by Johnny Cycles, October 31st, 2025

Happy Halloween! Alas, I did not have the foresight to play a Halloween-themed deck, though the author of Bird Tribal sent me a Werewolf Tribal list that I want to try out. Werewolf Tribal is actually the second deck I built on MTGO, back when I was still trying to play budget decks.

Of course, an alien-looking Eldrazi isn’t bad as a Halloween card, right? And taxes are pretty scary in and of themselves, so maybe this Boros Taxes deck with a Lukka surprise finish is a perfect way to celebrate Halloween!

If you’re unfamiliar with my Lukka Surprise decks, then click here for the first one to get the full primer. The tl;dr is that we’re looking to resolve Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast, use his -2 to change one of our creatures into Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, give said Emrakul haste by sacrificing Bitter Reunion, and enjoy the sweet, sweet taste of annihilator 6!

I’ve tried a Gruul version that is all-in on finding and ramping into Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast. I’ve tried a version that uses Karn, the Great Creator as a way to play other creatures besides 1-drops and a 15-drop. I’ve tried a Jund version that plays a bunch of powerful 2-drops backed up with removal and hand disruption, but with our game-winning 2-card combo always a threat. And now I’m trying this Boros version that was conceived as a Hate deck against the meta that has a game-ending combo to play towards.

Here’s the decklist:

Decklist – Boros Lukka Surprise

by Johnny Cycles
Format: Modern

Creatures (19)

4 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
3 Containment Priest
4 Grand Abolisher
3 Kraza, the Swarm as One
4 White Orchid Phantom
1 Emrakul, the Aeons Torn

Planeswalkers (4)

4 Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast

Spells (6)

4 Lightning Bolt
2 March of Otherworldly Light

Enchantments (7)

4 Bitter Reunion
3 High Noon

Lands (24)

4 Arid Mesa
3 Elegant Parlor
3 Field of Ruin
2 Flagstones of Trokair
3 Ghost Quarter
2 Mountain
3 Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
1 Slayers’ Stronghold

Sideboard (15)

3 Meltdown
3 Surge of Salvation
3 Ademi of the Silkchutes
3 Doorkeeper Thrull
3 Rest in Peace

Deck Tech

Primary Game Plan

We want to leverage our early 2-drop creatures to slow down our opponents long enough to stick our combo and win the game. It’s really as simple as that. Of course, the reality is that, like any Control/Taxes strategy, each game presents a puzzle for us to solve with the variety of answers we have. Not every deck will care about Containment Priest, while the same can be said for Grand Abolisher. Finding and playing the right pieces at the right time, then, is essential to our success.

Our secondary game plan is the hate bear beats backed up with land destruction and a bit of reach with the second part of High Noon. And yes, this plan is as weak as it sounds… Unfortunately, our Boros creatures aren’t as powerful as Tarmogoyf from the Jund version and if we are forced into winning through fair combat, the road will be long and dangerous.

Tweaks to the Deck

I want to discuss some of the ways the deck evolved over the time I tested it. There are numerous options in both the 1- and 2-drop slots for us to try and leverage against the meta, and I’ve tried out many of them.

Which 1-drop is better in our deck?

Both of these Modern all-stars bring something to the table. I originally built the deck in the vein of Death and Taxes, which is why Esper Sentinel is in the first several drafts. However, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer offers something the deck needs just as much as slowing down the opponent. It gives us a must-answer threat that can help clear the way for our later combo. It provides us with conditional ramp. And it’s a much better late-game draw.

Part of our Taxes shell began as land destruction, primarily to have maindeck hate against all the big mana decks out there. White Orchid Phantom and Field of Ruin round out this package. However, this aspect of the deck is one that can be tweaked to make room for other hate cards that I’ve tested. Being so heavily invested in land destruction leaves us vulnerable to other popular decks, so I’ve tweaked the numbers along the way.

Containment Priest is technically a nonbo with our deck, but not if we target it with Lukka’s minus ability. What IS a nonbo with Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast is Sanctifier en-Vec. As good of a hate card as this Human Cleric is, we can’t target it with our signature Planeswalker. Meanwhile, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben slows us down when it comes to our combo. And we’re already pretty slow.

