The Secrets of Strixhaven prerelease is now behind us and we've got a couple of months to enjoy an expansion that is firmly situated within the world of Magic: The Gathering.

When summer eventually rolls around, we'll be back to Universes Beyond sets, with Marvel Super Heroes in late June and The Hobbit in August. I'm going to try to enjoy this set as I'm definitely not the biggest fan of UB.

The headliners for SOS are the five Elder Dragons that founded Strixhaven University on the plane of Arcavios. Each of these Legendary Creatures is associated with a color pair in Magic. Last week I tackled Golgari () with Witherbloom, the Balancer.

This week I'm going to take a leap across the color pie to explore Boros () and write about Lorehold, the Historian. I've suggested that this cycle of Legendary Elder Dragons is a bit pushed, and while I still think that is true, I did my best to make sure today's list has room for you to move it up or down in power to match your preferred playstyle.

Lorehold, the Historian is a 5/5 five mana Legendary Elder Dragon with Flying, Haste, and two pretty strong abilities to build around.

When Lorehold is under your control, each Instant and Sorcery card in your hand has Miracle . That means that if a card is the first card you've drawn this turn, you may reveal it and cast it for two mana.

It's important to note that Miracle gets around timing restrictions, as the ability is creating a one-time window where you can cast the spell for its alternate cost. You cannot cast it later in the turn for that same cost, and you cannot choose a different alternative cost and still pay the Miracle cost. That just means you can't cast a two-mana, overloaded Vandalblast or Cyclonic Rift as a Miracle.

That's a strong ability, and it is made stronger by the last ability in Lorehold, the Historian's text box. At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, you may discard a card. If you do, you'll draw a card.

This effect is called Rummaging, and it makes Lorehold, the Historian much stronger as it provides a constant stream of opportunities to dig through your deck to find something impactful to cast at the start of a turn. That turn could be your own, but with these regular discard and draw triggers it could just as easily be someone else's turn.

There are a few directions I could take Lorehold, the Historian beyond the obvious focus on Instants and Sorceries. Since I'm in Red I could build around burn spells and damage doublers. Since I've got a reliable way to dig through our library, I could build Lorehold as a combo deck so I have something to dig for.

I could even lean on token generators and run a token swarm strategy with support from Enchantments like Anointed Procession and Cathars' Crusade.

As is my habit, I'm going to avoid running Game Changers and combo win conditions and build a deck that is more likely to be playable in Bracket 2 and Bracket 3 games. This might be a bit too much for Bracket 2, but I've been aiming towards lower powered lists a lot lately.

Topdeck Manipulation

The first things I thought of running in this list were ways to put cards on top of my library.

Back in the day I had a Narset, Enlightened Master deck that I tuned up as much as possible. Part of that deck's strategy was putting cards on top of my library so I could swing with Narset and if she survived combat, hopefully launch into a combination of extra turn and combat step spells that would have been stuck in my hand.

Playing Narset was a lot of fun back in the mid 2010s, and Lorehold, the Historian can definitely pick up a few things from that experience.

Scroll Rack is a powerful two-drop Artifact that should set up my rummage trigger quite nicely. For , I can tap it and exile any number of cards from my hand face down and put that many cards from the top of my library into my hand. Then I'll look at the exiled cards and put them on top of my library in any order.

If I've got a handful of prohibitively expensive Instants and/or Sorceries, I can set up the next turn cycle to cast each of them for the low cost of two mana each with a Lorehold rummage trigger.

I love finding obscure old cards and making them put in work in Commander decks, so Penance and Hidden Retreat were exciting finds when I was in the early stages of tuning up that old Narset deck. Penance is a White Enchantment that simply lets me put a card from my hand on top of my library to prevent all damage from a Black or Red source.

The oracle text for Penance specifies that the next time a Black or Red source of my choice would deal damage this turn, prevent that damage. That means there doesn't even need to be a Black or Red source on the battlefield or on the stack to use this ability.

