Green Eggs, No Ham- an Atla Palani Egg Tribal deck
A first attempt at an Atla Palani egg tribal deck. The wincon is generally infinite ETB triggers combined with any of Purphoros, Genesis Chamber (or just a board full of changelings) plus a global haste effect, or any of the damage or mill sac outlets (specifically Altar of Dementia, Goblin Bombardment or Blasting Station). Fun side-products can include infinite mana (ManaAltar or Cryptolith Rite and global haste), infinite tokens, and random birds/dragons born of the eggs.
The combo is fairly simple to set up, with a few prerequisites. A general game will look something like this:
Ramp
Get 2 "eggs", or 1 "egg" and a haste effect
Get a sac outlet
Play Alta, create the second egg (with haste) if needed. (She usually won't survive the round, so play her when you expect to go off)
Sac the non-token egg. If you encounter Karmic Guide, return the egg to field and sac it again. If you encounter Purphoros, sac the remaining egg next. Anything else you encounter should be an egg, or have egg-like effects on death (Gamekeeper, Protean Hulk)
Rinse and repeat the last step until you hit a Changeling Hero/Berserker/Titan (henceforth known as the Champion Changeling), then if Karmic Guide is on the field, champion it; else, once it turns up, target one of these to return with Karmic Guide and once it is returned, champion Karmic Guide.
You now have a champion-return loop. Use Karmic Guide to return the Champion Changeling, and champion the Karmic Guide. Sac the Champion Changeling to return the Karmic Guide and also trigger Alta for another creature reveal. Rinse and repeat as much as you wish. To allow shortcutting you can also just sac Alta once you have Purphoros on the field and enjoy your infinite ETB without Atla's triggers.
The entire combo can be set off at instant speed (hence the inclusion of Jinxed Idol as another sac outlet; you will need to sac eggs in response to ever-increasing donate triggers in order to use this one), and is generally fairly robust. The deck has a few ways to prevent Alta being countered - Cavern of Souls is a great one, tutorable by Crop Rotation. Others include Domri, Rhythm of the Wild, and Savage Summoning.
For bonus points, if you get all three Champion Changelings out you can actually get them to target each other in order to produce an ETB loop without Karmic Guide. If Karmic Guide is irretrievably removed, this is generally an option, but requires three eggs (plus one for Purphoros if he's still in the deck) plus another creature to champion in order to pull them all out of the deck with Alta. Can be a saving grace in the late game if someone rudely interrupted your combo.
As I play more with this deck, I'll try to flesh this out to become a full primer, but for now any suggestions or ideas would be welcome.
(More Eggs)
*essentially just make Alta's ability cost 1 and not require haste, assuming certain conditions (existing egg, or disposable tokens/creatures e.g. birds/myr/dragons/sometimes Purphoros).
Why don't you run ... ?
Reveillark - I find it to be unnecessary here. The good old Karmic Guide/Reveillark combo is neatly replaced with more redundancy by the Champion changelings. Although Reveillark can act as graveyard recursion for Karmic Guide if necessary, it adds a possible fizzle-point in our combo that would need another Egg before combing off to ensure we don't hit a roadblock (if we have no eggs with power 2 or less in our graveyard; unlikely, but possible). If Karmic Guide is irretrievable (e.g. exiled), Reveillark isn't actually enough to complete a combo loop on its own anyway. I might add it back in if I find Karmic Guide is getting stuck in my graveyard occasionally.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth (or any other value/recursion/useful creature) - Any non-egg creatures (except those that replace themselves: Gamekeeper and Protean Hulk) are a liability, since they potentially interrupt the egg-sac'ing loop.
Wrath of God - or similar board wipes. Generally, we don't care very much about the board state of others'. If their creatures aren't hindering our combo, we're fine. If they are, spot removal tends to be better.
Swords to Plowshares (or Path to Exile, etc) - We have a few enchantment tutors, making Oblivion Ring tutorable and hence possibly the better option. We don't have a way to search up instants or sorceries.
Aura Shards - I've found it to be very underwhelming, and quite win-more. Once it does something, you've likely already combo'd off and won. Otherwise it tends to sit there without doing much at all.
Aurey, One-Hit Wonder- an Aurelia the Warleader voltron primer
There are many ways to start building an EDH deck. Some pick a commander they like. Some choose a colour and build from there. Some commit to a tribe or build around their favourite combo.
This deck is built on an ideology - that of the Boros Legion. Every card is meticulously chosen from thousands of contenders to ensure the smooth running of the machine that is Aurelia's supporting cast. A wise Gaka once said:
"99" is an illusion.
In this deck there are no 99 cards, but rather one well-oiled, finely-tuned legion with a singular goal in mind. To win, with valour and with justice (or, failing that, in a single explosive turn). That is the essence of Boros; the essence of Aurelia and her consort.
"Turn 5. Time to win, methinks..."
"Untap, Upkeep, Draw, cast Aurelia, equip Helm of the Host for free, infinite combat steps."
Why play Aurelia / Choosing the Boros Way
Is there anything more awesome than being part of the Boros Legion; doling out justice to your fellow EDHers and punishing them for their choice of non-Boros colours?
Boros has traditionally been considered one of the weaker colour combinations in EDH/Commander. As a combination of the two colours generally considered least suited to multiplayer magic, the guild of justice and righteousness has often been neglected by commander players.
Well, let's fix that. Building a WR deck, we inherit both the explosiveness of red, and the creature control embedded within white. However, we also end up inheriting the distinct lack of ramp and card advantage engines available in those colours, resulting in a colour combination that is liable to run out of gas pretty quickly.
Ramp is easy to fix with a couple artifacts, but card draw less so. Besides, explosive is what we're good at. As a result, we'll try to build a deck with a one-turn clock. Plan is as follows: cast commander, do some stuff, win, all in the same turn. A one-turn-clock makes it more difficult to deal with us (goodbye, sorcery-speed boardwipes), and allows us to be overlooked (everyone thinks Boros is weak anyway) until we're ready to deathtouch a player.
Protect ourselves, whack everyone else...
Truly the Boros way!
At this point, a few options exist for us within the Boros colour slice:
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight - Double damage; flies down and hits for 10. Another damage doubler and she'd be hitting 20. Unfortunately that's one less than we need. A severe lack of haste also holds us back a bit here.
Iroas, God of Victory - Comes down for cheap, hits for 7 off the bat. Unfortunately the devotion requirement, lack of evasion, and lack of haste are serious drawbacks. Indestructible means he'll probably stick around for a while.
