Renegade recruiter? Hardly know her

Commander / EDH Budget Casual Jank Pirate Sacrifice Shapeshifter UR (Izzet)

Juxtamanguinican

Creature (46)

• 1x Amphin Mutineer
• 1x Bazaar Trader
• 1x Brazen Borrower
• 1x Broodbirth Viper
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Coercive Recruiter
• 1x Deepfathom Skulker
• 1x Frontier Warmonger
• 1x Ghostly Pilferer
• 1x Goblin Cratermaker
• 1x Goblin Motivator
• 1x Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar
• 1x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1x Hall Monitor
• 1x Hedron Crawler
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Ingot Chewer
• 1x Iron Myr
• 1x Keeper of Keys
• 1x Leveler
• 1x Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator
• 1x Marchesa's Infiltrator
• 1x Mistcaller
• 1x Mulldrifter
• 1x Nephalia Smuggler
• 1x Ogre Battledriver
• 1x Ormos, Archive Keeper
• 1x Palladium Myr
• 1x Plague Myr
• 1x Port Razer
• 1x Renegade Doppelganger
• 1x Rionya, Fire Dancer
• 1x Ruin Grinder
• 1x Sakashima the Impostor
• 1x Sea Scryer
• 1x Shapesharer
• 1x Silver Myr
• 1x Siren Stormtamer
• 1x Spawnbroker
• 1x Spectral Sailor
• 1x Thalakos Deceiver
• 1x Thieving Skydiver
• 1x Tradewind Rider
• 1x Unstable Shapeshifter
• 1x Void Stalker

Land (36)

• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 14x Island
• 1x Isolated Watchtower
• 1x Meteor Crater
• 12x Mountain
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Smoldering Crater
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Surtland Frostpyre
• 1x Terrain Generator
• 1x Training Center

Instant (6)

• 1x Dream Fracture
• 1x Ghostly Flicker
• 1x Hinder
• 1x Run Away Together
• 1x You Come to a River
• 1x You Find Some Prisoners

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Fall from Favor
• 1x Weaponize the Monsters

Commander (1)

Artifact (8)

• 1x Carnage Altar
• 1x Conjurer's Closet
• 1x Crystal Slipper
• 1x Cursed Mirror
• 1x Heraldic Banner
• 1x Manascape Refractor
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Strionic Resonator

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Mana Geyser

---

Maybeboard

Creature (5)

• 1x Breeches, Brazen Plunderer
• 1x Protean Raider
• 1x Slith Strider
• 1x Thada Adel, Acquisitor
• 1x Treasure Nabber

---

Introduction

This is my budget meme deck, when building this I placed the restriction on myself that every card (besides basic lands) would rhyme with the statement I make most often when playing edh with my good pal's: "I hardly know her", despite this contrived condition there is a surprising amount of synergy and cute little interactions, though much of it requires Zara, Renegade Recruiter to be in play. This is a janky deck but also very fun to try and make work, there's all sorts of shenanigans you can get into and it feels amazing to follow it all up with a classic phrase such as "I hardly know her".

Game plan/Synergies

In practice, the idea is to survive by utilising cute and unorthodox removal/interactions and stall long enough to set up some strong swings with Zara, Renegade Recruiter, maybe even start controlling the board if you're lucky. There are many ways to copy, borrow or steal your opponents creatures to further your own goals.

Some notable interactions are Coercive Recruiter and Bazaar Trader: borrow a creature and then target it and yourself with Bazaar Trader to establish that playing nice was just a pretense; Zara, Renegade Recruiter + Nephalia Smuggler, Conjurer's Closet, or Ghostly Flicker = keep what you borrowed from your opponents hand indefinitely!

If you're not able to keep the creatures you borrow and don't feel like giving them back you can always just use sac outlets such as Weaponize the Monsters or Carnage Altar to do a little damage somewhere or draw a card, also you can utilise Mistcaller so that the cards that you would borrow with Zara just end up being exiled, you can even set this up with one of the many bounce effects in this deck, Tradewind Rider being my favourite, to remove something especially problematic for good.

Rionya, Fire Dancer can enable all sorts of shenanigans, 2 notable little cards I like to combo it with are Humble Defector and Void Stalker : With Humble Defector, you basically get to draw your 2 cards before kindly sharing the temporary token with an opponent that won't get to use it, Void Stalker on the other hand becomes a nice, repeatable removal/tuck effect with literally no downside!

But my favourite interaction of all is a real flavor win: when you attack with Zara, Renegade Recruiter and her fellow renegade; Renegade Doppelganger, you get to have it become a copy of the creature you borrow, tapped and attacking, and if that borrowed creature happens to be legendary, go ahead and say "Smell you later, I hardly know her!" as the legendary rule kicks in and you're tragically forced to sacrifice the creature that doesn't belong to you. When building this deck, I was surprised to find just how much synergy there was, despite the rhyming restrictions!

Combo/Win Condition?

Now, when I was doing my research I was able to come up with a combo, which I'm very proud of, that involves the following 4 cards: Zara, Renegade Recruiter, Bazaar Trader, Mindslaver and Leveler, who I hardly know. For this combo you need Leveler in hand and the rest of the pieces on the field, now this isn't a win con exactly, you are only really seeking to screw over an individual; So with your handy dandy Bazaar Trader you donate Zara, Renegade Recruiter to that individual, take control of their turn with Mindslaver, and then you attack yourself during your victims turn with your own commander that we hardly know: Zara, Renegade Recruiter, putting Leveler into play from your hand onto THEIR field, reducing your victim's library down to exactly zero while you take upwards of 14 damage from your own creatures to the face! This is absolutely a price worth paying!

Conclusion

Considering the difficulty of pulling the combo off due to mana cost, number of pieces, and lack of tutors that I hardly know, if you actually manage it you have my utmost respect.This deck is super fun and unique to play and fits in well at more casual tables. If you've actually read this far: Input is welcome, I'd love to hear your feedback!

Top Ranked	Achieved #52 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #37 position in Commander / EDH 2 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Jank 2 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH UR (Izzet) 2 years ago
Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 32 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 15 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.12
Tokens	Copy Clone, Monarch Emblem, Treasure
Folders	EDH, This looks dope., Ideas