Introduction
Guilds of Ravnica definitely gave the Boros Legion some great cards to work with and make a killer deck. So I aimed to make a deck as aggressive as possible while still providing some insurance for late game.
Legion Lockdown
4x Fanatical Firebrand: a great aggressive one drop that can hit first and start the clock on your opponent's life total. He is also a great mentor target and won't die without stinging or killing something.
3x Healer's Hawk:This is the kind of card that pulls off some insane lifegain if we can mentor it enough. Also a one drop so this supports the aggro gameplan, and having it fly is just delicious icing on the cake with this.
4x Swiftblade Vindicator: which is one of my favorite new cards because it has 3 relevant abilities and it only needs a little investment from the mentor mechanic to really make it shine.
4x Sunhome Stalwart: a simple bear but has first strike (very relevant) and mentor, because we always want to prevent our opponent from blocking or just straight up remove it with combat tricks and because it also boosts our guys Swiftblade and Firebrand.
3x Tajic, Legion's Edge is THE key card I believe Boros really needed be a strong contender in standard. His biggest weakness is that he has 2 toughness and has insane value as not only can he attack the turn comes in, but he can mentor not only our 1 and 2 drops, but can even mentor Aurelia if she isn't using her effect to buff herself, so Tajic will have a target on his back and he will be dying. He can also gain the first strike ability from paying which, I mean, nuff said.
4x Goblin Chainwhirler: You know the face and you know the name. I don't think this guy is going anywhere in standard and Boros seems like a good home for the whirly boi. 3/3 first striker that kills tokens, pings walkers, opponents, and cripples creatures above 1 toughness. Value in spades.
2x Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice: She flies, mentors and can hand out free +2/0's to other mentoring cards (handing them vigilance or trample too) or even herself, and that's insane considering the other cards we're playing below her; have you even thought about the kind of misery your opponents have to deal with when you give a first striker trample? Even if you decide to buff herself with her ability, you still end up with a 4/5 vigilance flample, that can still mentor other creatures.
A Planeswalker Worth Playing
2x Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants: We want to make our smaller drops bigger and hit harder, so here he is. Ajani is one of the 'late-game insurance' cards I put in this deck. His plus +1 is crazy considering the mentor mechanic, as you can give counters to not one but 2 creatures. His -2 can return the one and two drops which is great for cards like Dauntless Bodyguard, who can give indestructible to other creatures. If we can ever get to ult him and get some lifelinking kitty cats, the potential with mentor is crazy.
Burn, Baby! Burn
2x Path of Mettle
: The other late game insurance that doubles up as burn, we hit our opponent's creatures for 1 just for playing this card, and every single one of our creatures in this deck will end up untouched, as they have at least one of the abilities needed to dodge the effect, so this is just great. You can potentially flip this card turn 3, and flipping it creates a countdown for your opponent where you can start shocking them on their end phases or killing creatures they attack with as punishment. THIS ABILITY IGNORES HEXPROOF, BTW! Bye bye Carnage Tyrant and Vine Mare Of course the removal has a caveat that mustn't go unnoticed, but our opponent also doesn't want to lose creatures for attacking so this is still a winning position for you. Late game, if the win is escaping us this helps with catching up.
2x Response / Resurgence: One side a strictly better Gideon's Reproach that can deal with problematic big boys (Lyra, Steel Leaf), and and another side that begs you to alpha. Removal if you're behind and a finisher if you're ahead. Why not?
3x Shock and 2x Lightning Strike: To kill threats or for combat tricks. Classic burn that gets straight to the point.
2x Seal Away: For big threats that elude the other removal spells like Ghalta, Primal Hunger or Doom Whisperer.
