Arms Race (Boros Aikido)

Commander / EDH Bracket 2 Budget Casual Counters Group Hug Pillow Fort Primer Redirection RW (Boros)

ShieldOfHolyShadows

Instant (23)

• 1x Aura Blast
• 1x Bolt Bend
• 1x Boros Fury-Shield
• 1x Channel Harm
• 1x Comeuppance
• 1x Deflecting Palm
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Destroy Evil
• 1x Excise the Imperfect
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Gideon's Sacrifice
• 1x Make Your Move
• 1x Martyrdom
• 1x Mirror Strike
• 1x Reflect Damage
• 1x Return the Favor
• 1x Settle the Wreckage
• 1x Smash
• 1x Stroke of Midnight
• 1x Topple the Statue
• 1x True Love's Kiss
• 1x Untimely Malfunction
• 1x Wyll's Reversal

Artifact (11)

• 1x Agility Bobblehead
• 1x Altar of the Pantheon
• 1x Bandit's Haul
• 1x Bonder's Ornament
• 1x Cursed Mirror
• 1x Dragon's Hoard
• 1x Intelligence Bobblehead
• 1x Nexus of Becoming
• 1x Patriar's Seal
• 1x Pristine Talisman
• 1x Sonic Screwdriver

Land (41)

• 1x Arch of Orazca
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Boros Garrison
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Cori Mountain Monastery
• 1x Demolition Field
• 1x Elegant Parlor
• 1x Fountainport
• 1x Mariposa Military Base
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip
• 18x Plains
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Spectator Seating
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 1x Sunbillow Verge
• 1x Sundown Pass
• 1x Temple of Triumph
• 1x War Room
• 1x Windbrisk Heights

Enchantment (3)

• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Saving Grace
• 1x Visions of Phyrexia

Commanders (2)

Creature (20)

• 1x Aerial Responder
• 1x Angelic Sell-Sword
• 1x Ao, the Dawn Sky
• 1x Aurelia, the Law Above
• 1x Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 1x Boros Reckoner
• 1x Brash Taunter
• 1x Donna Noble
• 1x Firemane Commando
• 1x Metropolis Reformer
• 1x Mogg Maniac
• 1x Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser
• 1x Orzhov Advokist
• 1x Phyrexian Vindicator
• 1x Selfless Squire
• 1x Spiteful Sliver
• 1x Spitemare
• 1x Windborn Muse
• 1x Wrathful Raptors
• 1x Wrathful Red Dragon

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Maybeboard

Creature (22)

• 1x Angel of Invention
• 1x Angelic Field Marshal
• 1x Beloved Princess
• 1x Boulderborn Dragon
• 1x Craig Boone, Novac Guard
• 1x Eowyn, Fearless Knight
• 1x Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1x Inspiring Overseer
• 1x Khârn the Betrayer
• 1x Miner's Guidewing
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Nils, Discipline Enforcer
• 1x Obsidian Charmaw
• 1x Platoon Dispenser
• 1x Scavenged Brawler
• 1x Shepherd of the Clouds
• 1x Shrike Force
• 1x Skyscanner
• 1x Sunblade Angel
• 1x Truefire Captain
• 1x Witch Enchanter  ^Flip
• 1x Wojek Investigator

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Cleansing Wildfire
• 1x Go for Blood
• 1x Joust
• 1x Seize the Spotlight
• 1x Shatterskull Smashing  ^Flip
• 1x Song-Mad Treachery  ^Flip

Instant (21)

• 1x Akroma's Will
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Galadriel's Dismissal
• 1x Ghostfire Slice
• 1x Kazuul's Fury  ^Flip
• 1x Legion Leadership  ^Flip
• 1x Mages' Contest
• 1x Olorin's Searing Light
• 1x Order / Chaos
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Revitalize
• 1x Risk Factor
• 1x Sejiri Shelter  ^Flip
• 1x Shelter
• 1x Swift Kick
• 1x Unexplained Absence
• 1x Union of the Third Path
• 1x Valakut Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Wild Ricochet
• 1x Will of the Mardu

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Always Watching
• 1x Brave the Sands
• 1x Feather of Flight
• 1x Felidar Umbra
• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Search the Premises
• 1x Soul Snare
• 1x Tenuous Truce
• 1x The Fall of Lord Konda  ^Flip
• 1x The Sound of Drums

Land (8)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Drifting Meadow
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Ominous Cemetery
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 1x Smoldering Crater
• 1x Talon Gates of Madara

Artifact (7)

• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Farsight Mask
• 1x Kayla's Music Box
• 1x Liquimetal Torque
• 1x Palantir of Orthanc
• 1x Throne of Eldraine
• 1x Wedding Invitation

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Boros aikido. Buff everyone's creatures and retaliate against anyone who attacks you.

Moxfield and Archidekt lists just for convenience, though they may not be as current as this list.

Very casual, but more viable than it looks. PlayEDH rated as Low. Brackets are interesting; card quality bracket 2, game length bracket 2, philosophy generally bracket 2, winrate bracket 3. It may be bracket 3 because I have roughly a >90% winrate against precons, but people aren't going to be upset if you're playing games in bracket 2.

(Foils are cards I'm playtesting or need to adjust in my paper deck.)

What's "Aikido"? Show

"Aikido is a Japanese martial art that was created in the 1920s by Morihei Ueshiba. Aikido is a self-defense system that uses twisting and throwing techniques to turn an attacker's strength and momentum against them. It also uses pressure on vital nerve centers. Aikido is non-violent and non-competitive, and is based on the principle of using minimal force and causing minimal injury."

