Salvaging Boros - A Deep Dive (1.1)

Commander / EDH Artifact Competitive RW (Boros)

CommanderTech

Artifact (23)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Nin
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Well of Lost Dreams

Land (29)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Command Tower
• 11x Mountain
• 11x Plains
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sunbaked Canyon

Creature (22)

• 1x Alpine Guide
• 1x Aurelia, the Warleader
• 1x Boreas Charger
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Goblin Sharpshooter
• 1x Goblin Welder
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Inferno Titan
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Kor Cartographer
• 1x Magus of the Wheel
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Restoration Angel
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Blood Moon
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Splinter Twin
• 1x Stranglehold
• 1x Widespread Panic

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Chandra, the Firebrand
• 1x Daretti, Scrap Savant

Commander (1)

Instant (9)

• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Final Fortune
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Silence
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Armageddon
• 1x Bonfire of the Damned
• 1x Cataclysm
• 1x Mizzium Mortars
• 1x Past in Flames
• 1x Reforge the Soul
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Wheel of Fate
• 1x Wheel of Fortune

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Introduction - Boros is often considered the weakest color combination in Commander: restrictive draws, unsustainable ramp, limited and often inconsistent tutors making it very difficult to compete against the rest. The purpose of this deck is to take a deep dive and work out the solutions for these known problems, shedding new light on this stigmatic pair.

Bruse Tarl - After taking a long look at all available commanders, the 3 that stood out the most were: Aurelia, Feather and Bruse. Feather is a great value engine but can be easily answered. Aurelia and Bruse however, can be much more resilient and threatening as they provide powerful synergy without restricting the way you build around them. Aurelia's extra combat is essentially the same as taking an extra turn for this color combination, and Bruse is the only 4 mana "titan" in the game and he lets you set up explosive turns with Aetherflux Reservoir. For this deep dive, I decided to experiment with Bruse but may change to Aurelia at a later time.

Legion's Most Powerful Weapon - In order to even the odds against powerful Commander decks and their value engines, I must first take a look at Boros' No.1 weapon of mass destruction - Land Destruction. Resource denial is one of the most powerful strategies in Magic, but it's often fronted upon by the community when deployed in a casual setting. Fortunately, the single target land destruction is never good enough in multiplayer, so I will only play the most powerful and "symmetrical" effects such as Ammaggedon and Cataclysm. I can take further advantage of these spells by casting Teferi's protection with either of them on the stack, protecting the Legion's property while watching the rest of the world burn in flames.

Infinite Combo - I'm a strong believer when it comes to infinite combo in Commander, and I will always build at least 1 big red button in case the situation calls for it. In addition to a well timed Ammageddon, this deck will make use of the good old Kiki/Zealous combo with Felidar Guardian and Twin as backup plan.

Expanding Your Influence - A great commander deck must have access to different types of ramps in the form of rocks, creatures and spells. In addition to the usual suspects, I've included Alpine Guide, Knight of the White Orchid, Boreas Charger and Kor Cartographer to pull lands onto the battlefield. These creatures can be used to provide additional value with Kiki-Jiki, Karmic Guide, Ashnod's Altar and skullclamp, making the deck more synergistic and fluid to play. There are currently 16 (counting Knight and Charger as half ramp) sources of ramp in the deck, 5 of which cost 0 mana.

I Heard You Like Value - My favorite words in magic has got to be "draw a card". Now that I've chosen my commander, established the win conditions and settled on my ramp, it's time to take a look at the card advantage. Red and White are famously bad at drawing cards, but fortunately for me there are a few powerful spells to pull me out of the gutter: Wheel of Fortune, Reforge the Soul, Memory Jar and Wheel of Fate. In addition to these extremely powerful draw sevens, I've employed Magus Of the Wheel, Mind's Eye and Well Of Lost Dreams. I will continue to search for the remaining five sources of card draw and update as I go.

Completing the Deep Dive - This is my favorite part about deck building - rounding out the deck with powerful and synergistic cards that tie the deck together. For this deep dive, I decided to add Daretti, Goblin Welder, Smothering Tithe, Dockside Extortionist, Mindslaver and Bonfire of the Damned. Most of these cards play into the sub-theme of artifacts and allow me to get additional value from my graveyard. This is very synergistic with all my wheel effects and allow me to be more flexible with my plays. Sun Titan, Inferno Titan and Etali works well with Bruse and can easily act as finishers to close out games.

Conclusion - For version 1.0, I would rate this deck 7/10. The synergy is there, the power level is there, however it still needs powerful draws and meaningful interactions against the more powerful Commander decks out there. I will refine this deck and address some of these in version 1.1.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	14 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.94
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elephant 3/3 G, Emblem Daretti, Scrap Savant, Plant 0/2 G, Treasure