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Mattedesa's Deck Garage
BW Heroic
July 21, 2014

Today's deck fix is in response to a post in the forums by Bleakdragon55 that can be found here: http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=1191757

"Trying to get back into Magic right now, and I thought about building this. The deck seems like it can be pretty aggressive and can push for game pretty early. I wanted to do BW instead of the popular RW due to Athreos being incredibly powerful, having access to Pain Seer to have some more draw power, having Herald of Torment and Spiteful returned as amazing bestow creatures, and finally a decently aggressive mana base to work with (the pain lands seem like they can help accomplish that).

Creatures:Athreos, God of Passage

3 Hopeful Ediolon
3 Nyxborn Shieldmate
4 Hero of Iroas
3 Pain Seer

2 Spiteful Returned
4 Eidolon of Countless Battles
2 Fabled Hero
4 Herald of Torment
2 Athreos, God of Passage

4 Gods Willing
4 Ajani's Presence
2 Orzhov Charm

3 Ethereal Armor

4 Temple of Silence
4 Cave of Koilos
2 Mana Confluence
7 Plains
3 Swamps

Still working out the sideboard. Let me know what you guys think; thanks!
"

---

 

Today's deck is one that uses both the bestow and heroic mechanics to build big creatures quickly. Bleakdragon55 does a lot of things well.Gods WillingThe cards in the deck all work together. Bestow creatures can be played early as creatures, or a few turns later as an aura on an existing creature. Hero of Iroas makes the bestowing cheaper. Pain Seer gains card advantage and shouldn't hurt too much with the low casting costs. Gods Willing, Ajani's presence, and Athreos protect creatures or help bring them back. As long as you can keep one white mana up (which isn't always as easy as it may seem in an aggressive deck), you can protect your creatures from targeted removal. If you don't, Athreos can bring the creature back unless your opponent wants to pay life. Also, bestow creatures stick around if the creature they are enchanting bites the dust.

 

What potential problems do I see with this deck? The first one that jumps out to me is a lack of ways to deal with opposing threats. If your opponent can withstand your early onslaught and gets a big threat of their own out, this deck is going to have a hard time dealing with it. Currently Orzhov Charm is the only way to destroy an opposing creature, and if it's a Desecration Demon or some other big guy, the charm is pretty costly in terms of life. I would choose to replace the Orzhov Charms with a direct destroy spell such as Hero's Downfall. Hero's Downfall also takes out pesky planeswalkers which could cause a real problem.

 

-2 Orzhov CharmHero's Downfall

+2 Hero's Downfall

 

Along the same line, I would suggest replacing Fabled hero with another three-drop heroic creature: Agent of Fates. While you lose some opportunity for a crazy big creature with a great draw, you gain some consistency and control. Aggressive opponents have to think twice about attacking into his deathtouch and with all your bestow and instants, you can thin out their creatures pretty effectively. At 3/2, he may not be quite the offensive powerhouse Fabled Hero is, but he's no slouch either.

 

-2 Fabled Hero

+2 Agent of Fates

 

The next thing I am concerned about is the mana. While you have a relatively inexpensive deck, there are a lot of 4 and 5 bestow costs that you're going to want to use. At just 20 lands, I fear you may miss some lands drops. I'd recommend going up to 22 by adding 4 Godless Shrines and taking out 2 Plains, dropping one of your most expensive card - Herald of Torment - and one Ajani's Presence. We've added a couple of double black casting costs, so this will help make sure you have the right mana. Plus, this increases the chance that Pain Seer will find a land and not hurt you.

 

-1 Herald of Torment

-1 Ajani's Presence

-2 Plains

+4 Godless Shrine

 

Finally, I'd like to make one small tweak on your one drops. With Pain Seer, Godless Shrines, and Mana Confluence, not to mention damage your opponent may actually do to you, I think you can take out one Nyxborn Shieldmate and go up to four Hopeful Eidolons for the additional lifelink.

 

-1 Nyxborn Shieldmate

+1 Hopeful Eidolon

 

Overall, you've got a solid deck, and I think taking these ideas may give you a boost!

 

BW Heroic with changes:Godless Shrine

 

4 Hopeful Ediolon

2 Nyxborn Shieldmate

4 Hero of Iroas

3 Pain Seer

2 Spiteful Returned

4 Eidolon of Countless Battles

2 Agent of Fates

3 Herald of Torment

2 Athreos, God of Passage

 

4 Gods Willing

3 Ajani's Presence

2 Hero's Downfall

3 Ethereal Armor

 

4 Temple of Silence

4 Cave of Koilos

2 Mana Confluence

5 Plains

3 Swamps

4 Godless Shrine

 

 



 
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