Ajani of Boros

I've built a handful of decks with Ajani and his Pridemates, and this one is my favorite. Maybe not even the best, but easily my favorite. It's so much fun!

White obviously has plenty of healing to beef up the Pridemates, but so do some unlikely allies. Flavorwise, you can almost see it: Ajani, wanting revenge for the slaying of his brother, planeswalks with several of his Pridemates to Ravnica, looking for some enforcers of truth and justice...and finding them in the Boros Legion.

With Balefire Liege, Sunhome Enforcer, Spark Trooper, a couple other Boros tricks (Scourge of the Nobilis, both versions of Helix), Ajani's Mantra, and Ajani Goldmane himself, you should be gaining life multiple times each turn and make Ajani's Pridemates huge.

The rest of the Legion isn't just there for mop-up duty, though. You can create a tough-as-nails army with Balefire Liege and/or a big beater with Figure of Destiny. You can neuter their biggest threats with Boros Reckoner, Thundersong Trumpeter, and your burn (gaining life at the same time!). And with Scourge of the Noblis (notice many of these creatures are red and white) and Nearheath Pilgrim, you can pass out lifelink life candy.

Your sideboard features some Angels that can help out if you need flying and/or beatsticks, Duergar Hedge-Mage to clear out troublesome support cards, and more creature damage if what you have on hand isn't quite cutting it.

Fiercely competitive? Maybe not. But it's a LOT of fun.

(And before anyone asks, Cavern is likely best naming "Soldier". Check the creatures and you'll see there's a surprising number of those.)

• Modern
• Boros
• Life Gain
• Burn