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Commander / EDH Aggro Discard Dragons Flying Haste Mono-Red Value Engine

Sudooku

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Creature (23)

Planeswalker (2)

Sorcery (11)

Land (39)

Artifact (9)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Squee, Goblin Nabob

Instant (10)

Enchantment (5)

Maybeboard

Artifact (12)

Land (2)

Creature (8)

Instant (3)

Sorcery (7)

Enchantment (3)

Squee gives red access to unique card advantage opportunities. You get 1 free discard every turn… so make the most of it!

For this deck, I chose to play Dragons, but there are many other builds for Squee (Goblins, Spells, Treasures, etc.).

The only drawback to playing Squee is that you have to cast him AND sacrifice him to get start getting value… but if you do it efficiently, it can be worth it!

Squee needs to be in your hand. This doesn't necessarily mean you sacrifice him, but it usually does. For any sac outlet, there should be some incidental value, not just sending Squee to the graveyard. Broader applicability outside of the early game is important.

Sacrifice Outlet Ratings

based on my subjective rating scale: ( speed / value / scaling ) ☆ = testing

Speed Rates how quickly Squee is handled

  • S Tier - 0 mana or 1 mana with ability to setup in advance
  • A Tier - 1 mana or 2 mana with ability to setup in advance
  • B Tier - 2-4 mana (sacs consistently T4)
  • C Tier - 5 mana (will sac by T4 with 1 mana ramp, or consistently by T5)
  • D Tier - unpredictable sacrifice timing

Value Rates the resources gained, besides sacrificing Squee.

  • S Tier - Draws 3+ Cards, Ramps 3+ Mana, Game Ending
  • A Tier - 2 cards, 2 mana, Large Creature/Damage
  • B Tier - 1 card w/ another effect, 1 mana, Situational Creature/Damage
  • C Tier - 1 card w/o another effect, Small Creature/Damage, Life Gain
  • D Tier - No incidental value

Scaling Rates applicability during the mid/late game.

  • S Tier - High late game value
  • A Tier - High mid game value, Moderate late game value
  • B Tier - Moderate mid game value, Situational late game value
  • C Tier - Situational mid/late game value
  • D Tier - Rare mid/late game value

Included:

  • Lands - Command Beacon, High Market, Desert, Sanctum of Eternity
  • ( S / A / C-) Greater Gargadon - For 1MV, you can sacrifice multiple permanent types for free at instant speed.
  • ( A / S / A ) Skullclamp - Staple.
  • ☆ ( A / B / C ) Marauding Raptor - Ramping all creatures and killing off Squee quickly is very good. The damage hurts the overall value, but the only negative interactions are with Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Currency Converter. Incidental synergy with Wrathful Red Dragon.
  • ( B / B+/ A ) Fiery Confluence - Can remove early artifact ramp and while taking out Squee and other small creatures like mana dorks. Pretty strong Turn 4 play and scales well.
  • ( B / B+/ A-) Industrial Advancement - The payoff is good enough that its worth recasting Squee when you have extra mana for a chance at a dragon. You can sometimes sac other creatures effectively as well.
  • ☆ ( B / B / B+) The Elder Dragon War - "Read Ahead" lets you pick which mode to start on. (1) is a Pyroclasm effect that can take out Squee and other creatures on curve. (2) lets you discard X draw X, on a turn you are guaranteed to have Squee in hand. (3) makes a 4/4 Dragon. Worst case this is cast as a 4 mana 4/4 Dragon.
  • ( C / A / S ) Tibalt's Trickery - It’s possible to play this and Squee as early as T3, with a T2 Ruby Medallion. The risk of whiffing in this deck is pretty low, most things can be cast proactively. Also, this scales into the late game a silver bullet for difficult to answer threats.
  • ( C / A / A ) Scourge of Valkas - Similar to Dragon Tempest, but works without needing another card for the trigger. Firebreathing helps it scale to be a late game threat.
  • ( D / A+/ A+) Dragon Tempest - The haste effect is quite powerful, being able to remove Squee is incidental value.
  • ( D / A+/ A-) Mask of Memory - This is not a sac outlet, but the opponent will either be forced to block Squee, or we will draw each turn. Once Squee is in hand, we have access to a potent discard outlet.

