Sac the Monkey: Kari Zev Pirate EDH

Commander / EDH Aggro Mono-Red Theme/Gimmick

PinnedPhoenix

Piracy (15)

• 1x Act of Treason
• 1x Besmirch
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Conquering Manticore
• 1x Grab the Reins
• 1x Helm of Possession
• 1x Hijack
• 1x Kari Zev's Expertise
• 1x Mark of Mutiny
• 1x Molten Primordial
• 1x Threaten
• 1x Traitorous Blood
• 1x Traitorous Instinct
• 1x Unwilling Recruit
• 1x Zealous Conscripts

Creatures (10)

• 1x Akroma, Angel of Fury
• 1x Fumiko the Lowblood
• 1x Hero of Oxid Ridge
• 1x Kargan Dragonlord
• 1x Lord of Shatterskull Pass
• 1x Ogre Battledriver
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x Tuktuk the Explorer
• 1x Two-Headed Dragon
• 1x Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor

Sacrifice (15)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Barrage of Expendables
• 1x Bubbling Cauldron
• 1x Collateral Damage
• 1x Culling Dais
• 1x Dark-Dweller Oracle
• 1x Demonmail Hauberk
• 1x Fiery Conclusion
• 1x Fling
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Greater Gargadon
• 1x Hazoret's Favor
• 1x High Market
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Reckless Abandon

Tempo (4)

• 1x Berserkers' Onslaught
• 1x Curse of Bloodletting
• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Shunt

Ragavan's (3)

• 1x Hero's Blade
• 1x Ronin Warclub
• 1x Sai of the Shinobi

Removal (3)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Volcanic Fallout

Commander (1)

Kari's (11)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Champion's Helm
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Gorgon Flail
• 1x Gorgon's Head
• 1x Hammer of Nazahn
• 1x Pirate's Cutlass
• 1x Shuko
• 1x Silver-Inlaid Dagger
• 1x Skeleton Key
• 1x True-Faith Censer

Lands (38)

• 38x Mountain

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Three-part combo lite-voltron's Kari Zev, builds sac engines around Ragavan and sacrifices enemy cards using cards like Kari Zev's Expertise .

If that sounds fun to you, check out the details below!

The Commander

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider - Kari is a fun, weird commander. First Strike and Menace make her difficult to block, and that makes Ragavan easier to get on the board. A 2/1 monkey doesn’t seem like much, but the fact that he can be sac'd without actually losing him makes him abusable. Want free life? throw Ragavan in a Bubbling Cauldron . Mana hungry? sacrifice him on the Phyrexian Altar . Need to ping something? Goblin Bombardment . The flavor of sacrificing the same monkey over and over again is great, and the effects we get from doing so are a nice boost. That's the heart of the deck: swing with the monkey, kill the monkey, profit. Everything else takes advantage of that basic structure to make the deck a little more robust and intimidating.

Equipment

Offense

Champion's Helm , Pirate's Cutlass , Silver-Inlaid Dagger , True-Faith Censer - Hexproof and Vigilance are invaluable perks, but the real point of these cards is to make Kari Zev hit harder. When a commander has first strike, offense becomes the best defense; these cards make Kari Zev that much harder to remove.

Deathtouch

Basilisk Collar , Gorgon Flail , Gorgon's Head - First Strike and Menace combine with Deathtouch to make Kari a Master of Cruelties -level pain. These cards will make her really difficult to remove via combat, and probably force the opposing player to burn removal on her in lieu of removing more intimidating cards like Two-Headed Dragon .

Defense

Darksteel Plate , Hammer of Nazahn , Skeleton Key - these cards either make Kari Zev hard to block or indestructible. The mana bonus on Hammer of Nazahn and the free card cycling with Skeleton Key are both nice perks here.

Ragavan's Equipment

Hero's Blade , Ronin Warclub , Sai of the Shinobi - These auto-equip to Ragavan as he comes into play. They make him a legitimate threat, plus the image of a monkey armed with several sharp objects is great. With a Basilisk Collar on Kari and a Hero's Blade on Ragavan, you force the enemy to choose between blocking the 1/3 commander with deathtouch, first strike, lifelink and menace or the 5/3 monkey that's effectively unkillable, since it just comes back next turn anyway. This is the kind of uncomfortable situation we're trying to create as early as possible. It's worth noting that sometimes these cards are worth putting on Kari in the early game instead, particularly Sai of the Shinobi and Hero's Blade . They can also go on Fumiko the Lowblood and Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor to make them legitimate threats.

