Dude of the Many

Commander / EDH GWU (Bant) Voltron

crazygator

Instant (11)

• 1x Bant Charm
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Eladamri's Call
• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Hinder
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Divine Reckoning
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Green Sun's Zenith
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Wargate
• 1x Wrath of God

Enchantment (13)

• 1x Asceticism
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Bear Umbra
• 1x Detention Sphere
• 1x Diplomatic Immunity
• 1x Eldrazi Conscription
• 1x Finest Hour
• 1x Oblivion Ring
• 1x Protective Bubble
• 1x Rancor
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Snake Umbra
• 1x Steel of the Godhead

Artifact (8)

• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Selesnya Signet
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Creature (26)

• 1x Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 1x Bastion Protector
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Bruna, Light of Alabaster
• 1x Dauntless Escort
• 1x Deputy of Acquittals
• 1x Eternal Witness
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
• 1x Knight Exemplar
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Qasali Pridemage
• 1x Saffi Eriksdotter
• 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 1x Silent Arbiter
• 1x Sovereigns of Lost Alara
• 1x Sphinx of Uthuun
• 1x Stoic Angel
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sun Quan, Lord of Wu
• 1x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Trygon Predator
• 1x Umbra Mystic
• 1x Venser, Shaper Savant

Land (35)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Bant Panorama
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Brushland
• 1x Cathedral of War
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Eiganjo Castle
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Island
• 1x Kor Haven
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
• 1x Plains
• 1x Plains
• 1x Plains
• 1x Razorverge Thicket
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Seachrome Coast
• 1x Skycloud Expanse
• 1x Sungrass Prairie
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Treva's Ruins
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Commander (1)

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Dude of the Many is my take on the Rafiq of the Many Voltron deck. He was my first commander and made me fall in love with the format.

The deck is fairly straightforward and is focused on winning via commander damage. It's hyper-focused on smashing in hard with Rafiq, so the three main pillars of the strategy are there to maximize its advantages and protect against its weaknesses.

Main strategic thrust:

1) Ramp to get Rafiq out fast.
2) Protect him from removal.
3) Beef up his power and give him evasion to get the damage through. 4?) EDH staples like removal, tutors, and card draw etc (not explained below)

1. Rafiq is a monster for commander damage so the idea here is to ramp to get Rafiq on the board by turn three (Possibly turn two if your opening hand has Sol Ring and a Signet with the right lands). There is a fair amount of ramp in this deck to make sure he gets on the board early, so you can afford to protect him before he gets removed, and so you can afford to pay the commander tax if he does get removed from the board.

2. That being said Rafiq is a huge target since his double strike ability can knock out players in one turn if set up right. Most of the time though, it will take Rafiq two or three combat phases to reach critical Commander Damage, so he needs to stay on the board. Protecting Rafiq is essential. This is Commander; in this format everyone has answers for big threats. Rafiq needs Hexproof, Protection, Indestructible, Regenerate, or even hard counters to keep him ON THE BOARD.

All of these cards work towards this pillar of the strategy: Mother of Runes, Grand Abolisher, Saffi Eriksdotter, Dauntless Escort, Knight Exemplar, Glen Elendra Archmage, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Diplomatic Immunity, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Snake Umbra, Steel of the Godhead, Sword of Fire and Ice, Whispersilk Cloak, Bear Umbra, Protective Bubble, and Asceticism.

3. The third strategic pillar is your end game. Rafiq can take out an opponent in three turns unassisted, but with a simple +2 to Rafiq's power changes that to two turns. He does 8 damage by himself, but with a +2 to power he does 12 damage per combat. So pumping Rafiq even a little, can end the game a turn faster, which is very important in this deck because it doesn't really have the stamina for really long games. The protection listed above can give you extra time while your opponents search for answers but they will eventually have them so it's important to get that damage through. Giving Rafiq Unblockable, Trample, or flying, and pumping his power is your way of dealing with the defenses of your opponent. The best cards in this deck are those that BOTH protect AND pump Rafiq.

These all both protect and pump Rafiq in some way: Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Snake Umbra, Steel of the Godhead, Sword of Fire and Ice, Whispersilk Cloak, Bear Umbra, Protective Bubble

There are a two ways to pump Rafiq in this deck, Equipment and Auras. Originally the deck was mostly equipment but I've slowly moved towards the auras because they are cheaper than the best equipment (the swords) and many of them, particularly the Umbra's both protect and pump Rafiq. Stoneforge Mystic is your go-to girl for equipment.

The ultimate combo for a one hit K.O. is to play Eldrazi Conscription + Sovereigns of Lost Alara . This 3 card combo makes Rafiq attack as a 15/15 DOUBLE STRIKE, Trample, and Annihilator 2. That's a one hit KO if they can't block at least 10 of that damage.

Finally there are the miscellaneous strategies that are there for variety and to give some extra spice to the synergies of this deck.

Alternatives to Rafiq: If Rafiq gets tucked into your deck you have several tutors to get him back, but if he’s stuck in the Command Zone and you can't afford him anymore, there are some alternative win conditions. Sigarda, Host of Herons, Bruna, Light of Alabaster, and Avacyn, Angel of Hope are all amazing back up plans, especially Bruna, Light of Alabaster. Her ability to reuse Auras is insane and is an amazing Voltron commander for Azorius.

Some Maybeboard Comments:
- Jenara, Asura of War is also an amazing substitute for Rafiq and could be a second commander for this deck.

• I run Sphinx of Uthuun instead of Consecrated Sphinx because he gets you that instant card advantage. This deck is designed to be fast (not super-fast), and Sphinx of Uthuun fits that better than Consecrated Sphinx. But in Commander games can go really long so if you prefer to go for the long game go with Consecrated Sphinx.

• I like Voidslime. It’s harder to cast than Spell Crumple, but it takes care of activated AND triggered abilities and there just isn't anything else in this deck that can do that. Spell crumple is probably the better choice, but I'm just stubborn.

Final Remarks: Thanks for reading about Dude of the Many! I'm sure it's not perfect, and I could go on and on about why each card is useful but at the end of the day a lot of choices come down to preference. I'd love to hear your suggestions! Of all 7 of my commander decks this is certainly the one that is the most polished. I feel like this deck is on the fringe of being at the spikey/unfair end of the casual decks, but probably at the weaker end of the truly competitive decks. The lands could easily be upgraded to better (but more expensive) ones. Let me know what your thoughts are.

And if no one has said it to you yet today... Have a great day, you're awesome, nice butt.

Date added	9 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Eldrazi Conscription + Sovereigns of Lost Alara
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 50 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.98
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G
Folders	Crazygator EDH Decks, Good EDH