Before going into detail I want to mention that my creature count is relatively low compared to other lists. This is due to some lategame cards and all the wheel effects in my list, which usually refill my hand to make sure that I always have a creature to throw around. Also, notice that this deck aims to wins in the lategame due to its philosophy, needing less creatures as my opponents usually already lost life. This allows me to play more utility cards. Just give it a try if you are sceptical =)
• Ancient Stone Idol Usually a top performer, 12 trample damage is huge especially when combined with cards like Moraug, Fury of Akoum, Mirror March, Flameshadow Conjuring. He is also tutorable with Goblin Engineer if you have graveyard recursion (Trading Post, Goblin Welder, Daretti, Scrap Savant, Feldon of the Third Path, Buried Ruin) or directly into your hand with Hoarding Dragon. Leaving behind a 6/12 trample artifact body proved to be very relevant and is just the cherry on the top as it fuels its own recursion with Goblin Welder and Daretti while also blocking almost anything on the ground or beating with 6 trample damage. You can even hardcast him if for example an elfball deck swings to you or even at your opponents. Love this card. So good.
• Avatar of Slaughter Currently testing together with Terror of Mount Velus to make Homura, Human Ascendant
more worthwile while also being a sound inclusion on its own since giving doublestrike is a real game changer for your explosive turns. The avatar lacks any kind of evasion which limits its usage though. I can also see him potentially being used as a goading tool during your opponents turns which, however, seems like a complete waste most of the time because you will lose the avatar on their endstep. Still, you should keep that interaction in mind.
• Blightsteel Colossus Top finisher, I once had a game with 9 additional copies with Mirror March killing the whole table. Good times. Also one of the best targets for Mirage Mirror, Mirrorpool and Flameshadow Conjuring for when you need 22 infect trample damage.
• Bloodfire Colossus is a boardwipe on a stick for just 4 mana. The 6 damage on each player also provides much needed range in the lategame, it scales nicely with copies and graveyard recursion. It always performs good (12 damage in total to one player) while also impacting the board.
• Combustible Gearhulk Although giving your opponent a choice usually leads to the worst outcome for you (never give an opponent a choice like Browbeat) they normally do not have a choice at all. Just choose the player with the lowest life and they will most likely let you draw three cards, which is incredibly good in monored. Bonus points for being an artifact (you know, recursion and stuff).
• Crater Hellion Purely included because of my creature heavy meta. Swap it for other fatties if your meta calls for it.
• Drakuseth, Maw of Flames Being legendary is a drawback because you cannot really copy this big boy. However, it represents 11 damage to the face and 6 damage to other faces or creatures or in any way you can imagine. The versatility and the multi target effect make this card a more than a worthwile inclusion.
• Etali, Primal Storm Legendary as well but copying this guy would be really unfair (it would be so much fun, though). Etali always performs and is responsible for the most game changing swings in any commander round. Great design, I enjoy this card very much.
• Hellkite Tyrant Stealing all the artifacts from your opponent is just good. The last mode will rarely be relevant, maybe if you are looping Dockside Extortionist.
• Homura, Human Ascendant
Currently testing. Not really a fatty but cheating this guy in will leave you with a pretty strong enchantment, giving all your creatures flying, +2/+2 and the shivan breath ability. I would'nt consider this card in the "fatty" slot since dealing 4 damage without any immediate effects is pretty bad in terms of what the fatties in this deck can usually do. The question you need to ask yourself is if your fatties need the evasion and/or the buff. If yes, this card might be a worthy inclusion in your list, it synergizes well with all the different token generator fatties like Myr Battlesphere, Wurmcoil Engine or Phyrexian Triniform or doublestrike fatties because of the shivan breath ability and the extra +2 power (Dragon Tyrant, Terror of Mount Velus, Avatar of Slaughter)
• Ilharg, the Raze-Boar This guy should obviously always come down with one additional fatty, which then gets bounced back to your hand at end of combat. Having this "free" cheating effect provides incredible amount of damage and value as you can use the same fatty an additional time (for example at EoT of your right opponent if you happen to have 6 mana). Erratic Portal synergizes nicely with Ilharg. You can bounce him back post-combat ending up with Ilharg and the other fatty in your hand again so that you have the same attack available on next turn. In that case, you never run out of gas. Having 2 red pips () will also most likely turn Purphy B. into a creature if the fatty cheated in with Ilharg also has 2 red pips (or only 1 red pip and you also have another permanent with one red pip on the board). This can be advantageous as Purphy B. can also deal damage but it renders your commander also vulnerable towards Path to Exile and the likes. So be aware of that.
• Meteor Golem Artifact and can blow up every non-land permanent ? Sign me in. This guy allows this mono red deck to handle things red usually cannot handle (especially pesky enchantments). Obviously works great with copies and the likes.
