Magic has a caste system, and it's Boros job to be at the butt end of the spectrum.
Funny, that's what we used to say about green. In the early days of Magic, before your Stompy decks, green was Channel. Stompy changed that, but you were still playing in a decidedly un-green way, Winter Orb aggro-control. All green brought to Stompy that, say, white couldn't do, was untap lands, bounce lands, and mana dorks. (Okay, blue can do two of those things.) Green got another good option in Mirage block, in the form of a couple gold cards used in ProsBloom. (Cadaverous Bloom and Squandered Resources, for reference) Tempest block gave black mages Verdant Force. Green was subtly getting better in Urza's block, you now had Yavimaya Wurm and Thorn Elemental, but nobody noticed for obvious reasons. More importantly, green card draw was evolving; this was the era of Greater Good and Collective Unconscious. (I still encounter players who complain that green shouldn't get card draw for some reason.) Finally, Nemesis gave us Blastoderm, then Odyssey gave us Wild Mongrel, then the most broken mechanic since storm is exclusive to black and green, and suddenly green isn't looking so bad. It's still no blue, but it's not so bad.
We need the cool kids in the class to be able to bully and jock the color pie, and if you have even one decent Boros commander come onto the scene, then that model goes straight out the window. It won't be Magic as we know it.
Jock, sure. But the nerd and the goth are also bullies? What John Hughes movie did you star in?
Stone-thrower the strong 2RW
legendary creature - Giant R, tap an artifact you control: Stone-trower the strong deals damage equal to the CMC of the tapped artifact to any target. That player or the target's controller gains control of the tapped artifact. W, tap another creature you control: Gain control of target artifact you own and don't control, then flip a coin. If you lose the flip, sacrifice the tapped creature.
4/5
White is off-color, so that's a nonstarter. Unless you want to use Preacher or Seraph or Evangelize as preference, the proper response to which is, old, old, and Time Spiral card referencing Preacher.
Red is bonkers. Compare Bosh, Iron Golem. Bosh costs 8, another 3R for each activation, and sacrifices the artifact for the same effect. That +2/+2 isn't enough to justify the difference.
I don't know what new Tajic is giving you? 4 additional damage for each combat phase? You don't want one +1/+1 counter in a go wide strategy. Speaking of Mentor. Mentor is extremely weak in EDH because it scale so bad. Do you mean the damage protection? Is that so impressive? I don't know he is kind of a soft target. Wrath and -1/-1 effects are still working. He isn't protecting your bord against anything EDH relevant... oh wait maybe some decks with Pyrohemia or Blasphemous Act I guess. He could work in a combo deck with Repercussion but other than that.
True. Mentor is really only acceptable if you're using +1/+1 counters as a sort of currency. Even then, Cathars' Crusade or Curse of Stalked Prey is what you're looking for in +1/+1 counters. Actually, that gives me an idea:
Simon Belmont2RW
Legendary Creature—Human Warrior
When a creature you control deals combat damage to an opponent, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
If Simon Belmont would deal combat damage, it deals double that damage instead. If Simon Belmont would receive combat damage, it receives double that damage instead. 2/3
"What a horrible night to have a curse."
(The second ability, by the way, is Inquisitor's Flail, in case you missed it.)
Cathars' Crusade is bonkers one of the best things happend to white because it leads to explosive turns, which white lacks. I remember having Crusade and Assemble the Legion on the field.
I prefer the Gleam of Battle version of the +1/+1 counter effect on attack and not damage done.
Aggro/weenie strategies are bad in multiplayer EDH. Everyone has 40 Life and in most cases there are 3 other players out there.
That’s not really true. Krenko is super powerful, Rhys the Redeemed is super powerful, the new Emmara is super strong... token/weenie/aggro decks can be very good when done right. Boris has some very good weenie cards, too, like anointed procession and the new Tajic. It’s all a matter of building the deck right.
Well the mentioned creatures are more token based. In fact they all produce the tokens. They are the engine. There isn't a single Boros commander which produce tokens. A few that support tokens by increasing the damage like both Aurelia (they are suboptimal in small tokens you want anthem effects), Gisela, Andriana, Argus Kos and Ironas. But still you playing the payoff as commander and you have to find and play the engine from 99 cards. Tokens aren't boros strengths. Aggressiv creatures are but you can't hold the pace with just 1-3 mana creatures (this depends on you group).
In addition at least Krenko and Rhys have explosive effects that can scale stupidly in a game. They are engine and payoff in one card. And they produce the token without paying a ton of mana (excluding Rhys which is in green). Not like Oketra the True or Heliod, God of the Sun.
I don't know what new Tajic is giving you? 4 additional damage for each combat phase? You don't want one +1/+1 counter in a go wide strategy. Speaking of Mentor. Mentor is extremely weak in EDH because it scale so bad. Do you mean the damage protection? Is that so impressive? I don't know he is kind of a soft target. Wrath and -1/-1 effects are still working. He isn't protecting your bord against anything EDH relevant... oh wait maybe some decks with Pyrohemia or Blasphemous Act I guess. He could work in a combo deck with Repercussion but other than that.
Just change it.
Whenever a nonbasic land enters the battlefield, ~ deals X damage to its controller.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, ~ deals Y damage to that player or destroy that land.
The destruction would be after gaining the mana. So they could use the land once.
But this would be almost mono red. The creature would need something white like vigilance, I think lifelink would be too much (Lifelink with the destruction effect).
