The 35 Best Boros Cards in Magic Ranked

Last updated on April 10, 2024

Comet, Stellar Pup | Illustration by Jeff Miracola

While the Azorius () mages write Ravnica’s laws, the day-to-day enforcement is left to the Boros Legion. These are the people with boots on the ground, working to keep peace.

Because the Boros are often ready to go into action at a moment’s notice, their cards are similarly aggressive. Boros is a popular aggro color pair because of the intersection of small creatures and powerful burn spells. But which are the best?

What Are Boros Cards in MTG?

Assemble the Legion | Illustration by Eric Deschamps

Boros cards are spells with red and white in their casting cost and effects that often meld the two colors. The name comes from the Ravnican guild, but there are plenty of Boros cards that came before our venture to the City of Guilds.

To determine the best, I’m interested in cards that are efficient and cards that work with what Boros wants. Efficiency is pretty much the most important aspect of any Magic card. This list has a few expensive spells, but those that make the cut do so because they have an outsized impact on the game to go with their hefty investment.

As for what Boros wants, that’s typically to attack. Sometimes decks take a more controlling route, often in conjunction with blue for Jeskai lists, but Boros leans into aggressive strategies in many formats.

#35. Deafening Clarion

Deafening Clarion is one of the cards that can help Boros decks be more controlling. A mini-wrath that controls the early board, creature decks aren’t wholly disinterested in this sorcery. The lifelink mode gives you an edge if you’ve developed a board and are trying to race your opponent, though you need to leverage both parts for this to be a card worth playing.

#34. Goblin Trenches

Cards that take over games are really good. Goblin Trenches requires quite the investment of mana and lands but you only need to activate it a couple of times before you’ve overwhelmed your opponent, especially if you throw in some goblin synergies or cards like Hellrider.

#33. Powerstone Minefield

Powerstone Minefield certainly doesn’t mesh with the aggressive game plans, but controlling Boros decks could leverage this. 2 damage is enough to forestall cheap attackers and tokens. If you’re concerned about larger creatures, cards like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus can aid you.

#32. Response // Resurgence

Flexibility on an expensive card is always nice. Response // Resurgence is the perfect split card, as neither half would be great alone, but the whole is worth playing. An extra combat spell that doubles as cheap interaction if you don’t have the time to get to 5 mana helps win games in multiple scenarios.

#31. Baird, Argivian Recruiter

Boros decks don’t mind playing equipment and auras to buff their team, so Baird, Argivian Recruiter is at home in many decks. This is just a solid 2-drop with a lasting impact on the game, especially if you exploit the token production with cards like Mondrak, Glory Dominus and Purphoros, God of the Forge.

#30. Cloudshredder Sliver

Cloudshredder Sliver is incredibly narrow. You need to be playing slivers for this to be worth anything, but it’s a fantastic enabler for that deck if you are. Evasion and haste are everything an aggressive deck could want.

#29. Deflecting Palm

Deflecting Palm is an excellent way to say no. It’s at its best out of the sideboard as a response to decks whose game plan is to smack you with a single, massive threat. Since this doesn’t target, you can even deflect creatures with protection and hexproof.

#28. Iroas, God of Victory

Menace is a heavily underrated keyword. Iroas, God of Victory works well with tokens, as your opponent is unlikely to have enough creatures for good blocks once you go wide. You’re not even chump attacking since it protects your creatures. Toss in effects like Silent Arbiter to stop your opponents from ever blocking.

#27. Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard

Boros is no stranger to token production. Neyali, Suns' Vanguard provides a substantial buff to your tokens with double strike while drawing you a bunch of cards each turn to keep the pressure up, creating a one-two punch your opponents will struggle with.

#26. Djeru and Hazoret

Djeru and Hazoret have some deckbuilding restrictions, primarily requiring you to play legendary creatures, but the reward is free board presence. You could look to this team up to cheat in massive legends, like Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, or keep things lean, focusing on cheap legends like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben that help you curve out and get haste quickly.

#25. Lorehold Command

The versatility of Lorehold Command helps make up for the high mana cost. You can always use this to add board presence or protect what you have; it’s an excellent response to a board wipe and potentially puts 6 damage on the board between its token and Lightning Helix modes to close the game.

