Last updated on August 8, 2025
Otharri, Suns' Glory | Illustration by Marta Nael
We frequently get Commander precons, though not without some contention in the community. While they often introduce exciting new cards and commanders, they’re often built poorly. Out of the box, precons range from powerful, streamlined decks to piles that teach new players a lot of bad deckbuilding lessons.
But surely Boros () can’t be that bad? How could one misinterpret the color of aggro, of tokens, of equipment? Let’s find out just how well Wizards has constructed their Boros precons. Are these decks good, or should designers get some tips to improve their EDH decks?
What Are Boros Commander Precons?
Osgir, the Reconstructor | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez
Boros Commander precons are preconstructed Commander decks with a Boros (), or red-white color identity. They’re helmed by red-white legends, and they often explore themes like tokens, aggro, goad, and equipment.
Let’s first consider what constitutes a “good” precon. I’m looking for many of the same virtues I’d want in a good Commander deck: a reasonably low curve (or the ramp to support a high one), access to interaction and card draw, a clearly defined game plan, and achievable win conditions—all the things I consider vital to construct a deck that consistently plays good games of Magic, and maybe even wins a few.
#5. Arm for Battle
Arm for Battle debuted alongside Commander Legends in 2020 with the commander Wyleth, Soul of Steel.
Deck Themes
As you might guess if you read the title Arm for Battle and look at your commander’s textbox, this deck has an equipment theme, with some auras. And… spellslinger?
Precons are known for having multiple unsupported themes, but this one’s a head scratcher. You could argue that this isn’t actually a spellslinger deck because it has no meaningful payoffs for it, but the deck contains more instants than any other card type, including creatures, equipment, and auras, so it has to have been somewhat intentional.
Commanders
The deck has two choices for its commander: the face commander Wyleth, Soul of Steel, and the reprinted Tiana, Ship's Caretaker.
Wyleth is the clear choice; it’s much cheaper and offers better card advantage. Tiana was first printed as a signpost uncommon in Dominaria and has never exceeded that station.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck is bad, in large part because its deeply conflicting themes prevent it from building any meaningful synergies. This “equipment” deck contains a meager 11 creatures and a staggering 22 instants, with little reason to have so many. This deck is entirely reliant on equipping Wyleth, which is a recipe for a failed deck.
I don’t understand how this deck can function, frankly; it has very few creatures for a deck loaded with cards that rely on controlling creatures to function. I’ve never seen a Commander deck that feels like it folds to two copies of Swords to Plowshares. This deck feels like somebody began building an equipment deck, found Sunforger, then got lost in the sauce to make sure it had plenty of instants to tutor for.
Notable Cards
Any redeeming features of Arm for Battle lie in its individual cards, because this pile certainly isn’t a functional deck.
For all the terrible qualities I’ve highlighted, Wyleth, Soul of Steel is a genuinely good commander, especially if you want to mix auras and equipment instead of leaning into one or the other.
Blazing Sunsteel looks great in Commander as an equipment that makes blocking your equipped creature much harder, and it opens the door to combos with cards like Brash Taunter.
The reprint quality’s pretty high, too. Boros Charm, Dawn Charm, and Relentless Assault are all about $5, not to mention powerful. Blackblade Reforged and Sunforger are some of the stronger equipment you can run, and you have two of the best equipment support cards in Sram, Senior Edificer and Sigarda's Aid.
While the deck mostly ignores the aura text on Wyleth, it includes Spirit Mantle and Unquestioned Authority, two of the stronger Voltron auras since they make your creature unblockable.
- BATTLE YOUR FRIENDS. Commander is a different way to play Magic: The Gathering. It's all about legendary creatures, big plays, and battling your friends in epic multiplayer games.
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- BRANDISH YOUR BLADE. Ally with Wyleth, equip him with arms, and draw tons of cards as you dispatch your opponents with martial superiority.
- THREE CARDS PRINTED FOR THE FIRST TIME. This Commander deck debuts three cards, plus it's loaded with reprints to kickstart your Commander experience.
- CONTENTS: 1 ready-to-play deck of 99 Magic: The Gathering cards, 1 legendary foil commander card, 10 tokens, 1 deck box (can hold 100 sleeved cards), 1 life tracker.
#4. Wade into Battle
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas commands Wade into Battle, one of the decks from Commander 2015 that introduced experience counters to the format.
Deck Themes
Wade into Battles gets points for originality, as it cares about casting big spells, a theme more commonly found in green decks than Boros. Beyond the theme of big spells to trigger Kalemne, it has a giant subtheme that does nothing but weaken the deck; the deck lacks meaningful ways to exploit its giants, which are its most expensive and weakest cards. It doesn’t have much of an identity beyond these spells.
