Hi all. I'd like to open a discussion about Boros commanders and their possible customization, a well known problem that has been going on for as long as EDH has existed. Granted, new commanders have come along in the form of Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice and Tajic, Legion's Edge, but they don't really cover much of anything new in Boros.
My idea came from this video. They had some pretty interesting ideas for commanders and I'd like to keep the creativity train rolling.
Mods, if this belongs to the "Print this Wizards" thread feel free to move it, but I feel like it deserves a separate discussion.
My two cents, in addition to the video's points, are:
Boros is a fast guild. I feel like 4CMC should be the maximum cost of a boros commander, except some rare cases. The guild has no real means of mana acceleration so an expensive cost would make the commander difficult to play. Firesong and Sunspeaker is a very cool idea, but its cost makes it very casual and rather ineffective.
Keywords are a pretty big identity for boros creatures. Stuff like First / Double strike, Vigilance, Haste, Lifelink etc.
What I'm personally looking for is a new angle on Boros. Something that explores the identity of the guild and makes it more interesting than simply turning creatures sideways.
With that in mind, here are several brainstorms. They range from underpowered to overpowered, but the key is doing new stuff.
2WR
Legendary Creature - Soldier
Lifelink
Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, they may have The Punisher deal 3 damage to them. If they don't, destroy target nonbasic land they control of their choice.
2/2
WR
Legendary Creature - Cleric
Vigilance, Haste R, T, Discard a card: Draw a card. W, T, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Create a 1/1 white spirit creature token with flying and lifelink.
1/1
Honestly, it might be better like this: 1WR
Legendary Planeswalker
+1: You may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
-2: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You gain 2 life.
-6: Create five 4/4 white angel tokens with flying and vigilance. Each of them deals damage equal to its power to target creature.
{3}
I know it's similar to Nahiri, the Harbinger, but honestly, wouldn't you be OK with her as a commander?
1WR
First Strike, Menace
Whenever a creature token enters the battlefield under your control, it gains +1/+1 and haste until end of turn.
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may exile target nontoken creature you control. If you do, return that card to the battlefield under your control at end of turn.
1/3
2WR
Legendary Creature
Whenever you cast Tribal Lord, exile target creature card from your graveyard with a tribal counter on it.
Creatures you control that share a creature type with cards in exile with tribal counters on them get +1/+0 and have first strike.
If one or more tokens would be created under your control that share a type with a creature in exile with a tribal counter on it, twice that many tokens are created instead.
2/3
2WWR
Legendary Creature - Angel
Flash
Flying, Lifelink
Other red creatures you control have lifelink.
Other white creatures you control get +2/+0.
4/4
Whenever a creature you control attacks, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
Battalion - Whenever ~ and two other creatures you control attack, discard your hand and draw three cards.
Creatures you control with Lifelink have Double Strike.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control attacks, you may destroy target nonbasic land that player controls. If you do, prevent all combat damage that creature would deal until end of turn.
Whenever ~ attacks, create X 1/1 creature tokens tapped and attacking defending player, where X is the number of attacking creatures.
Red instant and sorcery spells you control have trample. (If this spell would deal fatal damage to a creature or planeswalker, you may have it deal excess damage to that permanent's controller)
So yeah, I went on way too far. What are your thoughts? Is Boros a viable EDH guild in your opinion? Do you have any new ideas to freshen up the guild, or in general?
I've made a Boros deck that aims to win though griefing, basically. There are a lot of things that disrupt a wide array of popular EDH strategies, like Aven Mindcensor, Stranglehold, Torpor Orb, Rest in Peace, Null Rod, etc. Then, I play a lot of small to mid-size beaters like Hero of Bladehold and Goblin Rabblemaster that can quickly get around my opponents' impaired game plans. It can force a lot of decks to play fair. It's not a crazy powerhouse, but I like it so far.
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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.
Boros as a guild and W/R as a color pair are VERY different. Ravnica Boros used to have a spellsling keyword, now it only emphasizes on the combat aspect, it shouldn't be taken as the epitome of W/R color pie.
However, it is also true that the color combination has some of the best small creatures and punishing abilities. I've seen Boros deck built entirely to counter popular strategies in EDH and win with the said small creatures (enlarged by aura/equipment). Recently, there's also Dawn of Hope and Smothering Tithe that are within white flavor and adds longevity/ramp to the color.
A Boros commander without buying into the combat stereotype could be:
Marquis the Immaculate
2WR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor
2/3
Whenever a card is exiled, you gain 2 life and ~ deals 2 damage to any target.
WR: Exile a card from your hand or graveyard.
----------
Highly versatile goes into any W/R deck, works well with staples such as Land Tax, every creature you controls dies and every spell you use/discard would become fuel.
For me, and my experience many other Magic players, the most iconic Boros card (the guild as well as the colour combination in general) is Lightning Helix. And I've long wanted a commander to work like that card, rather than creature centric beats.Firesong and Sunspeaker has the text box, but a horrific mana cost for a RW card that does nothing on its own. A smaller body, lower CMC and maybe turning the bolt into a shock and it'd've been great. Still, I like that Wizards are at least thinking about that side of Boros.
The other problem, along with too many legendary beatsticks, it the card advantage problem. There are some workarounds available, but in general, keeping a steady flow of cards is a problem in these colours. This is made doubly bad by the fact that so many of the available legends want you to commit heavily to the board and thus get really hurt by boardwipes which you don't have the resources recover from. I used to have a aggressive Boros equipment deck (a mix of voltron and small creatures that carried swords well). It went through several commanders over the years, with OG Aurelia being the one I had settled on. When the partners came out, I switched it over to Akiri/Tymna with relatively few changes - there are only 4 black cards including Tymna, plus Cranial Plating. And yet the deck is so much more effective, simply because I have a Phyrexian Arena in the command zone. A Boros legend that allowed me to make up for this weakness would be very welcome. I'm not asking for a straight up "draw a card every turn" type effect, but there are things that can be done that are more in the colours' slice of the pie - recent cards like Dawn of Hope and Light up the Stage could be starting points for the design of an interesting commander, particularly if it didn't require you to commit heavily to combat as a strategy (thus making it a flexible choice for a variety of builds).
"Boros is a fast guild"
"I don't want to just turn creatures sideways"
I would say that you can do more than just be the aggressor, and with this in mind you don't need a low cmc general. I kinda like Archangel Avacyn. She has a good clock, can stop go wide strategies... all in all I think this is a cool general.
I actually think she solves your problem.
Brion Stoutarm is another interesting deck, but from your post I think you are looking for something more competitive.
Depala, Pilot Exemplar is a pretty unique general, and one of the few boros options with built in card advantage. Right now she is only so-so, but I think as more vehicles come out she will become better.
Finally, Tiana, Ship's Caretaker opened up completely new commander decks focusing on auras that sacrifice themselves.
I am sorry you have trouble with boros in commander, but I think it is not a generalized problem any more. There are good options.
The only problem I see in commander any more is that white still has a card flow problem. Red does not have this problem. Compulsive draw and rummaging are working well, in my opinion, and now there are plenty of good options.
Mono white is still in a weird place of either relying on artifacts or enchantments to be viable or trying to stax opponents out of the game.
I really think that white should not get much card draw, but think it should get more mana acceleration to help it use artifact based card draw.
The problem is that burn as a concept (something that is often a Boros thing but that changes too) is not a tenable solution in a game with the inflated life totals of Commander and often people even look to the cards that come from that archetype that are generally considered workhorses like a Lightning Bolt as not worth a slot in a Commander deck.
It is also a hard problem to solve because there is nothing to stop decks with more colors to use those cards were they ever printed. It is very hard to play a Boros deck I find when Mardu and Naya and Jeskai are right around the corner unless you really like a Legendary option.
Maybe Ajani Vengeant is the answer but that is a whole other thread and conversation.
Thalia the angry 1RW
legendary creature - human soldier
Nonbasic lands cannot be played.
Noncreature spells cost 1 more to cast.
2/1
That'd be awesome. doesn't stop ramping as such, but hates on nonbasics, and non creatures spells. I think as is, she'd probably be banned in some other formats though.
Thalia the angry 1RW
legendary creature - human soldier
Nonbasic lands cannot be played.
