Jumpstart 2022 has hit the shelves, and Commander fans like me are super-excited about the cool new cards that are obviously made for our format. Last week, I dug into the various cards we might want to play in a Zask, Skittering Swarmlord Insect tribal deck.
This week, I want to dive deep into our new Boros commander: Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier!
This new version of Agrus Kos has a text box that’s similar to previous abilities, but different enough to make building around it a nice new experience. Unlike Zada, Hedron Grinder or Feather, the Redeemed, Agrus Kos triggers from an ability that targets it rather than a spell. So an Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier deck is going to want to have a lot of permanents with abilities that can target just one creature, and it must target Agrus Kos to get its triggered ability.
Interlude: Rules of the Eternal Soldier
Let’s take a look at the rules explanation from the Jumpstart 2022 Release Notes:
If an ability has multiple targets, but it’s targeting Agrus Kos with all of them, the last ability triggers. In that case, each of the copies will also target only one of those creatures.
Any creature you control that can’t be targeted by the copied ability (due to protection abilities, targeting restrictions, or any other reason) is just ignored. No copy is created for that creature.
The controller of Agrus Kos controls all the copies, no matter which player controlled the original ability. That player chooses the order the copies are put on the stack. The original ability will be on the stack beneath those copies and will resolve last.
If the ability that’s copied is modal (that is, it says “Choose one —” or the like), the copies will have the same mode. Their controller can’t choose a different one.
If the ability that’s copied has an X whose value was determined as it was put on the stack, the copies have the same value of X.
What Else Does the Eternal Soldier Need?
The other thing we’ll want to ensure is that we have a fair number of other creatures on the battlefield that can benefit from the ability that we’re targeting Agrus Kos with. Since Agrus Kos, Eternal Solider is four mana, and requires two mana to pay for the triggered ability, it’s probably a good idea to rely on creatures and spells that make creatures lower down the mana curve.
You might even want to wait until you can cast Agrus Kos and have mana up to pay for the triggered ability, and an ability to target Agrus Kos all in one turn to ensure you get the value from it. This means you’ll want plenty of ways to ramp your mana, and since this is a Boros deck, we won’t have access to green mana ramp. I’ve found that Lotus Field is a good way to help ensure that your deck will always be “behind” in lands in relation to your opponent, so that cards like Land Tax and Keeper of the Accord can constantly provide you value.
Okay, let’s dig into synergistic cards we’ll want to consider for our deck!
Land Targeting Abilities
Lands with targeting abilities will be awesome here because you’ll want to make as many land drops as possible, as Agrus Kos has a built-in mana sink. I’d easily play 40 lands in this deck, and maybe one or two more. Mirrorpool is incredible if you have a fair number of nonlegendary creatures out. Sacrifice it to copy Agrus Kos, and you’ll get copies of all your other creatures too.
Note that it costs five to tap and activate Mirrorpool and two to pay for Agrus Kos’s ability, so when I mention this deck is mana-hungry, I mean it. It might be nice to have a Knight of the White Orchid on the battlefield to copy this way. Vigilance is an awesome ability in Commander, so using Slayers’ Stronghold to target Agrus Kos and giving your whole team +2/+0 and vigilance and haste is big game. Or how about giving everything you have double strike with Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion?
If you’re playing a fair number of legendary creatures in the deck, Plaza of Heroes and Tyrite Sanctum can be rather bonkers in the later parts of the game.
Creature Copying Abilities
There are a fair number of abilities in Boros that can make temporary copies of your creatures, and even though targeting Agrus Kos with it will run into the legend rule, if you have enough other creatures on the battlefield, it’s certainly going to be a big swingy play. I’d be tempted to slot a Mirror Box into the deck just to be able to keep the copy of Agrus Kos or any other legendary creature around, like with the myriad ability of Duke Ulder Ravengard. Of course Delina, Wild Mage will make copies of legendary creatures just fine!