Commanders
This deck has three potential commanders: Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas, Anya, Merciless Angel, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight.
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas looks like the most promising of the bunch, if only because the deck’s curve is so high that having something to play relatively early looks good. There are already so many 5+ mana cards that adding more to your opening hand sounds like a recipe for doing nothing in the early game.
Anya, Merciless Angel doesn’t work as the commander because it wants a very different deck: Anya wants to lead an aggressive, low to the ground deck that pressures its opponents to buff Anya. This deck, with its off-color green game plan, will never do that.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is the most powerful commander of the bunch, but this deck already suffers from a really high curve. Rather like Anya, Gisela also benefits from a more aggressive deck that feasibly wins the turn it plays Gisela, or shortly thereafter.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This curve is built like a brick, and that’s bad. The deck has a chunk of ramp, with a total of 11 early-game ramp spells if you count Urza's Incubator (which is debatable given how much of the top-end is dragons and angels), but lots of it is clunky, at 3 mana.
And that high curve doesn’t even give you much. The giant subtheme holds you back, with incredibly weak cards like Magma Giant and Borderland Behemoth that hang out because they share a creature type with this deck’s commander. And the deck has no payoffs for giants, just two cost reduction cards.
This deck is also a relic of its time, when Commander was slower, and when Boros had little access to card advantage and played overcosted artifacts like Staff of Nin and Seer's Sundial. I won’t bother going on about the dismal removal suite; I’ve spent enough time ragging on this deck. Except to say it has no meaningful strengths, and I don’t see this winning a game of Commander unless it plays against equally inept builds.
Notable Cards
The deck has some pretty notable cards, at least, both new introductions to the format and reprints.
Fiery Confluence was first printed here; while you don’t see much of it in Commander (at least, I don’t), it’s a stunning Cube card that offers red decks a variety of powerful effects.
Blade of Selves has been a popular equipment to get the most value from your strong enters abilities, and it has even become part of combos with certain cards.
As for reprints, we have the ever-valuable Urza's Incubator, a powerful cost reducer for typal decks.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight has been popular in Commander forever as a powerful, splashy finisher for Boros+ deck that can’t use traditional Overruns, or just like big angels.
We also have staple artifacts including Thought Vessel, Basalt Monolith, and Lightning Greaves.
#3. Blame Game
Deck Themes
The Blame Game precon came out in 2024 with Murders at Karlov Manor, and it plans to goad your opponents and make them attack one another. Meanwhile, you can sit back and watch, and sip on a nice espresso with Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser.
Commanders
Blame Game has four potential commanders, including the face commander. Amusingly, Anya, Merciless Angel and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight show up in the same list again. We also have Feather, Radiant Arbiter.
Feather shouldn’t be your commander. This deck’s meager support cards are the many 3-mana goad enchantments printed over the years, and it just isn’t good enough support. This Feather isn’t really a good commander either.
Anya and Gisela are, again, quite good. Blame Game sets them up better than Wade into Battle, but Nelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser deserves the slot. The deck has so many goad cards that it would be a net negative not to run Nelly Borca, and the card draw is genuinely powerful—and very necessary, looking at the 99.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Goad is a lovely mechanic that spices up Commander games by progressing the game. But Nelly Borca goes a little too deep; basically all this deck’s “removal” focuses on goading your opponents’ creatures permanently with 3-mana enchantments. That keeps the heat off you for a while, but what happens when two of your opponents are eliminated, and you’re staring down the maw of those enhanced creatures? Do you just hope for your Ghostly Prison every game?
The deck also suffers from a bunch of random cards. Goad isn’t the deepest mechanic, so the deck runs cards like Steel Hellkite, Etali, Primal Storm, and Darien, King of Kjeldor (which I guess could be considered an answer to the goaded creatures? If you aren’t super low?) that feel like filler added so the deck does something.
Blame Game feels like a deck that’s very good at inciting a game of Magic: It makes your opponents attack each other and provides group hug effects with the commander and cards like Curse of Opulence, but it falls short of actually closing the game out. Though I will acknowledge that this looks like a very political deck and politicking in Commander isn’t my forte, so perhaps it just needs a savvy pilot to navigate towards victory.
At the very least, this deck has a distinct identity, and I can see how it plays Magic, which is more than can be said for the previous decks.
Notable Cards
Blame Game introduced the very notable Trouble in Pairs, an absurd draw engine that’s both the most expensive and most powerful card highlighted throughout the list.
