There’s no worse feeling in MTG than getting all your lands blown up and being unable to cast your spells. While land destruction decks don’t tend to be super popular in Commander for that reason, they have been picking up steam in Constructed over the last year. Boros Ponza has emerged as a strong Modern deck choice, and now, it’s even putting up notable finishes in Pioneer.
Prolonging the Game
At its core, this Boros Land Destruction deck piloted by Magic Online user komattaman is designed to control the game while obliterating opposing mana bases. Field of Ruin and Demolition Field make this game plan possible by eating away at opposing nonbasic lands as early as turn two. Because most top Pioneer decks run only a few basic lands, your opponents will run out of basics to search for faster than you might think.
As a result, over time, Cleansing Wildfire and Price of Freedom start to turn into two-mana Stone Rains. They also have the upside of cantripping, pulling you ahead on cards while your opponent struggles to cast theirs.
The main concern with this style of strategy historically, though, is that it’s not always easy to blow up lands while simultaneously staving off opposing pressure. Luckily, the printing of Avengers Disassembled completely changed that narrative, bolstering your game plan and serving as a catch-up mechanism. Then, once you stabilize, Erode and Emergency Eject can efficiently deal with bigger threats that slip through the cracks.
Once your opponent is constrained on mana, you’re free to jam The Legend of Roku
The Legend of Roku(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Exile the top three cards of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards.
II — Add one mana of any color.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control. or Chandra, Torch of Defiance to close games. Even though you don’t run many finishers, Cori Mountain Monastery does a great job finding them in a timely manner.
Exploiting a Metagame
Overall, what makes Boros Land Destruction such a powerful archetype is that it covers a lot of bases in a variety of matchups. On one hand, the land destruction package shines bright against slower decks like Golgari Midrange and Azorius Control that struggle to apply early pressure. You also have ample answers to Planeswalkers, so Professor Dellian Fel and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria are of minimal concern.
Yet, at the same time, Avengers Disassembled and Day of Judgment make your aggro matchups elite. Even against Mono-Red or Mono-White aggro with lots of basic lands, you can simply play the control role. These decks typically rely on Mutavault
Mutavault{T}: Add {C}.
{1}: This land becomes a 2/2 creature with all creature types until end of turn. It's still a land. and other utility lands to grind past control, and you easily keep them in check. Things only get easier in sideboarded games thanks to Beza, the Bounding Spring and Authority of the Consuls.
Even with so much going in the deck’s favor, though, Boros Land Destruction has some key vulnerabilities. This deck’s biggest weakness is its inability to apply pressure, which hurts against combo decks like Abzan Greasefang and Sultai Scapeshift. Having access to a full sideboard of Rest in Peace
Rest in PeaceWhen this enchantment enters, exile all graveyards.
If a card or token would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. certainly helps, but giving the opponent so much time to draw answers isn’t ideal. Additionally, decks like Izzet Prowess that can apply pressure and back it up with Spell Pierce
Spell PierceCounter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {2}. have an easier time beating your board wipes.
Even with these issues, however, Boros Land Destruction still clearly has a lot of appeal in the current metagame. Following its second-place finish in the most recent Magic Online Regional Championship Qualifier, it could easily gain more traction in the coming weeks.
Stick with us here at dev.mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!
