removed. I do agree that most good players will wait for Olivia but remember, situations call for situational measures. You may see her turn 4. Burned or Oblivion Ringed. Thunderbolt is also an amazing sb card.

How is Blind Obedience working for you? It seems against the general grain of aggro. You could put something else in there, such as Gather the Townsfolk, Doomed Traveler, or some other aggressive card.

Since I have put Blind Obedience in, I have won the majority of my midrange matchups and an increased percentage of my aggro matchups. The important thing to consider when using it is the timing with which it is played. If you have the option, you go 1-drop, 2-drop, 3-drop, Blind Obedience. Turn 4 is about when people start playing their Restoration Angels and Thragtusks to stabilize, and coming in tapped prevents that from ever happening. It is also a beating against Obzedat, Ghost Council.

Against aggro, it negates haste and keeps them from having blockers, which lets me be on the offensive faster. The more damage I force through early, the more defensively the opponent has to play. I love it when my opponents have 3 Ash Zealot in hand when I play a turn 2 Blind Obedience. I end up winning many games I would normally lose thanks to BO.

So I played this last night at my regular standard tournament and I got beat almost every game. I don't play bad magic its just that i went up against more mill decks with Nephalia Drownyard, Essence Scatter, and more creature hate than anything. The aggro match ups that I played seems to be going in my favor but when I started top decking it all went down hill. Just seems like either I have bad luck or just bad match ups. Any suggestions? I have all the cards except for some of the lands. Btw sorry for being on your deck thing. But no one pays attention to my decks.

If control is a big problem, put Thalia, Guardian of Thraben in the main. If you're facing targeted removal, Faith's Shield is extremely effective. If there are a lot of counterspells, you'd need more Cavern of Souls.

I've played against my fair share of Esper, Bant, and UWR Control, and I've only ever had a match loss to UWR. The key is keeping the right hands against them. A hand full of 3-drops is going to be hell, while at least four 1-/2-drops will force them to have answers quickly. This puts them in range of Boros Charm or Hellrider for the win.

Alright I'll try that. I am kinda new to my community and just got back into magic after taking a 4 year break. So still getting used to the meta game also. But most of it is control/midrange/tempo. No real aggro. But thanks for the advice. Going to try again Friday. Hopefully it goes better. Thanks again :D

Jimhawk I love this deck! What do you think about Thundermaw Hellkite over Hellrider? I'm asking because I have the former but not the latter. I was thinking something like +3 Thundermaw Hellkite +1 Boros Reckoner over the 4x hellkite

Alternatively, I could put in 1x Firemane Avenger into that mix

also how important do you think Slayers' Stronghold is versus say a 3rd Cavern of Souls?

I think if you want to Thunder some Maws, you might need to go to 23 lands. I would go with +3 Thundermaw Hellkite +1 Mountain and then I reckon you can find something else to take out for Boros Reckoner. Perhaps a Frontline Medic or Rally the Peasants could hop out for him.

Slayers' Stronghold isn't necessary but is quite powerful because it really messes up blocks for your opponent and gives you reach in the late game. Adding a third Cavern would necessitate removing a Stronghold to keep from having too many colorless lands.

Hello Jimhawk, I'm a big fan of your decks both Knights of the Blood Oath and The Sunfist Brigade, so I'm constantly checking for any updates you make.

I have a question for you, I used a Lifelink Boros deck on Gameday and stumble into one huge rock, a RDW deck. I had no response, not even with Volcanic Strength sideboarded in. Plus my opponent somehow kept a hand with three Stromkirk Nobles (I say somehow as he sideboarded them in after round 1). Do you have a response to such deck types? Blind Obedience slowed him down a little but, he finished me off the following turn as my humans were not able to block his vampires.

If RDW is a big problem, you may want to try using Fiend Hunter or Flames of the Firebrand. Fiend Hunter gives you a blocker and takes away an attacker, and even if they Searing Spear him, you've slowed your opponent down enough to start taking the offensive position. Flames of the Firebrand allows you to usually get at least a 2-for-1, and sometimes the occasional 3-for-1. Both of those cards are also usable against a variety of archetypes so they should work quite well. Packing some Searing Spears of your own is also essential to slowing the tempo of opposing aggressive decks.

Instead of Volcanic Strength have you thought about Madcap Skills? it doesnt give the defense, but it does give the blocked by two or more. Somewhat useful I think. Well. Off to play at FNM. Hopefully I have good news with this deck.