Today we get to talk about Red, which has taken a lot of courage for me to play, because it's perhaps my weakest color.
But I've been experimenting, and I found some cards I like, and find are worth talking about.
So here goes...
20. Patron of the Akki
Patron of the Akki seems pretty neat cause you get to play Goblins, which should help in terms of card advantage and the ability to flash Patron in.
I also like the art too. It's not good, I just like it.
Still, I think that there are much better options if you're gonna play Goblins, which is why he's at the bottom of the list.
19. Marton Stromgald
Marton's kind of an extra pump for your dudes, but I'm not that enthused about him honestly.
He's cool cause he can trigger on attack and block though, so just be careful and make sure you read that dismally small block of text with attention to detail.
All things said he could be a good Commander. Just not my bag.
18. Eron the Relentless
I tend to refer to this card as "King Elrond," mostly because it looks like Hugo Weaving with a scar on his face.
As a dude, he's good. A 5/2 with Haste and regenerate is pretty awesome for a deck on the damage plan.
Outside of that, he can be a dead card though.
17. Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
Kazuul has a sweet ability, and when comboed up with Fumiko in 1v1, he can be an absolute blowout.
I just wish he made your opponents' creatures attack you each turn if able. That would be impressive.
16. Zo-Zu the Punisher
This card is perhaps best kept in the deck, where you can wait and slam him on turn 3, so your opponents expect it less.
I like Zo-Zu a lot. He shortens games, he's recastable, and red needs more Hate Bears to try and steer the game in its favor.
Zo-Zu's probably not doing much battling, but it's a down payment on anywhere from 6-10 damage a player, if you're lucky.
15. Tahngarth, Talruum Hero
I know this card is stupid, but sometimes we like bad cards.
Tahngarth holds one of the original "fight" mechanics, and I think that it's pretty cool.
Plus, building around a Minotaur tells people that, although you are playing Red, you fucking mean business.
Overall, Tahngarth probably won't be as good as some of the other burner cards, but keeping little utility guys from blocking can be a pretty huge game in the right circumstances.
14. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
Yeah. Kiki-Jiki should not be this low on the pole. I'm aware. He's great, possibly even in the top 5 red Commanders if this were a Tryhard list.
Call me a pessimist, but I just think that playing Kiki-Jiki should get you hated off the table immediately, cause everything that allows you to win with him is a combo- so why not put him in the deck and disguise it?
As your offensive strategist, I find this to be a much better plan.
13.Bosh, Iron Golem
So Bosh is another victim of the Rules change, but still pretty cool. Him and Slobad would work well together.
He's on this list because I like the idea of being able to make Chris Bosh jokes when things happen in the game. If you don't understand this, he plays basketball, and I'm sorry.
Anyway, Bosh has some serious potential if you don't want to break the game by playing Karn-combo-tron, and think that playing Brion Stoutarm is just not your cup o' tea.
Honestly, I'm not totally sold on Adamaro, because it seems like the late game would be pretty horrendous for you.
However, I can see him getting games over with fairly quickly if you have to force your opponents to use cards before he deals enough lethal damage.
This seems like an exciting challenge for someone who doesn't already have a bajillion decklists on the brain, like me.
11. Ashling the Pilgrim
Ashling already has tall tales about her in EDH, including the infamous "Ashling and 99 Mountains" deck because of how quickly she can end a game.
This card is pretty good and exciting, and obviously better if you don't just play Mountains.
There's a guy in my playgroup running a pretty neat Ashling deck with snow-covered Mountains and ways to turn them into Fogs.
Overall, I really like this card and the general decklists I've seen. I just wish I had a Gauntlet of Might.
10. Squee, Goblin Nabob
Squee! Oh Squee and his hijinks!
This card I find kind of exciting for allowing some flexibility in red.
Squee is the kind of creature that you can abuse and abuse and he'll just keep coming back, cause he doesn't know any better. And that's great, cause we need someone we can count on to get Skullclamped, and sacrificed to Shimatsu (lol), and any of the many goofy durdling type things we can try in Red to win.
Plus, Squee's sort of a Magic icon, so what's not to like?
9. Ma Chao, Western Warrior
Go directly to Lu Bu. Do Not Pass Chandler. I don't have 200 dollars.
8. Lu Bu, Master-at-Arms
Horsemanship. 4/3. Portal 3 Kingdoms. HASTE.
Above are the four reasons that I like this card.
Probably never see it played due to scarcity, but oh well.