Tajic, Blade of the Legion - Pretty much Iroas, but somewhat easier to activate and makes a nice chump blocker. Again, the indestructible is very nice. Our main issue here is the lack of haste and evasion.
Aurelia, the Warleader - Two combat steps. Her damage potential (at 6 on drop) is a bit low, but that's fixable. Has haste, flies, and doesn't tap (so we actually have a chance of surviving if our explosive turn fails). Is a dope-ass angel and the best leader of the Boros to date (screw you, Razia and Feather). Enuff said.
Within this deck, we rely heavily on Aurelia's haste - being able to swing the turn she comes down is indispensable. Only Razia and (more recently) New Tajic provide similar benefits, and both do so on a body that doesn't really help us deal lots of commander damage in a single turn.
Hang on a sec... is this a control deck in disguise?
You'll enjoy playing Aurelia if you like:
Flying in above the hordes of saprolings, soldiers, goblins, zombies and wizards to deal a sudden and unexpected killing blow.
Equipments, and lots of them. It's called Aurelia Voltron for a reason. We use the full breadth of the Boros armoury here.
Piloting an aggro deck that is still able to quickly adapt to the board and other players. This deck often spontaneously turns into a psuedo-control player with a Sunforger out and a bunch of tutorable answers at your fingertips, but is still fully capable of racing other well-known aggro generals for the win.
Doling out karmic justice on explosive turns. This deck plays out surprisingly similar to a combo deck. The main difference is that our combo pieces are pretty much any equipment, and our commander, and our aim is 21 commander damage (rather than the more traditional infinite mana/turns/saprolings).
Playing your commander every game. And often winning the moment you do.
Suddenly becoming the biggest threat at the table.
Infinite X, where X isn't combat steps. Ask any comboplayer...
Having so many tokens on the battlefield you literally need to buy a bigger table. Ghave can help you out...
Making friends. You're better off donating them Zedruu than a huge helping of commander damage...
Playing a 75% deck. This deck draws more hate than Prossh in my playgroup...
Playing with dead things. Mono-black is that way...
Aurelia will still struggle occasionally, especially against:
heavy stax or pillowfort decks (enters tapped and Propaganda effects ; *shudder* ),
blue control decks who know what your deck does and are gunning for you and you alone (WR only have so many answers to a hand full of counter spells),
pretty much anyone who runs more artifact hate than lands in their deck.
Be warned - a well-built Aurelia voltron deck warps metas; soon even your neighbourhood Ulamog will be running enough artifact hate to take out a small city.
A Boros Legend
Hands are drawn, decks are shuffled,
New London rules sift through the rubble,
The second player down from seven to five, Prossh’s stayed strong - still seven alive.
The first player draws, hand immediately kept, “The first draw is just, the first draw is best.”
The first play was fast, yet simple and strong, “Plains, Sol Ring, Boros Signet, done.”
The others played their lands, an elf was born,
and soon the first player felt the need to forewarn: “To interfere with my turn is simply unjust”,
and so Grand Abolisher forbade breach of trust.
The third round begins - Exoskeleton comes in,
immediately followed by Puresteel Paladin.
The second player sighs, two counters in hand,
Prossh player stuck with only ramp and land.
Now commences round 4 - soon comes the hail,
The first player announces “Justice shall prevail,” “Here comes Aurelia - response anyone?”
The table was silent, no spell to be undone.
Free equip means Aurelia swings twice for lethal,
10 poison on Prossh, who proclaims Aurelia evil. “But righteous justice is the Boros Way”, “Prossh would have hurt us all next turn anyway…”
The second player draws and sighs and scoops, “You’ve got me this time”; their demeanour droops.
Yet another win for the Sunhome Legion,
Protectors of Justice throughout the region.
History of the Deck
This deck originated around the same time that I got back into Magic, and started playing EDH for the first time in 2015. I'd just been reintroduced to the game as a keen college student, and a friend convinced me to buy a Gatecrash fat pack. The very first booster opened to reveal Aurey in the rare slot, and I immediately proclaimed that she would become my new commander. "Lol. Good luck playing in Boros colours" was the immediate response... and so this deck became an exercise in proving them wrong.
It started out as a slightly chaotic deck that was unsure of its exact purpose. The deck sat somewhere between creature goodstuff and voltron. A False Prophet would lock down games till someone begrudgingly killed it; plenty of angels and utility creatures were waiting in the wings to jump out and take over the field.
I eventually decided I wanted the deck to be more competitive, so I moved it closer to a voltron build. My discovery of Grafted Exoskeleton was a turning point here - the ability to take out one player per turn was very tempting.
I've continued to tune and improve this deck in the years since, and it's remained my strongest and fastest deck by far for two and three-player games. It did eventually warp my meta somewhat, and severe hatred for Aurelia in my playgroup means I play her less than I used to; a shift to 4+ player games also led to recurring situations where I would consistently kill off one or two players before being taken out myself by the survivors.
How to play - an oversimplified guide
Turns 1-2: Drop lands, drop rocks. Get some extra mana, then start looking at some utility creatures, or using up some tutors.
Turns 3-4: At this point you're hopefully playing your first utility creatures and equipments. Try to find a way to get free equips for your equipment (Puresteel Paladin/Brass Squire among others).
Turn 4/5/6: Cast Aurelia. Equip. Swing for damage (hopefully lethal).
Turn X+1: Hope Aurelia survives the round. If she does, drop more equipment and swing for even more. If she doesn't, ramp then recast and try again.
Turn X+2: Congratulations - you've made it to the lategame. That was not the plan. Read the card choices below to see if this is salvageable.
A more detailed strategy section is in the works and will be added later...
Imagine the look on your opponents faces when you pull out Grafted Exoskeleton and deal 5 poison damage per combat step. Alternatively, equip Helm of the Host to Aurelia for infinite combat steps.
Inquisitor's Flail and Silverblade Paladin combo very nicely with the Exoskeleton. Few things feel as good as lethally smiting two players per turn. Silverblade Paladin is a bit of an MVP here - 1WW nets you double strike with effectively equip 0 - far more efficient than Fireshrieker or alternatives. And it's even tutorable using Recruiter. The Flail fixes magic's severe lack of double double strike - being able to combine these effects is invaluable.
Those equip costs looking too expensive for you? Try a Hammer of Nazahn. Indestructible, pump, and makes all your other equipment better too. What more could you ask for?
