The idea of using your commander as you only low cmc ramp spell has never crossed my mind. It really allows you to do some greedy things in your deck. It allows the mana curve to be the complete opposite of how I build my decks but still the deck gets to function. This looks like it would be fun to play.
I think I love this deck because it's a red/green stompy package that can be all stompy, not the more frequent build where by the time you're finished packing in mana dorks, rocks, cheap ramp, and such you've got like eight spots left for fun.
Can confirm it's a blast to play. As Snail pointed out the early turns are easily read and thus disrupted, but I've found through a judicious use of Split, Fuse, and Adventure cards I can provide enough stability in case someone is cheaky and Turn 2 Paths Radha to still hit the turn 3-4 Ramp play - and then it's off to the races. I very frequently have 8-9 mana by turn 5, meaning I can drop juicy cards like Zendikar Resurgence to go full Unga Bunga mode.
@@frederickhansarmstrongthe1656 Most groups have that issue. And in those groups like 80% of talk of anything being too overbearing or powerful in your pod is usually just that lack of removal actually being the problem. Peoples lack of accountability for their poor deck building/poor decisions is always frustrating. I always preach to people to play cheap interaction. It may not seem like the most powerful thing to add when you're putting the deck together. But man does it feel crucial when you're able to trip an opponent up at an important time with a single mana because you included extra removal/interaction like a Nature's claim, a path to exile, or an offer you can't refuse over another redundant fatty bomb. Or in cases like this Radha deck, where you're making sure a good amount of your fat has removal attached to it.
I thought about it like 11 minutes in when he showed the turns next to each other. A single lightning bolt would trip that so hard but a lot of people don't run enough low mana spot removal, and people don't wanna fall behind in the early game by taking someone else's stuff out since that's mana you could have used to ramp or do the thing your deck does 🤷♂️
@@GrayVMhan I mean in the end, what do you want to achieve in any given commander game? If winning is the absolute priority, then sure, MAYBE "bolting the bird" is the right call but then again, you just set yourself and the radha player back compared to two other players. Did you REALLY increase your chances of winning or did you just lower the chances of the Radha deck winning while increasing the other two guys chance of winning? And secondly, if winning isn't the absolute priority, just let the big awesome stuff happen. Commander is so wildly unbalanced that it rarely seems to be about being competitive and more about looking at the fun explosions, unless you actually play... welll.... competitive EDH.
Now the weakness of the deck might be that if opponents expect this line of play, they can use a removal spell on Radha as soon as she gets there, and you have to wait until turn 4 to play anything (and choose to either ramp or replay your commander). That could be a problem.
They can do that, but that's a pretty low EV play. They're going down a card only to slow you down, and you'll just be able to play your commander again in short order. Better to save removal for game-enders rather than moderate enablers.
Yea. you're just screwed if they target down your commander. You just have to hope that they decide to hold their removal for something bigger than what's essentially a mana dork. Which isn't a bad guess since mana dorks rarely get targeted so directly. This is a casual deck. It's not a strong deck. It can and will fold to meta levels of targeted interaction. This is a fun deck for mid-range stompy gameplay at a casual table. It will simply fold to higher power level tables. As he said in the video, if the opponent's deck plans on doing something better than getting a 5 cmc stomp boi on turn 4 and every turn after then you'll lose. It's a onetrick pony. 5 cmc stompy boi is the only thing this deck's got up it's sleeve.
@@drewhoffmaster2969I’m not sure if you would replay her. It would be 4 mana, and at that point why not just play the explosive veg you were dorking for?
I think even if someone knows what this Radha deck is up to, most other decks have things THEY would rather be doing on turn 2 than removing the dork, like playing their own 2-mana ramp. If player B decides to use a Go For The Throat or Feed The Swarm or something to remove her, then they're down a card and passed up ramping themselves - players C and D are probably further ahead, having neither spent a card on removal and having got to ramp. 1-mana removal is certainly possible but I honestly don't see a lot of Cut Down or Lightning Bolt or Fatal Push in EDH pods. Spending your one copy of Swords to Plowshares on Radha seems like a bad deal, and Path to Exiling her is just... giving the deck the ramp it wanted anyway. I'm not sure it's even a catastrophic setback. Turn 3 is probably a writeoff at that point and turn 4 is probably ramp that wanted to happen on 3, but unless there's a serious aggro deck threat at the table (at which point, spending removal on Radha was probably a VERY bad choice) being set back there is maybe a few life off the top & the deck's plan happens anyway. It's not like sniping a Light-Paws early in response to an aura spell where you're probably setting them back their commander, 2 cast auras & a third aura on the stack. Or blowing up an Esper Sentinel before it draws a half-dozen cards. It's a dork and precisely one turn's delay with the whole engine ready to happen anyway.
@@51gunner Yep you are right. I've since then built the Radha deck (with some small creature upgrades that I had lying around) and it rarely happens that people remove her. It happenned once in my playgroup but as you said, I recovered just fine. It's a fun deck and the key is to keep ramping aggressively so that you can play two, three and more monsters per turn pretty quickly.
Susan Foreman also ramps you to 4 on turn 3 and has the added bonus of letting you have a second commander. Multiple of them interact quite well with cascade.
I’m thinking of pairing Susan with The War Doctor. I want Red for Cascade to be a big part of the plan, and I’m inclined to think White would be nicer than Blue as a 3rd color if just dropping big bombs each turn. Since Cascade exiles, War Doctor piles on the time counters, and can start popping things, serving as a reasonable backup threat. Plus, there’s a mini mind game, since when you tell people at the table that you have a Cascade War Doctor deck, they might think he’s the problem, and possibly ignore Susan on 2.
@@thebitterfig9903 I just made a mockup of Susan and the Sixth doctor, as he lets you copy your greedy legends and artifacts for even more value. The 4 mana ramp spells push you into the 6th doctor, and then if you hit a Scepter of Eternal Glory or a gilded lotus you end up mana positive and even further ahead. Even without those, any of your 6+ mana legends and artifacts love being copied for extra value. I also think the Fugative Doctor would be an interesting choice as she can flashback your ramp spells for even more ramp.
It's kind of beautiful that your battlecruiser vibe has evolved in reverse order from Phyrexian Praetor to Phyrexian Converted Elf to normal Elf. You are helping to purify that damnable ichor from the land. Thank you. :)
I built a simic greed deck around Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy using a similar principle - access to Tail the Suspect in the command zone always feels incredible
I have as well: my local play group was not pleased, but I love how the deck plays. It's really neat that I get to play weird cards like Darksteel Relic and have them be good.
I built this with a Keruga companion - no Liquimetal Torque possible, but I pretty much only have big beaters. Something large is landing turn 4 and hopefully every turn thereafter. I also run a Tanglepool bridge, and would consider a One Ring if I felt like upgrading the budget that much. However I found that I didn't even play Kellan some games - he's done his job after ramping me, and unless I really want his artifact removal or am desperate for a flying creature (or any creature) I don't bring him in from adventure. Commanders with an adventure seem really cool because they're card advantage of another sort. I always have a useful spell from the CZ, and it "draws" me a legendary creature of some value for later.
Incredible video. A while ago I thought on building a Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood + something else deck because I really wanted to try having some ramp in the command zone. That deck didn't worked very well since having a 3 mana dork wasn't very good for your curve. You need to ramp at turn 1 to be efficient and that 80% of the time would mean using another mana dork. Having two dorks in the field is not ideal when board wipes can remove easily all your investment in your early turns. After looking at this video you made me realise the way to go with the deck is with 2 mana dork on the command zone into 4 mana ramp. Looking at 2 mana dorks I found Susan Foreman and I think its perfect to build a commander deck with the same principle as your radha deck. It has Doctor's companion, meaning you can pick any combination of 3 colors you want for your deck and since you will always land a 4 mana land ramp spell you already fix your mana to have all the colors you need. You can pick your doctor just for the colors you want or you can make it have synergy with the rest of the 98. I'm building a deck with susan and the sixth doctor going full with high mana historic spells in simic. Simic has a ton of 5-6 mana legendary creatures that do well at generating you value for doing big mana stuff. Copying these creatures can get you a lot of value over the game. Since the only simic legendary creature with cascade is Imoti I can afford to put 2-3 mana value interaction like counterspells and spot removal in the deck. I can usually have 2-3 mana untapped after I put a big creature or artifact on the board. If you want to try building a deck using the same philosophy as this radha deck without copying the commander I recommend you checking Susan Foreman + any doctor you like. There are plenty of combinations that can work pretty well that almost no one built. For example susan + the sixth doctor as of today has only 2 decks registered in EDHREC
I always understood what a mana curve *is* but it wasn't until I watched your videos that I finally understood the semantic meaning of the mana curve as it pertains to gameplay and how you should shape your curve around your commander in EDH. Thank you!
