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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Ouroboros

04.14.06

Cori Thomas wrote:
Hey, my name's Cori and I'm from Florida... Basically what I'm looking for is how best to create a Boros deck so fast that it all comes full circle quickly, hence the name "Ouroboros". The deck is meant and built with the intent that it's cheap, effective, and murderous, without using something like say, Master Warfract or Concentrated Effort... However, the main reason I build this deck is because of how lately, no decks I've seen running Boros, don't even bother with the Fury-Shield... I find that to be one of the greatest cards ever made for Boros, especially in a pinch, so you could even say I kind of built my deck with the intent of using it in mind... Please help me make this deck the best it can be, utilizing the Fury Shield to the best of it's ability.

-Cori

10 Mountains
10 Forests
2 Boros Garrison
2 Ronin Houndmaster
1 Sensei Golden-Tail
4 Skyknight Legionnaire
4 Thundersong Trumpeter
4 Boros Recruit
4 Boros Swiftblade
2 Sunhome Enforcer
1 Loxodon Gatekeeper
2 Reciprocate
4 Fencer's Magemark
2 Sunforger
2 Rally the Righteous
2 Incite Hysteria
4 Boros Fury-Shield

Okay, so you want this deck to be as fast as possible, and you want to abuse Boros Fury-Shield.  Seems like a reasonable request.  First of all, I've said that the keys to a faster deck are threefold: lower mana costs, less chance of not having the right color mana, and drawing/searching for more cards out of your library.
 
First of all, the most expensive cards in your deck are Loxodon Gatekeeper and Sunhome Enforcer.  Also, these cards, while good, are defensive by nature and encourage the game to go on longer, which we want to avoid.  So out they go.  Incite Hysteria is three mana for not quite enough of an effect, so it can go to.  Replace it with Bathe in Light, a spell that serves a similar purpose, but can do many other things as well.
 
Next, reducing your need for both colors of mana as soon as possible.  Boros Recruit is a step in the right direction.  Boros Swiftblade and Thundersong Trumpeter, however, could be tricky.  I'll leave in the Swiftblade for its interaction with the Sunforger and Sensei Golden-Tail, but the Trumpeter seems a bit too defensive.  That can be replaced with Boros Guildmage.  If you really think the Trumpeter is helping you a lot, though, then pull out two of it and two Swiftbaldes for the four Guildmages.  Also worrying me is Rally the Righteous.  Yes, you can find it with the Sunforger and not pay its cost at all, but there's still the issue of it not hitting all your creatures, or hitting a few of your opponent's by mistake.  I advise considering To Arms! as a replacement-- yes, it doesn't give a +2/+0 bonus, but it does guarantee you untap all the creatures you want and none that you don't, plus it draws a card, which also speeds up the deck.
 
That brings me to the third way to speed up a deck, card draw/tutoring.  Red and White aren't good at these things, but there is Sunforger, which can currently search for Reciprocate, Rally the Righteous/To Arms!, and Incite Hysteria/Bathe in Light.  And the Fury-Shield, of course, but if you play Fury-Shield that way, it won't be enhanced (no red mana was spent to play it).  We've still got three open slots left over from dropping Sunhome Enforcer and Loxodon Gatekeeper, so add in one more Sunforger, and two Lightning Helix.  Yes, RW is a bit tricky early on, but that's okay in this case since the Helix continues to be relevant late in the game.
 
Also, replace Fencer's Magemark with the strictly superior Galvanic Arc.  The Magemarks are only worth playing in decks that use lots of Auras.
 
Finally, your lands.  I'll assume you meant Plains when you said Forests.  Take out one Plains and one Mountain for two more Boros Garrison.  If you can manage to get some Sacred Foundry, that would be even better, of course, but I won't press the issue.
 
Good luck to you Cori.  I hope I've helped you come full circle, to run rings around your opponents.
 
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