So, let's note the problems with a pure Boros deck in EDH:
1. Absolutely ****ed vs any control deck matchup
2. Lacks ramp aside from artifacts, and will fall behind in the game if unable to ramp well
3. Lacks card draw, though artifacts can solve it again
4. Simply just overall much worse than other faction decks simply because it relies on having a good board state while others either screw up board states, rush everyone, or pillowfort themselves
Here are cards that (could) solve these problems:
Lifethroc 2WW
Instant
Rather than pay this card's mana cost, you may have target opponent gain 6 life instead.
Counter target spell.
(so Boros has less problems dealing with spellslinging players or bs disruption)
Recruit the Spirits RW
Instant
Destroy target permanent. That permanent's controller creates a 2/2 Soldier Spirit token with lifelink.
(more removal for Boros)
Magos, Great Guardian of Sunhome 3RW
Legendary Creature - Golem
Lifelink
This spell can't be countered.
You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game unless you have 0 or less life.
You can't win the game unless you are the only player remaining. RW: ~ gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/4
(This card will give a reason why chaplain's blessing and other lifegain cards exist, and will make your opponents who rely on alt win cons cry)
Keep Honor 1RW
Instant
Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature gains haste until end of turn. Return it to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.
(Some recursion for Boros)
Plan to War 2RW
Enchantment (Note: only going to be available in EDH due to the design of this card) Will of the council - At the beginning of your upkeep, starting with you, each player votes for either tactics or aggressive.
If tactics gets more votes, you draw a card. If aggressive gets more votes, ~ deals 3 damage to each opponent.
(this both gives card draw and aggro capabilities, though it's a council dillema type card, so they will try to choose the worst option for you. Please tell me how to improve if possible.)
Divide the Spoils 1RW
At the end of your combat phase, if a creature you control dealt combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token. (It has "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
I could suggest more cards, please feedback! Also, still kinda W.I.P.
And yes, I'm kinda lazy.
I think you're right as far as why Boros is struggling as a color (or colors, as white and red individually), but the proposed cards are... well, just not necessarily a "fix".
You propose a counterspell, but I don't see how this really fixes Boros. Sure, it gives a counter to white, but overall it's not enough.
I do agree that Boros should be able to kill more permanents outright, much in the same way that Golgari cards can. White and Red can both destroy lands and artifacts; white can destroy enchantments. Red can deal damage to creatures and planeswalkers, white can deal damage in specific circumstances and also straight up destroy or exile creatures. I feel like Assassin's Trophy could easily be reflavored as a Boros card.
In short, WotC wants R/W to be the aggressive color pair. I think this is fine. But I think this color pair is missing the ability to sustain itself against the inevitability of Sultai colors. Red and White need a bit more recursion and card advantage to survive against Blue, Black, and Green. While red is rather limited in card recursion, white has a few cards that can bring things back from the dead. If Boros had more recursion effects, it might be able to maintain aggro more consistently in order to play the role intended for it.
That's just my two cents, coming from a guy who primarily plays Golgari/x in Magic.
Lifethroc 2WW
Instant
Rather than pay this card's mana cost, you may have target opponent gain 4 life instead.
Counter target spell.
(so Boros has less problems dealing with spellslinging players or bs disruption)
White doesn't get hard counterspells (those with no condition). It can get tax counterspells e.g. Mana Tithe.
The life gain cost for this is also very low. This is probably better than Force of Will and would see in most decks in Legacy and Vintage. On which note, this should require you to be playing white in some way.
Suggestion:
Lifethroc ( )
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays .
Rather than pay this card's mana cost, you may pay and have target opponent gain 4 life instead.
Recruit the Spirits RW
Instant
Destroy target permanent. That permanent's controller creates a 4/4 Soldier Spirit with lifelink.
(more removal for Boros)
If you want this to be strong removal, I would reduce the power of the token it gives. As is, it's often going to be used on your own permanents, with death triggers possibly.