I think Containment Priest is the best for these reasons alone. Add in that it gives us maindeck answers to the Reanimate and Blink decks in the format and it solidifies its place in the 60.

Both of these 2-drops do an excellent job of protecting our combo. It took me a minute to settle on Grand Abolisher, but it guarantees our combo resolves, which, if we can give Emrakul haste, all but guarantees us the win. Spider-Punk, aka Kraza, the Swarm is One, protects us from counter magic to allow our Lukka to resolve and activate. But it doesn’t stop our opponent from casting spells before combat on our turn that can deal with Emrakul. Like this one…

Sideboard Cards

We’re playing a number of 2-drop creatures that could easily find a home in the 60 depending on your meta.

Doorkeeper Thrull and Ademi of the Silkchutes, aka Spectacular Spider-Man are both great at what they do. Depending on how much time I find to test the deck, I will make room for the latter in the main, possibly by cutting High Noon. Surge of Salvation is arguably the better option since it’s vs. to cast and to activate Ademi, but we want creatures to turn into Emrakul, the Aeons Torn.

Otherwise, we’re playing Meltdown for Affinity, Rest in Peace for Graveyard decks, and both Ademi of the Silkchutes and Surge of Salvation. This redundancy may be too much, but I’m trying it out, as spot removal is so problematic for us.

This card keeps floating in and out of my memory, but I haven’t tested it out yet. I think it’s a possible option over Meltdown in the board. After all, we want 2-drop creatures to execute our combo and bringing in Meltdown can water our deck down too much.

Weaknesses

Yup, you guessed it. Instant speed spot removal tops the list of what stops our combo. In many situations, we can play around this, but sometimes we just have to go for it and hope for the best. With this in mind, we want to play against Affinity and Eldrazi more than Energy, Blink, or Reanimation.

Speaking of Blink decks, I was deeply saddened when I finally executed the combo, only to have my opponent flash in Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd on my end step, untap, then exile the biggest, baddest creature in the game while swinging in for lethal…Sigh. Since when can a dog take out Emrakul?

Second, Surgical Extraction and its cousins can take away our one Emrakul and leave us on the hate-bear strategy.

Finally, sometimes we just draw Emrakul. We have Bitter Reunion as a way to shuffle Emrakul back in our deck, but with only four copies of this enchantment, there’s a good chance we won’t draw one before dying.

Practice Match 1 vs. Domain Zoo

Practice Match 2 vs. Throwback Jund

Overall Record: 1-1

Just a quick note to say that I played several more practice matches, but I’m not posting them yet (if at all). They were both against Orzhov decks, one being a Blink deck and the other a Midrange strategy. Both decks present us with similar problems – too much instant speed interaction and too many main deck answers for Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. The matches were on the long side and I have no real desire to edit them. If you’re playing this deck then know that we really don’t want to play these decks…

I played a third match against a Dimir deck with Liliana of the Veil in the main and I managed to eke out the victory, in part due to a misplay on the part of my opponent. However, the sound wasn’t working and so I’m not posting that video either.

Finally, I played against an Eldrazi deck and won the match, but my opponent said their Kozilek’s Command was bugged. They tried to kill the creature we were targeting with Lukka’s -2, but it wouldn’t let them. Not sure why that happened, but we won that one as well.

All said, our practice record is 3-3.

But when you build a deck to hate on the meta, it makes more sense to go where the meta is. Let’s jump into a league and see how our hate pieces hold up!

Match 1 vs. Dimir Reanimation

Match 2 vs. Amulet ???

Match 3 vs. Storm

Match 4 vs. Golgari Eldrazi

Match 5 vs. Amulet Titan

Overall Record: 2-3

Conclusion

Boros Lukka Surprise was a ton of fun to play! If you love Death and Taxes and are looking for a different build that has a 2-card game-ending combo, then check it out. I’ll say here, though, that our deck is pretty slow in its game plan. If our hate pieces don’t line up with what are our opponent is doing, then it’s possible we’ll die before we can even resolve Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast.

However, when they do line up and we’re able to stymy our opponent long enough to swing in with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, it really is a thing of beauty!

Thanks for reading and watching! What do you think of the deck? Are there any 2-drop creatures I’ve overlooked?