Cool concept! Definitly only casual though. The main weakness i see from this deck is when the opponents become aware that the deck only runs 4 mana plus spells. Removing Rada on her first play effectively timewalking you twice.
Even then it's not the worst thing in the world, you'll skip turn 3 but if you have an explosive vegetation or such by turn 4 your deck still comes online and your opponents are down 1 removal spell. Ofc it's a very strong play but I reckon that saving a counterspell or similar for the big ramp spells probably hurts more in the long run
Targeting commanders with removal stops so many decks and strategies, people underestimate just how quickly the commander tax stacks up. I'm trying to stay away from commander-centric deck design for this very reason but it's not that easy.
I had a similar experience recently while trying to build a Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy deck. I came to similar conclusions on mana dorks and low cost ramp. I even got to end up playing Keruga as a companion. I didnt think of Cascade though, and I definitely think it will work similarly for my simic deck as it does for your gruul deck. Thanks for the inspiration! Back to the drawing board lol
Consider your ramp package as a mini curve or your deck. You want low and you want some higher cost "better" ramp in things like Gilded Lotus, Hedron Archive, Solemn, Crypt Ghast, etc... Keep in mind you wont always see things as theorized during an actual game. So a lot of the time, the cheaper the card, the better the card. All because simply being able to play and do things is as good as winning.
Your comment (and this video) inspired me to do the same; I just built an Inquisitive Prodigy deck! I went back and forth on whether or not to companion Keruga, but decided to go for it because I've never built a deck with a Companion, and how else would I ever run that companion? I had a few copies of Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty from the March of the Machine bonus sheet - Imoti cascades, and then gives all CMC 6+ cascade. I'll probably look for other cascade spells too - it seems much more fun if you've rigged your curve so you can't "miss". I ended on like 46 lands because I feel like Kellan really wants at least 3 lands in opening hand and prefers 4, but I didn't want to go to 50+ lands. With 3 in opening I feel reasonably confident I can hit the 4th between 3 draws.
@@51gunner you definitely need a higher than average land count for Kellan/Keruga, especially if your curve starts at 4. I think 46 is a little high though considering you get a free mulligan in commander and Tail the Suspect also gives you a clue token. I'd give the popular landfall decks a look to get an idea of how many lands they are playing as a starting point. They are looking to make multiple land drops per turn, so I'd wager you don't need more lands than they do. They seem to be running about 39-42, and I'd recommend that range to start with and include some kind of plan for flood insurance (looting effects, perhaps).
@@jayjayhooksch1 I'll have a look, but I think I'd rather start land-heavy & trim. Was cheaper for me to fill the list with more basics than pick up speculative picks & have to cut. I really, really need 3 lands in opening hand and would be happier with 4. Over time I could maybe cut a couple but I'd prefer to do that only after testing.
@@jayjayhooksch1 After looking into it a bit, I think I can eat my cake & still have it. I wanted 46ish lands because it's really important for me to get 4+ lands in the first ten cards the deck sees (7 starter + 3 topdecks at start of turn 3). I'd rather lean a little towards 5 lands than risk three, so 46 felt correct. After looking further into it though, I noticed two things: the deck is really accepting of tapped lands - I can actually play out two of the first four lands as tapped without interrupting anything - and that it often has an open mana or two because it doesn't have any CMC 2 or lower cards. I think the answer here is MDFCs and the LTR landcyclers. With Lorien Revealed, Generous Ent, Khalani Ambush, and Glasspool Mimic I can cut 4 lands but each of those cards lets me either play it as a land or cycle it away to get a land. Thanks for your comments, they were really helpful.
The idea this gave to me was to play Ruby, for the exact same reasons as Radha and 2 cost dork I always have, and then a cascade package with 4/5 card to cascade into (Etali’s favor is the 5th one it doesn’t really count, I know the deck would be strictly more powerful if I reduced it to 2/3 but I’m intentionally playing some jank like glimpse of tomorrow). I also have the same kind of top end this deck is so it isn’t just win with cascade of bust (unless I flip a really bad glimpse of tomorrow, although I’ve tried to stick to just permanents whenever possible). Came back to this video to rehear the advice that inspired me to make the deck and add some finishing touches. I built the deck on a crazy low budget using mostly cards I already have making it by far the most jank of my commander decks but that was part of the fun in building it. The fact that I want to cascade on turn 3 instead of ramping does make me much weaker to board wipes than this deck but honestly I kinda built this deck with the knowledge that both of my play groups play a painfully low amount of board wipes so I should never have to play through more than 2 board wipes in a single game. The deck is definitely both very similar and very different to this one, thanks for the inspiration and I’ll come back here again to fix the deck if my wacky idea doesn’t actually work out.
You can build a similar deck using imoti + keruga companion, so every cascade trigger from your commander will get you into a 3 mana cost ramp spell, that way, every time you cast your commander, you will off set an increasing commander tax if she gets removed
really really love your videos. you consistently find good ways to articulate ways I like to approach deckbuilding. this deck in particular is pretty similar to my maelstrom wanderer/keruga deck in how it approaches ramp and resource accumulation.
@@bananajoe275 it's a slower deck in that it takes ~4 turns before it starts to do anything really meaningful, but it's built with card ratios to consistently ramp +1 mana on 3, ramp +2 mana on 4, and cast wanderer on 5. it exploits guaranteed access to cards in a similar way to radha but from the opposite end. radha is guaranteed 2mv ramp, where wanderer is the payoff for running an absurd amount of ramp. keruga as well, providing an easy way to refuel when paired with the permanent-based ramp in the deck. I got rambly, tl;dr it's slow to start but hard to stop.
Sir, you've made me for the first time ever think about switching the commander of my Xenagos deck. It's like how you described your Goreclaw deck, the biggest problem at the table until it isn't, and packing in 16 or 17 three mana or less ramp cards. It's so focused on ramping to five and six that relies on an out attack strategy it gets shut down after a couple of removal spells, or gets unlucky and doesn't get off the ground quick enough. Consistently windmill slamming six plus drops on turn four is where I want to be, and putting that early ramp in the command zone, freeing up space for bigger ramp that lets me better sustain into the late game despite setbacks sounds like the way.
Ive been working on a 2 colour commander pod and had been struggling to find a simic deck that I found interesting. your deck was the perfect inspiration. currently working on troyan with keruga as companion. good job! smooth moves
I was inspired by this video to build my own Radha deck, and one card that truly shined for me is Magmatic Force. I think it fits the idea of "big creature with removal stapled," is dirt cheap, and very similar to Drakuseth. I thought it might not have been on your radar and I hope you consider adding it to your own deck!
@9:30 I find the same play pattern with a mostly basic package in lord windgrace. You can absolutely tear through the basics in your deck and start drawing your good cards
I love this deck. A few things: -Ruby has a similar build path but I agree with your switching to Radha, for two reasons: Radha is better in corner cases (activating Blighted Woodland on T3, for example); Radha is such a dope character. -Using Ruby as a baseline, your list has some significant upgrades: the caves package is just brilliant; Radagast really shines here. -I don't run the Dr. Who cards (not available on MTGO and I like my decks to be the same in paper and digital) or the Warhammer cards (I just don't dig Warhammer), so I added other cascade cards (Apex Devastator, of course, and Call Forth the Tempest) as well as Silverback Elder. The latter card really makes the deck sing: just as Radagast nets you more creatures than you'd expect, Silverback pushes the ramp train into Astro Train mode and the added potential removal is gravy. So, IMHO, if I were to add some non-budget cards, I'd probably start with Silverback (he's among the cheaper non-budget cards, too!). -Your strategy of eschewing EVERYTHING under four mana is absolutely genius. I had a friend who built Radha as a generic goodstuff deck years ago The same friend also proclaimed themself to be the uncontested monarch of midrange. This list would make them very happy.