Creature Targeting Abilities – Combat
I love Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder so much, and it’s going to do so much heavy lifting in this deck. Giving your entire team double strike and lifelink is so bonkers! Luminarch Aspirant can really help enable any +1/+1 counter strategies you might be filling out your deck with. Taranika, Akroan Veteran and Fey Steed can protect your attackers from any damage they might run into during combat.
Other Creature Targeting Abilities
Mother of Runes and Giver of Runes are already awesome cards, but they’re even better in this deck, where you can give your team protection to run past a mono-color deck’s defenses or protect your team from dying to something like Blasphemous Act. Restoration Angel can blink a bunch of your creatures if you target Agrus Kos, which can be quite nice if some of them have abilities that trigger upon entering the battlefield.
Here’s a fun interaction involving Soulbright Flamekin—if you’ve got it on the battlefield with Agrus Kos and at least one other creature, you can activate it for two mana to give Agrus Kos trample, then pay two for Agrus Kos’s triggered ability to copy it twice. A copy of the ability counts towards the total resolved in a turn, so each creature you have will gain trample and you’ll get eight red mana into your mana pool. That’s mana you can use to pay for other abilities and Agrus Kos’s trigger ability!
Brash Taunter is one of my favorite creatures, and how much fun will it be to activate its ability targeting Agrus Kos, and then having all of your other creatures fight Brash Taunter? You’ll be able to send each of your creatures’ power in damage at your opponents’ life totals as you see fit.
Artifact Targeting Abilities
This Tweet from @ekplayscards first got my attention regarding how nutty Agrus Kos can be:
Turns out Sword of Hearth and Home does work how he was hoping! Deal combat damage with Sword of Hearth and Home to get the trigger, and target Agrus Kos. Pay for Agrus Kos’s triggered ability, and voilà! For each creature you control, you exile them and search your library for a basic land card and put both of them onto the battlefield under your control. Now that is some serious mana ramp!
Similarly, Sword of Fire and Ice’s trigger could let you target Agrus Kos with the trigger to deal two damage and draw a card, and if you copy the ability for each creature you control, that could potentially draw a bunch of cards. Hopefully most of your creatures would survive the two damage like Agrus Kos would.
Thousand-Year Elixir can potentially untap all of your attacking creatures if you target Agrus Kos with the activated ability. And how about Power Matrix giving your entire team flying, first strike, and trample until end of turn?
Enchantment Targeting Abilities
Duelist’s Heritage and Blood Mist can give your team double strike, and Citadel Siege can give your team two +1/+1 counters. Nahiri’s Machinations can give your entire team indestructible!
Planeswalker Targeting Abilities
There are some planeswalkers with targeted abilities that would be worth copying with Agrus Kos. Jeska, Thrice Reborn tripling the damage your entire team might deal to your opponents until your next turn? Yes, please! And I love the idea of Elspeth Resplendent putting a +1/+1 counter and my choice of a flying, first strike, lifelink or vigilance counter on my entire team!
Go Wide
The more creatures we have on the battlefield, the more potent Agrus Kos’s triggered ability will be, so I’d want to round out my deck with cards that can generate multiple creatures. Whether looking at Goblin tokens from cards like Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst, or Krenko, Mob Boss; or big spells like Secure the Wastes or Call the Coppercoats, some number of these will be worth their slots. And with enough token production, there’s always Anointed Procession!
Combat Creatures
Many of the best abilities that Agrus Kos can copy in Boros are combat-related, so I’d want to round out my creature base with creatures that want to rumble into the Red Zone. Sun Titan and Inferno Titan are two creatures you definitely want to be attacking early and often, and they’re awesome to copy with some of the copy abilities we talked about above. So are Battle Angels of Tyr and Professional Face-Breaker.
And then there’s the army in a can, Ancient Gold Dragon. A boy can dream about rolling high on the d20 so that there are a ton of potential creatures we can copy abilities onto!
What do you think of Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier? Are there other cards you think would synergize well that I may have overlooked here?
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