Boros Tokens Don't Die

We're getting radical again. This is my fifth EDH brew around a leader from TMNT, and this may be my last for a while. I'm not sure.

Over the past few weeks, I did an ultimate Rat deck built around the Rat King in Black, then Mono-Green around Mutagen Man. I also covered Gruul's (/) build around beaters and a Boros () Blink Brew around the Neutrinos.

Who is my inspiration now?

This fun dude, Old Hob, Alleycat Blues, a five drop Cat Mutant Rebel.

Meet Our Commander

Old Hob comes in as a 4/4 for and brings a combat trigger. Keep in mind that's not an attack trigger. This ability makes a temporary 2/2 Mutant token with Haste that dies at the end of turn.

But that death can be stopped by his second activated ability: we can make a token that's attacking indestructible. That means he can keep them around permanently. But that trick won't work on anything that doesn't die, right?

That's everything from sacrifices to self-exiling. Something that dies in every EOT, probably isn't worth the mana, but I could toss in a permanent that hands it out as a backup Commander.

Let's get into it.

Mana, Ramp, Lands

Alright, let's get started with these dopey mana sources.

Skyclave Relic, an Indestructible mana rock, has the chance to arrive with two copies if we pay a kicker cost of , which we can make work with more doublers, giving all of them Indestructible, too.

Then that Abundant Countryside taps for any color if we spend it on Creatures; it also gives us the choice to pay six and make a Shapeshifter 1/1 colorless dork too.

Next let's finish the secton with this duo, Fountainport and Big Apple, 3 a. m..

That colorless Fountain taps with two to let us sac a token and draw a card, which is a great deal. We can also tap it with three and pay one life for a 1/1 Fish, or tap for four to make a Treasure. There's lots of usefulness there.

Then, the Big Apple chooses a color on arrival, and can tap for it from then on. With this Land, we can also pay and tap to create a 1/1 Rat for each foe at the table.

Synergies and Win-Cons

I'll kick off our win-cons and synergies with these Flying, Indestructible things. They'll help us shut down any interaction and act as backup Commanders if needed.

The lady, Avacyn, Angel of Hope is an 8/8 for eight. She comes in with Flying, Vigilance, and Indestructible. She also makes all our other permanents Indestructible as a little bit of insurance.

Eldrazi Monument is a five-drop Artifact that arrives with a +1/+1 size boost for all our Creatures, along with granting them Flying and Indestructible. It does make us sac a dork on every upkeep to make it stick around, but that's pretty easy in a token deck like this.

I've also added in these Enchantments.

We have Nahiri's Machinations, which is a two-drop that allows us to pick a different Creature to be Indestructible until the end of turn. Also useful, we can pay over and over again to ping a blocker.

Then the Boros-colored God has us pay to get him on the board. He's a 7/4 with Devotion and Indestructible. He gives Menace to all our Creatures, making them even harder to block, and it prevents all damage they would receive in combat to boot.

Next up are some X Spell token makers.

The Instant, Grand Crescendo, is up first. It makes X amount of 1/1 Citizens, and then also randomly gives all of our creatures there Indestructible for this turn.

The Sorcery, Decree of Justice has a crazy looking mana cost at . When we play it, we'll create X amount of 4/4 White Angel tokens that can, of course, Fly. It's got cycling for and we pay X.

When we do, we get a card and X 1/1 White Soldier tokens.

I also tossed in the Creature-making Martial Coup, too. This card can destroy everything that's not one of our 1/1s if X is five or more.

Will of the Mardu is a modal Instant that will let us do both for the price of one if we control our leader. It will make a 1/1 Red Warrior token for each of our opponent's Creatures and deals X damage to a target Creature, where X is our total number of dorks.

The cost Artifact, Helm of the Host is a piece of Equipment that is really worth the fact that it's nine total mana to get it online. At the beginning of our combat, we make a free and non-legendary version of what's equipped and give it Haste.

It doesn't die EOT there either, which really slots into this brew just right.

Next up are these two things. The six-drop Planeswalker, Elspeth, Sun's Champion, arrives with four loyalty counters. Famously used in go-wide strategies, for +1, Elspeth lets us create a 1/1 White Soldier.

Then you can -3 her for a mass removal of all biggies like Retribution of the Meek.

Then that pricey Enchantment is next. For , we get City on Fire. Once it's out? We can triple our damage to all sources. That includes the Will above too.

Next up are these two enchantments in White that care about tokens.

At Mythic-level, we have Divine Visitation for . This makes it so any time we create a critter token, it becomes a 4/4 White Angel with Flying and Vigilance instead.

Then, Anointed Procession is a four-drop token doubler. As long as this Enchantment is here, all tokens double as they arrive -- not just Creatures.

You might prefer a White version of that on a Creature here instead of this harder to answer Enchantment.

Another Legendary Creature from TMNT is here, Raphael, the Nightwatcher. For , we get a 2/3 with a Sneak cost of three. As long as he's on the board, all our attackers have Double Strike.

Endless Foot Assault is , but has the Squad mechanic. We can pay as many times as we want to create that many copies of this Enchantment.

As we swing, we can make one tapped and attacking 1/1 Ninja dork for each foe there.

And now let's turn here to three-drop dorks that are win-cons in Legendary form.

Adeline, Resplendant Cathar is a Legendary lady with a power equal to the number of Creatures we control. She's gout a toughness of four so she's pretty good for defense, and she comes with in with Vigilance and an attack trigger.

Any time we swing with her, we get to make a 1/1 White Human that doesn't die at the end of turn. When these humans enter, they're tapped and attacking an opponent or one of their Planeswalkers.