Not included:

  • ( S+/ C-/ D ) Campfire - Unlike Command Beacon, this is not a good draw after we've cast Squee. Command Beacon is a land, but the life gain here is not very relevant. The only value really is as an insurance policy against grave hate.
  • ( A+/ B+/ C-) Infernal Plunge - Ramping mana, and sacrificing Squee at 1MV makes this a very fast/efficient card. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of targets besides Squee. We play a handful of token producing cards, but most of our creatures are too valuable to sac at sorcery speed.
  • ( A / B / C-) Crack the Earth - Seems like it would work well with Treasure and other tokens when it isn't sacrificing Squee, but can be very dependent on board state. I you can cast this turn 3 or 4 though for Squee, it will usually do a lot of damage to our opponents'.
  • ( A / C+/ C-) Culling Dais - This is fast, but only drawing 1 card without another effect is not good value for the mana investment. The card draw is also delayed, and there is a small risk that you get no cards if it is destroyed. Of course, there is the upside we draw 2-3 cards.
  • ( B / A / B-) Broadside Bombardiers - Sacs Squee for 5 damage! Sacrificing a Dragon late game to deal 6-10 additional damage also seems pretty serious, although I think I would only part with a Dragon if I had to. There isn't much to sacrifice besides Squee during the midgame, so hard to say how this would perform in this deck.
  • ( C / B-/ C+) Erratic Portal - Kind of slow but can save/flicker our creatures and tax our opponents.
  • ( D / A / B+) Sticky Fingers - Our creatures are mostly 4-6MV, so having extra treasure lying around is nice. This is basically free to play, except for the 1 mana the turn you cast it, and makes Squee a target.
  • ( D / A / B ) Curse of Opulence - Similar to Sticky Fingers in that you get Gold each turn. You will have to target a player early on, creating a political opponent, and other players will get the opportunity to benefit with Gold via attacking that player. There is a bit of a risk/reward nature to the way this card plays in my experience, with other players ramping and with the political divide.
  • ( D / A / B+) Grafted Wargear - This will make Squee a solid threat until we get another creature in play, and stick around to attach to another creature later.

You get 1 free discard every turn, so make the most of it!

☆ = testing

Single Use:

Permanent:

Discard Matters:

Redundancy for Squee (Lieutenants):

Not Included:

  • Flamewake Phoenix - A lot like Squee, but reversed (sacs more, discards less). See Industrial Advancement/Grafted Wargear/etc.
  • Lightning Phoenix - Slightly worse than Flamewake Phoenix because it comes in at end step.
  • Fiery Temper - I'm considering this over Lightning Phoenix, but this is slightly more awkward to cast. Phoenix may not remove something immediately, but it gives us the flexibility to cast later.
  • Wild Guess - Honestly plays about as well as every other version of this effect, but we seem to have reached a critical mass.
  • Faithless Looting - Better if we cared about the graveyard, since it will discard so many cards.
  • Cathartic Reunion - We want to limit our discards to 1 when possible. This also can't be cast if you have only Squee in hand which has burned me before.
  • Collector's Vault - Most spells are drawing at least 2 cards. 1 card and 1 treasure for 2 mana is decent. There is also the initial investment of "2-mana-get-nothing" to consider.
  • Hazoret's Monument - 3 mana for ramp is not great. The value is dependent on what we have in hand, so it can feel a bit awkward. However, it ramps over 20 cards in the deck, and draws us cards.
  • Argentum Masticore - Removing nonland permanents is very good. At the same time, you have to wait until your next upkeep, so it is slow, vulnerable, and usually a target.
  • Fault Line/Earthquake - One-sided board wipes (due to Dragons), and both combo with Solphim, Mayhem Dominus. Fault Line is the better option due to instant speed, which allows us to untap immediately after a large cast without giving opponents a chance to recover.

Not included:

  • Brash Taunter/Stuffy Doll - Combos with Solphim/Fault Line/Earthquake/Blasphemous Act.
  • Chain Reaction/Star of Extinction - More fuel for the Brash Taunter/Stuffy Doll/Wrathful Red Dragon combo.
  • Dual Strike - When you copy spells like Unexpected Windfall, you are going to get the additional cards/treasures without having to discard a second card. Dual Strike hits everything of value, and often allows us to save on mana. Second opinion: You could just play Reverberate/Fork instead of Dual Strike if it seems too cute. These are slightly less mana efficient, but you get access to copying your opponents' spells. It depends on whether you want to play more proactively or reactively.
  • Mudslide - An old hate card for non-flying creatures, so very one-sided. Playing this reactively after a big attack can be a quite a surprise for our opponents.

4 MV

5 MV

  • S Goldspan Dragon - This ramps the turn it comes in so it feels like it costs 3 mana and is all but guaranteed to ramp even more, especially in a deck playing other treasure source. Can get wildly out of control.
  • A+ Bonehoard Dracosaur - Cards, tokens, and treasure. This card has everything if we can untap with it.
  • A Terror of the Peaks - An even better Dragon Tempest effect.
  • B+ Wrathful Red Dragon - Game ending combo potential with Blasphemous Act and Star of Extinction. Makes our dragons essentially unblockable and very threatening blockers. Works particularly well with Manaform Hellkite and Nesting Dragon
  • B Scourge of Valkas - Another Dragon Tempest effect is nice. This one gets an immediate trigger though, unlike Dragon Tempest and Terror of the Peaks. Firebreathing is a plus but the body is slightly undersized.
  • B Nesting Dragon - We can't make a token playing this on curve, are only really getting 1 per turn, but the eggs double trigger with Dragon Tempest and Scourge of Valkas. They can also be used effectively with some sac outlets and hatched with Earthquakes.
  • B- Thundermaw Hellkite - This guarantees we can get in for damage, which matters for a handful of dragons, and can close the game. Otherwise its just a fast 5/5 for 5, and that seems a fair price.

6 MV

  • A Inferno of the Star Mounts - High reliability.
  • B Steel Hellkite - Not a great body for 6 MV, but kind of a necessary card in that it is one of the few solutions to problematic enchantments. Needs to get in unblocked to get value.
  • B Hellkite Tyrant - Value is matchup dependent but can be really great. Needs to get in unblocked.
  • C+ Ryusei, the Falling Star - The semi-board wipe is usually good value, but the effect is delayed, so a lot of times it just feels like casting a 6 mana 5/5.

7+ MV

  • A Utvara Hellkite - The dragons can come down immediately if we already have other dragons to attack with, or a haste enabler, which is often game ending.
  • B+ Drakuseth, Maw of Flames - Having the ability to deal extra damage to face or remove problematic creatures/planeswalkers from multiple players before blocks happen is really great utility, and it is more consistent than Balefire Dragon.
  • B+ Balefire Dragon - Capable of ending the game for 1 player if we can get in unblocked.

Not included:

  • A+ Themberchaud - Earthquake on demand is pretty huge in this deck. This is a way better version of Ryusei, the Falling Star. Unfortunately, this card was secret lair only, so I will not own this until it is a bit cheaper. Maybe it will get a reprint like Lucille had into Gisa's Favorite Shovel.
  • A Ancient Copper Dragon - Can produce game ending amounts of treasure. However, the card is $60, and it doesn't win on its own. It is slow, vulnerable, has a chance to low roll, and you need to use the treasure on something worthwhile.
  • B- Lathliss, Dragon Queen - The payoff is good, but you have untap with it and have another Dragon to cast to get value. Probably would make 1 token. Possibly 2. Restrictive of the way we play our turns if we want to be making tokens, because we just don't have many cheap dragons.

