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Boros Heroes

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The release of Theros is rapidly approaching, and with the set spoiler in one hand and a pile of proxies in the other, deck-builders across the globe are gearing up for the new Standard format. Now, it's no secret that I'm a big fan of red and white, and aggressive decks are generally less expensive to build than the often-bomb-ridden midrange and control decks, so when looking to build a budget deck in an unknown format, Boros aggro is one of my first stops. It also helps that red and white in Theros each have a few excellent heroic creatures and enablers that I think might be well-suited to an aggressive build. Here's the list I put together to test my theory.

The Creatures

Soldier of the Pantheon seems to be an extremely valuable 1-drop when coming off the tails of a multicolored block. Most of the new Standard format will be based on Return to Ravnica block, so the likelihood of protection from multicolored being relevant in any given matchup is quite high. The life-gain is markedly less important for an aggro deck, but it could theoretically bump your life total up just enough to win a race. Even if neither ability matters in a game, this guy is still an Elite Vanguard, which, while rarely the best 1-drop available, has certainly seen play in Standard from time to time.

The other main 1-drop I'll be using is Boros Elite. While the Elite only attacks for 1 on its own, once you've gathered two more creatures, it turns into a 3/3 on the attack, which will blow any other 1-drop and most 2-drops out of the water. With Precinct Captain and Akroan Crusader to make tokens, along with a plethora of cheap threats, turning on battalion shouldn't be too difficult in most games.

Although Akroan Crusader is a 1-drop, most of the time, it won't act like it in this deck. As a 1/1 with no combat abilities, it's not particularly good at attacking, so if you have another creature to cast on the first turn, it's usually better to cast that one instead. That said, having a third 1-drop does help ensure you're never wasting your first turn, and it allows you to still put a creature down on turn two if you don't have ww. Where Akroan Crusader really shines is in the midgame, where it allows you to put more threats on the board, turning on battalion and giving you more creatures to pump up with Phalanx Leader and Anax and Cymede. With Coordinated Assault to target two creatures at once, you can often trigger the abilities on both Akroan Crusader and Phalanx Leader, and so long as you stack them correctly, you end up with a free 2/2.

Precinct Captain
Precinct Captain is a card that has grown on me a lot after playing it. At first, I didn't much like the idea of a 2-drop without haste that just dies to Call of the Conclave and that can't make it past an Augur of Bolas, but it turns out these things are far less common than random 2/2s, and when your opponent can't block it, making free Soldiers is pretty great. Against a control deck, this little 2/2 makes for a must-kill threat, even with nothing else on the board. It's a relentless growth of 2 damage, then 3, then 4, and then 5, all the while making it more and more impossible to stabilize without a Supreme Verdict.

Phalanx Leader is the card that has me most excited for this deck. Pumping up all your creatures at almost no cost is a huge ability, even if it comes on a 2-mana 1/1. With one Dragon Mantle, not only does the Leader become a more respectable 2/2, but all your other creatures grow larger as well. Oh, and you get to draw a card. And it has Firebreathing now, you know, in case you feel like dealing more damage later.

Oddly, despite the power and toughness boost, the legendary Anax and Cymede pales in comparison to Phalanx Leader. Although they grant a similar +1/+1, the boost is temporary, and giving trample to your usually-small creatures is rarely relevant. A 3/2 with first strike and vigilance for 3 mana is certainly a better deal than a 1/1 for 2, but that still doesn't quite seem like enough when your deck is built to trigger heroic. Nevertheless, having a second way to pump up all your 1/1 tokens really helps the consistency of the deck, and the fact that this dynamic duo can take down almost any early creature without breaking a sweat doesn't hurt.

After briefly testing the earlier versions of the deck, it became clear that it was a little light on creatures, so I added in Fabled Hero as a second 3-drop to help close out games. A 2/2 with double strike is a fine deal for 3 mana, and between Phalanx Captain, Anax and Cymede, and its own heroic ability, there are plenty of ways to beef this guy up a bit. Thanks to double strike, Fabled Hero is particularly good at taking advantage of any extra power you give it.

