Iroas, Chad of Boros V2 Primer (12/16/20)

Commander / EDH Aggro Battalion Indestructible Multiplayer Primer Protection RW (Boros)

jamesmac42

Creature (38)

• 1x Angel of Jubilation
• 1x Angelic Field Marshal
• 1x Angrath's Marauders
• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
• 1x Aurelia, the Warleader
• 1x Bonecrusher Giant
• 1x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1x Cavalier of Flame
• 1x Combat Celebrant
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Feldon of the Third Path
• 1x Firemane Avenger
• 1x Frontline Medic
• 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1x God-Eternal Oketra
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Hero of Bladehold
• 1x Keeper of the Accord
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Legion Loyalist
• 1x Leonin Warleader
• 1x Luminous Broodmoth
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
• 1x Ogre Battledriver
• 1x Port Razer
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Silverblade Paladin
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Sunhome Guildmage
• 1x Tajic, Blade of the Legion
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 1x Urabrask the Hidden

Land (33)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Battlefield Forge
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld
• 1x Inspiring Vantage
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 8x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 8x Plains
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Spectator Seating
• 1x Sunbaked Canyon

Instant (10)

• 1x Akroma's Will
• 1x Arcbond
• 1x Boros Charm
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Forsake the Worldly
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Starstorm
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Embercleave
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sunforger
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Gratuitous Violence
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Legion's Initiative
• 1x Legion's Landing  ^Flip
• 1x Underworld Breach

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Wheel of Misfortune

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Maybeboard

Creature (9)

• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1x Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
• 1x Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero
• 1x Honored Crop-Captain
• 1x Odric, Lunarch Marshal
• 1x Robber of the Rich
• 1x Soltari Champion
• 1x Tectonic Giant

Artifact (2)

• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Sword of the Animist

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Blasphemous Act

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Furnace of Rath

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Iroas, Chad of Boros V2 Primer

Iroas is the f##king man! His passive abilities are absurdly strong, he's indestructible, and once "online", he becomes a giant beater that can handily deal commander damage. This is the current evolution of the first Commander deck I ever built, when Aurelia, the Warleader was at the helm. I had to switch commanders once I started playing a more competitive meta, but it's been a welcomed change.

This deck is fairly straightforward - Timmy stomp. Swing til they're dead. This deck's weaknesses don't warrant an explanation -- this is a Boros deck that primarily does Boros things. Try to keep your wits when there's blue at the table.

Aggro strategy

Leonin Warleader, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, Hanweir Garrison and Hero of Bladehold all make little dudes that can incrementally deal damage to our opponents, or provide chumps if you need em. God-Eternal Oketra makes slightly bigger dudes, while being nearly impossible to fully get rid of. These pieces work really well with Ogre Battledriver and Terror of the Peaks, but not quite consistent enough to justify running Purphoros, God of the Forge.

Say what you want about Firemane Avenger, but Lightning Helix on a stick can be incredibly helpful. The other battalion cards (Tajic, Blade of the Legion, Frontline Medic, Legion Loyalist) also have relevant abilities. If Iroas is in play, you're more than likely gonna get those battalion triggers.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight, Angrath's Marauders and Gratuitous Violence double our damage; Aurelia, the Warleader, Combat Celebrant and Port Razer grant us extra combat steps!

Lightning Greaves, Urabrask the Hidden, Ogre Battledriver, Hanweir Battlements   and potentially Odric, Lunarch Marshal are the only haste enablers; I've had issues with others I've tried running in the past.

Value town

Notably, we're trying to get as many lands out of the deck as possible. Not necessarily "ramping", but making you more likely to draw a spell then a land. Four lands and a couple rocks should be all you need to win.

Cards like Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion and Cavalier of Flame can help put away lands gained from cards like Land Tax and potentially net us more spells. Rad!

