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Damn Ass Rocks: Toggo & Akiri [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH* Artifact Equip Jank Landfall RW (Boros)

mcewanquad

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Other (26)

Landfall (11)

Removal (9)

Equipcheat (3)

Cardadvantage (16)

Ramp (14)

Damage (5)

Protect (4)

Commanders (2)

Commander: altered Akiri, Line-Slinger
Commander: Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith

Big (9)

Evasion (6)

Amplify (1)

Misc (1)

Sideboard

Damage (1)

Is Boros Landfall actually a real table threat? Toggo and friends say yes.

This deck started as I was interested in a "trinkets" deck – amassing lots of artifact tokens and having cards that benefit from them, like animating them or cashing them in for damage. While most trinkets deck focus on treasures/clues/creature tokens, this one focuses on the most powerful artifact tokens of all: rocks!

What rocks have that other artifact tokens don't is incredible synergy with cards that specifically love equipment. And Akiri, Line-Slinger, as commander number 2, is a built-in monster in the late game.

If you like paying 2 mana for a 12-power beatstick, or winning with a giant dwarf army through Reckless Crew, or ramping harder than you can imagine through Inspiring Statuary, or realizing that Heavenly Blademaster is insanely overpowered, or playing some cards that will make your opponents first laugh but then groan like From the Ashes, then this deck is for you!

The fun part about this deck is that the strategy is pretty simple. Amass a good chunk of rocks, and use one of the many wincons that require rocks.

Obviously, you need to get Toggo out as early as possible to start making rocks. On new tables, this won't be a problem – no one takes Toggo too seriously, especially in Boros! They're silly. In established playgroups, like mine, I've found that even though people know Toggo is an issue, they feel hesitant to use removal on it in the early turns – plus, as a slow deck, others will likely draw more attention as you just have Toggo, maybe a supportive 2 drop or unequipped equipment, and a couple rocks by T5 or so.

Once Toggo is out, hopefully you have some landfall ready to go. Here are the landfall cards:

Lands

Cabaretti Courtyard, Terramorphic Expanse, Evolving Wilds, Naya Panorama, Warped Landscape, Shire Terrace, Fabled Passage, and – if you cracked as much MH2 as me – fetchlands like Arid Mesa are easy two-for-ones. Don't be afraid to wait till Toggo is out before playing the Evolving Wilds – this deck needs rocks!!

Ramp

A lot of our traditional ramp package relies on landfall as well, to the extent we can in Boros. Wayfarer's Bauble, Solemn Simulacrum, and Sword of the Animist are straightforward.

Conditional ramp includes Archaeomancer's Map, Knight of the White Orchid, and Loyal Warhound. I'm debating taking some of these out, as drawn later in the game they're all pretty feel-bad. Deep Gnome Terramancer is a new addition that I'm testing out.

"Creative" Landfall

Ruin Ghost nets an incredible 1 free rock per TURN, and is a major MVP if you can get it out early.

From the Ashes, similarly, is a gamechanger – if you have 4 nonbasics, it's a free 4 free rocks as the basics enter untapped, and as a 2-color deck likely hurts your opponents more than you (it's for that reason alone I threw in lands like Castle Ardenvale and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance). Demolition Field gets rid of an opponent's land and gets you a rock.

Cards like Serra Paragon, Jailbreak, and Sun Titan can bring back lands from your graveyard in addition to other value pieces. Mirran Safehouse can be flexible, and in most cases can act as a 3 mana fetchland. Lastly, Anointed Procession doubles rock triggers.

Hit your land drops

The deck runs 38 lands including MDFCs, a little higher than I normally do, because you want to hit lands every turn. The card draw package is important here, as are cards like Gift of Estates, Weathered Wayfarer, and even Boros Garrison to get lands in your hand.

Ok, so I've made a bunch of rocks. Now what?

Big Beatdowns

Akiri, Line Swinger is always there in the command zone. As long as you have 6-8 rocks out, and the usual mana artifacts and other equipment, Akiri will likely hit be in 2-hit commander damage range.

Nettlecyst, Heavenly Blademaster, and Hellkite Igniter pack an immediate punch, and Champion of the Flame and Bruenor Battlehammer can result in towering creatures, especially with one of our equipment cost reducers like Puresteel Paladin or Auriok Steelshaper.

To abuse our big beaters we have some evasion in the deck: Cliffhaven Kitesail, Wings of Hubris, Whispersilk Cloak, Prowler's Helm, and Rogue's Passage all help Akiri and co. sneak in for damage. In a pinch, or for a stunning finish, Kazuul's Fury   sacs a big boi for some face damage.

To add insult to injury, giving our creatures double strike with Reyav, Master Smith or Boros Charm keeps the threat of an alpha strike alive.

Turning rocks into damage

Reckless Fireweaver pings for all your rock creations AND regular artifact drops, which adds up quickly.

We normally don't like throwing our precious rocks, but Fiery Emancipation turns the 2 damage from a rock throw into 6, which with a lineup of creatures can make people think twice before messing with your rocks, lest you kill them at instant speed.

