"... And Nicol Bolas said to The Locust God, Stretch out your hand over Amonkhet so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.
So The Locust God stretched out his staff over Amonkhet, and then made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts; they invaded all of Amonkhet and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Amonkhet."
I've always loved the color combination of Red/Blue as a Commander player but my affinity for creatures always kept me away from using my Melek, Izzet Paragon deck. With the release of Hour of Devastation, my radar went off when I saw that The Locust God had been spoiled. "A red/blue commander that spawns a ton of creatures?" My dreams have come true.
At a glance The Locust God seemed over costed, understatted, and for the most part; unenjoyable, but after a few hours of deliberation and theorycrafting with my playgroup, I realized the potential that this forgotten God has to offer. The Locust God actually has a surprising amount of upsides to him; the token generation is guaranteed if you keep him alive for a turn due to your draw step AND the tokens have flying and haste, he has a built in (albeit expensive) loot engine which is always appreciated as an option, and his last ability- which is arguably his most redeeming quality- bring him back to your hand after he dies, which makes his high cost a lot less harsh considering he won't become more expensive every time he becomes killed.
There's a lot of ways to build around The Locust God, but the way I chose to build around him is simple; Swarm your opponents and overwhelm them with insects. All while using very unique interactions of course!
Card Draw (Also token generation!):
Alhammarret's Archive - Doubling up on card draw? An obvious inclusion.
Arjun, the Shifting Flame - One of my personal favorite inclusions, this creature will net you some serious token generation with just a few spell casts.
Blue Sun's Zenith - Card draw at instant speed for however much you would like to spend on it, and it gets shuffled for later use. It should also be noted that while The Locust God is out on the field that you can spawn locusts at instant speed for a surprise block.
Brainstorm - A 1 cost create 3 1/1 Flyers with haste? And do some hand filtering? Sign me the f*** up!
Consecrated Sphinx - "Anything you can draw I can draw better" you opponents will think twice when casting a draw spell, especially with The Locust God out.
Distant Melody - Arguably the best draw spell in the deck. Double the amount of tokens on your field and also draw a metric shit ton of cards.
Fevered Visions - Having steady card draw never hurt anyone... Except for your opponents ;)
Jace's Archivist - If you're low on cards and your opponents are high on cards, this card will disrupt whatever plans they had in store and also fill up your stock.
Ludevic, Necro-Alchemist - This is the "Don't hit me" card in the deck. Also you draw some cards too.
Mind Unbound - Drawing cards more and more and more gets out of hand quickly- naturally.
Mindmoil - Just like Arjun, this card pumps out an intense amount of tokens. Doubling up on this ability is a very sound option.
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius - Izzet's big boss wants to get in on the swarm's fun. A big body with card draw and pinging to boot!
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind - Both Niv-Mizzets of course.
Rhystic Study - If your opponent doesn't "pay that extra one" then he will definitely be paying for the extra one next turn.
Skullclamp - Made for this deck. Goes infinite with Ashnod's Altar and Mana Echoes. What more can I say?
Thought Reflection - Gluttonous and decadent, always double dip when you can.
Windfall - Using this card with a small hand never feels bad.
Mana Ramp:
Ashnod's Altar - This enables you to go infinite if you'd like and is also just a great way to get mana for a turn.
Chromatic Lantern - A mana rock that makes your mana fixing worry-free.
Coldsteel Heart - A mana rock you can choose your color with.
Commander's Sphere - Another mana rock with the added ability to sac in a pinch when necessary, also maybe for a surprise flyer block or a surprise extra bit of damage.
Darksteel Ingot - Mana that stays on the board for the most part which is always appreciated.
Fellwar Stone - A two cost rock that comes into play untapped which makes it a little bit more relevant than the other 2 cost rocks.
Mind Stone - A two cost rock with the draw ability, which as previously stated can help in a lot of situations.
Ruby Medallion - If this gets out early you can get a lot of value off of it.
Sapphire Medallion - (refer to previous card)
Sol Ring - A staple in 90% of edh decks, and if you disagree then you haven't played it before.
Star Compass - A two cost that taps for whatever color you need, most of the time.
Thought Vessel - My favorite mana rock, due to the fact that you will likely be over 7 cards mid-late game. And it comes into play untapped!
Thran Dynamo - Amazing mid game ramp.
Answers (spot removal, board wipes, etc):
Blasphemous Act - 13 damage to everything and it's basically one cost whenever you need it to be.
Chain Reaction - Another big damage board wipe with a lot of boom
Descent of the Dragons - Not the most effective board wipe, but it can get rid of key targets like a Sheoldred and also has the upside of turning your insects into 4/4s
Electrolyze - Early removal for a BOP or Llanowar elf, and a cantrip cause yeah, kind of the whole idea of this deck.
Rapid Hybridization - Trust me, you'd much rather see a 3/3 than a 100/100 Omnath.
Changelog
Combustible Gearhulk swapped out for Whirlpool Warrior
Roar of the Crowd swapped out for Library of Leng
