rw tax - boréal
IDEAS AND DIFFERENCES?
As an aggro-combo deck, the main plan behind this deck is to deal as much damage to the opponent as quickly as you can. The deck leverages an incredibly low mana curve to out-tempo the opponent's cards, and gain maximum value from each mana spent. The deck seeks to "be the best at 1 mana," forcing the opponent to play into the land tax activations/triggers, thereby giving you more cards (lands), which you later turn into threats via Winds of Change, or simply burn them out with Land's Edge.
​It's significantly different from other aggro decks, in that it leverages the insane ability of an enchantment to draw cards. Traditionally, aggro decks only draw spells are draw 7s, ancestral recall, and possibly Braingeyser. Drawing cards is typically a mana-intensive thing to do in Old School. This deck breaks that restriction by using Land Tax to draw lands and
turn those lands into threats. It is a very difficult deck to
.webp)
master, as it involves a very large number of decisions/choices (increased decisions equals increased potential outcomes/permutations). The complexity also comes in which lands to play, and when. It's not uncommon for a savvy player to play a factory, pass the turn and watch the opponent make a land drop, then EOT taps factory to activate itself, and plow the factory, thereby triggering multiple/game-winning land tax activations in his upkeep. Generally, you will never have more than 1-2 colored mana sources in play until you are ready to win/cast Land's Edge.
The mana costs, and lands, of the cards in the deck are carefully crafted. Ironclaw Orcs is chosen, as he would allow an aggressive play such as T1: plateau, lion. T2: factory, orc. Notably, a WW creature could not fall into this play pattern, and would not present 3 attacking creatures on turn 3. Additionally, the factory is an incredible creature in this deck, as it presents a threat that must be dealt with - but by doing so, your opponent is reducing your land count, thereby potentially triggering a Land Tax activation.​
Rob Hackney's list
CREATURES
4 Icatian Javelineer
4 Ironclaw Orcs
4 Savanah Lions
​
SPELLS
1 Black Lotus
4 Chain Lightning
1 Chaos Orb
3 Disenchant
4 Land Tax
2 Land's Edge
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Ruby
2 Swords to Plowshares
4 Winds of Change
​
LANDS
1 Library of Alexandria
4 Mishra's Factory
5 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Plateau
2 Strip Mine
MEMORIES OF PLAYING IT?
Absolutely. One of my favorite interactions in the deck is Balance with Land's Edge (and I promise, about 30%-40% of the people reading this will be learning this interaction for the first time). Read Land's Edge. Now read it again, slowly. Discard "a" card: deal two damage to target player. (Also, notice that it's an enchant world - yes, it kills the abyss.) So, now that we know what the card does...one of my favorite plays/ways to win involves casting Balance, holding priority and discarding my entire hand. Usually some of those are damage/lands, and going to 0 hand size means I'll be 'Mind Twisting' my opponent's entire hand away.
Often players think they will be able to 'play under' the tax - which usually isn't possible, unless they are lucky enough to draw multiple moxen (cue disenchant). Those players learn the hard way, trying to wait it out while the Tax player gains an advantage each turn that passes. It's designed to pressure the opponent from multiple angles. Black Vise was originally included (for its synergy with tax), but later cut for the consistency of the Javelineers.
​
MATCHUPS?
It has a very fair game against almost every style of deck. It's hardest matchups are mono-colored aggro decks, that can play on the same curve or provide better creatures (protection from white, first strike) at a low mana value. It preys on decks that require a few lands in play to 'do their thing' - which is the majority of archetypes in OS. Notably, it is NOT as strong of a deck in a 4-strip environment, because you see a lot more of these fast decks that don't require as many lands in play, ie Atog.
It seeks to 'get under' the mana curve of most decks, smash in with small creatures initially, then close the door with burn and sometimes a Land's Edge finisher.
​
SIDEBOARD SUGGESTIONS?
The beauty of this deck is really in the transformational ability of it's sideboard. You have to decide, game 2/3, if you are going to be the aggressor in the match, or the removal/control player. This deck is purely an AGGRO-COMBO deck, but can easily shift post board to become more of a control-combo, through the use of Ivory towers (great life gain synergy with tax), CoP: Red, City in a Bottle (Yes - it was designed to be bottle proof), and even Blood Moon for those really greedy, expensive-manabase decks. Notably, this deck can absolutely crush shops decks (no small feat) with it's white removal. A suggested sideboard would include:
​
3-4 Ivory Tower
2-4 Divine Offering
2 CoP Red
2 City in a Bottle
2 Swords (if not on 4 main)
2-3 Blood Moon
1 Balance.​
​
source: Rob Hackney
picture: @oldschoolmtg