Converting Aikdo ideals to magic in a 100% accurate way would likely lead to winconless fog control or something like lantern control that specifically seeks to neutralize the opponent's will to fight while never truly harming them. However, I really like the perspective of basically the original Aikido primer where they believe that attacking an opponent's life total is actually less egregious than attacking their board or resources, meaning it's okay to knock opponents out of the game as long as you're letting them play their game (mostly) uninterrupted. The goal is to align your goals with your opponents' so that they have no reason to attack you and you benefit from their gameplan as well. On the mechanical level, this is achieved with incentives like Noble Heritage, rattlesnakes like Phyrexian Vindicator, pillowfort like Ghostly Prison, damage redirection like Deflecting Palm, and spell redirection like Deflecting Swat. Basically, you want to find a way to let your opponents do their thing, then turn their strength against them to win yourself.

Learning aikido philosophies taught me casual EDH deckbuilding in a way I struggled to understand before. It's self-controlled and focuses on the opponent's well-being, rather than your ability to beat them as efficiently as possible.

Design Goals: Show

1. Maximize fun for the entire playgroup. - Obviously this can't be perfect, but my original playgroup played at sub-precon levels of power. I had trouble building decks that could play fairly at that level because I'm inherently an optimizer, so instead I gave myself a goal of maximizing the play experience of the group rather than the deck itsef. After a lot of research, playtesting, theorycrafting, etc., I came to an answer that's obvious in hindsight: people want their decks to do something, so let them do their thing. You don't need to give them fancy toys to play with because they have their own already. I also do my best to not force people to do anything. I try to make most of my tools opt-in, but in a way that the optimal choice is to work with me. I don't force them to attack with effects like Disrupt Decorum, I just try to give them the tools to empower themselves to do what they want. This deck had good games at sub-precon tables, and it has good games at upgraded precon tables.

2. Maximize fairness. One thing that can lead to not having fun in a casual setting is feeling like the game wasn't fair. This deck tries to make every action feel fair. If someone swings at you and you cast a response like Comeuppance, they're more likely to feel like they deserved it than if you did something like Ruinous Ultimatum. You are simply responding to their aggression, rather than beating them down. On the flip side, most of the buffs are also symmetrical, which keeps you from racing out of control. You can't get ahead of anyone unless they're refusing to work with you, which is their own fault. There's also quite a bit of interaction to keep the game more balanced if one person is pulling ahead of the others.

3. Maximize winrate. After all is said and done, I'm going to be playing to win and I'm very transparent about that. My goal is to slowly advance my board to a winning state and outscale everyone else if my opponents let me. However, I want my wins to adhere to the other two goals so they are fun and fair. That's usually achieved by being super telegraphed, or by being directly related to someone else's attempt to win and turning it back on them.

4. Minimize complexity. It's annoying to deal with someone taking 30 minute turns every game. By minimizing my own playtime, everyone has more time to focus on their own stuff and also reduces my threat profile. This also makes my life easier because I want to be able to play optimally even when I'm up until 3:00 AM and just barely functional. Also, the easier your gameplan is to understand, the less threatening you appear. People see what you're doing, decide you're not a threat, focus on the immediate threats, and then lose to you in the 1v1.

5. Minimize attention. This deck is intentionally invisible. I try to minimize the number of effects that call attention to my board, whether those are powerful staples, repeatable triggers, or frustrating stax pieces. The less attention I draw from my opponents, the fewer removal spells get sent at me, the fewer attacks come at me, and the more likely people are to cooperate with me until the end game. All of those combine to set me up to be a powerhouse in the final stages of the game without making anyone upset afterwards. Notably, this isn't about trying to win out of nowhere; aikido cards can be surprises but the real trick is building a board that's weak enough to not be a threat, while being strong enough to defend itself and eventually grind out a win. You want them to remember having a fun game with you afterwards, not feel like you won without earning it. A quote I heard on YouTube somewhere was that you need to find ways that your opponents are willing to let you win because they'll try to shut you down otherwise. That means you should be looking for things that have a high effectiveness-to-threat ratio. This point ties into all of the other ones, but is a primary metric I use when evaluating cards in my list.

