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By: Arctic_Ghost, Arctic_Ghost
Jan 18 2022 2:00pm
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Boros midrange decks can come in many forms. You can use a go wide strategy with tokens, a more control approach with utilizing the Monarch mechanic and you can also go a more burn heavy route with Galvanic Blast. The archetype we will look at today is usually called Boros Bully and the archetype has come a long way since Deluxicoff (check them out on youtube!) first created the deck.

The list we will be looking at today is from the 5-0 dump from 1/5/2022 and was piloted by the player Tarmofir3. This is Boros Bully. You have a lot of ways to draw cards, a lot of ways to constantly flood the battlefield and essentially bully your opponent. Let’s talk about it.


Luminarch Veteran – I like this card a lot. It can gain you a lot of life and can help you buy time against other aggro decks so that you can set up a big board state and then win in 1 big turn. The cool part is, it has the Disturb mechanic. This means it can come back and whats even better is that it comes back as a creature with flying, however the downside is that now you gain life when your creatures die, but I don’t think that matters to much and in some cases will be extremely helpful. Also because of Disturb, you can discard it to your draw spells and still come out ahead on cards.

Sacred Cat – This has been a bit of a staple creature for quite some time in Pauper. It has Lifelink and so in something like Heroic, where you can put a lot of enchantments onto it that buff its stats, it can be quite a good creature. In this deck, the Lifelink doesn’t matter as much, but more importantly and the real value from this creature is that it has Embalm. Similar to Disturb, this means that Sacred Cat needs 2 removal spells to be fully dealt with and can also be discarded to your draw spells for value.

Squadron Hawk – Ah yes, the hawk army makes an appearance. Deck thinning, 4 creatures for the price of one and overall Squadron Hawk is just a great card in this deck as it has synergy with just about everything you are doing.

Thraben Inspector – This is pretty much a staple for any white aggro or midrange deck in the format these days. I am not surprised to see 4 copies here.

You will notice that with Veteran, Sacred Cat and the hawk army, you basically can make it so your opponent has to constantly deal with the same creature almost over and over again. As I said, bullying your opponent. I am not claiming this is where the deck gets the name Boros Bully from, I am just making a small statement on why these creatures are very good and important to this archetype.

Battle Screech – One of the most powerful cards in the format in my opinion. For 4 mana, you can flood the board of 4 creatures that fly. That is a ton of pressure for any deck to deal with.

Rally the Peasants – Here is your way to end the game. You make a wide battlefield, use Rally and then swing for the heavens. The best part is that it has Flashback. This means you can pitch it to a draw spell and still win the game with it later.

Prismatic Strands – The nightmare card for any aggro deck that sits across from you. Not to mention it can be a counter spell to damage based removal and it can be pitched to your draw spells for value. You will notice a lot of value going on in this deck.

Journey to Nowhere and Lightning Bolt – Your removal spells for the deck. While Lightning Bolt can either go to the face to end the game or deal with a small threat, Journey is for those big creatures like Gurmag Angler or Myr Enforcer.

Faithless Looting and Thrilling Discovery – Here are your draw spells for the archetype. Everyone knows how good Looting is as a card by now. Thrilling Discovery isn’t a hugely popular card, but in this deck it is great. Most of your spells can be used while in the graveyard as well, so you constantly get card advantage as opposed to disadvantage with this archetype.

The Manabase

Ash Barrens – Mana fixing is always a good thing to have and this helps thins your deck as well.

WindScarred Crag – It gains life and is a dual land, nothing more to say really.

Boros Garrison – This allows you to pick back up your Crag to gain a life or your Ash Barrens in case you needed to play it for a land. More importantly this allows you to keep a land light hand and still play the game. Do be careful however because you only have 19 lands to work with and might be land hungry at the beginning of the game.

The rest of the manabase is just basic lands in the format of 7 Plains and 3 Mountain. You don’t need any fancy lands like Forgotten Cave or Radiant Fountain. You are an aggro deck at the end of the day and you want to finish the game quickly if you can. Adding extra come into play tapped lands or lands that don’t produce colored mana can create problems and slow you down.

The Sideboard

Beckon Apparition – Graveyard hate is usually a good idea these days. This one is interesting because not only is it an instant, but it gives you another creature to play with which will make your Rally the Peasants better. As a one of, I am not sure it is all that worth it, but it is a nice card to try out in theory.

Dust to Dust and Gorilla Shaman – Here is your Affinity hate. Everyone needs Affinity hate these days.

Electrickery – Everyone needs a board wipe.

Flaring Pain – Cards like Moment’s Peace are a pain in the behind. This helps a lot with that. Sadly, this does nothing against Stonehorn Dignitary.

Ramosian Rally – This is an interesting one that you see here and there but not the most often and I love it a lot. It helps a lot against opposing copies of Electrickery or Nausea effects in general. The best part is that this is basically a free spell for the most part.

Red Elemental Blast – Always good to have a copy or 2 of these (or Pyroblast) against blue mages.

Verdict and Conclusion

I love this archetype. It does almost everything I want it to. It draws cards, keeps deploying creatures despite how much your opponent plays removal spells and it has an all in kill with Rally the Peasants that works quite often and quite well.

I like this list in particular because of Luminarch Veteran. I think this creature adds a buy time element to the archetype that helps a ton against decks like Stompy and Burn. This archetype has a few flex spots you can play around with. You could play more removal, you could play Seeker of the Way to be a bit more aggressive or you could play some Monarch creatures. It all depends on your play style and the meta you are trying to beat.

Do I think you should play this deck? Absolutely. This archetype is not perfect. Honestly no deck is or ever will be, but this archetype has a high power ceiling that rewards proper play, correct deck building/meta game calls and testing time. If you put in the work and have the right sideboard for your next event, I have almost no doubt that this archetype will bring you success over time. However, I could easily be wrong.

However, with all this being said, as always, do remember my words are not gospel. I will always encourage you to try a deck that I bring you despite my personal feelings. Remember that results will vary and always remember to practice!

Would you like to compete in a free Pauper tournament with some great prizes? Head on over to Gatherling.com on Tuesday nights at 8pm EDT and play in our weekly Pauper Classic Tuesday's event! Join the chat #PCT to chat with us and feel free to find most of the competitors on Discord!

Thank you so much for reading. Best of luck to you in your next tournament and I’ll catch you all next time!