But the deck has basically nothing else of interest or value. Ghostly Prison and Loran of the Third Path are pretty decent and worth a few bucks, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight returned, but I can’t help but be disappointed in this deck’s card quality compared to the other precons—even the decks that couldn’t win had neat stuff to open.
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- INTRODUCES 12 COMMANDER CARDS—This deck introduces 12 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering, including 2 foil Legendary Creature cards
- COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alt-border cards from the Murders at Karlov Manor set, including 1 Rare or Mythic Rare and at least 1 Traditional Foil card
- CONTENTS—1 ready-to-play Blame Game Murders at Karlov Manor Commander Deck, a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack, 1 Foil-Etched Display Commander, 10 double-sided tokens, 1 life tracker, and 1 deck box
#2. Lorehold Legacies
Commander 2021 themed its decks around the five colleges of Strixhaven, and Lorehold Legacies tackles the Boros college with its commander Osgir, the Reconstructor.
Deck Themes
The deck’s main theme is artifact reanimation, and it draws on powerful artifacts like Triplicate Titan, Angel of the Ruins, and Combustible Gearhulk to close out the game. While the deck has some issues, conflicting themes aren’t one, as this deck is pretty concise—it has a few outliers, but not at a systematic level.
Commanders
This deck’s three potential commanders are Osgir, Alibou, Ancient Witness, and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer.
Alibou and Jor Kadeen are very similar commanders that want to amass a board of artifacts to make your offense stronger (though Alibou is certainly the more powerful of the two). Neither suits this deck because it’s not aggressive enough to leverage them. Looking at the creature curve, you have one 2-drop; additionally, your cheaper creatures (read: 3-drops) bias towards nonartifact creatures that support artifacts, which doesn’t work with Alibou.
That leads me to support Osgir, the Reconstructor as the commander, though I must admit it’s less interesting than Alibou. It works well with the deck’s cheap artifacts like Ichor Wellspring, and making two copies of your stronger artifacts gives you a defined path to victory.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Lorehold Legacies has an actual game plan, which is more than can be said for some other Boros precons. It wants to dump artifacts in the graveyard and get them back, either with Osgir’s ability or artifact reanimation cards. And the artifacts you have are capable of winning at casual tables with equally-powered cards.
The deck needs a little more support for the reanimation, in reanimation spells in particular. Osgir doesn’t really count since you still need to pay the full mana value of the artifact; you get two copies, but you lose the power spike that comes from putting a card like Triplicate Titan into play on turn 3 or 4. As far as artifact reanimation goes, you have Daretti, Scrap Savant and Feldon of the Third Path; no Refurbish, no Trash for Treasure, no Goblin Welder. That severely hampers the deck.
I’d also like to see more than eight reliable ramp spells given the deck’s curve. It could be worse, but the glut of 3-drops makes the early turns clunky, and it could really use better 2-mana ramp. Since Osgir doesn’t provide a discount on the big artifacts it copies, you need to pay full price, which also requires lots of ramp.
Those weaknesses aside, there’s a clear game plan and I can see this deck winning games! Weird to think that 40% of the entries on this list didn’t clear that bar, but what can you do?
Notable Cards
One of the best new cards is Alibou, Ancient Witness, a great aggressive commander or support piece, depending on what your deck does.
Audacious Reshapers can be neat if your deck wants to gamble away some artifacts, or if you have plenty of Treasure that are upgraded by any real card.
Losheel, Clockwork Scholar is one of the strongest artifact creature support cards thanks to its card advantage engine, plus the ability to let you get into the red zone whenever you like.
Wake the Past provides artifact decks with one of the few mass reanimation spells in their niche.
Archaeomancer's Map is one of the stronger pieces of catch-up ramp available to white players, though it’s still kinda meh.
Monologue Tax sees some amount of play as a casual alternative to Smothering Tithe; it’s not as good as the Game Changer, nor something like Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff that you can trigger yourself, but it’s reasonably playable.
As for the reprints, Thousand-Year Elixir stands above the rest in both price and power. We have Ancient Den and Great Furnace as artifact lands that cost a pretty penny, plus some fairly cheap but broadly useful cards like Laelia, the Blade Reforged, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Darksteel Mutation, and Boros Charm.
- 100-card ready-to-play STX Commander deck (2 foil, 98 nonfoil cards)
- 1 foil etched Display Commander
- 10 double-sided tokens + life tracker and deck box
- 17 Magic cards make their debut
- Reduced-plastic packaging
#1. Rebellion Rising
Released during the exploration of New Phyrexia during 2023 depicted in Phyrexia: All Will Be One, Rebellion Rising is a token-aggro deck led by Neyali, Suns' Vanguard.
