The plane of Arcavios is built around five enemy-color schools, each with its own identity and approach to magic. It also introduced mechanics like magecraft, along with a heavy focus on spells, copying effects, and Lessons you can pull from outside your deck.

What really stands out is how these schools tried to do something a little different with each of the color pairs. For example, Golgari () shifts away from its usual graveyard spells into a lifegain strategy, while Boros () moves away from its typical aggro, Equipment, and token themes and instead leans into graveyard play, mill, flashback, and Spirit tokens.

Boros has always been my favorite enemy color pair, with Golgari close behind thanks to its mix of recursion and ramp. So, seeing Boros take on a more Golgari-style identity here immediately pulled me in. Orzhov () still sits comfortably in the middle for me, with Izzet () and Simic () rounding things out both then and now.

So, I'm building in Boros again, this time around a copy strategy. Let's check it out.

Meet Our Commander

Aziza, Mage Tower Captain is a 2/2 Legendary Djinn Sorcerer that brings both flavor and real value. Whenever we cast an Instant or Sorcery (spells), we can copy it by tapping three untapped creatures. Those creatures can be tokens or ones that just entered, so everything is online right away.

This is not once per turn either. As long as we have the mana and enough bodies, we can keep copying spells and really start to snowball.

Boros recently got a Blink Dork I built around, The Neutrinos, but copies that aren't targeting our board are pretty rare. Let's take this Boros spell copier and see what I can do to embrace its goodness.

Also, that's mad flavor: a leader who is practicing for the best game ever.

Mana Matters

Let's start with the mana engines here in Ashling, Flame Dancer and Electro, Assaulting Battery, two mono Red legends.

Ashling, Flame Dancer is a 4/4 that costs us . As long as she's on the board, we don't lose Red mana that we don't spend. But, she also has Magecraft. So, whenever we cast or copy a spell on the same turn, we get a little something extra.

• Every time: we get to discard and then draw a card
• Second time: Ashling deals two damage to every player and each of their Creatures
• Third time: We can add four Red mana

Electro, Assaulting Battery also prevents us from losing any Red mana. As we cast an Instant or Sorcery, we can make one to add to our pool, and then as he leaves play (not dies) we can spend X mana to shoot a player for that amount. I also tossed in Storm-Kiln Artist.

Speaking of Treasures, we can count on these two Sorceries to make some more; they come at a high mana cost but they're copiable.

For , we get Brass's Bounty, which makes a Treasure for each land we control.

Slightly harder to cast is Hit the Mother Lode, as a seven-drop. This card uses discover 10 as a Cascade-like effect that can hit a free spell if it costs 10 or less. If you hit something cheaper, you make tapped Treasure tokens equal to the difference.

Big Apple, 3 a.m. enters tapped but fixes mana by choosing a color on arrival. Later, it turns into a mana sink: pay five and tap it to make a 1/1 Rat for each opponent. In a typical four-player pod, that's three Rats off one activation, and it scales decently up or down depending on the table.

Then we've got Fountainport, which comes in untapped and gives us flexible utility. It can turn two mana into sacrificing a token to draw a card or go bigger at three mana to make a 1/1 Fish token, or even four mana for a Treasure. Solid all-around value engine for grinding games.

I have many great lands from the Castle that makes tokens to Minas Tirith for card draw, too. I also like Mirrex here, to make 1/1 toxic tokens that add poison counters.

Synergies and Win-Cons

And now let's turn to my synergy and win-con section! We've got classic spell-to-token engines like Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor turning every spell into extra bodies, of course.

I also included Prismari Pianist, a 2/1 for three in Red. Any time we cast a Red spell, we'll get a 1/1 Elemental; if the spell has a converted mana cost of five or higher, we get three of these dorks instead.

Lorehold, the Historian is a five-mana 5/5 Flying, Haste threat that hits the board immediately. It gives spells in your hand Miracle for discounted surprise casts, and it lets you discard and draw each opponent's upkeep.

I love the way this effect dials up in multiplayer.

Furygale Flocking is a ten-mana sorcery that gets cheaper for each spell in your graveyard. It creates two 3/3 blue and red Elemental tokens for each opponent, and we can double the tokens if we copy the spell.

The tokens have Flying and Haste, and they're forced to attack their assigned opponent if able. Typically, you want to cast this in your first main phase, but if combat would favor your opponent's blockers, it can be better to wait until post-combat in your second main.

Sram's Expertise is a Sorcery that puts three 1/1 Servo tokens on the ground for fuel. Then you get to cast a spell with mana value 3 or less for free, which is just solid extra value tacked on top of the bodies.

Next are the "Winds" in my colors that really start to shine when you're copying big spells.

Blessed Wind is a Sorcery that sets a player's life total to 20, which is great in Commander either to stabilize yourself, help an ally, or knock an opponent back down to a more manageable level if they've started running away with life gain.

Searing Wind, on the other hand, is an Instant that just hits any target for 10 damage straight up, nasty I know. It's meant to be cast from the graveyard or drawn again from the deck, and since it isn't an X spell, we know every copy will hit the same.