Hidden Retreat is a bit trickier, but still worth running. When this White Enchantment is in play, I can put a card from my hand on top of my library to prevent all damage that would be dealt by target Instant or Sorcery spell this turn. That means there must be an Instant or Sorcery spell on the stack for me to use this ability. The good news is that the spell I'm targeting doesn't have to be able to deal damage.

An opponent's Rampant Growth or Opt may not be very likely to do damage to me, but I can still target it and put a card on top of my library. I can also target my own spells, so if I cast a Miracle on one opponent's upkeep, I can set up my rummage trigger for the next player's turn before my miracle resolves.

I'm also running Orcish Librarian, an old card from Time Spiral illustrated by the great Phil Foglio. It's just a 1/1 Orc that has an activated ability that costs and lets me look at the top eight cards of my library. I'll exile four of them at random and then put the rest on top of my library in any order. Cards like this are very divisive.

If I were looking for combo pieces, I'd never want to lose four cards randomly from my deck. I'm hesitant to recommend Orcish Librarian, but I like to try out weird cards, and I think this one is worth a try. I've got a decent chance at setting up a good topdeck for one of my rummage triggers, and if I don't like how it plays, I can always swap it out.

Rummage, Damage

There are things we don't have words for in Magic, at least not yet. Rummage damage, or... drammadge? Drumage? Rumdamage? Whatever we want to call it, I want to take the turn by turn draw and discard triggers Lorehold gives me and I want to turn it into damage.

It won't be a ton of damage, but these things add up and for lower powered games it feels like a pretty fair and sensible way to try to push down my tablemates' life totals.

Glint-Horn Buccaneer is a game-ending combo piece in Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator decks, but in Lorehold, the Historian it will simply give me a reliable way to ping my opponents when I'm drawing and discarding cards. Magmakin Artillerist is in the list as another Pirate that can push out damage when I discard cards.

Damage when drawing cards is just as good, if not better, so Psychosis Crawler fits into this list nicely. I'm not confident it will ever have a huge power and toughness, but as long as it's pushing out damage that's what matters.

Cool But Rude was a bit of a surprise when I was assembling this deck. This Tenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Enchantment is a Class that lets me pay mana to level it up. The base level lets me discard and draw whenever I attack.

If I pay I can push it up to Level 2, at which point whenever I discard a card it will deal two damage to each opponent. When I push it to Level 3 I can essentially get a Gamble effect, searching my library for a card, putting it into my hand and then discarding a card at random.

Cards like Brallin, Skyshark Rider might be the best "drammadge" source in this deck, but I won't be tutoring up its partner, Shabbraz, the Skyshark, as Shabraz is in White and Blue and Lorehold's color identity is White and Red. Brallin pushes out one damage to each opponent when I discard a card, and it will get a +1/+1 counter.

Marauding Mako, Ivora, Insatiable Heir, and Surly Badgersaur can also get +1/+1 counters when I discard cards, though the latter only gets them when I discard Creature cards.

When I discard a Land, Surly Badgersaur will have me create a Treasure token, and when I discard a noncreature, nonland card, it will fight up to one target Creature I don't control.

I've got a few other ways to get value out of discarding cards in this list. Containment Construct will let me exile a discarded card and play it that turn, so I don't actually lose the card. I just have to have the mana to cast it, and it will need to be an Instant if it's not my turn.

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun will let me exile the top card of my library when I discard one or more cards and I'll be able to play that card until my next end step.

Dropping Bombs

It would be pretty silly to build a Lorehold, the Historian deck without any focus on playing huge two-cost spells. I'm not above building silly decks, but this deck's topdeck manipulation subtheme is there for a reason. We want to play some big spells for a measly two mana.

It's worth remembering that X spells would be cast for their Miracle cost with a X value of zero, so I'm not running Comet Storm or any other X spells that a Boros deck might normally run.

That doesn't mean there isn't a ton of value to be found in paying two for a spell that would normally cost much more.

Storm Herd has long been one of my favorite big mana spells. I run it in Elminster to try to exile it off the top of my deck and make ten 1/1 Faerie Dragon tokens. When successfully cast, this ten mana White Sorcery simply creates X 1/1 White Pegasus tokens with Flying, where X is my life total.

