Rebuilding Solar Flare

[Anusien]

I haven't seen a build I really like for Solar Flare, so I thought I'd try to create a build of my own, working loosely off Shimizu's SCG article.  Here's where I'm at as a quick rough draft:

23 Lands
4 Azorius Signet
2 Dimir Signet

3 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
2 Angel of Despair
4 Court Hussar/Careful Consideration

4 Remand
4 Faith's Fetters
4 Wrath of God

4 Compulsive Research
4 Resurrection/Zombify (depending on mana mix)

2 Persecute


I probably went overboard on the anti-aggro tools, but all the early builds I looked at didn't do enough.  They couldn't do anything relevant versus aggro quickly and then they lost to burn, hence why I wanted the Fetters.  Angel of Despair is also really awful versus the Paladin en-Vecs, but you want a way to off Soltari Priest.


The other option is UWG, with Wall of Roots, Loxodon Hierarch and some of the same tools.

Thoughts?

[UR]

I like the fact that you've also gone up to four animate effects. I think it has become more important to run these, despite the Tormod's Crypts that everybody seems to be putting in their boards nowadays (really, what is up with that?).

My team's deck uses the following creatures;

2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath (should be enough)
3 Angel of Despair (okay, so it's bad against the 2-power creatures you mentioned... but you are running Court Hussar which blocks them nicely)
2 Adarkar Valkyrie (it used to be great when Mirin was still around, maybe they will have to change)
1 Tidespout Tyrant (in the process of testing, but it sounds great with another suggestion I'm about to make*)

Just to give you some ideas. We've cut the Court Hussar for Sift because it digs just as deep and you get to keep two cards. The downsides are that it doesn't block and it costs a mana more. It also freed up space for the inclusion of Clutch of the Undecity. At the time it could fetch Night of Souls' Betrayal which was house in recent weeks. With this gone however, it can still get you Wrath of God, Persecute and your animate effects aside from being a decent card on it's own.

*My other suggestion is cutting Remand. WHAT? Yes, cut remand. We've cut it a long time ago for Castigate and never looked back. It increases your odds in the control match almost tenfold without losing too much against burn.

Which 23 lands are you running exactly (very important with this deck).

Just some thoughts, let me know what you think.

P.S. I don't have premium so I haven't read his article...

[Anusien]

// Lands
    3 Plains
    1 Island
    2 Gemstone Mine
    2 Swamp
    2 Azorius Chancery
    2 Caves of Koilos
    1 Underground River
    3 Watery Grave
    2 Hallowed Fountain
    3 Godless Shrine
    2 Flagstones of Trokair

// Creatures
    2 Angel of Despair
    3 Akroma, Angel of Wrath

// Spells
    2 Dimir Signet
    4 Azorius Signet
    2 Faith's Fetters
    4 Careful Consideration
    4 Remand
    3 Clutch of the Undercity
    2 Zombify
    2 Resurrection
    4 Compulsive Research
    3 Wrath of God
    2 Persecute

I tweaked the build around; I really disliked that original build; it was running way too slow, and I wanted to get Clutch of the Undercity in.  Here's what I'm testing now.

[Keno]

What about the U/W as suggested by Mike Flores?

4 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
4 Ressurection
4 Remand
4 Mana Leak
4 Compulsive Research
4 Carefull Consideration
4 Wrath of God
4 Azorious Signet
23 Land
+ 5 Cards

I don't his exact list but according to his podcast he also has some number of Condemn in his deck.

This deck really looks like a better Flare deck since it has the same gameplan (get Akroma into ASAP) but has a better mana base and more counters. Losing Angel of Despair sucks but you could just run Repeal and bounce anything that gets past your Counters.

[Anusien]

No.  I've done a shitload of testing, and half of the reason this deck is favored against everything is the Clutch engine (and clutch itself) and Persecute.  Every single deck in the format loses to a turn 3 Persecute, and most of them still lose on turn 4 if you have to tutor it up.  It's also worth noting that you don't gain anything significant from going UW.  First of all, Fetters in the maindeck is ridiculously critical to some matchups.  You can't beat the RW decks if you don't have access to it; you no logner have Kokusho and Miren, and actually Fetters is good even when you randomly fetter a land to gain some life.  In at least two thirds of my Boros testing it's been critical because it basically blanks whatever card they draw off the top of their deck, giving you time to make AoD or Akroma.

