In the Deck Box #4: Oros, the Avenger

So last time we spoke, we just crowned Michael Hood-Julien the winner of the Casual Net Build a Deck Challenge! After a little bit of confusion, Michael finally received his prize package in the mail this past week (I'll let him talk about whatever cards he opened). We got a sneak peak at his Decklist of this sweet dragon in the In the Deck Box #3: Build a Deck Challenge Winner! article. Let's finally see the interview that Michael and I had about this creation.

David: When you were figuring out what general you wanted to play, how did you sift through so many legendary creatures and finally decide on Oros, the Avenger?

Michael: 'Choosing Oros was not an easy or quick decision. I saw that one of the things that you were looking for in the contest was a deck that used a less popular general. From there, I knew I couldn't use generals, like The Mimeoplasm, Uril, the Miststalker, and Sharuum the Hegemon, though I had some ideas for builds for those Generals as well. I remember that I literally went on the MTG Gatherer and looked at every legendary creature as a potential choice. Then, I looked at my trade binder and saw that I had a lot of unused White rares. In EDH, I thought White would do well as the core color of the deck; White uses strong control effects, it has a range of removal to deal with threats, and there are good, aggressive creatures in White. I knew I didn't want to play a mono colored general, so I looked at the two color ones. I liked Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer, so I created a Red-White deck that used a lot of artifacts and heavy-hitting creatures. The deck was too linear though. I needed a third color. Naya decks are a popular three color choice in EDH, so I avoided Green. I explored Blue for sometime (under Ruhan of the Fomori), but the control of permanent-changing effects (Zedruu the Greathearted) made the deck a little too weird and I didn't like how W/B played in an Aggro-style deck. After I looked at Black, I realy liked what the color combination brought to the table. There are only 3 potential generals in those colors. Kaalia was so fragile, so the battle ended up being between the other two, Oros and Tariel, Reckoner of Souls. I found Oros to be great, since not only was he a heavy hitter, but he could also wrath the board (which is important in EDH).'

David: What does Oros bring to the table as a general that Tariel does not?

Michael: 'The first factor that helped was thinking about what each General did while on the board. In a case, where I have no hand and I hardcast my General to the board, which effect would I rather have? There's a reanimation effect that's pretty chaotic or a Slagstorm for non-White creatures. I thought that Oros's ability had greater potential, especially if I could turn it into a stronger sweeper effect. Trying to setup Tariel's ability, so that it could have more control over what I could reanimate in my opponent's graveyard just seemed like a waste of effort. oros just seemed like he would be easier to build around. The second major factor were the stats. The colors I'm playing call for a lot of attrition-based matches. a 6/6 for 6 seems often a better creature in combat than a 4/7 for 7 mana. being able to hit for 2 more damage can be a lot with successive swings to an opponent.'

David: W/R/B is an odd wedge to play with. What are the upsides and downsides to playing with this color combination?

Michael: 'White, Red, and Black are good at destruction and disruption. Blue and Green often have trouble with removing things, so it's wonderful to have a combination that focuses on that. I would have to say the best removal spells are probably in these colors. These three colors are follow a more attrition-style of play, which can often be more fun and interactive than let's say a deck that just locks things down. it's the main reason why I thought the Voltron theme worked well with this deck. White and Black are also the best colors for reanimation. On the other hand, White and Red, with Stonehower Giant, Stoneforge Mystic, and Godo, Bandit Warlord made tutoring equipment so much easier. There are some things I could have done with the deck, like changed the style to a more punisher style. I could have added more by playing Howling Mine, Font of Mythos, and Underworld Dreams, dealing damage to my opponents every turn. I thought that would be unfun, which is the same reason I avoided a lot of tutors and land destruction. From what I hear and read on forums, players don't enjoy being denied mana or being defeated by an infinite combo on like turn 6. There are some obvious drawbacks to this color combination though. A big one would probably be the mana-fixing. Without Green, it's much easier to have problems with mana. There are cards like Land Tax and Weathered Wayfarer that could help, but I'm unsure of whether I want to invest in those cards. The second big drawback is card draw. I had to actively find some card draw in those colors and artifacts to compensate.'

David: You eventually decided to go with a Voltron style of deck; are there other generals that would also be good with this style of play and what colors would be best suited to play this style? Finally, how does an Oros Voltron strategy different from other decks?