I'm glad you enjoy the deck! Silverback Elder and Nylea, Keen-Eyed are both engines that are a bit more that I'd like, but which I've considered nonetheless. And honestly, Radha's art and flavor is the biggest reason I prefer her to Ruby, though I think mechanically she's slightly better as well due to a handful of edge case instants.
@@salubrioussnail I don't want to spoil anything, but we just got a sweet 5-drop for the deck. Not sure if it's officially spoiled yet, so I'll let folks check it out if they like.
This deck was so cool it inspired me to make a standard brawl version with Ruby, daring hunter, and by golly is it good. Thanks for the great deck idea!
Recently I made a battlecruise edric deck with effectively the same game plan as the one laid out by your glissa video (ramp, commander, draw while ramping, draw cards by any means necessary (trampling 7-10 drops)). I’m super new to magic, so didn’t know the reputation edric used to have until I played… happy to say I love the deck all the same. Thank you for the videos :))
I do something similar (although less refined and mathed out) for a Queen Omo deck, she does big land things with non basic land tutors. It makes an engine with Omo granting an extra locus drop boosting cloudpost
At one point I was thinking of making a radha deck cause manadork commander sounded fun but then I realized gilanra and alena are both manadorks and partners so then I did that.
I wonder if a similar deck, but with an even higher curve, would be possible using Yurlock of Scorch Thrash. Maybe canning the Cascade package in favour of some 3-drop ramp and some 3-drop haste enablers, so that you could cast and activate Yurlock on turn 4 and go from there, playing an 8-drop on turn 5 etc.
You put a lot of thought into EDH as a whole. Well done! I would love to hear your take on how people play voltron wrong, and how to make it more viable.
Really cool video! It reminds of one of my favorite decks (that I rebuilt recently, updated with the insights I gleaned from your videos) It's an Arixmethes deck that uses the commander as an always online explosive veggie. It's really cool but as you said in your video it can stumble due to the high number of low cost ramp, and the first 4 turn are pretty much scripted. Some of my favorite cards that I never managed to find a good deck for (like Sphinx of the Second Sun, Shared Summons and Alchemist's Refuge) have had their time in the spotlight so overall a great success. So thanks for all the cool videos, keep it up!
@@UnuUO While it's certainly possible someone removes/counters your commander in a deck like this, in practice it's pretty unlikely. Someone needs to basically have a piece of premium low-cost removal that isn't Path To Exile and nothing better to do with their mana. The commander's not on the field turn 1, and I'd say a lot of players would rather spend their turn 2 dropping a mana rock or ramp spell of their own than removing a 2-drop. I'd say that the typical table just isn't prepared to spend their removal piece that early in the game before it's clear who's the real threat at the table as well; there's just enough other really strong commanders that people would rather target. There's certainly cards in the game that could stop you and if someone really had it out for you they absolutely could do it, but such is EDH. I play a version of this deck using Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy; it doesn't put a creature on the battlefield turn 2 so it's a little harder to interrupt, but even then I've never worried about eating a fast early counterspell; people just have other stuff they're doing on 1 or 2. If you're ahead of them in turn order they may only have a single (tapped?) land in play when going for Tail the Suspect.
I increasingly find myself choosing more low cost cards with card filtering / selection spells and abilities, rather than outright draw for the reason you outlined - drawing low cost ramp or excess lands later in the game. It seems to me to be a pretty natural thing to include. Usually these are cheap and have easy to achieve activation costs (such as Academy Wall or anything with a simple tap ability). I find it's a good method to achieve deck consistency, and if you're discarding from hand or surveiling rather than scrying there's often a way to use the graveyard to play those spells. However, this tends to lead to a commander that contains a draw engine or at least half a draw engine since usually some synergy is required, rather than a ramping commander. In a way that's restricting which cards I can use as a commander, but this video's idea is a cool alternative. I'm interested to see if I can get it to work in non-green color combinations though - perhaps Urza, Powerstone Prodigy or something like that would be good for me to try building around.
hmm i have a similar cascade deck with Imoti. She costs 5 and has cascade herself, so she always finds a 4 cost ramp. Getting to 5 is much more taxing in your life total but if Imoti survives for a single turn, the amount of value you pull is insane. The deck is quite budget too. My only issue is that is simic, so its automatically ten times worse than gruul.
Yes! I have a Radha deck that works very similarly like this, but I chose to put more instant speed interaction in to hold up between turns rather than rely on cascade effects, because ultimately I cannot deviate from my blue instincts no matter what colours I'm in. By the way, "Not of This World" is a slam dunk in this deck, it's instant speed protection that doesn't muck up your cascades and is very budget-friendly (currently sitting at $0.89).
This sounds hella fun, actually. Turns 1-3 can be boring no matter how you build. I love that you are embracing that and turning it into a strength with the 4 mana ramp. 🙌
This is sick. My previous two deck builds were a cascade deck that does not whiff, and a turbo greedy 7cmc+ creatures only deck. This is literally a combination of them, but also done way more cleanly. I def want to try to pilot this.
Honestly might cop this deck myself. I haven’t looked too fondly on midrange historically but your points have swayed me for sure. I like when a deck has thing that it’s doing and I’ve seen midrange as decks with nothing interesting to say but now I see it’s not that they have nothing interesting to say and more that they have interesting questions to ask.
I did a pretty similar thing with Arixmethes. 15 2-mana ramp spells means a consistent turn 3 Arixmethes which taps for 2 mana. Turn 4 is always a 6 or 7 drop. It was fun but the consistency of the game plan left me a little bored so I ended up taking it apart.
I know exactly what you're talking about with 'vibe'. My own Alena, Kessig Tapper + Silas Renn partner deck is exactly that, and I'm still working on it, but essentially I sought out to do what you're doing but with a caveat: I wanted to play Grixis since Grixis is so often about spell slinger or wheels, and I wanted to play battle cruiser, a style that's absolutely the antithesis of either of those resource denial archetypes. And it still needs a lot of work, but I think it's coming along nicely.
This is pretty much how my henzie deck works as well, being able to blitz out huge pieces turn 4-5 and then hard casting them of cheating them out on later turn keeps that urge to play big stuff filled at all times
This is a really awesome deck. I have one deck with a similar idea, a simic cascade with Imoti + Keruga as companion. As it only allows cards with CMC >= 3, it's a fun deckbuilding challenge. All my CMC4 or less are ramp and the rest are big creatures that, when the commmander is in play, all cascade. So usually I play 2 (or when lucky 3) cards a turn without spending that many cards from hand.
I found out during a game were I was running Beluna Copy Adventures that Cascade and Discover effectively filters past Adventures and digs for non-Adventures. Might have to rexplore the deck with this in mind.
I’m thinking about making a Thalia and The Gitrog Monster midrange deck similar in concept to your Glissa deck as Thalia is a great blocker and can draw me cards while also having a similar effect to Radha because Thalia+Gitrog Monster can effectively ramp as an Explosive Vegetation, at least when given a hand with enough lands. I’d likely run lots of mana dorks trying to get T+GM turn three along with an extra land with 6 or more mana on the battlefield on turn 4. Late game T+GM can convert those mana dorks into card draw, which helps with the top deck issue that Goreclaw encounters. Outstanding video as always and I would love any comment on my idea thanks ❤
Radha has been a favorite of mine since the beginnings of EDH with how she just counts 1-2-4-6. I do wish I could take better advantage of her attack triggers, but consistently being able to hit those explosive vegetations saved me many games and lets me keep hands with lots of gas.
I'm also trying to build a deck with a mana curve above 4. In my case, the goal is to have two options: either play Living End or play Bladewing, Deathless Tyrant on the fifth turn and connect with him.
Radha sort of functions like Gilanra functions in Gilanra/Kodama, casts you big spells a bit earlier, and draws you cards when you do. Kodama is really there to just put all the lands you have in your hand into play during your turn, but the deck ends up being a lot more "all-in" than a deck with a more consistent 4-8 range. I agree that one of the main weaknesses of the deck is board wipes, but my approach was just to design the deck as a combo deck which overruns the board in a big explosive turn. I do want to try moving towards more 4-5 drop ramp cards though, as Gilanra provides a similair curve jumping function to Radha.
I like the concept of this deck. I did a versión with susan foreman and the 12th doctor as commanders With blue i put big impactfull creature like bonny pall, koma, and maelstorm wanderer. And the 12 th doctor can help ramping 4 Lands by demostrating a cascade of explosive vegetation.
really love seeing a deck with a salt score in the low 20s. that's where my playgroup tends to stay, makes our commander games much more enjoyable and memorable
This is the only Radha I don't havr a deck for yet...Goal with the others is always to turn Radha sideways as fast as possible. It's worked for me to sub high cost card density with big mana sinks and leave the creatures fairly disposable.
I build a very simmilar commander deck after your video about building a commander deck with a weakness and then finding a commander that covers that weakness. I went with Ruby, Daring tracker instead, but the concept is the same. Play commander on turn 2, and explosive vegetation variant on turn 3 and then go ham with 7+ drops for the rest of the game
I originally come from the Pokemon TCG where deck thinning is one of the most important aspects of high-level play. I found it strange that MtG players seemed to see it as a meme.
Every single problem you explained is alleviated with draw. Ramp is nice, lands are a thing, ratios--yes, gotta have them good. But at the end of the day, if you prioritize draw, you'll always have everything you want.
I've been trying to implement this philosophy after finding out about Yoshimaru's secret lair art. I paired him with Thrasios to give myself like a 90% chance at a T1 Doggo and T2 Merman. After that the flow chart is really interesting. Turn 3 seems to be a pivotal turn most of my games at the moment. I can often tell if it's going to be a good game or a bad one based on how well turn 3 goes. I'm not a very good deck builder, but the philosophy you're imparting is interesting and definitely super unique. I would also like to be a "Greedy Bitch" if possible but, I'm still struggling to get there at the moment with only 1 spell a turn but, hopefully I'll catch up soon 🙏😭
I needed a brawl deck for this week's Arena event. No Radha, but I have Ruby from a jump in pack and I built a pretty functional deck inspired by this strategy. My curve looks kind of normal, but it's really not because the 2 and 3 mana spells are fight/bite removal and double faced tap lands that aren't meant to be played on curve. Curious how the other x/G color pairs would do with this concept.
U/G can do this with Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy in the command zone. This color pair also opens up using Keruga as a companion. I've built it and play it pretty regularly. Pros: - Kellan's ramping leaves a clue in play & basically 'draws' him as a creature. The clue I've found to be pretty helpful, the minute you're not totally on-curve you may as well grab another card. - Kellan himself is a more relevant creature than either Ruby or Radha; 3/4 flying vigilance with an attack trigger for 2UG can be pretty useful. Some games I never need to cast him as I'm playing out bigger threats, but other times I've used Tail The Suspect 3+ from the command zone... it was a grindy game and I needed cards and to set down the lands I kept topdecking. Radha and Ruby are unlikely to be cast a second time, IMO. - Being in Blue/Green opens up having Keruga as a companion; a draw spell you're guaranteed to have access to is pretty sweet. Cons: - Less support for Cascade in blue/green than red/green. Imoti is nice but you're losing access to Etalis and such. - Way fewer ways to get Haste in blue/green. - You need more lands in opening hand, 2-land is flatly unplayable. I built the deck with 40 lands, 5 MDFCs, and 2 LTR Landcyclers so i effectively have 47 'land cards' in deck. Less room for spells. There's also options to use Susan Foreman paired with any of the Doctors from the Dr. Who sets - this opens up 3-color options if you'd like.
fantastic video, I love the concept for your deck it reminds me of my own 6 mana 6/6 deck or DREADMAW Tribal, same idea in regard to super high mana cost with big creature pay off but I went with more ways to ramp and cheat creatures onto the board. will leave the link for the deck below you might be interested in testing it out some time in the future, or just take inspiration for a future vid.
Glissa is one of the very few legendary creatures I own and I love the battlecruiser idea, could you give me a short rundown on the decks game plan? Im gonna play it blind, but I still want to know how you intended it to play.
Ramp and play Glissa early, then play big stuff later. That big stuff should preferably be big creatures that also draw you cards or deal with opposing threats.
@@salubrioussnail thanks dude! From what I saw in the deck list I know I'm gonna love playing this, and the power level is just right for my play group.
I really like this concept, i think i may try to build it with blue by using Susan Foreman and the twelfth doctor. Susan should be able to cover the same space as your commander and is easier to cast. Plus demonstrating spells is fun.
This is a fantastic idea for a deck. Upon seeing it Immediately wanted to make something similar with Susan foreman to put it in three colors and make use of backgrounds. I also thought maybe keruga the macrosage would be fun for this style of deck. But unfortunately Susan prevents keruga's companion ability from working. Oh well
You can try out Kellan if you really want to run Keruga. Im not sure if Keruga is better than the color red, but I think Susan is a no brainer over Rahda.
That curve is foul lmao. I've got a braking and shabraz deck that has one seven drop for a meme, one five drop as a choice tech, and everything else four or lower and I still feel like it has a curve too high
Ah yes. The classic gruul gameplay of ramp -> more ramp -> unga bunga.
I love my Grand Warlord Radha deck.
Step 1: ramp in turn 1 or 2
Step 2: Turn Radha sideways on turn 3
Step 3: move to late game on turn 4
You've forgot step 4, even more ramp
Also the option of (i know this is crazy) some… ramo?
Babe wake up the snail is telling me how to play more magic per magic
I love mixing magic powder into my carton of magic to get more magic per magic
@@murpl1462 "yoooo dawg. i hear you like magic. so i got some magic thrown in your magic so you can feel the magic while playin magic" - xzibit
@@hansschmidt3144 magical, you might say.
Lolll
Is this like mixing a lot of 2 percent milk in order to make whole milk? You know, so you get more milk per milk?
Now here's a manacurve with some chest hair.
Ha ha ha
Not gonna lie. This one got me lol
Famous child actor Jimmy Kravitz is that you?
The idea of using your commander as you only low cmc ramp spell has never crossed my mind. It really allows you to do some greedy things in your deck. It allows the mana curve to be the complete opposite of how I build my decks but still the deck gets to function.
This looks like it would be fun to play.
I think I love this deck because it's a red/green stompy package that can be all stompy, not the more frequent build where by the time you're finished packing in mana dorks, rocks, cheap ramp, and such you've got like eight spots left for fun.
Can confirm it's a blast to play. As Snail pointed out the early turns are easily read and thus disrupted, but I've found through a judicious use of Split, Fuse, and Adventure cards I can provide enough stability in case someone is cheaky and Turn 2 Paths Radha to still hit the turn 3-4 Ramp play - and then it's off to the races.
I very frequently have 8-9 mana by turn 5, meaning I can drop juicy cards like Zendikar Resurgence to go full Unga Bunga mode.
Clearly people never listen when we say bolt the bird
The amount of removal in my random pods is too damn low!
It was exactly what I thought of this radha strategy...
@@frederickhansarmstrongthe1656 Most groups have that issue. And in those groups like 80% of talk of anything being too overbearing or powerful in your pod is usually just that lack of removal actually being the problem. Peoples lack of accountability for their poor deck building/poor decisions is always frustrating. I always preach to people to play cheap interaction. It may not seem like the most powerful thing to add when you're putting the deck together. But man does it feel crucial when you're able to trip an opponent up at an important time with a single mana because you included extra removal/interaction like a Nature's claim, a path to exile, or an offer you can't refuse over another redundant fatty bomb. Or in cases like this Radha deck, where you're making sure a good amount of your fat has removal attached to it.
