I was looking for some inspiration in writing about deck building recently. I decided not to wait any longer without writing about my favorite deck. My Boros deck may seem a little niche at first. Boros is already a hard enough sell for most people so try and keep an open mind. The deck has changed a fair amount in the last couple years. It was originally a vigilance enabling light stax type deck. You'll still see a bit of those holdovers now, but the deck has moved more toward blink enabled damage. I think that is one of the best ways to marry white to red. White loves its blink and flicker effects, some of the best in the game. This enables huge payoffs when it comes to enters the battlefield triggers. I get to not only gain life this way, but destroy/remove permanents and ramp. Red brings great sources of damage from ETBs. It also brings with it impulse draw. Playing from exile protects us from hand disruption and can pressure opponents in a weird way. Imagine a foe seeing you purposely and confidently allowing a powerful combo piece to stay exiled because it didn't get played that turn. They'll be forced to conclude whatever else you drew is more powerful and could be dropped at a moment's notice for the win. If you play something like that up the right way the rest of the table will have to take you seriously. Yes, this deck has a combo in it. Yes, I usually talk down on combo as a strategy. Combo becomes a sore point for players when people pair it with a ton of tutor effects or so much draw it's akin to tutoring up not only the card you want but also every card between you and it. I can't tutor up my combo. The combo does nothing by itself, it needs a third card pay off to enable the win. I have one card that can tutor up a payoff for the combo but not the combo itself. With that said, if you're a combo hating purist, I get it. You are free to hate the deck or pick it out in your own version.
With all that out of the way, let's get into the meat of the deck, and that is most certainly the blink package. The classics are certainly here, Cloud Shift and Ephemerate for single targets. Eerie Interlude spreads the effect and offers protection from mass removal. Settle Beyond Reality offers quality targeted removal attached to that blink effect. I also have Legion's Initiative. It's a one time effect on a permanent which is a little different, but it provides telegraphed board wipe protection and a decent stat boost for the price. +1 power is never something to shy away from, especially if damage is a key way to win with this deck.
Eldrazi Displacer is here too. This card had quite a cascading effect on deckbuilding. Displacer took a little finessing with the mana base to get right. I have a smattering of value lands that make colorless mana in addition to providing great payoffs. I threw one Waste in for good measure. Its listed as a basic land so now my Evolving Wilds and Teramorphic Expanse have a third option of types they can search for. Eldrazi Displacer also warped the mana base in one more way. Since I want to be able to activate the ability multiple times in a turn cycle I include Victory Chimes to enable that. Victory Chimes untaps on every turn meaning the artifact can produce 4 mana in that cycle. Even a Sol Ring only nets you 2 mana per turn cycle without resorting to other shenanigans. As the format tries to move away from 3 drop rocks I'll keep throwing this in decks instead.
Wispweaper Angel, Felidar Guardian, and Restoration Angel all blink another creature as their ETB. Felidar Guardian also has the dubious honor of doing that infinitely when paired with one of the other two. It doesn't do anything on its own, but there are several cards that if on the field when this resolves ends the game.
A lot of people have problems with Boros for its “inability to draw and ramp”. That statement has always been over blown. White is the second best color at pulling lands out of your library. Sometimes they go to the field, others to the hand. Who else is doing that? Dreamscape Artist or Mitotic Manipulation in blue? Lilliana of The Dark Realms for a swamp? Slim pickings indeed. White provides Kor Cartographer for guaranteed land, Oreskos Explorer and Keeper of The Accord to put lands in hand if someone else is ahead, Boreas Charger gives both effects. I have had the Charger draw me 5 lands on turn 4, against a Krark the Thumbless//Kydele Cosen of Kruphix deck that had an explosive start. I immediately blinked the Charger to put one into play then I let it die and did it again. Sure, I had to discard to hand size when my turn came, but my deck was thinned out and I never missed a land drop that game. The Terrain Generator I had in play also took advantage of those lands in hand and I even passed the Temur player as he obnoxiously flipped more coins. Lets get one more thing straight, you're not really ramping unless you're playing a land on your turn and another before your next turn, so making your land drop is key. Playing Rampant Growth after missing a land drop is worse than having put another land in the deck and just hitting your land for turn.
Blinking doesn't just support the ramp package, it also helps to draw cards. One of the fairest ways to do that is with the Monarch mechanic. Monarch opens games up. People start making deals for that one little card, they lean into the combat step a little more heavily, a phase oft neglected to our own detriment in modern games. Emberwilde Captain and Palace Jailer seem like an odd pair at first. The Captain not only provides the crown but burns an opponent if he tries to take it away. The Jailer removes a threat in addition to providing the crown. This exile effect does have a stipulation attached where it comes back when the crown gets passed along. This incentivizes one player to attack us, sure, but it may dissuade the other opponents if they are happy to keep that exiled threat away for an extra turn. I can also target a commander or gnarly token creature for a larger payoff. The blink effects I mentioned allow me to play rather petty with these creatures. If you hit me with one of these in play and steal the crown I will Cloudshift it before end of turn to keep you from drawing a card.
Blinking is great, but it doesn't win the game on its own. How does it get paid off? By doing what red does best, dishing out non combat damage. Purphoros and Impact Tremors are both in the list below. Each blink now nets one two or three damage, depending on which enchantment you have on the field. Purphoros is the card I mentioned before, that can payoff my unlikely combo. I can tutor it up with Thalia's Lancers. Without the combo these cards just look like persistent chip damage, more obnoxious than dangerous especially if opponents aren't keeping a close eye on life totals. One more card worth mentioning here is Outpost Siege. Boros is not known for card advantage and one of the ways red tries to address the lack of pure draw is impulse draw. Outpost Siege enables that impulse draw but I often find choosing Dragons is more important. This mode pings for one when a creature leaves the battlefield, an essential first step in blinking it. Dragons also prevents us from exiling a key blink spell when there aren't any good targets on board. But I would never fault you for not wanting to turn down more cards to play, even if it has to be on that one turn.
