Boros.
Control.
This Artifact is the heart and soul of the entire deck.
Most people design their Commander decks around the general, I built mine around an artifact, then picked the Commander that supports it the best, unconventional but it works for me.
Pros/Cons:
Pros:
Really fun having almost every answer at your finger tips!
Very unconventional, people will remember this wacky deck.
Original design, not easily forgettable and boring like the straight forward Rafiq or Bruma Voltron decks.
It's Control like you've never seen before.
Boiling a mono blue mage is hilarious.
Cons:
This is deck requires a lot of tutoring and can take long turns of just searching.
General draws hate as you take the deck out of the box.
Takes a few turns to get going.
Can get stopped early by tons of artifact hate.
Cards that prevent players from tutoring, or force them to pay lots of life kill this deck.
Not the cheapest deck.
That being said this is my first deck I spent actual time to publish/edit on TappedOut.net.
This is also my first completely from scratch Commander deck I have put together.
Here is my listing of the cards I use, and why I feel they should be in the deck. Hope you enjoy and maybe find some things useful that you can then put into your own decks.
Feel free to Upvote and leave me feedback in the comments section, or if you have any HTML/editing tips.
Lands:
Ancient Den: Comes in untapped and helps with Metalcraft.
Arid Mesa: Fetches Duals: Plateau, Sacred Foundry, the amazing Mistveil Plains, or basics of either type.
Boros Garrison: Clearly a very weak land, but it has Boros in the name.
Boros Guildgate: Clearly a very weak land, but has Boros in the name and I enjoy the flavor text.
Clifftop Retreat: Red & White dual, I started playing in Innistrad/Dragons Maze and boros aggro was my first deck ever, so this land is near and dear, plus it should always come in untapped, or you kept a bad opening hand.
Darksteel Citadel: Another way I can quickly reach metalcraft, and its indestructible, come at me Bane of Progress!
Emeria, The Sky Ruin: A bit ambitious I know, but in longer commander games it's become active often. This deck packs 12 plains including the 2 duals and Mistveil, plus the 2 copy lands which should always target Plateau or Mistveil Plains, and 4 Fetchlands that all target Plains. Making 14 total. Not completely unheard of, especially with Land Tax, Tithe, or Burnished Hart.
Flooded Strand: Fetches Duals: Plateau, Sacred Foundry, the amazing Mistveil Plains, or basic Plains.
Great Furnace: Comes in untapped and helps with Metalcraft.
Homeward Path: People know my deck, so they often Bribery or Control Magic to take something fun away. So depending on what decks are being played, this will often be my first target from Weathered Wayfarer and I'll just hold it in my hand until time is right.
Marsh Flats: Fetches Duals: Plateau, Sacred Foundry, the amazing Mistveil Plains, or basic Plains.
Mistveil Plains: This card <3 ... If Sunforger is the peanut butter of this shenanigan sandwich, then Mistveil Plains is the jelly. It does everything you could possibly want and more. It's even fetchable. That being said, cards like Bojuka Bog and Rest in Peace make me sad. Not always common in EDH but will start to appear the more and more you play this deck, people don't like you forging all the fun.
Mountain: The hardly useful, basic land. I would cut it if I could, but I do like casting things, having all plains is flat out bad. So they stay for some consistency.
BONUS FLAVOR!!:
The foil Mountains I use are the corrupted Great Furnace from New Phyrexia. (hardest cards to find in foil for my deck sadly).
Plains:
I love me some basic lands, especially when they are foil and all match. Plus not being a green mage with ramp and usually being behind on lands having Land Tax combined with Scroll Rack and hitting a fetchland lets you quickly see a ton of your deck and find goodies.
BONUS FLAVOR!!:
The foil Plains I use, look like corrupted/destroyed Ancient Den. (Not as hard to find as the mountains surprisingly).
Plateau: The original dual land. With fetches it has to be in the deck.
Reliquary Tower: Surprisingly useful, especially when you have Skullclamp turning all your 1/1 tokens into massive card draw or if you grab tons of your basics from Land Tax.
Rugged Prairie: If I didn't absolutely love the art I would cut it for another plains.
Sacred Foundry: It counts as a Plains and color fixes. Still less sexy than Plateau, soon will acquire foil <3.
