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Kurkesh Artifact Ramp

Commander / EDH Artifact Bracket 4 Eldrazi Mono-Red Multiplayer Ramp Tron

Killer_Manfred

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Ramp (26)

Tutors (7)

Lands (35)

ManaDenial (5)

Misc. (5)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient

Disruption (12)

CardAdvantage (9)

This deck started out as a value machine back in 2016 with loads of targets for Kurkesh and a charge counter subtheme (nowadays I play Kilo, Apogee Mind, Counters instead). As it was soft to artifact hate, I started cutting fluff and added disruption in the form of land destruction and mana taxing. After loads of (understandable) hate from my playgroups, the current version keeps the mana taxing but omits the land destruction. As the goal is to slow down my opponents without taking them out of the game entirely, the deck looks to either reduce their available mana (Keldon Firebombers), tax their spells (Sphere of Resistance), or give them a chance to deal with my mana denial (Winter Orb hurts players a lot but can just be removed - unlike a resolved land destruction spell).

Foregoing mass land destruction gives the deck the opportunity to play around with Tron and the new Urza lands. With many ways to tutor them up and Kurkesh's ability to double effects like Expedition Map or World Map, this approach is surprisingly consistent. For the (more powerful but slightly outdated) land destruction version, click here: Kurkesh Land Destruction Ramp

The deck can produce infinite mana with Forsaken Monument and Basalt Monolith or with Gilded Lotus and Voltaic Key while Kurkesh is out. It can then finish the game with Walking Ballista. The combos can easily be found with Planar Portal-type cards, as it's not difficult to have 10+ mana by turn 4 or 5. The many tutor effects additionally give the deck a minor toolbox gameplan, which is both fun and makes the deck more resilient. My favourite is tutoring up both Platinum Emperion and Darksteel Forge with a copied Planar Bridge activation (although at that point, it's generally easier to just get Voltaic Key and Gilded Lotus, make infinite mana, and untap the Bridge to get Ballista.

If you want to make this deck more competitive without reverting back to the mass land destruction gameplan, I'd suggest cutting fun filler cards like Karn, Scion of Urza or some of my pet cards like Sisay's Ring (which I only run over better 4cmc mana rocks because it's my favourite artwork in MtG) to run more cheap interactive cards like Pyroblast and cheaper infinite combos (e.g., Painter's Servant + Grindstone).

I am happy about suggestions and feedback and will continue updating the list. Since this is my pet deck, I've started blinging it out by playing as many old-border-/retroframes as possible and getting foil and Japanese versions. Thanks for checking out the list!

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98% Casual

Competitive