Commander Choice: Show

Aikido lists are typically helmed by Queen Marchesa, giving access to almost every aikido card. My list started out this way as well, with a major focus on giving out +1/+1 counters for a more successful Deflecting Palm. As time went on, I kept finding myself wishing there were more cards that gave out counters because I couldn't reliably find them each game and I really wanted more versions of the effect. Eventually I realized that I could have access to it every game by dropping black and running Noble Heritage in the command zone instead. I was wary for a long time because it meant giving up staples like Inkshield, Rakdos Charm, Delirium, Backlash, Batwing Brume, and Vampire Nighthawk, but eventually I bit the bullet and locked in Noble Heritage + a red commander and I'm incredibly happy with the results. (If you're interested in the original idea, you should definitely check out the Discord in the Required Readings category.) Noble Heritage is excellent as pillowfort, intel, politics, scaling, and priming other players' creatures to be aikido'd, all in the command zone. It makes everything you want to do better, while giving you a ton of information to adjust how you're playing. To accompany it, almost all of the red background commanders can be viable options. After playtesting a lot of them, my favorite by far is Ganax, Astral Hunter, even though people usually get confused when they see him. Ganax's flying is more relevant than people give credit for, whether playing defensively against flying creatures or as being a consistent proactive win condition as a 5 mana 7/8 (or bigger!), easily swinging for commander damage kills against anyone who isn't properly prepared. His treasure generation isn't the primary factor, but they've kept me alive more often than I would have expected. Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer is the obvious choice everyone asks about, so I'll go a bit deeper into why I prefer Ganax: Baeloth is far more threatening to a table which leads to him being targeted and killed off more often than Ganax has been. That's a major downside when one of the biggest strengths of the deck is consistently letting Noble Heritage give out stats and give you intel before people swing at you. It's one of those situations where the card that is "stronger" can potentially end up being weaker if it affects how people perceive your list. Forced combat works mechanically well with aikido, but arguably goes against the philosophy of not interfering with your opponents because people hate being goaded. It's highly threatening to their game plans, so they will kill Baeloth or they will kill you ASAP to make it stop happening. By removing that aspect, I've had more success at remaining under the radar and building up to the game I want to see happen while using a "worse" option. Baeloth also lacks the same natural evasion and ability to block flying that Ganax offers, which is more relevant at casual tables than people give credit for. Note that I don't think Baeloth is a "wrong" option; a lot of people love playing goad and I think he's great at it. You'll need more protection than I run in my list but it's definitely viable and more mainstream than my variant. Livaan, Cultist of Tiamat is probably my second favorite due to Livaan's lower cost making her easier to keep on the battlefield, plus her ability leads to some fun combat manipulation. My biggest complaint when testing her was that I didn't get much use out of her ability except for the last turn of the game, and I lost the easy ability to swing in for commander damage kills and I kept wishing I had a flyer to block creatures from chipping me down. Karlach, Fury of Avernus is cool, but far too aggressive for what I'm going for. Also first strike is nice, but it's not as reliable as flying for keeping your commander alive and attacking. There's also an argument for Wyll, Blade of Frontiers, who's very cheap and a Human, which is more beneficial for certain kindred cards if you wanted to build around them.

Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser: Probably the next best Boros commander. The draw is very useful and the goad/can't block can be quite strong. I don't run her as commander because I think Noble Heritage is better, as well as people dislike being constantly goaded, which conflicts with my goal of making sure everyone has a good time.

Aurelia, the Law Above: If I could swap Ganax but keep Noble Heritage, I would probably run Aurelia. Flying and vigilance are the best keywords for this deck, and haste would help add a bit more punch for commander kills. The attack triggers are a bit inconsistent if you're not running goad and this deck can't always get three open attackers. A list run by Aurelia would look very different from this one.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: I like Gisela. She's just super expensive and takes a long time to ramp out. She's also not quite as subtle as Noble Heritage; people will target her if they think it's in their best interests to do so.

Aikido Color comparisons:

Boros (RW): Fundamental aikido. You can build an aikido list without these colors, but they are the heart and soul of the playstyle. Pros: Consistent manabase, flexibility in the command zone, allows for color pip intensive cards like Phyrexian Vindicator and Truefire Captain, lower threat profile as boros had a pretty poor reputation in commander. Cons: Harder to find some basic effects like card draw, loses powerful Aikdo staples like Inkshield.

Mardu (RWB): The classic, Boros plus black to cover its weaknesses and add more tools. Pros: Black adds draw, removal, and a lot of strategic or political cards to the pool. Cons: less consistent manabase, typically less proactive gameplan since you don't have a wincon built into the command zone.

Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis (RWUG): Dubbed "4c Turbo aikido" by its creator, the goal is to draw and ramp everyone at the table for faster and smoother aikido games. Pros: Ton of draw and ramp, tons of card options. Cons: I've tested the deck and almost always been color screwed, plus it can be risky to feed cards into combo players.

Deck Theory: Show

The deck focuses on game theory and slowly growing your odds of winning each turn. If someone isn't going to target you, then objectively they should take the counters to increase their odds of winning. If they do and another player doesn't, the person who hasn't taken the counters loses winrate because their opponents get a combined +6/+6 (numbers obviously variable based on number of players) per turn, and are likely to be killed off quickly. Then when it's just you and the people taking your counters, the odds are that their creatures have outscaled their lifetotals and you can kill them with an aikido turnaround card.

Just to visualize the idea that people should be taking the counters, let's look at an average turn. Example one: Beginning of your upkeep, you have Noble Heritage, Ganax, Astral Hunter, Boros Reckoner, and a Ghostly Prison. You obviously take your own counters, boosting your winrate slightly. Player 2 can choose to take the counters or ignore them. Looking at your board, it's going to be difficult to do anything meaningful. The Ghostly Prison prevents them from swinging a large number of creatures at you, but Ganax, Astral Hunter will usually be big enough to kill something important, and the Boros Reckoner can either kill something small or redirect a lot of damage from something big. If they choose not to take the counters, they can push some damage at you, but it'll come at a cost, which then leaves them vulnerable to the other two players. It's usually in their best interest to go ahead and take the counters and pressure the other players a bit and deal with you last with all the free resources they've accumulated in the meantime. So Player 2 goes ahead and takes the counters. Player 3 now faces the same decision, but with a second opponent who's also advanced their board state. They're going to start feeling the pressure to take the counters just to keep up the board state enough to fight in combat. Player 4 then faces the same problem. Each player's best option is to just take the counters and fight amongst themselves, which in turn gives you freedom to survive into the late game with a higher life total and the resources you've accumulated.

Similarly, if you're in a game where people refuse to work with you, you're going to continue growing your board state for free every turn. You need to play a bit more defensively, but with enough pillowfort tools, you can grind people out with fliers as you keep drawing cards and playing lands.

There's also a major focus on player psychology. This deck is intentionally invisible. It doesn't draw attention to itself. It doesn't interfere unless necessary. It doesn't have locks or powerful value engines. It doesn't force anyone to do anything. It's not the strongest at the table. It's not running combos, it's just playing down fair or underrated magic cards. And the instants are almost entirely reactive, meaning people don't notice you unless they're going for chip damage (which is fine) or a lethal, which you can punish in a spectacular fashion.