Trouble with flying blockers? Godsend lives up to its name, and Whispersilk Cloak lets you sneaky sneaky past them all. The latter has a bonus and a caveat - shroud stops Aurey being targeted, but also hinders your equips.
While we're on the topic of protection, we have some swords:
Sword of Feast and Famine - The best sword. Ramps, removes opponents' answers, protects from Murder or Plummet. Barely relevant, but also happens to combo with Hellkite Charger for infinite combats... Not like we're planning on letting the game go on that long though.
Sword of Fire and Ice - The other sword. Draws cards, bolts creatures. Block their bolts and their bounce. Doesn't get much better than that.
Sword of Light and Shadow - The worse sword. Recursion is sometimes nice, but we mostly use this to stop opponents from sending Aurey down the Path to Exile.
Need more draw? Whilst not as nice as SoFI, Mask of Memory is a great early-game play. Filters as well as draws, and the equip doesn't break the bank.
Why was Kamigawa so unpopular again...?
The Swords already form a bit of a toolbox, but if you're not quite there yet just ask Umezawa for his Jitte. There's a reason this little babby sword is banned in other formats - pump, removal, and lifegain all on the same spindly metal stick. And we get twice as much out of this as any other commander.
Still not toolbox enough for you? Pull out the Sunforger, and you've almost every answer in the deck at your fingertips. Free equips make this hammer rival Thor's in terms of value - WR gets you any instant in this deck. And you even get to personalise exactly which tools go in the toolbox...
Which brings us to the Sunforger package:
Instants
We can always protect our creatures using Brave the Elements or Boros Charm. The latter also makes for a good wincon - WR nets you double strike on Aurey for a turn. If you're really stuck for a use for it, just throw it at the enemy's face.
Turn that annoying creature into a land or some insignificant life using a Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares. Nigh unbeatable, there's a reason many decks use these.
Having issues with an artifact or enchantment rather than a creature? Pull out Orim's Thunder and smite that permanent and it's controller. Don't forget that you can pay the kicker cost even if you've cast it with Sunforger.
Someone trying to counter poor Aurey? Retaliate with Wild Ricochet, and redirect the counter to counter itself. Then counter that counter with the copy to make doubly sure it is countered. Better for us than Reverberate, since it will deal with Essence Scatter or Path to Exile as well.
Package run out and need to reload the Sunforger? Tithe for Mistveil Plains and start recycling those instants. Alternatively, if you need to colour fix, Tithe for your Plateau or Sacred Foundry; if you're wondering why there are exactly two R-producing plains in this deck, double-check Aurey's mana cost. We'll never be colour-screwed again!
Answer not in this box? Try the Enlightened Tutor and put the answer on top of your library. Don't forget that this wonderful lady will not only pull out equipment for you, but can also fetch more ramp, an answer inEnchantment form, or free equips.
Continuing the discussion of tutors and answers, let's peek at the slightly slower spells we have:
We can Gamble to find anything we could possibly want, and doesn't even reveal our righteous plans. Random discard is a downside, but this is still a great early play.
Annoyed that everyone else is artifact-ramping just as much as you are? Simply Vandalblast them all away. They were probably ramping without a permit anyway.
Too many creatures? The Boros Legion shall evoke the Wrath of God to ensure their Terminus. The latter works beautifully with the Top.
Stuck with a useless hand and feel the need for a change of pace? Reforge the Soul of your sting operation, and disrupt your opponents' whilst you're at it. Again, Top becomes a beast when it divines this one.
Finally, Fury of the Horde. An extra combat step for free? Sign me up. (This card is currently on probation - I'm considering replacing it with Seize the Day or Aggravated Assault if it doesn't work out for me).
Since we've hinted at them a lot, it's probably time to explain the more permanent incantations in here.
Enchantments
Darksteel Mutation and Pacifism both spell disaster for our opponents' generals, but in very different ways. Feel free to mutateProssh or Atraxa, but stay away from Ghave or other things with counters. The latter is better dealt with through a more pacifist approach.
Next, we present Tithe every turn - also known as Land Tax. Finds you at least two sources of R, plus Mistveil Plains for recursion. As said before, we'll never be missing a colour again.
People answering your equipment threats on their turns? Worry not, for with Sigarda's Aid, you can flash in all your equipment needs just before the turn you execute divine judgement. Such a Boros thing to do - Sigarda should really join the legion!
Next we have the legion itself - most of our creatures are chosen for pure utility, rather than as wincons. Don't forget - your wincon sits in your command zone. Aurey will smite all.
Creatures
Don't you just want your mum to hug you sometimes and tell you everything will be alright? Well, the Mother of Runes is looking to be a strong substitute - she hugs and loves and protects all the things.
Someone messing with your equipments? Annoying Blightsteel Colossus on the other side of the field that you'd rather not be there? The Goblin Welder can fix all this and more, and all that for the low low cost of R.
Want to equip all the things but it costs too much? Puresteel Paladin allows for extremely explosive plays by allowing immediate free equips the turn you cast Aurey.
Need to say "No!" sometimes? Annoyed that the blue player is still alive? The Grand Abolisher is keen to throw a spanner in their works - after all, no-one should be interrupting you on your turn anyway. It's impolite. Boros cares a lot about politeness.
Noticing a severe lack of equipment? Want to utilise the full range of banned-in-other-formats Kamigawa tech? Why not pull out the Stoneforge Mystic and search up your favourite head-caving-in device?
Want more combat steps? The Combat Celebrant likes to combo with Aurey to give us an extra combat every turn. That's another 50% commander damage per turn. That's a lot of damage.
Lots of equipment and unsure what to do with them? Call in Kazuul's Toll Collector. For bonus points, this madman lets you Sunforger as much as you want on your turn without paying the equip cost.
The best part? All of the above can be found by the Recruiter of the Guard. Isn't it great when a single recruiter could potentially fix all of your problems?
A couple non-recruitable soldiers have tagged along too...
Stonehewer Giant and Brass Squire help us find and equip our tools. Both allow for instant speed equips, which is pretty dope if you ask me. The latter can also be pulled out using the Enlightened Tutor if you're struggling to get some free equip tech.
Sun Titan, Hellkite Charger, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight are all here for that dreaded late-game. Should you fail to pass judgement upon your opponents as efficiently as hoped, the Titan can recur your equipments and creatures; the Charger will give you extra combat steps (and can lock the game if you have SoFaF around); and Gisela acts not only as a damage doubler, but also helps protect you and your crew.
