White/Blue Heroic

glimpse

Ever since Theros came out, I’ve been trying to make a Heroic deck work. I think it was Fabled Hero that drew me into the concept. Double strike works well with buffs, and the idea of an ever growing creature had a certain appeal to me. It seemed mono- white wasn’t going to cut it, so I ended up with blue so I could add some cipher cards.

Or, well, just Hidden Strings which should give me a stable supply of spells that target, so I could keep growing my heroes.  When Born of the Gods came along, things started to look better. Glimpse the Sun God added a better version of another trick I was using: Gridlock.

The deck worked decently and was lots of fun to play, if sometimes inconsistant. Then Journey into Nyx was released and gave me two more cards, that really completed the deck.  Lagonna-Band Trailblazer gives me another one-drop next to Favored Hoplite and makes the deck stronger when there is a need to play defensively. Battlefield Thaumaturge significantly reduces the cost of most of my combat tricks and rounds out my team of heroes.

So let’s take a look at the deck:

~ White/Blue Heroic V1.0 ~

Creatures (19)


Battlefield Thaumaturge
Fabled Hero
Favored Hoplite
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Nivmagus Elemental
Phalanx Leader

Other (17)


Glimpse the Sun God
Gridlock
Gods Willing
Hidden Strings
Ordeal of Thassa

Lands (24)


Hallowed Fountain
Island
Plains
Temple of Enlightenment

The extra one-drops are important. The deck needs enablers to make the heroes grow, but they do nothing without bodies on the table. The best opening is either Favored Hoplite or Lagonna-Band Trailblazer followed by an Ordea of Thassa turn two. This creates sizable creatures early on, and quickly draws you extra cards.

There are also two copies of Nivmagus Elemental.  The elemental turns some of the spells into counters, after they already have triggered heroic. Being able to eat instants makes them quite unpredictable. A good opening with them is tapping some blockers with Hidden Strings, attacking and eating the ciphered strings for counters. If there aren’t any blockers, the strings can untap land so extra creatures can be played, or Nivmagus can get an ordeal before combat. Explosive stuff.
battlewisehoplite

Unsung Heroes

There are plenty of card I concidered, but ended up on the cutting table, especially in the crowded 2-drop section. Akroan Skyguard does offer evasion, but wasn’t agressive enough. Battlewise Hoplite is amazing but the seems difficult to get early on consitently. Right now Phalanx Leader is in it’s place, and also has a difficult mana cost. It’s hard to say which one is better. Scry is very good.

Triton Fortune Hunter and Wavecrash Triton where in the deck at some point, but their lack of growth caused me to seldom play them over other things I had in my hands. I haven’t tried Tethmos High Priest yet, since it falls in the same catagory, even though it has a slightly better body by itself.

Strifing to do better

phalanx polyrush launch

Journey Into Nyx also gives us some strife cards. I’ve tried Launch the Fleet and while it’s good and won me some games, it requires quite a setup for it to be really worth it. There is no arguing with multiple hasty 1/1’s coming from one card though.

Polymorphous Rush seems to be a fun card, but since my own creatures start out small, it’s dependant on whatever the opponent is playing to make it worth it. Artisan of Form didn’t make it, so I doubt Rush will.

Then there is Phalanx Formation . This may replace Fabled Hero as the go-to card for Double Strike. Being an instant it is always a looming threat. The strife cost means it can even benefit from multiple Battlefield Thaumaturges. Having an alternative to get Double Strike, Battlewise Hoplite is getting more powerful in context. It’s still difficult to get the numbers right, but maybe I’ll test out this version:

~ White/Blue Heroic V2.0 ~

Creatures (18)


Battlewise Hoplite
Battlefield Thaumaturge
Favored Hoplite
Lagonna-Band Trailblazer
Nivmagus Elemental
Phalanx Leader

Other (18)


Glimpse the Sun God
Gridlock
Gods Willing
Hidden Strings
Ordeal of Thassa
Phalanx formation

Lands (24)


Hallowed Fountain
Island
Plains
Temple of Enlightenment
Posted under Standard