7. Chandler
Lol. He's not really good, and I know this.
Honestly, I just thought that as part of the cast of Friends, Chandler needed to be recognized.
I'd be excited to play a deck with him as long as they were for the lolz.
But if you've got non-Blightsteel artifact creature problems in your meta, and no one told that it was gonna be this way, Chandler, like a good friend, will be there for you.
6. Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer
Slobad isn't so bad. As a red player, you're probably already planning of having a huge portion of the deck dedicated to powerful artifacts, and this is a way to protect them.
Slobad's gettin' high marks on my list here because he's a good beginning red General cause he's not a pure all-in type of Red deck, and you can get your feet wet with some of the impulsive plays you'll have to make to win.
5. Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician
CommanderCast has really helped me with figuring out the color Red, because I've spent most of my EDH life avoiding it.
However, if you're going to play Red, Ib is the man you probably want. He enables so much stuff, and you get to go all in on him.
Singlehandedly, Mr. Halfheart makes Goblin Tribal everything you ever wanted, and with cards like Mana Echoes, the hits really don't stop, and the game is really over before it can begin.
Ib is the president of all Goblins, even beating out dirty Mob Boss Krenko. So play Ib, and become a part of the Ib Nation. It's a glorious thing.
4. Fumiko the Lowblood
Fumiko, aka Red Claw (see Batman: The Animated Series) was actually my first legitimate red Commander, and it didn't turn out as surprisingly horrible as I imagined.
There's a lot of good things to like about Fumiko as far as her abilities, and I think enticing your opponents to have to smash face is definitely something that stirs the pot and ends games a lot quicker.
Again, really like this card, but I wish there were more things to help me punish my opponents for attacking than just Kazuul.
3. Latulla, Keldon Overseer
Recently, I've been into playing around with the Spellshapers, and I got pretty excited when I saw what Latulla actually does.
Though a lot worse than Ashling the Pilgrim, Latulla seems like the primary ingredient for a crazy Mono-Red Burn deck, where you get to pitch cards to burn, and then get your Grim Lavamancers and Junktrollers to burn or reset your graveyard.
Again, I'm not sure it'll be very good, but outside of Ashling, this is probably one of the quickest ways in 1v1 to stay in the game.
I'm actually looking forward to building a different red deck, once I'm thoroughly over Fumiko, and this seems pretty exciting to me.
2. Heartless Hidetsugu
On CommanderCast, Host Andy aka Ghooosts often refers to this man as "Samuel L. Jackson."
Though I don't understand specifically, I like the comparison. Both are pretty bad-ass.
Having an Ogre Shaman as your General shows your opponents that you mean business, and if provoked, you should be more than ready to make the life totals disappear.
This card should excite you for all those reasons, and more. Though a red deck, there's a lot of big, meaty cards that can make sweet combos, including hooking up Ol' Sammy with Basilisk Collar and Pariah's Shield to do a one-shot life gain for you whilst wrecking everyone else's totals at the table. You can also go Pariah's Shield and Magebane Armor to keep Hidetsugu alive and destroying.
I really, really like this card, and it should be in the deck, even if you're not playing it from The General Zone.
So, if you're sick of the "Monkey-fighting" Tryhards in your "Monday-to-Friday" Playgroup, show them how it's done with Mountains, and play the biggest, baddest Ogre of them all. Heartless Hidetsugu.
1. Godo, Bandit Warlord
In the land of no card advantage, where every Mountain gives the same blank stare back at you, the man with the Yak is king. Godo gets the top rating on the list because being in The General Zone gives him perfect function.
Even if Godo gets the Doom Blade, recasting him nets you another card. Hopefully, if you're trying to win, you'll play a bunch of Equipment too.
Perhaps Godo's best talent though is being able to have two combat phases if he deals damage to an opponent, hence my comments about removal. However, if you can get a Grafted Exoskeleton into play and deal damage, it's game, and it's awesome.
I think even in competitive lists this card is "the shizzle," or whatever them Tryhards say.
This card excites me because it's purely great card design all around. Though 6 for a 3/3, you're gonna get him doing damage when he turns sideways.
And if you run a few good Samurai, such as Ronin Cliffriders, getting Quietus Spike and Basilisk Collar really help out the Red Sideways Game Plan.
That's my list.
Again, if you wanna talk about the lists, feel free to comment.
In the words of the Motel 6 guy, "I'll leave the light on for you."
Peace, Love, and Land Drops.
-UL
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