Having a high land density makes the deck consistent. I would not recommend cutting lands from the deck for multiple reasons:

  • High Curve - We would like to play our first 5 lands as often as possible, because that is where most of our creatures are at.
  • High Demand - Even while casting expensive creatures, we want to be discarding Squee for value each turn, so having access to the additional mana we need is important.
  • Low Risk - There is little risk of flooding, because the lands make great discard fodder if are unlucky and draw too many. At that point, we've guaranteed tempo -- mission accomplished.

Chance to have ≥3 lands before mulligan

  • 36 lands: 50.108%
  • 37 lands: 52.469% (+2.361%)
  • 38 lands: 54.803% (+2.334%)
  • 39 lands: 57.105% (+2.302%)
  • 40 lands: 59.371% (+2.266%)

Chance to have ≥5 lands by Turn 5

  • 36 lands: 45.641%
  • 37 lands: 48.775% (+3.134%)
  • 38 lands: 51.893% (+3.118%)
  • 39 lands: 54.976% (+3.083%)
  • 40 lands: 58.013% (+3.037%)

It's almost a coin flip whether the deck is able to play lands through Turn 5, and card draw also won't be optimal until Squee is online. Every land removed from the deck reduces the odds of playing 5/5 lands by >3%, and I'd like to be able to hit those land drops more than half the time. Running 39-40 lands feels safest, and I wouldn't go lower than 38.

https://www.channelfireball.com/article/How-Many-Lands-Do-You-Need-in-Your-Deck-An-Updated-Analysis/cd1c1a24-d439-4a8e-b369-b936edb0b38a/ is a great article about calculating the number of lands you should have in a deck. We have some cards that are artificially raising our curve like Greater Gargadon, Blasphemous Act, Anger, etc. For the number of "cheap card draw or mana ramp spells", I considered any cards MV 2 or less, but that value is somewhat subjective.

Formula from the article: 31.42 + (3.13 * average mana value) – (0.28 * number of cheap card draw or mana ramp spells) Our value: ~38.5 (last I checked)

Besides missing land drops, colorless land is also surprisingly inconvenient even in a mono colored deck. I've cut colorless lands to ensure Mountains are available for Shattering Spree, Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, Firebreathing effects, Price of Progress, etc.

Chance to have ≥2 colorless lands by Turn 2

  • 6 colorless lands: 9.136%
  • 7 colorless lands: 12.173% (+3.037%)
  • 8 colorless lands: 15.445% (+3.272%)
  • 9 colorless lands: 18.898% (+3.453%)

Squee Lands:

  • Command Beacon - Works well for super fast starts, but depends a lot on what else is in hand, because we will be down a land. Usually a better option as an insurance policy.
  • High Market - Free sacrifice outlet for Squee
  • Desert - Similar to High Market, however Squee needs to be unaffected by summoning sickness so it is slightly slower.
  • Sanctum of Eternity - The slowest High Market variant, although we can also discard the same turn this is activated.

Other:

Not included:

  • Blast Zone - Investing a lot of mana into this over multiple turns means losing very significant tempo, so there has to be a big impact for it to be worth activating.
  • Terrain Generator - We need to be flooded for this to ever be worth activating. If we don't have multiple Mountains in hand, we may will spend our turn/mana "ramping" only to miss our land drop the next turn (resulting in no ramp).

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Revision 29 See all

(1 week ago)

+1 Price of Progress main
+1 Wheel of Fortune main
Date added 4 years
Last updated 1 week
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

14 - 0 Mythic Rares

37 - 0 Rares

9 - 0 Uncommons

9 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.70
Tokens Copy Clone, Dinosaur 3/1 R, Dragon 2/2 R, Dragon 4/4 R, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Dragon Egg 0/2 R, Dragon Illusion */* R, Goblin Shaman, Rogue 2/2 B, Treasure, Wicked
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