Zada, Hedron Grinder - The storm of the Century

Commander / EDH Competitive Mono-Red Storm Tokens

Swakers

Instant (19)

• 1x Accelerate
• 1x Balduvian Rage
• 1x Battle Hymn
• 1x Boiling Blood
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Chaotic Strike
• 1x Crimson Wisps
• 1x Expedite
• 1x Fateful Showdown
• 1x Firestorm
• 1x Fists of Flame
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast
• 1x Seething Song
• 1x Spawning Breath
• 1x Stun
• 1x Telim'Tor's Edict
• 1x Titan's Strength
• 1x Zap

Land (36)

• 1x Dwarven Mine
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Fabled Passage
• 1x Kher Keep
• 29x Mountain
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Spawning Bed
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse

Creature (18)

• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Emrakul's Hatcher
• 1x Goblin Matron
• 1x Hedron Crawler
• 1x Iron Myr
• 1x Krenko, Mob Boss
• 1x Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
• 1x Loyal Apprentice
• 1x Manakin
• 1x Millikin
• 1x Mogg War Marshal
• 1x Myr Battlesphere
• 1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 1x Plague Myr
• 1x Runaway Steam-Kin
• 1x Siege-Gang Commander
• 1x Young Pyromancer

Artifact (8)

• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Fire Diamond
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip
• 1x Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1x Ruby Medallion
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Thought Vessel

Commander (1)

Sorcery (18)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Bonus Round
• 1x Dragon Fodder
• 1x Firecat Blitz
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Heat Shimmer
• 1x Hordeling Outburst
• 1x Inner Fire
• 1x Kari Zev's Expertise
• 1x Krenko's Command
• 1x Mana Geyser
• 1x Mizzix's Mastery
• 1x Past in Flames
• 1x Reckless Charge
• 1x Recoup
• 1x Renegade Tactics
• 1x Scent of Cinder
• 1x Twinflame

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Sideboard

Creature (3)

• 1x Alloy Myr
• 1x Legion Warboss
• 1x Palladium Myr

Land (3)

• 3x Mountain

Artifact (2)

• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Instant (1)

• 1x Soul's Fire

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Empty the Warrens
• 1x Make Mischief

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Maybeboard

Land (15)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Dwarven Mine
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Foundry of the Consuls
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^Meld
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Sandstone Needle
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Gravitic Punch
• 1x Haze of Rage
• 1x Reality Scramble
• 1x Shreds of Sanity
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Winds of Change

Artifact (14)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Gauntlet of Might
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Helm of Awakening
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Scroll Rack
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sentinel Tower

Creature (7)

• 1x Ghirapur Gearcrafter
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Magus of the Wheel
• 1x Ornithopter
• 1x Skirk Prospector
• 1x Spikeshot Elder
• 1x Thopter Engineer

Instant (6)

• 1x Aleatory
• 1x Downhill Charge
• 1x Invigorated Rampage
• 1x Otherworldly Outburst
• 1x Panic
• 1x Rush of Adrenaline

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This is my Zada deck and one that I intend to make as competitive as possible. Please feel free to leave any tips and critiques you have as I am all ears!

I am currently in the process of writing a primer!(This will be removed upon its completion and the Primer hub will be added to the deck.)

Introduction

A bit about me Show

Hello I'm Swakers and welcome to my Zada deck. I'm currently studying at Uni and am doing my best to set aside time to play magic when and where I can. This is a personal project of mine that I work on when I can and I hope you like this deck enough to give it a try (and be sucked into the addictive chaos that is mono-!)

Why Zada? (And why mono-) Show

Do you enjoy drawing half your deck with one spell and then flip the bird to the blue player opposite who can only stare in disbelief?

Do you enjoy whacking your opponents face with ungodly amounts of damage?

Do you enjoy playing mono- and the shenanigans it brings?

Do you enjoy insane value?

Do you enjoy playing a deck that can explode in one turn from out of nowhere?

Then Zada, Hedron Grinder might just be the Commander for you!

For me Zada holds a special place in my heart. Whilst she wasn't my first EDH deck (My first being the Commander 2018 Precon Exquisite Inventions), she was the first one that I built on my own. For me this was an immense source of pride. The fact that a deck I built could actually win games felt fantastic! Now onto her pros and cons!

Pros

• Can actually draw, albeit with some setup, which is often a crutch of many mono-red decks.

• Can amass a decent boardstate with relative ease with cards like Heat Shimmer and Twinflame with which to combo out.

• Can be incredibly explosive. This is handy as you often won't be public enemy number 1 at the table, meaning you can slowly build up your mana base whilst remaining inconspicuous.

• Doesn't have to win through combat damage alone. Whilst you can swing with very high power creatures, cards like Scent of Cinder or Firestorm allow you some form of flexibility.

• This deck can be relatively strong whilst remaining built on a budget. This is because Zada is a value engine and thrives off of cheap spells that are nowhere near as strong in other decks.

Cons

• Is mono- which comes with a host of its own problems. We are not impervious to disruption and lack any serious form of enchantment removal.

• Is the definition of a glass cannon deck. If you are disrupted it will be very difficult to rebuild your board. The best way to avoid being stopped it to know when to go all-out and when to hold back and keep your cards close to your chest.

• There is an issue with consistency. This deck will not always reliably hit it's engine cards and is something I am constantly trying to improve.