Magos, Great Guardian of Sunhome 3RW
Legendary Creature - Golem
Lifelink
This spell can't be countered.
You can't lose the game unless you have 0 or less life.
You can't win the game unless you are the only player remaining. RW: ~ gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/4
(This card will give a reason why chaplain's blessing and other lifegain cards exist)
Keep Honor 2RW
Instant
Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature has haste. Return it to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.
(Some recursion for Boros)
Plan to War 2RW
Enchantment Will of the council - At the beginning of your upkeep, starting with you, each player votes for either tactics or aggressive.
If tactics gets more votes, you draw a card. If aggressive gets more votes, ~ deals 3 damage to each player.
(this both gives card draw and aggro capabilities, though it's a council dillema type card, so they will try to choose the worst option for you. Please tell me how to improve if possible.)
I feel like this is going to be weighted toward the 3 damage except when people get fairly low, and occasionally it might kill you. Might be better as 'deals 2 damage to each opponent' instead? Not sure what the sweet spot is. Interesting design though.
I think you're right as far as why Boros is struggling as a color (or colors, as white and red individually), but the proposed cards are... well, just not necessarily a "fix".
You propose a counterspell, but I don't see how this really fixes Boros. Sure, it gives a counter to white, but overall it's not enough.
I do agree that Boros should be able to kill more permanents outright, much in the same way that Golgari cards can. White and Red can both destroy lands and artifacts; white can destroy enchantments. Red can deal damage to creatures and planeswalkers, white can deal damage in specific circumstances and also straight up destroy or exile creatures. I feel like Assassin's Trophy could easily be reflavored as a Boros card.
In short, WotC wants R/W to be the aggressive color pair. I think this is fine. But I think this color pair is missing the ability to sustain itself against the inevitability of Sultai colors. Red and White need a bit more recursion and card advantage to survive against Blue, Black, and Green. While red is rather limited in card recursion, white has a few cards that can bring things back from the dead. If Boros had more recursion effects, it might be able to maintain aggro more consistently in order to play the role intended for it.
That's just my two cents, coming from a guy who primarily plays Golgari/x in Magic.
I think this is true. Boros' biggest liabilities were correctly outlined in the OP, but I think the solutions do not need to be exceptionally complex. I think the problems everyone knows about with White and Red (individually, but compounded when running Boros) can be simplified down into lack of effective ramp, lack of efficient/consistent card draw, and comparatively weaker removal/disruption.
The question is how are those liabilities addressed in ways that are firmly within the color pair's wheelhouse and I think that requires leaning into what Boros already has as strengths. Speed (they don't have ramp, but the color combo does lend itself well to more aggressive strategies), combat (particularly with weenies and/or equipment), a wee bit of spellslinging (Izzet definitely has the monopoly here, but Boros is slowly developing a strength in caring about casting noncreature spells, particularly combat tricks), direct damage (actually management of damage as a whole as prevention, redirection, and lifegain all fall into a larger category of controlling how damage is doled out), and a capacity for removal comparable to Orzhov and Golgari (even if Boros is slower, more restrictive, or more conditional a lot of the time the two colors are also arguably best at board wipes). There's a lot to work with there.
I think conditional ramp and card draw is the most organic route for Boros with the conditions being things Boros likes to do anyway. Attack with X or more creatures, when a spell or ability targets a creature you control, when a nonbasic land is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, when you cast a spell during combat, caring about weenies, etc. There are a lot of on-theme conditions that basic needs like ramp and card draw can be built upon, particularly if the ramp is more along the lines of gold tokens rather than lands (I think that gold-based ramp is already developing as a minor theme in white and red if Smothering Tithe and Dockside Extortionist are instructive of a larger experiment).
Imagine:
[example 1] 2WR
Enchantment
Whenever a creature an opponent controls attacks or blocks, they may pay 1. If they don't, you get a Gold token.
