The 20 Most Underrated Boros Commanders in Magic Ranked

Feather, Radiant Arbiter | Illustration by Dan Dos Santos

With Wizards pumping out hundreds of legendary creatures each year, not every commander gets the time it deserves. Maybe there were just too many other commanders in the set, or the commander came out in an odd product. But most commanders have a chance at playability if the right player finds them.

The underrated Boros () commanders all hit hard, as befits the color pair. They’ll strike fear into the heart of your opponents as you go for the dominant board state. If you’ve been looking for a Boros commander off the beaten path, these are for you.

What Are Underrated Boros Commanders in MTG?

Neyali, Suns' Vanguard | Illustration by Bryan Sola

Boros commanders are objectively legendary creatures, vehicles, and spacecraft with a red-white color identity. “Underrated” is a more subjective value. For this list, I’m considering any commander with fewer than 5,000 decklists on EDHREC underrated, which correlates with commanders outside the top 20 of the color pair.

#20. Aziza, Mage Tower Captain

Aziza, Mage Tower Captain gives token decks a spellslinger flare; and believe me, you want to be in tokens. Cards like Will of the Mardu and Secure the Wastes are perfect with Aziza as sources of bodies to fuel its copy ability and spells worth copying. Throwing in Impact Tremors effects like Witty Roastmaster and a finisher or two like Moonshaker Cavalry and Mob Justice, and you’ll win before your opponents catch you.

#19. Wyleth, Soul of Steel

Wyleth, Soul of Steel makes for a straightforward Voltron commander. You’re rewarded in card draw, which makes it easier to rebuild once Wyleth gets answered. I also appreciate the flexibility to choose between equipment or auras, or even dabble in both if it strikes your fancy; all equipment except for a Spirit Mantle for evasion makes perfect sense. Just don’t skimp on protection like Blacksmith's Skill and Dawn's Truce.

#18. Velomachus Lorehold

If you like casting big instants and sorceries, I have the card for you. Velomachus Lorehold plays like a less obnoxious version of Narset, Enlightened Master. The deck leans into extra combats: Ramp hard into Lorehold, then hit your opponents three or four times each turn to round out the game quickly.

#17. Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer + Noble Heritage

The goad archetype needs consistent sources of goad, and Baeloth Barrityl, Entertainer is one of the best. All you need is a way to buff its power; here, that’s Noble Heritage. Heritage is a handy background because it starts the political, attack-somebody-else game plan well before Baeloth comes down, so you start doing stuff before the 5-mana commander makes an appearance.

#16. Duke Ulder Ravengard

Duke Ulder Ravengard is so fun when it pops off. Giving a creature myriad provides so many paths to victory. Maybe you use creatures like Solitude and Inferno Titan to bulldoze through opposing board states, or turn Karmic Guide into an instant board state of your own, or draw tons of cards through Inspiring Overseer and similar cantrip creatures. Myriad stacks, too, so you’ll be drowning in Goldlust Triads and Elturel Survivors.

#15. Arbaaz Mir

While Arbaaz Mir calls out historic permanents in general, I recommend leaning into artifacts. There are about a billion ways to make artifacts enter infinitely (probably starting with Lion's Eye Diamond or Sensei's Divining Top). Arbaaz becomes nothing more than an outlet, but reliable access to a cheap win condition is a fine thing to tuck into the command zone.

#14. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar + Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful

Boros loves to attack, which this partner pairing excels at. Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful becomes large blisteringly fast, especially as every random value creature becomes legendary, and Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar spreads that damage around the table. Surround them with cheap, high-impact legends like Merry, Esquire of Rohan and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and watch your opponents crumble.

#13. Bruenor Battlehammer

Some of the most important effects in any equipment deck are ways to cheat equip costs, either to break powerful equipment like Argentum Armor and Colossus Hammer or ensure you have the mana to sequence your equipment and protection spells. Accessing that ability through Bruenor Battlehammer makes it a great equipment commander. I also appreciate that it can equip cards to anything; diversifying your threats makes dealing with your board much harder.

#12. Firesong and Sunspeaker

Firesong and Sunspeaker embraces the red aspect of Boros through burn, and the white through lifegain. Marrying those synergies provides lots of space to work with. These decks often lean into multi-color spells as enablers, with payoffs like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and Imodane, the Pyrohammer to help finish off your opponents. While you could lean into lifegain, I find the burn angle stronger as it actively ends games.

#11. Aurelia, the Law Above

Aurelia, the Law Above works extremely well in Commander because it scales with the table. Any player attacking with creatures triggers Aurelia, and they don’t even need to be attacking an opponent. If your opponent tries to hit you, they’re punished. If they go elsewhere, you’re rewarded. Add a dash of goad to make sure everybody’s attacking and token producers so you have the bodies to reliably trigger Aurelia and you end up with a great aggro deck.

