Guild · Color Identity
Boros (Red-White): History, Playstyle and Best Commanders
Red-white attacks. Boros is the most aggressive identity in Magic and, for most of Commander's history, was its weakest: a color pair with no card draw and no ramp in a format built for both. That has changed more than its reputation has.
Boros is red and white, the two-color identity. Righteous violence, immediately: combat tricks, equipment and an army of tokens.
Also called RW, Boros Legion.
Where the Name Comes From
The Boros Legion, Ravnica's militant guild, named in Ravnica: City of Guilds (2005).
The Boros Legion is Ravnica's army and police force, founded by the angel Razia and driven by a conviction that righteousness demands action. It was one of the four guilds in the original 2005 set, and every keyword it has ever been given is about attacking: Radiance in Ravnica, Battalion in Gatecrash, Mentor in Guilds of Ravnica.
Boros is also the clearest example of a color pair whose Commander reputation lagged years behind its card pool. In a hundred-and-twenty-life multiplayer format, a pairing with no card draw, no ramp and no way to answer a resolved engine was genuinely the weakest of the ten, and "Boros needs help" was a running joke for a decade. Wizards has since given both colors real card advantage (impulse draw in red, life-payment and combat-triggered draw in white) plus treasure ramp and a run of powerful red-white commanders. The joke is now out of date, though it is still repeated.
All 32 color combinations and where each name came from →How Boros Plays
Boros wins with combat, and the modern versions win with combat multipliers rather than with individual creatures. Extra combat steps, double strike, damage doubling and effects that trigger on attacking are all red-white, and stacking two of them turns a modest board into a lethal one. The identity's best decks are usually built around one such multiplier rather than around a curve of creatures.
Equipment and Auras are its other home. White has the best protection and the best equipment payoffs, red has the cheapest efficient equipment and haste, so a Voltron deck that gets one creature enormous and connects once is a very Boros way to end a game, and commander damage means twenty-one is a much shorter road than forty.
The pairing's remaining weakness is what happens when the attack does not work. Boros has no way to counter a spell, no enchantment removal from red and only moderate amounts from white, no recursion, and card draw that is either impulse-based or attached to attacking. A Boros deck that gets its board wiped twice has a genuinely hard time coming back, so the decks that succeed are built to close early and to protect the one creature that matters.
What It Does Well, and What It Doesn't
Strengths
- The best combat multipliers in Magic: extra combats, double strike and damage doubling.
- The most efficient removal of any pairing for creatures, artifacts and planeswalkers alike.
- Equipment and protection, so a single creature can carry a game and survive being targeted.
- Cheap, wide token production plus anthems, which pairs with everything above.
Weaknesses
- Card draw is the historic hole and is still the pairing's worst axis, though it is no longer empty.
- Almost no ramp beyond artifacts and treasure, so the deck is slow to reach its expensive payoffs.
- No recursion. A destroyed Boros permanent is gone, and two board wipes are usually fatal.
- Nothing interacts with the stack, so any resolved combo or engine has to be answered afterwards.
Best Boros Commanders
The command zones that define the identity rather than the ones winning this week: the pips beside each name are its color identity, which is what it lets you play in the other 99.
Commander Spotlight
Winota, Joiner of Forces ↗
Every non-Human that connects puts a Human from the top six onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. It converts a board of tokens into the deck's best creatures mid-combat, and it is banned in several formats for good reason.
Feather, the Redeemed ↗
Every targeted instant and sorcery you aim at your own creatures comes back at end of turn. Cantrips and combat tricks become a card-advantage engine.
Aurelia, the Warleader ↗
An extra combat step every time it attacks, with everything untapped. The most direct statement of the Boros plan in the format.
Iroas, God of Victory ↗
Your creatures cannot be blocked by more than one creature and take no damage while attacking. Alpha-striking into a full board becomes free.
Firesong and Sunspeaker ↗
Red damage spells gain you life and white lifegain spells deal damage. The rare Boros commander that is genuinely a spells deck.
Tajic, Blade of the Legion ↗
Indestructible, and gets a counter for every creature that enters under your control. A resilient Voltron target that survives your own sweepers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Boros mean in Magic?
Boros is the red-white guild of Ravnica: the Boros Legion, the plane's militant guild of angels and soldiers founded by the archangel Razia. It appeared in Ravnica: City of Guilds in 2005, and "Boros" is now the standard shorthand for the red-white color pair in every format, Commander included.
Is Boros still the worst color pair in Commander?
No, though the reputation persists. The complaint was specific and it was correct at the time: red-white had no card draw and no ramp in a format that rewards both heavily. Both have since been addressed (impulse draw and treasure in red, combat-triggered and life-payment draw in white), and the pairing has picked up several genuinely strong commanders. It is still the weakest identity at grinding a long game, and it is no longer a bad choice.
How does a Boros deck draw cards?
Three ways, and most decks use all three. Impulse draw exiles cards off the top to be played this turn; white pays life or gains cards for attacking and for playing equipment; and colorless artifacts that any deck can run fill the rest. The one thing to avoid is building the deck as though card draw does not exist: that is exactly the trap that gave Boros its reputation.
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