All 12 Boros Planeswalkers in Magic Ranked

Nahiri, the Harbinger | Illustration by Aleksi Briclot

Planeswalkers can be a great space for Wizards to show off what multicolor cards can do. Because they get 2-4 distinct abilities, planeswalkers can highlight different aspects of what one color does, or what two do when they intersect.

Some color pairs have a distinct identity; Boros, on the other hand, does not. Rather than being a flaw, it highlights the diverse effects possible in the color pair, from equipment-matters to creating hasty monsters that overwhelm your foes and even fiddling with the graveyard.

What Are Boros Planeswalkers in MTG?

Huatli, Warrior Poet | Illustration by Tyler Jacobson

Boros () planeswalker have a red and white color identity. These are generally aggressive, as the colors suggest, with a focus on equipment thanks to Nahiri’s frequent appearances. Outside of Nahiri, Boros planeswalkers arguably lack a unified design, in part because they have very few recurring characters. Generalizations like aggression and token production are useful descriptors.

This list includes traditional planeswalkers and creatures with a Boros color identity that transform into planeswalkers.

#12. Nahiri, Storm of Stone

While equipment decks need ways to reduce equip costs, there are so many better options than Nahiri, Storm of Stone—including cards like Sigarda's Aid that cheat the cost altogether. They never need to resort to a Draft uncommon like this. This Nahiri is the textbook definition of a Limited card that's fine to Draft but has no role in Constructed.

#11. Huatli, Dinosaur Knight

Planeswalker Deck planeswalkers are always nonsense, but Huatli, Dinosaur Knight gets it worse than most. It's an over-costed planeswalker with meh abilities, and it suffers from being a typal planeswalker outside its typal colors. Magic casts dinosaurs as a Naya () archetype, with an emphasis on green. Having Huatli outside that shard yet still caring about dinosaurs is strange. This won't ever go into Boros decks. Besides, what dinosaur deck wants to dedicate 6 mana to a planeswalker instead of an actual dino anyway? Nobody wants to cast this on curve after Pantlaza, Sun-Favored.

#10. Huatli, Warrior Poet

Huatli, Warrior Poet abandons most of the dinosaur themes—though it still makes dino tokens, which is a nice nod to their importance in her culture. Sadly, it's still underwhelming. A planeswalker whose uptick just gains life isn’t where I want to be, though it might strike some players' fancy. The ultimate is interesting, but if you want to stop players from blocking, you can just run Sundering Eruption for greater efficiency.

#9. Mila, Crafty Companion / Lukka, Wayward Bonder

Everybody's least favorite red ‘walker gets paired with an adorable fox in this transforming card.

Mila, Crafty Companion works decently well in a superfriends shell as a pseudo-protective spell; you could read the ability as preventing a damage dealt to your planeswalkers. It's also interesting that it benefits all your ‘walkers, not just the one being attacked; that could be interesting with Gideon Jura.

As for Lukka, Wayward Bonder, the potential is in the -2. The rummaging ability is fine, especially as discarding cards becomes increasingly important in red, and the ultimate is just Terror of the Peaks but slower. But reanimating creatures for a turn? That could incite huge, splashy swings. It’s a very powerful ability—but I'm not convinced solely because red already does that, just from hand with Sneak Attack and Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded. Those cards skip the step of getting the cards into your graveyard, and they have a less restrictive color identity.

#8. Ajani Vengeant

Ajani Vengeant was once a powerful planeswalker that offered meaningful control tools. It could kill small creatures and even lock down lands with the uptick. And nothing says “I control the game” like a one-sided Armageddon. But power creep is real, and time hasn’t been kind to this first Ajani. Threats come down sooner and cost less mana, creatures are larger, and this is just less impressive than other options.

#7. Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients

The uptick does most of the work on Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients. Making tokens and attaching equipment to them provides a consistent, resilient stream of value. Did you get board wiped? As long as Nahiri and the equipment survived, you get a threat next turn with no mana invested.

The restriction that you can only attach the equipment to the tokens does make Heir of the Ancients narrow. This won't help a Voltron deck cheat equip costs to make Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh hit harder, but it works well with commanders like Nahiri, Forged in Fury that want you to control lots of equipment but don't care about wielding them.

Also, I have to point out the Skullclamp synergy—a Boros planeswalker that upticks to draw two cards? Blue doesn't get that!

#6. Quintorius, History Chaser

Quintorius, History Chaser is an interesting card. Caring about when cards leave the graveyard is traditionally a more Golgari () mechanic, though Lorehold cards have dabbled in the space. Perhaps the most interesting part of the card is the super-rummage. Discarding cards has become increasingly important to red's identity, with cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun, Currency Converter, and Monument to Endurance being just a few payoffs. With new Lorehold support from Secrets of Strixhaven, this could become a marquee commander for the self-discard archetype.

#5. Nahiri, the Unforgiving

Nahiri, the Unforgiving has a similar ability to Lukka, Wayward Bonder, except it’s more interesting since it’s attached to a significantly cheaper planeswalker. The goad-style ability is also quite interesting. That always plays well in Commander, and it even serves as a form of protection for Nahiri since it specifies that the creature must attack a player, protecting your planeswalkers.