I thought about it like 11 minutes in when he showed the turns next to each other. A single lightning bolt would trip that so hard but a lot of people don't run enough low mana spot removal, and people don't wanna fall behind in the early game by taking someone else's stuff out since that's mana you could have used to ramp or do the thing your deck does 🤷♂️
@@GrayVMhan I mean in the end, what do you want to achieve in any given commander game? If winning is the absolute priority, then sure, MAYBE "bolting the bird" is the right call but then again, you just set yourself and the radha player back compared to two other players. Did you REALLY increase your chances of winning or did you just lower the chances of the Radha deck winning while increasing the other two guys chance of winning? And secondly, if winning isn't the absolute priority, just let the big awesome stuff happen.
Commander is so wildly unbalanced that it rarely seems to be about being competitive and more about looking at the fun explosions, unless you actually play... welll.... competitive EDH.
Now the weakness of the deck might be that if opponents expect this line of play, they can use a removal spell on Radha as soon as she gets there, and you have to wait until turn 4 to play anything (and choose to either ramp or replay your commander). That could be a problem.
They can do that, but that's a pretty low EV play. They're going down a card only to slow you down, and you'll just be able to play your commander again in short order.
Better to save removal for game-enders rather than moderate enablers.
Yea. you're just screwed if they target down your commander. You just have to hope that they decide to hold their removal for something bigger than what's essentially a mana dork. Which isn't a bad guess since mana dorks rarely get targeted so directly.
This is a casual deck. It's not a strong deck. It can and will fold to meta levels of targeted interaction. This is a fun deck for mid-range stompy gameplay at a casual table. It will simply fold to higher power level tables. As he said in the video, if the opponent's deck plans on doing something better than getting a 5 cmc stomp boi on turn 4 and every turn after then you'll lose. It's a onetrick pony. 5 cmc stompy boi is the only thing this deck's got up it's sleeve.
@@drewhoffmaster2969I’m not sure if you would replay her. It would be 4 mana, and at that point why not just play the explosive veg you were dorking for?
I think even if someone knows what this Radha deck is up to, most other decks have things THEY would rather be doing on turn 2 than removing the dork, like playing their own 2-mana ramp. If player B decides to use a Go For The Throat or Feed The Swarm or something to remove her, then they're down a card and passed up ramping themselves - players C and D are probably further ahead, having neither spent a card on removal and having got to ramp.
1-mana removal is certainly possible but I honestly don't see a lot of Cut Down or Lightning Bolt or Fatal Push in EDH pods. Spending your one copy of Swords to Plowshares on Radha seems like a bad deal, and Path to Exiling her is just... giving the deck the ramp it wanted anyway.
I'm not sure it's even a catastrophic setback. Turn 3 is probably a writeoff at that point and turn 4 is probably ramp that wanted to happen on 3, but unless there's a serious aggro deck threat at the table (at which point, spending removal on Radha was probably a VERY bad choice) being set back there is maybe a few life off the top & the deck's plan happens anyway.
It's not like sniping a Light-Paws early in response to an aura spell where you're probably setting them back their commander, 2 cast auras & a third aura on the stack. Or blowing up an Esper Sentinel before it draws a half-dozen cards. It's a dork and precisely one turn's delay with the whole engine ready to happen anyway.
@@51gunner Yep you are right. I've since then built the Radha deck (with some small creature upgrades that I had lying around) and it rarely happens that people remove her. It happenned once in my playgroup but as you said, I recovered just fine. It's a fun deck and the key is to keep ramping aggressively so that you can play two, three and more monsters per turn pretty quickly.
Susan Foreman also ramps you to 4 on turn 3 and has the added bonus of letting you have a second commander. Multiple of them interact quite well with cascade.
Just built this with first doctor to pull the tardis out every game
I’m thinking of pairing Susan with The War Doctor. I want Red for Cascade to be a big part of the plan, and I’m inclined to think White would be nicer than Blue as a 3rd color if just dropping big bombs each turn. Since Cascade exiles, War Doctor piles on the time counters, and can start popping things, serving as a reasonable backup threat. Plus, there’s a mini mind game, since when you tell people at the table that you have a Cascade War Doctor deck, they might think he’s the problem, and possibly ignore Susan on 2.
@@thebitterfig9903 I just made a mockup of Susan and the Sixth doctor, as he lets you copy your greedy legends and artifacts for even more value. The 4 mana ramp spells push you into the 6th doctor, and then if you hit a Scepter of Eternal Glory or a gilded lotus you end up mana positive and even further ahead. Even without those, any of your 6+ mana legends and artifacts love being copied for extra value.
I also think the Fugative Doctor would be an interesting choice as she can flashback your ramp spells for even more ramp.
Always a good day when Snail uploads
It's kind of beautiful that your battlecruiser vibe has evolved in reverse order from Phyrexian Praetor to Phyrexian Converted Elf to normal Elf. You are helping to purify that damnable ichor from the land. Thank you. :)
this seems like the perfect deck to slot 'possibility storm' into as a means to halt counters and opponent's interaction
"Chasing the vibes" is a lovely attitude to have around finalizing a deck list 😊
I built a simic greed deck around Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy using a similar principle - access to Tail the Suspect in the command zone always feels incredible
I have as well: my local play group was not pleased, but I love how the deck plays. It's really neat that I get to play weird cards like Darksteel Relic and have them be good.
Some favourites from my personal list are the indestructible artifact lands, and liquimetal torque to get anything off the table with Kellan
I built this with a Keruga companion - no Liquimetal Torque possible, but I pretty much only have big beaters. Something large is landing turn 4 and hopefully every turn thereafter. I also run a Tanglepool bridge, and would consider a One Ring if I felt like upgrading the budget that much. However I found that I didn't even play Kellan some games - he's done his job after ramping me, and unless I really want his artifact removal or am desperate for a flying creature (or any creature) I don't bring him in from adventure.
Commanders with an adventure seem really cool because they're card advantage of another sort. I always have a useful spell from the CZ, and it "draws" me a legendary creature of some value for later.
I genuinely love the probability breakdowns. This video explained in great detail why I tend to get mana flooded.
Snail, I cannot tell you how much you've helped me and my friend out in enjoying Magic. Thank you for all you do!
Incredible video. A while ago I thought on building a Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood + something else deck because I really wanted to try having some ramp in the command zone. That deck didn't worked very well since having a 3 mana dork wasn't very good for your curve. You need to ramp at turn 1 to be efficient and that 80% of the time would mean using another mana dork. Having two dorks in the field is not ideal when board wipes can remove easily all your investment in your early turns.
After looking at this video you made me realise the way to go with the deck is with 2 mana dork on the command zone into 4 mana ramp.
Looking at 2 mana dorks I found Susan Foreman and I think its perfect to build a commander deck with the same principle as your radha deck. It has Doctor's companion, meaning you can pick any combination of 3 colors you want for your deck and since you will always land a 4 mana land ramp spell you already fix your mana to have all the colors you need. You can pick your doctor just for the colors you want or you can make it have synergy with the rest of the 98. I'm building a deck with susan and the sixth doctor going full with high mana historic spells in simic. Simic has a ton of 5-6 mana legendary creatures that do well at generating you value for doing big mana stuff. Copying these creatures can get you a lot of value over the game. Since the only simic legendary creature with cascade is Imoti I can afford to put 2-3 mana value interaction like counterspells and spot removal in the deck. I can usually have 2-3 mana untapped after I put a big creature or artifact on the board.
If you want to try building a deck using the same philosophy as this radha deck without copying the commander I recommend you checking Susan Foreman + any doctor you like. There are plenty of combinations that can work pretty well that almost no one built. For example susan + the sixth doctor as of today has only 2 decks registered in EDHREC
I always understood what a mana curve *is* but it wasn't until I watched your videos that I finally understood the semantic meaning of the mana curve as it pertains to gameplay and how you should shape your curve around your commander in EDH. Thank you!
Cool concept! Definitly only casual though. The main weakness i see from this deck is when the opponents become aware that the deck only runs 4 mana plus spells. Removing Rada on her first play effectively timewalking you twice.