Deck Themes
Tokens are the primary theme of this deck, which fits Neyali, Suns' Vanguard quite well. This is another focused deck that goes hard on its theme. Some cards stand out as a little weak (Phantom General is an overcosted anthem, Maul of the Skyclaves is out of place, etc.) but I see the logic of including these cards. The deck has an artifact subtheme of sorts, but it’s pretty unobtrusive given how many of the artifacts are ramp, draw spells, or token generators—though it has a few too many equipment.
Commanders
We have four potential commanders; in addition to Neyali, Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer makes a reappearance, Adriana, Captain of the Guard crept in from Conspiracy: Take the Crown, and Otharri, Suns' Glory was introduced alongside Neyali as a new legend.
Jor Kadeen’s easily the worst option here; this might have been an exciting commander around its printing in New Phyrexia, but Neyali blows it out of the water. Not only does the rebel buff the team, but it draws cards, and it improves as this deck starts cutting artifacts anyway.
Adriana provides a respectable buff but, again, Neyali provides a buff and card draw while costing less mana.
Otharri comes closest to challenging Neyali for dominance, but it falls just short. While this is a powerful card, a good Otharri deck requires tools that this list lacks, namely proliferate spells and efficient, single-target protection to keep your high-value commander alive.
All in all, Neyali, Suns' Vanguard looks ideal as commanders that provide pressure and card advantage are almost as good as commanders that provide cards and mana. Drawing cards as you attack puts your opponent in a nasty position since you have the resources to back up your pressure and rebuild after a board wipe.
Strengths and Weaknesses
This deck has genuine power backing it. Look at it, it has card draw! Actual, cheap card draw engines, and not just the commander—cards like Idol of Oblivion and Staff of the Storyteller provide consistent and thematic card advantage.
Neyali gives you some pressure, but the deck’s not wholly reliant on it as you have an assortment of anthems and other buff spells to keep your armies pushing for victory. In addition to those buffs, you have protection spells like Clever Concealment, Boros Charm, and Flawless Maneuver to keep your board safe. Not only is that a reasonable amount of protection, but these are among the best protection spells in the game.
This isn’t to say that the deck is flawless, of course. The more expensive token generators like Myr Battlesphere and Increasing Devotion could be culled, especially since you already have plenty of X-spells as mana sinks.
The deck also lacks the reach to really finish things. That could be direct damage via cards like Impact Tremors and Goblin Bombardment or finishers like Akroma's Will to give your team evasion. I can see this deck protecting itself from the first board wipe, but it’ll fold to the second and it lacks the means to finish players through a stalled board state.
Notable Cards
Rebellion Rising introduced some pretty notable cards to the format. Foremost among them is Clever Concealment, one of the best protection spells in EDH due to both the ubiquity of phasing and the convoke ability that makes it cost as little as nothing. Glimmer Lens and Staff of the Storyteller are both excellent sources of card advantage in white, a color often bereft of it, and they see play in both EDH and Cube.
Otharri, Suns' Glory is a powerful threat that enhances Cubes, often enabling strong multicolor decks thanks to its splashibility or giving Boros decks a finisher.
Hexplate Wallbreaker is a great source of extra combats, which is basically an extra turn in decks that want to attack, while inviting plenty of synergies with tokens and equipment.
Roar of Resistance makes your tokens more aggressive, but it has excellent utility as you can buff your opponents’ creatures with the activated ability to allow for maximum pressure on the player who’s ahead.
The deck also has some decent reprints. Court of Grace and Idol of Oblivion are excellent card draw engines that support token decks, Boros Charm is always welcome, and Loxodon Warhammer is just pound for pound one of the stronger equipment in the game.
The real winner of the reprints is Flawless Maneuver, part of the free spell cycle from Ikoria. Though this is one of the tamer ones, the free indestructible to protect your commander and everything else is absolutely broken in a format with as many board wipes as Commander.
- 100-card ready-to-play Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander Deck—Rebellion Rising
- 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack—contains 1 Traditional Foil Showcase Ichor card + 1 Borderless or Extended-Art card
- Red-White deck—includes 2 Traditional Foils + 98 nonfoil cards
- Accessories—10 double-sided tokens, life tracker, deck box, and 1 foil-etched Display Commander
- Introduces 10 never-before-seen Commander cards to MTG
Commanding Conclusion
Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas | Illustration by Jason Chan
While some of the Boros () precons were rather disappointing, most of them have pretty impressive reprints and more than half of the decks are pretty interesting. Arm for Battle and Wade into Battle aren’t particularly playable, but the other decks offer an entertaining experience out of the box.
What’s your favorite Boros precon? Which would you pick up? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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