• This is not a deck for beginners. You cannot play it mindlessly (as mentioned above) otherwise you will be stopped dead in your tracks, and some of the interactions can make your brain go funny with numbers (shout out to Fists of Flame .)

Card Discussion

Artifacts Show

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Creatures Show

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Lands Show

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Instants Show

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Scorcery's Show

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Deck Improvements

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How To Play

Mulligan Show

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Early Game Show

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Mid Game Show

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Late Game Show

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Deck Statistics

(It must be noted I officially started tracking my wins:loss from 02/12/2019. I sadly don't remember the outcomes of a handful of games I had prior to this but I only had about 5-6 so it isn't a big issue.)

Game 1:

On the 05/12/2019.

Vs. Dragonlord Dromoka | Damia, Sage of Stone

Win with Heat Shimmer and Dualcaster Mage .

Game 2:

On the 05/12/2019.

Vs. Aminatou, the Fateshifter | Damia, Sage of Stone

Win with Twinflame and Dualcaster Mage

Game 3:

On the 05/12/2019.

Vs. Maelstrom Wanderer | Ghave, Guru of Spores

Loss to Ghave, Guru of Spores with one of his infinite's.

Game 4: Planechase game so not a serious one.

On the 05/12/2019.

Vs. Maelstrom Wanderer | The Locust God | Syr Gwyn, Hero of Ashvale

Win with Twinflame and Dualcaster Mage

Win to Loss ratio: 3:1

Win Percentage: 75%

Miscellaneous

Update 28/11/2019

In - Fabled Passage - 2x Mountain

Out - Empty the Warrens - Make Mischief - Skullclamp

Reasoning: In - Fabled Passage and 2x Mountain as there was simply not enough lands in the deck, I was struggling to consistently hit 3 lands on my starting hands, big oooofffff!.

Out - Empty the Warrens as you want to cast it when there's a decent storm counter which is often when your going off and, as your going off, you most likely don't need to cast Empty the Warrens in order to win. Make Mischief isn't an instant making it slow and clumsy so not as valuable as other token generators in the deck thus it can be removed for a land. Skullclamp is a great card but as card draw is not an issue most of the time and we want our creatures to stay on the board, this card sees the cut.

Update 30/11/2019

In - Evolving Wilds

Out - Mountain

Reasoning: In - Evolving Wilds for filter purposes.

Out - Mountain to make way for Evolving Wilds without sacrificing important cards.

Update 05/12/2019

In - Dockside Extortionist - Millikin - Terramorphic Expanse

Out - Alloy Myr - Mountain - Soul's Fire

Reasoning: In - Dockside Extortionist is a fantastic card for deck, providing (potentially) large ramp and a body for 2 CMC! Coupled with Twinflame and Heat Shimmer allows you to generate even more mana through treasures. In the end, the value this card brings is too good to pass up. Millikin is a 2 CMC mana dork which is Zada's lifeblood as you want to get her out ASAP; Millikin allows for this without drawing too much suspicion to your board state. Terramorphic Expanse is another filter land allowing you to draw into your combo pieces quicker by reducing the number of lands in the library.

Out - Alloy Myr is a 3 CMC mana dork which are no way near as good as the 2 CMC ones, as turn 3 is really when we want to be casting Zada. Thus Alloy Myr makes way for a superior 2 CMC mana dork in Millikin . Mountain was removed to make way for a Terramorphic Expanse in order to filter out the lands faster, and this card allows us to go and find one hence a Mountain can be taken out. Soul's Fire does not work the way I believed it did as it requires more than one target! (Shoutout to the Red Love Discord for making me aware of this.) Sadly this card must now make way for more valuable cards as it's purpose is completely diminished now.

Update 07/12/2019

In - Dwarven Mine - Hedron Crawler - Manakin - Runaway Steam-Kin

Out - Legion Warboss - Mountain - Palladium Myr - Worn Powerstone

Reasoning: In - Dwarven Mine is a land that generates a token! A win-win card with Zada as this is an extra draw, extra mana, extra damage etc. Down the line I'll hopefully be picking up the Fetch lands, essentially turning them into a land drop that generates a token (provided we control three or more mountains) further increasing their value! Hedron Crawler is another 2 CMC mana dork so it's inclusion is a must in a Zada deck that requires fast and cheap ramp. Manakin is the same reasoning as Hedron Crawler and the other 2 CMC mana dorks. Runaway Steam-Kin brings in so much value. In a deck that throws out cheap red spells constantly, the mana generation Runaway Steam-Kin brings is second to none. In the end this card is too good not to include!

Out - Legion Warboss is a cut I am unsure about at the moment. It's 3 CMC so a little more expensive for slow, albeit consistent, token generation. Furthermore it is unlikely the token generated will survive combat in the mid to late game due to it being a 1/1 that must attack, hence it has been cut, at least temporarily, from the deck. Mountain to make way for Dwarven Mine , a no brainer here. Palladium Myr is a 3 CMC mana dork which is slower than the 2 CMC ones hence it is being removed in favour of greater speed for the deck. Worn Powerstone a 3 CMC Sol Ring that comes in tapped. There are far more efficient mana rocks out there hence it is being removed.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 1 Rares 14 - 3 Uncommons 30 - 4 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.67
Tokens	1/1 R Token Creature Elemental Cat, Copy Clone, Devil 1/1 R, Dwarf 1/1 R, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elemental 1/1 R, Goblin 1/1 R, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R, Myr 1/1 C, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure
Folders	My Decks