Strip Mine: Might not be useful in some of decks or playgroups, specifically in here to kill Cabal Coffers, Gaea's Cradle and other broken lands, comes back from Sun Titan and can start to put pressure on the player causing you the most trouble if you bring it back over and over.
Temple of Triumph: I opened a foil at pre-release so I almost have to keep it in, nice to scry something to the bottom you don't need in your hand.. (Like most of the instants if Sunforger is sticking around).
Terrain Generator: My most recent land change/addition. I saw a foil at my local shop NM so I picked it up, not a bad card to have, especially if the game is starting slow and you have a bit of early flooding.
Thespian's Stage: Copies good stuff, like Plateau, Emeria, The Sky Ruin, or one of the Artifact lands if I need Metalcraft, for just 2 colorless.
Vesuva: Also copies good stuff but for free, just comes in tapped.
Windswept Heath: Fetches Duals: Plateau, Sacred Foundry, the amazing Mistveil Plains, or basic Plains.
Planeswalkers:
Ajani Vengeant: The Boros planeswalker. Automatic inclusion.
+1 Target PERMANENT doesn't untap during it's controllers next untap step. Political ability, can make Thraximundar or Rafiq of the Many not untap and make you some friends at the table.
-2 Lightning Helix... Meh. Some 'America Control' modern players may love this -2 since that's their baby, but I never need to use it often. It can spot remove a permanent before it's suited up or something, and it's killed someone with Gisela, Blade of Goldnight out once or twice.
-7 Target a player for complete LD. I never personally want to use it, and haven't yet even when I reach the loyalty because it's rude. But maybe in your play group sometimes you gotta be .. But I like my friends, and don't want to make one of them 'King Sodium, of Salt Mountain' so I steer clear.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant: In my opinion the best EDH mono colored planeswalker ever printed.
+1 Makes a token for protection and later Skullclamp and 2 free cards. Suck on that Jace, the Mind Sculptor, you draw 3 then put 2 back without gaining loyalty.
+1 Target Gisela gets +3/+3 until end of turn? Yes please I would love to kill someone.
-8 I get a emblem? SWEET!
Elspeth, Sun's Champion: The 6 cost planeswalker that makes Puresteel Paladin + Skullclamp a mind meltingly broken card drawing engine. (yes that's a phrase)
+1 Creates 3 chump blockers and later 6 cards.
-3 Takes care of all the scary stuff. And is hilarious with Boros Charm.
-7 Never used it. Making the 1/1s not draw cards for a +2/+2 anthem seems dumb, but people don't like emblems, and they'll focus more on stopping that than perhaps other shenanigans you have up your sleeve.
Artifacts:
Boros Signet: Boros mana rock. I love it, and I the fact that its foil.. :D
Citanul Flute: Holy crap this card is SO good. Sure it's a bit of a dead draw in your opening hand without a Sol Ring but later can really help setup your board presence, or make you have all the answers. Imagine having Metalcraft and Puresteel Pladin + Leonin Shikari, this card gets you there.
Coalition Relic: Awesome mana rock, can add a floating during your main phase during someones end step and leave itself open for that Path to Exile in your hand. NICE Kozilek, Butcher of Truth NERD! ENJOY YOUR BASIC LAND.
Gilded Lotus: Standard mana rock staple. Other mana rocks might be better or faster to come out, but mines shiny so I like it.
Journeyer's Kite: Underrated card. Hitting your land every turn is key to victory.
Mana Vault: The 'poor mans' Judge Foil Mana Crypt, sure I'd rather have that.. But that's like.. What I paid for most of this deck, aside from pimping it out here or there.
Mind's Eye: In slower games it can really shine, or getting it out early. Plus foil Commander's Arsenal version looks so awesome.
Rings of Brighthearth: Copies activated abilities. Sunforger unequip is one. So is Weathered Wayfarer, or the planeswalkers.. Or even fetchlands! Tons of fun things here.
Scroll Rack: If you have Land Tax then you need this card. Plain and simple. (slight pun intended)
Sensei's Divining Top: It belongs in every EDH deck.
Skullclamp: I can make a lot of tokens, and I like having a full hand. Or an over sized hand if I have Reliquary Tower out.
Sol Ring: It belongs in every EDH deck.
