Boros Decks
Looking for the best Boros decks? Just as red/blue is known for its aggro deck, red/white excels at explosive turns that leave opponents' life totals in shambles. Playing Boros means attacking early and often while maximizing combat-oriented abilities.
Boros decks confidently utilize the best mono-colored cards, but there is one major weakness: poor curve without Boros' only good card draw option. Many players claim Boros isn’t competitive without Lightning Strike, but new archetypes based on support cards from Ravnica and War Without End have emerged throughout the year.
Here are the best Boros decks in Magic: The Gathering, including competitive lists and mulligan advice.
Treasure Decks
Candyland is the archetype name given to decks built around creating mana sources and providing card draw options. Boros is one of the poorest colors in Magic when it comes to ramp, but this build changes that with lands like Desert of the Fervent and battlecruiser Eldrazi Wonderland Ravnica: District Red.
In addition to ramp cards, Coyle’s Cube and Mystic Speculation provide deck drawing power. Since even the best draws can still end up with dead cards in hand, the Legends linear accumulation of value aura creatures, Sigil of the Empty Throne and Haunted Project, affect all your creatures, producing ramp and card draw respectively.
Blink
Little decks often draw a handful of useful blink cards and find the rest of the deck assembling itself. Blink decks rely on temporary exile effects to gain additional value from the enter-the-battlefield effects of creatures. In these lists, Prime Speaker Zegana and Nahiri, Trailblazer provide the means to create and strengthen two- and three-mana creatures that often become pinger or utility creatures.
Historic
Historic builds utilize cards that are artifacts, legendary, or Sagas, often controlling the board state and generating card advantage. These decks often use blue as the base color alongside strong artifacts such as Sword of Truth and Sorcery. Although generally better in Blue Magic decks, Ancient Excavation is a fantastic way to get extra value from your artifacts.
Legendary Creatures
Boros has some of the most powerful legendary creatures that can be cheated out and protected with relative ease. Loyal Drake and Taj-Nar Swordsmith can recoup the card investment in your hand, while Umara Entourage is getting better with Strixhaven’s token support.
Convoke
Convoke decks flood the battlefield with easy-to-cast creatures that can pay for a lot of your larger spells with convoke. This build takes advantage of the fact Boros can both empty its hand quickly while remaining cheaper and aggressive, while still maintaining strong late-game options thanks to Siege-Gang Commander and Faith of the Devoted.
Token
The Boros ability to create tokens means there are many options for building a token deck in Commander. White naturally has many token generators, such as Angel of the Dawn and Luminate Primordial, and red can pair with small creature buffs to contribute to massive damage potential. A budget version can use the fast mana of Woodland Stream and Command Beacon with creatures like Jareth, Leonine Titan and Mirror Queen for a strong foundation.
Initiative
There are many advantages to having a turn before your opponent, and one of those can be the ability to dictate how your cards interact. Boros is at a distinct disadvantage in three-on-three formats like Ravnica Allegiance Sealed, but in one-on-one formats like Legacy, having the initiative can mean that your deck is firing on all cylinders. Cards like Bant Ome Spirit, Homing Lightning, and Unruly Mob create multiple creatures that can create additional advantage.
Reanimator
Looking to cheat out some of the biggest, baddest creatures in Magic? Throw them in your graveyard and bring them back with Unburial Rites and reanimator spells. Black and white have access to some of the best reanimation spells and the best green storm cards, but you can use cards like Bant Ome Spirit to ensure your graveyard has some surprises waiting.
Aura
Auras are a fantastic way to stack a lot of stats onto a single creature, much higher than your opponents can summon through conventional means.