Noncreature spells cost 1 more to cast.
2/1
That'd be awesome. doesn't stop ramping as such, but hates on nonbasics, and non creatures spells. I think as is, she'd probably be banned in some other formats though.
That would be incredibly broken, Bloodmoon already wins certains matches by itself. Could have just made non-basic lands don't untap. Tough i still think it would be too strong
Oh god, why does that come to mind? I don't think I've ever played that card, or seen anyone play it, hell I don't know if any living human has played that card. Yet it came to mind in seconds.
I swear, if I could figure out how wotc made magic cards so easy to remember I'd be able to memorize the library of congress in a week.
Boros as a guild and W/R as a color pair are VERY different. Ravnica Boros used to have a spellsling keyword, now it only emphasizes on the combat aspect, it shouldn't be taken as the epitome of W/R color pie.
It's not a spellslinger mechanic. Mostly it's just combat tricks and removal which just hits everything sharing a color with the target. (And yes, this can be a clever way around shroud.) To be a spellslinger mechanic, it would have to be capable of, first, hitting players. Buybackstorm and the actual Ravnica block spellslinger mechanic replicate are spellslinger mechanics. And secondly, it must be a win condition, e.g. burn or mill. I suppose tokens could be one? x is also a spellslinger mechanic. You can't just slap anything on an instant or sorcery and call it a spellslinger mechanic. "bad Giant Growth becomes bad instant-speed Overrun when kicked" is clearly an instant, but also clearly not a spellslinger card.
/pedancy
Anyway, I think the big Boros problem is, well look at it. You only have white's tutors (and I guess a few oddball things like Gamble and Moggcatcher), so that's artifacts, enchantments, creatures, and planeswalkers (so, actually quite a bit, plus plains). You have very little card draw. Keep this in mind that this isn't the same as card advantage: If everyone has at least two creatures more than me, and I wrath, I gain card advantage. Red has some discard-and-draw cards, and most importantly wheels. But look at white card draw, beyond cantrips and cycling. Alms Collector is good at preventing other players' card draw, but that's about it. (And it does nothing if the card isn't technically drawn, or if it's only one card.) Armistice is expensive. You have Mesa Enchantress and Kor Spiritdancer, which can be put in an aura-heavy deck, but GW is better at that. Stone Haven Outfitter and Puresteel Paladin are for another deck, one Boros actually is good at. Mentor of the Meek is played in a third deck, which might run Dawn of Hope or even Mesa Enchantress, but Dawn of Hope is also doing its own thing (and apparently too strong for white). And even Mentor of the Meek means you'd better watch how many anthems you play. The problem here is that the card draw is either bad or all over the place. Which is fine, card draw isn't supposed to be white's thing.
Another issue is their removal isn't as good as black's, though red and white do shore up each other's weaknesses a lot: For the most part, what Lightning Bolt doesn't kill, Reprisal will. But red's damage-based boardwipes are a bit antagonistic with red and white's low-toughness creatures (red because they're high-power/low toughness, white just because they're small).
And finally, combat simply isn't as important in Commander, when it's so easy to go infinite.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
weirdly, adding a couple cool Boros commanders is the #1 reason I like the idea of PWs as commanders in some respects. Boros really gets the shaft on decent commanders.
Magic has a caste system, and it's Boros job to be at the butt end of the spectrum.
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.
So better to never have a playable red and white legendary creature. Keep up the tradition Wizards of the Coast, you've made it a priority to make sure to have poor design and over-costing for Boros, and I have faith that you'll keep it up
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.
Thalia the angry 1RW
legendary creature - human soldier
Nonbasic lands cannot be played.
Noncreature spells cost 1 more to cast.
2/1
That'd be awesome. doesn't stop ramping as such, but hates on nonbasics, and non creatures spells. I think as is, she'd probably be banned in some other formats though.
That would be incredibly broken, Bloodmoon already wins certains matches by itself. Could have just made non-basic lands don't untap. Tough i still think it would be too strong
It certainly won't be broken in EDH. In legacy and modern, perhaps.
