Boros: Post Mirrodin Besieged

Greetings fellow friends in brewing! The period right after a new set is released is an exciting time in Standard (as well as all formats I'm sure) as we get an opportunity to try new card interactions and determine whether the set has an immediate impact on the format. For me Besieged definitely brought some new toys to toss into my Boros brew and we'll go into some detail on why I've made the choices I've made. For your consideration:



Okay so obviously things look a little different here than the standard Boros list that's been running around. The most glaring is the omission of Spikeshot Elder and I'll be mum about why he's not here. On turn one, I want to cast either a Steppe Lynx or Guide. On turn two either a Mystic or Geopede, by the time I want to cast him I feel like there is something better to put on the board. Enter Mirran Crusader. He's a beast ladies and gents and so far in playtesting he's doing phenomenal. If he gets one piece of equipment on him especially one of the two Swords, he starts doing very good things, even a simple Adventuring Gear makes him do massive amounts of damage on his own. Adding the Crusader also made me re-evaluate Journey to Nowhere in the main board as I needed a way to save the Crusader (or any of my creatures for that mattter) once they hit the board. Enter my "counterspell" Emerge Unscathed. This card wins games. Being able to give one of your guys protection from whatever color you need to swing through makes the alpha strike near impossible to deal with. They've got a Grave Titan you need to get past, no problem. You need to get past your opponent's army of 0/1 Plant tokens to score the win, again we've got you covered. They've got Go For The Throat, we've got answers. The fact that it rebounds makes for a nifty repeat and the protections the two sword provide are invaluable. Having a Sword of Body and Mind equipped will hit your opponent for 8, mill them 20 cards and net you two 2/2 wolf tokens. Not bad for turn four huh?

Now obviously the matchups that give us problems are certain control builds and right now Vamps and Kuldotha Red (the recent Open Top 8 is very indicative of this). Depending on the build control isn't really that big of a deal. With U/W, you basically don't overcommit before they DoJ and refill with Squadron Hawk. Again Emerge Unscathed is great here for when they try to Condemn your big guy. I have also thought about putting Hero of Oxid Ridge in the board for control in particular, but I have to test this.

Vamps and Kuldotha Red are (in my opinion) going to be your toughest matchups. It's really a crapshoot because it's all about who gets there first. I think Emerge Unscathed again becomes a house here and may be why you win the game. Vamps in particular just have so much removal and it's difficult to race it. I think the Emerge is what can possibly get you there. Obviously you're bringing in the Arc Trails and Sparkmages/Collars for this matchup. I think Kuldotha Red is interesting too because it's just as fast as Boros. I'm still not sure there is a sure fire way to beat either of these decks which really makes for some fun and interesting matches.

This will continue to be a work in progress. Some really like Hero of Bladehold, but I don't think she has a place in this particular build. It's the same reason I'm not running Contested Warzone in the deck. But again perhaps the meta will shift and take me to a version of this deck that I would consider this approach. That's what is so fun about Magic, how constantly it changes.

Until next time may your inner Timmy shine!