Normal group hug has everyone drawing cards, but that helps control and combo far more than creature-based decks. By buffing board presence exclusively, we subtly shift the balance towards decks that use creatures as their win condition and help prevent them from stalling out. Encouraging damage as a win condition also makes it easier to kill someone with a turnaround card later once they've been beaten down a bit. The ability to give out so many total stats makes it an excellent king-slayer build, as any player who becomes archenemy has to deal with you giving out stat boosts and having interaction to pick apart their win conditions.

The longer the game goes on, the better of a position you'll be in. Noble Heritage is most impactful when you can force a board stall, where everyone is just sitting there and growing, but not gaining massive amounts of life. If you have a Crawlspace or Ghostly Prison effect out, people are encouraged to buff one creature up to be huge, and if they attack with it, it's easier to punish than an army of tokens.

The deck can be proactive with its own large creatures, which helps a lot when there's a combo or stax player you need to help rush down. If the game stalls out, the spite creatures plus the flying creatures can usually slowly wear someone down by swinging at them for a few turns. Unblockable cards like Rogue's Passage are also very useful once you've established your board and you need to chip away at someone or sneak in commander damage.

Intentional Exclusions: Show

Sunforger: This is a Sunforger deck minus the actual card because it's such a dramatic change to the gameplay. Sunforger makes you archenemy and removes the "wow" factor when you're tutoring your answers every turn. I'm also lazy and don't like shuffling commander decks.

Duelist's Heritage: Great card but I want to minimize the number of decisions I have to make and I want to avoid blatantly picking on someone, especially if they're behind on board already. I want my buffs to be my opponents' choice, not my own when I can.

Blood Moon and Magus of the Moon: Great effects but I don't want to be the bad guy.

Teferi's Protection: Too meta and I have enough fogs and redirections to usually be able to skip a fog without an aikido theme, even one of the best ones ever printed. Plus, if I save my board, I immediately become archenemy, and I'd prefer to win a little bit more subtly than that.

Boros Charm: See above about board wipes, but also I want to avoid introducing infinite loops with the spite creatures.

Blasphemous Act and Star of Extinction: I want to try to minimize board wipes and rely on pillowfort tools instead. Damage based wipes like these will win the game, but winning out of nowhere just makes people remember you as a combo deck and makes them need to kill you in future games.

Agitator Ant: People are way less likely to take these counters. If you're the only one taking them, you start to grow above the rest of the table and become the threat. It's also much worse for player 4 than player 2; people committing to attacking is much more difficult than them committing to NOT attacking you because so much can change over a turn or two.

Disrupt Decorum and Taunt from the Rampart: Goad is a board wipe and a win condition that makes people irrationally angry. I don't need to force people to attack if I can encourage them, and I prefer playing subtly if I can. Still, would be great inclusions

Olorin's Searing Light: It's very close to being on theme, but I don't like how it blasts everyone. If someone's working with me and taking the counters, I don't want to betray them by blasting them unprovoked. It's also harder than I expected to turn on the spell mastery.

Blazing Sunsteel and Fiendlash: There's two ways this deck goes accidentally infinite: the first one is a creature that doesn't die when it takes damage, and something that allows it to damage itself repeatedly. Example combos are Blazing Sunsteel + Brash Taunter, Boros Reckoner + Fiendlash + Boros Charm, Brash Taunter + Fiendlash + Gideon's Sacrifice, etc. I'm pretty sure I've removed all of the loops from this list, but it's been intentional and a lot of work.

Furnace of Rath and Dictate of the Twin Gods: The second way this deck goes infinite is a way to keep doubling damage infinitely. So, same requirement of a creature that doesn't die when it takes damage, but slightly more flexible, like Furnace of Rath + Phyrexian Vindicator + Gideon's Sacrifice or Spitemare + Boros Charm + Furnace of Rath

Crescendo of War: I adore this card. I've added it and cut it like 5 times. It's an incredibly fast clock and adds a lot of risk to a table. The reasons it's staying out of the list are that it's too likely to just hand a win to the token player with dozens more creatures than you, and the fact that it's just unnecessary to introduce so much risk when you can just take it slow and develop further.

Trouble in PairsGC and Esper Sentinel: These cards are super staples. They draw a lot of cards and a lot of threat. They would definitely make my list better, but I don't want to increase the threat level that much.

Smothering TitheGC: "Do you pay the two?" is super annoying and draws a ton of attention and aggro. Strong, but not what I'm going for.

Mangara, the Diplomat and Aerial Extortionist: Solid draw engines but I'm lazy and don't want to track triggers.

Jeska's WillGC: Red impulse draw is not great for this archetype. Most of the cards are situational and reactive, and you also don't want to be revealing cards.

Sol Ring: This is a casual deck that tries to play slightly slower than other casual decks. Sol ring leads to explosive starts that I don't really want. Be the change you want to see in the world.

Arcane Signet and other two mana rocks: Two mana rocks are great, but they actually compete with the slot for Noble Heritage. I've decided to slot in 3 CMC rocks instead for the additional utility they have attached.

Ill-Tempered Loner  : I'm too lazy to track day/night and the flip side goes infinite with Brash Taunter.

Screaming Nemesis: A nuclear answer to a casual problem. It would definitely be a strong card, but it would draw way too much fear and aggro from anyone who actually wants lifegain in their lists. Not worth the attention in my list.

Coalhauler Swine: Too expensive and doesn't even keep me from taking the damage. Not what I'm looking for.