It's a 3 drop with a conditional can't play lands ability that emphasises basics, AND is stapled to a 2/1 body that's pretty easy to kill (note that territorial dispute, limited resources and worms of the earth are all enchantments which are harder to deal with).
Stopping non-basics from untapping is a blue thing unfortunately.
There are other things that red white can do, i suppose. You could have effects like:
Mirror, the brilliant mage 2RW
legendary creature - human wizard
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, copy that spell that could target each other creature in play that shares a colour with it. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures.
Your opponents can’t cast spells during combat.
2/2
Auraman 1RW
legendary creature - Human wizard
Aura spells you cast cost 1 less to cast
Aura cards in your graveyard have "Replenish x", where X is the converted mana cost of the aura card (To replenish, pay the replenish cost, and return that aura to the battlefield attached to target creature in play. Replenish only as a sorcery)
1/3
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
Mcguyver, inventor extraordinaire RW
legendary creature - human artificer
Each other non-land permanent you control become equipment artefacts in addition to their other types with equip {X} and “Equipped creature gets +X/+0,” where X is that artifact’s converted mana cost.
Mcguyver gets +1/+1 for each equipment attached to it.
1/1
I suppose they're probably a tad broken-ish. I sorta think they'd be playable without being broke in EDH though. I think fling on a stick is good, disrupting opposing lands and resource denial is in colour, and red has a lot of artifact, equipment shenanigans. I like mcguyver though actually. I like the idea of being able to 'equip' mcguyver with all my other creatures and enchantments and bash people with them. It'd never happen though, but its still kinda funny. I think there's tonnes of space within boros colours (as in seriously), but the game wizards wants to push in this design era isn't really fitting what EDH-boros wants/can do.
While the color combination has a less diverse palette of viable strategies, you can perfectly compensate it’s shortcomings with artifacts. There are fun Boros decks.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
It certainly won't be broken in EDH. In legacy and modern, perhaps.
It's a 3 drop with a conditional can't play lands ability that emphasises basics, AND is stapled to a 2/1 body that's pretty easy to kill (note that territorial dispute, limited resources and worms of the earth are all enchantments which are harder to deal with).
It would be banned before it even saw play. There are so many casual edh decks that run almost no basic lands.
Simply: Land, chrome mox, simian spirit guide, general, you can't play lands for the rest of the game because I was on the play.
The card would be broken in half for casual and competitive play in the worst way, denying people the ability to play their decks.
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 love this topic because it's been on my mind for years and really bothers me.
The core issue is that Boros as a guild has an extremely narrow focus compared to the overall range of effects in RW. Boros legends never touch on the control or punisher aspects of RW, as others have mentioned. Not to mention land destruction, MLD, and mass removal - all strongly associated with R and W but all on the outs as far as current card design is concerned.
I'd love to see a low cost RW legend that has an ability similar to Aven Mindcensor, or even flat out prevents searching decks. This actually seems like a reasonable card to print at a low CMC and doesn't run afoul of current card design principals.
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EDH playing competitive Magic cast away
Current Decks GTitania midrange RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
Think of all the things that Sultai, mono blue, and colorless can do in Commander: combo, control, voltron, tribal, midrange, etc. But Boros can only turn sideways? Isn’t every color and color combination supposed to have depth? Isn’t it strange that colorless has better card draw than Boros?
The RW Nahiri would be an awesome Boros Commander that isn’t broken and would allow for a Boros control deck. A Boros commander that lets you draw a card every time you cast a spell that’s both red and white would have deckbuilding restrictions but also give Boros some much needed card draw.
Boros aggro is badly outclassed by Edgar Markov, Krenko, and some Mono white strategies. Right now there is no advantage to playing Boros. It would be nice if in C19 we could get a new kind of Boros commander that allows players to try a strategy that isn’t supported right now.
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Modern
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
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My idea came from this video. They had some pretty interesting ideas for commanders and I'd like to keep the creativity train rolling.
Mods, if this belongs to the "Print this Wizards" thread feel free to move it, but I feel like it deserves a separate discussion.
My two cents, in addition to the video's points, are:
With that in mind, here are several brainstorms. They range from underpowered to overpowered, but the key is doing new stuff.
