Boros Charm

Instant

Choose one —

• Boros Charm deals 4 damage to target player or planeswalker.
• Permanents you control are indestructible this turn.
• Target creature gains double strike until end of turn.

Combos

• Boros Charm + Worldslayer
• Boros Charm + Boros Reckoner + Whip of Erebos

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (47)

rckclimber777 on Build a Deck with Me …

3 hours ago

First a quick introduction. I've been playing magic off and on for years. When this site first started out, I was super active and then I stopped playing. I recently got back into it and plunged deep into the Commander format. I love building decks around interesting concepts and often trying to break cards.

My slightly ambitious goal is to create a series of threads that show my thought process as I build a commander deck. I figure it will serve two purposes: First, it will aid newer players who have some precon decks and perhaps are looking to upgrade them or they see a commander and want to build it, but aren't sure how. The second is purely self-motivated in that more experienced players can fine tune my own logic and make suggestions for my own improvement.

So with that, the first commander deck I'm going to build here is Ghired, Mirror of the Wilds. This is a card that begs to broken and creates for interesting and powerful decks. There are also several different lines you can choose to go with it. You can make it go infinite if you like degeneracy or don't like the people in your playgroup, or you can decide to go the way of building lots of tokens quickly and then turning them sideways and swinging.

So first things first, we need to think about what the commander actually does and what it is going to need to do that effectively. First, it says allows all nontoken creatures to tap and create tokens that I control that entered the battlefield this turn. So a couple things to point out: First is that it is tokens not creature tokens specifically, so treasures, clues, food, etc. is fair game. Secondly, it doesn't have to be my turn that the tokens came in, you can activate the ability at instant speed if you create a token on your opponent's turn. Now Ghired also is only 3 mana in Naya colors with Haste which means he's going to come down early in the game, so we'll want some other creatures out there when he comes down to start building up tokens right away.

With his abilities in mind, there are a couple things that we want to think about: Cards that create tokens, cards that double tokens, cards that untap things, and cards that do interesting things when they're tapped, example Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero, who comes down early as well, and when she is tapped I gain life and draw a card. We will obviously need to consider interaction, ramp, and card draw, but those are secondary in my thoughts. Every deck needs those, but what items you add of those often depends on what your deck is trying to do. In this case, we want to make tokens, tap creatures, make more tokens.

Token Generators

So a couple really good token generators here to start would be things that keep making them rather than one offs. In my playtesting Oltec Matterweaver is hard to beat. It comes in early (turn 2 if you can get a sol ring). When you cast a creature spell you can copy a target artifact or bring out a 1/1 gnome. Turn 1 you play a plains and a sol ring. Turn 2 you bring this out, turn 3 you bring out Ghired, creating a copy of sol ring, tap your Oltec Matterweaver and create another sol ring. You now have 3 sol rings on the field on turn 3... You are now the archenemy, congrats?

Some other standouts are Emmara, Soul of the Accord who when tapped creates a 1/1 soldier with lifelink. So tapping will actually create two tokens. Thousand Moons Smithy  ^Flip is another beast of a card. It comes down turn 4, Ghired is already out along with any other low cost creatures. Let's say you had a Birds of Paradise and Ghired when this comes down and maybe a mana rock. You create a 5/5 Gnome (2 creatures, 2 artifacts, and the gnome itself). Now you tap the bird and Ghired and create two more Gnomes. You now have 3 7/7s, on turn 4...

Honorable mentions here are things like Smothering Tithe who will create treasures each opponent's turn, tap a creature and create another. Rain of Riches, create some treasures, copy them cast something and get cascade.

Also, populate is a thing, I like Growing Ranks and Nesting Dovehawk for that.

Doublers

Ok, so doublers is a pretty easy topic, there are quite a few out there, they are expensive and honestly for this deck you don't need much. I chose a couple that I particularly like for this and by like I mean I own them and didn't have to go out and spend $50-60. Examples are Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation  ^Flip, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Primal Vigor (careful as this one applies to everyone not just you).