Sac Engines

One-Offs

Collateral Damage , Fiery Conclusion , Fling , Infernal Plunge , Reckless Abandon - These all kill Ragavan for a one-off benefit. They can also be used to kill enemy monsters you've stolen for a turn; they're especially good at this if there aren't any permanent sac engines on the board, since it's easier to bait the opponent into letting you swing with their creature. Use them to remove enemy monsters and get extra mana in the pool.

Permanents

Ashnod's Altar , Barrage of Expendables , Bubbling Cauldron , Dark-Dweller Oracle , Goblin Bombardment , Hazoret's Favor , High Market , Phyrexian Altar - permanent sac engines that provide healing, card draw, mana, and damage at lower quantities, more consistently. They're less powerful than the one-offs, but they're always around, are often cheaper (or free) to use, and offer better utility.

Piracy

Standards

Act of Treason , Besmirch , Hijack , Kari Zev's Expertise , Mark of Mutiny , Traitorous Blood , Unwilling Recruit - I use the word Piracy to describe in short hand the effect where you take control of an enemy creature. This effect is pretty powerful, especially against creature-heavy decks, and works in tandem with the sac engines to act as a source of buff and removal. These are the fairly average kinds of sorceries that proc Piracy. Most of them have minor differences between them; make sure you know each card well in order to best understand when to use them.

Creatures

Captivating Crew , Conquering Manticore , Molten Primordial , Zealous Conscripts - These cards are nice in that they also increase your creature count while proccing Piracy. Captivating Crew is especially good, since it can proc Piracy multiple times, whereas Molten Primordial and Zealous Conscripts overwhelm with Haste and Conquering Manticore creates a substantial Flying threat.

Specials

Grab the Reins , Helm of Possession - Grab the Reins is fun, since it has both the sac element and the Piracy element of the deck in one card. It's worth noting that you have to procc both effects at the same time, which costs a lot of mana and is somewhat underwhelming compared to using another sac engine. It works really well with Helm of Possession , though; sacrifice a creature under control of the Helm, while swinging with another creature entirely, opening up helm for reuse in the process.

Creatures

Support

Bloodnight, Hero of Oxid Ridge , Immolation Shaman , Ogre Battledriver , Tuktuk the Explorer , Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor - Cost-efficient bodies that punish the enemy ( Immolation Shaman ), give a combat buff ( Hero of Oxid Ridge , Ogre Battledriver ) or just take up boardspace in an aggressive way. Varchild's a fun creature!

Threats

Fumiko the Lowblood , Kargan Dragonlord , Lord of Shatterskull Pass , Purphoros, God of the Forge , Two-Headed Dragon - These cards pose serious threats to the gamestate, either because of triggerable effects ( Kargan Dragonlord , Lord of Shatterskull Pass , Two-Headed Dragon ) or because of a powerful advantage they grant ( Fumiko the Lowblood , Purphoros, God of the Forge ). These are the high-cost, late-game creatures that can single-handedly close things out.

Removal/Misc

Berserkers' Onslaught , Chaos Warp , Comet Storm , Curse of Bloodletting , Fork , Fortune Thief , Glorious End , Lightning Bolt , Shunt , Volcanic Fallout - An assortment that act as removal, game-enders ( Berserkers' Onslaught , Curse of Bloodletting , Glorious End ), or counterspells and general trolling ( Fork , Fortune Thief , Shunt ). These cards don't fit neatly into the deck's main goals, but add some power and versatility at its weak points.

That’s the gist of it. It’s not an amazing deck but it's fun and it has awesome flavor, plus it's relatively cheap. Suggestions are welcome; in particular, I have no idea how to build an EDH sideboard, since this is my first EDH deck. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this build! Give it a +1 if you did!

Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 28 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.11
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C, Ragavan, Survivor 1/1 R, Tuktuk the Returned