Aurey's made some walker friends along the way - I like to call them Derpy, Angry and Poised.
Planeswalkers
Daretti, Scrap Savant discards an artifact, then brings it back for free next turn. Basically a more limited Goblin Welder, but also enables some decent filter which combos well with his recursion tendencies. If you ever get the emblem, your equipments are set for life.
Nahiri, the Harbinger is largely a removal toolbox, but also likes to filter occasionally. She generally turns into two exiles, but if you manage to keep her for a while, her -8 is also a doozy.
One cannot truly claim to play an equipment deck without Nahiri, the Lithomancer. She is pure value town - from giving you minions for your Mask of Memory to free equips for your Sunforger, she does it all. Her -2 can be especially helpful recursion, or to get equipments out on the turn Aurelia comes into play. Combos nicely with a couple of our free equip effects. Again, her ultimate is.... well, ultimate. Probably game-ending.
And of course the most poised of all... Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Elspeth is a bit of a late-game cook for us. She can swarm the board with tokens, wipe the opposition, and potentially permanently buff Aurelia all on her own. Her ultimate is modest compared to Derpy’s and Angrys’, but her other abilities more than make up for it.
Finally, we must ask ourselves how we plan to pay for all this...
Artifacts
We pack the usual suspects for fast mana ramp. On the colorless spectrum, we run Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, and Worn Powerstone. Any one of these (or Temple of the False God) will perfectly satisfy Aurey's requirement for 2. Past the first on the field, they can help us with equip costs or casting equipment, but don't help us ramp into Aurelia any faster.
Next we add in Boros Signet, Coldsteel Heart, Darksteel Ingot and Commander Sphere as the cheapest option for coloured mana. (Note: I don't play Fellwar Stone since my meta isn't too good for getting the colours I want out of it.) The last in the list also allows a free sac for a card draw - invaluable in late turns. The Ingot comes with a bonus of being impervious to others' artifact destruction.
We also pack a Gilded Lotus. This is a bit of a weird choice, since if we have 5 already we're overshooting Aurey's casting cost by a bit. However, it's very useful for ensuring equips can occur the turn Aurey comes out, and it also fixes any issues we might be having producing the right colors to cast Aurey.
If we have a bunch of equipment on the field anyway, why not use it to generate mana too? That's what Clock of Omens is for. With any of the ArtifactLands, or any of the above mana rocks, Clock can turn 2 untapped artifacts into anywhere between one and three mana of varying colours. Great for paying equip costs on Aurey's debut turn.
We have two further utility artifacts... The first is Sensei's Divining Top, which works wonders with our miracles, and helps ensure we get ramp/lands early on, and equipment/answers later in the game.
Finally, Aligned Hedron Network is a recurrable, tutorable board wipe that narrowly misses Aurey and sweeps out most dragons (5/5, 6/6, etc), indestructible threats (Eldrazi, Blightsteel, etc.), and flying blockers large enough to seriously damage Aurey.
And of course we must survey the Boros estates...
Lands
First come the artifact lands - Darksteel Citadel, Ancient Den and Great Furnace. These are amazing - not only do they help enable metalcraft, but they also work as targets for the Clock, and can be scrapped by the Goblin Welder for better things. Nothing is more satisfying than the look on a Prossh player's face when you swap a land for the Gilded Lotus they just Naturalized.
Of key importance is the dual and its impersonator - Plateau and Sacred Foundry. Having two plains-type duals ensures that I should always have the right colours of mana off my fetches, as explained below. With these two and a full suite of fetches, one can effectively run 9 duals (7 fetches + 2 plains-type duals) just off these. Considering how colour-intensive Aurelia is, it's imperative to make sure we always have the right mana available on our explosive turn.
Next are the fetches. I use five, mostly since I haven't afforded myself the other two yet... they will be eventual additions. Fetch lands are actually incredibly important in this deck - as noted above, the first two you draw are both effectively duals, which ensures you should always have the right colours to cast Aurelia. If I had to replace these, I'd probably be going for some CIPT lands (e.g. guildgates), but that risks slowing you down significantly.
Arcane Lighthouse helps ensure our tools are effective when removing opponents' stuff. The colourless mana is a downside, but the benefit is usually worth it.
The Cavern of Souls should always - I repeat, always - be activated under Angels. An uncounterable Aurelia can often be an insurmountable obstacle for your foes, and cavern makes this easier than it should be. It also happens to help out with Gisela if we need her as well.
Once activated using Tithe and/or Land Tax to find your plains, Emeria, the Sky Ruin can become a ridiculous wincon. Allowing Aurelia (or others) to be recast from the graveyard each upkeep generally ensures an end, even in the dreaded late game.
The Inventors’ Fair is effectively an uncounterable 4-mana artifact tutor on demand. Metalcraft is easy to activate in this deck, so the option is usually there. The colourless mana is again a downside, but the upside is strong.
Once lost in the Maze of Ith, a turn cannot be recovered. The lack of mana production is a real downside, but this is heavily compensated by the sheer utility of this land. It can either save you on someone else's turn, or save Aurelia from an unexpected occurrence (flash creatures, pump spells, etc.) during combat. Truly amazeing stuff, this.
A stroll across the Mistveil Plains is good for recursion of any kind. Bring back anything you want - all it costs is two white permanents and a little bit of mana. Also tutorable via fetches, Tithe or Land Tax cause plains. Best friends with Emeria.
The Rogue's Passage allows unfettered access for Aurelia to those she wishes to... discipline. Costly, but worth it for the late game.
Exploring the Slayers' Stronghold rewards one with buffs, haste, and vigilance. Good for Aurelia, but even better for all your other recruits. Enabling haste on a Goblin Welder or Stonehewer Giant can often turn the game around. (I've been told in the past by others that Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion would be better in this slot. I disagree - not only is double strike occasionally useless, since double double strike is not a thing; but I'd also argue the utility of having a haste-giver for non-Aurelia creatures is worth far more than a potentially useless (and relatively expensive) damage doubler.)
High upon the Spinerock Knoll sits card advantage, and it doesn't even cost us a coloured land slot. Good targets include equipment, Pacifism/Darksteel Mutation, and most of our creatures. The (almost) uncounterable aspect is pretty nice, and the damage condition is easy to achieve on Aurey's debut turn. Keeping a land untapped is a little more difficult though.
Although the Legion of Boros is perfect, we still worship at the Temple of the False God, since it completes our set of Sol Ring-style mana acceleration. (Perhaps one day I'll upgrade this to an Ancient Tomb).
