Rather than go into some of the precon decks for Commander Masters, which are still too expensive to be a justified purchase, I'll be spending the next few weeks looking at some of the reprints of the main set. We'll be looking at some classic Commander options who got reprinted here. Who would you like to see next?
Hey dude, I like how you built this out. I’m I have a friend who plays a voltron Marneus Calgar with all the swords and Excalibur, and his double strike has been messing the table up, so this guy seems like he’ll do just as good if not better!
On the surface of it building around Exalted and Rafiq doubling the value of the counters is probably one of the most resilient voltron ideas I've seen as you won't have as many equipment or Auras only protection spells to make sure your one attacker isn't interrupted.
Very cool video! I'm always looking, but it's hard to find Rafiq stuff on RUclips now. He was my first commander and still my main deck. Like you, it had to undergo many changes from edh's infancy to today based on how the game evolved. It went from battle cruiser fatties, to exalted voltron, to pillow fort, to blink value, to bant good stuff, to equipment/aura, to infect and what not. It's now settled in back to voltron, but built extremely low to the ground with tons of mana dorks/fast mana rocks with the typical core equipments/pump/support. It's got a high floor, but low ceiling due to having to race other decks. Not optimal, but I still have fun. Keep up the great videos!
May I suggest Access Tunnel? Because Exalted isn't a static buff but a trigger on attack its restriction is seldom relevant. Selfless Samurai also looks good since Rafiq doesn't really care who is swinging (which is why he's still relevant in 2023) and it can protect him. He's expensive (in Mana, quite the opposite in money), but Grunn the Lonely King could be horrifyingly powerful here. Stacking his own trigger under your Exalted triggers means that with say two exalted triggers means without kicker he swings as a 14/14 Double Strike, or 24/24 Double Strike with kicker.
Rafiq was also my first EDH deck! Funny enough I used to run a lot of the same cards. One of my favorite cards was sovereigns of lost alara as it could cheat in eldrazi conscription 😂 I still have the deck on my tappedout page😅
I feel like this has to be said but Medomai the ageless is another fastastic synergy peice. Its a 4/4 flier that says when it deals combat damage you take an extra turn, but it cannot attack during extra turns. A lot of the edh community frowns on extra turns cards but personally I feel like a voltron deck which is relying on killing 1 player at a time, medomai is a somewhat tame option that also has a unique synergy in giving it double strike. I dont run it in my playgroup as my rafiq deck aims to make rafiq SUPER sticky, but in lower power decks its similar to the finest hour synergy.
Honestly, a good Rafiq deck can smash an entire table in moments, being a severely underrated deck capable of competing at cEDH levels, if you make a few changes. First, mana dorks and counter-spells provide a priceless base, along with some budget card-draw, which you covered with the Esper Sentinel and the Selkie. However, you gotta ditch the Sigil of Valor, Rogue's Passage and Colossus Hammer for either things that give creatures trample (Rancor is auto-include) or better unblock-ability, like invisibility and Aqueous Form . You should also include the Sword of Fire and Ice for card draw, direct damage and protection as well. For creatures, just cut out Geist of Saint Traft, Galea, Giltspire Avenger and Trygon Predator while adding Blighted Agent, Glenn, the Voice of Calm, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and Medomai, the Ageless. I shouldn't even be revealing these things here.
Yeah... I have a really aggressive and fun Rafiq deck that has early game potential of winning. Should check out my deck list sometime. It fits in some of the strategies you talk about, just is close to CEDH level but more tame.
It's my fav deck of all time, only foiled out and tricked out with best cards EDH deck. It's still be able to hold it's own against most commanders but some just purely outclass it still unfortunately. The deck i'll never break apart :)
I'm happy to disagree with you on Voltron being not very relevant. Plenty of aura commanders (like Bruna, Light Paws and Sythis) and equipment commanders (like Bruenor, Balan and Nahiri Forged in Fury) are definitely relevant and powerful and demand to be noticed.
Rather than go into some of the precon decks for Commander Masters, which are still too expensive to be a justified purchase, I'll be spending the next few weeks looking at some of the reprints of the main set. We'll be looking at some classic Commander options who got reprinted here. Who would you like to see next?
Hey dude, I like how you built this out. I’m I have a friend who plays a voltron Marneus Calgar with all the swords and Excalibur, and his double strike has been messing the table up, so this guy seems like he’ll do just as good if not better!
On the surface of it building around Exalted and Rafiq doubling the value of the counters is probably one of the most resilient voltron ideas I've seen as you won't have as many equipment or Auras only protection spells to make sure your one attacker isn't interrupted.
Very cool video! I'm always looking, but it's hard to find Rafiq stuff on RUclips now. He was my first commander and still my main deck. Like you, it had to undergo many changes from edh's infancy to today based on how the game evolved. It went from battle cruiser fatties, to exalted voltron, to pillow fort, to blink value, to bant good stuff, to equipment/aura, to infect and what not. It's now settled in back to voltron, but built extremely low to the ground with tons of mana dorks/fast mana rocks with the typical core equipments/pump/support. It's got a high floor, but low ceiling due to having to race other decks. Not optimal, but I still have fun. Keep up the great videos!
i have a Rafiq Infect deck for like 8 years and i still play him now even at cedh tables
Rafiq is also my baby deck. I have an Infect Rafiq deck that mostly uses combat tricks and creature protection.
May I suggest Access Tunnel? Because Exalted isn't a static buff but a trigger on attack its restriction is seldom relevant. Selfless Samurai also looks good since Rafiq doesn't really care who is swinging (which is why he's still relevant in 2023) and it can protect him. He's expensive (in Mana, quite the opposite in money), but Grunn the Lonely King could be horrifyingly powerful here. Stacking his own trigger under your Exalted triggers means that with say two exalted triggers means without kicker he swings as a 14/14 Double Strike, or 24/24 Double Strike with kicker.
Rafiq was also my first EDH deck!
Funny enough I used to run a lot of the same cards.
One of my favorite cards was sovereigns of lost alara as it could cheat in eldrazi conscription 😂
I still have the deck on my tappedout page😅
I feel like this has to be said but Medomai the ageless is another fastastic synergy peice. Its a 4/4 flier that says when it deals combat damage you take an extra turn, but it cannot attack during extra turns.
A lot of the edh community frowns on extra turns cards but personally I feel like a voltron deck which is relying on killing 1 player at a time, medomai is a somewhat tame option that also has a unique synergy in giving it double strike.
I dont run it in my playgroup as my rafiq deck aims to make rafiq SUPER sticky, but in lower power decks its similar to the finest hour synergy.
Honestly, a good Rafiq deck can smash an entire table in moments, being a severely underrated deck capable of competing at cEDH levels, if you make a few changes. First, mana dorks and counter-spells provide a priceless base, along with some budget card-draw, which you covered with the Esper Sentinel and the Selkie. However, you gotta ditch the Sigil of Valor, Rogue's Passage and Colossus Hammer for either things that give creatures trample (Rancor is auto-include) or better unblock-ability, like invisibility and Aqueous Form . You should also include the Sword of Fire and Ice for card draw, direct damage and protection as well. For creatures, just cut out Geist of Saint Traft, Galea, Giltspire Avenger and Trygon Predator while adding Blighted Agent, Glenn, the Voice of Calm, Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and Medomai, the Ageless. I shouldn't even be revealing these things here.
I definitely should make a variant of Rafiq that’s CEDH viable.
Yeah... I have a really aggressive and fun Rafiq deck that has early game potential of winning. Should check out my deck list sometime. It fits in some of the strategies you talk about, just is close to CEDH level but more tame.
I would love to see your decklist!
It's my fav deck of all time, only foiled out and tricked out with best cards EDH deck. It's still be able to hold it's own against most commanders but some just purely outclass it still unfortunately.
The deck i'll never break apart :)
I'm right there with you. It amazes me how this list of mine still feels solid to me, and I can't bring myself to ever change it.
Loyal knights of the past unite!
I had Rafik back in 2013 ish too. I ran auras instead.
I did contemplate adding in some Aura support as well. There's the one card, Mantle of the Ancients, that absolutely almost made this list.
@@PlaneswalkerProject Auras with Buna, Light of Alabaster would be fun. Toss in Replenish to help get enchantments back.
Its kaan stuh bl
I'm happy to disagree with you on Voltron being not very relevant. Plenty of aura commanders (like Bruna, Light Paws and Sythis) and equipment commanders (like Bruenor, Balan and Nahiri Forged in Fury) are definitely relevant and powerful and demand to be noticed.