Vices - [[Starke of Rath]] (Commander / EDH MTG Deck)

Vices - [[Starke of Rath]]

Commander / EDH Goblins Land Destruction Mono-Red Multiplayer Primer Theme/Gimmick

Shvian

Chance (16)

Cheating (10)

Gambling (10)

Larceny (11)

Luck (43)

Murder (19)

Vandalism (4)

Commander (1)

Maybeboard

Other (9)

Welcome! Take a seat at the table and bidding will begin shortly.

Our first item today is a deck based around putting stakes in chance and "encouraging" other players to do the same. It was made to play when taking a break from playing competitive, non-interactive, or unnecessarily expensive decks. It's only objective is for it's owner to have fun at any cost. This deck is meant to be as engaging and entertaining as possible with cards like Goblin Game and Game of Chaos. You can relax and enjoy the ride rather than being worried about playing perfectly. Sometimes you just need to kick back, throw caution to the wind, and risk everything to win or lose in a spectacular fashion.

Enjoy!

The Ramen Packet of Flavor

"Starke desperately needed funds for the voyage he was about to take. He knew nothing was more certain than the vices of the goblins. Gambling, betting, and bidding on stolen goods were rampant family fun here and it was time for Starke to take his cut."

"The players at the games distrust and persecute mages for their unfair magic. So, you won't see many magical chaos affects here, just the confusion that Starke starts as a distraction so that he can sneak away with the loot when nobody's watching."

Flavor Text (Not Included) Show

Card Choices

In this deck list, you'll find the following themed categories:

Chance - Representing the unknown potential contained in the act of drawing a card.
Luck - Powerstones and the like are rare, coveted items. Whoever "finds" or "obtains" one is certainly lucky.
Larceny - Eyes are everywhere in the city and jealousy causes words to spread like fire in all directions.
Vandalism - "If you can't take it, break it!"
Murder - Sometimes, people don't want to give up their treasure so easily.
Cheating - "Fate is for those who wait to be given what they want."
Gambling - Earn your keep the good ol' honest way.

You'll notice the inclusion of a few group-hug type cards. The point isn't to help the other players. Rather, it is to give them all a loaded pistol and lock them in a room together. Starke has a few dirty tricks up his sleeve, but hey- who said the game wasn't rigged from the start?

The Full List Show

- Anvil of Bogardan- Help everyone find the cards they want to play to have a fun game!- Avarice Amulet- Make some incentive for people to kill creatures they might not care about otherwise and encourage player interactions. At the very least, helps refill my hand. - Boompile- Much needed board wipe made more reliable with Krark's Thumb. - Crooked Scales - Some creature removal that is usually in my favor. - Crown of Doom- Helps make other players more attractive targets and increases player interaction. - Fellwar Stone- Coveting your neighbors mana. - Fire Diamond- Mana Rock. - Helm of Awakening - Helps advance the board state and skip over dead turns for players. - Horn of Greed- Keep the game moving with card draw for everyone. - Illusionist's Bracers- Multiply the effects of your creatures. - Journeyer's Kite - Develop card advantage and shuffle your deck whenever. - Krark's Thumb - The competitive edge on coin flipping. - Library of Leng- Great with wheel cards. Mess up your opponents hands while you can keep the cards you want by discarding the good ones to the top of your library and getting rid of the rest. Amazing with Gamble. - Mind Stone- Mana rock and card draw in a pinch. - Ruby Medallion - Helps you cast all those red spells. - Sol Ring- The one and only - Swiftfoot Boots- Activate / trigger abilities of your creatures the same turn you play them and help protect them from removal. - Worn Powerstone- Mana rock. - Great Furnace- Goblin flavor land. Can be sacrificed or brought back with Goblin Welder. - Homeward Path- Combos with Starke of Rath, Humble Defector, Thieves' Auction, and Illicit Auction . Take Homeward Path first and all the non-creatures then tap Homeward Path. Works best if it is in your hand when you play Thieves' Auction. - Mountain- Best-in-slot basic land for this deck. - Temple of the False God- Taking ramp wherever I can get it. - Terrain Generator - A little more ramp. - Dangerous Wager - Emergency card draw. - Final Fortune - For going all in! Generally, not a fan of extra turns but this one seems fair enough. - Price of Progress- Can hit multiple opponents for huge damage for 2 mana at instant speed. - Puppet's Verdict- Excellent instant speed board wipe for 3 mana. - Faithless Looting- Card filtering with flashback. - Fiery Gambit- The embodiment of this deck: gambling, murder, chance, and luck! - Gamble- Works great with Library of Leng. Otherwise, your usual red tutor. - Game of Chaos- Players (myself included) can easily bet too far with this one and kill themselves with the damage. - Goblin Game- Mass damage and player interaction. Awesome! - Goblin Lore - Random deck filtering. - Illicit Auction - Great way to steal an essential creature if you have more life than anyone else or let others bid their lives away. - Kindle the Carnage - Creature board clear. - Reforge the Soul- Draw for you, wheel for them. - Thieves' Auction- After youve played all the group hug cards, your opponents probably have put a lot onto the battlefield and have left you alone for the most part. Time to hit them with this and watch them realize that everything is not okay! - Vandalblast- Mass artifact removal. - Wheel of Fate- Draw and wheel. - Wheel of Fortune- Draw and wheel. - Whims of the Fates - Great player interactions based on seeing if everyone is splitting their permanents into 3 piles or is going all in and putting it into 1, etc. This can lose or win the game for anyone. - Winds of Change- Fix your crappy opening hand or kill someone elses perfect one that theyre bragging about. - Custody Battle - Sharing is caring! - Furnace of Rath- Combos with Heartless Hidetsugu and Fortune Thief or Price of Progress or Goblin Bomb . Otherwise, accelerates the game and makes pinging much more painful. - Goblin Bomb - Mainly here for the fun but also potential huge damage or kill with Furnace of Rath on an opponent who doesnt gain life or is low. - Heat Stroke- Makes your small creatures deadly even to large creatures if they attack into you. Everyone must think about attacking or not. - Impulsive Maneuvers - Puts a little gamble on attacking- double or nothing! - Mana Cache - Encourage players to tap out, otherwise help an opponent. - Mana Flare- Accelerate the game for everyone! Get rid of dead turns. - Price of Glory- Yea, the gamblers dont like the tricks of those pesky blue mages. Get your magic crap out of here! - Smoke- Prevent too much combat damage from being taken if you are targeted. - Tide of War - Like Heat Stroke, make everyone think twice about attacking. - War's Toll- Force opponents to go all in with lands and creatures. - Witch Hunt - Stops life gain strategies and has good player interaction. - Creepy Doll - Great to attach Avarice Amulet to, and just block most anything. Helps discourage people from targeting you. - Deal Broker- Deck filtering and flavor. - Dragon Mage - Wheel on a stick. Reasonably big creatures to attack and block. - Dwarven Blastminer- Some lands are just too powerful for people to have. Dont use on every non-basic unless someone deserves it. You will potentially put a target on your head. - Fortune Thief - Your last saving grace when you get hit too hard. - Goblin Welder- Mess with opponents fields and help your own. - Heartless Hidetsugu- Kill everyone with Furnace of Rath and skate by with Fortune Thief . - Hellkite Tyrant- Steal all the artifacts! Alternate win condition if playing against durdlers. - Humble Defector- Draw and pass, great player interaction! Or use with Homeward Path. - Karplusan Minotaur - Damage hopefully in your favor. Furnace of Rath and Krark's Thumb can help. - Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs - Some defense and helps make you not a target. - Rummaging Goblin - Draw when you have no cards in hand, otherwise deck filtering. - Sin Prodder - Decent damage with Furnace of Rath and potential card draw or deck filtering. - Steel Hellkite- Destroy what your opponents have but shouldnt. - Viashino Heretic- If you cant steal their artifacts, fling them in their faces. Again, great with Furnace of Rath. - Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded - Hes got it all folks! 2 cmc, random deck filtering, player damage (looking at you, blue players), and Insurrection to kill someone.