#24. Merry, Esquire of Rohan

Another card that needs legends to accompany it, Merry, Esquire of Rohan is a quintessential Boros card. Cheap and aggressive, it rewards you for additional aggression by drawing cards in combat. So elegant in its simplicity.

#23. Sophina, Spearsage Deserter + Chief Jim Hopper

Same card, different printings. Sophina, Spearsage Deserter is a Commander-only card but pulls a lot of work in various friends forever pairings. The Clue tokens represent a lot of card advantage, but a creature that spews artifacts is useful in other ways, especially alongside cards like Reckless Fireweaver.

#22. Balefire Liege

The liege cycle from Lorwyn block is pretty unbalanced; some are incredible, others pretty weak. Balefire Liege is one of the stronger choices. On top of providing a big buff to your board, tacking Lava Spike onto all your red spells ends games in short order.

#21. Assemble the Legion

The speed of modern Magic has greatly weakened Assemble the Legion, but it provides decks willing to wait (or proliferate or take extra turns) all the board presence they could want. I also love the flavor of an army steadily growing as it takes in new recruits and becomes stronger.

#20. Feather, the Redeemed

Feather, the Redeemed is a fascinating card. Getting to buy back your combat tricks is pretty strong, especially if they replace themselves or leave counters behind to continually grow your target. Feather’s also a pretty hefty beater as a 3/4 flier for 3.

#19. Fighter Class

A 2-mana tutor for equipment is perfectly fine, so Fighter Class is on-rate with cards like Open the Armory. The extra abilities are just gravy. Reducing equip costs is particularly interesting as a ramp effect. The last level is weaker, but the ability to pick off opposing threats can be good, especially if your equipment suite gives protection.

#18. Figure of Destiny

Figure of Destiny is an amazing Cube card that’s held down aggro for years. On top of that, it has such amazing flavor. Capturing the growth of a heroic journey and its trials with a gradually increasing mana investment is lovely, and it’s become the template for interesting creatures like Surge Engine.

#17. Wear // Tear

Wear / Tear primarily resides in sideboards, but it’s a nice sideboard card. You get to answer two different problematic permanents in one card instead of loading up on artifact and enchantment removal in separate effects.

#16. Taunt from the Rampart

Goad makes Taunt from the Rampart a Commander-only card as it’s not good elsewhere, but what a Boros EDH card it is! Goading your opponents' teams and preventing them from blocking wins games… I’d expect at least one player to go out whenever this card is cast.

#15. Master Warcraft

Master Warcraft is so cool. There’s not much more to say. You can make a lethal alpha attack, you can force an opponent into bad attacks and blocks, and it’s just one of the most interesting cards in Boros, especially in Commander games with full boards.

#14. Boros Reckoner + Spitemare

Stuffy Doll effects are a pretty cool way to deal damage, especially with red board wipes like Blasphemous Act and Star of Extinction. Boros Reckoner and Spitemare are also just good aggressive cards; it’s hard for your opponent to interact with them profitably unless they’re in black or white, so they apply a ton of pressure.

#13. Showdown of the Skalds

Showdown of the Skalds is a great midrange piece for Boros decks. Drawing four cards for 4 mana is slightly above rate, and getting two turns to bulk your team by casting spells is amazing. You want your curve to be super low with this card to play as many exiled cards as possible.

#12. Aurelia, the Warleader

Extra combats aren’t quite extra turns, but aggressive decks can exploit them just as well. Aurelia, the Warleader provides excellent top-end for decks that end the game in combat. It’s best when paired with creatures that trigger off attacks or at the beginning of combat, like Hellrider and Akroma, Vision of Ixidor.

#11. General Ferrous Rokiric

General Ferrous Rokiric would love it if you went for more colors than Boros, but there are plenty of solid cards to make it tick. A 3-mana creature with hexproof from a ton of commonly played removal that spits out 4/4 tokens is the kind of early play that overwhelms a game.

#10. Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival

Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival already has a Pioneer deck built around it, but it’ll only get better. Impulse draws are relatively new but continually get support in every set, so Pia’s the kind of legend that only gets better as the archetype gets fleshed out, plus mechanics like discover from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan work with its ability as well.

