[Budget] Boros Auras

I should have called it aWRas but that’s been take by aURas already 🙂

Hello everyone, welcome back to the Lab. As you all know, Saffron Olive already published a cool budget deck tech that featured Valduk, Keeper of the Flame and a bunch of Red and Blue auras and protection counter magic and win the game with a bunch of 3/1 elementals.

I tried building the deck before I saw the video and I expected as much seeing Saffron’s video – without the bodies or the auras, the deck just crumbles. In one of the videos, Saffron was very lucky to take down the mono red match-up because the opponent got stuck on lands. I am not as luck in the real world so I’m twisting my Valduk and go the Boros path.

We need not sacrifice card advantage for moving to White. Sram is a great engine who has proven himself in the UW Auras deck to draw a bunch of cards by casting auras and equipment.  Thanks to Danitha, we also get to play auras and equipment at a more cheaper price, and some even for free like Sword Sword which costs 1 generic mana. With both Sram and Danitha out, playing Short Sword for free will draw you a free card too.

The good thing with Danitha is that she not a do-nothing by herself against aggressive match-up. The First Strike and Lifelink on her is quite relevant in buying us some time and both these legends survive Goblin Chainwhirlers which is becoming a frequent troublemaker we see these days.

What I like about Saffron’s build is the use of Champion of the Flame. This dude can go really crazy if left alone carrying multiple auras and equipment. A simple Cartouche of Zeal will make this a 4/4 and disable a blocker which is a good play on turn 3.

Apart from Short Sword, we will play a bunch of cheap 1-mana auras like Cartouche of Zeal which allows us to race faster by disabling a blocker. Cartouche of Solidarity is in keeping our Valduk or Champion from dying thanks to First Strike. Swashbuckling costs 2 but will usually play for 1 thanks to Danitha. A +2/+2 and Haste makes a good rendition of Cartouche of Zeal in the mid to late game.

We don’t have Spell Pierce of Blossoming Defense but we can use Sheltering Light to protect our aura-studded creatures from removal. The Scry also helps us dig for follow up plays or even get our next land drop. Dauntless Bodyguard is also another way to get on board quickly with 2 power or top deck it later in the game and give Valduk indestructibility on standby.

To wrap up our creature base we also play Adanto Vanguard which is a great creature to slap these auras on. With an option to make it indestructible, we can be ensured the auras we invested on it sticks.

So here’s my decklist so far.

Creatures: 23

4 Dauntless Bodyguard

4 Champion of the Flame

4 Adanto Vanguard

4 Sram, Senior Edificer

3 Danitha Capashen, Paragon

4 Valduk, Keeper of the Flame

Auras/Equipment: 11

4 Cartouche of Zeal

4 Cartouche of Solidarity

1 Swashbuckling

2 Short Sword

Spells: 4

4 Sheltering Light

Lands: 22

4 Clifftop Retreat

4 Inspiring Vantage

8 Plains

6 Mountain

Sideboard: 15

3 Demystify

4 Compulsory Rest

4 Shock

2 Kari-Zev’s Expertise

2 Adamant Will

The sideboard is funky but let me explain their uses.

This is our cleanest answer to Seal Away, Cast Out, Ixalan’s Binding. We can cast this in response to the exile trigger so that our creature would never leave the battlefield causing our auras to fall off. It’s also a good answer to some problematic enchantment like History of Benalia and Authority of the Consuls for just 1 mana.

Compulsory Rest is not the best Pacifism card but it’s the only one that costs 2 which is important if we want to cast this for 1 white man thanks to Danitha. We don’t mind the opponent gaining back 2 life but at least he has to invest the mana to pay for it. The ability to disable a blocker is very important because our deck’s power decreases as the game goes long.

I have yet to experience stealing a Ghalta with a 3 mana spell and use the 2-mana free spell by casting a Compulsory Rest to remove the blocker and deal 12 damage. Hopefully the opponent is dead so we don’t have to worry Ghalta going back to bite us.

Decks nowadays pack more removal than ever before like Unlicensed Disintegration and Moment of Craving. Adamant Will makes sure our creatures live another day to swing in for damage. They won’t expect a sealed all star card make its way to constructed either and we just might catch a careful opponent off guard thinking we don’t have counter spells to negate their removal.

That’s it for now, just sneaking in this article in my lunch break! I’m brewing a Muldrotha deck and I hope I can share it with you guys soon with the results to back it up!

Ciao,

Vanson