HIGHLY overlooked red commanders
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on April 9, 2019, 3:33 p.m. by creeperreaper206
So 2 days ago, I was looking through Edhrec, as you do, when I notice something when scrolling through the mono red section. There are a few really good red commanders that are completely underused. I've made deck lists on the ones I'm about to list, but I'm sure there's more underused mono-red commanders.
- Kumano, Master Yamabushi : He has the power to, with deathtouch, exile any creature for 2 mana at instant speed, or 1 if heartstone is out. Then, while all the opponents are there probably not doing much, you can slowly, but surely, drain their life out. This works really well with Braid of Fire . But yeah, Mono-Red Control/Burn/Ramp Deck that's good in commander. (Bet you never thought there would be control in red nor that burn would work in commander.) This commander has only, as it currently stands, 79 decks on edhrec.
- Varchild, Betrayer of Kjeldor : The theme of this deck is to deal as much commander damage as possibly with a voltron strategy, but then make it so they have to attack other opponents with the tokens you gave them, otherwise, you take them back and attack them with the same tokens by blinking Varchild. This commander has only, as it currently stands, 39 decks on edhrec.
- Marton Stromgald : This is obviously a token based strategy, but it works with ANY tokens. People have argued the issue that it's a 4 cmc creature, with no built in protection and doesnt have immediate value when it enters the battlefield unless you give it haste, easy to destroy by boardwipes, and on top of all of that, you have to have creatures out and be able to attack or have someway, like Goblin Bombardment to deal direct damage to the opponent, and to that I say, you make a good point, but THAT'S THE EXACT SAME DOWNSIDES TO KRENKO MOB BOSS, and is it BAD? NO! This commander has only, as it currently stands, an abysmal number of 31 decks on edhrec.
creeperreaper206 says... #3
Joe_Ken_ you would also have to make Marton unblockable or indescribable in some way since Martin doesn’t buff himself but yeah. You can check out my version on my profile.
April 9, 2019 4:14 p.m.
Dreamweav3r says... #4
Zada, Hedron Grinder storm is pretty much the epitome of underappreciated, maybe not overlooked, I dont really know, but you'd think you'd see it more with how easily it takes over games. If you want to win very consistently and draw 40 cards for 1 mana. Maybe once people catch on that you can play Final Fortune guiltlessly in this deck they'll turn around.
April 9, 2019 4:46 p.m.
creeperreaper206 says... #5
Dreamweav3r I made a zada deck too. It is very under appreciated, but it isn’t overlooked by any means.
April 9, 2019 5:34 p.m.
PhotogenicParasympathetic says... #6
The issue that Kumano, Master Yamabushi runs into is that he's competing with Olivia Voldaren for ping-control. Since black is much better than red at granting deathtouch and lifelink (the two most relevant abilities to give him), Voldaren tends to win out. He DOES seem sweet though.
April 9, 2019 6:14 p.m.
creeperreaper206 says... #7
PhotogenicParasympathetic Yeah, black does win out in deathtouch. But with deathtouch, Kumano becomes EXILETOUCH. That’s a little better if faced off against decks that use the graveyard.
April 9, 2019 6:44 p.m.
Varchild struggles because blinking is more of white's thing. Varchild seems sweet... but it needs white to really shine. Still looks like a fun brew.
Olivia Voldaren
can
Mind Control
vampires, and her ping turns creatures into vampires. MindTouch > ExileTouch, and doesn't require giving her deathtouch. Not that there aren't corner cases where
Kumano, Master Yamabushi
wins out for utility (such as his ability to ping face which olivia lacks), but rather that
Olivia Voldaren
is superior in 9/10 situations. Of your suggestions,
Kumano, Master Yamabushi
still seems the most interesting to me. Being able to use him with
Braid of Fire
to just spit damage at people in the late game makes for quite the finisher, and it's right in flavor for what red wants to do.
Marton Stromgald
is a 4 mana 1/1 with no protection, no evasion, and no way to win the game except by combat, which he doesn't even buff himself for. For him to be good, you need a ton of creatures, some enchant/equip to make him unblockable/indestructible, and for your opponent to have significantly less creatures and/or weaker creatures than yours. Basically: marton's only good if you're already winning by a landslide anyway.
Krenko, Mob Boss
generates his own tokens, and keeps generating exponentially more of them. If he's not dealt with, he will eventually win a game all by himself, no A+B required. Marton will never win a game without the help of a 4-5 card setup, minimum. That's... not impressive. I really think marton's a dud here, but good on anyone who believes they can make him work.
April 9, 2019 7:57 p.m. Edited.
ThoAlmighty says... #9
Patron of the Akki is often overshadowed by Marton and Zada, but boy is he janky and fun.
Joe_Ken_ says... #2
Marton Stromgald seems like a really fun commander and I would imagine you would put in the common protection that is in most edh decks being the boot package to get him hast right away. It kinda works like a much better Adriana, Captain of the Guard . I mean Krenko would probably be in the deck for that token generation to build up the big army of creatures, but I can imagine other builds.
April 9, 2019 3:50 p.m.