2WR
Legendary Creature - Soldier
Lifelink
Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, they may have The Punisher deal 3 damage to them. If they don't, destroy target nonbasic land they control of their choice.
2/2
WR
Legendary Creature - Cleric
Vigilance, Haste
R, T, Discard a card: Draw a card.
W, T, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Create a 1/1 white spirit creature token with flying and lifelink.
1/1
Honestly, it might be better like this:
1WR
Legendary Planeswalker
+1: You may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.
-2: Destroy target artifact or enchantment. You gain 2 life.
-6: Create five 4/4 white angel tokens with flying and vigilance. Each of them deals damage equal to its power to target creature.
{3}
I know it's similar to Nahiri, the Harbinger, but honestly, wouldn't you be OK with her as a commander?
First Strike, Menace
Whenever a creature token enters the battlefield under your control, it gains +1/+1 and haste until end of turn.
Whenever you cast a creature spell, you may exile target nontoken creature you control. If you do, return that card to the battlefield under your control at end of turn.
1/3
Legendary Creature
Whenever you cast Tribal Lord, exile target creature card from your graveyard with a tribal counter on it.
Creatures you control that share a creature type with cards in exile with tribal counters on them get +1/+0 and have first strike.
If one or more tokens would be created under your control that share a type with a creature in exile with a tribal counter on it, twice that many tokens are created instead.
2/3
Legendary Creature - Angel
Flash
Flying, Lifelink
Other red creatures you control have lifelink.
Other white creatures you control get +2/+0.
4/4
So yeah, I went on way too far. What are your thoughts? Is Boros a viable EDH guild in your opinion? Do you have any new ideas to freshen up the guild, or in general?
My 720 Peasant Cube
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.
However, it is also true that the color combination has some of the best small creatures and punishing abilities. I've seen Boros deck built entirely to counter popular strategies in EDH and win with the said small creatures (enlarged by aura/equipment). Recently, there's also Dawn of Hope and Smothering Tithe that are within white flavor and adds longevity/ramp to the color.
A Boros commander without buying into the combat stereotype could be:
Marquis the Immaculate
2WR
Legendary Creature - Human Advisor
2/3
Whenever a card is exiled, you gain 2 life and ~ deals 2 damage to any target.
WR: Exile a card from your hand or graveyard.
----------
Highly versatile goes into any W/R deck, works well with staples such as Land Tax, every creature you controls dies and every spell you use/discard would become fuel.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
The other problem, along with too many legendary beatsticks, it the card advantage problem. There are some workarounds available, but in general, keeping a steady flow of cards is a problem in these colours. This is made doubly bad by the fact that so many of the available legends want you to commit heavily to the board and thus get really hurt by boardwipes which you don't have the resources recover from. I used to have a aggressive Boros equipment deck (a mix of voltron and small creatures that carried swords well). It went through several commanders over the years, with OG Aurelia being the one I had settled on. When the partners came out, I switched it over to Akiri/Tymna with relatively few changes - there are only 4 black cards including Tymna, plus Cranial Plating. And yet the deck is so much more effective, simply because I have a Phyrexian Arena in the command zone. A Boros legend that allowed me to make up for this weakness would be very welcome. I'm not asking for a straight up "draw a card every turn" type effect, but there are things that can be done that are more in the colours' slice of the pie - recent cards like Dawn of Hope and Light up the Stage could be starting points for the design of an interesting commander, particularly if it didn't require you to commit heavily to combat as a strategy (thus making it a flexible choice for a variety of builds).
"I don't want to just turn creatures sideways"
I would say that you can do more than just be the aggressor, and with this in mind you don't need a low cmc general. I kinda like Archangel Avacyn. She has a good clock, can stop go wide strategies... all in all I think this is a cool general.
I actually think she solves your problem.
Brion Stoutarm is another interesting deck, but from your post I think you are looking for something more competitive.
Depala, Pilot Exemplar is a pretty unique general, and one of the few boros options with built in card advantage. Right now she is only so-so, but I think as more vehicles come out she will become better.
Finally, Tiana, Ship's Caretaker opened up completely new commander decks focusing on auras that sacrifice themselves.
