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Boros Humans Deck Guide by Mogged
An Obvious Build
Last week, I finished in the top 8 of the Standard Challenge with what I believe is one of the more obvious decks created by the new set.
$366/63.37 Tix
Maindeck (60)
| Creature [36] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4 Recruitment Officer | $0.35 | |
| 4 Warden of the Inner Sky | $2.29 | |
| 4 Hopeful Initiate | $2.99 | |
| 4 Resolute Reinforcements | $0.59 | |
| 4 Coppercoat Vanguard | $0.59 | |
| 4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben | $0.99 | |
| 4 Imodane's Recruiter | $0.35 | |
| 2 Brutal Cathar | $0.99 | |
| 2 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar | $13.99 | |
| 4 Knight-Errant of Eos | $7.99 | |
| Land [24] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 8 Plains | $0.01 | |
| 4 Battlefield Forge | $1.49 | |
| 4 Cavern of Souls | $42.99 | |
| 4 Secluded Courtyard | $0.59 | |
| 2 Mirrex | $7.99 | |
| 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire | $10.99 | |
| Sideboard [15] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2 Extraction Specialist | $0.69 | |
| 2 Lantern Flare | $0.49 | |
| 3 Destroy Evil | $1.99 | |
| 1 Knockout Blow | $0.35 | |
| 4 Wedding Announcement | $12.99 | |
| 3 Invasion of Gobakhan | $5.99 | |
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Similar Decks
Proxies
Archetype Analysis
Magic online format
Apprentice and MWS .dec
Deck Idea and Card Choices
Cavern of souls
The most notable addition is Cavern of Souls. Having eight of these effects, including Secluded Courtyard, will allow colors without fast lands to be splashed in tribal decks—let alone the uncounterable ability, which puts a ton of pressure on blue decks. Cavern allows us to splash Recruiter, which traditionally is the best fit for these kinds of decks, to compensate for the weakness of being too committed on the board.
Imodane’s Recruiter
Recruiter puts significant pressure on the opponent to stay out of lethal range and offers several methods to counteract mass removal such as Sunfall and Depopulate without committing too much to the board.
Another important addition is the Warden of the Inner Sky. Its tap ability is very relevant, as it can be used when there is no ongoing action on the board, which happens quite often. This deck doesn't have much removal, so players often find themselves in stalemates without good attacking options. That's where the Warden's ability can be crucial, threatening to gain evasion and helping you fix your top deck to find cards like Imodane's Recruiter.
Warden of the Inner Sky
I believe that the quality of this deck, thanks to the Warden and Knight, offers a better way to build up momentum leading to an eventual kill. This is rare for aggro decks, as every turn in a board stall reduces their expected win rate. However, with WR Humans, if you plan a few turns ahead, you might secure a late kill with Coppercoat and Recruiter, or you could simply play defense and secure the kill with a flying Warden.
Thalia Guardian of Thraben
This card is great in this deck since all your creatures are in the main deck, so there are no awkward interactions with it. It helps you against control-oriented decks and can also serve as a good blocker against aggressive strategies.
Resolute Reinforcements
Just a great enabler for the rest of your cards; playing Warden to reinforcements is very common, and that’s a turn on which you would rarely attack. So, just tapping for a counter and a scry is very serviceable for that turn. It also helps the Knight arrive a turn earlier sometimes.
Brutal Cathar
It's not a great card to have, but it's kind of necessary at times and can be used to remove a blocker for a turn.
Hopeful Initiate
You need as many 1-drops as possible to enable the rest of your deck. I think this is actually really good, as it can easily become larger, and the ability can be particularly useful during combat phases, especially against Wedding Announcement.
Eiganjo, Seat of The Empire
The ability is very useful because you don't have enough removal options, and it's one of the few ways to deal with cards like Raffine.
Wedding Announcement
Just a sideboard card that's effective against what most of your opponents will be trying to do to stop your aggro plan. I sideboard it in quite often as a way to misdirect some of the removal.
A Few Tricks and Tips
Tip & Tricks #1: Maths!
Be very focused on combat math; you might need to take long pauses to assess how it pans out and whether you will survive the counterattack. However, most of the time, you can choose between launching an all-out attack or using tactics such as the Warden's tap ability or play Knight-Errant to prepare for a later turn.
Tip & Tricks #2: Look Ahead
Due to the nature of the deck, which has more gears to play the game than a classic aggro deck, you have to look a few turns ahead to decide whether you should risk it all. When your opponent is holding mana up or has only a few cards in hand, it might indicate that you can win the long game.
Tip & Tricks #3: Hide Your Souls
You can hide Cavern of Souls until you actually want to "beat" a counter; if you reveal it, your opponent will be prepared.
Tip & Tricks #4: Warden
Sometimes, you can activate the Warden's ability post-combat, especially if it already has vigilance.
Tip & Tricks #5: Chaining Convoke
The Knight-Errant can be more effectively used by tapping five creatures to search for another copy of itself, a tactic often employed when the board is in a stalemate.
Sideboard guide
Esper Midrange
This is somewhat of a bad matchup; their black removal is very potent, and their creatures have high toughness. However, when you're on the play, you still have a high chance of winning, especially with a Thalia opening.
5c Domain
It's a good matchup solely because of the Recruiter and Thalia; they must control the board early, otherwise, the Recruiter can just overwhelm them.
UW Soldiers
A slightly favored matchup, the Cavern can render their counters useless, making it easier for our Human deck to establish a strong early start and to avoid their blue tricks. Meanwhile, we still maintain the initiative for a big swing.
Mono Red Aggro
In a slightly unfavorable matchup, they control the race's pace because they have removal and we don't. Always be wary of overextending into End the Festivities post-board.
Red Green Aggro
I think this is an even matchup. It can be dangerous to let the games drag on against them because they can derive a lot of value from their Druid and aim for a one-turn kill.
Golgari Midrange
In this slightly unfavorable matchup, we have considerable difficulty dealing with their threats, and their black removal slows down the game, which can be detrimental.
UW Midrange
Great matchup; they have no way to deal with our fast hands, and they take too long to produce enough high-toughness blockers.
No changes
Esper control
It's a great matchup; their counters are weak, and we have the advantage of going wide, threatening to secure a win with the recruiter. Therefore, they need to adopt a very conservative playstyle.
Mirror
Just keep your hands fast; games can be over in an instant and it's hard to use your entire hand before the game is decided.
Esper Legends
It is a slightly favored matchup because they lack sufficient black removal, which means our critical mass turns are usually effective enough to gain the advantage before Sheoldred and Raffine can close out the game.
Final words
This is a very fast and fun deck to play. Splashing red has allowed this deck to finally become a contender.
Looking forward to how this metagame turns out!