Finest Hour
, Alara Reborn. I do NOT own this image.
Overview
Rafiq is a Commander all about attacking, he wants to strike hard, and he wants to strike fast. To do this effectively every game, there are many Equipments, Enchants, and one shot pump spells. There are also plenty of draw effects and tutors to find these every game, and a tremendous amount of fixing, to ensure you can cast everything you want to, in spite of high colour density.
Creatures for Hitting
Rafiq of the Many
: The Commander of the deck is also its champion beatstick. Even with 'just' his abilities, he hits for eight commander damage a turn, and slap pretty much anything on him and he'll turn into a death machine. He's probably not going to spend a tremendous amount of time on the battlefield, but he really only needs to hit a player once or twice and they're finished.
True-Name Nemesis
: As Mini-Me is to Dr. Evil, TNN is to Rafiq. He wields all the buffs like a champion, but lacks Rafiqs built in buff, as well a his Commander Damage ability. TNN is just impossible to stop without an alliance of players working to take him out. Choose the player he has protection from wisely, as that's going to tip off whom you're planning to attack. He's the best beatstick that isn't Rafiq proper, and his primary replacement if Rafiq gets stuck in the Command Zone or something.
Blighted Agent
: A 1/1 Unblockable with Infekt looks innocuous, until he's wielding a few swords or enchants.
Geist of Saint Traft
: A solid early drop, who hits like a freight train if he goes into the red zone with no blockers in play.
Invisible Stalker
: The bane of Innistrad limited. The weakest member of the beaters family, but by no means a weak creature. Being unblockable, you can help spread the hate to even the player with a million tokens, and being hexproof he's also safe from all the point removal that runs around the format.
Inkmoth Nexus
: Yes, it's a land, but it's an infekting land. It just sits in the land pile, a viper ready to strike at a moment's notice. The downside of that is you can't really enchant him, unless you're going for the killing blow.
Celestial Colonnade
: Another land, this one is a tad slower, but he hits much, much harder. He also has the inherent upsides and downsides to not being a permanent creature, but is probably the best blocker in the deck.
Accelerants
Noble Hierarch
: Unless something completely stupid gets printed, she is likely to remain the best mana dork in the game. This is a deck all about attacking with one super beater, and she rewards that, as well as tapping for all of our colours.
Birds of Paradise
: He's a one mana 0/1 with flying, that taps for mana. It's not exciting, but it's quite solid, and having built in evasion he can wear equips in a pinch.
Lotus Cobra
: Fetches are already quite stupid, but this turns each fetch into a free two mana of any colour. The down side is, he really doesn't do much on his own, and without evasion he's not going into the red zone barring some unusual circumstances.
Lotus Petal
: The best of the artifact accelerators, getting a free mana of any colour is a huge advantage, letting the best guys come into play very quickly. This is definitely one of the more challenging rocks to use correctly, and shouldn't be wasted on anything that won't win the game.
Sol Ring
: The second best artifact acceleration. Yes, two mana for the price of one is nice, but being colourless hinders its usefulness for an early Rafiq, though it negates a Command Tax of one quite nicely.
Mana Crypt
: On par with Sol Ring, perhaps better. Sure, you may take 12-15 damage with it over the course of a game, but that life loss is often mitigated by winning the game. Like Sol Ring, would be better if it produced coloured mana, but that would also probably have it banned in the format.
Chrome Mox
: Anything that let's you get Rafiq into play faster is good, and this does so much more. Sure, it's only as colourful as the card you exile with it, but even imprinting Preordain onto it makes a free 'land' drop. Being immune to the wrath problem that the creatures are all susceptible to makes it even better.
Mox Diamond
: My favourite mana rock, though sadly the weakest of the lot here. That draw back is game losing in some cases, and it basically requires your hand to have at least three lands in it, along with the Diamond to really be playable. It also creates card disadvantage, costing two cards to play one. Its saving grace is tapping for coloured mana of any colour, and not going away like the Petal.
Ancient Tomb
: A Sol Ring on a land, and in a format with a much higher life total, the drawback rarely comes up.
Gaea's Cradle
: Probably not amazing, maybe not even playable in here, but for now I stubbornly refuse to remove it, because it could be awesome in the right draw.
