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Main » Articles » Boros, Boros, Boros, and More Boros

Boros, Boros, Boros, and More Boros

Michael Flores
Posted on August 22, 2024
 Reddit

There sure are a lot of ways to play Battlefield Forge in Standard right now! So many that some of the decks don't even play Battlefield Forge.

What's crazy about the spread of Boros decks in the format is how different some of them are. I mean some of them are variations on a common theme (with and without Battlefield Forge, which you'll see in a moment)... But one of the Boros guild's old favorites - if one rotation back can be considered "old" - is still kicking, screaming, and performing.

Where we left off...

Boros | BLB Standard | malekz, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

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Last week we ended with a first look at the Boros Control archetype in Standard.

This deck, from the perspective of someone who has mainly been playing Mono-Red, is that this is an anti-deck. That is, it exists mostly to exploit the popularity of Mono-Red in the format.

So many of the cards are conditionally powerful. Lightning Helix is an absolute drubbing when cast in response to a pump spell on an offensive creature... But is barely better than a Lightning Strike against a u-w Control deck.

Beza, the Bounding Spring is a heck of a Legendary Elemental Elk. The creature is reminiscent of a Sunset Revelry... Or a card that you might have seen White decks various sideboard in against Red aggro in times past. Beza has a very high ceiling, but if the opponent hasn't been beating you up, you won't gain any life; if they haven't been spreading the battlefield, you won't get any Fish; if they haven't been drawing fire by sending in even more creatures, you probably aren't going to draw a card.

Beza is actually kind of clunky when you're up against another slow deck. Maybe its best upside is just waiting to cast it when the opponent has more lands than you; so you can get a Treasure.

Well... I suppose that the presence of actual Battlefield Forge in this deck can be productive. Ding yourself! Lose one, gain four, etc. etc.

On the subject of Battlefield Forge, half of this version's incentives come from the mana base; in particular Fountainport. The Boros Control deck gets a lot of mileage out of Sunken Citadel, in part via Mirrex activations, but mostly fiddling around with Fountainport.

Where do you get all the tokens?

Boros Control has some cool incentives. Most of the cards are individually powerful, at least contextually. A notable exception is Caretaker's Talent. This Class doesn't really do anything unless you have other tokens going... But more than a third of the deck is capable of making one kind of token or another. So Caretaker's Talent into Carrot Cake? Draw a card.

The deck's main offense is Urabrask's Forge.

This detail kind of breaks the idea that Boros Control is only / just an anti-deck. Urabrask's Forge is actually at its worst against beatdown (Phyrexian Horrors don't block... Generally); but the card can overwhelm other mid-range or control. Many of them can't deal with artifacts main deck.

One of the cool play patterns with the deck is to bring Caretaker's Talent to Level 2 before you have to sacrifice your Phyreixan Horror at the end of the turn. So sometimes Urabrask's Forge tokens do block!

You can also sacrifice a Phyrexian Horror to Fountainport before it has to sacrifice itself to draw a card.

The default Boros Control under Bloomburrow looked like this.

But the archetype has already evolved!

Boros Control | BLB Standard | Tunaktunak, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

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Remember what I said about some of these Battlefield Forge people not even playing Battlefield Forge?

That's what we see with this slower take on Boros Control

I hesitate to call it Boros (though it literally is)... This is more of an evolution to Mono-White Control with a very slight Red splash.

Here we see more emphasis on mighty Beza - up to four copies of the Legendary Creature - as the decrease in Red mana has more or less made Urabrask's Forge yesterday's technology.

Instead TUNAKTUNAK has more Planeswalkers and a Mount sub-theme.

Frontier Seeker
Fortune, Loyal Steed

The "engine" is really about Frontier Seeker. The deck has 14 basic Plains, and Elegant Parlor is also a Plains. But if you can search up a Mount? Why not? Fortune, Loyal Steed's "Blink"-like effect works with every single creature in the deck.

So why shift your Boros this way?

There is one main reason:

Lay Down Arms

Lay Down Arms! Remember this card? I suppose that everything old is new again. In a deck with 18 Plains and 4 Frontier Seekers, Lay Down Arms is going to prove effective point removal against almost anything short of Atraxa. Between Lay Down Arms and Get Lost you'll barely miss Lightning Helix. Will you miss it? Yes, obviously; but barely.