Chaos Warp and Tibalt's Trickery: I've been burned a few too many times to rely on these. I don't feel like I need chaos warp with my removal package already. Tibalt's has more upside as a counterspell, but also more risk by guaranteeing a hit for the opponent. Most of my stack interaction is covered by redirection spells like Return the Favor, but it could be a good fit in the right meta.

Lapse of Certainty and Reprieve: As a player, I'm bad about knowing what to counter and what to not, so these typically sit in my hand until I die. These don't even effectively counter their spells, usually meaning you'll just need to deal with the spell again on the next (or same) turn. They have their merits, but it's not necessary in my meta yet.

Frontier Warmonger, Frenzied Saddlebrute, and Skyboon Evangelist: These cards were underwhelming for me in practice. People don't remember effects like these because they're not their cards and they didn't prepare for them. It also doesn't help to remind people every combat about you existing and incentivizing people to attack each other. The more you politic, the more people will notice that you're trying to manipulate them, and some people respond poorly to that, so I find it's better to just let people do their own things without all the fancy incentives. I've had much more luck with just +1/+1 counters just because they're easier for people to handle on their own.

Crawlspace: This card is fascinating because it both over and underperformed for me. The people most affected by it saw it as a very threatening card and went out of their way to remove it or remove me. But it also lead to weird situations where I had a lethal punish if someone had completely swung out, but not if they only swung one or two, and I couldn't capitalize on them. I ended up trimming it for more space in the list.

Take the Bait: This card doesn't play well in this deck. People usually don't attack you until you're the last one left and then it's usually just a 4-mana fog. You can do some fun tricks with things like Brash Taunter and Phyrexian Vindicator, but usually there's better ways to capitalize on an attack. There's a tech where you can use it when an opponent attacks another opponent and give them a free combat, but that's a bit more aggressive than I like to play.

The Ozolith: Saving counters is obviously strong. The problem is that it makes you the obvious threat. If everyone gets wiped and first thing you do is cast a 12/12, people are going to target you. I believe there's value in letting people reset you if they feel like they need to instead of feeling like an inevitable threat they can't deal with.

Arcbond: This card basically only exists as a combo piece. The most common effects I can see happening are arcbond + lifegain creature: gain hundreds of life. Arcbond + spite creatures: do a ton of damage to everyone. Arcbond + indestructible spite creature + damage redirection (like Gideon's Sacrifice): infinite damage. Arcbond + indestructible opponent creature + full turn redirection effect (like Comeuppance): infinite damage. It's a powerful combo piece, but I'm trying to stick to just playing "fair" magic when possible.

Legion Leadership  : This card has a ton of techs in a hybrid aikido/Voltron list. The problem is that I intentionally limit my Voltron wincon to be slow and predictable, and having this card in the deck opens the door to me deleting someone who isn't expecting it. It's good, but not the right vibes.

Volcano Hellion: This card is way too good at just killing someone, especially when pairing a spite creature and a damage redirection effect so it doesn't cost you any life. This deck is intentionally slower, telegraphed, and reactive and this card is none of those things.

Gameplay Tips: Show

Mulligan: I recommend keeping any hand with at least 3 lands and a white mana source by turn 2. The deck can function even if it starts with a hand of 7 lands, but it has too many non-games if you keep a hand with 2 or fewer.

Early game: The ideal early game is developing into Noble Heritage + Ganax as soon as possible. Typically, that looks like T1: Land, T2: Noble, T3: Ramp, T4: Ganax. Or it could be T3: 3 drop, T4: 3 or 4 drop, T5 Ganax.

Midgame: Midgame is having Ganax on the field and being free to develop more flexibly. With Noble Heritage, you have a lot more information about who's looking to attack you or not, which means you can decide whether you want to hold up mana for interaction or tap out to develop more onto the board. You want to be in a position where you're strong enough that people don't want to bother trying to get free damage on you, while being weak enough that people don't try to remove your stuff or kill you off. If you have opportunities, try to spread around a bit of commander damage, prioritizing anyone you'd struggle against in the 1v1, whether it's a combo/control player, or a lifegain deck that's harder to kill with burn damage. You also want to be sure to not overcommit into wipes, so you don't always need to drop redundant effects if you have an extra in your hand.

Late game: Someone is gearing up to win. Either they've already eliminated a player or two, or they're about to. By this time you'll probably have developed your hand and have a lot of aikido effects in your hand. Ideally anyone left is at low enough life that you can kill them with either a redirection effect or a full swing-out. Do whatever it takes to sneak in damage against the person who's winning without dying yourself, ideally backed up by a fog effect to stay safe even if you're fully tapped out. If it gets down to a 3 player game, I'll almost never kill the third player unless I can guarantee it'll lead to a win; make the winning opponent spend their energy and resources on trying to eliminate both of you.

Rough wincon breakdown: Voltron- 75%. A remarkable number of decks can't handle a simple flying beater.

Aikido- 15%. Aikido handles hyper aggression as well as gives you freedom to attack with protection in your hand.

Beatdown- 10%. There's a lot of generic flying creatures that can chip out damage, or you can swing in with a redirection creature if someone's low enough and they have to take some damage either way.

Good matchups:

All Aggro and Midrange- You help them kill everyone else and then either beat them down in the air or redirect their damage back at them.

Bad matchups:

Heavy control: You want creatures on the board and you don't want your spells countered. Ideally kill them before it gets into a 1v1. Giving out counters baits them into having to use their wipes early and more often than they really want to.

