Red Scare: Zada EDH [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH* Daedalus19876

SCORE: 324 | 277 COMMENTS | 57469 VIEWS | IN 125 FOLDERS


Amonkhet Adjustments —April 28, 2017

I decided to test Glorious End and Harsh Mentor, currently over Guttersnipe and Dualcaster Mage. Thoughts? :)

I'd add Shared Animosity to help make your creatures swing for a lot more.

Goblin Rabblemaster could also be pretty good.

I really like the idea though. It seems like a hilarious deck to play! And pretty good too with all of the card advantage.

September 19, 2015 12:17 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #2

Figag: Thank you for your comment! Shared Animosity is a good idea; I'll try to find a copy. Goblin Rabblemaster doesn't seem like a good idea here, though - it makes my commander have to attack into possibly lethal opponents, and loses tokens (which is the resource I want to maximize here).

September 19, 2015 2:43 a.m.

Nimbus171 says... #3

I would add in a Impact Tremors and a Purphoros, God of the Forge It will maxmize damage your tokens makes.Or maybe even Obelisk of Urd or a Coat of Arms To drastically enhance the power of your token processing and drastically buff your army of goblins.

September 19, 2015 12:22 p.m.

PlattBonnay says... #5

Aligned Hedron Network seems like an awkward inclusion. Do you have to lot of eldrazi/other fatties running around your local metagame?

October 1, 2015 10:26 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #6

PlattBonnay: My metagame has a good number of fatties, yes. Particularly, turn-3 Sheoldred, Whispering One or Terastodon from a rather nasty reanimation deck is very common. There is also an Omnath, Locus of Rage deck that Aligned Hedron Network deals with (since the tokens go to token hell rather than dying). Originally, I just put it in since I had an open slot and I had opened it in the BFZ prerelease, but it's actually turned out rather well. Plus, it's guaranteed never to hit any of my creatures!

infinitemana: I'll consider those, thank you! However, Fatal Frenzy and Swift Kick have both been in here in some of my drafts, but they got cut because they kill my tokens with little benefit, which leaves me unable to draw cards off of them.

October 1, 2015 12:08 p.m.

PlattBonnay says... #7

That makes sense. There were a few other cards I noticed that dont make a ton of sense, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on them. First and foremost, I dont think that Boseiju, Who Shelters All does enough for the deck to be worth shocking yourself and coming into play tapped. Due to Zada's ability, the majority of your instants and sorceries are going to have a kind of uncounterability, because unless your opponent is packing Counterflux or Mindbreak Trap, they wont be able to counter all of the copies. Second, Into the Core seems oddly specific. I think that Tuktuk Scrapper is the best form of artifact removal for a Zada deck for a few reasons. Number one, it leaves behind a creature that can help feed Zada, number two, its Ally synergy, which wont always come up, but occasionally you'll just get extra value from your commander, and number three, its a creature, so you can get even more value off of your Heat Shimmer and Twinflame. The last card that I am not totally sold on is Chancellor of the Forge. Yes, he occasionally gets you some early game value, which can be nice, but when you dont get him in your opener (which will be often), he seems like a winmore card. Does very little when you are behind (2 creatures for 7 mana), gets hit by the hedron network, and if you are already ahead I dont see why you wouldnt be more concerned with drawing the rest of your deck and generating a critical mass. Maybe I'm missing something, this is just my thoughts on the archetype.

If you're interested I would also like to hear your thoughts on my version of Zada, while significantly less budget, it has the same goals in mind:


Zada, Hedron Grinder (Aggro/Combo) Playtest

Commander / EDH* PlattBonnay

SCORE: 2 | 4 COMMENTS | 403 VIEWS


October 1, 2015 3:29 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #8

PlattBonnay: Boseiju is mostly there to protect my few non-targeting spells - particularly Radiate, Past in Flames, and Burn at the Stake, all of which are win-cons if they resolve. I agree that the downsides you mentioned (shocking and ETBT) are bad, but:

a) my meta has a lot of counterspells that I need to play around

b) it's meant to be drawn off of a cantrip, to set up for a winning play the NEXT turn (so I would probably mulligan it away from my opening hand)

and c) life totals aren't a big deal when losing usually entails infinite damage, haha!

Into the Core is to deal with a Daretti deck in my playgroup. Magistrate's Scepter and Mindslaver need to die permanently. 'Nuff said. But you're right: generally, Tuktuk Scrapper is generally better here :)

Chancellor of the Forge is relatively win-more, true, but it also helps me recover from a board wipe. In the late-game, with only my commander on the battlefield, I've played him, Twinflamed, then Panicked. 14 goblins out of nowhere which draw 14 cards is nothing to sneeze at. Plus, when I need to zerg rush, there's no better late-game token-maker. It's another card I'd mulligan away from my opening hand, however.

