MTG Salvation

Hello, I recently started playing magic again (I learned how to play in 2012 during Dark Ascension) and I was wondering if I could get some opinions on how to improve my current commander build:

Don't take this as too critical please, but your deck is all over the place and not focused.

First, you have only 34 lands, but many of your cards cost 6 and 7 mana. This probably will not work. I would run 36 or 37. Plus lands that produce colorless like Seraph Sanctuary, Slayers' Stronghold and Crystal Quarry are going to feel REALLY bad when you draw them early and you need double red or double white.

You don't have much ramp either, only Chromatic Lantern, Sol Ring, Smothering Tithe and Sword of the Animist. Sword and Tithe are amazing but what if you don't draw them? At least add Boros Signet, Tithe, Boreas Charger or something. Thaumatic Compass is great for this type of deck.

I don't think Najeela is the right commander for this deck. Najeela seems best when you have many small warriors. Instead you have tons of large creatures that will only come down one at a time. Also very few are Warriors - only Neheb, Archetype of Aggression, Secure the Wastes and Oketra's Monument. Also, Najeela's 5-color ability will be very tough to use unless you find Chromatic Lantern. If you want to get multiple combat steps, just use Aurelia as the commander or play Aggravated Assault.

You have a lot of Fog effects to protect you, but with Boros you should be dealing out damage, not sitting back and being defensive.

Wake of Destruction is an odd choice unless some guy has a mono-colored deck you want to cripple. If you need to destroy the occasional problem land, just use Strip Mine or Wasteland.

It's cool, I'm not offended at all. I kindly disagree because this deck is focused on defending myself while building an army of tokens. Almost every creature is either meant to produce tokens or help out other creatures on my side of the field.

I used to have more lands in this deck, but I always got more mana than I needed while playing. I have had the colorless scenario happen to me before, but not often.

You also forgot about Land Tax, Pearl Medallion, Oketra's Monument, & Chandra, Torch of Defiance to assist with mana ramp lol. But I was actually considering putting Thaumatic Compass in this deck at one point. I don't have any of the other cards you mentioned, aside from Boros Signet. But I already have Rugged Prairie in my deck, so I didn't see the need for adding another one.

Najeela is only my commander because I needed her color identity and she produces tokens on her own. I don't focus on the warrior aspect too much because I don't want my deck to rely on it. I originally had Archangel Avacyn as my commander, but wanted to add Westvale Abbey, so I changed it to Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. Najeela only replaced her because I also wanted to add in Shalai, Voice of Plenty. As for her ability, I have Chromatic Lantern, Cascading Cataracts, & Crystal Quarry.

The Fog effects are there to protect me while I build up my mana in the early game.

Wake of Destruction is just a card I threw in to help out with group games. I always target the basic land type that's being used the most on the board. That is the main reason I use the snow-covered basic lands.

I think that fog effects are generally not worth it unless it’s repeatable like Constant Mists or Glacial Chasm.

Additionally, I think the strategy of “building up your forces” over the course of multiple turns is generally a weaker strategy than exploding out 10+ tokens with haste at once. One board wipe and you’ve probably lost the game.

Finally, I think Boros has been repeteadly shown to be the absolute worst color combination. I know you have access to all colors, but you’re still playing basically a Boros deck. I’d recommend a commander change to something like Gahiji, Honored One who will give you green for Shalai, while also being a commander that works much better with tokens. Then add in some more green cards to replace some of your least impactful red and white cards.

The fog effects have actually saved me on multiple occasions and allowed me to gain the upper hand in certain circumstances.

I agree that my strategy is slower, but I have a few things in there that allow recovery or protection from board wipes (Requiem Angel, Teferi's Protection, & Assemble the Legion are a couple of examples)

That bit of trivia is actually what inspired me to create this deck. I wanted to try and build on the strengths of both colors and try to make a Boros deck that could do well against the other Ravnica colors. I also prefer two colors over three, that green wouldn't allow me to use Westvale Abbey. Besides, if I wanted that ability, I would just use Nobilis of War lol.

Deflecting Palm? Bleh. How about comeuppance instead? If you're going to run a fog effect, this is arguably the meanest one you can run.

That is a ton of instant speed targets. Where is your sunforger?

For a deck that is about making tokens, I see a disturbing lack of some really good ones. Namely, white sun's zenith, decree of justice, kjeldoran outpost, etc. If your plan revolves around getting a divine visitation to make the little tokens big and scary ( a fine plan, I might add) then I would really suggest adding white tutors to go find it such as plea for guidance, enlightened tutor, and idyllic tutor.

Why Neheb, the eternal? It's an excellent card, don't get me wrong, but I don't see you using any ways to abuse the post combat mana. On his own, he hardly seems helpful.

I like that comeuppance includes Planeswalkers as well, but Deflecting Palm is cheaper mana and I think I prefer the damage being redirected at my opponent rather than their creature.

I actually do have a Sunforger, but I wasn't sure which equipment I should replace in order to include it in the deck.

Those are some pretty good card suggestions. I'm actually gonna go ahead and buy a Kjeldoran Outpost whenever I get the chance and throw it in. If I'm going to throw in a Sunforger, then I think I'd only include the Enlightened Tutor.