Grenzo, Havoc Raiser is really great at annoying our opponents, with the added bonus of potentially netting us more cards to play! He's a bit mama-restrictive at , but along with Grand Abolisher (), they can both contribute to Iroas's devotion early in the game.

Sensei's Divining Top and Scroll Rack help create card advantage that's normally deficient in Boros colors.

Boardwipes and protection

This deck doesn't run any major boardwipes, nor should it need to -- with the capacity to create an explosive boardstate by turn 4 or 5, we're going to be the ones perpetually worried about boardwipes.

Fret not, however! Legion's Initiative, Boros Charm, Akroma's Will (better saved for a game-winning combat step, but can be clutch), Teferi's Protection, Selfless Spirit and Luminous Broodmoth help mitigate the threat of our board getting wiped. Mother of Runes helps with negating spot removal.

With Iroas out, playing Arcbond (a pet card of mine -- it goes into every red deck I build) or Starstorm during combat on our turn can act as one-sided boardwipes.

Grand Abolisher is an obvious inclusion, preventing our opponents from doing anything meaningful on our turn.

Recursion

Feldon of the Third Path, Sun Titan and Underworld Breach are our recursion pieces. Sun Titan also has the capacity to grab the other two! Recurring Selfless Spirit every turn is a lot of fun, let me tell you.

Mistveil Plains is a fetchable land that pairs up very nicely with Sunforger, letting you put your spent spells back in your library.

Equipment pieces

Stoneforge Mystic (as well as Enlightened Tutor) can grab Lightning Greaves, Embercleave or Sunforger out of your deck.

Lightning Greaves is a generally useful card, giving your dudes haste and protection from targeted removal.

Embercleave on Iroas can handily knock someone out of the game (and can be cheated out with SFM's ability for two mana at instant speed).

Sunforger can grab every piece of removal in this deck's arsenal, plus Teferi's Protection in a pinch!

Other random pieces

Chandra, Torch of Defiance ramps, creates card advantage, spot removes any creature with toughness 4 or less, and has a relevant ultimate.

I recently replaced Reforge the Soul with Wheel of Misfortune -- the former was too often a dead draw, while the latter can also one-shot someone with our damage-doublers. It also costs 2 less mana!

Dockside Extortionist is living in this deck until I eventually build the planned Silas//Akiri treasure deck. Seems handy for us!

I'm constantly torn between slotting Archangel of Tithes and Odric, Lunarch Marshal. They both do really net, although drastically different things that ultimately give us a little bit of an easier time swinging at our opponents. For now, the former is in.

Sunhome Guildmage is the cheap mana dump I've decided to include -- he can buff our creatures or net us more little dudes.

Why not run X, Y and Z?

1. I don't run artifact creatures like Solemn Simulacrum because they don't add to the devotion needed to bring Iroas online. Hatebears and the like aren't tremendously useful in this deck - we want to deal damage! (Thalia, Heretic Cathar and Angel of Jubilation both deal adequate damage, with abilities that are undeniably helpful.)

2. I try to avoid infinite combos. Neheb, the Eternal and Aggravated Assault went off once when both pieces were in the deck, and that was good enough for me.

3. Serra Ascendant got swapped out for Legion's Landing   solely because I needed the former for an Orchov deck I'm working on. I'd like to get another one to throw back in here at some point. He's Arcbond's best friend, after all!

4. Mana rocks that cost three mana or more are too slow for this deck, in my opinion. Smothering Tithe paints a hugely unnecessary target on our back, so I think that card is better saved for other decks.

5. Aside from Starstorm, I don't run any instants that can't be fetched with Sunforger. For similar reasons, I don't run any sorcery-speed removal.

That's all, folks. Lay the beatdown!

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	21 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.13
Tokens	Cat 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Cat Soldier 1/1 W, Copy Clone, Elephant 3-3 G, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Human 1/1 R, On an Adventure, Soldier 1/1 RW, Soldier 1/1 W, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W, Zombie Warrior 4/4 B
Folders	Decks, James’ decklists