The Support

Dragon Mantle is exactly the kind of card heroic needed to get off the ground. For a single red mana, it basically says, “Trigger heroic. Draw a card.” The addition of firebreathing is really just icing on the cake, although since it's there, you will find yourself using if fairly often. It's especially nice on Anax and Cymede. First strike enables them to take greater advantage of the power pump, and combined with trample from their ability, blocking becomes a losing proposition.

Coordinated Assault is the kind of card I'm not particularly happy about playing, but triggering heroic is important enough to the deck that I think it needs to be here. It can trigger two separate heroic abilities for 1 mana, and it makes those creatures much harder to kill in combat for a turn. Ideally, you'll be able to use this like a real combat trick, enabling your creature to kill a blocker, but since the heroic trigger is usually the most important part of this card, you'll often end up casting it just for that.

Chained to the Rocks is a great reason to play Boros already. So long as you have a Mountain, it lets you exile a creature for just 1 mana. To me, this is reminiscent of Dispatch in the old Tempered Steel deck. It's a 1-mana removal spell the only drawback of which is that it might not work in decks that aren't yours. There's almost no downside for you. I have no doubt that this little card is going to be a big deal in Standard.

Magma Jet is another solid removal spell. Although it can only kill smaller creatures, it also allows you to scry 2, which, for this deck, means putting lands on the bottom so you can keep the threats coming. It's worth noting that this can also be used to trigger heroic in a pinch, and if the heroic ability raises the creature's toughness above 2, you can avoid killing your own guy in the process. Anax and Cymede, for example, will never die to your Magma Jet since its ability will make it a 4/3 before the Jet resolves.

Play-Testing

Although we have no idea what the upcoming Standard format might look like, I updated a R/W/U control deck for the purposes of this article. It should quite the challenge for these heroes.

Game 1

Sphinx's Revelation
I won the roll and kept a hand of Plains, Mountain, Soldier of the Pantheon, Precinct Captain, Dragon Mantle, Magma Jet, and Chained to the Rocks. I started things off my playing my Plains and casting Soldier of the Pantheon. My opponent played Temple of Triumph and passed the turn.

I drew a Plains, played it, and attacked for 2. I cast my Precinct Captain and ended my turn. My opponent played an Island and passed back.

I drew a Plains, played my Mountain, and attacked with both creatures. My opponent killed the Captain with Lightning Strike, and I ended my turn. My opponent played Hallowed Fountain, paying 2 life, and passed the turn.

I cast Magma Jet at end of turn, targeting him. It resolved, and I put Chained to the Rocks and a Plains on bottom. I drew Akroan Crusader, played my Plains, and attacked. My opponent dropped to 12, and I cast the Crusader, which was met with a Dissolve. I passed the turn, and my opponent played Temple of Triumph and passed back.

I drew a Plains, dropped my opponent to 10, and ended my turn. My opponent passed back with no play.

I drew Akroan Crusader and attacked for 2. My opponent killed my creature with Lightning Strike, and I cast the Crusader before passing the turn. My opponent put a Hallowed Fountain into play tapped and ended his turn.

I drew a Mountain and cast Dragon Mantle on my Crusader. I made a token and drew another Mountain, which I played. I attacked with the Crusader, pumping it by 1, and my opponent put it on top of my library with Azorius Charm. I ended my turn, and he passed back with no play.

I drew the Crusader, played a Mountain, and attacked with my token. My opponent took the damage, and I cast the Crusader and ended my turn. My opponent cast Steam Augury at the end of my turn, taking a Sphinx's Revelation and an Island. On his turn, he played a tapped Sacred Foundry and cast Supreme Verdict to wipe away my creatures.

I drew a Mountain and conceded.

Game 2

My opponent took a mulligan, and I kept a hand of two Plains, Boros Elite, two Precinct Captains, Phalanx Leader, and Dragon Mantle. I played my Plains, cast Boros Elite, and passed the turn. My opponent played Steam Vents and passed back.

I drew a Mountain, played my Plains, and attacked for 1. I cast my Precinct Captain and ended my turn. My opponent played an Island and passed back.

I drew Fabled Hero, played my Mountain, and attacked with both creatures. My opponent killed Precinct Captain with Lightning Strike and took 1. I cast Fabled Hero and ended my turn. My opponent paid 2 life for Hallowed Fountain and passed back.