Combo: Depends on the actual combo. If it's "deal a billion damage" or "target player loses the game", you're fine because you can redirect it. Anything else is probably playing on an axis you can't touch. Usually they have a mediocre board state, so kill them off and keep some removal on hand. Usually I'll send normal creatures at the combo player and my commander at the late-game threats to spread normal damage and commander damage.

Angels: Angels specifically lean towards large flying and vigilant beaters with lifegain support. Flying and vigilance make it hard to damage them, and lifelink makes it hard to burn them down. I usually try to get in a few hits with my commander early and hope I draw into wipes, damage prevention based fogs, or sources of unblockable.

Counters synergy: If someone gets extra value from putting counters on their cards (like Fathom Mage), they can race ahead of the other decks by you enabling them. Be willing to remove some of their extra value pieces.

Shalai and Hallar: This deck gets a special shout-out as pairing a vigilant flyer with counters synergy. You'll help them kill the table off very quickly, but you need some way to get damage into their life total before you lose. Creature removal is very relevant here.

Reviews: Show

Lists inspired by this one:

Merakon's Boros Aikido

semaJ's Noble Dragon Aikido - Be the Final Boss

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Gameplay:

The recording is a bit scuffed, I'm hoping to get a setup that I can record spelltable or some other method, but maybe it could be interesting to someone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xzVZW7_2K0 Summary: Bracket 2. Was actually a pretty rough game where I was color screwed and couldn't draw lands or draw engines the entire first half of the game, but had some very solid aikido plays that kept me relevant the entire game.

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"I've gotten a few wins now with [your] boros aikido deck. Return the Favor does so much work."

"won 3 out of 4 with [your] Boros aikido this week. One game was Selfless Squire in response to a massive Crackle with Power. Rogue's Passage got squire through to win the game on my following turn. Other two wins were Martyrdom effects onto Boros Reckoner typed dudes in response to massive armies of tokens swings. Getting Mangara, the Diplomat and Monologue Tax on the board in one game felt so good. Having Noble Heritage in the command zone feels like cheating. This deck is the epitome of final boss energy. You just get left alone until its a 1v1 and you're always gonna be set up with so many ways to take the win from there. Aristocrat decks are the only thing I'm struggling against. Those decks usually seem vulnerable to Ganax attacks. But Ganax is never faster than a 3 turn clock."

"Noble Heritage is the mvp of the deck for sure. If everyone takes the counters, I know I'm safe to tap out and build my board state. Once someone stops taking counters, thats when I to start hold mana open to reflect damage and who I need to be prepare to reflect it to. Theyre basically declaring on my upkeep that theyre attacking me next turn or trying to win the game soon. That information at that time is so valuable. you really cooked with this list. It's been hard to enjoy playing any other deck."

"so, instead of incentivizing the board into killing each other via carrot and stick, you just incentivize the italian spiderman standoff and benefit from people going grow tall due to how you made your deck? Make sense that stuff like Rite of the raging storm doesnt give any benefit to the strategy, or duelist heritage, and that you have pillowforts to make the stall happen for you from a creature damage point of view"

"seems like your tools against go wide is to have martyr effects, which still works with go tall. And seems like the board is threatenign enough to be at least somewhat active in taking out combo / aristicrat players, but its still the same weakspot for aikido as for marchesa. Good stuff man, managed to get a different spin on aikido thats mostly similar in a lot of how it plays out, but still ends up being different enough to be fun and 'new'"

"2 wins with [your] boros list this week. Game 1 against dimir rogues, abzan tokens and some sort of jund grave robbing beatdown. I played only 4 spells: Orzhov Advokist , Brash Taunter, Truefire Captain and a Banishment. Banishment took out a card from an abzan tokens deck that was close to doing enough incidental drain to kill me in 2-3 turns. Otherwise opponents got greedy with +1 counters, bashed each other to single digit life totals with Rogues gettin taken out first. Then the remaining two realized that swinging into my spite creatures or blocking them would kill them both. Game over. Second game against esper Urza, orzhov Bats, and izzet goad was the default curve of Noble Heritage into 3cmc mana rock into Ganax then set up spite combo and wait for the win."

"It's not just fun for me. I've been told its fun to play against several times already. You give away a little bit of resources which everyone loves while building your own board. You don't really disrupts others game plans unless they are aggressing towards you. And you know when to prepare for the aggression when they dont take the counters."

When asked about whether the deck is bracket 2 or 3: "mm this is a really hard choice, on one hand i dont see anything which is outside the realm of possibilty for a precon aside from the lands, but its clear youve put alot of thought and decision making into the list and whilst its not optimized theres certainly cards you could add to make it better, i think this is probably a tier 3 deck. That said it looks really fun and I doubt many people in bracket 2 would have a problem playing against it because all the cards are fair (pretty much) its just a very well thought out list."

Required Readings: Show

Phelddagrif: Show Weakness to Hide Your Strength

Tariel: You'll Thank Me For This

Political Subterfuge - Marchesa Aikido.

Aikido Discord - Focused on Marchesa, but all decks welcome for discussion

Budget, Cuts, Upgrades, and Personalization: Show

Budget: My list is on the cheaper side because that's the way I prefer to build my decks, plus most of the cards here are non-meta filler. However, there are a few cards I've splurged on because they're fun and play well. If you want to trim the list further, sort the list by card price and just start trimming from the top. No card is mandatory, they're just good at what they do and can easily be replaced by something that appeals to you more.

Cut watchlist: Donna Noble to run Boros Charm without infinites. Aurelia law above: theoretically she's on theme and she has great keywords, but I don't like the attention her triggers draw during the combat phase. Truefire Captain and Wrathful Raptors: these are generally my least favorite spite creatures due to their mana costs and lack of flying. They're important for redundancy, but I wouldn't feel bad about trimming either one of them.

