Hello, everyone! With the pandemic still in full effect, I'm facing the possibility of being furloughed at my full-time job. That means I'll have more free time to play Magic. As such, I'll be using this week's article to provide you with a few builds for my favorite color pair, Boros (). Let's get started!

Boros Auras

The first deck I have for you attempts to go bigger by building up your creatures with auras, while also having the capability of going wide as well. It's also a great budget deck. Let's take a look at the deck:

Boros Auras | THB Standard | kiraneris, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (24)
• 4 Alseid of Life's Bounty
• 4 Burning Prophet
• 4 Dawn Evangel
• 4 Heliod's Pilgrim
• 4 Hero of the Nyxborn
• 4 Transcendent Envoy

• Enchantments (14)
• 2 Commanding Presence
• 2 Impending Doom
• 2 Iroas's Blessing
• 4 Angelic Gift
• 4 Sentinel's Eyes

• Lands (22)
• 12 Plains
• 6 Mountain
• 4 Wind-Scarred Crag

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Apostle of Purifying Light
• 2 Integrity // Intervention
• 4 Karametra's Blessing
• 4 Pacifism
• 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
• 2 Unchained Berserker

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The deck also allows you to go wide, with a couple of cards that create creature tokens when certain things happen. Hero of the Nyxborn helps with this plan as well, as it creates a 1/1 Human creature token when Hero of the Nyxborn enters the battlefield. The other card that allows you to make tokens is Commanding Presence. Whenever a creature that is enchanted with Commanding Presence deals combat damage to a player, you'll create a 1/1 Human Soldier token. While these two cards won't create a ton of tokens for you to use, the ones they do make will help by acting as targets for additional auras or by chump blocking for you.

A fun "combo" for this deck is the interaction between Dawn Evangel and Transcendent Envoy. Dawn Evangel allows you to return a creature card with a CMC (converted mana cost) of two or less from your graveyard to your hand whenever a creature with an aura you control dies. Since Transcendent Envoy costs 2 mana, you can return it with Dawn Evangel. Transcendent Envoy has an ability that makes your auras cost one generic mana less, thereby making it easier to enchant any creature with an aura, including itself. Since Transcendent Envoy also has flying, you can set up an effective, evasive attacker.

Boros Knights

The next deck I have for you might not feature much from Theros Beyond Death, but it still looks like it can compete in our current Standard environment. Let's take a look at it:

Boros Knights | THB Standard | kiraneris, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (35)
• 3 Ardenvale Tactician
• 3 Inspiring Veteran
• 3 Skyknight Legionnaire
• 3 Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw
• 3 Venerable Knight
• 4 Acclaimed Contender
• 4 Fervent Champion
• 4 Skyknight Vanguard
• 4 Worthy Knight
• 4 Youthful Knight

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 The Circle of Loyalty

• Lands (21)
• 11 Plains
• 6 Mountain
• 4 Wind-Scarred Crag

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Ajani, Inspiring Leader
• 2 Ardenvale Paladin
• 2 Arrester's Zeal
• 3 Infuriate
• 2 Jaya's Greeting
• 3 Shining Armor

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This deck also includes a few cards that allow you to create creature tokens. Worthy Knight has the ability to create a huge amount of 1/1 Human creature tokens since you'll create one every time you cast a Knight spell. Skynight Vanguard creates a 1/1 Soldier creature token whenever it attacks. Finally, The Circle of Loyalty will create a 2/2 Knight creature token whenever you cast a legendary spell (in the main deck, that's only Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw). The Circle of Loyalty also offers you a way to create additional 2/2 Knight creature tokens turn after turn.

Speaking of The Circle of Loyalty, it also offers another bonus. With it in play, all of your creatures will get a +1/+1 bonus. As I mentioned before, there are numerous ways to buff your creatures in this deck. One other way is with Syr Alin, the Lion's Claw. He gives a +1/+1 bonus to each other creature you control for the turn when he attacks. Use all of these bonuses to force your opponent to block your creatures or suffer a ton of damage.

Boros Tokens

The final deck I have for you this week offers a ton of damage via powerful creature tokens. Let's take a look at it:

Boros Tokens | THB Standard | SlayAnything, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (12)
• 2 Hero of the Nyxborn
• 3 Alseid of Life's Bounty
• 3 Archon of Sun's Grace
• 4 Anax, Hardened in the Forge

• Instants (3)
• 3 Thrill of Possibility

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Storm's Wrath
• 2 Deafening Clarion
• 2 Lava Coil
• 2 Shatter the Sky

• Enchantments (12)
• 2 All That Glitters
• 2 Dawn of Hope
• 2 Outlaws' Merriment
• 3 Divine Visitation
• 3 The Birth of Meletis

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Embercleave

• Lands (24)
• 7 Mountain
• 7 Plains
• 1 Wind-Scarred Crag
• 2 Fabled Passage
• 3 Castle Ardenvale
• 4 Sacred Foundry

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Banishing Light
• 2 Elspeth Conquers Death
• 3 Embereth Shieldbreaker
• 1 Flame Sweep
• 2 Glass Casket
• 2 Justice Strike
• 1 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator

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This deck has a few other ways to create creature tokens other than just Anax and Archon of Sun's Grace. The Birth of Meletis creates a 0/4 Wall token when it gets its second lore counter. Hero of the Nyxborn creates a 1/1 Human creature token when the Hero enters the battlefield. Outlaws' Merriment creates a random Human creature token each turn during your upkeep. Finally, Dawn of Hope offers you a repeatable way to create 1/1 Soldier tokens, provided you have the mana to spend on them. All of these tokens will turn into 4/4 Angel tokens if you have Divine Visitation on the battlefield when they are created.

In the event that the token plan doesn't work out, this deck has a nice back up win-condition. If Anax, Hardened in the Forge is in play with a copy of All That Glitters enchanting him, by casting Embercleave you'll often be able to end the game on the spot. Anax will have 7 power thanks to the bonuses you get from All That Glitters and Embercleave. It only takes a couple of attacks for you to be able to end your opponent thanks to the trample and first strike that Embercleave provides.

Wrapping Up

I think I like playing Boros decks the best because of the speed and power they offer. While each of these decks offers a different path to victory, each of them looks to have the tools needed to be successful. With the potential of additional down time, I'm looking forward to giving each of these decks a try.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes