pie chart

Tyrolean Iroas

Commander / EDH Aggro Bracket 3 RW (Boros)

lil_cheez

Upvote 0
0

Lands (37)

Mana Rocks / Ramp / Land Tutors (10)

Stronger (12)

Removal / Wipes / Area Damage (11)

Better (5)

Faster (5)

Commander (1)

Commander: Iroas, God of Victory

Card Draw / Selection / Impulse (11)

Harder (8)

Maybeboard

Draw and Rummaging (8)

Removal (4)

Tokens (2)

Shenanigans (8)

Enhancers (2)

Ramp and Land Tutor (2)

Double Trouble (1)

Anthem (4)

Land (4)

Haste (2)

Triple Trouble (2)

Boros smash!

This is my pet deck and it means very much to me, but I realized that it is just casual and I'll let the cuttroath work to other ones.

Main idea is to play creatures that make each other better at combat and then attack ruthlessly all opponents until there's nothing left.

Our commander and god of the deck is Iroas, God of Victory. Iroas enables aggro in commander in a way that is rare to see.

Iroas brings two abilities that are fundamental to our strategy: Menace and Hope.

Menace means that our creatures will almost always be unblocked, be it because our opponents just won't be able to, or be it because it won't be worthy (for exeample, they would have to risk two value creatures).
If being "almost always" unblocked is not enough, we can add more keywords to the mix, like trample and flying.

Hope (Prevent all damage that would be dealt to attacking creatures) means two things. First that we can attack ruthlessly, because our creatures will likely just survive the combat (unless combat tricks and bouce effects are involved, of course, so calculate the risks). Second, that we can turn damage that would be dealt to our creatures during combat in an edge against our opponents, like assymetrical wipes.

The fact that the combat phase is our kingdom opens up the possibility to trigger lots of "whenever this creature attacks" and "whenever this creature deals combat damage" abilities.

Usually we'll be playing a creature before Iroas, so that creature can heal from summoning sickness and attack under Iroas effigy to start generating value.

Bringing the devotion up to seven to make Iroas able to attack is not a priority of the deck, but it must be always looked, because when Iroas attacks, he hits like a truck. I am always looking for cards that can bring more devotion to the deck than cards already in, like artifacts, wich I keep only the absolute necessary amount.

Iroas of course has a weakness that is the "sleeping" in case of not having enought devotion. This could happen with a well timed removal spell or after a board wipe. If so, just keep attacking with outher creatures, try and rebuild, and keep your head up! (Also exiling enchantment spells hurt a little, thankfully his mana value is low).

So, this is it, I hope this explanation made you somewhat more interested in my favorite commander! I think Iroas is way overlooked for what it does, even by Boros afficcionados.

Let's make the lives of our opponents HARDER with board presence, control, shenanigans and recursion:

Archangel of Tithes: Make blocking difficult, and with Iroas' Menace, even more;
Cyclops Gladiator: Blow up some opposing creature, but because of Iroas' protection, it will always survive!
Grand Abolisher: My turn is sacred! Keep your countermagic and removal in your hand!
Hanweir Garrison  , Hero of Bladehold, Leonin Warleader: Pop tokens on attack! Make a board ASAP!
Hofri Ghostforge: Boros Mikaeus;
Sun Titanfoil: Reucursion machine in Boros, get back lands and utility cards.

Make our creatures better with keywords!

Angelic Field Marshal: Vigilance to the team let's goooo
Archetype of Aggression: Trample to the team let's goooo
Iroas, God of Victory: The god and commander of this deck, it enables aggro like you've never seen before!
Legion Loyalist: Secret anti-token tech;
Soulbright Flamekin: Gives trample to creatures and also works as some weird mana ritual;
Victory's Herald: Flying combined with Iroas' menace almost always is just unblockability, and lifelink buy us some time.

Note: As trample is a redundant keyword, I try and make that the enablers also have a secondary function (even if that function is as simple as attacking/blocking)

Hit'em hard and hit'em fast!! Haste enablers!