[example 2] 1WR
Creature
First strike
Whenever a creature you control with first strike attacks, exile the top card of your library. You may put that card into your hand if it has a converted mana cost of three or less.
2/1
[example 3] 2WRR
Creature
Flying
If an opponent controls three more creatures than you, you may cast CARDNAME from your graveyard. When you do, you may return a sorcery or instant card with a converted mana cost of three or less from your graveyard to your hand.
2/2
These are just very rough examples to illustrate my point, Boros is actually capable of being balanced to a level of other color combinations without necessarily changing much. I just don't think WotC has fully landed on ways to shore up these liabilities without giving Boros stronger effects than the colors that ought to do that thing best. I think hooking those effects onto conditions that Boros can meet relatively commonly (balancing the tension of "need for a utility effect" versus "challenging deckbuilders to commit to a larger theme or make interesting deckbuilding choices") is the most organic way to do it that doesn't stretch either color beyond what they should be able to do.
I'd focus on generating some new synergies between White and Red, beyond the existing Boros mechanics. As an example, here's some cards that open up some key roads to viability:
Scouring Insight2RR
Sorcery
Draw three cards, then reveal those cards. Discard any you don't play at the beginning of the next end step.
Impulsive draw that actually draws, then discards at the end of turn. Triggers Madness, puts things in the graveyard instead of Exile, but ultimately still in Red's thematic wheelhouse, even if it doesn't quite fit the existing mechanics. Less mana-efficient, but potentially more value-efficient for permitting graveyard synergies that are primary sources of value in Commander.
---
Ceaseless Guardianship1WW
Enchantment
Enchant Creature
When you cast Ceaseless Guardianship, you may put a creature from your graveyard onto the battlefield. If you do, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature and attach Ceaseless Guardianship to it.
Enchanted creature has +0/+1, Persist, and "This creature must be assigned combat damage first if able".
When Ceaseless Guardianship is no longer attached to a creature, sacrifice that creature.
Usually better than Animate Dead proper (forcing damage to go through it first on the block can be a big help), but being in White gives it access to a lot of potential upsides, as White has Enchantment fetching and recursion. Alongside flickers to break the tie that'd make you sacrifice it. In this case, you can flicker the enchantment itself and attach it to another creature, keeping it if the creature doesn't have a -1/-1 counter on it. White also has plenty of ability to grant +1/+1 counters to reset the Persist, if you can keep supplying the Aura to grant it.
---
Casualty Reserves1WWRR
Enchantment
Each creature card in your graveyard has Unearth 2WR and you may Unearth whenever you could play an Instant. 2W: Shuffle target creature card in your graveyard into your library.
So, funny thing with this card: Unearth already exists in Red, but a lot of the uses of it for White are blocked by that Sorcery speed restriction. So making Unearth an Instant is often going to be a White effect in nature, as its most obvious use is instant-speed blockers. And, of course, you can flicker the Unearthed creature to keep it. The shuffle-recovery means you're able to be in far less danger of decking out, counteracting mill and your own looting/rummaging, alongside the obvious return of a creature and having it exit graveyard hate territory.
---
Requisition SuppliesxxWR
Sorcery
Convoke
You may search your library for any number of equipment, reveal them, and put them into your hand, put any number of 1/1 White Human Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield tapped and create any number of Treasure tokens.
The sum of the number of the equipment searched for, the number of creature tokens put onto the battlefield and the number of Treasure tokens created may not exceed X.
This is basically a "I need All The Stuff" card, letting you fetch out for Voltron pieces, making a fat board, or banking mana for a big play. Being two-X means that it's not useful early, but also excuses such a powerful effect as X-cost fetching (of course, compared to Stoneforge Mystic...), as well as being able to stock a fraction of your entire mana base with full fixing. And, of course, tossing out X bodies can easily be its own threat in Boros colors, home of a lot of board-wide buffs.