Acknowledgements
The style of this primer is loosely based around some of Gaka's better known works - I've always found his primers to be a pleasure to read.
Of course there are also countless other decklists/primers and sources that have influenced myself and this deck over the years. As I rediscover them I will expand this section.
A first attempt at an Atla Palani egg tribal deck. The wincon is generally infinite ETB triggers combined with any of Purphoros, Genesis Chamber (or just a board full of changelings) plus a global haste effect, or any of the damage or mill sac outlets (specifically Altar of Dementia, Goblin Bombardment or Blasting Station). Fun side-products can include infinite mana (Mana Altar or Cryptolith Rite and global haste), infinite tokens, and random birds/dragons born of the eggs.
The combo is fairly simple to set up, with a few prerequisites. A general game will look something like this:
The entire combo can be set off at instant speed (hence the inclusion of Jinxed Idol as another sac outlet; you will need to sac eggs in response to ever-increasing donate triggers in order to use this one), and is generally fairly robust. The deck has a few ways to prevent Alta being countered - Cavern of Souls is a great one, tutorable by Crop Rotation. Others include Domri, Rhythm of the Wild, and Savage Summoning.
For bonus points, if you get all three Champion Changelings out you can actually get them to target each other in order to produce an ETB loop without Karmic Guide. If Karmic Guide is irretrievably removed, this is generally an option, but requires three eggs (plus one for Purphoros if he's still in the deck) plus another creature to champion in order to pull them all out of the deck with Alta. Can be a saving grace in the late game if someone rudely interrupted your combo.
As I play more with this deck, I'll try to flesh this out to become a full primer, but for now any suggestions or ideas would be welcome.
4 Atla Palani, Nest Tender
-=< Atla's Atlas >=-
0 Rugged Prairie
0 Grove of the Burnwillows
0 Arid Mesa
0 Karplusan Forest
0 Hanweir Battlements
0 Command Beacon
0 Battlefield Forge
0 Windswept Heath
0 Wooded Foothills
0 Fire-Lit Thicket
0 Brushland
2 Plains
3 Forest
0 Hall of the Bandit Lord
2 Mountain
0 Flamekin Village
0 Ancient Amphitheater
0 Temple Garden
0 Sacred Foundry
0 Cavern of Souls
0 Ancient Tomb
0 Stomping Ground
0 Prismatic Vista
0 Sunpetal Grove
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Myriad Landscape
0 Command Tower
0 Ash Barrens
0 Krosan Verge
-=< Ramp >=-
3 Search for Tomorrow
1 Crop Rotation
2 Cryptolith Rite
2 Nature's Lore
0 Mana Crypt
1 Land Tax
2 Selesnya Signet
2 Boros Signet
2 Gruul Signet
3 Domri, Anarch of Bolas
1 Sol Ring
2 Arcane Signet
3 Mirror Entity
2 Metallic Mimic
4 Gamekeeper
4 Chameleon Colossus
3 Avian Changeling
4 War-Spike Changeling
2 Fire-Belly Changeling
4 Changeling Sentinel
5 Game-Trail Changeling
5 Changeling Hero
4 Changeling Berserker
5 Changeling Titan
2 Woodland Changeling
4 Rukh Egg
3 Dragon Egg
3 Taurean Mauler
7 Protean Hulk
2 Impostor of the Sixth Pride
3 Webweaver Changeling
7 Valiant Changeling
1 Universal Automaton
4 Irregular Cohort
3 Roc Egg
-=< More Eggs* >=-
2 Mirror of the Forebears
4 Birthing Pod
2 Oath of Druids
1 Shields of Velis Vel
-=< Haste >=-
3 Thousand-Year Elixir
3 Fervor
1 Mass Hysteria
1 Concordant Crossroads
3 Rhythm of the Wild
2 Lightning Greaves
5 Karmic Guide
-=< Throw Eggs for damage >=-
4 Purphoros, God of the Forge
2 Genesis Chamber
-=< Need something? >=-
1 Enlightened Tutor
3 Idyllic Tutor
-=< "Cheat" Library >=-
2 Sylvan Library
1 Sensei's Divining Top
2 Scroll Rack
-=< How to Sac Eggs? >=-
3 Ashnod's Altar
2 Goblin Bombardment
2 Jinxed Idol
3 Blasting Station
3 Fanatical Devotion
3 Martyr's Cause
1 Scapegoat
3 Phyrexian Altar
2 Altar of Dementia
-=< Removal >=-
4 Nahiri, the Harbinger
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Crib Swap
-=< Other Goodies >=-
1 Savage Summoning
*essentially just make Alta's ability cost 1 and not require haste, assuming certain conditions (existing egg, or disposable tokens/creatures e.g. birds/myr/dragons/sometimes Purphoros).
There are many ways to start building an EDH deck. Some pick a commander they like. Some choose a colour and build from there. Some commit to a tribe or build around their favourite combo.
This deck is built on an ideology - that of the Boros Legion. Every card is meticulously chosen from thousands of contenders to ensure the smooth running of the machine that is Aurelia's supporting cast. A wise Gaka once said: In this deck there are no 99 cards, but rather one well-oiled, finely-tuned legion with a singular goal in mind. To win, with valour and with justice (or, failing that, in a single explosive turn). That is the essence of Boros; the essence of Aurelia and her consort.
"Untap, Upkeep, Draw, cast Aurelia, equip Helm of the Host for free, infinite combat steps."
Boros has traditionally been considered one of the weaker colour combinations in EDH/Commander. As a combination of the two colours generally considered least suited to multiplayer magic, the guild of justice and righteousness has often been neglected by commander players.
Well, let's fix that. Building a WR deck, we inherit both the explosiveness of red, and the creature control embedded within white. However, we also end up inheriting the distinct lack of ramp and card advantage engines available in those colours, resulting in a colour combination that is liable to run out of gas pretty quickly.
Ramp is easy to fix with a couple artifacts, but card draw less so. Besides, explosive is what we're good at. As a result, we'll try to build a deck with a one-turn clock. Plan is as follows: cast commander, do some stuff, win, all in the same turn. A one-turn-clock makes it more difficult to deal with us (goodbye, sorcery-speed boardwipes), and allows us to be overlooked (everyone thinks Boros is weak anyway) until we're ready to deathtouch a player.
Protect ourselves, whack everyone else...
Truly the Boros way!
Hang on a sec... is this a control deck in disguise?
