Comments on: Building Blocks: Boros in Innistrad Block Constructed

By: Phroggie

Phroggie — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:00:16 +0000

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!

By: dasMetzger

dasMetzger — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:31:57 +0000

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 :-/

By: apaulogy

apaulogy — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:39:41 +0000

Goo Lee!!

By: Lee McLeod

Lee McLeod — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 03:26:09 +0000

@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.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:14:52 +0000

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….

By: Kev

Kev — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:36:15 +0000

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.

By: Lee McLeod

Lee McLeod — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:59:13 +0000

@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.