Win Conditions

- Hellkite Tyrant- Additive effect of pinging triggers after letting opponents hurt each other. - Goblin Bomb / Heartless Hidetsugu + Fortune Thief with Furnace of Rath.- Randomly having opponents clear their own board with Whims of the Fates - Stealing powerful creatures and alpha striking with Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded / Thieves' Auction.- Having an opponent gamble too far and lose with Game of Chaos.

Strong Points

- Very disruptive to other decks.- Loads of creature and artifact removal.- Mana Flare speeds up the game & Mana Cache / Price of Glory discourages players from passing turns with lands untapped to counter others. - Makes fun & crazy games!- Depending on how you play, you won't be much of a target for a long time.

Weak Points

- (Fixed the issue of low mana rock count.)- Didn't have enough creatures on the field for combat phases. Will need to test current configuration after the recent changes.

Initial Playtesting

My first night of playing this deck at my local shop was a blast. Anyone who stopped by our table was intrigued or had a good laugh at what was going on. One of my opponents loved the deck, while another scooped as soon as I played Thieves' Auction. The same guy who scooped also played Felidar Sovereign turn 3 with his Oloro, Ageless Ascetic deck. I was able to save the game with Starke of Raths activated ability before his next upkeep, but it seemed he was looking for a competitive game with his deck. We had already talked about what kind of decks we were playing so I dont fault this deck for anything, just that he had something else going on. Other than that, what a great time! In another match, we had everyones decks running as intended with a Mana Flare, Horn of Greed, Anvil of Bogardan, and Helm of Awakening out on the field. In this match, my opponents were playing Kruphix, God of Horizons and the dreaded Meren of Clan Nel Toth. I got to drop a casual 2 mana Price of Progress for 20 damage to opponents. With so much mana and card draw across the board, the Meren player ended up decking himself with a Grim Flowering leaving me vs a Kruphix with 30 mana pooled and 20 cards in hand. The first part of the game had been the Kruphix player and I focusing our efforts on keeping the Meren player in check, hence his graveyard being so larg I had not been a target for the entire game but the Kruphix player was of course able to swing in for lethal with a Primordial Hydra flashed in at the end of my turn. While I had a great time, this prompted some changes in the deck for me. I have since removed some of the coin flip cards that can hurt me too much. In their stead, I have added more mana rocks, some more targeted destruction of all types with Steel Hellkite and Dwarven Blastminer, as well as some more wheel with Dragon Mage . Essentially, I have taken out pure chaos cards like Scrambleverse in hopes that the deck wont make people want to scoop, and added more creatures to protect me or even go on the offensive, as well as smooth out the deck draw and mana.

Thoughts

I am aware that Amulet of Quoz is banned in commander due to being an ante card. I won't play for ante, but if the playgroup is okay with including it, replace Crooked Scales with this to truly embrace fate.

Suggestions welcome, but remember to stick to the theme!

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Revision 13 See all

(3 years ago)

Top Ranked	Achieved #21 position overall 7 years ago
Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.17
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C, Ogre 3/3 R
Folders	Neat!, ideas for chaos, EDH, Decks I've found, Decks
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