I drew Boros Elite and cast Phalanx Leader. I enchanted it with Dragon Mantle, putting a counter on my creatures and drawing Anax and Cymede. I attacked, and my opponent cast Azorius Charm on Fabled Hero, taking 2. I ended my turn, and my opponent played a tapped Hallowed Fountain before casting a Lighting Strike on Phalanx Captain.

He ended his turn, and I drew my Fabled Hero. I attacked for 2, cast the Hero, and ended my turn. My opponent passed back with no play.

I drew Coordinated Assault and attacked with both creatures. My opponent put Fabled Hero back on top with Azorius Charm and dropped to 10. I cast Anax and Cymede and ended my turn. My opponent played Steam Vents before passing back.

I attacked with both creatures, and my opponent dropped to 5. I cast Fabled Hero, which was met with Dissolve, and I ended my turn. My opponent passed the turn with no play, and I drew Soldier of the Pantheon.

I attacked for lethal, and my opponent cast Sphinx's Revelation. I countered with a Coordinated Assault for an extra 4 damage to win the game.

Game 3

Boros Elite
I kept a hand of two Plains, a Mountain, two Boros Elite, Fabled Hero, and Dragon Mantle. My opponent started things off with a Temple of Triumph, and I drew another Fabled Hero. I played my Plains, cast Boros Elite, and passed the turn.

My opponent played a tapped Sacred Foundry and passed back. I drew Soldier of the Pantheon, played my Plains, and attacked for 1. I cast the Soldier along with my second Boros Elite and ended my turn.

My opponent played an Island and passed. I drew Dragon Mantle and moved to combat. My opponent killed Soldier of the Pantheon with Lightning Strike, forcing me to attack for just 2. I cast Fabled Hero and passed the turn.

My opponent played an Island and cast Supreme Verdict, wiping away my army. I drew yet another Fabled Hero, cast it, and ended my turn.

My opponent played Sacred Foundry and ended his turn. I drew a Mountain, played it, and cast Dragon Mantle on Fabled Hero.

Aetherling
My opponent passed with no play. I drew Anax and Cymede and attacked for 6. My opponent put the Hero on top of my library with Azorius Charm, and I cast my other one before passing the turn.

My opponent played a Mountain and cast Elspeth, Sun's Champion. He made three Soldier tokens and ended his turn. I drew my Fabled Hero and attacked Elspeth with the first. My opponent blocked with a Soldier. I cast the second Hero and ended my turn.

My opponent made three more tokens with Elspeth, played a Hallowed Fountain, and passed the turn. I drew Akroan Crusader and cast Anax and Cymede. I cast Dragon Mantle on them, giving my creatures +1/+1 and trample and drawing a Plains, which I played. I attacked Elspeth for 12, and my opponent chose not to block. I passed the turn, and he cast Steam Augury, taking Sphinx's Revelation and Syncopate.

He passed back with no play, and I drew Phalanx Leader. I attacked with everything, and my opponent chump-blocked all three creatures with Soldiers. I ended my turn, and he cast Sphinx's Revelation for 4, going up to 22.

On his turn, he played a tapped Steam Vents and cast Aetherling before passing. I drew Coordinated Assault and cast Phalanx Leader. I attacked with Anax and Cymede and the two Fabled Heroes. My opponent blocked Anax and Cymede with Aetherling and blocked each of the Heroes with a Soldier token. I cast Coordinated Assault, targeting Anax and Cymede and Phalanx Leader. Each of my creatures received a +1/+1 counter, an additional +1/+1, and trample. My opponent flickered Aetherling out to save it and took 20, dropping to 2. I ended my turn.

He played a land and cast Sphinx's Revelation for 2, but he failed to find a Supreme Verdict and conceded.

Wrap-Up

This is definitely a very powerful deck when the cards come together. When my opponent cast Aetherling, he assumed that, at best, I would have something to target Anax and Cymede, forcing him to either drop to 12 from the Heroes or trade off Aetherling and go to 17. However, thanks to Phalanx Leader and Coordinated Assault, I ended up attacking for the whole 22 damage in one swing. That kind of explosiveness makes this strategy extremely dangerous. Even with just one card in hand, your opponent must consider playing around a potentially massive amount of extra damage. If you want to try out a heroic-based deck in Standard, or if you just like the surprise factor, give this list a shot.


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