---
These are mechanics to think about more than serious card suggestions. White getting shuffle-revival and Animate Dead style effects, slower and more fragile styles of reanimation than Black tends to work with, offers it the ability to recover resources without actually accelerating much. Things that provide recursive mechanics like Persist or Unearth help out, as well, as Boros is rather high up there for loving recursion. Lot of ETBs, dies and high-Power to amplify with recurring creatures.
Red getting better methods of card access for worse prices also helps significantly, where you can get a lot out of such a "staggered looting" or impulse draw from various discard effects if you're looking for them. Red is also supposed to be the home of ritual effects, but those have largely been phased out of the game, and oddly enough replaced with the stockpiled Treasures. Which also exist on some White taxes, like Smothering Tithe.
Generally, I want White to be the slow color of the game, continuing to lack acceleration, but making up for it with a good deal of recursion and a generally good baseline of value, alongside slowing others down. A lot of higher-color-identity cards are involved in this desire, as well. More taxes, generally in the vein of Smothering Tithe, alongside counterspells that are one-off prison and tax effects.
a wee bit of spellslinging (Izzet definitely has the monopoly here, but Boros is slowly developing a strength in caring about casting noncreature spells, particularly combat tricks)
This is actually something I've been thinking of lately, feeding more into this idea. I had a thought for a Boros commander looking something like -
Dudeface McCombattricks2RW
Legendary Creature
Haste, vigilance
Whenever ~ attacks, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, and put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You can look at that card.
Each combat step, you can cast one instant card exiled with ~. When you do, copy it and you may choose new targets for the copy.
4/4
a wee bit of spellslinging (Izzet definitely has the monopoly here, but Boros is slowly developing a strength in caring about casting noncreature spells, particularly combat tricks)
This is actually something I've been thinking of lately, feeding more into this idea. I had a thought for a Boros commander looking something like -
Dudeface McCombattricks2RW
Legendary Creature
Haste, vigilance
Whenever ~ attacks, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, and put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You can look at that card.
Each combat step, you can cast one instant card exiled with ~. When you do, copy it and you may choose new targets for the copy.
4/4
I dig that, and I think it's fairly obvious that caring about/manipulating the combat step is definitively Boros' dominion. I think exploring that ought to be a big part of any attempt to optimize the capacity of the color pair.
Now that you mentioned that Boros likes to mess around with combat, I just realized several things:
1. Temporary "card draw" as reward for dealing combat damage.
2. Same goes for ramp: reward treasure and stuff for dealing combat damage.
3. To survive against the other removal-based-around factions, maybe, rather than give big creatures to Boros, instead give Boros powerful yet disposable cretures? This can solve the problem of nasty removal besides some sort of protection to the big guys.
Ex. 1
Boros Scout RW
When Boros Scout enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
When Boros Scout dies, exile the top two cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may cast those cards.
4. Boros is a faction that wants to be aggressive, and therefore the true problem lies in not lack of ramp or draw (easily solved by giving treasure and stuff or by rewarding the player with ramp/card draw for being aggressive), but rather simply due to a ****ton of removal and how it fails to be aggressive enough to threaten opponents at the early game and ending up being hard-removed late game. So we can easily design off cards to give Boros the ramp, draw and reanimation it loves, but we need cards to help Boros survive more removal in some way (even by just making the creatures disposable, that's already enough) and also giving them more options to become truly aggressive early game. The design for EDH alone has everyone starting at 40 life, making all aggro decks that aren't voltron just some pesky insects that will inevitably die late game. So yeah, card designing for Boros needs a good and big change.
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1. Absolutely ****ed vs any control deck matchup
2. Lacks ramp aside from artifacts, and will fall behind in the game if unable to ramp well
3. Lacks card draw, though artifacts can solve it again
4. Simply just overall much worse than other faction decks simply because it relies on having a good board state while others either screw up board states, rush everyone, or pillowfort themselves
Here are cards that (could) solve these problems:
Lifethroc 2WW
Instant
Rather than pay this card's mana cost, you may have target opponent gain 6 life instead.