#9. Blade Historian

Team-wide double strike ends games. Blade Historian basically doubles the power of your attacking creatures and makes blocking a headache for your opponent. Throw in a source of trample, and you’ll win in just a few combats.

#8. Nahiri, the Harbinger

Nahiri, the Harbinger is a pretty good planeswalker. It takes very little time to get to the Sneak Attack ultimate, which can drop an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre or Portal to Phyrexia into play to devastate your opponents. The other abilities are solid; you can set up a lot of plays by discarding fat. The defensive ability is a little restrictive but still useable.

#7. Boros Charm

A staple in many Burn decks, most people registering Boros Charm are interested in 2 mana to deal 4 damage. The other modes are still great. Protecting your creatures from a board wipe can be a blowout, and giving a creature double strike might result in more than 4 damage for 2 mana.

#6. Lightning Helix

I’m a big fan of 2-color designs that meld both colors simply. With Lightning Helix, you get Lightning Bolt with white lifegain, and it’s so, so good. Most early creatures die to this, and the 6-point life swing gives aggressive decks a huge edge in races.

#5. Rip Apart

Rip Apart is incredibly versatile removal. It’s basically Wear // Tear, but you can maindeck it and it hits almost any permanent played in the first few turns of the game.

#4. Zirda, the Dawnwaker

While all the companions are powerful, Zirda, the Dawnwaker caught a Legacy ban for its combo potential. It makes infinite mana with Basalt Monolith and Grim Monolith. But a Training Grounds effect is powerful without infinites; in Boros, it’s especially interesting to make equipment cheaper.

#3. Winota, Joiner of Forces

Winota, Joiner of Forces provides a silly mana advantage by putting creatures into play. CEDH decks exploit this by dropping stax pieces, like Magus of the Moon and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, but you could also cheat in big bruisers like Captain of the Watch.

#2. Forth Eorlingas!

Forth Eorlingas! is busted. It’s done work in Vintage Cube, Legacy 4C control decks have adapted it as a finisher, and it can win games in Commander. It just scales incredibly well; making one hasty 2/2 for 3 mana is okay, 2 is on rate in terms of power to mana, and it only gets better from there.

#1. Comet, Stellar Pup

You never quite know what you’ll get when activating Comet, Stellar Pup, which we deserve for black-border Un- cards. It has made some waves in Legacy as a powerful planeswalker, as all the modes are solid. The potential to activate it multiple times a turn lets you get really far ahead, and it does all the planeswalker things – provides board presence, card advantage, and removal in a single card.

Best Boros Payoffs

Boros decks typically want to be aggressive, so the best payoffs are cards that support those themes. Goblin Guide, Monastery Swiftspear, and Recruitment Officer work well with the sleek, aggressive strategies many Boros decks want to pursue.

You can build more controlling decks, leaning on white’s excellent removal and cards like Goblin Rabblemaster and Goldspan Dragon to close the game.

If you want more specific Boros brews, the color pair works well with equipment cards and soldier–typal cards to build decks leaning on synergy instead of sheer efficiency. You could also use token generation and pump effects to overwhelm your opponent.

What Is Boros Good at in MTG?

Boros tends to be good at getting aggressive. White and red are the colors of small creatures after all, and a curve of small creatures is a key feature of aggressive decks. Boros cards tend to have white’s desire for order and structure while acknowledging that sometimes, it takes the impulsiveness and proactivity of red to create and enforce said order.

Boros can also set the foundation for good control decks, usually because of how their removal intersects; Lightning Helix and Rip Apart are prime examples of great Boros removal that you’ll often find paired with blue for countermagic and card advantage.

Wrap Up

Boros Charm | Illustration by Zoltan Boros

Boros cards embody Magic’s most aggressive colors, but the color pair goes deeper than smacking your opponents with 2/2s. It’s got some impressive late-game cards and even control elements to get there.

You can even sneak creatures into play and establish powerful infinite combos if you don’t mind some deck-building restrictions. What’s your favorite Boros card? What’s your favorite color pair? Let me know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!