Boros Initiative Legacy: Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

"Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken! Shields shall be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor! Ride for ruin, and the world’s ending! Death! Death! Death! Forth, Eorlingas!!!!"

I confess only a few scenes in cinema have chilled me to the bone just like the time King Théoden calls upon the Riders of Rohan to charge against the flank of orcs sieging Gondor. And, look at that, that striking moment in the story of The Lord of the Rings has just become immortalized in a Magic: The Gathering card!

Forth Eorlingas! is a very powerful spell, useful in many stages of the game: it is a Monarch activator at a low cost - 3 mana on its own, and even 2 if you have creatures that can attack unblocked - and a powerful finisher, a card that shouldn't make you sad if you topdeck it in a drawn-out game.

Regarding the Monarch ability, it doesn't have the spotlight that Initiative has in Legacy, much in part due to how most of its activator are cards well below average - compare Caves of Chaos Adventurer with Crimson Fleet Commodore or Emberwilde Captain, for instance, to understand what I'm discussing. But the ability to create a Emblem which in turn can create Card Advantage can't be ignored when linked to a very useful card, as it is the case for the spell in question.

Ok, Eltinho, the card looks nice. But will they find out where it will be played? Well, no time was lost to do so! The player Quinn Tonole managed to get a Top 8 using a Boros Initiative list and using this new spell on June 17th in a tournament with 265 players! If this card needed a formal invitation, now it doesn't need it anymore!

For this article, I will use as a basis the list used by Tonole. I discussed with him the possibility of using the fourth Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and he said he had cut it due to a mana issue in the deck - which we'll discuss further later - but that indeed the card performed really well, and he thought it was plausible to use a fourth copy of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, maybe in the place of the 1-off Archon of Emeria or instead of using Touch the Spirit Realm.

Another player, Jason K. Murray, posted good results online with a similar list, swapping the 4 copies of Anointed Peacekeeper for 2 more Lands, the 4th Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and the 4th copy of Solitude, adding more Magus of the Moon to his Sideboard. I'll leave the whole list here as a possible option.

About this deck, when I said that players would try to make White Initiative work after the ban of White Plume Adventurer, one of the ways I listed was the Boros version. It keeps the original basis of the deck (Solitude, white disruption creatures and Cavern of Souls) and adds Caves of Chaos Adventurer - CoCA for those who know it - as an extra Initiative activator.

A bonus here is that CoCA's creature type is also Human, which makes the Cavern protect from counterspells all its activators, besides Anointed Peacekeeper and many creatures in your Sideboard too.

In the package of Red cards, there's also Simian Spirit Guide, great both for speeding up the game as it provides that smart Red mana for your cards, in particular the aforementioned Fable, which unfortunately can't be summoned with Cavern's mana.

And speaking of mana, that is one of the weak spots in this deck when we compare it to the monocolor Stompy versions: this is a two-color deck using 8 colorless Lands and 4 other lands which can't be a part of your spells, so it is not unlikely that you have opening hands which struggle to develop a game strategy.

To try and make up for that, the deck plays the exorbitant amount of 29 sources of mana - 17 Lands, 4 Chrome Mox, 4 Lotus Petal and 4 Simian Spirit Guide. But, this exceeding amount of mana sources may cause the deck to experience Mana Flooding and run out of gas. This is where the Riders of Rohan come in!

Activating Monarch and/or Initiative Emblem are ways to get back the investment in ramp/speed cards and this is a deck that can do that very quickly. In this context, having access to Forth Eorlingas! enables, already at 3 mana, one of the cheapest ways to access one of these Emblems. But that isn't all. Many games with decks with Prison elements, such as this one, end up going into a friction war, and it is not uncommon for you to spend a few turns hoarding lands and Treasure tokens as each player becomes dependent on their top decks to find a card that can break this stalemate.

A hoard of Knights with Haste tends to be efficient at these times. A card that works well in many stages of the game is a premium asset in the market. Oh, and there's a hidden bonus to this card: it is great to be Imprinted on Chrome Mox!

Other options of cards for this deck are from a different set of creatures such as Elite Spellbinder, Boromir, Warden of the Tower and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

Deciding which hand to keep is particularly important in decks that bet on many resources all at once, such as Combo or Stompy decks - the category in which Boros Initiative fits into.

Basically, hands that don't do anything on the first turn, be it a Chalice of the Void, or a 3 mana card, must only be kept in case they guarantee an Initiative creature, preferably protected by Cavern of Souls, on turn 2.

If you're on the fence about what to do on the first turn going in blind, Archon of Emeria is usually the card that delays your opponent the most, being particularly effective against Fetch Lands. On play, if your hand allows you to do Forth Eorlingas! on 1, go for it and get the Monarch already.

