Preview season for Gatecrash is just starting, but I'm already itching to play with my favorite Ravnica guild: the Boros Legion. The first official preview for each guild went up last week, and in my extremely biased opinion, the Boros won hands down. Firemane Avenger is a promising tool for Boros beatdown decks, and I've already put one together to give it a try.

"Boros Humans"

• Creatures (30)
• 3 Firemane Avenger
• 3 Splatter Thug
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Gore-House Chainwalker
• 4 Kessig Malcontents
• 4 Knight of Glory
• 4 Precinct Captain
• 4 War Falcon

• Spells (7)
• 3 Rally the Peasants
• 4 Searing Spear

• Lands (23)
• 12 Plains
• 7 Mountain
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Hanweir Watchkeep
• 4 Loyal Cathar
• 2 War Priest of Thune
• 2 Electrickery
• 4 Rest in Peace

Buy This Deck

The Creatures

War Falcon is the other 1-drop in the deck, giving you a second way to attack for 2 or more damage on turn two. With twelve Soldiers and Knights in the deck, all of which cost 2 mana or less, the Falcon shouldn't have any trouble making it off the ground. Although there will inevitably be times when War Falcon can't attack, the extra damage potential provided by flying more than makes up for it.

Knight of Glory allows Champion of the Parish or War Falcon to attack for 3 on turn two, giving you a nice head start in the push to drop your opponent's life to 0. Protection from black also helps you deal with the powerful creatures of decks such as Rakdos aggro, and exalted allows the Knight to add damage to the board without attacking and leaving you vulnerable.

Precinct Captain requires you to have a bit of luck to generate on turn two, but fortunately, its first strike helps it continue to be relevant even when played on turn three or four. Unfortunately, the tokens it makes when it hits don't trigger Champion of the Parish, but they do make sure War Falcon can still attack if the Captain dies. They also help provide Firemane Avenger with the two other attackers it needs to trigger its battalion ability, and it makes Rally the Peasants significantly more dangerous.

Gore-House Chainwalker is nothing fancy, but it does give you 3 power for 2 mana, helping you get off to a more aggressive start. It's big enough to trade with Centaur Healers and Thragtusks while also being cheap enough to sneak in before Dissipate comes online. The Chainwalker is a card I've been a fan of since Return to Ravnica's release, and lately, it has finally been seeing the love it deserves in aggressive red decks like this one.

Splatter Thug doesn't give you any more power than Gore-House Chainwalker for the extra mana, but the third point of toughness does let it dodge Pillar of Flame and Izzet Charm. The real selling point, however, is first strike. A 3-power creature with first strike kills a lot of things in this format. Centaur Healers, Thragtusks, Beast tokens, and even undead Geralf's Messengers can be slaughtered by the Thug without a second thought, and combined with a timely Searing Spear, it can take down nearly any creature in Standard.

Firemane Avenger leads your army from the sky, flying over blockers with ease. Battalion is very easy to trigger in a deck that's half creatures, and the Avenger's ability can be used to clear the way for the other two creatures you're attacking with. You can also aim the ability straight at your opponent, making the Avenger essentially attack for 6 damage. Against other aggressive decks, the 3 damage can be used to get rid of a potential attacker, and 3 life can help you stay ahead when racing.

Kessig Malcontents can deal quite a bit of damage right off the bat as long as you have a few Humans already on the battlefield. It helps you close out games when you're having difficulty pushing attacks through your opponent's defenses. Although rather fragile with only 1 toughness, its 3 power combined with the enters-the-battlefield ability means it has the potential to cause your opponent a lot of pain.

The Support

Searing Spear clears the way for your army of Humans, removing a creature that might be able to trade with your best attacker, allowing you to get in quite a bit of damage over the course of the next two or three turns. Once you're close to killing your opponent, the Spear can be turned at the opponent for the last few points of damage, letting you finish off the game after a board wipe without having to rely on creatures surviving until your next turn.

The Sideboard

Loyal Cathar replaces Searing Spear against control, turning your deck into a nearly mono-creatures monstrosity. With the sheer number of threats in the deck, your opponent will have an extremely difficult time halting your assault. Loyal Cathar aggravates this even more since it leaves you with an attacker ready to go after a Supreme Verdict clears the board.

Rest in Peace has one job and one job only: Make life extremely difficult for people playing Unburial Rites. It does that job very well.

War Priest of Thune and Electrickery help out against token-based decks, a matchup I think this deck would normally struggle in. The Priest gets rid of Intangible Virtue while adding another threat to the board, and Electrickery murders Lingering Souls tokens like it's going out of style. Combined, they greatly improve your odds in what can be a difficult battle.

Play-testing

Five-Color Control – Game 1

My opponent played Hinterland Harbor and cast Farseek, fetching a Hallowed Fountain. He passed the turn, and I drew a War Falcon. I attacked for 1 with Champion of the Parish, cast the Falcon, and played Evolving Wilds. I ended my turn.