For , I threw in Leonardo, Big Brother; I love his Sneak cost of just , too. He's a 1/3 that gets +1/+0 for each of our critters.

And these two legendary Boros colored buddies are here to finish this section.

The spooky Legendary Artifact, Arabella, Abandoned Doll has a great attack trigger for us but it only effects her. When she attacks, she deals X damage to every opponent and gives you X life, where X is our total number of Creatures power two or less.

Then, another Legendary but this time a three-drop 1/2 Human. Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon brings another solid attack trigger to the brew that just requires us to attack with dorks that aren't gnomes.

When we do, Anim gets a +1/+1 counter, and we get to create X 1/1 Gnome Artifact Creatures where X is equal to however many counters Anim's racked up so far. This can explode fast, and it's cumulative, so it's not just the counters from this turn.

Answers

And now let's turn to answers.

Generally, if I'm going wide and not playing Blue, I like to run cards like Heroic Intervention to help shut down mass removal. The Hexproof and Indestructible combo are pretty reliable, but this deck needs targeted interaction to keep our tokens alive.

These are great rescue options for when we don't have a lot of free mana. Dawn's Truce, total cost of two mana, is an Instant. We have to give a foe a card, but we get to give everything on our board Hexproof and Indestructible for the turn, including ourselves.

That Boros Charm is a modal Instant. We can shoot a player for four, give our team indestructible, or give something double strike. I have two other cards with this vibe, too, including Rootborn Defenses.

Next, I tossed in some on-theme removal spells that care about tokens.

A , or less if it's not our only spell this turn, we have Rally the Monastery. This Instant will either make us two 1/1 Monks with Prowess, pump two dorks +2/+2 as a combat trick, or destroy a larger body on our foe's board.

Then that three-cost Instant, Make Your Move can either disenchant something for us, destroy an Artifact, or kill a Creature with Power four or greater.

It's not Commander without some mass removal. I tossed in the two classics of Austere Command and the Blasphemous Act.

The Command lets you choose two effects; you can destroy:

1. all Artifacts
2. all Enchantments
3. all Creatures with a mana cost less than three
4. all Creatures with a mana cost greater than four

Just cast this one when needed to save the team, then you can push it with Indestructible to win. Remember tokens have a zero-mana value.

Then the Act, which is probably going to be cheaper than a nine-drop for us with this deck. This Sorcery deals 13 damage to every Creature on the board.

That'll count as triple with City on Fire, and, again, we can save ourselves with a little Indestructible.

Card Draw

Now, of course, some card draw to take us home.

Raphael's Technique is a six-drop but has a Sneak cost of just . This Instant has everyone that wants to Wheel their hand. With some of the best card draw spells in Commander being Wheels, this is amazing. It's even better at Instant speed.

Staff of the Storyteller is cheap at a cost of just two; this White Artifact brings a 1/1 White Spirit token when it enters. Then, any time we create a token, the Staff gets a story counter.

We can spend and a story counter to draw a card.

Last up is these two cards.

Idol of Oblivion is a two-drop Artifact that taps for free to draw a card on any turn where we've made a token. We can also tap and sac for to make a 10/10 Eldrazi token if we want.

I hear you on the doublers, right? And then, Carnage Altar lets us spend three mana over and over again to trade a critter for a card.

I also have Skullclamp here, plus War Room and Minas Tirith too.

How the Deck Turned Out

Ready for my decklist? I got you!

My Boros Tokens Don't Die Brew | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Old Hob, Alleycat Blues

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 1 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
• 1 Anger
• 1 Arabella, Abandoned Doll
• 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Exalted Sunborn
• 1 Iroas, God of Victory
• 1 Jennika, Bad Apple Big Sister
• 1 Leonardo, Big Brother
• 1 Raphael, the Nightwatcher
• 1 Sally Pride, Lioness Leader
• 1 Siege-Gang Commander
• 1 Slash, Reptile Rampager
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1 Triceraton Commander
• 1 Welcoming Vampire

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

• Instants (14)
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Dawn's Truce
• 1 Demand Answers
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Grand Crescendo
• 1 Make Your Move
• 1 Rally the Monastery
• 1 Raphael's Technique
• 1 Rootborn Defenses
• 1 Unbreakable Formation
• 1 Wear // Tear
• 1 Will of the Mardu

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Martial Coup

• Enchantments (7)
• 1 Anointed Procession
• 1 Assemble the Legion
• 1 City on Fire
• 1 Divine Visitation
• 1 Endless Foot Assault
• 1 Intangible Virtue
• 1 Nahiri's Machinations

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Carnage Altar
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Idol of Oblivion
• 1 Eldrazi Monument
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Skyclave Relic
• 1 Staff of the Storyteller
• 1 The Fire Crystal

• Lands (40)
• 9 Mountain
• 9 Plains
• 1 Abundant Countryside
• 1 Big Apple, 3 a.m.
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dwarven Mine
• 1 Fountainport
• 1 Kher Keep
• 1 Memorial to Glory
• 1 Minas Tirith
• 1 Mirrex
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rustvale Bridge
• 1 Secluded Starforge
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 The Gold Saucer
• 1 Treasure Trove
• 1 War Room
• 1 Urza's Factory

Buy This Deck Export text

There we go; I hope you have tons of fun playing this one.

If you wanted to switch it up, we could toss in things like Kjeldoran Outpost, All-Fates Scroll, or Karn's Bastion, or even more 'sac for card draw' stuff or tons more X spell token makers.

I tossed in the White Dino Dude, but you could add tons of tokens makers, and Brash Taunter and Stuffy Doll to finish off players with the Act.