Untapping Abilities

Untapping abilites can make it even worse as time goes on. If you have a Seedborn Muse you untap each upkeep so they draw a card, Smothering Tithe creates a treasure, during their end step you tap your creatures creating more treasures. Untap on the next opponent's untap step, rinse and repeat.

This is also where infinite combos begin to happen. Sunstrike Legionnaire untaps everytime a creature enters the battlefield. Make a creature token, tap sunstrike legionnaire, create another creature token, sunstrike legionnaire untaps, rinse and repeat, gg. Midnight Guard works too for one mor mana. Other options include making copies of your own creatures that untap creatures when they enter the battlefield like Hyrax Tower Scout, Zealous Conscripts, Sparring Mummy. Mix that with notable salty cards like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Molten Duplication, Splinter Twin, Jaxis, the Troublemaker and you're off to infinite again. (Jaxis uses his ability, sparring mummy comes in untaps him, now Jaxis just taps to make a copy of the sparring mummy token (from Ghired) which has haste, it comes in untaps Jaxis, rinse and repeat, swing with a legion of sparring mummies)

Cards that do cool things when tapped aren't super plentiful, but the two I've mentioned already are great for this deck. (Wylie and Emmara).

Interaction, ramp, card draw

Now for the ramp, interaction, and card draw. Ramp is fairly straightforward, since we have the Oltec Matterweaver, I opted to put in some signets, but left some other stones out. Normally when I'm in green I go heavy on green ramp. I opted for cheap ramp spells like Rampant Growth, Farseek, Three Visits and Birds of Paradise (could maybe use more mana dorks since having a body later will help in producing larger tokens).

Interaction is super important in this one. Board wipes are coming, targeted removal is coming, so need to prepare, but we also need to be flexible in taking out our opponents. So to save us from board wipes, we have Heroic Intervention, the ubiquitous and hopefully soon to be reprinted (one can dream) Teferi's Protection, Boros Charm, and Smuggler's Surprise (which is heroic intervention in disguise).

Getting rid of threats is crucial, so Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares are useful, but not as useful as Beast Within, Generous Gift, and Stroke of Midnight. These obviously target more than just creatures, but also produce tokens. There are situations where a well-timed beast within on your own treasure token to create a 3/3 beast that you can copy a bunch of times is the right play. That make it not just removal, but also a token generator.

Finally, we come to card draw. Since we are producing tokens (hopefully most turns) we can include things like Bennie Bracks, Zoologist and Idol of Oblivion. I also like Welcoming Vampire for this deck. It is creature heavy so Guardian Project is great, so is Beast Whisperer and Garruk's Uprising. Esper Sentinel is always good. We already have Wylie from earlier. Getting card draw is vital to the survival of any deck and particularly this one as we need to be producing tokens regularly and you need cards to produce them. I chose to run about 11 card draw engines in the deck to ensure I'm drawing regularly.

Lands... I mean... make sure you have dual lands in the deck and triomes if you can. One noteworthy utility land is Grove of the Guardian which can have a nice payoff when you create an 8/8 with a few creatures out along with Ghired.

I'll post the deck that I built from this thought process on my page in case you want to see the final product. And if you made it this far thanks for joining me on this, I hope it was helpful. Feel free to comment on how you would do it differently or cards that should have been mentioned.

Last_Laugh on Better Ingredients, Better Vampires, Papa Eddie's

1 month ago

I have a few suggestions for ya, but not a bad start.

Reconnaissance is worth its' weight in gold here. If you're unfamiliar with the card I suggest looking it up, it's pretty busted if you know what you're doing. Long story short is attack with EVERYONE safely, deal combat damage in most situations, and untap each creature at the most opportune time (including after combat damage is dealt... both 1st strike and normal) so everyone is untapped by the end of combat.

Purphoros, God of the Forge makes it so every vamp you cast domes each opponent for 4. It also lets you run Scapegoat as a finisher instead of just as 1 mana answer to wraths (trust me when I say bouncing all your stuff back to hand is 100% worth it in response to wraths so you actually have a grip full of cards to redeploy and get eminence triggers again).