Strionic Resonator: This one is a new M14 card that has yet to receive any love. And I think that is absurd. Triggered Abilities are the bees knees. Sure I'd love to pay 2 to receive double Assemble the Legion tokens. Or get 2 basics from Solemn Simulacrum, or even copy my Rings of Brighthearth trigger.
Sunforger: This card is the deck. New players see my Gisela deck and assume I'm either Voltron, some form of angel tribal or Boros aggro deck. When they hear me say Na dude Im Control they laugh because So I prove them wrong. :D
Swiftfoot Boots: You need SOME form of protection sometimes, until you can establish a nice steady base and untouchable board state, plus early protection on Indomitable Archangel saves you games.
Wayfarer's Bauble: Ehh.. I would cut this for something but it does put the land into play, which is why I put this in over
Exploration Map
. And I can bring it back with Sun Titan or Frantic Salvage so it stays for now.
Instants:
Boil: Boom goes the Island. Sorry about your luck Azami, Lady of Scrolls, but I'm the only control player here. Kind of a dead draw if you have no blue mages in your playgroup, but everyone has blue mages at the table, if not switch it for something else.
Boros Charm: This card is awesome. Deal 8 damage to a player if you have Gisela out; OR My stuff is indestructible for one of the various board wipes I run; OR creature gains double strike, this can be your creature or perhaps another player's giant commander or fattie. Gives you more control during the combat, and can kill off an opponent.
Chaos Warp: Red shenanigans at its best, every commander deck that has red in its general's cost needs this card in it.
WARNING!
When Chaos Warp is combined with Radiate it can take FOREVER to resolve, use carefully. Sure it's funny and makes the game more but this can sometimes make people rage quit, and no one wants that in a casual format.
Dispatch: It's just another Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares if you have Metalcraft but with no benefit to your opponents.
Dispense Justice: It's a fairly weak spell, but can really mess someone up, especially if they run Voltron and have protection from White or Hexproof that prevents you from targeting. Plus with so many cards that use Metalcraft it's an auto-include for theme/flavor.
Enlightened Tutor: This card is top notch #1. Makes the deck run much smoother, my main targets for it in order of importance are: Sol Ring, Citanul Flute, Land Tax, Scroll Rack and Sunforger. Sunforger is last because people know my deck and I don't want to resolve it before it has protection from either Indomitable Archangel or Boros Charm in hand. Also this card can be used multiple times with Mistveil Plains + Sunforger or Wild Ricochet.
Frantic Salvage: The way this card resolves is it puts the Targets on top of the Library first then draws, so you draw the last Artifact you put on top. This is usually a card I use after someone has blown up either Sunforger, Sol Ring or other artifacts. I also have used this after I sacrificed Burnished Hart to get another activation out of it. It makes getting an active Emeria seems more plausible.
Into the Core: EXILE not destroys. Very effective removal. Take that! Darksteel Ingot, Darksteel Plate, Blightsteel Colossus or Sol Ring and Swords of X and Y if someone has Sun Titan, Buried Ruin, or Hanna, Ship's Navigator for recursion.
Mages' Contest: This card is hilarious. You bid life to counter the spell, they bid life to resolve the spell. Basically embodies the spirit of the deck, shenanigans and making people be like . If you are a player with an extremely good poker face I have often won duel games by letting my opponent resolve the spell after paying some decent amount of life then next turn resolving Gisela and casting Price of Progress or swinging in with a creature then Boros Charm and/or Overblaze for some huge damage outta no where.
Mana Tithe: I love my DCI Player Rewards full art version. Wish it was foil but oh well, this is one of those cards players NEVER see coming and it can really wreck someone that kept a bad hand but wanted a turn 1 Sol Ring, sorry man, gonna have to say nope.
Master Warcraft: This card can really wreck some game plans. For example: Mayael the Anima players or any similar commanders that don't win by dealing lethal commander damage never want to swing with their generals, well now thats all theyre swinging with. Or if there is an alliance at the table to try and take you down, or someone else down and you want them as an ally you can force them to kill each other.
Mirror Strike: This card is SO funny, makes infect scumbags kill themselves or Voltron players get wrecked by their own generals. And lets be honest there is nothing more satisfying in the world then killing someone with their own general. I'm looking at you Rafiq of the Many.
Oblation: Standard white spot removal of someones problematic general, or Avacyn, Angel of Hope etc.