Counter target spell.
(so Boros has less problems dealing with spellslinging players or bs disruption)
Recruit the Spirits RW
Instant
Destroy target permanent. That permanent's controller creates a 2/2 Soldier Spirit token with lifelink.
(more removal for Boros)
Magos, Great Guardian of Sunhome 3RW
Legendary Creature - Golem
Lifelink
This spell can't be countered.
You can't lose the game and your opponents can't win the game unless you have 0 or less life.
You can't win the game unless you are the only player remaining.
RW: ~ gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
4/4
(This card will give a reason why chaplain's blessing and other lifegain cards exist, and will make your opponents who rely on alt win cons cry)
Keep Honor 1RW
Instant
Return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. That creature gains haste until end of turn. Return it to your hand at the beginning of the next end step.
(Some recursion for Boros)
Plan to War 2RW
Enchantment (Note: only going to be available in EDH due to the design of this card)
Will of the council - At the beginning of your upkeep, starting with you, each player votes for either tactics or aggressive.
If tactics gets more votes, you draw a card. If aggressive gets more votes, ~ deals 3 damage to each opponent.
(this both gives card draw and aggro capabilities, though it's a council dillema type card, so they will try to choose the worst option for you. Please tell me how to improve if possible.)
Divide the Spoils 1RW
At the end of your combat phase, if a creature you control dealt combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token. (It has "T, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.")
I could suggest more cards, please feedback! Also, still kinda W.I.P.
And yes, I'm kinda lazy.
You propose a counterspell, but I don't see how this really fixes Boros. Sure, it gives a counter to white, but overall it's not enough.
I do agree that Boros should be able to kill more permanents outright, much in the same way that Golgari cards can. White and Red can both destroy lands and artifacts; white can destroy enchantments. Red can deal damage to creatures and planeswalkers, white can deal damage in specific circumstances and also straight up destroy or exile creatures. I feel like Assassin's Trophy could easily be reflavored as a Boros card.
In short, WotC wants R/W to be the aggressive color pair. I think this is fine. But I think this color pair is missing the ability to sustain itself against the inevitability of Sultai colors. Red and White need a bit more recursion and card advantage to survive against Blue, Black, and Green. While red is rather limited in card recursion, white has a few cards that can bring things back from the dead. If Boros had more recursion effects, it might be able to maintain aggro more consistently in order to play the role intended for it.
That's just my two cents, coming from a guy who primarily plays Golgari/x in Magic.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
White doesn't get hard counterspells (those with no condition). It can get tax counterspells e.g. Mana Tithe.
The life gain cost for this is also very low. This is probably better than Force of Will and would see in most decks in Legacy and Vintage. On which note, this should require you to be playing white in some way.
Suggestion:
Lifethroc ( )
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controller pays .
Rather than pay this card's mana cost, you may pay and have target opponent gain 4 life instead.
If you want this to be strong removal, I would reduce the power of the token it gives. As is, it's often going to be used on your own permanents, with death triggers possibly.
Interesting. Not sure what to make of it.
Should be "gains haste until end of turn."
I feel like this is going to be weighted toward the 3 damage except when people get fairly low, and occasionally it might kill you. Might be better as 'deals 2 damage to each opponent' instead? Not sure what the sweet spot is. Interesting design though.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
I think this is true. Boros' biggest liabilities were correctly outlined in the OP, but I think the solutions do not need to be exceptionally complex. I think the problems everyone knows about with White and Red (individually, but compounded when running Boros) can be simplified down into lack of effective ramp, lack of efficient/consistent card draw, and comparatively weaker removal/disruption.
