Now Brewing: Iroas, God of Victory

Today Zoners I bring you a new article series that focuses just on the building blocks of deckbuilding.  Starting from either a Legendary or a card combination I have been thinking about and looking to you, our loyal readers for input and further development. my hopes for this article is to join material from both our staff and our readers.

So what's in store for us this week? it's Iroas, God of Victory. Iroas caught my attention as being a "better" Boros aggressive general than Tajic due to the evasion and protection that he grants your attackers. Getting in the Red Zone has never felt so good, let's begin.

Beating face with Iroas is a game of the quick and the furious and the first mechanic I chose to run with is Battle Cry. Hero Of Bladehold and Hero of Oxid Ridge are the two I think of when I want to get my swings in. Bladehold brings 2 1/1 friends and Oxid ridge prevents creatures with power 1 or less from blocking and with out first ace in the hole, Mirror Entity, can bring the game to a swift end. Mirror Entity is perfect for a deck that runs so low on CMC and gives you an outlet for all that excess mana that you'll have around.

An aggressive general like Iroas can get around many decks except for token production decks. If the token player can get rolling by the time you start pumping out Iroas you can lose ground and lose the aggressive advantage.

 Let's not let token decks have all the fun though, Strong low CMC creatures like Brimaz, Goblin Rabblemaster, Precinct Captain, Rakka Mar, and the previously mentioned Hero of Bladehold all give us a consistant Tactical advantage. But if you can't Get around them, Our second Ace would have to be Legion Loyalist. He seems a bit off but for 1 mana battalion trigger and devotion he provides a solid answer to a common problem in EDH.

Our second main Mechanic is Level up. A low CMC deck tends to run out of gas and top deck after turn 5, so having something to spend mana on to make better is well within this decks theme. The best four i can think of is Kargan Dragonlord, Lord of Shatterskull Pass, Student of Warfare, and Transcendent Master. Most if not all of these guys can speak for themselves in the end game result of Devotion, and red zone.

While not technically a "Level up" creature, Figure of Destiny is a Beast for this deck, Starting out he's already adding 2 to Devotion. At the end of his transformations hes a 8/8 flying first striker that adds to and upcoming card in this article, Concerted Effort.

Next step, Global Enchantment bonuses to make our weenies more meaty. Ferver, Glory of warfare, Concerted Effort, Luminarch Ascension, and Mobilization makes for a strong set of power boosting and sharing.  If you make soldiers with mobilization, they have vigilance, Concerted effort will grant vigilance to all your creatures. The same can be said with Sierra Ascendant, now they all fly. Fabled Hero or Silverblade Paladin for doublestrike,and Bloodyfray Giant for trample. Best part of these are that not only do they add to devotion to make our general a Creature, but they all want to attack anyway.

So far we have Small creatures that provide big effects when together, token production and evasion, Small creatures to spend mana on to level them up and global enchantment buffing that helps bring the victory for our God here, But what would you guys do with these building blocks? Let me know your Ideas and in a future Article i will Review some of your suggestions,

May the Top decks be ever in your Favor, JC

Iroas Building Blocks
Creatures

1. Hero of Bladehold
2. Hero of Oxid Ridge
3. Mirror Entity
4. Brimaz, King of Oreskos
5. Goblin Rabblemaster
6. Precinct Captain
7. Rakka Mar
8. Legion Loyalist
9. Kargan Dragonlord
10. Lord of Shatterskull Pass
11. Student of Warfare
12. Transcendent Master 
13. Figure of Destiny
14. Sierra Ascendant
15. Fabled Hero 
16. Silverblade Paladin
17. Bloodfray Giant

Enchantments

1. Fervor
2. Glory of Warfare
3. Concerted Effort
4. Luminarch Ascension
5. Mobilization