Dies to Removal

Just a passing thought...

I'm going to brew more on this deck again, I think it gets better with Twin losing popularity.

I enjoy your passing thoughts

I've made some tweaks, still loving the Flamespeakers.

[deck]Modern BBBSG v. 1.32[/deck]

I cut the Finks and Lightning Helix to make room for Grim Lavamancer and Thalia, trimmed 1 Kiki and a land to play 2 Swords, since a SoFaF on a Flamespeaker is the grossest thing I've ever seen.

I swapped out the Helix and Finks because the 16 3-drop version can be slow to start, and
having some early board presence is a big help against the faster decks like Affinity and RDW. 8 removal spells feels a bit light, but lowering my curve really helps me play a proactive game. I can usually get through board stall with Stronghold and the Swords.

I'd go 3/1 Lavamancer to Figure. Multiple Lavaman seems pretty icky to draw in this deck. Then again, so does Brimaz.

You should complete the cycle with Boros Reckoner and rename this thread to 3drop.dec.

Heh. 28 3drops, AEther Vials and Bolts. So bad it just might work!

I was running a 3 Grim build to reduce clunkiness, but I'm ok with seeing multiple Lavamancers. They almost never survive when I play him T1. People throw removal at him like it grows on trees, and he's good early and late game.

Brimaz is the same way. If I have 1 on the battlefield that hasn't died, I'm probably going to win. Thalia less so, but still good against Delver, Burn and Storm, which refuse to go away.

Brim and Thalia suck with Kiki, so I had to lower him to 2 as a pure "oops I win" value option with Restoration Angel.

Could also go 3x each of Finks, Brimaz, Flamespeaker and Splicer.

I've never been great at tuning a deck, so the 3 vs. 4 counts are always goofy in my brews.

[deck]
Creature 26
3 Grim Lavamancer
1 Figure of Destiny
1 Stonewright
4 Wall of Omens
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Boros Reckoner
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Prophetic Flamespeaker
2 Kitchen Finks
4 Restoration Angel
2 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Planeswalker 1
1 Chandra, Pyromaster

Spells 7
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Path to Exile

Artifact 2
1 Batterskull
1 Sword of Feast and Famine

Land 24
4 Arid Mesa
4 Clifftop Retreat
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Eiganjo Castle
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Slayers' Stronghold

Sideboard 15
1 Path to Exile
2 Stony Silence
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Rest in Peace
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Combust
2 Kor Firewalker
1 Spellskite
1 Hide // Seek
1 Sowing Salt
1 Shatterstorm
1 Pithing Needle[/deck]

This is what I'd play for all the lolz.

Wall of more like it

I really like the wall. It doesn't do anything, but it does keep you alive from an aggro assault and it provides card advantage. Extra advantage when you blink it too.

It's really more at home in the Naya Kiki Scapeshift combo deck since all the deck does is sit there and ramp until it Kiki combos with an Angel or hits critical land mass for Scapeshift. The deck really does want to do nothing and then just win.

However, Boros Beats is somewhere in between proactive and reactive. But another way to look at it is that the deck is just pure value. Everything so far has multiple uses whether it's offensive, defensive, or enabling another card to squeeze out some added value.

I'm not saying my little draft is awesome or anything, but I do think that the deck doesn't need as many 4-ofs. The deck really wants 4 Angels and 4 Bolts..and 4 Walls if you want to play them. That's it. I think a
lot of numbers can be trimmed to make room for other "value" cards.

Although, I defer to you, ham, for the mana base. You've been the one playing the deck and honing it like a trusty machete.

The mana base is good, it's the creature counts that I go full retard on.

I love the Batterskull in there, though, going to swap it for my 2nd Sword.

I just want to live the Prophetic Flamespeaker + Sword of Feast and Famine + Slayers' Stronghold dream. Vigilantly attack for 8, discard 2, untap and cast some stuff from the top of my deck? Schwing.

I think you want a Batterskull. Plays well with Flamespeaker and Resto Angel and is just a strong card on its own.

I think the four ofs need tuning but would have to think hard about the best configuration.

Yeah, I struggle with identifying the proper 4-of mix as well. I typically start trimming to 3-ofs in a few places (Grimmy and Brimaz, then a Kiki or a land), then end up with a 57/58 card deck and I think "is there any other card that I'd want to see instead of a more consistent version of this?" and I put the 4-ofs all back in.

It's a deckbuilding weakness of mine, one that I'm certain I could correct with some good guidance. I just don't know where to look.

This is the version that I was trying out before I reverted to the 4-of configuration -

[deck]Modern BBBSG v. 1.33[/deck]

Agreed on the Batterskull, will play with 1 in place of the 2nd Sword.

Played the 3-of list this morning and finally got to live the Flamespeaker + SoFaF + Slayers' Stronghold dream. So good!

Achievement unlocked!

All of my yes.

The idea of that makes me moist.

If the plan is to go deep down Flamespeaker's rabbit hole, isn't Elspeth, Knight-Errant the stone cold nuts?

Seems like a reasonable card to just run anyway, especially with (Wall,) Splicer, Finks, and Brimaz etc. on defense.

I'll try it

Yes, I think it's worth looking at.

I kind of see your deck evolving into a more legitimate midrange strategy. I wonder if you could splash a color to get the full benefit and just run a ton of good stuff while running a real sideboard. Maybe green for Wild Nacatl, Knight of the Reliquary, and Kessig Wolf Run + a land package? Wolf Run + Flamespeaker = lol?

It's just the Kibler in me speaking. It would likely push you into Tarmogoyf and Noble Heirarch so it would just morph the deck into an existing and underplayed archetype.

Heh, I appreciate a good third color splash but the consistency of two is just so appealing.

I'm going to see if Eidolon of the Great Revel is a better fit than Thalia. I suspect it is

Got in some testing. Eidolon is a good fit in this deck, better than Thalia.

Ran this -

[deck]Modern BBBSG v. 1.33[/deck]

Bumped the fetch count to 10 for extra Grim fuel.

At what point does Kiki get cut? Or is he in for as long as splicer and resto are?

Kiki is here as long as Restoration Angel is. The ability to win out of nowhere is too good to pass up, and he provides some additional value with the 3 drops left over when he shows up.

Man, this is so good against BG / Jund decks. Lavamancer and Eidolon are especially strong against all that cheap removal.

Man, this is so good against BG / Jund decks. Lavamancer and Eidolon are especially strong against all that cheap removal.

It's a beautiful thing. In fact, Eidolon is the only reason aggressive R/x decks are at tier 1.5 status.

I got 99 problems but a tier ain't one.

How's Flamespeaker been? I've seem some lists elsewhere running it with two swords.

It's been a beast. I ran it originally with 2 SoFaF and switched 1 for a Batterskull.

I'm going to stream this today, it's been too long!

Went 3-1 in the daily -

0-2 vs. Mono-U tron (awful awful awful, variance city with a mull to 3 in game 2)
2-1 vs. RG Tron
2-0 vs. UR Delver (EZ. Eidolon is the best)
2-0 vs. RG Tron

What's with all the Tron? Jeez.