Hello folks! I hope your day is going well!

Do you know what I haven't built a lot of in a while? A good old-fashioned Boros Sweep and Keep deck. Today I want to flex my muscles with one of my favorite archetypes.

What's a Sweep and Keep deck?

It's a control build that uses sweepers to wipe the board. Sweepers are powerful card-advantage tools and ways to control the board at any multiplayer (such as Commander) game. However, unlike normal sweepers in said build, in this one, you leave behind the card type being removed.

For example, take a normal sweeper...

Bontu's Last Reckoning destroys all dorks, including your own. Now if you have cast Wrap in Vigor this turn, you'll regenerate your dorks while your foes lose theirs. Net result, you swept others and kept your team.

There are a number of sweep but keep cards that suggest themselves pretty simply. Playing a tribal deck with Black in it? Kindred Dominance will off everything not of that tribe, thus sweeping and keeping. Playing a Mono-White build? Then Mass Calcify will save your entire team from destruction.

You don't have to worry about Retribution of the Meek or Dusk // Dawn if you aren't running any cards big enough to kill. Lots of great low power cards would survive this, including game winning beaters such as Guiltfeeder. Solar Tide can go up or down as needed. And these themes continue. Have an aura deck? Winds of Rath will sweep anything not enchanted. If you have nothing tapped when Sunblast Angel arrives to the battlefield, then you won't lose anything.

You also have a few cards that have Sweep and Keep already baked in, without you needing to press any other buttons. Plague Wind and In Garruk's Wake destroy everything else save your own stuff, but they are quite pricey.

Now one of my favorite color combos to run this with is Red and White!

Red has a number of sweepers and White has a number of answers

Here's let's look:

Consider Earthquake. It deals damage to non-flyers, and you can scale up the damage as you have mana to ensure you take out the right stuff.

Now there are several ways in Boros up front for me to harness to protect myself from damage-based sweeping removal:

1. Protection from Red

If a creature has protection from the color of the damage (in this case Red) then it's won't take any damage either. Something in color like Subterranean Spirit is brilliant for this. Plus, this can tap for damage and add to the pressure.

2. Indestructible

Another ability to hack into is indestructible. It won't keep the creature from taking damage, but it won't care. No matter how much damage Darksteel Sentinel may take, it won't care about it. Plus, the vigilance and flash can really help to make it a strong card for a controlling brew.

3. Won't Take Damage

While there are not many of these out there, we do have a small number of Dawn Elementals that won't take damage from any source. While some of these damage preventers you may be familiar with (Fog Bank et all) will only prevent combat damage, there are a few that will prevent all non-combat damage as well!

4. Big Butts

If you are dealing a lot of damage, then having a dork with a bigger toughness will be useful. It's highly unlikely that you are doing enough damage to kill off an Indomitable Ancients. With that 10 toughness, it's hard to image things you'd want to sweep that's bigger. You can also see cards out there like defenders such as Wall of Granite that also are cheap with big butts too. Enjoy them!

#5. Flyers

If all of your sweeping removal effects are things like Magmaquake and Earthquake (it won't be), then you can survive just by running all flyers. They won't be, but guys like Serra Angel and Shivan Dragon will survive the non-flying removal.

6. Mass Protection

You can also run mass protection cards like Mark of Asylum that locks down any non-combat damage as well as Circle of Protection: Red for any Red source to you. You could also give your dorks effects like indestructible with Avacyn, Angel of Hope that will keep all of your other things from damage based removal.

Don't sleep on Red's two enchant world Spheres either. The first will turn non-flyers into evasive dorks that can only be blocked by non-flyers as well. Basically flyers become non, and vice versa. Similarly, Gravity Sphere will remove flying. This is great in tandem with Earthquake effects. If you have flyers like Darksteel Gargoyle that will keep alive against damage based removal when on the ground, then they are great here.

Now, who is my leader?

There are four I like as my potential leader:

Note that Iroas, God of Victory will prevent all damage dealt to your attackers in battle. That's great when swinging. He's indestructible to save from damage-based removal when he's a dork. If you swing with the whole team and then cast a damage-based instant sweeper such as Starstorm, your dorks will survive en masse! He's great.

Another great option is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. All of your sweeping damage is doubled to your foes and halved with you. That Rolling Earthquake for four only hits you and your team for two damage while hitting your foes and their team for eight damage each! That's nasty!

Tajic, Blade of the Legion runs indestructible, and suits the deck perfectly. He's cheaper than the previous two and can bring a powerful red zone pressure to shut folks down as soon as the way is cleared by removal. He can kill in three hits with battalion.

But I am heading to another Tajic instead:

Tajic, Legion's Edge prevents that sweet damage. He is heading in right now! Unlike Iroas, he prevents damage outside of combat, so your activated Pyrohemia never hits your team. He's a powerful early drop that can swing all night. He's Mark of Asylum on legs. He's great! I am running all of these dorks in my deck though.

Now what?

Haktos, the Unscarred will have protection from our damage-based removal effects and Firesong and Sunspeaker, are....wow. Just so synergetic here. Don't you want a lifelinking Solar Blaze? I know I do!

This also feels like a good home for Gideons that either have indestructible or prevent damage to them. Gideon Blackblade is awesome as a free way to give indestructible to others as well as exiling things that damage removal won't kill. (I added in Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile for these reasons).

While taking a Gideon deep dive, don't sleep on Kytheon, Hero of Akros. His ability is nice and he can protect key dorks like Hostility and Firesong and Sunspeaker that need it. He's an early dork you can lean on.

I am adding in Shadowspear as a cool way to remove indestructible on opposing dorks so you can sweep them.

Sweeping and Keeping with Boros | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Tajic, Legion's Edge

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
• 1 Archangel Avacyn
• 1 Auriok Champion
• 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1 Bloodfire Colossus
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Chaos Maw
• 1 Crater Hellion
• 1 Crimson Acolyte
• 1 Darksteel Colossus
• 1 Darksteel Gargoyle
• 1 Darksteel Sentinel
• 1 Dawn Elemental
• 1 Firesong and Sunspeaker
• 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1 Haktos the Unscarred
• 1 Hostility
• 1 Indomitable Ancients
• 1 Iroas, God of Victory
• 1 Jiwari, the Earth Aflame
• 1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Ryusei, the Falling Star
• 1 Shard Phoenix
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Subterranean Spirit
• 1 Tajic, Blade of the Legion

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1 Gideon Blackblade
• 1 Gideon Jura
• 1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

• Instants (11)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Crush Contraband
• 1 Fault Line
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Into the Core
• 1 Magmaquake
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Prismatic Strands
• 1 Starstorm
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Teferi's Protection

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Earthquake
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Rolling Earthquake
• 1 Solar Blaze
• 1 Wave of Reckoning

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Land Tax
• 1 Pyrohemia
• 1 Smothering Tithe
• 1 Story Circle

• Artifacts (11)
• 1 Akroma's Memorial
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1 Sword of War and Peace
• 1 Talisman of Conviction

• Lands (38)
• 8 Mountain
• 8 Plains
• 1 Ancient Amphitheater
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Inspiring Vantage
• 1 Needle Spires
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 1 Stone Quarry
• 1 Sunbaked Canyon
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 Temple of Triumph
• 1 Vivid Crag
• 1 Vivid Meadow
• 1 Wind-Scarred Crag
• 1 Chaosphere
• 1 Gravity Sphere

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And here you are! From Starstorm to Pyrohemia, and from Ryusei to Bloodfire Colossus, we have several damage-based sweepers!

What did you think of my deck? Anything in here that inspired you? Just let me know!