I am sorry you have trouble with boros in commander, but I think it is not a generalized problem any more. There are good options.
The only problem I see in commander any more is that white still has a card flow problem. Red does not have this problem. Compulsive draw and rummaging are working well, in my opinion, and now there are plenty of good options.
Mono white is still in a weird place of either relying on artifacts or enchantments to be viable or trying to stax opponents out of the game.
I really think that white should not get much card draw, but think it should get more mana acceleration to help it use artifact based card draw.
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
It is also a hard problem to solve because there is nothing to stop decks with more colors to use those cards were they ever printed. It is very hard to play a Boros deck I find when Mardu and Naya and Jeskai are right around the corner unless you really like a Legendary option.
Maybe Ajani Vengeant is the answer but that is a whole other thread and conversation.
Flash. Stats don’t matter. Same mana cost. The “cast” wording (not ETB).
Or Thalia 2.0 should have been RW.
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
Thalia the angry 1RW
legendary creature - human soldier
Nonbasic lands cannot be played.
Noncreature spells cost 1 more to cast.
2/1
That'd be awesome. doesn't stop ramping as such, but hates on nonbasics, and non creatures spells. I think as is, she'd probably be banned in some other formats though.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
That would be incredibly broken, Bloodmoon already wins certains matches by itself. Could have just made non-basic lands don't untap. Tough i still think it would be too strong
Oh god, why does that come to mind? I don't think I've ever played that card, or seen anyone play it, hell I don't know if any living human has played that card. Yet it came to mind in seconds.
I swear, if I could figure out how wotc made magic cards so easy to remember I'd be able to memorize the library of congress in a week.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
It's not a spellslinger mechanic. Mostly it's just combat tricks and removal which just hits everything sharing a color with the target. (And yes, this can be a clever way around shroud.) To be a spellslinger mechanic, it would have to be capable of, first, hitting players. Buyback storm and the actual Ravnica block spellslinger mechanic replicate are spellslinger mechanics. And secondly, it must be a win condition, e.g. burn or mill. I suppose tokens could be one? x is also a spellslinger mechanic. You can't just slap anything on an instant or sorcery and call it a spellslinger mechanic. "bad Giant Growth becomes bad instant-speed Overrun when kicked" is clearly an instant, but also clearly not a spellslinger card.
/pedancy
Anyway, I think the big Boros problem is, well look at it. You only have white's tutors (and I guess a few oddball things like Gamble and Moggcatcher), so that's artifacts, enchantments, creatures, and planeswalkers (so, actually quite a bit, plus plains). You have very little card draw. Keep this in mind that this isn't the same as card advantage: If everyone has at least two creatures more than me, and I wrath, I gain card advantage. Red has some discard-and-draw cards, and most importantly wheels. But look at white card draw, beyond cantrips and cycling. Alms Collector is good at preventing other players' card draw, but that's about it. (And it does nothing if the card isn't technically drawn, or if it's only one card.) Armistice is expensive. You have Mesa Enchantress and Kor Spiritdancer, which can be put in an aura-heavy deck, but GW is better at that. Stone Haven Outfitter and Puresteel Paladin are for another deck, one Boros actually is good at. Mentor of the Meek is played in a third deck, which might run Dawn of Hope or even Mesa Enchantress, but Dawn of Hope is also doing its own thing (and apparently too strong for white). And even Mentor of the Meek means you'd better watch how many anthems you play. The problem here is that the card draw is either bad or all over the place. Which is fine, card draw isn't supposed to be white's thing.
Another issue is their removal isn't as good as black's, though red and white do shore up each other's weaknesses a lot: For the most part, what Lightning Bolt doesn't kill, Reprisal will. But red's damage-based boardwipes are a bit antagonistic with red and white's low-toughness creatures (red because they're high-power/low toughness, white just because they're small).
And finally, combat simply isn't as important in Commander, when it's so easy to go infinite.
On phasing:
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
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.
So better to never have a playable red and white legendary creature. Keep up the tradition Wizards of the Coast, you've made it a priority to make sure to have poor design and over-costing for Boros, and I have faith that you'll keep it up
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
Boros Captain
RW
2/2
First strike
Whenever you play a spell that is red and white, draw a card.
Also, I like the idea of the Boros Nahiri being a commander.
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
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.
It certainly won't be broken in EDH. In legacy and modern, perhaps.
It's a 3 drop with a conditional can't play lands ability that emphasises basics, AND is stapled to a 2/1 body that's pretty easy to kill (note that territorial dispute, limited resources and worms of the earth are all enchantments which are harder to deal with).
Stopping non-basics from untapping is a blue thing unfortunately.
There are other things that red white can do, i suppose. You could have effects like:
Mirror, the brilliant mage 2RW
legendary creature - human wizard
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell that targets a creature, copy that spell that could target each other creature in play that shares a colour with it. Each copy targets a different one of those creatures.
Your opponents can’t cast spells during combat.
2/2
Auraman 1RW
legendary creature - Human wizard
Aura spells you cast cost 1 less to cast
Aura cards in your graveyard have "Replenish x", where X is the converted mana cost of the aura card (To replenish, pay the replenish cost, and return that aura to the battlefield attached to target creature in play. Replenish only as a sorcery)
1/3
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
Mcguyver, inventor extraordinaire RW
legendary creature - human artificer
Each other non-land permanent you control become equipment artefacts in addition to their other types with equip {X} and “Equipped creature gets +X/+0,” where X is that artifact’s converted mana cost.
Mcguyver gets +1/+1 for each equipment attached to it.
1/1
I suppose they're probably a tad broken-ish. I sorta think they'd be playable without being broke in EDH though. I think fling on a stick is good, disrupting opposing lands and resource denial is in colour, and red has a lot of artifact, equipment shenanigans. I like mcguyver though actually. I like the idea of being able to 'equip' mcguyver with all my other creatures and enchantments and bash people with them. It'd never happen though, but its still kinda funny. I think there's tonnes of space within boros colours (as in seriously), but the game wizards wants to push in this design era isn't really fitting what EDH-boros wants/can do.
Legacy - Solidarity - mono U aggro - burn - Imperial Painter - Strawberry Shortcake - Bluuzards - bom
Then why are you looking at Boros? Just sayin'.
Look at Aurelia, The Warleader. Even with the extra high life totals and multiple players of Commander you throw in some Double Strike ( Duelist's Heritage ) on top of Double Damage ( Dictate of the Twin Gods or Charging Tuskodon ] and throw in a Heartless Hidetsugu then those high life totals are going to look pretty low in next to no time.
I'll say it again. Lightning Helix. Probably the most iconic Boros card in Magic. Nothing to do with turning sideways.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
It would be banned before it even saw play. There are so many casual edh decks that run almost no basic lands.
Simply: Land, chrome mox, simian spirit guide, general, you can't play lands for the rest of the game because I was on the play.
The card would be broken in half for casual and competitive play in the worst way, denying people the ability to play their decks.
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.
The core issue is that Boros as a guild has an extremely narrow focus compared to the overall range of effects in RW. Boros legends never touch on the control or punisher aspects of RW, as others have mentioned. Not to mention land destruction, MLD, and mass removal - all strongly associated with R and W but all on the outs as far as current card design is concerned.
I'd love to see a low cost RW legend that has an ability similar to Aven Mindcensor, or even flat out prevents searching decks. This actually seems like a reasonable card to print at a low CMC and doesn't run afoul of current card design principals.
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
Every color combination can turn sideways.
Think of all the things that Sultai, mono blue, and colorless can do in Commander: combo, control, voltron, tribal, midrange, etc. But Boros can only turn sideways? Isn’t every color and color combination supposed to have depth? Isn’t it strange that colorless has better card draw than Boros?
The RW Nahiri would be an awesome Boros Commander that isn’t broken and would allow for a Boros control deck. A Boros commander that lets you draw a card every time you cast a spell that’s both red and white would have deckbuilding restrictions but also give Boros some much needed card draw.
Boros aggro is badly outclassed by Edgar Markov, Krenko, and some Mono white strategies. Right now there is no advantage to playing Boros. It would be nice if in C19 we could get a new kind of Boros commander that allows players to try a strategy that isn’t supported right now.
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB