Did you hear? They reprinted Cryptic Command, only here’s the thing. In order to play with it, you have to admit Paul Rietzl was right. Boros is the future.
Gatecrash is proving to be no joke, and this past week the big preview cards took a turn for the Boros. The Boros color combination was one of the few two-color combinations that wasn’t supported in Return to Ravnica to enjoy a reasonable amount of success regardless. Recent Boros decks have tended to be fairly aggressive, ranging anywhere from W/R Humans to Tokens with Hellrider to R/W Aggro. Now two powerful new weapons for Boros have been revealed that are sure to thrust the color combination into the top tier.
First off, what is possibly the sickest of all ten Guild Charms:
This card is so pure Boros that it’s even illustrated by Zoltan Boros!
Sure, all the Charms are decent, right? What makes this one so special? Some cards take a little while for the community as a whole to fully appreciate. Boros Charm seems to have immediately struck a chord with the tournament scene, already being hyped as one of the top cards in the set.
They’re right.
Sometimes the strong cards are relatively straightforward, clearly awesome, and uncommon.
That doesn’t answer the question, though. What makes Boros Charm so good? After all, Lava Spike, Rootborn Defenses, and Double Cleave aren’t exactly dominating the tournament scene. Besides, Double Cleave kind of overlaps with both Lava Spike (if you use it on an unblocked creature) and with Rootborn Defenses (if you use it as a combat trick). I thought the Charms were better the more different the abilities?
Well, just to be clear, raw power is still a massive factor, and the first two abilities are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. If the card did only those two, it would still be absolutely excellent. Even if the third mode only gets used 5-10% of the time, it is all just gravy. Now, what if I told you that mode is actually being a little underrated? Let’s get back to it in a minute. First, let’s look at the first two and why they already ensure the card’s success.
To understand Boros Charm, we must understand how good an instant that makes all your permanents indestructible is. Remember, Rootborn Defenses only protects your creatures. Boros Charm doesn’t just counter Ultimate Price or Supreme Verdict; it can actually counter Naturalize or Wasteland, to say nothing of owning Armageddon.
It doesn’t stop there, though. Need a Fog? Block with all your guys, and none of them die in combat (not to mention the possibility of taking a few attackers down). Need to protect your planeswalker from a Maelstrom Pulse? Boros Charm can do that.
Need a Giant Growth? Sometimes, making your team indestructible is like Giant Growthing everyone.
Need a Brave the Elements to protect your team from Earthquake? Boros Charm does a lot more than that, and Brave the Elements was a four-of in Paul Rietzl Pro Tour Amsterdam winning Extended deck.
While “countering” Supreme Verdict is obviously ability #1 on this format-changer, it actually does so much more. What about countering Shatterstorm? Countering a Pernicious Deed activation? Absolutely blowing out Obliterate in an epic fashion? The indestructible mode alone is already more versatile than some Charms.
How much would we pay to make all our permanents indestructible? How good would such a card be for two mana? How about one?
Well, for one mana, the card would certainly be at a far greater power level than anything remotely close to it ever has been. That card would be Lightning Bolt good. Possibly better. Just imagine using that card in Modern, in Legacy. It would certainly be better than Flameslash, which is a pretty fantastic card.
What about two mana? Now we are getting into the realm of printable cards. A two-mana counterspell for most spot removal spells, most sweepers, most land destruction? A two-mana combat trick that saves your entire team? Even Bonfire of the Damned isn’t always such a good topdeck anymore! I am confident that at two making all your permanents indestructible would be a quality Constructed tournament card.
What’s the big deal? Boros Charm costs two. Why does getting this ability for two mana have everyone going out of their minds?
Here’s a question for you. What would you think of RW instant deal four damage to target creature or player?
This card would be absolutely incredible, right? Searing Spear is a very popular tournament card, and that card would be about as more powerful as Lightning Bolt is to Shock. No question, if we had Boros Blast we would roll out the red carpet for the card.
Could Boros Charm be better?
Boros Blast is basically a spell with two modes, deal four damage to target creature and deal four damage to target player. Boros Charm, like Boros Blast, has the four damage to a player ability (which is not just one damage more than Lava Spike but is at instant speed). I mean, Patrick Sullivan plays Flame Rift in Legacy, and this one doesn’t deal four damage to you…
What about four damage to a creature? How good is Flameslash? It would be a great one-mana spell, to be sure, and too good as an instant. It might even be playable as a two-mana instant. How does that compare to the indestructibility mode of Boros Charm? Both would be too good as one-mana instants and both would be good at two mana, but I think you have to give the edge to the indestructible version. Regardless of which is actually slightly ahead of the other, the point stands that the two effects are in the same league as each other.
Part of the beauty of burn spells that hit creatures and players is that the “modes” are so opposite each other. When one mode isn’t good, the other is. The same is true for Boros Charm. Does your opponent have creatures? Making your guys indestructible helps win combat. Does your opponent have no creatures? Making your permanents indestructible helps against their removal. Maybe your opponent is just trying to beat you with a planeswalker or assemble a combo; now four to the dome can help with the walker or the race.
Boros Charm could stop with the first two abilities and be a stone-cold killer. We haven’t even touched on the possibility of combining with your own mass removal. We are starting to talk about a non-inconsequential amount of mana, but Boros Charm plus Supreme Verdict is certainly one way to win a creature standoff. Combine Boros Charm with Armageddon and things are looking pretty one-sided.
Ok, so the card is sweet. What about that “third” ability (as though the first two abilities weren’t actually seven in disguise)? What are we supposed to do with double strike that we can’t do with four to the nug or turbo-indestructibility 9000?
Remember how people were initially underwhelmed by Jace’s bounce ability? After all, why should you have to -1 to get Unsummon when Brainstorm costs 0? Still, Jace’s bounce ability proved to be a tactical monster. Sure, you Brainstorm far more often than you Unsummon, but when you Unsummon, it could be game winning. It’s a powerful option when it matters.
What does this have to do with double strike?
We aren’t going to use the double strike ability as much as the other two, but when we do, it is often going to be crazy good. Just look at the most straightforward application, using double strike when it will amount to more damage than the four to the face does. That means it is necessarily dealing five or more damage for one card and two mana!
The most common sources of mega-double damage out of a Boros deck are likely to be Champion of the Parish and Sublime Archangel, but there are actually countless possibilities. This card is certainly not a purely Boros card. Playing R/W/U? Give your Thundermaw Hellkite double strike and that’s five right there. Aurelia, the Warleader? Take an extra six. Playing Naya? Thragtusk, Thundermaw, Wolfir Silverheart, and Kessig Wolf Run are all obvious possibilities.
Another feature of Boros Charm is that it doubles damage triggers. The most obvious of these is Stromkirk Noble, but what about equipment? Have a Jitte or Sword of Feast and Famine on your creature? Get paid twice. You can actually pull this trick off with Sword of War and Peace, though you have to Boros Charm the creature before equipping the Sword. Do it, however, and your opponent is not likely to survive the attack. Standard is not exactly short of Boros Charm combos, either. Runechanter’s Pike in a R/W/U deck just got a lot deadlier!
Ever wanted to Assault Strobe your Immolating Souleater? Boros Charm is a lot more flexible and could lead to some interesting double strike combo decks. Double strike isn’t just a way to kill opponents, however. You can also use it as a crude form of removal. Let’s say you have several relatively smaller creatures and your opponent has a big one. Giving double strike to the one they block might not save your guy, but it does let you take down their only threat.
Now, let’s imagine we are playing a more midrange deck. We attack with Restoration Angel, and they surprise us by blocking with their own Restoration Angel. A timely Boros Charm is functionally a removal spell for their Angel.
Here’s another possibility. Let’s imagine we are attacking with Hellrider and our opponent blocks with a lifelinker, like Vampire Nighthawk. Sure, we could make our guy indestructible and save him that way, but double strike actually gives us a little more value, letting us first strike the Nighthawk down before our opponent can gain two life.
Whether it is little edges, like that extra two life or an extra point of damage with our Thundermaw, or savage haymakers, like combining double strike with Runechanter’s Pike, the double strike option of Boros is actually a very nice option on an already unreal powerful card.
Boros Charm is actually as good as they say.
It’s going to be interesting to see the implications of this card. My first thought is that this is going to have a big influence on what sorts of removal people play. For instance, both Mutilate and Terminus look a bit more appealing and Supreme Verdict and Bonfire less so.
Boros Charm is going to be a killer in Boros Aggro, no question, but it is so pushy that it is going to show up in a variety of places that one might not expect, including quite a few midrange strategies. Interestingly, it is also likely to be so good in some places that it eventually becomes overhyped and people will start putting it all sorts of places it doesn’t belong. After all, if you don’t have permanents that are getting destroyed, you are missing out on the best part!
Verdict: Multiple format staple.