Woosh
@@eonrider i know he made it as a casual deck. Was just pointing out that weakness because even casual groups run removal
Even then it's not the worst thing in the world, you'll skip turn 3 but if you have an explosive vegetation or such by turn 4 your deck still comes online and your opponents are down 1 removal spell. Ofc it's a very strong play but I reckon that saving a counterspell or similar for the big ramp spells probably hurts more in the long run
@@Ironpecker yeah it does have resiliency there. Definitly not a good idea to keep a low land hand
Targeting commanders with removal stops so many decks and strategies, people underestimate just how quickly the commander tax stacks up. I'm trying to stay away from commander-centric deck design for this very reason but it's not that easy.
I had a similar experience recently while trying to build a Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy deck. I came to similar conclusions on mana dorks and low cost ramp. I even got to end up playing Keruga as a companion.
I didnt think of Cascade though, and I definitely think it will work similarly for my simic deck as it does for your gruul deck.
Thanks for the inspiration! Back to the drawing board lol
Consider your ramp package as a mini curve or your deck. You want low and you want some higher cost "better" ramp in things like Gilded Lotus, Hedron Archive, Solemn, Crypt Ghast, etc... Keep in mind you wont always see things as theorized during an actual game. So a lot of the time, the cheaper the card, the better the card. All because simply being able to play and do things is as good as winning.
Your comment (and this video) inspired me to do the same; I just built an Inquisitive Prodigy deck! I went back and forth on whether or not to companion Keruga, but decided to go for it because I've never built a deck with a Companion, and how else would I ever run that companion?
I had a few copies of Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty from the March of the Machine bonus sheet - Imoti cascades, and then gives all CMC 6+ cascade. I'll probably look for other cascade spells too - it seems much more fun if you've rigged your curve so you can't "miss".
I ended on like 46 lands because I feel like Kellan really wants at least 3 lands in opening hand and prefers 4, but I didn't want to go to 50+ lands. With 3 in opening I feel reasonably confident I can hit the 4th between 3 draws.
@@51gunner you definitely need a higher than average land count for Kellan/Keruga, especially if your curve starts at 4. I think 46 is a little high though considering you get a free mulligan in commander and Tail the Suspect also gives you a clue token.
I'd give the popular landfall decks a look to get an idea of how many lands they are playing as a starting point. They are looking to make multiple land drops per turn, so I'd wager you don't need more lands than they do. They seem to be running about 39-42, and I'd recommend that range to start with and include some kind of plan for flood insurance (looting effects, perhaps).
@@jayjayhooksch1 I'll have a look, but I think I'd rather start land-heavy & trim. Was cheaper for me to fill the list with more basics than pick up speculative picks & have to cut.
I really, really need 3 lands in opening hand and would be happier with 4.
Over time I could maybe cut a couple but I'd prefer to do that only after testing.
@@jayjayhooksch1 After looking into it a bit, I think I can eat my cake & still have it.
I wanted 46ish lands because it's really important for me to get 4+ lands in the first ten cards the deck sees (7 starter + 3 topdecks at start of turn 3). I'd rather lean a little towards 5 lands than risk three, so 46 felt correct.
After looking further into it though, I noticed two things: the deck is really accepting of tapped lands - I can actually play out two of the first four lands as tapped without interrupting anything - and that it often has an open mana or two because it doesn't have any CMC 2 or lower cards.
I think the answer here is MDFCs and the LTR landcyclers. With Lorien Revealed, Generous Ent, Khalani Ambush, and Glasspool Mimic I can cut 4 lands but each of those cards lets me either play it as a land or cycle it away to get a land.
Thanks for your comments, they were really helpful.
The idea this gave to me was to play Ruby, for the exact same reasons as Radha and 2 cost dork I always have, and then a cascade package with 4/5 card to cascade into (Etali’s favor is the 5th one it doesn’t really count, I know the deck would be strictly more powerful if I reduced it to 2/3 but I’m intentionally playing some jank like glimpse of tomorrow). I also have the same kind of top end this deck is so it isn’t just win with cascade of bust (unless I flip a really bad glimpse of tomorrow, although I’ve tried to stick to just permanents whenever possible).
Came back to this video to rehear the advice that inspired me to make the deck and add some finishing touches. I built the deck on a crazy low budget using mostly cards I already have making it by far the most jank of my commander decks but that was part of the fun in building it. The fact that I want to cascade on turn 3 instead of ramping does make me much weaker to board wipes than this deck but honestly I kinda built this deck with the knowledge that both of my play groups play a painfully low amount of board wipes so I should never have to play through more than 2 board wipes in a single game.
The deck is definitely both very similar and very different to this one, thanks for the inspiration and I’ll come back here again to fix the deck if my wacky idea doesn’t actually work out.
Am I about to build a Radha deck for pauper commander? Why yes I am.
You can build a similar deck using imoti + keruga companion, so every cascade trigger from your commander will get you into a 3 mana cost ramp spell, that way, every time you cast your commander, you will off set an increasing commander tax if she gets removed
This deck is great. The vibe can be achieved with Susan Foreman too while also letting you flex this idea into any color
Watching your videos made my Lozhan deck run smoother and I can say it's now decent. Great video
really really love your videos. you consistently find good ways to articulate ways I like to approach deckbuilding.
this deck in particular is pretty similar to my maelstrom wanderer/keruga deck in how it approaches ramp and resource accumulation.
But isn't that super slow because you have no ramp until 4?
@@bananajoe275 it's a slower deck in that it takes ~4 turns before it starts to do anything really meaningful, but it's built with card ratios to consistently ramp +1 mana on 3, ramp +2 mana on 4, and cast wanderer on 5.
it exploits guaranteed access to cards in a similar way to radha but from the opposite end. radha is guaranteed 2mv ramp, where wanderer is the payoff for running an absurd amount of ramp. keruga as well, providing an easy way to refuel when paired with the permanent-based ramp in the deck.
I got rambly, tl;dr it's slow to start but hard to stop.
Glad I found your channel. There's always some tid-bit perspective to learn about the game, even if you've played for YEARS :)
Sir, you've made me for the first time ever think about switching the commander of my Xenagos deck. It's like how you described your Goreclaw deck, the biggest problem at the table until it isn't, and packing in 16 or 17 three mana or less ramp cards. It's so focused on ramping to five and six that relies on an out attack strategy it gets shut down after a couple of removal spells, or gets unlucky and doesn't get off the ground quick enough. Consistently windmill slamming six plus drops on turn four is where I want to be, and putting that early ramp in the command zone, freeing up space for bigger ramp that lets me better sustain into the late game despite setbacks sounds like the way.
such an amazing video, sent it to a bunch of my friends; you're definitely slept on
Ive been working on a 2 colour commander pod and had been struggling to find a simic deck that I found interesting. your deck was the perfect inspiration. currently working on troyan with keruga as companion. good job! smooth moves
This is easily the best channel on EDH deckbuilding.
I was inspired by this video to build my own Radha deck, and one card that truly shined for me is Magmatic Force.
I think it fits the idea of "big creature with removal stapled," is dirt cheap, and very similar to Drakuseth.
I thought it might not have been on your radar and I hope you consider adding it to your own deck!
@9:30 I find the same play pattern with a mostly basic package in lord windgrace. You can absolutely tear through the basics in your deck and start drawing your good cards
I love this deck.
A few things:
-Ruby has a similar build path but I agree with your switching to Radha, for two reasons: Radha is better in corner cases (activating Blighted Woodland on T3, for example); Radha is such a dope character.
-Using Ruby as a baseline, your list has some significant upgrades: the caves package is just brilliant; Radagast really shines here.
-I don't run the Dr. Who cards (not available on MTGO and I like my decks to be the same in paper and digital) or the Warhammer cards (I just don't dig Warhammer), so I added other cascade cards (Apex Devastator, of course, and Call Forth the Tempest) as well as Silverback Elder. The latter card really makes the deck sing: just as Radagast nets you more creatures than you'd expect, Silverback pushes the ramp train into Astro Train mode and the added potential removal is gravy. So, IMHO, if I were to add some non-budget cards, I'd probably start with Silverback (he's among the cheaper non-budget cards, too!).
-Your strategy of eschewing EVERYTHING under four mana is absolutely genius. I had a friend who built Radha as a generic goodstuff deck years ago The same friend also proclaimed themself to be the uncontested monarch of midrange. This list would make them very happy.