The question is how are those liabilities addressed in ways that are firmly within the color pair's wheelhouse and I think that requires leaning into what Boros already has as strengths. Speed (they don't have ramp, but the color combo does lend itself well to more aggressive strategies), combat (particularly with weenies and/or equipment), a wee bit of spellslinging (Izzet definitely has the monopoly here, but Boros is slowly developing a strength in caring about casting noncreature spells, particularly combat tricks), direct damage (actually management of damage as a whole as prevention, redirection, and lifegain all fall into a larger category of controlling how damage is doled out), and a capacity for removal comparable to Orzhov and Golgari (even if Boros is slower, more restrictive, or more conditional a lot of the time the two colors are also arguably best at board wipes). There's a lot to work with there.
I think conditional ramp and card draw is the most organic route for Boros with the conditions being things Boros likes to do anyway. Attack with X or more creatures, when a spell or ability targets a creature you control, when a nonbasic land is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, when you cast a spell during combat, caring about weenies, etc. There are a lot of on-theme conditions that basic needs like ramp and card draw can be built upon, particularly if the ramp is more along the lines of gold tokens rather than lands (I think that gold-based ramp is already developing as a minor theme in white and red if Smothering Tithe and Dockside Extortionist are instructive of a larger experiment).
Imagine:
[example 1] 2WR
Enchantment
Whenever a creature an opponent controls attacks or blocks, they may pay 1. If they don't, you get a Gold token.
[example 2] 1WR
Creature
First strike
Whenever a creature you control with first strike attacks, exile the top card of your library. You may put that card into your hand if it has a converted mana cost of three or less.
2/1
[example 3] 2WRR
Creature
Flying
If an opponent controls three more creatures than you, you may cast CARDNAME from your graveyard. When you do, you may return a sorcery or instant card with a converted mana cost of three or less from your graveyard to your hand.
2/2
These are just very rough examples to illustrate my point, Boros is actually capable of being balanced to a level of other color combinations without necessarily changing much. I just don't think WotC has fully landed on ways to shore up these liabilities without giving Boros stronger effects than the colors that ought to do that thing best. I think hooking those effects onto conditions that Boros can meet relatively commonly (balancing the tension of "need for a utility effect" versus "challenging deckbuilders to commit to a larger theme or make interesting deckbuilding choices") is the most organic way to do it that doesn't stretch either color beyond what they should be able to do.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Scouring Insight 2RR
Sorcery
Draw three cards, then reveal those cards. Discard any you don't play at the beginning of the next end step.
Impulsive draw that actually draws, then discards at the end of turn. Triggers Madness, puts things in the graveyard instead of Exile, but ultimately still in Red's thematic wheelhouse, even if it doesn't quite fit the existing mechanics. Less mana-efficient, but potentially more value-efficient for permitting graveyard synergies that are primary sources of value in Commander.
---
Ceaseless Guardianship 1WW
Enchantment
Enchant Creature
When you cast Ceaseless Guardianship, you may put a creature from your graveyard onto the battlefield. If you do, put a -1/-1 counter on that creature and attach Ceaseless Guardianship to it.
Enchanted creature has +0/+1, Persist, and "This creature must be assigned combat damage first if able".
When Ceaseless Guardianship is no longer attached to a creature, sacrifice that creature.
Usually better than Animate Dead proper (forcing damage to go through it first on the block can be a big help), but being in White gives it access to a lot of potential upsides, as White has Enchantment fetching and recursion. Alongside flickers to break the tie that'd make you sacrifice it. In this case, you can flicker the enchantment itself and attach it to another creature, keeping it if the creature doesn't have a -1/-1 counter on it. White also has plenty of ability to grant +1/+1 counters to reset the Persist, if you can keep supplying the Aura to grant it.
---
Casualty Reserves 1WWRR
Enchantment
Each creature card in your graveyard has Unearth 2WR and you may Unearth whenever you could play an Instant.
2W: Shuffle target creature card in your graveyard into your library.