Even if I've taken a bunch of damage, it's still a great way to suddenly have a bunch of blockers that I can attack with on my turn.

Taking damage is likely going to be a problem with this deck. My focus on Instant and Sorcery spells has me running less Creatures than I usually run, so hitting a spell like Invincible Hymn will feel great.

For , this Sorcery will have me count the number of cards in my library, and will set my life total to that number. I'll still be vulnerable to Commander damage, infect, poison, and a truly huge alpha strike, but it should buy me some time to find ways to try to win.

Eight mana can also do some pretty splashy things in Red and Call Forth the Tempest is a great way to get even move value and hopefully clear out some of my opponents' Creatures. To start off, this spell will Cascade twice. That means I'll reveal cards from the top of my library until I reveal a card with a mana value of seven or less. I'll cast that card and then I'll Cascade again.

After both Cascade triggers, Call Forth the Tempest will deal damage to each Creature my opponents control equal to the total mana value of other spells I've cast this turn. That could be as little as two damage but it could also be a lot more.

Not every spell has to cast an insane amount of mana to be worth running in Lorehold, the Historian, so I've got a decent number of spells in the four to seven mana range.

Card draw is always important in Commander and I'm really a bit nervous that this deck isn't going to get as much draw as I'd like. I'm running a few cards to help with that.

Borrowed Knowledge will have me discard my hand and either draw cards equal to the number of cards in target opponent's hand, or equal to the number of cards I discarded. The former will probably be the better option, but I like that it gives me the choice.

I'm also running Secret Rendezvous, which will have me and target opponent each draw three cards, and a pair of wheels in Khorvath's Fury and Reforge the Soul.

Messing with combat is a favorite thing to do in Red and White, and I've got a few spells that can do that. Master Warcraft will let me decide which Creatures attack, which Creatures block and how they block, but I have to cast it before the 'declare attackers' combat step.

Since Lorehold's rummage trigger happens at the start of each opponent's turn, that shouldn't be a problem if I draw and cast it for two as a Miracle. I'm also running Taunt from the Rampart, a Sorcery which will Goad all Creatures my opponents control and keep them from being able to block.

I ended up running two cards with Assist: Bring Down and Play of the Game. The Assist keyword means that another player can help me cast these spells. If I'm casting either of them as a Miracle, I will have the opportunity to entice an opponent to pay for all of that mana.

I'll probably try to make that happen just to see if I can get away with it. Letting a tablemate choose the target creature with power four or greater that gets destroyed might be enough to convince them to make such a deal. Play of the Game is a boardwipe that exiles all nonland permanents for .

That's a pretty big effect and will remove Lorehold along with everything else that isn't a Land, but there might be cases where a tablemate would pay to make that happen.

Getting my tablemates to do my dirty work is something I've always found entertaining, and may be why I throw Mob Rule and Deflecting Swat into this brew. I left out Insurrection, not because it isn't a big mana spell, or because it isn't effective, but because I don't find it all that sporting.

At least with Mob Rule you have to choose to grab either Creatures with power four or greater, or Creatures with power three or less.

Don't Know Much About History

The basic premise of today's list is that I'm going to try to squeeze lots of value out of casting big spells for two mana once I've gotten Lorehold, the Historian into play. I've played enough Commander to know that if my deck is too powerful, and squeezes too much value out of those big spells, nobody will let me keep Lorehold in play for long enough for the deck to be playable.

I'll either do a ton and crush tables, or I'll sit around hoping to eventually hardcast my big spells. Lorehold, the Historian isn't necessarily a trap, but it is a card you need to be careful with. My games are often at Bracket 2 and Bracket 3 tables, so this build is set up to at least try to play something of a fair game that my tablemates might actually enjoy.

The range of spells you could run with Lorehold is impressive, and I do find myself wondering if a token generator build would be both effective and a lot of fun.

From the ten-mana Storm Herd all the way down to the two-mana Dragon Fodder, I think such a deck could probably play a fair and entertaining game without making casual tables feel like they were getting pubstomped. That is the risk when playing a deck that can save you so much mana when casting big spells.