The first part of the Sideboard is deciding between Faerie Macabre or Leyline of the Void as your main graveyard Hate. Both have their pros and cons: Faerie is best against the specific use of reanimation cards, isn't hit by Force of Vigor or Serenity and can be used even with a Teferi, Time Raveler in play.

As for Leyline, besides stopping combos while it is in play, it is immune to discard and makes the life of things such as Faithless Looting and Dredge cards very difficult. As Tonole opted for just 3 Hates in their Sideboard, I don't think there is a lot of debate about which to use, but many lists still use 4 slots for that role, so what will dictate what is the best option will be the Metagame that you expect to find.

Besides that, we have a team of Humans, Cavern of Souls' best friends, with extra roles to disrupt your opponent's life: Loran of the Third Path, to deal with problematic Artifacts and Enchantments, Containment Priest, to put an end to the fun of Reanimators and Sneak n' Show-like effects, and Magus of the Moon as an answer to decks that think summoning a Dark Depths 20/20 indestructible creature is cool, just like those which want to use Urza's Saga to win with gigantic Constructs.

Finally, an extra package of removals in the form of the best card to deal with simple targets ever since Magic came to be: Swords to Plowshares. Yes, it comes in conflict with Chalice of the Void, but you must choose one: either it comes in against decks in which you remove the Chalices from your maindeck (Initiative Stompy, Red Prison, Death & Taxes); or it goes against decks in which if you remove the Chalice, it creates such an advantage that it can give you the luxury of becoming fuel for Chrome Mox or Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and in case it doesn't resolve, they are there to deal with the problematic creatures. The fourth Solitude seals the deal.

Some suggestions of cards for the Sideboard, besides those in the list, are Emrakul, the Aeons Torn or some Eldrazi which is equivalent to deal with the Painter combo, Blood Moon, Rest in Peace, Ethersworn Canonist and Serenity.

UR Delver

As I said before, this is a game that you add in the Swords even if they are in conflict with Chalice of the Void, because it is a true bomb against them if it is resolved.

Eorlingas comes out because the opponent has several tools to not only retake Monarch, but also to disrupt your mana base.

A Chrome Mox can come out for a CoCA to come in, because they should be adding Meltdown to deal with your Chalices, and they're caught in the crossfire, but I am a bit hesitant to take out mana sources against Wasteland decks.

In:

Out:

Reanimator

They are quick, but you also have tools to prevent their game plan, even in game 1. Chalice of the Void locks out many of their tools, and both Archon of Emeria and Anointed Peacekeeper win a lot of time.

After the sideboard, some slower cards come out to give you more control early game.

In:

Out:

Blue Control

The sideboard suggested is just against more colorful lists, because against the more basic ones you simply don't use the sideboard at all - your deck is a true nightmare to them: Cavern of Souls + Undercity puts a lot of pressure on them, Forth Eorlingas! adds another Emblem, which they can't answer as easily.

In:

Out:

8-Cast

Magus of the Moon's role is to kill Urza's Saga. On the play, Chalice of the Void for 0 is excellent, but in draw it is not only not as effective, but it also makes your life difficult as well.

Anyway, it isn't an easy game by any standards, because they might as well just explode in front of you. If their presence is great in the Metagame, it might be the case to put some Serenitys in your sideboard.

In

Out (in play):

Out (in draw):

Stompy (Red Prison, RG, RW e W Initiative)

When it comes to Red Prison and White Initiative, you have the advantage of having two times activators as Undercity has, besides the Riders of Rohan to take over control of the Dungeon in case they take the Initiative. RG is as explosive as you are, but you have Touch the Spirit Realm to answer Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes.

In general, this is a game in which both sides have dead cards in game 1, and they try to take most of it out for game 2. Fortunately for our side, we have access to Swords to Plowshares, which is really relevant for this floor battle.

In:

Out:

Sneak n’ Show)

Oh, sweet vengeance. Whereas my beloved Red Prison is an easy prey for Atraxa, Grand Unifier and their friends, Boros has plenty of tools to fight back. Solitude and Touch the Spirit Realm are quite effective answers in the main deck already which can hit even the monstrosity which is Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and the white creatures break their game flow.

After the sideboard, Containment Priest is absolutely devastating for their game plan.

In:

Out:

Here I conclude this narrative about how the Riders of Rohan invested in the battle for the Pelennor Fields and have taken the Initiative! This is a deck that called out to me, and it has been a long time since I was this excited about a card, the way I am with Forth Eorlingas!. I hope to put it to action soon.

See you next time!