Choosing Your Commander - Boros

Next we look at the enemy two-color pairings and start with white/red.  The Boros color pairing is very similar to green/red in that it uses white for its creatures and red for its powerful spells (suually burn or land destruction).  Boros can be very agressive, and its strengths lie in its efficient low-casting cost creatures and its trickiness in combat.  Red and white share an affinity for mass land destruction, destruction of artifacts, and killing of creatures.  Where they differ is that red has a dogmatic weakness to enchantments (which white covers nicely), and that white likes to gain life where red likes to deal direct damage.  There are currently only six options, and you can see that they either really play up what both colors have in common or that they play up what makes the colors so different.

Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran:  I'd rather just have a commander that pumps my army all the time, and waiting for the attack step weakens this tremendously.

Basandra, Battle Seraph:  It's not too hard to figure out how to try and take advantage of Basandra, but the issue is that in practice her ability is not acually that good when playing against multiple opponents.

Brion Stoutarm:  Brion is great because he makes an entire set of moderately good cards and turns them into all-stars; namely Threaten effects.  Stealing your opponents creatures, then tossing them at their controller is not only a good way to keep the creature population down but also keep the opponent life totals down.  Other good candidates are temporary creatures that are either put into play by some effect (i.e. Mimic Vat), put into play only for this turn (i.e. Sneak Attack), or that would naturally die at end of turn.  (i.e. Ball Lightning).  Toss in some untap effects and you have a damage dealing engine on your hands.








Gisela, Blade of Goldnight:
Gisela was tailor made for multi-player games in a way to make things miserable for your opponents while giving you a distainct advantage on the battlefield.  She definitely plays up the difference between the two colors, and does so in a dramatic and powerful fashion.  The double damage can make Gisela nearly lethal with general damage in two swings with a bit of help, and burn spells take on a whole new level of power with her in play.






Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer:  It's not too hard to hit Metalcraft in the Commander format, and once you do the +3 power boost to your team (and himself) is actually quite good.  Pushing his power to 8, he becomes lethal with general damage in 3 hits and he can makes a group of tokens into a player-killing horde.  Both red and white also play well with equipment, making the Metalcraft a bit easier to hit and making for some really powerful critters seemingly our of nowhere.

Razia, Boros Archangel:  I like Razia, but I think her ability is a little too narrow to really be something that I want to center a deck theme around.  She plays well with Earthquake effects, but its a little disappointing that she cannot redirect damage dealt to a player or redirect it to another player. 

Top 2 Boros Commanders
1. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
2. Brion Stoutarm