- Flying in above the hordes of saprolings, soldiers, goblins, zombies and wizards to deal a sudden and unexpected killing blow.
- Equipments, and lots of them. It's called Aurelia Voltron for a reason. We use the full breadth of the Boros armoury here.
- Piloting an aggro deck that is still able to quickly adapt to the board and other players. This deck often spontaneously turns into a psuedo-control player with a Sunforger out and a bunch of tutorable answers at your fingertips, but is still fully capable of racing other well-known aggro generals for the win.
- Doling out karmic justice on explosive turns. This deck plays out surprisingly similar to a combo deck. The main difference is that our combo pieces are pretty much any equipment, and our commander, and our aim is 21 commander damage (rather than the more traditional infinite mana/turns/saprolings).
- Playing your commander every game. And often winning the moment you do.
- Suddenly becoming the biggest threat at the table.
You won't have the best time if you prefer:- Drawing your entire deck. Go chat to Azami...
- Infinite X, where X isn't combat steps. Ask any combo player...
- Having so many tokens on the battlefield you literally need to buy a bigger table. Ghave can help you out...
- Making friends. You're better off donating them Zedruu than a huge helping of commander damage...
- Playing a 75% deck. This deck draws more hate than Prossh in my playgroup...
- Playing with dead things. Mono-black is that way...
Aurelia will still struggle occasionally, especially against:- heavy stax or pillowfort decks (enters tapped and Propaganda effects ; *shudder* ),
- blue control decks who know what your deck does and are gunning for you and you alone (WR only have so many answers to a hand full of counter spells),
- pretty much anyone who runs more artifact hate than lands in their deck.
Be warned - a well-built Aurelia voltron deck warps metas; soon even your neighbourhood Ulamog will be running enough artifact hate to take out a small city.New London rules sift through the rubble,
The second player down from seven to five,
Prossh’s stayed strong - still seven alive.
The first player draws, hand immediately kept,
“The first draw is just, the first draw is best.”
The first play was fast, yet simple and strong,
“Plains, Sol Ring, Boros Signet, done.”
The others played their lands, an elf was born,
and soon the first player felt the need to forewarn:
“To interfere with my turn is simply unjust”,
and so Grand Abolisher forbade breach of trust.
Second player tapped out - counterspell useless,
Prossh tried, his bolt Brave the Elements’d.
One red floating, Vandalblast is cast.
Bitter void replaces the second player's Coldsteel Heart.
The third round begins - Exoskeleton comes in,
immediately followed by Puresteel Paladin.
The second player sighs, two counters in hand,
Prossh player stuck with only ramp and land.
Now commences round 4 - soon comes the hail,
The first player announces “Justice shall prevail,”
“Here comes Aurelia - response anyone?”
The table was silent, no spell to be undone.
Free equip means Aurelia swings twice for lethal,
10 poison on Prossh, who proclaims Aurelia evil.
“But righteous justice is the Boros Way”,
“Prossh would have hurt us all next turn anyway…”
The second player draws and sighs and scoops,
“You’ve got me this time”; their demeanour droops.
Yet another win for the Sunhome Legion,
Protectors of Justice throughout the region.
It started out as a slightly chaotic deck that was unsure of its exact purpose. The deck sat somewhere between creature goodstuff and voltron. A False Prophet would lock down games till someone begrudgingly killed it; plenty of angels and utility creatures were waiting in the wings to jump out and take over the field.
I eventually decided I wanted the deck to be more competitive, so I moved it closer to a voltron build. My discovery of Grafted Exoskeleton was a turning point here - the ability to take out one player per turn was very tempting.
I've continued to tune and improve this deck in the years since, and it's remained my strongest and fastest deck by far for two and three-player games. It did eventually warp my meta somewhat, and severe hatred for Aurelia in my playgroup means I play her less than I used to; a shift to 4+ player games also led to recurring situations where I would consistently kill off one or two players before being taken out myself by the survivors.
Turns 3-4: At this point you're hopefully playing your first utility creatures and equipments. Try to find a way to get free equips for your equipment (Puresteel Paladin/Brass Squire among others).
Turn 4/5/6: Cast Aurelia. Equip. Swing for damage (hopefully lethal).
Turn X+1: Hope Aurelia survives the round. If she does, drop more equipment and swing for even more. If she doesn't, ramp then recast and try again.
Turn X+2: Congratulations - you've made it to the lategame. That was not the plan. Read the card choices below to see if this is salvageable.
A more detailed strategy section is in the works and will be added later...
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
-=< The Guild's Troops >=-
1 Mother of Runes
1 Goblin Welder
1 Grand Abolisher
1 Puresteel Paladin
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Recruiter of the Guard
1 Silverblade Paladin
1 Combat Celebrant
1 Kazuul's Toll Collector
1 Brass Squire
1 Stonehewer Giant
1 Sun Titan
1 Hellkite Charger
1 Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
-=< The Weapon Stash >=-
1 Mana Crypt
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Boros Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Inquisitor's Flail
1 Mask of Memory
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Winter Orb
1 Godsend
1 Commander's Sphere
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Sunforger
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Sword of Light and Shadow
1 Whispersilk Cloak
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Aligned Hedron Network
1 Clock of Omens
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Hammer of Nazahn
1 Helm of the Host
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Daretti, Scrap Savant
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Nahiri, the Lithomancer
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
-=< The Guild's Presence >=-
1 Land Tax
1 Sigarda's Aid
1 Darksteel Mutation
1 Pacifism
-=< Sunforger's Tools >=-
1 Brave the Elements
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Tithe
1 Boros Charm
1 Orim's Thunder
1 Wild Ricochet
-=< The Guild's Toolkit >=-
1 Steelshaper's Gift
1 Gamble
1 Vandalblast
1 Open the Armory
1 Wrath of God
1 Reforge the Soul
1 Terminus
1 Fury of the Horde
-=< Boros Territories >=-
1 Ancient Den
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Arid Mesa
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Boros Garrison
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Flooded Strand
1 Great Furnace
1 Inventors' Fair
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Mistveil Plains
5 Mountain
1 Needle Spires
5 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Rogue's Passage
1 Rugged Prairie
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Temple of the False God
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Wooded Foothills
So... Boros Infect is a thing?
Inquisitor's Flail and Silverblade Paladin combo very nicely with the Exoskeleton. Few things feel as good as lethally smiting two players per turn. Silverblade Paladin is a bit of an MVP here - 1WW nets you double strike with effectively equip 0 - far more efficient than Fireshrieker or alternatives. And it's even tutorable using Recruiter. The Flail fixes magic's severe lack of double double strike - being able to combine these effects is invaluable.