So, funny thing with this card: Unearth already exists in Red, but a lot of the uses of it for White are blocked by that Sorcery speed restriction. So making Unearth an Instant is often going to be a White effect in nature, as its most obvious use is instant-speed blockers. And, of course, you can flicker the Unearthed creature to keep it. The shuffle-recovery means you're able to be in far less danger of decking out, counteracting mill and your own looting/rummaging, alongside the obvious return of a creature and having it exit graveyard hate territory.
---
Requisition Supplies xxWR
Sorcery
Convoke
You may search your library for any number of equipment, reveal them, and put them into your hand, put any number of 1/1 White Human Soldier creature tokens onto the battlefield tapped and create any number of Treasure tokens.
The sum of the number of the equipment searched for, the number of creature tokens put onto the battlefield and the number of Treasure tokens created may not exceed X.
This is basically a "I need All The Stuff" card, letting you fetch out for Voltron pieces, making a fat board, or banking mana for a big play. Being two-X means that it's not useful early, but also excuses such a powerful effect as X-cost fetching (of course, compared to Stoneforge Mystic...), as well as being able to stock a fraction of your entire mana base with full fixing. And, of course, tossing out X bodies can easily be its own threat in Boros colors, home of a lot of board-wide buffs.
---
These are mechanics to think about more than serious card suggestions. White getting shuffle-revival and Animate Dead style effects, slower and more fragile styles of reanimation than Black tends to work with, offers it the ability to recover resources without actually accelerating much. Things that provide recursive mechanics like Persist or Unearth help out, as well, as Boros is rather high up there for loving recursion. Lot of ETBs, dies and high-Power to amplify with recurring creatures.
Red getting better methods of card access for worse prices also helps significantly, where you can get a lot out of such a "staggered looting" or impulse draw from various discard effects if you're looking for them. Red is also supposed to be the home of ritual effects, but those have largely been phased out of the game, and oddly enough replaced with the stockpiled Treasures. Which also exist on some White taxes, like Smothering Tithe.
Generally, I want White to be the slow color of the game, continuing to lack acceleration, but making up for it with a good deal of recursion and a generally good baseline of value, alongside slowing others down. A lot of higher-color-identity cards are involved in this desire, as well. More taxes, generally in the vein of Smothering Tithe, alongside counterspells that are one-off prison and tax effects.
Dudeface McCombattricks 2RW
Legendary Creature
Haste, vigilance
Whenever ~ attacks, look at the top four cards of your library, exile one face down, and put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. You can look at that card.
Each combat step, you can cast one instant card exiled with ~. When you do, copy it and you may choose new targets for the copy.
4/4
I dig that, and I think it's fairly obvious that caring about/manipulating the combat step is definitively Boros' dominion. I think exploring that ought to be a big part of any attempt to optimize the capacity of the color pair.
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
1. Temporary "card draw" as reward for dealing combat damage.
2. Same goes for ramp: reward treasure and stuff for dealing combat damage.
3. To survive against the other removal-based-around factions, maybe, rather than give big creatures to Boros, instead give Boros powerful yet disposable cretures? This can solve the problem of nasty removal besides some sort of protection to the big guys.
Ex. 1
Boros Scout RW
When Boros Scout enters the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on target creature you control.
When Boros Scout dies, exile the top two cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may cast those cards.
4. Boros is a faction that wants to be aggressive, and therefore the true problem lies in not lack of ramp or draw (easily solved by giving treasure and stuff or by rewarding the player with ramp/card draw for being aggressive), but rather simply due to a ****ton of removal and how it fails to be aggressive enough to threaten opponents at the early game and ending up being hard-removed late game. So we can easily design off cards to give Boros the ramp, draw and reanimation it loves, but we need cards to help Boros survive more removal in some way (even by just making the creatures disposable, that's already enough) and also giving them more options to become truly aggressive early game. The design for EDH alone has everyone starting at 40 life, making all aggro decks that aren't voltron just some pesky insects that will inevitably die late game. So yeah, card designing for Boros needs a good and big change.