Toxic MTG Land Destruction Deck Dominates 98-Player Event in New Format

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 Field of Ruin {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each player searches their library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles. and Demolition Field Demolition Field {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. That land's controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. You may search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. 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 Cleansing Wildfire Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
Draw a card. and Price of Freedom Price of Freedom Destroy target artifact or land an opponent controls. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
Draw a card. 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 Avengers Disassembled Choose one or both —
• Avengers Disassembled deals 3 damage to each creature.
• Destroy target land. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. completely changed that narrative, bolstering your game plan and serving as a catch-up mechanism. Then, once you stabilize, Erode Erode Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Its controller may search their library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. and Emergency Eject Emergency Eject Destroy target nonland permanent. Its controller creates a Lander token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.") 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 Chandra, Torch of Defiance +1: Exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card. If you don't, Chandra deals 2 damage to each opponent.
+1: Add {R}{R}.
−3: Chandra deals 4 damage to target creature.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a spell, this emblem deals 5 damage to any target." to close games. Even though you don’t run many finishers, Cori Mountain Monastery Cori Mountain Monastery This land enters tapped unless you control a Plains or an Island.
{T}: Add {R}.
{3}{R}, {T}: Exile the top card of your library. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card. 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 Professor Dellian Fel +2: You gain 3 life.
0: You draw a card and lose 1 life.
−3: Destroy target creature.
−6: You get an emblem with "Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life." and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria Teferi, Hero of Dominaria +1: Draw a card. At the beginning of the next end step, untap up to two lands.
−3: Put target nonland permanent into its owner's library third from the top.
−8: You get an emblem with "Whenever you draw a card, exile target permanent an opponent controls." are of minimal concern.

Yet, at the same time, Avengers Disassembled and Day of Judgment Day of Judgment Destroy all creatures. 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 Beza, the Bounding Spring When Beza enters, create a Treasure token if an opponent controls more lands than you. You gain 4 life if an opponent has more life than you. Create two 1/1 blue Fish creature tokens if an opponent controls more creatures than you. Draw a card if an opponent has more cards in hand than you. and Authority of the Consuls Authority of the Consuls Creatures your opponents control enter tapped.
Whenever a creature an opponent controls enters, you gain 1 life. .

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 Scapeshift Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. . Having access to a full sideboard of Rest in Peace Rest in Peace When 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 Pierce Counter 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 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!