Power Boosters
Umezawa's Jitte
: A fair number of EDH players say this isn't great in EDH. That is true for most decks, it's not something you can just jam in and expect to do the work it does in Legacy, however, that about faces in Rafiq. A hit from Rafiq adds four counters, two of which you can use to pump him mid combat. Mid game, putting a Jitte that accrued handful of Counters onto Rafiq is a terrifying expirence for the rest of the table. Easily the best pump spell in the deck.
Finest Hour
: This looks super random at first glance, but with Rafiq it becomes a monster. It turns Rafiq into a one turn kill, by granting him +1/+1, making him a 5/5 with his own effect, which lets him hit for 10. After, he gains another combat step, where he gains another pair of exalted triggers, making him an 7/7, which hits for a lethal 14, a grand total of 24 Commander damage if unchecked.
Berserk
: An oldy but a goody, instant speed Trample for one mana, that's absurd. The timing restriction is a bit strange, and I think it's to prevent it from being used as round-a-bout removal, but it isn't likely to come up, as the other removal is better. Oh yeah, doubling someone's power is also a thing this does. The only not so great thing is going berserk kills the creature, so only use this for a killing blow.
Sword of Fire and Ice
: Of the three, this is the best for raw damage output. Killing a utility creature and drawing a card is amazing card advantage, and protection from Blue is relevant with fair regularity.
Sword of Feast and Famine
: Players from the ZEN-SOM era have grown to either love or loathe this sword. I'm in the love category, hell, this deck is basically just, 'Caw-Blade Plus.' The discard effect isn't often amazing, but untapping all your land for free is stupid. The two Protections are relevant, because Green is the most common colour for creatures.
Sword of Light and Shadow
: Just as busted as the other two, but in a more subtle kind of way. Gaining three life is handy when Mana Crypt just won't get off your back, and returning a creature each turn makes Survival even more Stupid. Its protections basically save you from all the spot removal in the game, though Blues unsummon effects still make you sad.
Qasali Pridemage
: Makes Rafiq larger, and also removes dangerous Artifacts and Enchants.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
: Once considered to be among the best planeswalkers, that time has sadly passed. However, she still grants evasion and giant growth to someone, and can make a blocker if you really need it.
Rancor
: Again, Trample for one mana, and a bit like Berserk with fewer calories. It comes back almost as often as Rafiq if it hits the table.
Bear Umbra
It offers a decent sized buff, and untaps your lands. It's usually worse than Sword of Feast and Famine, but that effect is worth having a bit of redundancy for.
Spirit Mantle
: This is both a buff and protection, granting basically unblockable and preventing things like pingers from stopping whomever it's enchanting. The buff is a little on the lighter side, but when you're swinging with Double-Strike every little bit helps.
Mother of Runes
: This seems like a good time to bring up the awkwardness of Protection and Auras. If you protect against a colour that the aura is, the Aura will fall off. This is true of Mother of Runes, the Swords, and whatever other kinds of protections happen to come your way, use with caution. Now for the effect, gaining protection from the colour of your choice already looks good, but more so than just preventing blocks, this also stops removal which can be very handy.
Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
: Keeps your opponent from interacting with you. This is super useful when you want to swing with a massive creature without being interrupted.
Lightning Greaves
: Shroud seems a little counter intuitive for a deck that wants to make a creature as large as possible. However, Shroud is very useful on the offense, and haste is useful when you want to end the game now.
Mana Drain
: Slurrp, this functions as both a Counterspell, and a Ramp spell. Countering a 0 mana spell with it kind of hurts, but the ramp it gives is rarely necessary.
Force of Will
,
Mental Misstep
and
Daze
: Free counters are great. Force of Will has plenty of blue cards that can be thrown to it to make it free. Daze requires a bit more skill to use, but has the same potential for blow out. Mental Misstep is relevant a surprising number of times.
Spell Pierce
: All but counters a noncreature for one mana. Very useful in counter wars, but also great at stopping Planeswalkers.
Stifle
: Lots of powerful activated abilities in EDH, many of which are game winning if they fire. This puts a kibosh on that.
Cyclonic Rift
: Sometimes it's a boomerang, sometimes it's a one sided upheaval. Getting rid of something that's about to win an opponent the game for two mana is great utility for a Blue car.
Krosan Grip
: Removes an Artifact or Enchant that stops you from winning, with very few things able to stop grip from doing so.
Terminus
: Every EDH needs at least two sweepers. I chose this one alongside Cyclonic Rift, because with all the top deck control, you can pretty regularly sweep the board for one mana. Miracle being at Instant speed is also nice, and not sending things to the yard is better than it would appear in most cases.