Upgrades: if you're looking for a stronger list, definitely check out the cards in the Intentional Exclusions section and see if anything interests you. In general, I think the easiest upgrades are Sunforger, better draw engines like Trouble in PairsGC and Esper Sentinel, pumping up the manabase, and adding in the combos I've intentionally kept out.

Personalization: The deck is very flexible and there aren't any cards that are 100% necessary to the list so you can trim most parts and replace them with ones you prefer. My list is highly personalized and there's a reason for every card in here, but obviously my thought processes may not match up with yours. If anyone brews any variations of this list, I'm always happy to see how people make it their own and get feedback. If you let me know you're brewing your own, let me know and I'll plug it in the Reviews tab. I've been constantly brewing and tweaking this list for years now and there's always room to adjust it further.

New card watchlist: Will of the Mardu,

Every single card choice: Show

WIP

Idk why I want to do this to myself. There's a decent chance it's outdated if I've made any adjustments recently.

Instants:

Aura Blast: I really like this card. Cantripping removal is good, especially when both modes are worth around two mana to begin with. It looks narrow but it's usually not; in a 4 player game, it's incredibly likely that someone has at least one enchantment in play, and of those enchantments, there's good odds it's a value engine or wincon that you really want gone. In general, I'd say that enchantments have the highest ratio of danger vs difficulty to remove of all permanent types. I don't like the default art, but I'll proxy until wizards reprints it in a slightly less objectifying way.

Bolt Bend: One mana, spell or ability, single target. Not the best version of the effect, but definitely up there. Spell redirection effects are incredibly good, whether they're winning the game against Door to Nothingness and Aetherflux Reservoir, or just being a 1 for 2 when someone tries to remove one of your creatures. Bolt bend works really well with Ganax giving a treasure when he enters, since you can protect him as soon as he enters (assuming you have a strong enough creature; they can cast removal in response to the noble heritage trigger).

Boros Fury-Shield: I love the flavor on this card; offensive shields are really cool. This one has quite a few techs; The card doesn't care about how much damage was prevented, meaning you can burn someone before damage is dealt, or if you use priority correctly, you can let the creature do damage, then cast fury-shield after combat to deal damage. This is most useful when you either block with a spite creature and then double up the damage, or you can let someone kill one of your opponents and then burn them too. Note it doesn't specify its a creature in combat with you so it can be used to mess with other people's combats as well.

Channel Harm: The 4th damage redirection spell. This is primarily here for redundancy, but I think it's good enough to deserve the slot. Obviously you want to pair it with a spite creature, but it's always nice to have in hand to fog and kill some dangerous creature if you're having a rough time. Worth noting that it's easy to fizzle because it has a single target when it's resolving and if the creature dies, the whole spell fizzles.

Comeuppance: Frankly, I don't like this card. It looks like it's on theme but it's really just a reactive fog/board wipe. The thing is that I need answers to wide boards states and that's exactly what this card does. I've never used this as a damage reflection tool, but it's always good to have on hand as a fog if you need it.

Deflecting Palm: The fundamentally most on-theme card in the list. As an aside, most Boros cards are designed as red cards with a white supporting identity, so they're typically designed as very aggressive with some synergy between the pieces. Deflecting Palm is an example of a white color identity supported by red; a defensive card that retaliates with an equal force. Notes and techs: doesn't reflect commander damage, but it doesn't target so it gets around shroud/hex proof/ward. If you're playing with damage manipulators like Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, you can apply the effects in the order you most prefer. So you if you're taking double damage, you can double and then prevent, or if you're taking half, you can prevent without halving.

Deflecting Swat: Spells and abilities, any number of targets. I'd run this card even without the free casting. The fact that you can cast this for free as long as you have Noble Heritage out as well makes it crazy good. I think it's worth splurging on, but the deck's fine if you don't want to buy a copy.

Destroy Evil: Efficient and flexible removal against the two permanent types that are usually the most dangerous. Not very flashy but it will probably save your life.

Excise the Imperfect: An incredibly underrated removal spell. I think most people don't know it exists. Exile is great and in this list, a big creature with no keywords is almost entirely useless, so you really don't need to worry about it.

Creatures:

Aerial Responder: I really like the combination of Flying/Vigilance/Lifelink in this list. They scale well with +1/+1 counters and are a great way to win midrange slug-fights by attacking in the air, draining some life, and sticking around to block the counterattack. Aerial is one of the better versions because of how cheap it is to drop down, letting you get the effect off early or holding up mana later in the game. Also note you can fight one of these creatures with Brash Taunter to gain life in an emergency.

Angel of Invention: See above. Angel is in the list because of the synergy between the keywords, Noble Heritage, and the general gameplan. The +1/+1 aura doesn't really do anything, but it's nice as long as you remember to track it. I typically choose to give it +2/+2 instead of the tokens just to accelerate the lifedrain, but I have chosen the tokens before in matchups where I need sacrifice fodder or chump blocks.

Boros Reckoner: One of the coolest looking spite creatures. These are in the list as rattlesnakes; creatures that sit there looking scary and discouraging people from swinging at you because it'll cost them. They're also combo pieces with the damage redirection spells like Gideon's Sacrifice. People scale their creatures up with Noble Heritage, which makes it hurt even more when they swing into a spite creature. For Reckoner specifically, I don't think I've ever used the first strike mode but it can be useful against lifelink or deathtouch. Being able to send the damage at any target is very useful, especially if you're running the infinite damage combos.