But I am certain that most player would hate it. It is land-destruction/disruption and therefore not very popular.
I really would like a Buff to boros but not with straight draw. There are some ways for at least red to get cards.
Instead of drawing, allowing to play the top card of your deck like Experimental Frenzy or the exile a card, you can Cast it until your Next turn endstep thing should be good, too.
So you taking about Boros as Guild not as color combination?
The problem with the color in EDH is the lack of value cards. Red got better in this region and white has some tools, too. They don't compare to stuff you can do in other colors. They have a lack of variety in the commander zone. Honestly almost all legendary do the same, turn sideway and go.
Additionally white/red is extrem enchantment and artifact depended. Most of the new cards that produce value are small value over time effects in form of enchantments/artifact. There aren't big explosive effects, which are important in EDH. In the same time white and red doesn't really care for this kind of enchantments/artifact. White has 1 Enchantress and some Aura/Equipment stuff? Red has no Enchantment synergy and mediocre - good artifact support.
Both color can destroy artifacts but the best destroy effects for artifacts are in green.
Aggro/weenie strategies are bad in multiplayer EDH. Everyone has 40 Life and in most cases there are 3 other players out there.
There are some nice combat phase manipulation effects. I would like to see more focus in that sector. Something like a punish effect, if the player doesn't attacked in his turn kind of thing, forced attacks, prevent your enemies from casting spells in combat phases, control how creatures block/attack.
An Angel Tribal commander would be like Christmas for me. But it should be something different form the +1/+1 + some kind of evergreen keyword thing.
Said that, Boros is viable in some EDH tables but it depends on your group. Are the other players playing some competitive stuff? If yes than maybe not. Are you playing in a casual group, than totally yes.
I think that old Aurelia is still the best Boros commander. Brion, Archangel Avacyn and Firesong are the options for not that battle oriented commanders.
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Cathars' Crusade is bonkers one of the best things happend to white because it leads to explosive turns, which white lacks. I remember having Crusade and Assemble the Legion on the field.
I prefer the Gleam of Battle version of the +1/+1 counter effect on attack and not damage done.
Well the mentioned creatures are more token based. In fact they all produce the tokens. They are the engine. There isn't a single Boros commander which produce tokens. A few that support tokens by increasing the damage like both Aurelia (they are suboptimal in small tokens you want anthem effects), Gisela, Andriana, Argus Kos and Ironas. But still you playing the payoff as commander and you have to find and play the engine from 99 cards. Tokens aren't boros strengths. Aggressiv creatures are but you can't hold the pace with just 1-3 mana creatures (this depends on you group).
In addition at least Krenko and Rhys have explosive effects that can scale stupidly in a game. They are engine and payoff in one card. And they produce the token without paying a ton of mana (excluding Rhys which is in green). Not like Oketra the True or Heliod, God of the Sun.
I don't know what new Tajic is giving you? 4 additional damage for each combat phase? You don't want one +1/+1 counter in a go wide strategy. Speaking of Mentor. Mentor is extremely weak in EDH because it scale so bad. Do you mean the damage protection? Is that so impressive? I don't know he is kind of a soft target. Wrath and -1/-1 effects are still working. He isn't protecting your bord against anything EDH relevant... oh wait maybe some decks with Pyrohemia or Blasphemous Act I guess. He could work in a combo deck with Repercussion but other than that.
Whenever a nonbasic land enters the battlefield, ~ deals X damage to its controller.
Whenever a player taps a nonbasic land, ~ deals Y damage to that player or destroy that land.
The destruction would be after gaining the mana. So they could use the land once.
But this would be almost mono red. The creature would need something white like vigilance, I think lifelink would be too much (Lifelink with the destruction effect).
But I am certain that most player would hate it. It is land-destruction/disruption and therefore not very popular.
Instead of drawing, allowing to play the top card of your deck like Experimental Frenzy or the exile a card, you can Cast it until your Next turn endstep thing should be good, too.
The problem with the color in EDH is the lack of value cards. Red got better in this region and white has some tools, too. They don't compare to stuff you can do in other colors. They have a lack of variety in the commander zone. Honestly almost all legendary do the same, turn sideway and go.
Additionally white/red is extrem enchantment and artifact depended. Most of the new cards that produce value are small value over time effects in form of enchantments/artifact. There aren't big explosive effects, which are important in EDH. In the same time white and red doesn't really care for this kind of enchantments/artifact. White has 1 Enchantress and some Aura/Equipment stuff? Red has no Enchantment synergy and mediocre - good artifact support.
Both color can destroy artifacts but the best destroy effects for artifacts are in green.
Aggro/weenie strategies are bad in multiplayer EDH. Everyone has 40 Life and in most cases there are 3 other players out there.
There are some nice combat phase manipulation effects. I would like to see more focus in that sector. Something like a punish effect, if the player doesn't attacked in his turn kind of thing, forced attacks, prevent your enemies from casting spells in combat phases, control how creatures block/attack.
An Angel Tribal commander would be like Christmas for me. But it should be something different form the +1/+1 + some kind of evergreen keyword thing.
Said that, Boros is viable in some EDH tables but it depends on your group. Are the other players playing some competitive stuff? If yes than maybe not. Are you playing in a casual group, than totally yes.
I think that old Aurelia is still the best Boros commander. Brion, Archangel Avacyn and Firesong are the options for not that battle oriented commanders.