Overblaze: Gisela makes players deal double damage to each other if they are still not trying to kill you, this doubles that doubling effect. A 5/5 now swings for 20 if its Overblazed with Gisela, used similarly to Boros Charm. It can give you more Combat control, Boros style.
Path to Exile: Pay W and exile a rude creature, the owner gets a basic, standard in all white decks.
Price of Progress: A win-con against some decks, if the player has a lot of non-basics like most of the Tri-Color generals, especially now that the fetchlands are reprinted in Khans or Tarkir, this combined with Gisela can win you the game. Keep in mind you get dealt half the damage even from your own spells with Gisela out. Makes it easier so you don't accidentally nuke yourself.
Radiate: The only Instant that doesn't get Funforged, but can absolutely blow out games sometimes. See below for some examples:
Red Elemental Blast: Everyone loves telling blue mages no. My favorite is cast Red Elemental Blast in response to an Overloaded Cyclonic Rift that is on the stack.
Retaliate: Instant speed wrath effect to all the creatures that hurt you this turn, really only works well if you have Gisela out and someone swung out at you and you lived. Will probably be cut for something from the Khans 2nd or 3rd set.
Return to Dust: Exiles 1 or 2 Artifacts or Enchantments. Solid white removal.
Swords to Plowshares: Standard white spot removal.
Tithe: Grabs 1 or 2 Plains, can be nonbasic Plains. So it gets, Plateau, Sacred Foundry or Mistveil Plains, one of the first spells I cast when I start funforging to get my Mistveil Plains and keep the engine rolling.
Wild Ricochet: My FAVORITE spell ever. This can really mess with someone's plans. Say they have a kicked Rite of Replication on the stack targeting a Solemn Simulacrum, you can make their copy target their own general, netting them nothing obviously because of the Legend rule. Then you make your copy of the spell target Solemn Simulacrum getting you a small army of Artifact creatures and 5 basics lands, or whatever else you want. Or a tricky thing to do is if they have something with Hexproof, you can make the spot removal that they cast target their own Hexproof creature since it is still their spell then make your copy hit something else problematic. This spell never seems to do nothing when I cast it, I love it.
Wing Shards: The bane of creature combo decks. In my playgroup there is a Simic deck, a friend plays. Before he kills everyone at once, he will build this chain of casting this, then casting that and casting Craterhoof Behemoth after getting them all hasted and swinging for lethal to everyone at the table. This card in response is great, because it storms for each spell CAST, (I'd recommend looking up the rules on storm if you aren't familiar) so if storm is a lot when I cast this he usually has to sac all of his attacking creatures. The first time I cast Wing Shards the look of D: was priceless.
10/10 would ruin his attack again.
Sorceries:
Austere Command: Most versatile board wipe ever printed. Anything that lets you choose is pure value town.
End Hostilities: Aside from the obvious Fetchland reprint, I was most excited about this card so far from Khans. Voltron is a thing in Commander, and if not Voltron than having 1 problematic creature out with some kind of protection still warrants this as an auto include. Like against my other deck Mayael the Anima with Lightning Greaves equip for example. Or Batterskull hitting the Equipment not just the Germ Token.
Gamble: One red mana casting cost, to tutor for anything, that's NOT in black. With the draw back of possibly discarding the card you tutored for.
-No one ever.
Obliterate: If you don't have Boros Charm at the ready then I wouldn't cast this. Very rarely do I cast this, even if I have the combo in hand because much like the Ajani Vengeant -7 its just not fun. But if it resolves, then it's usually an instant win, for the most part. I only cast it if the game is going on forever and has stalemated. I call this the Red Button. Because:
-Agent Kay
Phyrexian Rebirth: Not the best wrath spell, Wrath of God is better but this gives you a X/X artifact creature, Gets the deck to Metalcraft, and can actually be quite large with lots of tokens. Plus the Token looks badass.
Rout: Instant speed wrath, not many players see coming. Plus its got dat Elesh Norn artwork and flavor text tho!
Steelshaper's Gift: Tutor for that oh so important Funforger, or Skullclamp.
Wrath of God: Everyone's favorite board wipe and Dark Souls spell to spam.
Enchantments:
Assemble the Legion: The Boros Enchantment that encapsulates everything Red and White. But this also makes those 1/1s draw you insane amount of cards with Skullclamp if it stays for several turns.