Those equip costs looking too expensive for you? Try a Hammer of Nazahn. Indestructible, pump, and makes all your other equipment better too. What more could you ask for?
I dare you to attack with your Relentless Rats.
While we're on the topic of protection, we have some swords:
Sword of Feast and Famine - The best sword. Ramps, removes opponents' answers, protects from Murder or Plummet. Barely relevant, but also happens to combo with Hellkite Charger for infinite combats... Not like we're planning on letting the game go on that long though.
Sword of Fire and Ice - The other sword. Draws cards, bolts creatures. Block their bolts and their bounce. Doesn't get much better than that.
Sword of Light and Shadow - The worse sword. Recursion is sometimes nice, but we mostly use this to stop opponents from sending Aurey down the Path to Exile.
Need more draw? Whilst not as nice as SoFI, Mask of Memory is a great early-game play. Filters as well as draws, and the equip doesn't break the bank.
Why was Kamigawa so unpopular again...?
Still not toolbox enough for you? Pull out the Sunforger, and you've almost every answer in the deck at your fingertips. Free equips make this hammer rival Thor's in terms of value - WR gets you any instant in this deck. And you even get to personalise exactly which tools go in the toolbox...
Which brings us to the Sunforger package:
Turn that annoying creature into a land or some insignificant life using a Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares. Nigh unbeatable, there's a reason many decks use these.
Having issues with an artifact or enchantment rather than a creature? Pull out Orim's Thunder and smite that permanent and it's controller. Don't forget that you can pay the kicker cost even if you've cast it with Sunforger.
Someone trying to counter poor Aurey? Retaliate with Wild Ricochet, and redirect the counter to counter itself. Then counter that counter with the copy to make doubly sure it is countered. Better for us than Reverberate, since it will deal with Essence Scatter or Path to Exile as well.
Package run out and need to reload the Sunforger? Tithe for Mistveil Plains and start recycling those instants. Alternatively, if you need to colour fix, Tithe for your Plateau or Sacred Foundry; if you're wondering why there are exactly two R-producing plains in this deck, double-check Aurey's mana cost. We'll never be colour-screwed again!
Answer not in this box? Try the Enlightened Tutor and put the answer on top of your library. Don't forget that this wonderful lady will not only pull out equipment for you, but can also fetch more ramp, an answer in Enchantment form, or free equips.
Continuing the discussion of tutors and answers, let's peek at the slightly slower spells we have:
We can Gamble to find anything we could possibly want, and doesn't even reveal our righteous plans. Random discard is a downside, but this is still a great early play.
Annoyed that everyone else is artifact-ramping just as much as you are? Simply Vandalblast them all away. They were probably ramping without a permit anyway.
Too many creatures? The Boros Legion shall evoke the Wrath of God to ensure their Terminus. The latter works beautifully with the Top.
Stuck with a useless hand and feel the need for a change of pace? Reforge the Soul of your sting operation, and disrupt your opponents' whilst you're at it. Again, Top becomes a beast when it divines this one.
Finally, Fury of the Horde. An extra combat step for free? Sign me up. (This card is currently on probation - I'm considering replacing it with Seize the Day or Aggravated Assault if it doesn't work out for me).
Since we've hinted at them a lot, it's probably time to explain the more permanent incantations in here.
Next, we present Tithe every turn - also known as Land Tax. Finds you at least two sources of R, plus Mistveil Plains for recursion. As said before, we'll never be missing a colour again.
People answering your equipment threats on their turns? Worry not, for with Sigarda's Aid, you can flash in all your equipment needs just before the turn you execute divine judgement. Such a Boros thing to do - Sigarda should really join the legion!
Next we have the legion itself - most of our creatures are chosen for pure utility, rather than as wincons. Don't forget - your wincon sits in your command zone. Aurey will smite all.
Someone messing with your equipments? Annoying Blightsteel Colossus on the other side of the field that you'd rather not be there? The Goblin Welder can fix all this and more, and all that for the low low cost of R.
Want to equip all the things but it costs too much? Puresteel Paladin allows for extremely explosive plays by allowing immediate free equips the turn you cast Aurey.
Need to say "No!" sometimes? Annoyed that the blue player is still alive? The Grand Abolisher is keen to throw a spanner in their works - after all, no-one should be interrupting you on your turn anyway. It's impolite. Boros cares a lot about politeness.
Noticing a severe lack of equipment? Want to utilise the full range of banned-in-other-formats Kamigawa tech? Why not pull out the Stoneforge Mystic and search up your favourite head-caving-in device?
Want more combat steps? The Combat Celebrant likes to combo with Aurey to give us an extra combat every turn. That's another 50% commander damage per turn. That's a lot of damage.
Lots of equipment and unsure what to do with them? Call in Kazuul's Toll Collector. For bonus points, this madman lets you Sunforger as much as you want on your turn without paying the equip cost.
The best part? All of the above can be found by the Recruiter of the Guard. Isn't it great when a single recruiter could potentially fix all of your problems?
A couple non-recruitable soldiers have tagged along too...
Stonehewer Giant and Brass Squire help us find and equip our tools. Both allow for instant speed equips, which is pretty dope if you ask me. The latter can also be pulled out using the Enlightened Tutor if you're struggling to get some free equip tech.
Sun Titan, Hellkite Charger, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight are all here for that dreaded late-game. Should you fail to pass judgement upon your opponents as efficiently as hoped, the Titan can recur your equipments and creatures; the Charger will give you extra combat steps (and can lock the game if you have SoFaF around); and Gisela acts not only as a damage doubler, but also helps protect you and your crew.
Aurey's made some walker friends along the way - I like to call them Derpy, Angry and Poised.
Nahiri, the Harbinger is largely a removal toolbox, but also likes to filter occasionally. She generally turns into two exiles, but if you manage to keep her for a while, her -8 is also a doozy.
One cannot truly claim to play an equipment deck without Nahiri, the Lithomancer. She is pure value town - from giving you minions for your Mask of Memory to free equips for your Sunforger, she does it all. Her -2 can be especially helpful recursion, or to get equipments out on the turn Aurelia comes into play. Combos nicely with a couple of our free equip effects. Again, her ultimate is.... well, ultimate. Probably game-ending.