And next are a couple nasty synergy pieces.

Wildfire Awakener is a scalable X spell that works perfectly, as long as you have three mana and some cirtters ready to go along with it. Since this card uses Convoke, you can use untapped Creatures to pay part of the mana value. It comes in as a 3/2 body plus X in 1/1 tokens.

Those tokens aren't just for attacking -- they can tap to ping a target opponent, turning every extra body into a slow win condition or extra fuel for any plays.

Drumbellower is the three-mana 2/1 flyer that untaps all your creatures during each player's untap step. That means your whole team stays active again and again, letting you reuse your Commander and tap abilities more than once per turn.

Stormsplinter is a four-mana Red 1/4 with Haste that turns your spellcasting into extra copies of itself, though those tokens vanish at the next end step. You'll want to be sure to strike while the iron is hot with this card. It also doubles as a tap outlet for copying effects, letting you push toward quick win lines.

Flare of Duplication is a three-mana instant that can sometimes be cast for free if you sacrifice a non-token Red creature. It copies a spell you control without needing to specifically target "your" spell, which makes it flexible in the right setups. If you're sacrificing something that already drew value or was going to be used anyway, it's got value.

Finale of Glory is an play that makes X 2/2 Soldiers with Vigilance, solid on its own. But if you spend ten or more, you also get X 4/4 Angels with Flying and Vigilance, which is nasty when you're copying it or just making a ton of fuel for later.

Then Mizzix's Mastery is the four-mana option with overload for eight. This Sorcery can exile and copy one spell from our graveyard, or each spell in our graveyard if you pay the overload. Since it casts copies without caring about X scaling, it plays much nicer with big fixed effects like Searing Wind.

And now some ways to make copies.

Twinning Staff is an Artifact that turns a single copy of a spell into an additional copy, and it doesn't stop at just instants and sorceries either. It plays especially nasty with our Commander. Once you get it on the table for , it can also be activated for to copy a spell directly on the stack.

Mirari is a five-mana Legendary Artifact that lets you pay three mana when you cast an Instant or Sorcery to copy it, turning each spell into a potential double.

Now more copy effects here!

Chandra, Hope's Beacon is a six-mana Planeswalker that comes in with five loyalty and a packed kit. She'll copy your first spell each turn, with you choosing which one if there's a decision point. Her +2 ramps you for two mana, the +1 exiles the top five cards and lets you cast spells from among them until your next turn, and her -X turns into flexible burn that hits two targets for X damage each.

Double Vision is a Enchantment that cleanly copies your first Instant or Sorcery each turn.

Did I hear you ask for more copy makers?

Mica, Reader of Ruins is a Red four drop 4/4 Legendary dork with Ward -- pay three life. As we cast spells, we can sac an Artifact to get a free copy, and there is no once per turn limit here. As long as we have fuel from Servos to Treasures to even spare artifacts, we can keep the copies rolling.

Then Pyromancer's Goggles is a mana rock that will cost us to play. It taps for Red, and when we spend that mana on a spell, we get a copy of it too. Clean value right there.

Answers

Boros Charm is a two mana classic that can give all our permanents Indestructible to save us from targeted or mass removal. That's all permanents there too. It can also give a dork double strike or just shoot a player or planeswalker for four, nice flexibility there. You might also see Dawn Charm here for a Fog or its other handy modes.

Then Dawn's Truce can gift a card to give us and our stuff Hexproof, and if we did hand one out, we also get Indestructible on top for that same Heroic Intervention style rate.

Finally, Moogles' Valor is a five drop that can pump our team with 1/2 lifelink bodies for extra size, and more importantly here, it gives our whole board Indestructible too.

Next up are some burn spells.

Emeritus of Conflict is a two drop 2/2 with First Strike. As we cast our third spell in a turn, it sets up a Lightning Bolt using the Prepared mechanic, and you can keep getting those again and again as we keep chaining spells.

I also tossed in Lightning Bolt proper, and Lightning Helix as a two-cost option that still bolts something while giving us a nice life bump.

Next, I have this duo.

For , we get Wild Ricochet at Instant speed. This card will redirect a spell for us, and create a copy to send across the table to someone else. It's something that used to dominate casual and multiplayer so I wanted to give it another run in the sun. This stops a Swords to Plowshares or Murder with ease.

Then, Dualcaster Mage a 2/2 for three in Red. He has Flash so we also get him at Instant speed, and he will copy a spell on the stack.

We can use this to increase the impact of our own spells or to save ourselves.

Now let's finish with some burn related X spells.

The best here is Aurelia's Fury, an Instant in Red and White that shoots any number of dorks or players, with damage divided as we choose. This can just end games on the spot, especially with copies. It also taps Creatures that survive and locks down players hit so they can't cast noncreature spells that turn, nasty control on top.

Then Rolling Thunder is the classic X cost Red Sorcery that spreads damage around to multiple targets.