Fun fact: This was one of the cards in my first original design magic deck (when standard was: Innistrad Dragon's Maze), when I was a newbie. And was insanely fun to get out with Cathars' Crusade and Curse of Stalked Prey, plus I'm never a fan of net decking, it's boring.
Land Tax: Lands matter! If I have this in my opening hand I'll usually draw first. This is an insanely good card that's even better with Scroll Rack + a fetchland.
Creatures:
Brimaz, King of Oreskos: King Meowmix provides this deck with an early threat that the deck really needed and poops out 1/1 cat tokens that can be early blockers or card draw from Skullclamp.
Burnished Hart: This card is the card I was most excited for in Theros for Commander players. In this deck its an Artifact to help with Metalcraft, and when you don't need him anymore you sac him and get 2 basic lands tapped. Can be brought back and abused with Sun Titan and Frantic Salvage and should be an auto include in every EDH deck along with Sol Ring, Sensei's Divining Top and Solemn Simulacrum. It's basically a Yavimaya Elder thats colorless and puts them on the battlefield instead of in the hand.
Also as of 9/22/2014 foils of this card are only $1 on tcgplayer, Id recommend picking up a few for your EDH decks, before they start disappearing and getting harder to find. Foils of Yavimaya Elder which is a common from Urza's are $16 and foil Solemn Simulacrum which is a rare are $15 for the M12 and $23 for the Mirrodin version.
Grand Abolisher: Protecting your turn is important, especially if you have a lot of Blue or Black mages sitting at the table.
Indomitable Archangel: This card is SO strong in this deck. Since the deck is built around an Artifact, you have to protect it. Getting Sunforger destroyed early or exiled can be a serious blowout. So this card with Metalcraft protects against a Krosan Grip, someone wrecking your board with Aura Shards or even someone redirecting your own Into the Core or Return to Dust since it gives Shroud not Hexproof.
Leonin Shikari: Equiping at instant speed is awesome, plus you can on other player's turns. This card often gets overlooked and can really help you be the control player you we're born to be. Works best with Puresteel Paladin and Metalcraft, you can equip Swiftfoot Boots in response to removal.
Puresteel Paladin: :With Metalcraft this guy is an absolute house. Lets you equip Sunforger for 0 then only pay it's unequip cost, allowing you to cast whatever instant you need over and over again.
Solemn Simulacrum: It belongs in every EDH deck.
Stoneforge Mystic: There is a reason this card shot up from $5 to $25 over night about a year ago, it grabs Sunforger, can be tutored with Citanul Flute, and then for white and a colorless you can put it Sunforger from your hand to the battlefield getting around counterspells.
Stonehewer Giant: : With only 3 targets: Sunforger, Skullclamp and Swiftfoot Boots this guy seems a little weak, but this deck needs those pieces to work well and this card makes everything more consistent.
Sun Titan: This guy brings back everything but the kitchen sink, unless of course your kitchen sink has a CMC of 3 or less then he brings that back too. And can be used twice with Strionic Resonator. Every white deck should run this, no one likes seeing their Sol Ring in the graveyard.
Weathered Wayfarer: This guy grabs the lands you need. Players with ramp or more luck than you that hit every land drop enable this guy to grab Emeria, The Sky Ruin or Artifact lands you need to reach Metalcraft, or Homeward Path if someone is a thief or Strip Mine if someone is being a jerk with Gaea's Cradle and/or Cabal Coffers, or Mistveil Plains or even more plains to get Emeria active. And can be used twice with Rings of Brighthearth.
Radiate:
Radiate + Boros Charm= Everything has double strike, suck it combat math, or everyone gets hit for 4, or gets hit for 8 if Gisela is out.
Radiate + Chaos Warp= Every player shuffles each permanent, one at a time, into their library, then reveals the top card, if it's a permanent put it on the battlefield. This shuffling in affect applies to Tokens AND Lands, so cast at your own risk, this can take FOREVER and make everyone insanely pissed off, because it can only happen 1 player at a time because of enter the battlefield effects. So use this carefully and I hold NO responsibility if the table stands up and starts punching you in the face.
Radiate + Dispatch with Metalcraft = Exile all target creatures, hope you didn't have any you didn't want to lose. The best option for mass exile if Opponents will benefit highly from either Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares.