I'll take a look at your version of the deck as soon as I get a free second :)

October 1, 2015 4 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #9

Oh, and, um. I forgot to include a Skullclamp. Seems good, lol. I'll fix that shortly.

October 1, 2015 4:02 p.m.

mario37 says... #10

What about Spawning Bed and Foundry of the Consuls ? Also Ally Encampment to prevent getting Zada shuffled into your deck or something like that?

October 4, 2015 9:33 a.m.

mario37 says... #11

Also do you have a budget option for Eldrazi Monument?

October 4, 2015 9:48 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #12

mario37: Thank you for your comments! I will certainly consider both token-making lands; that being said, I need to keep my count of red-producing lands as high as possible, so I may try to cut other nonbasics to add them eventually. Ally Encampment is a strange case, because it does give me mana for Zada, but nothing else.

The deck has also been slightly modified IRL (Skullclamp in particular has been added) and I will update it here when I have time. If you plan to build it, though, add Skullclamp, it's amazing.

The answer to your second question depends on what you're trying to replicate from Eldrazi Monument. I can't think of anything that grants flying as easily in red, though indestructibility can be replicated by Soul of New Phyrexia in a pinch. But since you should have a large number of tokens, Coat of Arms and Obelisk of Urd do a good job pumping things to push through sufficient damage. Door of Destinies is also insane in general. All of these benefit from making the deck a little more goblin-tribal-focussed, though.

October 4, 2015 1:18 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #13

I wish that Zada cost 3 or less, because this would be a kickass Tiny Leaders deck.

October 4, 2015 1:20 p.m.

mario37 says... #14

Ally Encampment would serve to bring Zada to your hand instead of into the command zone, graveyard or, in worst case, in your library, since this deck simply NEEDS her. She is an Ally, so the last ability can be used for her.

October 4, 2015 2:10 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #15

I'm aware, and it's a good idea - I'll probably try it out to see how well it works. However, I'm concerned about whether the usually-colorless mana, coupled with the need to keep open 2 mana to protect her, will be worth the benefit :/

October 4, 2015 2:17 p.m.

mentor6 says... #16

you guys seem to be forgetting the tuck rule change, if they attempt to put her into your library, you can have her go to your command zone instead. thus making that part of Ally Encampment irrelevant

October 5, 2015 1:09 a.m.

mario37 says... #17

Totally forgot about that, you're right.Another good idea may be Vicious Shadows, since you have a lot of tokens that can die really quick.

October 5, 2015 3:01 a.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #18

mentor6: Ally Encampment does, however, help by returning her to my hand so that I do not have to pay commander tax. It's a bit situational, but might be worth checking out.

October 8, 2015 6:01 p.m.

mario37 says... #19

How is this deck going so far? I'm really interested in making one for me.

October 9, 2015 3:35 a.m.

mentor6 says... #20

Daedalus19876, never said it was useless. just wanted to clarify the tuck thing, since it has been brought up in several other zada decks i've seen.

mario37, do it, i have a similar list, and its ton of fun

October 9, 2015 7:46 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #21

mario37: I played it to great success last night. I would absolutely recommend making it! Be aware, however, that it is extremely commander-centric and thus you want to probably play Zada ONLY on the turn you plan to combo off, to dance around kill-spells which can derail your whole plan*.

*Kill-spells once Zada is on the field isn't a huge deal since you can target her in response with most of your cantrips.

October 11, 2015 2:02 a.m.

mario37 says... #22

Thanks, both of you. It sounds like a fun deck to play. I already got Zada and a lot of cantrips. I think I will try it out.

October 11, 2015 5:59 a.m.

mario37 says... #23

I especially like the option to win either by Burn at the Stake or Fiery Gambit. That would be hilarious.

October 11, 2015 6:04 a.m.

Jakael10 says... #24

October 11, 2015 1:37 p.m.

Daedalus19876 says... #25

mario37: I have now won by both ;) in particular, winning by Fiery Gambit yesterday gave me 36 red mana, which I used to cast Commune with Lava for 30, into Past in Flames into 15 more copies of Fiery Gambit into slightly over 9000 damage from many, many copies of Chancellor of the Forge. Yes, it seriously was OVER NINE THOUSAND (insert DBZ video).

I feel like that should be a commander achievement.

October 11, 2015 5:29 p.m.