#10. Iroh, Tea Master

Iroh, Tea Master is as generous with your permanents as the character is with worldly wisdom… except Iroh easily twists the game around itself. Give the green player a Steel Golem, the combo player a quick Transcendence, the token player a Cinder Giant. While your opponents try to dispose of your gifts, you can use cards like Yes Man, Personal Securitron and Hithlain Rope that travel around the table to make your ally stronger.

#9. Gut, True Soul Zealot + Inspiring Leader

This combination comes straight from Pauper EDH, but it’s still pretty effectively at full scale. The combination of Gut, True Soul Zealot and Inspiring Leader pumps out attacking 6/3 menace creatures each combat. Of course, the deck needs more tokens to fuel Gut, so Secure the Wastes and similar cards also benefit from Inspiring Leader. It’s Boros token aggro with a sacrificial subtheme. What’s not to love?

#8. Phlage, Titan of Fire’s Fury

Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury takes a more controlling route than other cards on this list. Rather than going face, it aims Phlage’s Lightning Helix trigger at opposing creatures, enhanced by reanimation spells like Return Triumphant and Helping Hand. As you use those spells to make Phlage re-enter, you eventually end up with enough cards to escape it properly. You can also try establishing infinite loops that flicker Phlage as a win condition.

#7. Hofri Ghostforge

Hofri Ghostforge gives flicker decks a sacrifice spin: Instead of Teleportation Circle retriggering your Solitude, Hofri encourages feeding it to Goblin Bombardment for another trigger… and another body to sacrifice. That’s plenty of straightforward value, but you can also enable infinite loops with cards like Mistmoon Griffin and Moorland Rescuer.

#6. Zidane, Tantalus Thief

Zidane, Tantalus Thief embraces the steal-and-sac lifestyle. You want to play sacrifice outlets like Goblin Bombardment and Ashnod's Altar, then steal creatures from your opponents with Zidane (and other threatens) and sacrifice them. White supplements the strategy well with flicker effects so Zidane keeps stealing creatures.

#5. Alibou, Ancient Witness

Alibou, Ancient Witness gives artifact creatures a dedicated commander. Try leaning into artifact creature tokens like Thopters and Constructs to maximize your ability to go wide for Alibou’s attack trigger. Artifacts basically always receive support, so this deck ages extremely well.

#4. Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard

Though Neyali, Suns' Vanguard has largely been overshadowed by Otharri, Suns' Glory from the same precon, it’s still a token commander worthy of respect. Double strike is a great buff for your tokens because it carries other anthems well and helps them win in combat by forcing more chump blocks. The card draw is also invaluable, especially with cast-from-exile payoffs like Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival. Don’t forget to attack all of your opponents where possible to draw three cards!

#3. Quintorius, Loremaster

Quintorius, Loremaster plays surprisingly well as a grindy midrange commander that lets you cast big, explosive spells for a fraction of their cost. Who doesn’t love a 3-mana Insurrection? Importantly, the spirit you sacrifice doesn’t need to be connected to the spell exiled, so you can make a 3/2, then sacrifice a less impressive token from a card like Clarion Spirit (or even the creature card itself).

#2. Sephiroth, Fallen Hero

Part of the charm to Sephiroth, Fallen Hero is how many creatures are self-modifying. Creatures like Zack Fair and Stonecoil Serpent enter with counters, and there are multiple mechanics on equipment that make tokens and auto-equip to them. You can play with lots of fun archetypes, which goes very well considering that the fun you’re having is backed by a minimum of 7 power to get those life totals to 0.

#1. Three Dog, Galaxy News DJ

Three Dog, Galaxy News DJ gets all the points for being such a unique auras commander. It functions similarly to spellslinger commanders like Feather, the Redeemed or Zada, Hedron Grinder that spread the love across a board of creatures, except here it’s auras. And there are so many auras worth copying! All That Glitters and Sage's Reverie scale beautifully, Etali's Favor offers so much card advantage, and Galvanic Arc can skip the need for combat damage. It’s a shame this wacky DJ doesn’t see more play.

Commanding Conclusion

Wyleth, Soul of Steel | Illustration by Tyler Jacobson

Boros commanders lean aggressive, but that doesn’t mean they’re one-note. While the popular commanders deserve their slots, there’s no reason some of these underrated Boros commanders can’t rise to the occasion, especially ones that play with unique angles on what the color pair cares about.

What’s your favorite underrated commander? Did I miss anything super niche? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord! If you want more Draftsim, check out our YouTube channel and newsletter, both called The Daily Upkeep!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!