Michael: 'I can think of plenty of good generals. The rest of the Planar Chaos and Invasion Dragons are probably great generals for Voltron. They each gain value from dealing damage to a player and Flying gives them standard evasion in combat. Uril is a great one, since he has Hexproof. Rafiq of the Many does well too, since he can deal a lot of damage by himself. Godo is a good one. I'm sure both Akromas are also good. Um, Skithiryx mabye? Lol. As for colors, White is most obvious choice for the job. There is Stonehewer Giant, Stoneforge, Steelshaper's Gift, and Quest for the Holy Relic. The Kor from Zendikar and some of the White Mirrodin creatures also work well with equipment. Blue is also a good color for equipment, since it synergizes well with artifacts in genearl. Arcum Daggson, in particular comes to mind. Oros is different from other Voltron strategies in the use of colors that help give my creatures the best board position. There are also a good amount of effects that make my creatures deal more damage, so even if Oros is not getting there, someone else can. It's also difficult to get damage in without being blocked by some sort of threat. The destruction effects and the reanimation effects work around that, so I could continue to get in the red zone.'

David: What is the coolest interaction that you've seen in your deck?

Michael: 'Haha well, aside from the degenerate combos (*cough, cough* Karmic Guide and Reveillark), I like that I've learned to manipulate Oros's ability. Obviously, Oros plays well with Sword of Kaldra, but I love being able to use Double Strike against an opponent to use his ability twice. Also, I figured out that one way to save some of the non-White creatures is to move the Sword of Feast and Famine or Sword of War and Peace around. The color protection that my swords provide provide prevent them from being damaged, so I found that neat.'

David: In testing, what decks did you play against and how do you think Oros faired against them?

Michael: 'I played against this Uril deck with a whole lot of auras and I didn't have enough answers to deal with him. After playing that game, i rezlied that I might be playing too many creatures and not enough removal. I played against a Karador, Ghost Chieftan, and that was fun since we both played reanimation. It was also pretty close, but SoFaF did its job. In a multiplayer game with Azusa, Lost but Seeking, Arcum Daggson, and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born,  Azusa had a big ramp component and played big beaters, like Eldrazi. My Day of Judgment like cards worked well against that deck. Arcum was, of course, a heavy artifact deck and played things like Winter Orb, artifact accelerants, and Blightsteel Colossus. I had to use Path to Exile on Blightsteel because no one else had a way to deal with it. The Grimgrin deck was fun though, since it played off of creatures dying and who doesn't love Zombies? I liked how my deck wasn't so over-the-top because it didn't present an obvious target for the other players. I had some minor issues with my mana-base, which really slowed my game play down. I had a similar experience in a game with Rith, the Awakener, Konda, Lord of Eiganjo, and Adun Okenshield. Although I didn't win most of my games, I've been making adjustments to make the deck more competitive. I want it to fare slightly better in multiplayer. One thing that I have to do is shift the curve around and watch double- and triple- mana symbols.'

David: After testing, what changes do you think you'd make to your list of 99?

Michael: 'I probably need to add a couple more lands. Maybe I'll include a Wrath of God or Damnation. I feel like I need one more. I found out that Razia, Boros Archangel doesn't do much in games. She looked interesting, but she's so lackluster. I definitely need to swap her out for Akroma, Angel of Wrath because I've watched how Akroma quickly ended games alone. She also made me think Iona, Shield of Emeria might be great for this deck. Sometimes Kazuul, Tyrant of Cliffs can be hard to cast, so I'm thinking of using Puppeteer Clique or Hallowed Burial to replace him. Bojuka Bog may also be good against a graveyard-based deck. Also, Vault of the Archangel and Faithless Looting look like great additions from Dark Ascension, so I'm thinking of squeezing them in there too. I've also been thinking of investing in the W/B and W/R fetchlands and dual shocklands for mana-fixing. I've also realized that Fiend Hunter, with a sac outlet, combos with Sun Titan, so I also decided to add him in.'

David: And finally, if you could give the readers at home some advice to building their first EDH deck, what would you tell them?

Michael: 'The best advice would probably be to find a primary theme and a secondary theme for the deck. My deck uses Voltron and Reanimator, but another might use a Ramp deck with Tokens. Someone else might want to play an Artifact deck with Theivery elements. I think it's important, regardless of the colors, to have a primary aim and secondary aim of the deck to help. In case, the first strategy doesn't work out, you want an alternate win-condition to fall back on. After that, don't be afraid to move things around and play with the mana curve. It's hard with 99 cards to make the best choices about a deck, but experiment with different cards at different mana costs. It doesn't matter if you have a 9 mana bomb if you can't play it. It also doesn't make sense to have a 2 mana spell that doesn't have a big impact on the game. Play what works best for your uniquely tuned deck. Every slot is important, so make each one of them count.'

Thanks again, Michael for your insight into Oros, the Avenger and we'll be following up to see the progression of your deck as you continue to test it out. Thanks to all the readers who participated in the Build a Deck Challenge and everyone in Casual Net. Until the next challenge!

Interested in more Magic content? Check out the In the Deck Box series on the MTG Casual Network Archive!  

-David J. and Michael Hood-Julien

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