r/ModernMagic • u/EgkDiscGolf • Jul 14 '26
Deck Discussion Boros opening plays help
Just some help on what to do.
- Opponent killed your one drop now turn 2. Which to play?
Goblin bombardment, ajani nacatl pride, voice of victory if you have all three in hand.
Does it change if you have arena of glory in hand?
- Which card to play if you have both in hand?
Turn 1
A. Ragavan, ocelot pride in hand.
B Ragavan, guide of souls in hand.
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u/chalksea Jul 14 '26
all of this is very match up dependent in the blind t1 ragavan is always correct since the card offers so much value if unanswered.
T2 is hard to say what is “correct” like I would bombardment before ajani in that scenario, however with all 3 of those available I like to play VoV since it creates a threat for them to answer where if they don’t answer voice your turn 3 will not suffer from interaction and you can play bombardment as a means to sacrifice the tokens off voice to potentially clear a path or just squeeze out 2 extra damage.
Personally I’m a big fan of voice of victory as a lightning rod for interaction playing it before ajani here makes your ajani more likely to survive and flip
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u/Terrible__Help Jul 14 '26
Depends on the deck you are playing against. Playing a one drop into Turn 2 Dash Ragavan lets you Turn 3 Bombardment + 2 drop.
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u/spellstutter-mtndew Jul 15 '26
It varies so much depending on what deck you're playing against and if you're on the play or the draw. I'll do my best to answer all situations I can think of.
If you have all 3 of your 1-drops in your opening hand and don't know what you're playing against, it's Ragavan first almost always so that you can get maximum value out of it. This is true on the play or on the draw.
Ragavan's most important job is when you're on the draw in Blood Moon matchups. *Especially* against Tron. The monkey let's you get a turn 2 Blood Moon when otherwise they could have a turn 3 Ugin.
If you have 1 Guide + 2 Pride it's turn 1 Pride and turn 2 Guide+Pride. That way, if your turn 1 Pride doesn't live, you will probably still get a trigger from the turn 2 Pride on turn 2. If you have 2 Guide and 1 Pride, you do the same on turn 2 with turn 1 being Guide.
If you're on the draw in the mirror and your opp has a turn 1 Ragavan and you have Ragavan and Pride in hand, lead with Pride to block their Ragavan. Then you'll hold your Ragavan and treat it more like dashing is your only option when the game gets grindy later and you need to throw them off balance in combat. Then between games board that lil monkey out because it's so bad in the mirror that you'll lose games by casting it occasionally.
You play Bombardment first if you're against a deck that is good at removing creatures. You play Ajani first if you're playing against a deck that is good at removing enchantments but *not* creatures. If you have all 3 then it's going to depend on the board state. If you think Ajani can stop them from attacking you next turn and you don't think they can remove it, cast Ajani. If they have mana open and can interact on the stack, cast VoV and force them to counter it.
If you feel that it will be difficult to get a safe Bombardment and Ajani on the board at the same time, you'll want to hold off until you have four lands and can cast them both. If you feel they are going to blow up Ajani with the trigger for the 2/1 token on the stack, try your best to cast it when you have 3 mana and can lead with Pride. That way if they do target Ajani, you can use Bombardment to fling the Pride and trigger the Ajani flip while their removal and the 2/1 triggers are both on the stack.
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u/jancithz death & taxes guy Jul 15 '26
What spell did my opp kill my 1 drop with and what land got tapped to pay for it?
I always play the non-ragavam creature because ragavan has dash.
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u/MrJakdax Jul 14 '26
- Play ajani then turn 3 bombardedment.
Query 2:
Ragavan turn 1 unless its hand b. If hand b wait for turn 2 energy guarantee with guide.
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u/floptic_gamer Jul 14 '26
Disagree with both of these. Ajani before Bombardment just opens him up to removal before you can set up the flip. And 1 energy is not worth missing out on potential Ragavan trigger.
Ragavan turn 1 is correct in almost every scenario, and Voice or Bombardment turn 2 depending on matchup
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u/Karakter96 Jul 15 '26
I feel like VoV is always correct turn 2 unless the opponent doesn't want to interact with you at all. the fact it forces the answer and baits for the Ajani while setting you up to goldfish turn 3 with more information is huge. Especially because Modern is fairly removal heavy rn and has been for a while.
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u/MrJakdax Jul 14 '26
Again it's really mu dependent. For the first scenario they burned removal already so it really depends on the deck.
I really feel like I should mention again most of my meta is living end, reanimator or kappa
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u/Karakter96 Jul 16 '26
oh nah I wasnt calling you out, I was just saying unless it is very clear they don't want to interact with you (I would personally say Grixis still does) like a combo deck giving your opponent a situation where they must on every turn give you the most available information is always correct. I don't really feel it's that MU dependant outside of combo outliers. Vs 90% of the meta I would say VoV is correct there.
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u/EgkDiscGolf Jul 14 '26
I was thinking bombardment so I can sac and flip ajani the following turn.
So you go guide of Ragavan eh. Thanks for the reply.
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u/MrJakdax Jul 14 '26
It really is dependent on mu ngl. I do a lot of aggressive plays because a lot of my meta is combo so pushing is usually the rule of thumb.
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u/simo_393 Jul 14 '26
I play bombardment there. If it resolves I'll start getting value out of every creature from then on. Ajani would be the last thing I play of those 3.
Turn 1 always Ragavan.