Regrowth
: The first graveyard manipulator in the game. Lots of cards die in EDH, and this helps you recover from that.
Eternal Witness
: Regrowth stapled to a blocker. The blocker part is surprisingly useful a fair amount of the time.
Snapcaster Mage
Very possibly my favourite Blue card, having flash gives him so many shenanigans that aren't possible with Witness. Most notably, he lets you use a Counterspell out of your yard for two more mana.
Crucible of Worlds
: Pretty good in general, added utility with Fetchlands and things like Strip Mine.
Pull from Eternity
: Cards get exiled all the time in EDH, and this lets you return a game ender that got banished. Generally best saved for something like something like Finest Hour, this can also bring back a counter for Snapcaster in a pinch. This isn't very great on its own, but in conjunction with the Regrowth effects it's very handy.
Tutors
Stoneforge Mystic
: She's a two mana equip tutor, that also plays things uncountably for two mana. She was disgusting in Standard with 'only' a couple of swords and batterskull, and broke in half here. Almost every game she'll be fetching Jitte, which ends the game all by itself, but she can also fetch a sword that gives relevant protection, and the Greaves if you want to suddenly Rafiq someone.
Enlightened Tutor
: Second banana to misty, also tends to be for Jitte, though being able to grab enchants is also handy. Also being at instant speed is nice, but putting the card on top and 'wasting' a draw kind of hurts. Admittedly, drawing whatever it grabs is usually better than a random card off the top, but it's still annoying. No, I don't want to run Steelshaper's Gift, that's a tad to narrow for my tastes, and sorcery speed kills a good chunk of its utility.
Survival of the Fittest
: Was a much better card before the Tuck rules change. I know the deck doesn't look old enough to have been around that long, but I've been playing Rafiq for many years, and that was always its purpose. Regardless, it still grabs Misty, Snappy, and TNN. Also being able to grab whatever creature you want at any time for the low cost of G and a creature card is as broken as ever.
Mystical Tutor
: Usually grabs Enlightened Tutor, but it can also grab a draw spell or counter or something like that. Sets up Terminus like a champion.
Sphinx's Revelation
: A good mana sink at the end of someone's turn, gaining six life is kind of meh, but drawing six cards can be back breaking.
Jace, the Mind Sculptor
: He does so many things. His plus lets you draw screw your opponent or help yourself, his free ability is a brainstorm and his minus removes the largest thing on the table or lets you reuse some of your enters the battlefield effects. His ultimate is funny, but not usually relevant.
Sylvan Library
: Basically a free Ponder every turn, that can also allow you to draw a tonne of free cards if you are running low.
Sensei's Divining Top
and
Scroll Rack
: Each of these lets you dig deeper into your library to find answers, and Scroll Rack has the added utility of allowing you to hide cards during discard spells.
Cavern of Souls
: Makes Rafiq uncounterable, and helps with his colour density.
Cathedral of War
: A free exalted trigger. Being a colourless land kind of sucks, but it's pretty worth it for a faster kill.
Wasteland
and
Strip Mine
: Lots of powerful lands in EDH, and these kill them all. Strip Mine has the added benefit of being able to colour hose someone.
Dryad Arbor
: A suddenly blocker with a fetchland. It's also a free creature that can't be countered, so if you're facing a counter happy blue mage this can very slowly get there. I wasn't really sure where to put this, since it doesn't really fit into any category, so I put it here.
Rogue's Passage
: Giving a voltron'd up guy unblockable is very good, and this lets you do it every turn.
The Basics: Non-Basic hate is prevalent, things like Blood Moon, Back to Basics, and Ruination all foul decks that have too few basics, so it's good to have enough to be able to cast almost everything if you need them.
Conclusion
Rafiq is a generally about hitting hard and fast. He's not going to make friends, and having him as your commander will probably make you the target of everyone in Multi, but he's very good in 1v1.
Deck Theme
Battle Rock and Space Fantasy Mix, Property of Nintendo.
Cut the general 'good-stuff' for an Enchant subtheme, added some rainbow and other utility lands, axed a few lands, including a giant number of Islands, overhauled the description, vastly trimmed the maybe-board, and made custom categories for the deck list! I'm also going to reset the discussion. Brief aside, RIP Prophet of Kruphix.
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,Fanatical Devotion
, Maze of Ith and Prophet of Kruphix