Famleshadow Conjuring plays nice with these pay off cards too. Make the extra token, get the extra ETB and a hasty swing at an opponent. Do it to Solemn Simulacrum for double ramp and draw.
Removal came up briefly before. To round out that part of the deck I have a couple of board wipes. I prefer ones that do more then just clear the board. Fumigate gains me life, Descend Upon The Sinful really removes threats for good and maybe leaves me a threat. I don't have a lot of recursion so I'm less hurt if something is exiled over going to the graveyard. That's the same reason I run Rest In Peace. Winds of Abandon is one of my favorite removal spells. It can be targeted removal early or I can save it to overload. Most players lose their mind at the thought of giving an opponent lands, but its not as bad as first thought. The voltron player really only gets one most games. The token player will have far fewer basics than threats, so you're removing more than you're giving. Most games, after turn 7 people have more mana than they really need most turns anyway. Great options like Wear//Tear and Invoke the Divine deal with other permanents and make good targets when Sunforger is removed from a creature. That Sunforger trick also works great with protection spells like Riot Control, Boros Charm, and even Semester's End.
The last package worth bringing up is a hold over from one of the earliest builds of the deck. The light S/Tax theme. Every time I want to add more cards I always eye them to free up space. I used to be very mindful of breaking parity in combat by making my opponents have permanents enter tapped. It also slows games down and gives me the opportunity to develop my plan a little more. Thalia, Kismet, and Blind Obedience were there to set opponents back. Storage Matrix is a favorite of mine since it makes players make tough choices with how to advance their game plan. I break that parity with cards like Helliod and Odric, Lunarch Marshal to push vigilance around and lessen that choice for myself. A mass blink effect would also reset my board and break the effect of Storage Matrix. This influenced my choice of commander too. Aurelia, The Warleader has several keywords I find relevant. She allows an extra attack step which pushes my damage based wincon through. She also untaps all my creatures after the first attack step. This negates the stax effects that hit me as well as Storage matrix. It's easy not to choose creatures in this sense because she will untap them anyway after the first combat. Commander damage is not a win con for this deck, but I have knocked a life gain player or two out with commander damage. That Legion's Initiative and Sun Forger certainly make it faster to do.
What does the deck look like right now?
Aurelia, The Warleader
Ephemerate Purphoros, God Of The Forge Blind Obedience
Cloudshift Impact Tremmors Kismet
Eerie Interlude Warstorm Surge Storage Matrix
Semester's End Terror Of The Peaks Meekstone
Whitemane Lion Outpost Siege Invader Parasite
Stonecloaker Voldaren Epicure Spirit Of The Labyrinth
Restoration Angel Dagger Caster Mindclaw Shaman
Felidar Guardian Fanatic Of Mogis Heliod, God Of The Sun
Wispweaver Angel Winds Of Abandon Battle Angels Of Tyr
Legion's Initiative Descend Upon The Sinful Thalia's Lancers
Teleportation Circle Fumigate Dire Fleet Daredevil
Eldrazi Displacer Oblivion Ring Emberwilde Captain
Charming Prince Invoke The Divine Archangel Avacyn
Settle Beyond Reality Wear//Tear Twilight Shepherd
Flameshadow Conjuring Chained To The Rocks Boros Charm
Sword Of Hearth and Home Palace Jailer Solemn Simulacrum
Victory Chimes Rest In Peace Oreskos Explorer
Boros Cluestone Vandalblast Keeper Of The Accord
Boros Keyrune Hammer of Purphoros Boreas Charger
Boros Locket Sunforger Unbreakable Formation
Deflecting Palm Riot Control
Mountain x8 Plains x15 Hanewir Battlements
Inspiring Vantage Temple Of Triumph Battlefield Forge
Needle Spires Sacred Foundry Terrain Generator
Terramorphic Expanse Evolving Wilds Myriad Landscapes
Radiant Fountain Bonder's Enclave Seraph Sanctuary
Wastes
Archangel Avacyn used to headline the deck. I liked her keywords as well as the ability to protect my board. The flip damage was useful in the strategy too. But, having her in the command zone telegraphed the flash ability to protect my creatures. I feel its better to hide her and surprise opponents. I can still blink her to repeat the effect when she's in the 99. The deck used to run Inquisitor Exarch, Goblin Dark Dwelers, and Flicker. The payoff for the Exarch was too little since it only hits 1 player. The Goblins were a little pricey. I used to get excited by the prospect of playing the creature then flashing back a Cloudshift and another effect to keep the chain going. I would need one of my payoffs like Terror of The Peaks to make it work. That was just too many pieces to justify it before, but the Dark Dwellers is always in my maybeboard to see if I can make it work. Flicker proved too slow being a sorcery so it got moved once the nostalgia wore off.
I have two cards on my radar that I haven't committed to just yet. Feather the Redeemed and Mavinda, Student's Advocate. These would stretch my blink and flicker spells even further. The staxy cards would be easy to remove for these and a couple targeted blink and flicker effects. I'm not ready for that just yet as I like slowing the game a bit and turning off hasty threats. If anything that big changes I'll let you know.
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