Neheb in only in there because he's a warrior and will trigger my commander's ability whenever he attacks. His ability is something I mainly use to summon additional creatures during my postcombat main phase.

The equipment slot to replace is easy. Replace Godsend. Godsend might seem good, but sunforger offers you much better options.

Neheb is cool and all, but even if he is a warrior, well, frankly he is too expensive for what you're trying to do, in my opinion. Najeela really only needs herself to generate those warriors.

If you want to keep deflecting palm, I still think comeuppance deserves a slot. Replace holy day with it, perhaps? Nuking some problematic creatures while also fogging is pretty good, I think.

You may consider putting in Brimaz, king of oreskos

Shalai is illegal in this deck due to her color identity. Weathered Wayfarer would do you well here. Also as others have said, 36+ land is a must and some rocks. For reference, this is my Boros EDH with a bunch of accelerants https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/you-are-going-to-get-these-hands/

While he is claiming to be mostly a boros deck, najeela has a 5 color identity. shalai is perfectly acceptable.

Quote from weltkrieg »

While he is claiming to be mostly a boros deck, najeela has a 5 color identity. shalai is perfectly acceptable.

You are correct. I forgot Najeela's text box

Quote from weltkrieg »

The equipment slot to replace is easy. Replace Godsend. Godsend might seem good, but sunforger offers you much better options.

Neheb is cool and all, but even if he is a warrior, well, frankly he is too expensive for what you're trying to do, in my opinion. Najeela really only needs herself to generate those warriors.

If you want to keep deflecting palm, I still think comeuppance deserves a slot. Replace holy day with it, perhaps? Nuking some problematic creatures while also fogging is pretty good, I think.

That makes sense to me, I just like Godsend because it can be used to exile indestructible creatures.

Maybe you're right about Neheb, I could probably include something else in that slot that would benefit the synergy of the deck better.

I think you may have a point. Even if the mana is doubled, comeuppance definitely provides more benefits than deflecting palm

Quote from Ruirui1983 »

You may consider putting in Brimaz, king of oreskos

I actually considered doing this, but I may go with Hanweir Garrison instead.

Quote from justavictim82 »

Weathered Wayfarer would do you well here. Also as others have said, 36+ land is a must and some rocks.

I opted for Land Tax rather than Weathered Wayfarer because it's better and doesn't require me to spend mana in order to use it. I have sol ring, chromatic lantern, & pearl medallion to assist with my mana. I was considering adding more lands into this deck, but I would first need to figure out what to remove.

So I have taken the advice I've received from these comments and composed this updated decklist:

I think this deck looks a lot better. I would still be worried a little about your mana. I count 35 lands, a smothering tithe, chromatic lantern, and sol ring as direct mana with land tax, expedition map, pearl medallion, and sword of the animist on assist? In a boros deck, I usually try to aim for 46 to 48 mana sources. Usually you need the mana pretty bad when all your stuff gets blown up.

Chandra, Torch of Defiance also assists with mana ramp. Maybe I should replace something (Vexing Shusher?) with a Boros Signet or Inspiring Vantage to have another mana source?

If it were me, I would consider vexing shusher, ghostly prison, dragonmaster outcast, and potentially brave the sands to replace with mana sources. These seem the worst cards in your list that don't seem to have much synergy to the rest of the deck.

I don't understand most of this deck.

It's a boros deck with a token theme... that only has 11 token producers... and is built for a super-long game in spite of typically being a speed-based archetype.

It's a deck based in the colors that are worst at getting mana... but doesn't use all of the mana acceleration available to it... and relies on a heavy curve (6+).

It is helmed by a commander that is famous for having its own strategies and combos... that is being used for the sole purpose of letting you run two nonessential cards in your boros deck.

If you just want a rating, this does not seem to be a very good deck. While you indicate that all of your fogs and defensive cards have saved you multiple times, it seems possible that this is a self-fulfilling phenomena. If you had replaced your defensive cards with more mana acceleration, for example, you might have had a more advanced board state that doesn't require a fog at all.

Personally, I don't know what your meta looks like. It's possible that you only play against insanely efficient token decks, voltron decks, and xanagos (in which case the fogs make sense). Otherwise, improving your deck may involve "killing your darlings" and doing some combination of the following.
1. Removing your two "off-color" cards and focusing on your token build.
2. Replacing your fogs and entirely defensive cards with aggressive cards or even wraths (Martial Coup and Hour of Reckoning come to mind)
3. Abandoning your "boros" theme and embracing the five colors of Najeela (Druids' Repository is an obvious combo with Najeela, for example)
4. Abandoning the high mana curve and looking to other boros token decks for direct inspiration (Here is a deck I found right away that recommends key token cards such as Mentor of the Meek, Impact Tremors, Odric, Master Tactician, Frontline Medic, Cathars' Crusade, Throne of the God-Pharaoh, and True Conviction).
5. Abandoning the token theme to focus on mid-high CMC angelic goodness and shoving in more mana acceleration (Boros Signet, Oath of Lieges, Weathered Wayfarer, Curse of Opulence, Boreas Charger)

While you don't have to do all of these things, at least one of them seems necessary to improve this deck.