And of course the most poised of all... Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Elspeth is a bit of a late-game cook for us. She can swarm the board with tokens, wipe the opposition, and potentially permanently buff Aurelia all on her own. Her ultimate is modest compared to Derpy’s and Angrys’, but her other abilities more than make up for it.
Finally, we must ask ourselves how we plan to pay for all this...
We pack the usual suspects for fast mana ramp. On the colorless spectrum, we run Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, and Worn Powerstone. Any one of these (or Temple of the False God) will perfectly satisfy Aurey's requirement for 2. Past the first on the field, they can help us with equip costs or casting equipment, but don't help us ramp into Aurelia any faster.
Next we add in Boros Signet, Coldsteel Heart, Darksteel Ingot and Commander Sphere as the cheapest option for coloured mana. (Note: I don't play Fellwar Stone since my meta isn't too good for getting the colours I want out of it.) The last in the list also allows a free sac for a card draw - invaluable in late turns. The Ingot comes with a bonus of being impervious to others' artifact destruction.
We also pack a Gilded Lotus. This is a bit of a weird choice, since if we have 5 already we're overshooting Aurey's casting cost by a bit. However, it's very useful for ensuring equips can occur the turn Aurey comes out, and it also fixes any issues we might be having producing the right colors to cast Aurey.
If we have a bunch of equipment on the field anyway, why not use it to generate mana too? That's what Clock of Omens is for. With any of the Artifact Lands, or any of the above mana rocks, Clock can turn 2 untapped artifacts into anywhere between one and three mana of varying colours. Great for paying equip costs on Aurey's debut turn.
We have two further utility artifacts... The first is Sensei's Divining Top, which works wonders with our miracles, and helps ensure we get ramp/lands early on, and equipment/answers later in the game.
Finally, Aligned Hedron Network is a recurrable, tutorable board wipe that narrowly misses Aurey and sweeps out most dragons (5/5, 6/6, etc), indestructible threats (Eldrazi, Blightsteel, etc.), and flying blockers large enough to seriously damage Aurey.
And of course we must survey the Boros estates...
First come the artifact lands - Darksteel Citadel, Ancient Den and Great Furnace. These are amazing - not only do they help enable metalcraft, but they also work as targets for the Clock, and can be scrapped by the Goblin Welder for better things. Nothing is more satisfying than the look on a Prossh player's face when you swap a land for the Gilded Lotus they just Naturalized.
Of key importance is the dual and its impersonator - Plateau and Sacred Foundry. Having two plains-type duals ensures that I should always have the right colours of mana off my fetches, as explained below. With these two and a full suite of fetches, one can effectively run 9 duals (7 fetches + 2 plains-type duals) just off these. Considering how colour-intensive Aurelia is, it's imperative to make sure we always have the right mana available on our explosive turn.
Next are the fetches. I use five, mostly since I haven't afforded myself the other two yet... they will be eventual additions. Fetch lands are actually incredibly important in this deck - as noted above, the first two you draw are both effectively duals, which ensures you should always have the right colours to cast Aurelia. If I had to replace these, I'd probably be going for some CIPT lands (e.g. guildgates), but that risks slowing you down significantly.
The suite of dual lands is completed with the usual suspects - Command Tower, Rugged Prairie (filter land), Battlefield Forge (pain land), Clifftop Retreat (check land), Temple of Triumph (temple), Needle Spires (man land) and Boros Garrison (bounce land). Except for the last three, we can generally expect the others to come in untapped. The scry off the Temple can be a nice turn 1 perk.
Finally, we have a set of utility lands:
Arcane Lighthouse helps ensure our tools are effective when removing opponents' stuff. The colourless mana is a downside, but the benefit is usually worth it.
The Cavern of Souls should always - I repeat, always - be activated under Angels. An uncounterable Aurelia can often be an insurmountable obstacle for your foes, and cavern makes this easier than it should be. It also happens to help out with Gisela if we need her as well.
Once activated using Tithe and/or Land Tax to find your plains, Emeria, the Sky Ruin can become a ridiculous wincon. Allowing Aurelia (or others) to be recast from the graveyard each upkeep generally ensures an end, even in the dreaded late game.
The Inventors’ Fair is effectively an uncounterable 4-mana artifact tutor on demand. Metalcraft is easy to activate in this deck, so the option is usually there. The colourless mana is again a downside, but the upside is strong.
Once lost in the Maze of Ith, a turn cannot be recovered. The lack of mana production is a real downside, but this is heavily compensated by the sheer utility of this land. It can either save you on someone else's turn, or save Aurelia from an unexpected occurrence (flash creatures, pump spells, etc.) during combat. Truly amazeing stuff, this.
A stroll across the Mistveil Plains is good for recursion of any kind. Bring back anything you want - all it costs is two white permanents and a little bit of mana. Also tutorable via fetches, Tithe or Land Tax cause plains. Best friends with Emeria.
The Rogue's Passage allows unfettered access for Aurelia to those she wishes to... discipline. Costly, but worth it for the late game.
Exploring the Slayers' Stronghold rewards one with buffs, haste, and vigilance. Good for Aurelia, but even better for all your other recruits. Enabling haste on a Goblin Welder or Stonehewer Giant can often turn the game around. (I've been told in the past by others that Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion would be better in this slot. I disagree - not only is double strike occasionally useless, since double double strike is not a thing; but I'd also argue the utility of having a haste-giver for non-Aurelia creatures is worth far more than a potentially useless (and relatively expensive) damage doubler.)
High upon the Spinerock Knoll sits card advantage, and it doesn't even cost us a coloured land slot. Good targets include equipment, Pacifism/Darksteel Mutation, and most of our creatures. The (almost) uncounterable aspect is pretty nice, and the damage condition is easy to achieve on Aurey's debut turn. Keeping a land untapped is a little more difficult though.
Although the Legion of Boros is perfect, we still worship at the Temple of the False God, since it completes our set of Sol Ring-style mana acceleration. (Perhaps one day I'll upgrade this to an Ancient Tomb).
The style of this primer is loosely based around some of Gaka's better known works - I've always found his primers to be a pleasure to read.
Of course there are also countless other decklists/primers and sources that have influenced myself and this deck over the years. As I rediscover them I will expand this section.
I just finished writing my first EDH multiplayer decklist/primer on my Aurelia the Warleader deck (link: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/812800-aurelia-one-hit-wonder-aurelia-the-warleader) but it seems to have immediately been automatically marked as spam. Not sure if I did something wrong with linking images or similar, but would it be possible to have the spam status removed?
Thanks!
- Xaxis