Anger: Angry potato will accelerate the team! Just be sure you have a mountain tho;
Cavalier of Flame: Haste, team fire breathing and leaves a present when it goes, what is not to like?
Duke Ulder Ravengard: Haste is good enough, Myriad is gravy;
Ogre Battledriver: Pumping is good baby! Goes hard with tokens;
Urabrask the Hidden: Adds a little of control/stax to the mix;

Note: As haste is a redundant keyword, I try and make that the enablers also have a secondary function (even if that function is as simple as attacking/blocking)

Make our creatures bigger and scarier with anthems, double strike, double damage, double combat, double trouble in general!

Angel of Jubilation: Anthem, nice devotion, and keep sac decks at bay;
Angrath's Marauders: Damage doubler!
Aurelia, the Warleader: What about second combat phase?
Balefire Liege: Decent buff and Bolts and Salves on cast!
Blade Historian: Double strike enabler with 4 devotion
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: This porcelain lady is a pain to deal with and wrecks small creature decks alone
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: Double for you, half for me!
Gratuitous Violence: DOUBLE THE DAMAGE
Hero of Oxid Ridge: Battle Cry and additional evasion agains token decks
Nobilis of War: Neat buff and 5 devotion
True Conviction: Double strike enabler and lifelink to stabilize
Waves of Aggression: I paid a pretty penny for this card, so reprint incoming. Jokes aside, works neatly with Land Tax!

Note: As double strike is a redundant keyword, I try and make that the enablers also have a secondary function (even if that function is as simple as attacking/blocking)

The removal package here is not very strange, I try and use spells that are mana efficient OR that can hit more than one target. There are some spicy ones, too:

Arcbond: Just wait blockers to be announced, cast this thing targeting who blocks your biggest creature, and have an awesome asymmetrical board wipe, because Iroas will prevent the damage to the team! (You'll also get a blast in the face, just don't die to it!)
Cast Out: Simple Oblivion-Ring-like removal, it is versatile and adds devotion, I don't use much of these because they are reversible, but this one makes the cut because of flash and cycling.
Cavalier of Dawn: Removal stapled to recursion, with 3 devotion, what is not to like? You can also make it blow up itself in a pinch for instant recursion
Crush Contraband: Exiling removal that hits two things, almost always relevant
Generous Gift: Gets any target, even pesky lands, and the token it leaves is negligible
Path to Exile: Efficient creature removal
Return to Dust: Exiling Removal that can hit one or two targets depending on the timing, pretty good.
Starstorm: Another one to cast in middle of combat, cycling is cherry on top
Swords to Plowshares: Efficient creature removal
Wear / Tear: Good removal that can get two targets or be mana efficient early game
Winds of Abandon: What if Path to Exile and Plague Wind had a child?

Who said Boros can't draw cards?
Well, actual drawing is somewhat fringe, but there are other types of card advantage and selection:

Etali, Primal Storm: Can't draw cards from your deck? Draw from your opponents!
Furious Rise: Ferocious impulsive draw
Hazoret's Monument: "Ramps" red creatures and offers rummaging, pretty good
Mask of Memory: Pretty good drawing rate, we usually are able to hit someone to get some drawing.
Count on Luck: "Red Phyrexian Arena", sort of (three devotion is nice)
Plargg, Dean of Chaos  : Rummaging early and later does a kind of Polymorph thing. If not needed can be played as Augusta, Dean of Order   for an anthem/pseudovigilance effect.
Rogue's Gloves: Deal damage, draw a card. And we WILL BE DOING damage;
Sensei's Divining Top: Not actual draw but helps us to sculpt our hand
Tectonic Giant: Impulsive drawing on attack or shock if the game feels like it is ending;
Aurelia, the Law Above: Made for this deck, brings two devotion, attacks as soon as possible, draw cards on Battallion!
Treasure Map  : Scry and get treasures until it transforms into a machine that turns treasure into draws. Pretty good with Smothering Tithe and Professional Face-Breaker.

Nothing too fancy here (ok Land Tax and Smothering Tithe are a little fancy), just ramp mana or get lands to keep the flow going.
Might cut one of these to go up a land.

