Boros Heroic with Khans of Tarkir

One of my favorite cards from the recently spoiled Khans of Tarkir is a seemingly inoffensive cantrip, Defiant Strike (W, target creature gets +1/+0, draw a card). I have been trying to build a working Heroic deck in Standard ever since Theros was released last year, but they always ended up too clunky, with poor mana and too many weak cards. A key issue that I kept running into was that most Heroic cards were white, but the color had almost no heroic enablers worth playing. With Defiant Strike, there is now enough critical mass for a successful deck or three. In this post, and the following ones, I will show some lists inspired by the card.

First up is a fairly standard boros heroic list, with Defiant Strike as its only Khans card - but what a change! Defiant Strike teams up with Dragon Mantle for a whoopping total of 8 cantrips, letting me skimp a bit on the mana, and cycle through my deck while getting multiple heroic triggers at a very low cost. Also, and very importantly, these cantrips allow us to generate a threatening board presence from a single Akroan Crusader or Vanguard of Brimaz without spending any additional cards, which is quite handy when facing sweepers.

KTK Boros Heroic

Creature (22)
4x Akroan Crusader
1x Anax and Cymede
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4x Favored Hoplite
2x Mogis's Warhound
4x Phalanx Leader
4x Vanguard of Brimaz

Land (20)
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Mana Confluence
4x Mountain
6x Plains
2x Temple of Triumph

Instant (8)
4x Acolyte's Reward
4x Defiant Strike

Sorcery (5)
1x Arc Lightning
4x Launch the Fleet

Enchantment (5)
4x Dragon Mantle
1x Spear of Heliod


Note that the little removal in the deck can double up as Heroic finishers in a pinch. Acolyte's Reward (and, to a lesser degree, Arc Lightning) is usually amazing when pointed at an opponent's creature or face, but you also get the option to target several of your own creatures for additional counters or tokens.

You can try out the list (with a few proxies) on tappedout.