Brash Taunter: The strongest reckoner creature. This thing consistently wins games. It will easily block a creature each turn and at the end of your opponent's turn, you fight one of: the biggest creature on the board, a small utility creature that needs killed off, or your own lifelink creature. It's an excellent way to break the board stalls that this deck usually develops.

Donna Noble: Generic spite creature. I usually pair with a chump blocker of some sort or Ganax to make it more punishing to block him. She's on the watchlist because she's one of the last cards that can potentially set up infinite combos if I throw in a source of indestructible. Ex: Donna + Boros Charm + Boros Reckoner is infinite damage to each opponent.

Artifacts:

Agility Bobblehead: Color fixing and unblockable. There's the tiny bit of synergy with Intelligence Bobblehead but it's not a focus. The real upside is being able to sneak in commander damage against blockers in a locked up board state. The fact that haste creatures can block can be relevant on occasion, but there's not a ton of flying haste creatures around.

Altar of the Pantheon: Noble Heritage is a legendary enchantment, so you gain one life per turn with this and it fixes colors. It doesn't seem like much, but I'm a big fan of incidental lifegain in a list where one of the primary wincons is forcing people to attack you for a lot of damage. It's not unreasonable for this card to gain you 10 life over the course of a game. People might occasionally remove Noble Heritage, so just be sure to not accidentally cheat by gaining life if it's not on the field.

Bonder's Ornament: Ramp with draw attached. Everyone thinks this card is awful, so no one runs it, so you don't need to worry about giving draw to anyone else. Mana sink cards like this make it easier to hold up mana for interaction without wasting it.

Cursed Mirror: This card is really flexible. I don't feel bad dropping it on turn 3 as ramp, but later game you can use it to be a better or copy a good ETB effect. I'm usually looking for ways to get extra draw or lifegain when this enters, but it's just generally useful.

Dragon's Hoard: Honestly this one's not that spectacular. You can draw a card for basically free whenever it's out and you cast your commander. I like being able to stack ramp and draw whenever I can, and it's usually not a bad idea to have extra draw if you're in a situation where your commander is getting killed off frequently.

Enchantments:

Lands:

Arch of Orazca: Card draw on a land. One of the least efficient versions of this effect, but being able to hit your land drop, hold up mana for interaction, and then turn that mana into draw is very useful here.

Arid Mesa: It's a fetch land. Not necessary in this list at all, but being able to colorfix and choose between untapped mana (basics) or extra utility (Elegant Parlor) is useful. I've intentionally excluded any untapped duals just for the optics of wanting to be non-threatening. People aren't as scared of you if you fetch a basic, and grabbing a tapped land is still lower threat than grabbing a Plateau.

Bonders' Enclave: Land drop that is also a draw engine. Running 40 lands isn't difficult if you're slotting in utility lands. This is one of the more efficient draw engines here, being a good way to turn excess mana into cards.

Boros Garrison: Virtual card advantage; play this and get two lands. Best case is pairing with the scry/surveil lands or MDFCs for extra value. It's really slow, so I can understand if people trim it but extra value is really useful when you fit it in.

Clifftop Retreat: Dual land that basically always enters untapped. Good for budget and color fixing.

Command Tower: Untapped dual land. Obviously it's in the deck.

Demolition Field: Everyone should run some form of land removal to deal with the incredibly powerful lands that are floating around. This deck is usually floating mana anyway, so it's not hard to pay into when you need to. It's also a source of color-fixing if necessary. I also love it as a tech piece against the increasing number of people who skip basics entirely to run MDFCs and utility lands.

Elegant Parlor: Fetchable card selection land. I like to squeeze as much card draw and filtering as I can into the list since my commander doesn't cover that for me. This is intentionally my only fetchable dual land because I think it lowers my threat profile a bit to fetch either a tapped dual or a basic. The price has shot up pretty quickly from when I've bought it, so maybe it's higher profile than I was expecting.

Field of Ruin: Demolition Field #2. Ramping your other opponents isn't ideal, but it can be really useful in niche situations, like if one person is racing ahead and you need other people to catch up to fight them, and it's always funny when someone doesn't run any basic lands.

Ganax, Astral Hunter Generous Gift Ghostly Prison Gideon's Sacrifice Inspiring Overseer Intelligence Bobblehead Martyrdom Mirror Strike Mogg Maniac Mountain Needleverge Pathway   Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser Nils, Discipline Enforcer Noble Heritage Orzhov Advokist Palantir of Orthanc Phyrexian Vindicator Plains Pristine Talisman Reflect Damage Return the Favor Rogue's Passage Rugged Prairie Saving Grace Scavenged Brawler Selfless Squire Settle the Wreckage Skyscanner Smash Sonic Screwdriver Spectator Seating Spiteful Sliver Spitemare Stroke of Midnight Sunblade Angel Sundown Pass Temple of Triumph Topple the Statue True Love's Kiss Truefire Captain Untimely Malfunction War Room Windborn Muse Wrathful Raptors Wrathful Red Dragon Wyll's Reversal Farsight Mask Nexus of Becoming Sunbillow Verge Witch Enchanter  

Archive: Show

A place for me to keep cards I've written a summary of and then trimmed from the list.

I thrive on attention so please go ahead and give my deck an upvote if you enjoy it: +1 Upvote

Date added	2 years
Last updated	1 day
Exclude colors	UBG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 39 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.37
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Dinosaur 3/1 R, Elephant 3/3 G, Fish 1/1 U, Golem 3/3 C, Human 1/1 W, Incubator, Mercenary 1/1 R, Phyrexian 0/0 C, Powerstone, Radiation, Treasure
Folders	Cool deck