On the subject of protection, this is probably the most important support type for aggro decks and there's zero of them in the deck. Don't get caught with your pants down or that is a miserable game where you end up with no hand topdecking cards until you lose. Teferi's Protection, Clever Concealment, Boros Charm, Flawless Maneuver, and I also lump Plumb the Forbidden in this section (same logic as Scapegoat). Seriously, run them ALL... unless your meta has like 0 removal you won't regret it.

Let me know if you're picking up what I'm putting down, I have more suggestions and/or help with cuts if you want it. Also, feel free to check out my list for inspiration. Upvotes on any of my decks are appreciated. Edgar's Dega Vampires

wallisface on burn deck help to refurbish

2 months ago

9-lives if you're asking which brew you built is more competitive for modern burn, then it's going to be whichever list more-closely resembles the established list, which was you're Boros list.

I'm aware of what these red-green cards can do, I still don't think they're anywhere-near remotely playable, particularly in burn, and I've already detailed on why these cards feel unideal. But I'll give some further detail below:

• Questing Druid is just a much slower Monastery Swiftspear. Yes the stat-buffs are permanent, but its at the cost of double the mana, no haste, and an initial toughness of 1, making it far too vulnerable to the abundant number of cards that deal 1 damage (Orcish Bowmasters, Wrenn and Six, Lava Dart, etc). The card is much better suited for longer, grindier games where its adventure and stat-buffs become more relevant - it's not useful in an archetype that's hoping for the game to be over on turn-4.

• As stated earlier, burn decks never need more than 2 mana. By the time you can cast Black Market Tycoon, you already have all the mana you need to play the game. This card wastes a turn not dealing damage to the opponent, but also takes 2 full turns to create enough treasure to regain the mana you lost casting it to begin with. Burn has never had an issue with needing more than 2 lands, and so gaining treasure is largely pointless. Added to this, making treasure means this card isn't dealing damage, which means it's putting you further behind for achieving a turn-4 win.

• Atarka's Command is situationally useful in some decks, which is why it's occasionally in some sideboards - however it needs to be stressed that the card isn't particularly useful for aggressive strategies. 99% of the time if you're putting this in a burn deck, you're either doing modes 1&2 (so, just a Skullcrack), or modes 2&4 (which is probably just doing 4 damage, so a Boros Charm). Remember that competitive burn is already not running Skullcrack at the moment, so that option isn't particularly powerful. The card isn't bad, but its not particularly strong when it means splashing green instead of the much-more capable white.

At the end of the day, you've already said you're playing a deck for being creative and having fun, and so if winning isn't a factor, then play whatever you want and don't worry about it. But if you are trying to make the deck stronger, then the correct option will always be to make changes which get the list closer to the established competitive list. In that vein, changing the deck from BW to BG will have made the overall deck weaker - not having options like Lightning Helix means you'll lose any burn-vs-burn matchups, as well as a lot of other aggro-races, and not having Boros Charm means missing out on one of burns biggest damage-dealing spells.

9-lives on burn deck help to refurbish

2 months ago

wallisface certainly one more mana isn't prohibitive that much is it? If it's 2 mana cost, it doesn't impact the game too much, does it? I can cast a lot of burn spells while Questing Druid is on the field. I thought I'd add Black Market Tycoon because it is giving me mana that I can use for burn very quickly, which speeds up my game quite well at the expense of life. I think Atarka's Command is the best burn card there is. All of the capabilities it offers are great. It's only one less damage than a Boros Charm, which is significant.

9-lives on burn deck help to refurbish

2 months ago

I replaced Boros Charm, Lightning Helix, and Deflecting Palm. Switched them out with Atarka's Command, and Play with Fire. Removed Risk Factor and Light Up the Stage. Put into play Yavimaya Iconoclast and Black Market Tycoon. Got rid of Satyr Firedancer. I'm not asking if it looks fun, haha. I'm wondering if it's so-called competitive.

