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Akiri, Line-Slinger

Commander / EDH Aggro

godzilla_big


As a dedicated Boros player at heart, I have been searching for new ways to make Boros great. I've been playing EDH for almost a year now, and started my journey with the Boros 2015 EDH Precon. Since then, Kalemne went from Gisela, Blade of Goldnight to the current incarnation that is Aurelia, the Warleader. So, when they introduced the new 2016 Commander Precons, I was excited to hear they made two new Boros Legendaries in the form of Akiri, Line-Slinger and Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder. Coupled with the Partner ability, I can run them either together or with one in the 99. In this instance, I decided to make Akiri and Bruse my general.

Akiri, Line-Slinger

RW

0/3

First Strike, Vigilance

Akiri, Line-Slinger gains +1/+0 for each artifact you control.

Partner

The moment Akiri was spoiled, she won my heart. A two mana Boros commander is hard to come by, let alone a good one. While she wouldn't be considered good, or the best, she can still get the job done if done right. And since she requires artifacts to become stronger, that's what we will be doing. The best thing about Boros is the worst thing about the guild. They require artifacts to ramp hard to do anything since the guild has no reliable way to ramp naturally. From creatures, to equipments, to mana rocks, Boros decks are typically very artifact heavy in order to get their things out as early as turn 2 if possible.

Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder

2RW

4/4

When Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder enters the battlefield or attacks, target creature you control gains Double Strike and Lifelink.

Partner

As co-commander, his role is to allow me to bring on aggressive pressure by giving Akiri or the rest of my creatures Double Strike and Lifelink to make it more difficult for my opponents to beat my life total down. Outside of this, he's just a boorish sidekick.

The 99

When theorycrafting Akiri, I decided to use my Aurelia EDH build as a shell to kickstart the process. Only making a few minor changes to the 99, such as adding Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond to the fold, along with various creatures and artifact tutors. Selfless Squire is there for disruption and providing a nice defense. Power Matrix was added as a way to create evasion so that Akiri could optimize her damage output more aggressively by tapping it to give her +1/+1, Flying and Trample. I have a number of tutors that can bring artifacts to my hand to help fuel Akiri and make her a force to be reckoned with. She doesn’t come with Haste, which is a major drag, but that doesn’t mean she can acquire it by outside means.

The main combo in the deck is a fan favorites of mine. The ever reliable Aggravated Assault + Sword of Feast and Famine combo. With this combo, I cause massive hand disruption while swinging infinitely. It's short, simple, and sweet. There is a second combo, though it is more of a “Hey, it would be funny if this went off” complex combo. This combo utilizes Aurelia, the Warleader + Sun Titan + Oblivion Ring + Sac outlet. With this combo I can guarantee infinite combat steps by exiling Aurelia with O-Ring, sacrifice O-Ring, then swing with Aurelia and Sun Titan. Sun Titan’s ability allows him to recur O-Ring to banish Aurelia, which I then sac, and swing with Aurelia and Sun Titan. At that point it’s wash, rinse, repeat.

Closing Thoughts

In all, Akiri and Bruse feel like Wizards is finally going in the right direction with Boros Legendaries. She is quick to cast, and easy to build around. As a diehard Boros fan since the original Ravnica block, I have faith she will find a place somewhere in the EDH community. Hope you enjoyed my thoughts and leave an upvote, comment, or critique.

Cheers,

Godzilla Big

Suggestions

Updates Add

Doing some Aether Revolt additions to the list. There are a lot that this new set brought to the table. For my Marath EDH deck, Felidar Guardian was added to her Kiki-Jiki combo kit. For Akiri + Bruse, there are a lot of things I wanted to test and grab and use. Planar Bridge, Paradox Engine, and Heart of Kiran were nice things I'd love to use and abuse but decided to start small and work my way up.

So, with this update, there's only one minor change. Weathered Wayfarer has always been a solid choice for making sure I had a land every turn, but the fact Land Tax just "does it better" on upkeep for up to 3 basic lands over 1 land of any type.

Since this is an aggro deck, Kari Zev, Skyship Raider stood out to me as a nice addition. For 1R, she hits the field with 1/3, First Strike and Menace and whenever she attacks she makes a 2/1 legendary monkey that attacks upon entry.

Whether this change was the right course of action or not remains to be seen. For now, I will be testing things in here to see what is good, what is great, and what is neither.

Cheers! --GB

Comments

Date added 8 years
Last updated 3 years
Exclude colors UBG
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

20 - 0 Mythic Rares

46 - 0 Rares

15 - 0 Uncommons

6 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 2.65
Tokens Cat Soldier 1/1 W, Clue, Emblem Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Ragavan, Soldier 1/1 W
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