Pioneer: Boros Wizards - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

Cori-Steel Cutter has arrived in yet another format. In addition to boosting Izzet Phoenix decks in Pioneer, Prowess variants have been given a boost with the Tarkir: Dragonstorm artifact, and while it took some time for them to appear, the Boros version reached the top of the Challenges at the end of April.

Using the Wizard shell to sequence cheap spells and gain access to Wizard’s Lightning, this new Prowess variant takes advantage of the explosive potential of Burn with the resilience offered by the new equipment. In this article, we analyze the archetype and prepare a guide for the main matchups of the current Metagame!

This was the list used by the player LuffyDoChapeuDePalha in the Pioneer Challenge on April 27th. Overall, the list mixes a Boros Burn plan with Wizard-type creatures to obtain Wizard’s Lightning and increase the amount of aggressive one-drops that complement the Cori-Steel Cutter plan with cheap spells.

Cutter, in fact, gives the deck the resilience it needs against removal and cheap interaction, putting it in a more favorable position in the Metagame, perhaps as a potential competitor for the best Prowess variant slot against the Rakdos version, currently more reliant on the Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger package.

Maindeck

The one-drops.

Ghitu Lavarunner and Soul-Scar Mage are on the list to enable Wizard’s Lightning as early as the second turn, but they have other relevant properties such as maintaining immediate impact in longer games, being cheap one-drops to sequence with another spell and Cori-Steel Cutter, in addition to Soul-Scar Mage permanently reducing the power of larger creatures on the board and scaling with Prowess triggers.

Monastery Swiftspear is the classic one-drop for red Aggro and should remain a Pioneer staple for a few more years. In this list, we boosted its utility by including cheap damage and pump spells.

Slickshot Show-Off offers the explosive potential of the list. With two spells, he can deal at least five damage on top of what the Burn already dealt, and it even starts to allow for some combo-kills with Boros Charm granting it Double Strike.

Cori-Steel Cutter takes advantage of the range of cheap spells to exert additional pressure on the board each turn. Since most of them are instants, it is possible to sequence some in the opponent's end step, or even in response to the attack, to create tokens and perform some combat tricks, or just increase the number of creatures on the board.

Unfortunately, since we don't have many draw effects in the maindeck, our scope with Cutter is reduced in longer games, so we need to sequence extra copies of it with more priority than other spells if they don't win the game that turn.

The Burn. Each of them has the main function of closing the game early against the opponent, but most also serve to control the board in Aggro mirrors.

Burst Lightning and Wizard’s Lightning cost little and deal considerable damage to the opponent while dealing with small creatures. Burst Lightning can be amplified in longer games to close the game.

Lightning Helix is a choice to delay the Aggro mirror clock while advancing ours, and also works as a traditional damage spell in other games.

Boros Charm has modal effects that can be used for different circumstances, but the main modes deals four damage for , or guarantee Double Strike for Slickshot Show-Off to close the lethal damage.

Despite being a pump, Monstrous Rage does a bit of everything between protecting our creatures from damage-based removal, granting them evasion, and also functioning virtually as a Lightning Bolt when the opponent doesn't block one of our creatures.

Light up the Stage is the only way we have to sequence spells in longer games, but it's a bit too slow to use four copies. Since we have so many cheap ways to deal damage early in the game, we can often cast it for , and if the game goes on for longer, the cost can be neglected for a turn or two if it means finding another card to trigger Cori-Steel Cutter.

As a traditional Aggro deck, we have little flexibility in our lands because we need as much consistency as possible in both color access and mana availability, totalling 14 dual untapped lands.

Our flexible land slots are limited to those we can use in longer games to close out the game, either with the extra damage from Ramunap Ruins, or with Den of the Bugbear attacking after a sweeper like Supreme Verdict or Temporary Lockdown.

Sideboard

Complementary removal.

Sheltered by Ghosts plays mainly in Aggro mirrors, be they Prowess/Burn/Mono Red, or against go wide decks like Humans. After all, its main purpose is not always to remove a permanent, but to considerably delay the number of turns until the opponent can close the game.

Get Lost is the standard answer against everything that damage spells can't solve: Planeswalkers like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, enchantments like Unholy Annex and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, or even larger and troublesome creatures like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Redcap Melee is our answer to red aggro mirrors. Since it has a low-cost requirement, it is also possible to use it against non-red archetypes and/or with light splashes that demand more responses of four damage and/or at instant speed, like Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

Rest in Peace is our default response to graveyards. While it may not last forever in the game, the turns we gain by putting it into play and forcing our opponent to answer or play around it tend to secure our victory in games where it matters.

Case of the Crimson Pulse is our attrition tool. Boros Wizards lacks resilience in longer games and is easy to empty its hand, making this enchantment an ideal choice for longer games where we need extra gas.

Rakdos Demons

IN

OUT

Mono Red Lynx

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Rakdos Prowess

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Mardu Greasefang

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!