(Chance for Glory | Art by Bram Sells)

Arm the Forces!

Welcome back to Wombo Combo, the article series where we explore the most used EDH combo cards, using data from EDHREC and Commander Spellbook. This edition, we will look at the combination of Red and White, most commonly referred to as Boros.

Boros may be the combination of what many players would say are the two weakest individual colors in Magic, but putting them together allows you to make a strong deck to defeat your opponents. Boros is a main color combination for Angel, Human, and Dwarf decks, as well as artifact and combat damage centered strategies. Let's get the forces together and arm them for battle by exploring the best combo cards in Boros!

 

#10: Chance for Glory

Number of Combos: 17

Deck Inclusions: 8,832 decks (1.039%)

Extra turn spells are usually attributed to Blue, but Chance for Glory gives Boros players an opportunity to also take an extra turn. However, there is a serious catch; if you don't win the game by the end of that turn, you will lose the game automatically...or do you? With cards like Angel's Grace, you can save yourself from the drawback, and reap the benefits of the extra turn. Couple this with cards like Mistveil Plains and Sunforger, and you have an infinite turn combo, no blue required.

 

#9: Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp

Number of Combos: 21

Deck Inclusions: 2,170 as commander (#509); 2,355 as card (0.277%)

Have you ever wanted to have a metallic insect command your deck, and make your other metallic creatures stronger while it does so? Well then, you're in luck, because Zabaz, the Glimmerwasp fulfills your iron-clad insect desires. Zabaz looks to take advantage of creatures with the Modular ability by effectively increasing their modular values by one. This allows you to beef up your creatures a bit more while saving mana. The modular ability also makes it a prime candidate for combos with cards like Together Forever and Cauldron of Souls, along with probably most modular creatures you'll run in your deck.

 

#8: Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero

Number of Combos: 21

Deck Inclusions: 334 as commander (#1,438); 10,332 as decks (1.215%)

Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero is the ultimate answer to a board wipe. Whenever your opponent whips out a Wrath of God, Gerrard will exile itself to resurrect all your creatures that were unceremoniously wiped off the battlefield. Gerrard's ability can also be used to create combos, because you are not required to exile it in order to return the creatures and artifacts. If Gerrard leaves the graveyard before its trigger resolves, you will still return the artifacts and creatures without needing to exile Gerrard. This works very well alongside cards like Loyal Retainers, Nim Deathmantle and token generators like Molten Echoes.

 

#7: Quintorius Kand

Number of Combos: 22

Deck Inclusions: 5,586 decks (1.724%)

Quintorius Kand may not seem like a combo card, because its loyalty abilities can only be activated once per turn. If only there was a way to ignore that and use it over and over again. What I'm describing here doesn't involve The Chain Veil, but rather the original blinking card Flicker. Using Quintorius Kand's second ability, alongside a card like Biblioplex Assistant and a copy effect like Swarm Intelligence, you can copy Flicker to blink both Biblioplex Assistant and Quintorius Kand, put Flicker on top of your library, and cast it again using the Discover ability.

 

#6: Boros Reckoner

Number of Combos: 23

Deck Inclusions: 10,894 decks (1.281%)

Boros Reckoner has a similar effect to Brash Taunter, except the fact that it can damage itself. When you give Boros Reckoner indestructible, you can deal infinite damage to it. This can be used a few different ways for different results. The first involves giving Boros Reckoner lifelink for easy infinite lifegain. Alternatively, you can use cards such as Donna Noble or Fiendlash to deal infinite damage to opponents. You can also forego the indestructibility for a spell like Angel's Grace, and then deal infinite damage to Boros Reckoner via Volcano Hellion to fling infinite damage at an opponent.