Worrad75 on Pia-tiful Impulse Control

3 months ago

Keeping a record of the changes I make here.

took out Surge of Salvation for Island Sanctuary

This deck can take some time to assemble a lethal board, and we need a way to dissuade attackers. Surge is a fantastic 'gotcha' combat trick, but it doesn't do much for us if we exile it at sorcery speed. Island sanctuary allows us to trade our card for turn for security; it blocks ground creatures, we print fliers like crazy so flying attackers dont typically scare us, and islandwalk will never matter for us. The card disadvantage isn't nothing, but this deck has plenty of ways to generate advantage from exile.

took out Faithless Looting for Dragon's Rage Channeler

This is simply too much value to ignore. We have 50(!!) noncreature spells in our deck. FL is in there to help generate velocity when we get stuck with our hand, but DRC simply blows it out of the water in terms of card selection. Filling our graveyard is also semi-relevant, as we run Reconstruct History, and having an extra 3/3 flier certainly contributes to our gameplan of smacking our opponents repeatedly.

took out Cursed Mirror for Loran of the Third Path

This swap is somewhat based on goldfishing impressions, which means there's a chance it gets reverted with more reps in a real pod. Cursed Mirror gives us velocity as a ramp piece (albiet at 3 mana), while offering incredible upside to copy something like a Professional Face-Breaker, not to mention your opponents creatures. The issue lies in the makeup of our deck; as currently constructed, we have only 18 creatures, and 10 of them are legendary. This makes the Mirror's upside more of a "hope your opponents have something cool to copy" rather than it's more powerful use of "get one of your effects doubled temporarily" due to the lack of available targets on our own board. While Loran doesn't ramp us, she gives us both interaction and non-exile card draw, both areas that this deck is a bit light on.

took out Cosmic Intervention for Boros Charm

Cosmic intervention was initially included due to Pia's natural synergy with fortell cards. However, the closer you look at situations in which you are likely to need Intervention, you start to realize how next-to-useless that extra Thopter is. Additionally, one of the massive upsides to Intervention is re-enabling ETB effects, which we currently only have 2 of in the deck. Boros Charm on the other hand actually manages to save our board from damage/destroy effects, while also giving us more flexibility. We have a handful of large creatures/effects that benefit from double strike (14 points of lifegain off Sephara, Sky's Blade, anyone?), and if all else fails the 4 life can be meaningful, as this deck tends to deal death by 1000 cuts. Exiling CI off the top at sorcery speed feels like a whiff; exiling BC feels the world is your oyster.

Dropping a Mountain for Land Tax

This is a bit of an experimental swap, as it's possible we actually want to leave more lands in the deck so they can be exiled off the top. This will mean in games where we have LT in our openning hand (the ideal start), we will exile fewer lands and more nonland cards. We'll be playing the lands every turn to be able to play the extra spells, but we'll also miss out on the value of playing lands from exile. That being said, there is undeniable value to be had by being a bit greedy here.

GoldenAgeBatman on "It's Good to Be King" [Mardu Vampires]

5 months ago

Last_Laugh

Thank you for the feedback! I am planning on adding Teferi's Protection as soon as I can. I realize you can play Flawless Maneuver for free if Edgar is out on the board. However, could And They Shall Know No Fear work in that role as well?

I wanted to grow my board by way of Invasion of New Capenna but I may just swap that for Purphoros now that the cost has dropped since I last built Edgar.

I completely forgot about Plumb! I'll pick that up today along with Boros Charm.

Last_Laugh on "It's Good to Be King" [Mardu Vampires]

5 months ago

Purphoros, God of the Forge domes all your opponents for 4 every vamp you cast and it makes it so Scapegoat can be used as a finisher. I also recommend more defensive cards to save your boardstate. Flawless Maneuver, Teferi's Protection, and Boros Charm are all good options. Plumb the Forbidden falls in this 'don't overextend and end up in topdeck mode" category for me as well.