A lot of TUNAKTUNAK's sideboard pivots around the now-missing Urabrask's Forge.

Boon-Bringer Valkyrie

It doesn't matter how big the Phyrexians get on the front-side. They never have more than 1 toughness, and Boon-Bringer Valkyrie has first strike.

Tocasia's Welcome

In matchups where token grinding is meaningful, Tocasia's Welcome can help you excel on more than one axis at the same time. Even if all you have is a Mirrex... Drawing cards hasn't stopped being cool or anything.

Boros Control | BLB Standard | Tulio_Jaudy, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge 8/18/2024

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Here's another look with a similar deck.

TULIO_JAUDY won a recent Standard Challenge with a version with two more lands (both Plains) and no Mountains.

Instead...

Sanguine Evangelist

I had to double-take on this one.

Honestly Sanguine Evangelist would not have been my first, second, or third choice to back up Beza. It doesn't draw, it doesn't draw lands... I suppose it does make a token (often two). That does make the card a good combo with Caretaker's Talent and Fountainport.

Boros Beatdown | BLB Standard | choccy_milk, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

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Sanguine Evangelist makes much more intuitive sense in a beatdown deck, doesn't it?

So CHOCCY_MILK played the full two.

You've probably seen this archetype a thousand times, if not this specific build.

The concept is relatively simple:

Early Game 1- and two-drops highlighted by Novice Inspector and Warden of the Inner Sky. Multiple creatures - the aforementioned Novice Inspector and Resolute Reinforcements notably - make more than one permanent, so can help buff Warden of the Inner Sky.

The deck has lost a beat with the rotation of Voldaren Epicure, so it's a little weaker on the Gleeful Demolition front. Anim Pakal helps with that a little bit... Though don't forget that you can just Gleeful Demolition your opponent's artifact for a one-mana Shatter.

The deck is good at swarming wide; so can get very fast kills with Imodane's Recruiter.

But going wide also helps the deck go tall: Tap a bunch of creatures to help bring out Knight-Errant of Eos at a discount, and you might just draw an extra card or two.

When you're playing against Boros Convoke, I'd just caution you to be a little mindful. Many beatdown decks have to beat you in The Red Zone; so as long as you kill all their creatures you generally won't lose. This deck has sneaky haste going long enough (with Imodane's Recruiter); and can just burn you out with Warleader's Call anyway.

Oh, and a couple of Lightning Helixes, which are so sneaky they're not in the main deck.

Boros Mice| BLB Standard | numberonenoob, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

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Rounding out our Boros Boros Boros... and Boros tour of Standard's rw decks is a legitimately different deck showcasing some of the cards that make Bloomburrow unique.

Like Boros Convoke, this deck tends to be the beatdown. It's all about deploying creatures as soon as turn one, and then snowballing with lots of Mouse-matters.

Cheeky House-Mouse

This is just better than Savannah Lions!

Squeak By is a good way to trigger the Prowess and Valiant on Emberheart Challenger, but it's kind of one-shot.

Some of the creatures in this deck can target over and over.

Manifold Mouse

This card kind of has everything. It has Offspring (so you can do the thing twice per turn)... Or you can do both. Double Strike and Trample at the same time? That sounds like problems for anyone facing a Heartfire Hero or Flowerfoot Swordmaster (who grow by themselves).

Almost every creature in this deck is either new or has never been played in another competitive deck (Cheeky House-Mouse, Raging Battle Mouse). But there is only one most exciting creature:

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame

This card looked good to me on paper, but I wasn't sure there would be a deck for it.

Mabel is a 3/3 for three mana that makes all your other Mice better... But making the Cragflame is often the first step toward the end of the game, especially against Control.

The Cragflame is cheap to equip, so can buff your Heartfire Hero off the top. All the abilities are relevant, but none so much as haste. Pass the Cragflame around and games will be short.

This deck has no real interaction in the main... It's just about solo-ing the opponent with haste, power, and +1/+1 counters. But NUMBERONEBOOB shores that up a lot after sidebaording. Get Lost can deal with big creatures, while Lightning Helix will deflate another attack deck as well as it did in the time of Ravnica: City of Guilds.

LOVE

MIKE

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TAGS articles, standard, metagame, constructed, analysis, decklist, mike flores, boros, michael flores, red-white, blb standard, 08222024

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