The main reason I dislike the UW build is because you don't gain anything.  You're getting 4 Mana Leak and some number of Condemn which definitely improves your aggro game, but I don't know that you'll ever beat Dragonstorm or Control.


So sideboard crafting.  Versus Dragonstorm and control decks, I can only find 5 cards to pull: the 3 Wraths and the 2 Faith's Fetters.  Depending on the matchup some number of Clutch of the Undercity can go, but ideally that gives me increased access to Persecute.  I think I want to bring in 3 Castiage and 2 Grand Arbiter in those slots.

[UR]

Depending on the matchup you can cut a signet every now and then. But it really depends on what you have in your board. Destabilizing your base usually isn't they way to go unless it greatly improves a matchup (unlikely from boarding just one additional card).

[Anusien]

// Sideboard
SB: 2  Faith's Fetters
SB: 4  Court Hussar
SB: 2  Sacred Ground
SB: 3  Castigate
SB: 2  Ivory Mask
SB: 2  Grand Arbiter Augustin IV

What do you think?  Against creature based aggro I bring in Fetters and Hussar, against the other forms I'll probably bring in Fetters and Mask and just rely on my Wraths to remove creatures.  The Castigate and Arbiter come in against control and combo and the Sacred Ground is an oh-shit against the heavy stone rain decks.

[Disburden]

Have any of you tested the version with four SmallPox? Check out Evan Erwin's latest video article on SCG. Smallpox seems like it could be really good in a deck that already sweeps the board effectively with Angel of Despair and Wrath of God. His list lacks concentration and focus with a lot of 2 and 3 ofs but I think it can have potential. Dread Return is also in the deck as an animation spell for Akroma and Despair.

[UR]

What do you need Ivory Mask for? Yeah, yeah, Rakdos I know. But wouldn't CoP: Red be just as effective and more versatile against the field? I can't really argue with the rest of your sideboard, although I would probably add an additional Sacred Ground since you really don't want your lands destroyed with this deck.

If you find that you don't like the Arbiter, you can always try Repeal. It still bounces the Lotus on Dragonstorm's upkeep preventing them from going off at least another few turns. I like Arbiter better in the matchup though. The added benefit of Repeal however is that it whacks Elephant tokens (that seem to be prevalent in the current format). Just a thought...

Dread Return is also in the deck as an animation spell for Akroma and Despair.

We have been testing Dread Return for a while now and it is just like a Zombify (ZOMG!). The flashback isn't really relevant because your opponent will most likely remove some of your guys before it gets relevant. The only time we used it was when we had Sacred Mesa in play (another card we are testing in a deck with 29 sources and enough white to support is).

[Anusien]

Here's the thing on Ivory Mask.  It gets tutored by Clutch of the Undercity, and it stops ALL burn.  It can also stop Persecutes or something if that becomes necessary.  It's not in there for that matchup though.  I'm not, for instance, planning on bringing in Ivory Mask versus Dragonstorm (nor would I bring in CoP: Red, since it gets in the way and is less effective).

[Anusien]

I'm reconsidering Ivory Mask; it wins the sideboard war against stuff like Sudden Spoiling at the cost of your draw; which means if you bring it you need Court Hussars in.  Still thinking about it, and what else I could put there.  Maybe CoP: red

[kirdape3]

If you don't have Circle: Red you're going to be in huge trouble in the midgame against Boros and Satanic Sligh.  Those decks can put you very low by the point that you'd go and get Ivory Mask that you might not be able to get out of that hole.  As it is, I'm bringing in Disenchants from Boros (to eat Signets as well as awfully annoying Circles and Masks) which means that you really, really can't be crutching on a slower answer to automatically win you the game.

[Anusien]

I'm not counting on Mask to win me the game.  I've found a positive matchup preboard versus Boros since I cut redundant extra Wraths in favor of Faith's Fetters.  I'll stabilize low, but they'll draw burn, what 1/3?  And Faith's Fetters counters at least one burn spell, meaning that each one gives me 3+ turns to find and swing with Akroma.  Post-board I'm bringing in more Fetters and Court Hussar to block.  The idea with CoP: Red or Ivory Mask is to give me even more time to win the game once I wrath.