#4. Nahiri, the Harbinger

One of the first Boros planeswalkers to rummage, Nahiri, the Harbinger has an excellent ceiling thanks to the ultimate. Planeswalkers are rarely played for their ultimate since it's often hard to reach, but Nahiri comes down early and has a lot of loyalty, plus white can increase counters rapidly. It exists in a space similar to Ajani Vengeant in that power creep hasn't been kind, but dropping an Eldrazi or other bomb into play is a very convincing win condition, much more than the Armageddon—which, while impactful, might not save you if the opposing board is wide enough.

#3. Quintorius Kand

Quintorius Kand has an incredible static ability. Impulse draws have become red's primary source of card advantage, from the humble Reckless Impulse to the repeatable Rocco, Street Chef. Quint pays that off, plus it helps similar mechanics like discover and cascade—often central to supporting the impulse draw/cast from exile archetype.

The other abilities are also fantastic. In a deck dedicated to getting the most possible from casting spells from exile, the achievable ultimate wins the game and discovering is nice. But I'm even happy making an army of spirits to hold my opponents at bay while Quint whittles their life totals away.

#2. Comet, Stellar Pup

It's easy to dismiss Comet, Stellar Pup. How good could a planeswalker with a random ability be?

Very good. A Legacy staple and one of the scariest cards in Vintage Cube good. Basically every ability on Comet is good, so you don't mind what you roll. Low rolls are certainly possible; hitting a 3 tends to be worse than other options (though when you draft Comet and Strip Mine…) and an ill-timed 4 or 5 can kill Comet. But it generally takes a creature with it, and you get a few uses before reaching that point. And those downsides are nothing compared to hitting that 6. Activating Comet twice more always feels game-winning, regardless of the board state or future rolls.

#1. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / Ajani, Nacatl Avenger

Power creep in Magic has been around for a while. It's nothing new, nor is it unique to Magic. But few cards will make you question where we're going like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, which ranks among the best creatures/planeswalkers ever printed, not just the Boros ones.

A creature that makes a token is a solid two-for-one that stresses opposing removal because you don't want to trade one-for-one with it. A Fatal Push still leaves your opponent with a card. Ajani takes it further by flipping into the planeswalker. Because it punishes your opponent for killing the arguably stronger creature, the Cat Warrior token dominates in combat. If you don't have a removal spell for Ajani, you can't block the token. If the Ajani player wants to play defense, you can't attack into it either, or you risk battling Ajani, Nacatl Avenger.

The planeswalker itself is incredibly powerful. Oh, and it's a board wipe within a single uptick? Not that it matters. All the power is in that 0 ability. You build a board, and then can either blitz your opponent down to nothing by shooting face or control the board by killing creatures, biding your time until the army of Cat Warriors overwhelms your opponent.

It's also an incredibly frustrating card in 60-card formats like Modern because Ajani exploits the legend rule. Mechanically, the legend rule acts as a balancing measure. Wizards can print stronger creatures because a player can only control one of them. But Ajani actively benefits from it since the legend rule causes one of the two Ajanis to die, which makes the other one transform. And that play pattern is barely card disadvantage because the dead Ajani still made a Cat Warrior when it entered, and the flipped planeswalker probably made another!

My cardiologist has advised me to stop talking about this card.

Best Boros Planeswalker Payoffs

Boros has a handful of decent planeswalker payoffs, including cards that directly reference planeswalkers and those that tangentially help them.

The ones that name planeswalkers are generally white and focused on protection and tutoring them. Onakke Oathkeeper makes attacking your planeswalkers harder and acts as a reanimation spell, and Djeru, With Eyes Open prevents them from taking as much damage and doubles as a tutor. Cards that just find planeswalkers include Urza Assembles the Titans and Call the Gatewatch. Deploy the Gatewatch can be particularly nasty.

Looking at Boros more generally, plenty of mechanics overlap with planeswalkers. White has a handful of proliferate effects like Grateful Apparition and Patrolling Peacemaker, and both colors can use board wipes to protect the planeswalkers—though you need to be careful, as some red sweepers damage planeswalkers as well as creatures.

If you want to get really spicy, red has old board wipes that destroy creatures and mana sources, like Obliterate and Jokulhaups that conveniently don't destroy planeswalkers because they didn't exist when the cards were printed. This creates plenty of time for your planeswalkers to win with their ultimates. Although if you build an EDH deck around this concept you might get bullied into taking it apart, no matter how clever you feel for choosing Lord Windgrace as a commander to break the parity further.

Wrap Up

Ajani Vengeant | Illustration by Wayne Reynolds

Boros planeswalkers touch on multiple archetypes, from aggro to control, and encompass smaller themes within, like equipment. Honestly, the card quality is wild across the options. You have some of the most powerful planeswalkers ever printed and one or two so weak you probably forgot about them before I dredged them up.

Which Boros planeswalkers are your favorite? Do you play any of them? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!

Stay safe, and thanks for reading!