Lorehold, the Historian | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Lorehold, the Historian

• Creatures (16)
• 1 Brallin, Skyshark Rider
• 1 Containment Construct
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Glint-Horn Buccaneer
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 1 Ivora, Insatiable Heir
• 1 Magmakin Artillerist
• 1 Marauding Mako
• 1 Orcish Librarian
• 1 Psychosis Crawler
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Storm-Kiln Artist
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Surly Badgersaur
• 1 The Dawning Archaic

• Instants (12)
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Deflecting Palm
• 1 Erode
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Master Warcraft
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Reprieve
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Tibalt's Trickery
• 1 War Report

• Sorceries (22)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Borrowed Knowledge
• 1 Brass's Bounty
• 1 Breath of Life
• 1 Bring Down
• 1 Call Forth the Tempest
• 1 Cleansing Nova
• 1 Hit the Mother Lode
• 1 Invincible Hymn
• 1 Khorvath's Fury
• 1 Late to Dinner
• 1 Mob Rule
• 1 Past in Flames
• 1 Play of the Game
• 1 Reforge the Soul
• 1 Restoration Seminar
• 1 Resurrection
• 1 Reversal of Fortune
• 1 Secret Rendezvous
• 1 Storm Herd
• 1 Taunt from the Rampart

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Cool but Rude
• 1 Hidden Retreat
• 1 Penance

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Brainstone
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Monument to Endurance
• 1 Scroll Rack
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Lands (37)
• 13 Mountain
• 13 Plains
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Furycalm Snarl
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Sunbillow Verge
• 1 Sundown Pass

Buy This Deck Export text

I'm used to playing decks with at least a couple of dozen Creatures, so this list does make me a little nervous. If you wanted to try to bring it down in power, you might want to drop out some of the bigger bombs, and load in a few more bodies to put on the battlefield.

Mother of Runes and Giver of Runes would help protect Lorehold, and both protecting your Commander and making the spells you can cast a little less scary will go a long way towards making this Commander playable in lower powered metas.

If you wanted to push this list up in power, you might still want to load in Mother of Runes and Giver of Runes, but you'd also want to make sure you're digging for much more impactful cards to try to win the game.

The damage discard plan is probably one of the first things to drop out, and a healthy number of boardwipes and ways to protect your Commander might be worth adding.

Your wincons could be anything from Insurrection, Approach of the Second Sun, or Heliod, Sun-Crowned and Walking Ballista, to Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker combo lines with Felidar Guardian and all of the other cards that make Kiki-Jiki go "brrrrr."

Final Thoughts

I was optimistic at first when I started brewing up this list, but in my heart of hearts I just don't think I'm a Boros player. I had a few false starts when brewing before I ended up focusing on this mishmash of impactful Instants and Sorceries.

It is very possible to win games by simply squeezing more value out of the mana you have available than anyone else at the table, but you do have to have ways to push damage out to your opponents or otherwise find a way to come out on top.

I have to note that if your Lorehold, the Historian build seems to lack the ability to close out games, you might want to look at running a few Voltron staples like Blackblade Reforged, Strata Scythe, and even Excalibur, Sword of Eden.

Lorehold has Flying and Haste so Commander damage isn't out of the question as a way to kill other players off.

I was more interested in building around Instants and Sorceries and as a result I may have neglected running enough ways to push damage out through combat.

It's very possible that Lorehold, the Historian will become seen as a "kill on sight" Commander, and when playing against strangers you need to remember that they will imagine the most powerful Lorehold build they've seen until you prove that you're not trying to be as degenerate as possible.

You may have to suffer through a few games where Lorehold doesn't last long, but if you are truly trying to play a less degenerate game, keep at it and hopefully you'll eventually get a chance to actually play your deck and show your friends it's not that bad.

If you are trying to play a really degenerate build, that's great. I hope that is the kind of game your playgroup enjoys, and I hope you have more games where you get to "do the thing" than not.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!