My opponent played an Isolated Chapel, cast Lingering Souls, and passed the turn. I sacrificed Evolving Wilds for a Plains during his end step and drew another Champion of the Parish. I cast it and attacked with the first Champion and War Falcon. The Falcon traded with a Spirit token, and my opponent took 2. I played the second Evolving Wilds and passed the turn.

My opponent played an Overgrown Tomb tapped, then flashed back Lingering Souls and ended his turn. I cracked my Evolving Wilds, finding another Plains. I drew another Plains, played my Mountain, and cast Splatter Thug, unleashing it. I attacked with my Champions, and my opponent blocked them with Spirits. I ended my turn.

My opponent played a Temple Garden and cast Curse of Death's Hold. He passed the turn, and I drew Knight of Glory. I attacked for 1 with Precinct Captain, played the Mountain, and ended my turn.

My opponent cast Lingering Souls and passed the turn. I drew Gore-House Chainwalker, cast it unleashed, and passed.

My opponent attacked for 2 with the Spirit tokens, then cast Terminus and ended his turn. I drew Firemane Avenger, cast it, and passed the turn.

My opponent played a Temple Garden, flashed back Lingering Souls, and passed back. I drew a Mountain, played it, and ended my turn.

My opponent cast Huntmaster of the Fells, gaining 2 life and making a Wolf token, then ended his turn. I drew a Plains, played it, and cast Knight of Glory.

I ended my turn, and my opponent cast Garruk, Primal Hunter. With a win condition I couldn't stop on the board, I conceded.

Sideboarding:

−4 Searing Spear

−2 Knight of Glory

+4 Loyal Cathar

+2 Electrickery

Game 2

I drew Firemane Avenger, played my Mountain, and cast the Chainwalker, unleashing it. I attacked for 2 with Champion of the Parish and passed the turn. My opponent played a Cavern of Souls naming Beast and cast Farseek, fetching a Hallowed Fountain. He ended his turn.

I drew a Mountain, played my Plains, and attacked with both creatures. I cast Rally the Peasants before damage and dropped my opponent to 9. I passed the turn. My opponent played an Isolated Chapel, cast Lingering Souls, and passed back.

I drew a Plains, played my Mountain, and cast Firemane Avenger. I ended my turn. My opponent paid 2 life for an untapped Temple Garden, then cast Thragtusk, going up to 12. He passed the turn.

I drew Champion of the Parish, played my Plains, and attacked with both creatures. My opponent cast Ultimate Price on Loyal Cathar, transforming it, and took another 3 from the Avenger. I played my Champion and passed the turn. My opponent cast Curse of Death's Hold, killing Champion of the Parish and Unhallowed Cathar. He ended his turn.

I drew another Firemane Avenger and attacked with the first, dropping my opponent to 4. I cast the second Angel and passed the turn. My opponent played Hinterland Harbor and passed back.

I drew Splatter Thug and attacked with Unhallowed Cathar, trading with a Spirit token. I cast the Thug unleashed and ended my turn. My opponent played Kessig Wolf Run, then cast Detention Sphere on Splatter Thug and cast Farseek for an Overgrown Tomb. He ended his turn.

I drew Kessig Malcontents and passed the turn. My opponent played an Overgrown Tomb and passed the turn.

I drew Splatter Thug, cast it, and cast Kessig Malcontents to finish off my opponent.

Game 3

My opponent played a Temple Garden and passed back. I drew a Mountain, played my Plains, and cast the second Champion. I attacked for 2 with the first, then cast War Falcon and passed the turn.

My opponent played Dragonskull Summit and cast Chromatic Lantern. He ended his turn. I drew a Plains, played my Mountain, and cast Gore-House Chainwalker. I attacked with everything for 7 damage and passed the turn.

He played an Overgrown Tomb and cast Garruk, Primal Hunter. He made a Beast token and passed the turn. I drew Electrickery, cast Loyal Cathar, and attacked with everything, killing a Beast with Firemane Avenger's ability. The second Beast traded with Champion of the Parish, and my opponent dropped to 3 from the other creatures. I ended my turn.

My opponent played Sulfur Falls, cast Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, and made another Beast before passing the turn. I drew a Mountain and attacked with everything. Firemane Avenger's ability hit my opponent for 1 before being taken out by Gisela, and the Beast token crushed Gore-House Chainwalker. However, War Falcon and Loyal Cathar got in just enough damage to finish him off.

Wrap-Up

This deck is pretty fast, and although the deadly anti-aggro combination of Lingering Souls and Supreme Verdict does cause problems, the sideboard helps you mitigate these issues significantly. Firemane Avenger did some good work here, and it will be interesting to see if it sees the spotlight in the upcoming season. If you're a proud member of the Legion or if you just want an aggro deck that's a bit different than the standard fare, give this list a shot.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, you can find me on the forums under Twinblaze, on Twitter under @MTGCannon, or simply leave a comment below.