Radiate + Mirror Strike = All unblocked creatures now deal damage to their controller.
Radiate + Oblation = Similar to the Chaos Warp variant, but it's nonland and you draw 2 cards, I've decked someone before that was abusing tokens + Doubling Season making them draw a metric shit load of cards, it was hilarious, I have yet to see someone play Krenko, Mob Boss but I will love to wreck them the same way.
Radiate + Overblaze = Every permanent deals double this turn.
Radiate + Path to Exile = My personal favorite, I have an acceptable amount of token production, and exiling all my 1/1s from Assemble the Legion to grab that many basics is great. Use carefully though so other players don't get to much benefits from this, best is used after a board wipe.
Radiate + Red Elemental Blast = Destroys every blue permanent, Johnny Combo will make the most satisfying sad face when he finally resolves Omniscience and dumps his everything, assuming he doesnt have some form of counter in hand.
Radiate + Return to Dust = Exiles all of the artifacts and/or enchants, would not use if have Sunforger out.
Radiate + Swords to Plowshares = Same as above, just for gaining life, would not recommend.
Maybeboard/Possible Changes:
Angel's Grace: Seems like something that would be good but it doesn't stop commander damage, so I can't find a place for it yet.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope: Obviously strong, especially with the amount of board wipes I run in the deck, but I often found myself with Avacyn in my opening hand or in 1st or 2nd draws and either won or lost by the time I could hard cast her, and if not she would get Pathed or Swords after resolving.
Crystal Ball: Solid card. Poor man's Sensei's Top, but I just haven't found the use for it yet, if one of you make this deck or something similar can have this instead of top.
Darksteel Forge: Making my Artifacts all Indestructible seems awesome, but is way to expensive for me to find an effective slot for it.
Darksteel Plate: Seems like a good inclusion, but works more for aggro.
Elixir of Immortality: Lifegain is something that this deck desperately needs and can shuffle all my stuff back in but haven't needed it badly enough yet to make a cut or two.
Ensnaring Bridge: Seems like a really good card especially against my Mayael deck or the Voltron decks that get run in the playgroup but I rarely find myself low enough on cards for this to be effective. And seems counter-intuitive if I'm drawing a lot off Skullclamp.
Faith's Reward: Seems really good especially if someone has a lot of Annihilator or destruction spells, but after extensive play testing was one of the weaker cards, so it got cut.
Final Judgment: Playing against my own Mayael deck, this was an answer to Avacyn, Angel of Hope and I paired this with Scapegoat but seemed way to dependent on each other to be effective then left me with several turns to rebuild. When I could just Path Avacyn and wipe the field next turn with Boros Charm.
Glaring Spotlight: An artifact I'm really trying to work in, but It's too hit or miss.
Lightning Greaves: This is an obvious auto include, but since I can't equip the creature with Sunforger it needed to be cut. Plus if I had this and Swiftfoot Boots out I really didn't need it.
Mimic Vat: A very strong card but relies to heavily on getting a good creature with it for it to be effective. If cutting Boil or Red Elemental Blast I'd include this in place of those.
Phyrexian Revoker / Pithing Needle: Never seemed to be a time I needed these to shut down something like a creature or planeswalker that I couldn't already deal with.
Riot Control: Preventing all damage and gaining possible tons of life is really good, but just can't find a spot for it yet. If cutting Boil and Red Elemental Blast include this as one of the replacements.
Scapegoat: Pairing this with Final Judgment was somewhat effective but without Final Judgment it's a dead card and requires you to have a token to sac.
Sculpting Steel: Having 2 Sunforger, Sol Ring or copying a broken artifact seemed strong but very rarely had it be useful by the time I was already winning or getting hated off the table.
Unwinding Clock: If I had more Artifacts this would be alright. Untapping the 3 Artifact lands, Sol Ring and whatever else would be strong but were way to dependent on each other to be consistently effective.
Vedalken Orrery: Making all my spells instant seemed good on paper but very rarely could I reap the benefits unless I was already in a winning position.
Venser's Journal: This card would be SO good if only it had a CMC of 3-4. At 5 casting cost it rarely did much but sit in my hand or gain me life I didn't need because I was already about to win. I'm still testing with this and will more than likely put this in over Retaliate.