It’s no secret that Modern Horizons Two brought a plethora of powerful cards to Modern, Legacy, and even Vintage. At the forefront of these powerful cards lies the complete cycle of mono-colored Evoke Elementals. Each Elemental has a normal casting cost and a great enters-the-battlefield effect, but also can be cast for zero mana by exiling an on-color card from hand. This means that even if your opponent is tapped out, you need to be constantly aware of the possibility of interaction from their side.
Playing around these cards can be an absolute pain. If you’ve ever tried to attack for lethal only to be met by Solitude or cast a Living End only to be blown out by an unexpected Endurance, you understand how frustrating these cards can be.
Well, a new Lord of the Rings spoiler may provide an easy answer to these problematic cards. It’s a Human that completely shuts off the Evoke potential of these Elementals. It disrupts some popular Modern combo decks such as Living End. And yet, there’s still more to offer, all from a mono-white Creature! Enter: MTG Boromir, Warden of the Tower.
The Counter Clause
The reason Boromir is so strong against the Evoke Elementals is that the opponent can’t resolve one by Evoking it. This portion of the card hits a lot of prevalent cards as well, from Modern down to Vintage. In Modern, two of the best decks in the format focus on using Cascade spells to hit either Living End or Crashing Footfalls. Both of these Suspend spells cost zero mana when on the stack, so they indeed get countered by Boromir’s ability.
In Legacy, decks like Eight-Cast that are focused on playing tons of cheap artifacts alongside Mox Opal get hit hard by this ability. In Vintage, it is quite possible to get MTG Boromir out turn one, effectively turning off any Moxen and Black Lotus shenanigans from the opponent. Notably, Boromir’s ability only stops your opponents from playing cards for free, not you. So any additional Moxen you draw is fair game. Boromir’s Counter definitely affects a lot of potent cards across multiple formats, but the card has even more going for it.
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The Indestructible Clause
Not only does this card protect your Creatures from Evoked copies of Solitude or Fury and protect you from certain combos like Living End, but it also ensures that you won’t lose your entire battlefield to Wrath effects like Supreme Verdict. For any deck that goes wide, this is a huge deal. In Modern, there have been various Human-tribal decks that have seen play from time to time, but they have largely died out because of cards like Fury and Engineered Explosives that can kill multiple threats at once. The ability to sacrifice this creature to give your other Creatures Indestructible means you are insulated from losing a huge chunk of your board presence at once.
Even in decks that don’t go super wide, the Indestructible portion of MTG Boromir can still be relevant. Take a deck like Hammer Time in Modern, for example. This deck is designed to bypass the equip cost of Colossus Hammer with cards like Sigarda’s Aid, which generally means the deck is attacking with one large Creature. Having Boromir in play protects your suited-up attacker from both Solitude and lots of instant-speed removal that could disrupt your gameplan.
Bonus: The Ring Tempts You
Further, sacrificing Boromir also makes the Ring tempt you. While this ability is minimal, it can play an interesting role in Hammer Time in conjunction with Sigarda’s Aid. If you sacrifice Boromir, you can make another Creature your Ring-bearer. Right off the bat, you Ring-bearer can’t be blocked by Creatures with greater power. Say you are attacking with Inkmoth Nexus. You can slip by your opponent’s large Murktide Regent and, after no blocks are declared, Flash in Colossus Hammer and kill your opponent. This ability may be niche, but all of the abilities of Boromir add up and make it a viable contender in multiple formats.
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Competition
The biggest issue surrounding Boromir is simply the existence of Lavinia. At two mana, it checks a lot of the most important boxes that Boromir does but is a mana cheaper. This is huge. Getting to land Lavinia on turn two versus Living End while on the draw is the difference between preventing a turn three Cascade and not. As a result, there is a high likelihood that Lavinia will continue to be the premier choice for Azorius decks moving forward.
Even still, many players, even those who play Hammer Time in Modern, choose to stay mono-white to help with consistency. Both Legacy Death and Taxes as well as Vintage Mono-White Initiative, stay one color, and this is where Boromir may shine. Legacy Death and Taxes usually plays 80 cards to support Yorion, Sky Nomad as a Companion. As such, there is more wiggle room for cards to make the cut.
In Vintage, the ability to play Boromir turn one on the play off your own Moxen before your opponent can play theirs can be a backbreaking swing. It’s possible the existence of Boromir sways some Azorius Hammer Time players to go back to the mono-white version too. Having a more consistent and less painful manabase, especially with burn decks rising in popularity, is a big deal.
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High Potential
MTG Boromir has a lot going for it. Being one color, having multiple relevant abilities, and fitting into Human-tribal decks all give the card major upside. Whether this card is good enough to revive some old archetypes like Modern Humans remains to be seen, but Mono-white Hammer in Modern along with Death and Taxes and Initiative decks in Legacy and Vintage are good places to start. As a three mana three-power Creature with Vigilance, the floor is reasonably high. Pair this with its other abilities to disrupt the opponent’s interaction, and we have a great card with high upside that I look forward to trying out myself.
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