In my previous article, I talked about the changes to the Magic Online Cube with the addition of the Power Nine, signets, and bouncelands, and on the blog, I wrote about some other things like the bug that caused packs with fifteen pieces of "power" to occur as well as the new signet art.

Storm Combo seems to have evolved from a joke to a playable archetype in this iteration of the Magic Online Cube, which I’m very happy about. In this video article, I’ll go through a draft where I ended up in Boros Aggro, like I did in my last draft walkthrough video. This time it’ll be a little different since the deck has a splash.

Unfortunately, some unfamiliarity with the Magic Online Beta client and good old-fashioned auto piloting caused me to embarrassingly include a Forest in the decklist instead of a plains due to Kitchen Finks; I definitely should have caught that mistake. I also went through a short mental exercise in which I took out the aggressive cards to see if the deck could work as a Wildfire deck (it couldn’t,) so don’t think that I lost my mind by cutting the core of the deck.

I justified running "the Becker" (41 cards) because the deck felt like it was skirting the edge on creatures (thirteen, fourteen counting Koth) and lands (seventeen counting Mox Ruby and Pearl as lands but not counting Mox Sapphire with a Boros Garrison), but I likely could have gone to sixteen lands. I highly considered playing Disenchant as I typically do main, but it didn’t feel like the deck could afford the space because I couldn’t cut a creature and the noncreatures felt more important than Disenchant.

The decklist:

Boros Aggro

Usman Jamil

Test deck on 01-06-2013

Casual

Creatures (13)

• 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• 1 Jackal Pup
• 1 Savannah Lions
• 1 Grim Lavamancer
• 1 Trinket Mage
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Kitchen Finks
• 1 Hellspark Elemental
• 1 Goblin Guide
• 1 Stoneforge Mystic
• 1 Spikeshot Elder
• 1 Mirran Crusader
• 1 Zealous Conscripts

Planeswalkers (2)

• 1 Ajani Vengeant
• 1 Koth of the Hammer

Lands (7)

• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Rishadan Port
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Scalding Tarn

Spells (19)

• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Forest
• 3 Plains
• 1 Cursed Scroll
• 1 Winter Orb
• 3 Mountain
• 1 Island
• 1 Time Walk
• 1 Sulfuric Vortex
• 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1 Mox Emerald
• 1 Mox Pearl
• 1 Mox Sapphire
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Sword of Body and Mind

Sideboard

• 1 Corpse Dance
• 1 Disenchant
• 1 Wildfire
• 1 Badlands
• 1 Burning of Xinye
• 1 Restock
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Izzet Boilerworks
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Chandra Nalaar
• 1 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph

Round 1, Game 1

Round 1, Game 2

Round 2, Game 1

As mentioned in the video, I punted by playing a Plains instead of a Mountain to enable Koth. It’s worth noting that with an active Cursed Scroll, the opponent likely wouldn’t have blocked the Mountain as I had a hasty 4/4 attacking. I assume that the opponent wouldn’t have blocked due to my having an active Cursed Scroll (or near active). The opponent may have Plowed my Savannah Lions earlier due to not having that life cushion, and the Mirran Crusader likely would have gone the distance.

Round 2, Game 2

Round 2, Game 3

Round 3, Game 1

Round 3, Game 2

It feels a bit odd saying that I feel that beatdown is still the underdog in the Magic Online Cube since I’ve consecutively won with Boros Aggro decks in my recorded drafts. However, I still feel that it is the case. Either way, I hope that you enjoyed this draft walkthrough. I’ve heard people downplay how useful power is for aggro decks, so I hope that these videos—particularly round 3, game 2—showed just how nutty it can be in aggro decks.

May all of your opening packs of the 2012 Magic Online Holiday Cube contain Sol Rings!

@UsmanTheRad on Twitter
My blog featuring my cube lists: http://idratherbecubing.wordpress.com
Cube podcast that Anthony Avitollo and I co-host: The Third Power