Pioneer: Boros Mice - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Boros Mice is a well-known Standard deck that uses the mice package with other efficient typal and spells synergies to create a very fast and consistent Aggro, but with resilience through cards like Boros Charm.

Last week, it was the archetype's turn to find space in Pioneer. Unlike the traditional Standard version, player CrusherBotBG takes advantage of the interaction between Bladehold War Whip and cheap equipment to trigger Valiant - Bloomburrow's mice's main ability - consistently every turn.

In this article, we delve deeper into this new Aggro variant of Pioneer, with a Sideboard guide for the main matchups of the current Metagame!

This is basically the same list ran by player CrusherBotBG to reach the Top 8 of the Pioneer Challenge on March 11. Changes include reducing the number of Lost Jitte to have a full set of Shardmage’s Rescue, as well as the inclusion of Destroy Evil in the Sideboard and a one-of of Raise the Past to turn some games against sweepers.

The plan for this deck mixes the already famous mice package with Bladehold War Whip and equipment with activation cost to trigger all instances of Valiant on all your creatures every turn, creating snowballs against your opponents.

Boros Mice in Pioneer excels mainly in non-interactive games or Aggro mirrors, but the ability of Offspring combined with the permanent threat of artifacts to trigger any creature coming from the top, guarantees resilience in longer games.

Maindeck

Flowerfoot Swordmaster grants a power boost to all mice in play, and can create a copy of itself for the cost of Offspring. Combined with an equipment and a reduced activation value, they grant +2/+0 to all mice each turn.

Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger are classic threats for the red Aggro of Pioneer and Standard today and have the same function here of pressuring opponents while easily triggering Valiant, becoming bigger threats and/or generating card advantage.

Manifold Mouse is the Embercleave for mice and one of the main means of pressuring opponents. Despite not having the traditional pumps, the equipments on the list allow to considerably increase the power of a creature before giving it Trample and Double Strike.

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame doubles as a mass pump for the mice while putting another equipment on the board, which grants Trample, Haste and Vigilance.

Bladehold War Whip is the core of the list. In addition to creating a creature with Double Strike when it enters, the artifact reduces the equip cost of other equipment, making Lavaspur Boots, Lost Jitte and Shadowspear castable for free.

Lavaspur Boots does a bit of everything: grants Haste, increased power and provides a slight protection that slows down the opponent's interactions, especially in multiple copies.

Shadowspear grants Trample and Lifeline to the equipped creature, being essential in games against Aggro or in games with plenty of chump blocks.

Lost Jitte never had much space in Pioneer or Standard, but Boros Mice is a good starting point due to the interaction of the equipment with Manifold Mouse and Bladehold War Whip that allows putting two counters on it, which can later be used to move blockers out of the way, generate mana, or strengthen the equipped creature.

Chainsaw doubles as equipment and board interaction, with the bonus of getting stronger with each creature destroyed, becoming lethal after a sweeper with any creature coming from the top or with Mutavault.

Shardmage’s Rescue is a protection spell that guarantees the enchanted creature survives against removal for one turn for one mana. Since this is an archetype focused on combo-kills, having instant-speed protection is essential.

As an aggressive deck, Boros Mice needs as many untapped duals as possible that grant access to colors without too many conditions, so a full set of Pioneer's main duals is the best choice.

Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance and Mutavault provide more ways to take advantage of the equipment on the board. In addition, Mutavault is a mouse which can take advantage of interactions with Manifold Mouse and Flowerfoot Swordmaster.

Rockface Village interacts with any mice to guarantee their Valiant while providing Haste, while Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire operates as another board interaction for longer games.

Sideboard

Portable Hole is the main interaction against Aggro decks, and also works in Jund Sacrifice games to deal with Witch’s Oven and Scavenger’s Talent.

Destroy Evil deals with larger creatures while also destroying some troublesome enchantments like Temporary Lockdown and Unholy Annex.

Sheltered by Ghosts can exile any permanent, but under the condition that it needs to enchant a creature, making it less reliable against removal but excellent in Aggro mirrors.

Rest in Peace is the standard answer against graveyards and is our best bet against Izzet Phoenix, Jund Sacrifice, and Greasefang.

Damping Sphere is a specific answer against Lotus Combo. Although Boros Mice is an Aggro, it is not always fast enough to close the game before the opponent can interact, so delaying the combo for a few turns is more than needed.

Raise the Past works mainly against sweepers that destroy, such as Supreme Verdict, Path of Peril and Deafening Clarion, allowing to come back into the game also in longer games, where casting it with the full package of Manifold Mouse and Emberheart Challenger or Heartfire Hero with Lavaspur Boots can help turn around otherwise lost games.

Urabrask’s Forge provides more resilience against removal. Unfortunately, it is not possible to equip the token, since it enters at the beginning of combat, but this artifact punishes the opponent for each turn the game goes on.

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Rakdos Prowess

IN

OUT

Atarka Gruul

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Lotus Combo

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!