Fiendlash is a funny card in this deck: equip it to a big beater, and throw your rocks at your own creature to bounce tons of damage to opponents for a ridiculous finishing move.

A new addition from Assassin's Creed Universes Beyond is Eivor, Battle-Ready, which pretty much speaks for itself and slaps each opponent right off the bat.

Other silly ways to win

Kaldra Compleat is really just there for fun, and with an equip cost reducer out, can end the game fast (I once had a 24/24 Toggo with Kaldra and Nettlecyst – sometimes you don't even need Akiri!).

Reckless Crew...need I say more? Combine with Heavenly Blademaster or a Fiery Emancipation for maximum effect.

Valduk, Keeper of the Flame turns your rocks into an army of Elementals. It's ideal with the aforementioned equip reducers or Auriok Steelshaper, but even paying 1 for each rock equip is worth it.

Lastly, treasures help boost Akiri to the moon: Smothering Tithe is even better than usual in this deck, as those treasures give a major power boost to Akiri. The new removal spell Bottle-Cap Blast has the dual usage of getting you some treasures in addition to removing a creature threat.

One of my favorite parts of the deck is that a lot of the ways to gain incremental value and card advantage are extremely on-theme:

Akiri, Fearless Voyager, Puresteel Paladin, Stone Haven Outfitter, and Valakut Exploration all turn your land-to-rock machine into card draw in unique ways.

Oswald Fiddlebender and ESPECIALLY Saheeli's Directive can upgrade your rocks into equipment, ramping artifacts, and other goodies. Chiss-Goria, Forge Tyrant is a 3 drop in this deck that nets you a free artifact 90% of turns.

Esper Sentinel, Kayla's Reconstruction and War Room round out the card draw package, while Sun Titan, and Jailbreak can keep creatures on the battlefield.

Lastly, Inspiring Statuary isn't card advantage, rather it's ramp, but provides so much value from your rocks and other equipment that it really tips the scales. At the very least it allows you to use less mana on spells, allowing you to equip more rocks.

The engine speaks for itself, but it needs to be well lubricated. That means protecting your main pieces or getting attacks in in before removal turns your way.

Protection: We love Akiri, Fearless Voyager's second ability for giving our creatures indestructible, as with Koll, the Forgemaster returning them to hand. The usual hexproof/shroud providers are here, too, and add to the equipment theme: Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and Whispersilk Cloak. Offensive all-stars Boros Charm and Kaldra Compleat play defense, too, with their indestructibility gifts.

Enabling Haste: Rabbit Battery is an over-performer, alongside Boots and Greaves, and is easily fetchable with Oswald Fiddlebender. Slayers' Stronghold provides great utility as well.

The removal package is fairly standard, so I won't go through it all and just want to leave this note in terms of removal strategy.

I strongly suggest trying to hold off on throwing rocks unless you really have to. Politically, when people at the table see you equipped with rocks, especially with a Fiery Emancipation or a Basilisk Collar out, will ask you to remove every threat on the table. YOU NEED YOUR ROCKS TO WIN!! So use sparingly.

So, that's my version of the deck! Here are some other considerations for the strategy:

The dramatic land destruction and revival strategy

A big strategy others use with this deck is to use Zuran Orb, Need for Speed, or Armageddon-type effects, in combination with Cosmic Intervention, Faith's Reward, Planar Birth, or Second Sunrise to get massive landfall triggers. This seems fun too, but you need to devote a lot of card slots to it, and like what if someone has a counterspell and you've already sacced all your lands? Too risky for me.

Upgrades

There are a bunch of cards that I don't have in there purely because of their cost. But that said, there are even more options if you want to spend or have them already:

More fetches: Duh. Windswept Heath, Bloodstained Mire, etc. all work in the deck.

Other utility: Bennie Bracks, Zoologist will draw lots of cards, Indomitable Creativity would turn rocks to all sorts of good stuff.

Budget and other fun options

Most of the expensive cards in this deck (Anointed Procession, Smothering Tithe, Fiery Emancipation, the fetches) are from lucky pack pulls, so I feel you if you're not about to get the deck card-for-card! Here are some other options that are on the cheaper end, and many are good enough in their own right to mix in.

Landfall Ramp: Slow fetches like Grasslands can replace real fetches and are still pretty good! I've considered having one or two in this version. Burnished Hart is a classic that costs a lot but does net 2 lands. Scaretiller can bring back fetches (if equipped, you can throw a rock, get a rock!).

Damagers Ghirapur AEther Grid and Ingenious Artillerist can rack up major damage over time.

Splashy wincons that just missed the cut:Fathom Fleet Swordjack, which if could be reliably discarded would be powerful; Kemba, Kha Regent is a worse version of Valduk, since it's on upkeep; Thundering Raiju I really want in just for the hilarious synergy with Reckless Crew, but ultimately would fall short.

Other tech:Quicksmith Genius gets a lot of looting. Nahiri, Storm of Stone has both name flavor and acts as an additional equipment cost reducer.

Hope you like the deck, please let me know if you have any suggestions!

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98% Casual

Competitive