Boros Signet: Classic, basic, useful.
Burnished Hart: Gets actual lands into play and can be Sun Titan'd back to play
Professional Face-Breaker: Spits out treasure tokens and even gets to turn them into impulsive-draw
Hedron Archive: Two damned powerful draws late game!! #HedronArchiveGang
Land Tax: Not ramp per se but help us to get lands and smoothes our draws a little. Discarded lands can be Sun Titan'd back and Cavalier of Flames our opponents' faces
Mind Stone: Efficient mana rock that pops to grants us a card, it is the little things.
Smothering Tithe: This card is the closer this deck gets to a war crime, you know what you did, Tithe.
Sol Ring: Because Sol Ring
Sword of the Animist: We'll be attacking anyway, why not ramp along the way
Talisman of Conviction: Boros Signet number two

They generate mana and some of them do thingys.

Arch of Orazca: FIVE MANA TO DRAW A CARD LET'S GO BOROS
Battlefield Forge: Double Boros Land
Boros Garrison: Double boros land, also #BouncelandsAreCoolGang
Clifftop Retreat: Double Boros Land
Command Tower: Double Boros Land
Dust Bowl: Is our choice to land removal
Evolving Wilds: Poor man's fetchland #1
Hanweir Battlements    : Haste enabler and also can be an Eldrazi enabler;
Needle Spires: Double Boros Land, this one can also punch people in a pinch
Rogue's Passage: Unblockability is always sweet
Rugged Prairie: Double Boros Land
Sacred Foundry: Double Boros Land
Slayers' Stronghold: Some boost and keywords are good
Spinerock Knoll: Hidweaway land that can easily be activated with our own combat damage
Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion: Double Strike is neat
Temple of the False God: Cry in your bed, Mana Crypt
Terramorphic Expanse: Poor man's fetchland #2
Windbrisk Heightsfoil: Hidweaway land that can easily be activated with our own attacking creatures
War Room: Untapped land that can draw some cards if needed for a negligible cost
Mystic Peak  : A free slot-in being a "bolt land". Pinnacle Monk   is useful as a recursion play, also brings devotion to the battlefield.
The number of basics are good enough to keep the deck flowing, to be tutored by Land Tax and co., etc. This number could go up or down as I adjust the lands and ramp packages.

Out: Angelic Field Marshal (Considering), - In: Phyrexian Vindicator
Phyrexian Vindicator has a pretty fun effect and brings in four devotion to wake up Iroas, but I don't know what she'll be replacing, maybe Angelic Field Marshal for being a flyer in the same CMC, but I'm afraid I'll miss the team Vigilance, so I'm not sold yet.
(If I control both Phyrexian Vindicator and Iroas, I can choose what "prevention" effect will kick in, they do not nombo)

Out: Ogre Battledriver (Considering), in: Enduring Courage
This puppy is basically an Ogre Battledriver with undying, but it dies to enchantment removal, so I'm still pondering if the change is worth it.

Out: 1 Plains, in: Witch Enchanter  
Witch Enchanter is just a good card

Out: Arch of Orazca (considering), in: City of Brass
The intention is to go down on colorless lands as they are kind of an issue in a heavy devotion deck. I don't think Arch of Orazca is very necessary as it once was, so it is being considered for the cut. City of Brass is just a good land that I happen to own, it could be another untapped Boros land to do the job.

I think this deck falls in Bracket 3 because it has some fine synergies and really packs a punch, I'm bringing only one game changer card in Smothering Tithe.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Right in your face — April 28, 2025
Edit

Out: Captain Lannery Storm, In: Professional Face-Breaker
Same CMC and they both produce treasure via combat, but Face-Breaker has an impulsive drawing option that is very relevant. She does not have haste, but triggering with any creature might cover that up.

Out: 1 Mountain, in: Pinnacle Monk  Flip
Pinnacle Monk is not exactly synergistic with the deck is doing, but a red Archaeomancer is useful, brings two devotion wich is relevant, and is basically a free inclusion being a "bolt land".

Get Lucky — April 9, 2025
Edit
A little Update — Feb. 27, 2025
Edit
A little more card draw, sort of — Jan. 27, 2020
Edit
Abolisher (of the Grand quality) — Jan. 7, 2020
Edit
An Evasive Update — July 2, 2019
Edit
Small update — June 19, 2019
Edit
Actual Current Decklist — May 22, 2019
Edit

Comments

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

92% Casual

Competitive