• Moraug, Fury of Akoum This seems like a suboptimal inclusion because "we are not playing green, which is a prerequisite for landfall to be good bla bla". That is not true at all. I tested Moraug and he delivers. Even if you have only one (fetch-)land to play, this extra combat steps can lead to an explosive turn out of nowhere. You can and should always set him up properly. If you do not really need the mana, wait for your fetchland activations for the turn in which you drop Moraug. This is why I included almost all fetchlands. Myriad Landscape is obviously the best land for that purpose. You might think that playing slower cards like Evolving Wild (EW) and Terramorphic Expanse (TE) just for more landfall trigger seems bad, however it fits perfectly with the gameplan of being the underdog, of being non-threatening when you happen to not curve out because you happen to drew that evolving wild. This is not cEDH here, so not curving out for one turn is acceptable if the inclusion of EW/TE allows for an explosive turn with Moraug. Usually two landfall trigger (that is 3 combat steps) are enough to take 1-2 player out and it's easily doable. Just have one fetchland on the board and drop your land for the turn and go ham or in case of EW/TE hold it and play and activate it once Moraug is on the battlefield (with a fetchland already on the battlefield this play would net 3!! extra combat steps, four in total). If you are more budget just play Naya Panorama, Grixis Panorama, Jund Panorama instead of the expensive fetchlands. There is an argument to be made to play the panaroma cards instead of EW/TE as the Panorama lands can still tap for without loss of tempo. However, their fetching requires which might prevent one more activation of Purphy B. in the deciding, Moraug dropping turn (you want to have as much fatties on the board as possible to really deliver during those extra combat steps). Inclusion of both EW/TE and the panoramas is possible but I decided against it as the mountain count is already quite low. Important Note: I also play Valakut Exploration (see below for details on that card) which also profits from the inclusion of fetchlands.
• Myr Battlesphere It performs just great. Leaves Myr tokens for all sort of artifact shenanigans behind and can deal a huge amount of damage. Scales terrifyingly good with copies of itself or turn for turn recursion (more and more Myrs are joining your forces)
• Phyrexian Triniform Currently testing. It sadly lacks any kind of evasion and the encore is a rather useless text for this deck. But in long, grindy games, I was actually able to pull the encore off and once you do, you are a in good position. Leaving behind 3 3/3 artifact tokens seems underwhelming at first but the tokens do some real work. First of all, they can be used for artifacts shenanigans (this is also true for the Triniform itself!). They also protect your life as they represent 9 blocking power distributed over 3 creatures. Furthermore, there will be games in which you hardcast the Triniform which then acts as a pseudo "boardwipe ensurance". You will end up with the tokens and 3 3/3 tokens on an empty board in the lategame, where the life totals are generally low, and apply some serious pressure. Hidden synergies with Terror of the Peaks on the board: Dropping the Triniform will lead to 18 damage just from its ETB and LTB trigger. Those token also go very well with Homura, Human Ascendant
.
• Scourge of the Throne Like Moraug, this card usually finishes the game due to the extra combat step. Note that you get more combat steps when you attack with copies of itself as each copy triggers seperately.
• Terror of Mount Velus Currently testing together with Avatar of Slaughter to make Homura, Human Ascendant
more worthwile while also being a sound inclusion on its own since giving doublestrike is a real game changer for your explosive turns. Being a dragon has its merits compared to Avatar of Slaughter: Terror of Mount Velus has evasion and it counts for Dragon's Hoard.
• Terror of the Peaks I was not able to properly see this card in action yet. My plan is to either hardcast or to cheat him in right before my turn starts to get the most value out of it. His triggered ability scales also nicely with copies and recursion or with token generators like Myr Battlesphere, Utvara Hellkite, Wurmcoil Engine and Ancient Stone Idol.
• Triplicate Titan Pure Awesomeness. Strictly better than Phyrexian Triniform except for the very late game in which the encore ability of the triniform might become relevant.
• Utvara Hellkite If this goes unanswered the chances of winning the game are very high. The scaling is insane (especially with extra combat steps as the generated tokens also trigger) and it triggers itself.
• Wurmcoil Engine Just pure value while also delivering a decent amount of beef. The lifegain helps you reaching the lategame. Works excellent with Goblin Welder and co.
Noteworthy Exclusions
There are too many to list and discuss them all here (and I haven't played many of them, so I cannot really give my insights on them, only my thoughts). Hopefully the comment section will be all about alternative fatties and their performances ;)
• Worldgorger Dragon and Bearer of the Heaven Combo: For those who see the combo for the first time, it is all about cheating Bearer of the Heaven at opponents turn just before your turn (not at their EoT! Bearer needs to die during their turn so that the board gets wiped at your endstep. Then on your endstep, you activate Purphy B. to cheat in Worldgorger Dragon in response to the delayed trigger of the Bearer. The dragon enters the battlefield exiling all your stuff. Then the Bearer trigger resolves and everything is destroyed including your Worldgorger Dragon triggering its leaving the battlefield effect. You get all your stuff back while your opponents are left with nothing. If your opponents can destroy the dragon before the bearer trigger resolves you get your stuff back which then also gets destroyed by the bearer. So do it with caution.
I decided against that combo as both combopieces don't accomplish much on their own. Although, Worldgorger Dragon can be cheated in in response to cards like Jokulhaups or Apocalypse ruining the day of your fellow Jhoira of the Ghitu player. Bearer of the Heaven needs more cards to work on its own. Cards like Darksteel Ingot, Skyclave Relic and Soul of New Phyrexia can be added.
• Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker Could be a nice inclusion to have another copying effect in your deck. If you slot that card, you might also slot Zealous Conscripts for the infamous combo. The conscript is on its own a decent card to cheat in. Stealing any permanent for one turn might come in handy (huge creatures or planeswalker). However, playing Kiki-Jiki just for copying stuff is too vulnerable towards removal compared to enchantment and artifact based copy effects (Flameshadow Conjuring, Mirage Mirror). It also usually creates a lot of hate/attention after dropping it. I am unsure if it is worth it.
• Inferno Titan Honestly, I do think that Inferno Titan has reached its peak long time ago. However, he still delivers beef with 12 damage total (without pumping) while 6 of the damage can be distributed freely. But the lack of evasion kind of sucks (unlike Drakuseth, Maw of Flames). He was always a solid performer but I just got tired of him so I replaced him.