Altar Boys (BRW Young Souls)

[Qweerios]

Fellow sourcers...

Help me build a modern deck using Falkenrath Aristocrat, Young Pyromancer, and Lingering Souls!

This is what I have so far:


4 Dark Confidant
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Falkenrath Aristocrat

3 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix

2 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Lingering Souls

4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

1 Vault of the Archangel
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Marsh Flats
4 Arid Mesa
2 Blood Crypt
2 Godless Shrine
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Plains

Sideboard (15)
2 Aven Mindcensor
2 Grim Lavamancer
2 Thoughtseize
2 Wear // Tear
1 Path to Exile
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Torpor Orb
1 Isochron Scepter


The amount of grind this deck can pull off is very appealing as you can easily chump until Lily ultimates. I wanted to try Bitterblossom but I think riding a Bob to victory is still the better option. Sorin is pretty good in here and his emblem quickly gets out of hand, perhaps I should play a second copy.

I tried a singleton Runechanter's Pike and it often blows.
Mutavault > Reaches but they don't add colored mana so it's too inconsistent.
I played Grim Lavamancers in the main but they are too narrow. They are great in the SB though!
Ajani Vengeant isn't good enough compared to Falkenrath and Sorin.

Any suggestions? Anything I am blatantly missing?

[LMental]

I made a similar list a while back, though honestly yours looks a bit stronger. I like the addition of Falkenraith Aristocrat.

Mine was:

4 Dark Confidant
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Tidehollow Sculler

4 Lingering Souls
4 Liliana of the Veil

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Lightning Helix
4 Thoughtseize / Inquisition of Kozilek

2 Zealous Persecution

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Marsh Flats
4 Arid Mesa
1 Blood Crypt
2 Sacred Foundry
3 Godless Shrine
2 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Plains

Zealous Persecution was intended to be a sort of finisher with YP. This was all before Bitterblossom was unbanned (and therefore the Scullers were frequently switched in and out with DRS; I still don't know which was better). I think Aristocrat could serve as a better finisher than Persecution though (though I also like that ZP doubles as removal on occasion). At the least, it's a possible SB card.

[YamiJoey]

You have 21 Spells your deck doesn't work. You have mo ways of drawing cards except a Spell snarable 2/1 with no protection to go alongside your other Spell snarable 2/1 with no Protection. Add more Spells, also you die to most combo plays like Twin because you have to fuck about with Removal (specifically Path) and early game discard or else you die and they just get to play a game of Magic.

Add Spells, cut Walkers. Lili's not that great here.

[CaptainTwiddle]

Add Spells, cut Walkers. Lili's not that great here.

I agree with this completely. Lili isn't as busted in Modern as she is in other formats (Legacy). She's good, don't get me wrong, but x4 is too much. I'd still want a copy or two of Zealous Persecution in any B/W/x tokens build. It's really nice with Young Pyro too, as you can make it into a really powerful defensive combat trick (cast ZP, get a token, ZP resolves, token is 2/2, opponents creatures are -1/-1).

[ahg113]

Fan of the concept and the colors.

I'm thinking alternative win conditions here besides just token bashing. And for that I'm thinking Killing Wave(or another creature sacrifice outlet) + Blood Artist. Also, Altar's Reap seems like it has a place with the great synergy with Young Pyromancer.

For numbers, I'd take out the 3 Aristocrats, 2 Lili's, 1 Bolt, 1 Helix, 1 Souls- replace with 3 Artist, 2 Killing Wave, 3 Zealous Persecution

[danyul]

This is the best deck name ever.

I have nothing else to add.

[Qweerios]

I appreciate the replies but I wish they were a bit more constructive than that. Could you provide me with examples of spells that I should add if I am to cut walkers?

Perhaps I have had a different experience with lily as I used to play 2-3 copies and more thoughtseize and path. I quickly adopted the full playset as she was one of the most impactful cards I would often play. In modern she is most effective for her +1 and ultimate against decks like tron, scapeshift, gifts, and even storm. The edict isn't the most relevant against pod decks but it definitely pulls its weight against twins as they will spend lots of snaps and bolts to make sure she doesnt reach 6 counters. Lily is also great against boggle decks and rug.

