Hello there! I’m a new face on MTGO Academy, and chances are that you haven’t heard of me before. Just to run down the basics of me:
- I top 8′d U.S. Nationals this year with Pyromancers Ascension.
- I am a diehard combo player but can tolerate other styles of decks.
- I’m an avid Magic Online player under the handle “Gard”.
- My favorite formats are Draft, Block Constructed, and Modern.
So that’s Lee McLeod in a nutshell. I don’t want to dwell too much on introductions since I’m here to talk about one of my favorite formats on Magic Online: Block Constructed. Block Constructed is a great way to start getting competitive online, since it is a much lower buy in than Standard, and about the same competition number (strangely enough; unlike IRL, Block on Magic Online is HUGE).
Though single-set Block Constructed isn’t the most diverse of formats, Innistrad thankfully mixes things up a little and is in fact one of those rare big sets that has a ton of options in it for Block Constructed. Just cruising the lists that have been winning tournaments on magiconline.com or MTGO Academy’s own DeckTech section, you see strategies like Splinterfright Dredge, BW Tokens with Intangible Virtue, GW Tokens with Parallel Lives, aggressive red decks with Bloodcrazed Neonate and Furor of the Bitten, and various control decks featuring Garruk Relentless, Liliana of the Veil, and Burning Vengeance. The format is very diverse!
My goal with these articles is to show you some of the decks I’ve been playing in Block Constructed by taking them through a Daily and putting my money where my mouth is, so to speak. This week I decided to do Boros, mainly for how affordable the deck is for its power level. It’s one of those good decks that you don’t need 4 Liliana and 4 Garruk to start crushing the daily events.
So, without further ado…
Innistrad Block Constructed Boros Decklist
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.NOTE ON ROUND 1: There is a bit of an error in this video around the 2 minute mark or so, but it resolves itself in less than a minute, so don’t worry if the video “freezes” for a time.
Innistrad Block Constructed Round 1
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed Round 2
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed DE Round 3
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.Innistrad Block Constructed DE Round 4
Click the arrow to download the above video in .mp4 format.So that was a bit disappointing of a finish, not at all how I wanted to kick off an article series. Many of my failures come from over-thinking the applications of Devils Play when I should just point it at the face and say “Take X.” The sideboarding “Whoops-you-don’t-really-have-three-minutes” thing was frustrating as well, but not something directly under my control (since previous times when my computer has been slow in loading sideboards, it always shows the correct time).
But still. It was good times and hopefully I provided some good strategic advice and a good introduction to Block Constructed. If you notice any errors or want to talk about Block Constructed, please post in the comments and I’ll address all of the concerns. If you want to contact me otherwise, you can reach me at these places:
gardevior[at]gmail[dot]com
Gard on MTGO
@leemcleo on Twitter
Thank you for reading!
-Lee McLeod
In Round 3 Game 1 you could have killed your Opponent. At about 4:00 you misscalculate your Flashback on the Devil’s Play several times. He is at 17. You can shoot him for 9, and then flashback for 7 and not for 6 as you say there. So if you draw a Land, he is dead. The Cloistered Youth does nothing against the Sever the Bloodlines in the Graveyard.
Anyways, nice videos. I really like the BC format
kurwa is the polish word for hoe!
nice videos!
Please turn off your mtgo sound effects
nice games, block constructed seems cool
Yeah your round one opponent is the biggest jerk I’ve encountered on MODO to date. Several times during ROE drafts I would beat him and then he’d whine, call me a lucksack, and talk about how bad his luck was. He beat me, once, because he had Drana right on curve in all 3 games and I still almost took him out. Hearing him gloat was insufferable. I don’t talk any trash so yeah…
@Fallout: Yeah, I’m not happy with the way I played with Devil’s Play on the whole; I need to work on that.
@germanguy: Aww… Time to read up on my polish.
@Anonymous: I’m not sure where you’re coming from; I hate all the Magic Online sound effects* and turned them off long, long ago. There aren’t any in these videos, nor do I have any music playing. Sometimes I make my own sound effects to entertain me; maybe you’re hearing that (though I tried to refrain from them in these videos)?
*Well, with the exception of the ‘entering combat’ trumpets. Those are the best.
Thanks for all the feedback.
After playing ISD Block for 2 days I’ve come to the conclusion that any deck not playing 4 Devil’s Play is doing it wrong. I’m not exagerating at all when I say at least 70% of the games have come down to that card. Every single game is “Remove every creature I see, then DP you 2 or 3 times to win” with the very rare “hit you a couple times with a weenie, then do that” thrown in.
I have to say that so far I’m quite disappointed in the format overall because of it. Any format where I’m tempted to main deck Witchbane Orb in an aggro deck is quite ridiculous.
I am literally going insane trying to pilot this deck…how does it ever win?! I am running basically that list and the only games I win are ones in which the opponent has bad draws. Geistflame destroys it, Garruk destroys it, my record against any intangible virtue deck is terrible, etc. I have to be doing something wrong….
@Sean: Sideboarding it huge with the deck, as is knowing the counters to the cards in a deck that keep beating you. Fliers like Midnight Haunting and Monk are insane against planeswalkers like Garruk. I talk often about boarding out your fragile creatures like Cloistered Youth against a Geistflame-heavy deck, bringing in Foxes even if they aren’t packing enchantments (though they usually do). It’s just very important to keep a record of which cards are winning you the matches against certain decks, and which cards are a liability, and fix that during games 2 and 3. It takes time and practice, but it’s a useful skill to have for literally every deck you’ll ever play.
Goo Lee!!
yea, in my playtesting in the tourney practice room (i play splinter-mulch)… i’d say the meta is VERY volitile. boros was huge just a week ago, and now nobody plays it and have shifted to control. mulch is also increasing in popularity, once going 6 straight matches against it. unfortunately, splintermulch doesn’t ever beat 4/5 color control.
i agree with the above poster, the answer to this format is running 4x devil’s play, as much removal as possible, and hoping to burn them out. like most formats, PW’s rule, and unfortunately, unless you want to drop $200 on your playsets of liliana and garruk, you’re not left with many options other than brewing up a ‘hate bear’ deck that specifically is designed to beat out those PW’s and other popular decks.
i’m thinking a RUW that uses mem’s journey, geistflame, blasphemous act, devil’s play, dissipate, snapcaster, brimstone, midnight haunting, and some aggro wearwolves to try and provide multiple answers for multiple decks.
that gives you 1drop burn for tokens, burn for PW’s, dissipate for everything, snapcaster backup, blasphemous act for a reset against tokens/aggro, and devil’s play as the du jour finisher.
i dont know, i’m just really frustrated with mythic.dec overtaking every format. disappointing. i guess i’ll go draft :-/
Thanks for this one as well… After attempting your Dredge/Splinterfright deck I gave this ago. I am definitely being more successful with this than Dredge… but the biggest key I’m finding is making sure you got a plan with your opening hand depending on what you’re playing against – you either need to come out quick and nasty with Champion and a few drops after, or have the land and an Instigator and Monk (or Hauntings).
I’m also trying out using Divine Reckoning rather than Blasphemous Act, because keeping that Instigator or Monk on the field is a huge benefit to me… the times I’ve got Act in hand and can cast it I’m doing pretty well on the creature front. I’ve found I rarely win to a Devil’s Play, maybe I’m just not using it right but I often side out 1 or 2 for a Geistflame so I’ve got more early game ammo and have been winning by the creatures. With a bit of a plan I’ve been beating same-deck matchups, although it often involves mulliganing until it hurts to get the right few cards in hand!