I'm glad you enjoy the deck! Silverback Elder and Nylea, Keen-Eyed are both engines that are a bit more that I'd like, but which I've considered nonetheless. And honestly, Radha's art and flavor is the biggest reason I prefer her to Ruby, though I think mechanically she's slightly better as well due to a handful of edge case instants.
@@salubrioussnail I don't want to spoil anything, but we just got a sweet 5-drop for the deck. Not sure if it's officially spoiled yet, so I'll let folks check it out if they like.
@@pauldyson8098Tell meeeee!
This deck was so cool it inspired me to make a standard brawl version with Ruby, daring hunter, and by golly is it good. Thanks for the great deck idea!
Recently I made a battlecruise edric deck with effectively the same game plan as the one laid out by your glissa video (ramp, commander, draw while ramping, draw cards by any means necessary (trampling 7-10 drops)). I’m super new to magic, so didn’t know the reputation edric used to have until I played… happy to say I love the deck all the same. Thank you for the videos :))
I suggest to add the split cards Road//Ruin, Struggle//Survive, and Thrash//Threat as they all have a cmc greater than four and work as interaction.
I just discovered this channel and holy crap it's a masterpiece
I do something similar (although less refined and mathed out) for a Queen Omo deck, she does big land things with non basic land tutors. It makes an engine with Omo granting an extra locus drop boosting cloudpost
At one point I was thinking of making a radha deck cause manadork commander sounded fun but then I realized gilanra and alena are both manadorks and partners so then I did that.
That deck actually looks super fun. The idea of a ramp package starting at 4 mana never even came close to crossing my mind.
I wonder if a similar deck, but with an even higher curve, would be possible using Yurlock of Scorch Thrash. Maybe canning the Cascade package in favour of some 3-drop ramp and some 3-drop haste enablers, so that you could cast and activate Yurlock on turn 4 and go from there, playing an 8-drop on turn 5 etc.
You put a lot of thought into EDH as a whole. Well done! I would love to hear your take on how people play voltron wrong, and how to make it more viable.
Really cool video! It reminds of one of my favorite decks (that I rebuilt recently, updated with the insights I gleaned from your videos)
It's an Arixmethes deck that uses the commander as an always online explosive veggie. It's really cool but as you said in your video it can stumble due to the high number of low cost ramp, and the first 4 turn are pretty much scripted. Some of my favorite cards that I never managed to find a good deck for (like Sphinx of the Second Sun, Shared Summons and Alchemist's Refuge) have had their time in the spotlight so overall a great success.
So thanks for all the cool videos, keep it up!
I've played this deck a couple of times now and as long as it's got at least 2 lands in your starting hand, it's unbeaten so far. Nicely done.
Does your playgroup just not play single target removal? Legitimate question
@@UnuUO While it's certainly possible someone removes/counters your commander in a deck like this, in practice it's pretty unlikely. Someone needs to basically have a piece of premium low-cost removal that isn't Path To Exile and nothing better to do with their mana.
The commander's not on the field turn 1, and I'd say a lot of players would rather spend their turn 2 dropping a mana rock or ramp spell of their own than removing a 2-drop. I'd say that the typical table just isn't prepared to spend their removal piece that early in the game before it's clear who's the real threat at the table as well; there's just enough other really strong commanders that people would rather target. There's certainly cards in the game that could stop you and if someone really had it out for you they absolutely could do it, but such is EDH.
I play a version of this deck using Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy; it doesn't put a creature on the battlefield turn 2 so it's a little harder to interrupt, but even then I've never worried about eating a fast early counterspell; people just have other stuff they're doing on 1 or 2. If you're ahead of them in turn order they may only have a single (tapped?) land in play when going for Tail the Suspect.
I really like this strategy. I've used it to make a twelfth doctor cascade deck with Susan foreman as the companion.
I increasingly find myself choosing more low cost cards with card filtering / selection spells and abilities, rather than outright draw for the reason you outlined - drawing low cost ramp or excess lands later in the game. It seems to me to be a pretty natural thing to include. Usually these are cheap and have easy to achieve activation costs (such as Academy Wall or anything with a simple tap ability). I find it's a good method to achieve deck consistency, and if you're discarding from hand or surveiling rather than scrying there's often a way to use the graveyard to play those spells. However, this tends to lead to a commander that contains a draw engine or at least half a draw engine since usually some synergy is required, rather than a ramping commander. In a way that's restricting which cards I can use as a commander, but this video's idea is a cool alternative. I'm interested to see if I can get it to work in non-green color combinations though - perhaps Urza, Powerstone Prodigy or something like that would be good for me to try building around.
hmm i have a similar cascade deck with Imoti. She costs 5 and has cascade herself, so she always finds a 4 cost ramp. Getting to 5 is much more taxing in your life total but if Imoti survives for a single turn, the amount of value you pull is insane. The deck is quite budget too.
My only issue is that is simic, so its automatically ten times worse than gruul.
7:31 Woodwurm is an ALL STAR in my Surrak and Goreclaw list, near constantly causing it and Surran'n'Claw to use its ability that turn
Yes! I have a Radha deck that works very similarly like this, but I chose to put more instant speed interaction in to hold up between turns rather than rely on cascade effects, because ultimately I cannot deviate from my blue instincts no matter what colours I'm in.
By the way, "Not of This World" is a slam dunk in this deck, it's instant speed protection that doesn't muck up your cascades and is very budget-friendly (currently sitting at $0.89).
This sounds hella fun, actually. Turns 1-3 can be boring no matter how you build. I love that you are embracing that and turning it into a strength with the 4 mana ramp. 🙌
This is sick. My previous two deck builds were a cascade deck that does not whiff, and a turbo greedy 7cmc+ creatures only deck. This is literally a combination of them, but also done way more cleanly. I def want to try to pilot this.
Honestly might cop this deck myself. I haven’t looked too fondly on midrange historically but your points have swayed me for sure. I like when a deck has thing that it’s doing and I’ve seen midrange as decks with nothing interesting to say but now I see it’s not that they have nothing interesting to say and more that they have interesting questions to ask.
it only occurred to me now, that Radha's attack trigger is perfect to activate boast abilities with
I did a pretty similar thing with Arixmethes. 15 2-mana ramp spells means a consistent turn 3 Arixmethes which taps for 2 mana. Turn 4 is always a 6 or 7 drop. It was fun but the consistency of the game plan left me a little bored so I ended up taking it apart.
I know exactly what you're talking about with 'vibe'. My own Alena, Kessig Tapper + Silas Renn partner deck is exactly that, and I'm still working on it, but essentially I sought out to do what you're doing but with a caveat: I wanted to play Grixis since Grixis is so often about spell slinger or wheels, and I wanted to play battle cruiser, a style that's absolutely the antithesis of either of those resource denial archetypes. And it still needs a lot of work, but I think it's coming along nicely.
This is pretty much how my henzie deck works as well, being able to blitz out huge pieces turn 4-5 and then hard casting them of cheating them out on later turn keeps that urge to play big stuff filled at all times
This is a really awesome deck.
I have one deck with a similar idea, a simic cascade with Imoti + Keruga as companion. As it only allows cards with CMC >= 3, it's a fun deckbuilding challenge.
All my CMC4 or less are ramp and the rest are big creatures that, when the commmander is in play, all cascade. So usually I play 2 (or when lucky 3) cards a turn without spending that many cards from hand.
Very awesome deck, so many tools & functions. And all those graphs and data too, I love it!
I'm curious how it would look as a budgetless variant
You have described exactly how I made my imoti, celebrant of bounty deck. Huge amount of ramp, and a bunch of cards that just cascade into it.
Imoti was my first thought. Shout out to Gwenna eyes of gaea
I found out during a game were I was running Beluna Copy Adventures that Cascade and Discover effectively filters past Adventures and digs for non-Adventures. Might have to rexplore the deck with this in mind.
I’m thinking about making a Thalia and The Gitrog Monster midrange deck similar in concept to your Glissa deck as Thalia is a great blocker and can draw me cards while also having a similar effect to Radha because Thalia+Gitrog Monster can effectively ramp as an Explosive Vegetation, at least when given a hand with enough lands. I’d likely run lots of mana dorks trying to get T+GM turn three along with an extra land with 6 or more mana on the battlefield on turn 4. Late game T+GM can convert those mana dorks into card draw, which helps with the top deck issue that Goreclaw encounters. Outstanding video as always and I would love any comment on my idea thanks ❤
Bless you, I've never seen another Radha deck; mine is a Primal Surge deck. This is a really great idea and I might make it soon, great work!