My opinion on mainboard zp is that it is a win-more card. It is good against certain decks to get rid of x/1 creatures. I preffer sorin in the main as he provides tokens with lifelink every turn and his anthem never ends.

Sent from my GT-S5830D using Tapatalk 2

[Qweerios]

@ahg113,

I thought about Altar's Reap as well but I would rather just have Night's Whisper instead.

As much as I like Blood Artist, he doesn't do much on his own. I wouldn't play him outside of a zombardment shell with Gravecrawler and Bloodghast. The deck doesn't swarm the board with useless creatures as much since most tokens you make fly and will connect. Combined with burn, this deck has plenty of reach to finish off an opponent while Pyromancer chumps for days or becomes increasingly menacing.

Falkenrath has proven itself so far. With good knowledge of the rules, I have used her sacrifice effect to make Electrolyze fizzle, and even race Wurmcoil Engine with a couple of tokens.

[YamiJoey]

This is the best deck name ever.

I have nothing else to add.

Well we all call Tin Fins 'Playing with Children', so there's that...

[Mr. Safety]

Big necro for this thread because I've been playing a very close version of this deck with really promising results. I have no real data, but the deck feels stronger than other mid range decks right now. I discovered another 4-drop from Khans that could do a lot of damage besides Rhino, a better falkenrath aristocrat: Butcher of the Horde.

Soul Butcher aka Altar Boys 2.0

4x Dark Confidant
4x Young Pyromancer
3x Butcher of the Horde

4x Lightning Bolt
4x Lightning Helix
3x Path to Exile
4x Lingering souls
3x mardu charm (really)
3x thoughtseize
3x inquisition of kozilek
1x ajani vengeant

4x arid mesa
2x bloodstained mire
1x marsh flats
2x blood crypt
2x sacred foundry
1x godless shrine
3x lavaclaw reaches
2x swamp
2x plains
2x mountain
3x tectonic edge

Sideboard
2x wear/tear
1x engineered explosives
1x wrath of god
1x sowing salt
2x zealous persecution
2x shatterstorm
3x kor firewalker
1x olivia voldaren
2x tribute to hunger


Butcher provides big life swings with a few tokens on hand and provides a fast clock. Most games are won by grinding with souls and reaches (great mana sink) but butcher can really swing games around. Olivia is an amazing sideboard card, almost maindeck worthy. I don't have grave hate incorporated yet but I could easily bring in Rest in Peace. Stony Silence may be better than Shatterstorm, testing will tell. Affinity is kind of a cakewalk already honestly...and silence brings game against tron. The best feeling is getting three tokens for every souls with pyro, and then doing it again. Hot deck for sure.

Edit: I should explain the lack of Liliana and the inclusion of Mardu Charm. Charm is literally never dead, having an instant speed duress against twin and other combos is nice. It also deals 4 damage, another twin mode that works well and kills a lot of stuff. Finally, its another token producer that can apply pressure when needing to race. First strike hasn't come up often but it may as I test further. Liliana always fought for time. I would often rather just play pyro and another spell, or discard with removal mana up, and she would never seem to find the right window. Its not a matter of budget, I have the lilianas.

[ghostfire86]

My deck list is somewhat similar, but i've got to say that butcher of the horde is stronger in play. You'll notice that my deck design uses a lot of pain/fetch lands but incorporates lifegain in a very nice package to counteract it without hindering the deck.


4 butcher of the horde
4 dark confidant
2 Monastery Mentor
3 soulfire grand master
4 young pyromancer

4 blightning
3 path to exile
4 lightning bolt
4 lightning helix
4 inquisition of kozilek
2 magma jet

4 arid mesa
4 blood crypt
4 marsh flats
1 mountain
3 nomad outpost
1 plains
3 sacred foundry
1 swamp
1 vault of the archangel


Overall it works well. I still need to tweak a few things in it, but nothing extravagent. lingering souls is great but I think that Monastery Mentor is just a stronger card choice. soulfire grand master brings everything together by strengthening a lot of this decks weaknesses.

[Mr. Safety]

You seem rather short on cheap spells that trigger pyromancer. Souls os so good because it effectively gives you two spells to trigger pyro. One mana discard, bolt, path, these are all good stuff with pyro. Playing the deck without souls seems really sketchy. It provides so many tokens for butcher activations.