What is this deck, and why should I play it?
At it's core, this deck is a control/burn deck that takes advantage of an odd collection of cards that allows you to hold the board hostage using the all-powerful
Rock
. Jund is a fan favorite color combination, and this deck allows you to embody the Jund control wizard. Furthermore, this deck may posture as a measly meme pile, but it quickly transforms from an amusing pile of unoppressive oddities to a deadly board state.
You should play this deck if you:
- Enjoy playing unique and obscure cards
- Have the stomach for controlling your entire pod
- Like starting the game with 3 cards in your command zone
- Enjoy a deck chalked full of lands and interaction
- Want to be engaged and have many possible lines for the entire game
- Enjoy winning at casual tables
Why these commanders and companion?
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith
is the heart and soul of this deck. Well...
Rock
s are anyways. Toggo is here to make and hurl
Rock
s that will keep the board clear of threats and slowly dwindle our opponent's life totals.
Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper
is the first dragonspeaker of Silumgar, and as a commander she is much stronger than she might appear. With the amazing removal package (cough
Rock
s cough) and menace, Ikra will be swinging in for tons of damage, and gaining us life in combat so that we can always make it to late game.
Obosh, the Preypiercer
is the missing like that pushes this deck OVER THE TOP. With Obosh, our
Rock
s deal a hefty 4 DAMAGE EACH, and Ikra and Obosh both hit for 6 damage, while gaining us a tasty twelve life in the process.
The mana cost breakdown of an odd costed deck
While the benefits of starting every game with Obosh in our command zone vastly outweigh the downside. However, we do have to build this deck using only odd costed cards. Since we have 3 cards already in our hand, the last thing we want to do is lose the initial card advantage we start with. That's why this deck plays a hefty 40 lands (including MDFCs).
Because we will be making rocks and sporting a control strategy where we will want to pass the turn with floating mana, we can afford a particularly low mana curve. Not to mention that we can dump 16 mana into our command zone (13 CMC + 3 companion tax). Therefore, this deck run only 9 cards in the main deck with mana cost greater than 3 mana.
Elements of the Build
Whenever X Deals Damage
is the first element, even though it's only three cards (for now). These are the cards that make your opponent go WOAH. Since sacrificing rocks causes the creature to deal the damage we can take advantage of some amazing niche abilities.
Soul Collector
,
Charnelhoard Wurm
, and
Hypnotic Specter
will be chucking rocks at our opponents and their creatures to propel our deck into a power position. I should draw your attention to the fact that Soul Collector does not need to kill the creature, so you are able to throw a
Rock
at instant speed before a creature dies and it will be reanimated onto your side of the board.
Deathtouch
makes our life easy. Since rocks cause the creature to deal damage deathtouch + rock = "destroy target creature". The philosophy here is that for 1 mana, a deathtouch creature is good. For 3 mana, we want some additional value. Turns out, there is plenty of value to be had. Cards like
Leyline Prowler
,
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
, and
Plague Engineer
deliver.
The equipments
Basilisk Collar
and
Quietus Spike
also deliver on the "deathtouch plus" and pair nicely with
Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper
for insane value.
Lastly, since we have access to 3 creatures from the get-go, cards that can give multiple creatures deathtouch are very welcome.
Death Pits of Rath
, and
Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar
take the cake in this category.
Ramp
is an important aspect of any green deck, and while shoving a ton of ramp into a deck will undoubtedly help a deck win, having specifically tailored ramp can really push a deck ahead. We want our mana dorks to make all three colors, so
Birds of Paradise
,
Ignoble Hierarch
and
Deathrite Shaman
shine. Also they double as rock throwers!
Since lands entering the battlefield trigger Toggo (aka landfalling) helps us build up our rock stockpile
Harrow
and
Springbloom Druid
are prudent includes. Springbloom Druid can even throw rocks.
Big, easily accessed mana is another thing that can really push this deck ahead. We never want to be caught with our pants down, so ramp that lets us use our mana that same turn is a far more enticing option. In this category we have
Chromatic Orrery
and
Gilded Lotus
.
Inspiring Statuary
gets its own line because when you have 8 rocks laying around this card just lets you dump your hand. Wonderful!
Landfalling
This is one of my casual decks, and it's my firm belief that every deck needn't be burdened with hundreds upon hundreds of dollars of lands to win games. It's a point of pride for me that this deck does not run any of the expensive fetch lands. Instead a suite of Panoramas (see
Jund Panorama
, and the classic budget fetches
Terramorphic Expanse
and
Evolving Wilds
get the job done. As is, this deck has a nice balance of creating rocks and throwing rocks... and while chucking all of your rocks as soon as you get them can be enticing, just remember that saving rocks is very intimidating, and Ikra and Obosh greatly incentivize swinging in for damage.
Additional payoffs in case that
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith
isn't around include:
Tireless Provisioner
and
Titania, Protector of Argoth
.
Double
It isn't easy to win by slowly shocking our opponents, one rock at a time. Unfortunately being an odd costed deck means that we cannot play many of the great red damage doublers. However, we do access a few of them.
Rings of Brighthearth
and
Dictate of the Twin Gods
allows us to double or quadruple our DPR (damage per rock).
Recursion
As I just mentioned, we don't have a whole lot of doublers, and so keeping Obosh around is very important. Since he is a companion he will die just like any other creature. Bringing him back to live is thankfully very easy in our colors.
Victimize
,
Raise Dead
, and
Isareth the Awakener
are of the notable inclusions.
Exile
Okay, Fine... I'll just admit it. I lost to my younger brother and his big stupid Eldrazi because I didn't think to include any exile removal in my deck. Yes, I did have
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
on the battlefield. Yes, I did get to tutor for any card, and had 11 mana floating... and yes, I lost that game. Deathtouch + rocks is wonderful, but when building a deck, I feel that it is my duty to be able to deal with any type of one-card problem. An older version of this deck failed, and so learned the hard way. Anyways, now
Chaos Warp
and
Flay Essence
are in the deck, and they won't be going anywhere.
Burn
Yo dawg, I heard you like to deal damage, so we put
Obosh, the Preypiercer
onto the battlefield so that you can deal damage while you deal damage. In case you weren't dealing enough damage, I tactfully included a few big damage dealers.
Lightning Bolt
and
Chain Lightning
are nice, but top tier damage dealers are
Goblin Sharpshooter
who will spend the whole evening sneaking in damage, and might even clear the board if you can slip a
Basilisk Collar
onto him. The other is
Goblin Grenade
. Alright guys, admit it, it's hilarious. You can throw a rock with your commander, and than sacrifice him to deal 5 or sometimes 10, or maybe even 20 damage. Is there a classier way to win. I THINK NOT!
What did we learn here?
Listen folks, I love this deck. I've been paying
Zedruu the Greathearted
since June 17, 2011. The year of 2020 was rough on everyone, but in November of 2020 WoTC decided to drop this rascal (
Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith
) into my lap. I knew that I needed to be dealing more damage, and
Obosh, the Preypiercer
just made sense. Then in the madness of the Covid Pandemic it struck me that to complete the team I needed green, and
Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper
made that happen and so much more. I really hope that you get the opportunity to pilot this deck and that you have as much fun playing it as I do. This clearly is not a CEDH build, although it isn't exactly a budget build either. It is a deck that does what it is supposed to, and it's proven to be very strong... Stronger than I had imagined when I built it.
I wanted to share it with you because this deck has a unique play pattern, and forces the whole table to adjust to it's presence. It really stands out as a unicorn among stallions. With that I will end this essay and leave you with these words of advice, "Good people of the gathering, ready your rocks!"
*f-pre*
*f-pre*