 

#5: Aurelia, the Warleader

Number of Combos: 28

Deck Inclusions: 2,748 as commander (#395); 66,920 as card (7.87%)

Aurelia, the Warleader is a staple card in many Angel decks, as well as many combat decks, and it's easy to see why. Aurelia essentially gives you an extra combat phase each turn, as long as an opponent cannot kill her. While this is a great advantage, you know it has combo potential if it shows up in this article. If you can repeatedly create copies of Aurelia, using cards like Helm of the Host or Rionya, Fire Dancer, then you can use the token to get a new trigger each combat phase. Alternatively, you can blink Aurelia to make it a new object, using cards like Brago, King Eternal or Sword of Hearth and Home, taking advantage of her haste to keep her going.

 

#4: Cadric, Soul Kindler

Number of Combos: 34

Deck Inclusions: 1,273 as commander (#763); 18,218 as card (2.408%)

Cadric, Soul Kindler is a unique card which is a must have in legendary centered decks. Cadric allows you to pay one mana and create a copy of any legendary permanent that enters the battlefield. Cadric also allows those copies to ignore the pesky "legend rule", which would normally prevent you from controlling two legendary permanents with the same name. Both of these allow Cadric to create a multitude of combos, involving cards like Saffi Eriksdotter, Gerrard, Weatherlight Hero and Ghired, Conclave Exile. If you don't get a combo with Cadric, you can always use it to easily clone your legendary permanents for some very unique synergies.

 

#3: Boros Garrison

Number of Combos: 41

Deck Inclusions: 134,758 decks (15.849%)

You knew Boros' resident bounceland, Boros Garrison, would appear on this list. Since I've talked about bouncelands eight times already, I'll keep this one brief. Bouncelands are perfect for landfall decks, paired alongside cards like Walking Atlas and Retreat to Coralhelm to get additional landfall triggers. In Boros decks, you can pair it with Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith or Emeria Angel to get additional triggers and results. Boros Garrison is also an easy include for most mana bases, so it doesn't take a valuable spot from your deck.

 

#2: Koll, the Forgemaster

Number of Combos: 167

Deck Inclusions: 1,292 as commander (#751); 12,347 as card (1.452%)

Koll, the Forgemaster is a premier option for recursion in Boros, creating a great opportunity for both ETB/LTB decks as well as Metalcraft or artifact synergies. Koll creates an Enduring Renewal style effect for enchanted or equipped creatures without the drawback. This is much more useful with Equipment, which can be reused over and over again, especially those with free Equip abilities like Umbral Mantle or Shuko. You can also create static effects to accomplish this using cards like Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale and Puresteel Paladin, Throw in a free creature like Ornithopter and a sacrifice outlet, and you've got yourselves an easy and cheap combo.

 

#1: Zirda, the Dawnwaker

Number of Combos: 173

Deck Inclusions: 1,713 as commander (#623); 24,363 as card (2.865%)

Out of all the cards from the contentious Companion cycle. Zirda, the Dawnwaker is one of the strongest options for a commander deck. Zirda's restriction isn't unrealistically restrictive for most deck brewers (unlike cards like Umori, the Collector). On top of that, Zirda's effect of reducing activated abilities cost by up to two mana is very strong and an easy way to create a combo engine. Some of the simplest Zirda combos involve cards like Basalt Monolith and Voltaic Construct. Other popular combo cards include Kenrith, the Returned King, Faerie Mastermind and Auriok Salvagers. Zirda is a good include in the command zone, as a Companion for your favorite commander, or as a card in your deck, providing much needed mana savings and an easy outlet for a game-winning combo. What's not to love about that?

 

Honorable Mentions

This cards may not have made the top 10, but they can still sharpen your deck:

1. Sunforger: A key piece in many Boros magecraft and extra turn combos.
2. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight: Doubling damage to opponents and slashing damage to you is a hard hitting combo that is hard to overcome.
3. Hofri Ghostforge: A great option for recursion, and getting extra ETB/LTB triggers.
4. Plargg, Dean of Chaos: Both sides offer some combo potential, alongside cards like Aggravated Assault and The Locust God.

Thank you very much for reading this edition of Wombo Combo, and don't forget to check out Commander Spellbook for more EDH combos and visit the Commander Spellbook Discord to discuss all things EDH and to submit your own combos! Until next time, happy comboing!

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