Boros is no one-trick pony, however. Boros Charm wasn’t even the only epic, format-impacting Boros card previewed this past week! Remember that Cryptic Command from earlier? How about:
So, XRW Instant – Just go ahead and do whatever you want. You were going to anyway.
What does this even mean? Ok, to start with, ever heard of Rolling Thunder? Yeah, this card is better in half a dozen ways.
What about Fireball? Let’s see, instant speed and costs nothing to split up, not to mention being able to split it unevenly? Ok, we are already talking about a nice one. But we haven’t even gotten started on this card’s text. What’s up with this set giving Boros more options than Wall Street?
When you hit creatures, you tap them? So this is mostly a way of giving the card “Kicker 1: Tap target creature.” Ok, that is pretty awesome. That means the card just gets “make all your creatures unblockable” or “Fog” for free. After all, the card is Turnabout. However, it doesn’t have to be just tap them all; you can mix and match however you want.
Let’s say our opponent has a Snapcaster Mage, a Restoration Angel, and a Thragtusk. Maybe we kill the Mage and the Angel and tap the Thragtusk, maybe we kill the Mage, tap the other two, and send a little to the face. Hell, you can literally just make up whatever text you want. Why not Time Walk them too?
Oh wait, you actually can do that?
That’s right, this is an instant, so you can Fury them on their upkeep, kill the Mage, tap both the Angel and the Thragtusk, and send one to the face all for just six mana. Not only have you removed all of their blockers and poked them, they can’t even cast noncreature spells this turn! No Supreme Verdict. No Terminus. No miracled Bonfire.
It appears that Boros is supposed to be the anti-sweeper guild. Interesting.
Need to stop a combo deck from going off? Aurelia’s Fury is most of a Silence for just three mana.
Need to kill a planeswalker? Yeah, Aurelia does that just fine.
Need to help your first strikers force their way through? Yep, Aurelia does that.
What about just finishing off opponents when all of your creatures are killed because it was not your lucky day and you didn’t draw one of your four Boros Charms? You guessed it: Aurelia does that.
What if you need to stop your opponent’s lethal strike and you know they have a Boros Charm so your removal is worthless? Yeah, Aurelia can even help there! Boros Charm may save all their guys, but Aurelia’s Fury still taps them. Plus, there is the outside possibility of some weird situations where you Fury them for one using just three mana. This forces them to use the Boros Charm or forever keep their peace. Now you can respond with the bigger Fury that actually kills creatures.
This card is so versatile that it just nuts. Whether you are killing and tapping their team on their upkeep while preventing them from playing spells or just X-spelling someone out of the game in response to their Sphinx’s Revelation (yeah, so there’s that…), Aurelia’s Fury is freaking out of control. It is expensive and not going to fit as many places as Boros Charm, but it will have a variety of surprising applications that we just haven’t thought of yet, as the card is so unlike anything this color pair has ever really had to work with.
Ok, let me leave you with a few Gatecrash decklists to consider, though this is just scratching the surface. The right places to put Aurelia’s Fury is far from a solved problem, and Boros Charm is going to go all kinds of places. What do you see as the best R/W/x deck? See you next week!
Patrick Chapin
“The Innovator”
Creatures (27)
- 2 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
- 2 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Stromkirk Noble
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 4 Hellrider
- 4 Silverblade Paladin
- 3 Boros Elite
Lands (23)
Spells (10)
Creatures (32)
- 2 Borderland Ranger
- 4 Arbor Elf
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
- 4 Restoration Angel
- 4 Thragtusk
- 4 Loxodon Smiter
- 2 Angel of Serenity
- 4 Experiment One
Lands (24)
Spells (4)
Creatures (34)
- 2 Borderland Ranger
- 2 Fiend Hunter
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
- 4 Mayor of Avabruck
- 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 4 Huntmaster of the Fells
- 2 Restoration Angel
- 2 Silverblade Paladin
- 2 Zealous Conscripts
- 3 Boros Elite
- 2 Sunhome Guildmage
Lands (23)
Spells (3)
Creatures (14)
Lands (24)
Spells (22)
Creatures (24)
Lands (22)
Spells (14)
Creatures (27)
- 4 Stromkirk Noble
- 4 Champion of the Parish
- 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
- 4 Hellrider
- 4 Ash Zealot
- 4 Rakdos Cackler
- 4 Boros Elite
Lands (22)
Spells (11)
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (25)
Spells (25)
Creatures (16)
Lands (25)
Spells (20)