Radha has been a favorite of mine since the beginnings of EDH with how she just counts 1-2-4-6. I do wish I could take better advantage of her attack triggers, but consistently being able to hit those explosive vegetations saved me many games and lets me keep hands with lots of gas.
You beautiful bastard. You've really gone and done it this time.
I'm also trying to build a deck with a mana curve above 4. In my case, the goal is to have two options: either play Living End or play Bladewing, Deathless Tyrant on the fifth turn and connect with him.
Radha sort of functions like Gilanra functions in Gilanra/Kodama, casts you big spells a bit earlier, and draws you cards when you do. Kodama is really there to just put all the lands you have in your hand into play during your turn, but the deck ends up being a lot more "all-in" than a deck with a more consistent 4-8 range.
I agree that one of the main weaknesses of the deck is board wipes, but my approach was just to design the deck as a combo deck which overruns the board in a big explosive turn.
I do want to try moving towards more 4-5 drop ramp cards though, as Gilanra provides a similair curve jumping function to Radha.
Makes me want to build Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle with a similar concept.
I like the concept of this deck.
I did a versión with susan foreman and the 12th doctor as commanders
With blue i put big impactfull creature like bonny pall, koma, and maelstorm wanderer.
And the 12 th doctor can help ramping 4 Lands by demostrating a cascade of explosive vegetation.
This is such a fun idea! I am going to keep this in my head for when I am looking to smash in the future.
really love seeing a deck with a salt score in the low 20s. that's where my playgroup tends to stay, makes our commander games much more enjoyable and memorable
NGL this feels like we tried to make Averna Chaos bloom without any blue
This is the only Radha I don't havr a deck for yet...Goal with the others is always to turn Radha sideways as fast as possible. It's worked for me to sub high cost card density with big mana sinks and leave the creatures fairly disposable.
I build a very simmilar commander deck after your video about building a commander deck with a weakness and then finding a commander that covers that weakness. I went with Ruby, Daring tracker instead, but the concept is the same. Play commander on turn 2, and explosive vegetation variant on turn 3 and then go ham with 7+ drops for the rest of the game
I originally come from the Pokemon TCG where deck thinning is one of the most important aspects of high-level play. I found it strange that MtG players seemed to see it as a meme.
I'm highly considering to order this deck and try it out. it looks super fun and looks like my type of control deck
im building Susan/War Doctor based on this! i like how the core of the deck feeds into the war doctor's damage output
Every single problem you explained is alleviated with draw. Ramp is nice, lands are a thing, ratios--yes, gotta have them good. But at the end of the day, if you prioritize draw, you'll always have everything you want.
I've been trying to implement this philosophy after finding out about Yoshimaru's secret lair art. I paired him with Thrasios to give myself like a 90% chance at a T1 Doggo and T2 Merman. After that the flow chart is really interesting. Turn 3 seems to be a pivotal turn most of my games at the moment. I can often tell if it's going to be a good game or a bad one based on how well turn 3 goes. I'm not a very good deck builder, but the philosophy you're imparting is interesting and definitely super unique. I would also like to be a "Greedy Bitch" if possible but, I'm still struggling to get there at the moment with only 1 spell a turn but, hopefully I'll catch up soon 🙏😭
All chanting 🎉 snail! Snail! Snail! Snail
Hey, this is my deck! I did mine with Impromtu Raid-effects to be more resilient against wipes but I recognize a good Radha-curve when I see one
I have a build like this, but I use Ruby, Daring Tracker instead of Rhada
On the topic of instant speed interaction - have you considered Spearbreaker Behemoth? It seems like it would be a pretty good fit for this deck.
I appreciate your analytical insight
I think you could also play that one 2mv Doctor's companion who has a mana ability just so you could add a third color
I needed a brawl deck for this week's Arena event. No Radha, but I have Ruby from a jump in pack and I built a pretty functional deck inspired by this strategy. My curve looks kind of normal, but it's really not because the 2 and 3 mana spells are fight/bite removal and double faced tap lands that aren't meant to be played on curve.
Curious how the other x/G color pairs would do with this concept.
U/G can do this with Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy in the command zone. This color pair also opens up using Keruga as a companion. I've built it and play it pretty regularly.
Pros:
- Kellan's ramping leaves a clue in play & basically 'draws' him as a creature. The clue I've found to be pretty helpful, the minute you're not totally on-curve you may as well grab another card.
- Kellan himself is a more relevant creature than either Ruby or Radha; 3/4 flying vigilance with an attack trigger for 2UG can be pretty useful. Some games I never need to cast him as I'm playing out bigger threats, but other times I've used Tail The Suspect 3+ from the command zone... it was a grindy game and I needed cards and to set down the lands I kept topdecking. Radha and Ruby are unlikely to be cast a second time, IMO.
- Being in Blue/Green opens up having Keruga as a companion; a draw spell you're guaranteed to have access to is pretty sweet.
Cons:
- Less support for Cascade in blue/green than red/green. Imoti is nice but you're losing access to Etalis and such.
- Way fewer ways to get Haste in blue/green.
- You need more lands in opening hand, 2-land is flatly unplayable. I built the deck with 40 lands, 5 MDFCs, and 2 LTR Landcyclers so i effectively have 47 'land cards' in deck. Less room for spells.
There's also options to use Susan Foreman paired with any of the Doctors from the Dr. Who sets - this opens up 3-color options if you'd like.
mana curve looks like a treadmill preset
Real cool! I was looking into building a susan foreman deck, but this has convinced me to try to finish it
fantastic video, I love the concept for your deck it reminds me of my own 6 mana 6/6 deck or DREADMAW Tribal, same idea in regard to super high mana cost with big creature pay off but I went with more ways to ramp and cheat creatures onto the board. will leave the link for the deck below you might be interested in testing it out some time in the future, or just take inspiration for a future vid.
Something very funny about the BG deck shown being accompanied by "Oh it runs too much interaction, EDH players dislike it"
Ooo... Love this brew! I run a high power Naya Samut list with a similar vibe. This may be just the option I've wanted, for use in mid power pods!
Glissa is one of the very few legendary creatures I own and I love the battlecruiser idea, could you give me a short rundown on the decks game plan?
Im gonna play it blind, but I still want to know how you intended it to play.
Ramp and play Glissa early, then play big stuff later. That big stuff should preferably be big creatures that also draw you cards or deal with opposing threats.
@@salubrioussnail thanks dude! From what I saw in the deck list I know I'm gonna love playing this, and the power level is just right for my play group.
I really like this concept, i think i may try to build it with blue by using Susan Foreman and the twelfth doctor. Susan should be able to cover the same space as your commander and is easier to cast. Plus demonstrating spells is fun.
Love the idea, so i made my own version. And since im not budget limited (fetchlands) the panglacial wurm is even funnier.
I think Susan Foreman + any doctor has fully replaced OG Radha’s niche
This is a fantastic idea for a deck. Upon seeing it Immediately wanted to make something similar with Susan foreman to put it in three colors and make use of backgrounds.
I also thought maybe keruga the macrosage would be fun for this style of deck. But unfortunately Susan prevents keruga's companion ability from working. Oh well
You can try out Kellan if you really want to run Keruga. Im not sure if Keruga is better than the color red, but I think Susan is a no brainer over Rahda.
you could get the mana curve even higher if you use kellan inquisitive prodigy since he covers the 4 drop slot as well
If this deck were budgetless, what are some trades you’d make (besides the mana base obviously)
I'd add Call Forth the Tempest, Rain of Riches, and Apex Devastator
This is why you bolt the bird.
That curve is foul lmao. I've got a braking and shabraz deck that has one seven drop for a meme, one five drop as a choice tech, and everything else four or lower and I still feel like it has a curve too high
I think a sunbird’s invocation would work wonders into this deck
It is in since August when he last updated it :)