I also tossed in Comet Storm at instant speed with multikicker to hit a few things at once, and Red Sun's Zenith as a scalable burn spell that shuffles back into our deck for more runs later.

Card Draw

And now some boring card draw takes us home.

There are four spells here that discard and then draw two, while also making Treasures for future plays or even setting up Mica sacs.

Big Score is the easy splashable one, making two Treasures for four mana at instant speed, and we've got a similar but harder to cast option in Unexpected Windfall. There are also a couple Sorcery speed versions doing the same job.

Then at , Quarrel's End will discard one to draw two and make a 1/1 dork on the ground for copying spells.

I do have some Creatures with ETB value to trigger too, like the classic Mentor of the Meek for those smaller bodies where we can spend mana to draw.

Rumor Gatherer is a 2/1 that lets us Scry one every time we cast a Creature. If we cast another, we can draw a card.

Then Welcoming Vampire is a three drop 2/3 Flyer that triggers off small Creatures entering, once per turn and with no extra mana needed, giving us steady card flow off our dorks.

I adore these wheel-style effects here. They refill our hand, dump cards into the graveyard for value, and get even better when we're copying spells or just digging through a game fast.

Borrowed Knowledge is a simple four mana draw spell that just gives us three fresh cards. Clean, efficient, and exactly what we want when we need to reload.

Heartwarming Redemption is the four mana instant that discards our hand and then draws that many cards while gaining that much life too. It's great for digging deep or stabilizing at instant speed, and even better when copied since it turns into a big swing of cards and life.

Then Steal the Show is the flexible modal sorcery. One mode has each player discard their hand and draw that many cards, which can either reset the table or just refill us depending on timing. The other mode deals damage to a creature or planeswalker equal to the number of spells in our graveyard, which scales up quickly in this deck to clean out people's stuff.

How did the deck turn out?

Boros Copies | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Aziza, Mage Tower Captain

• Creatures (22)
• 1 Ashling, Flame Dancer
• 1 Bennie Bracks, Zoologist
• 1 Drumbellower
• 1 Dualcaster Mage
• 1 Emeritus of Conflict
• 1 Electro, Assaulting Battery
• 1 Guttersnipe
• 1 Leonin Lightscribe
• 1 Lorehold, the Historian
• 1 Mentor of the Meek
• 1 Mica, Reader of Ruins
• 1 Monastery Mentor
• 1 Moonshaker Cavalry
• 1 Pinnacle Monk // Mystic Peak
• 1 Prismari Pianist
• 1 Rumor Gatherer
• 1 Storm-Kiln Artist
• 1 Stormsplitter
• 1 Young Pyromancer
• 1 Welcoming Vampire
• 1 Wildfire Awakener
• 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Chandra, Hope's Beacon

• Instants (20)
• 1 Aurelia's Fury
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Comet Storm
• 1 Dawn Charm
• 1 Dawn's Truce
• 1 Flare of Duplication
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Grand Crescendo
• 1 Heartwarming Redemption
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Lightning Helix
• 1 Moogles' Valor
• 1 Searing Wind
• 1 Secure the Wastes
• 1 Stroke of Midnight
• 1 Unexpected Windfall
• 1 Will of the Mardu
• 1 Wild Ricochet

• Sorceries (19)
• 1 Blessed Wind
• 1 Borrowed Knowledge
• 1 Brass's Bounty
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Finale of Glory
• 1 Furygale Flocking
• 1 Hit the Mother Lode
• 1 Hop to It
• 1 Mizzix's Mastery
• 1 Pirate's Pillage
• 1 Pursue the Past
• 1 Quarrel's End
• 1 Red Sun's Zenith
• 1 Rolling Thunder
• 1 Seize the Spoils
• 1 Sram's Expertise
• 1 Steal the Show

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Double Vision

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Mirari
• 1 Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Twinning Staff

• Lands (25)
• 1 Abundant Countryside
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Big Apple, 3 a.m.
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dwarven Mine
• 1 Fountainport
• 1 Glittering Massif
• 1 Kher Keep
• 1 Lindblum, Industrial Regency
• 1 Memorial to Glory
• 1 Mirrex
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Radiant Summit
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rustvale Bridge
• 1 Secluded Starforge
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 The Gold Saucer
• 1 Treasure Trove
• 1 Turbulent Steppe
• 1 Urza's Factory
• 1 War Room

Buy This Deck Export text

All the synergy here is the best thing about this deck. I really like the card-draw machine of Bennie and Moonshaker Cavalry for a surprise win. I'm running the best lands that tap for tokens here, ideally dorks to tap for copies.

A sleeper card, the White magecraft Leonin Lightscribe turns all casts or copies into a pump of our team by +1/+1 that turn.

I'm not running Rituals or Storm, though. I don't feel like Rituals like Battle Hymn are fair in a copy brew making one mana for each dork we have, which sums up how I feel about Empty the Warrens on the Storm side.

I hope you enjoy this deck and embrace the chaos of Boros done well.