Standard: Boros Burn - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Foundations has arrived at competitive events!

In a week full of RCQs and Challenges on both Magic Online and Magic Arena, players got their first impressions and experiences with the game's new core set. As expected, one of the highlights of this first week in Standard was an archetype that is very well-known in other formats: Burn, motivated by the reprint of Boros Charm and Burst Lightning, in addition to the new card Boltwave.

In this article, I present the current version of Boros Burn, the main variant of this strategy today, with a Sideboard guide for the main matches of the current Metagame.

There's not much to discuss in this decklist when it comes to Burn spells: we've used four of each of the best options available in the format, including the new Boltwave and Boros Charm, which complement Burst Lightning and Lightning Helix.

Creatures, on the other hand, have two slots that other cards can enter: Hired Claw competes with Kellan, Planar Trailblazer and I believe it can find space in the list if we want more gas instead of damage. The second slot is Screaming Nemesis - I believe it's essential to deal with life gain from naturally good cards in the format like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Beza, the Bounding Spring, but Fugitive Codebreaker can also enter this slot to generate more resources as the game goes on.

Maindeck

Our one-drops.

Hired Claw is virtually a 2/2 for one mana on the first turn and grows as the game develops. Because we can use multiple copies of it, its attack trigger can snowball and pull those last points of damage we need in the late game.

Monastery Swiftspear is a classic creature of Magic's red Aggro, it grows with our spells and significantly increases the pressure on the board.

Emberheart Challenger is a 2/2 with Prowess that starts attacking for two mana. In this list, since we only have Monstrous Rage and Boros Charm as spells to trigger Valiant, I consider replacing it with Fugitive Codebreaker in the future, but its immediate value for a deck aiming to be as aggressive as possible should not be ignored.

Slickshot Show-Off is the mainstay of Prowess decks in all competitive formats, and it would be no different in Burn: each spell technically gains two points of damage when it is in play. Add it to Monstrous Rage and/or Boros Charm and you almost have a “combo-kill”.

Screaming Nemesis has immediate impact, punishes blockers, can benefit from damage spells to permanently lock the opponent's life gain and forces favorable trades for our clock.

Our traditional damage spells.

Burst Lightning is an improved Shock that we can use in longer games to deal four damage. This number also matters to get some blockers out of the way, and it is essential in Aggro mirrors to hold the opponent's clock while advancing yours with your creatures.

Boltwave is the closest thing to Lightning Bolt that Standard has. Being almost a Lava Spike with power creep (in Standard, cards that care about committing crimes would prefer Lava Spike), it escapes Hexproof and has the best possible range for one mana.

Lightning Helix doubles as removal and burn against the opponent, and its life gain effect makes a difference in Prowess mirrors and against other Aggro decks.

Monstrous Rage works almost like the 5–8 copies of Boltwave if we have a creature in play, besides granting evasion for them. Essential with Slickshot Show-Off or any other card with Prowess.

Boros Charm is our best damage spell for two mana, but we can also use it for a “combo-kill” with Slickshot Show-Off and another burn when we deal enough damage to the opponent with other spells. Its Indestructible module is also relevant if Day of Judgment starts to replace Sunfall.

Our lands have the sole purpose of granting us access to and as we want as much consistency as possible. Four copies of Restless Bivouac may seem like overkill since they enter tapped, but I like to think of them as four extra creatures for games with a lot of removal and/or in the Burn mirror where we usually need to trade our spells against their creatures.

Sideboard

Our extra removal.

Torch the Tower is necessary for games where we need more cheap removal and trades against the opponent. It is common for it to enter games where we know that the clock of cards like Boltwave will not be enough to carry the game.

Destroy Evil, Exorcise and Get Lost fall into the same category: dealing with creatures that our spells cannot deal with, like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and permanents that we have no other means of responding to. The division of slots as one-of is only due to the current Metagame where Foundations cards continue to adapt. One of them will eventually replace the others as the format develops.

Twisted Fealty can win games if it takes control of the right creatures. In an ideal world, it's a counter to Atraxa, Grand Unifier, but it's worth considering that some Ramp lists are starting to opt for Koma, World-Eater.

Sheltered By Ghosts is a counter to Prowess's mirror and can occasionally be used in non-interactive games where we need to deal with a specific permanent.

Urabrask's Forge is our default counter to attrition games. If it stays in play, we just need to keep the right cards off the board to win the game with the huge tokens it produces.

Dimir Midrange

IN

OUT

Gruul Prowess

IN

OUT

Domain Ramp

IN

OUT

Temur Otters

IN

OUT

Jeskai Convoke

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!