Senior Pram - Pramikon 2.0

Commander / EDH Attrition Counterspell Group Slug RUW (Jeskai, America) Stax Tokens

PinnedPhoenix

Lands (36)

• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Clifftop Retreat
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Island
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Mystic Monastery
• 1x Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Plains
• 1x Raugrin Triome
• 1x Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Scavenger Grounds
• 1x Sea of Clouds
• 1x Spectator Seating
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Stormcarved Coast
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sundown Pass
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Epiphany
• 1x Temple of Triumph
• 1x Training Center

Stax (6)

• 1x Archangel of Tithes
• 1x Ghostly Prison
• 1x Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Smoke
• 1x War's Toll

Forced Combat (3)

• 1x Fumiko the Lowblood
• 1x Goblin Spymaster
• 1x The Akroan War

Card Draw & Tutor (12)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Ephara, God of the Polis
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Idyllic Tutor
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Mangara, the Diplomat
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Smuggler's Share
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Whirlwind of Thought

Mana Ramp (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Azorius Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Progress

Token Gen (9)

• 1x Akim, the Soaring Wind
• 1x Assemble the Legion
• 1x Krenko, Mob Boss
• 1x Kykar, Wind's Fury
• 1x Loyal Apprentice
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Monastery Mentor
• 1x Outlaws' Merriment
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm

Commander (1)

Counterplay & Removal (12)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flawless Maneuver
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Loran of the Third Path
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Teferi's Protection

Creature Buff (9)

• 1x Aurelia, the Warleader
• 1x Crescendo of War
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
• 1x Intrepid Adversary
• 1x Iroas, God of Victory
• 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1x The Immortal Sun
• 1x Ultramarines Honour Guard

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Okay y'all, it's time to take your casual play group...

(•_•)

( •_•)>⌐■-■

(⌐■_■)

to Pram.

a while back, I built a Pramikon burn/control deck. it was a fun concept and did pretty well here on TappedOut. but it performed inconsistently in my playgroup, and I ended up feeling dissatisfied with it on the whole.

a year later, I've had a lot more practice with deckbuilding, and I think I'm ready to give Pramikon, Sky Rampart a more seasoned shot. I've landed on a build which combines stax, creature token generation, and forced combat triggers to turn the boardstate into a punishing place for anyone who's not you! read about how it works below.

why Pramikon?

honestly, good question.

to call Pramikon an idiosyncratic commander would be polite. the Sky Rampart's a freak. a hypnotic wall of psychic energy that pisses people off... in a particular direction? how do you even do that?

Pram's bemusing flavor is complemented by an equally bemusing mechanic. the 1/5 flying defender forces you and your opponents to attack only the player to the immediate left or right. that's a very weird symmetrical stax piece, and it's hard to see how the player helming Pramikon takes advantage. this fact is highlighted by how, when it comes down to you and one last player, Pram's effect means nothing. your commander is now an unremarkable flying psychic forcefield.

still, people seem to like Pram! they've got 2,000 builds on EDHrec, placing them in the top 20% of commanders in terms of popularity. I think they do so well because people like the challenge and the bizarre, whimsical flavor Pram brings to the table. players who enjoy weird commanders will find a lot to love here. Pram's about as weird as they come.

how do you build a Pramikon deck?

people have tried a lot of things! Superfriends builds are popular, since Pramikon effectively lowers the number of threats your Planeswalkers face. but Superfriends builds are boring. they take too long to do cool stuff, and that cool stuff rarely ends the game, since it's hard to get enough synergistic Planeswalker ults to pop off.

next in popularity, according to EDHrec, are Toughness and Wall tribal builds. fun and durdley, but a little too offbeat for my taste, plus they don't really come with win cons outside of Approach of the Second Sun and High Alert, so they're really easy to foil.

after that, we see a fair share of Blink builds, wherein one takes advantage of the slow pace Pram games tend to take, abuses ETB effects, and occasionally changes direction with Pram--fun, but slow, and again, it's hard to see how the game ends for us.

following that, a motley selection of archetypes: Chaos, Pillowfort, Flying, Stax, Wheels (?), etc. consistently, the issue I take with Pramikon decks is that they don't seem even remotely competitive, which is fair! still: how exactly are we supposed to win, here?

I've landed on a combination of forced combat, token creatures, and stax as my own preferred way of playing Pram. it's aggressive, attritional, and difficult to pull off, but I think it might actually be the best way to play him. read on to see why!

why forced combat?

because it's good and people can't stand it!

more accurately: people love to play it and hate to play against it. Goad has become at once one of the most played and reviled keywords, for good reason. there are a lot of cards out there that are great until they yeet themselves into the front lines--everything from Birds of Paradise to Tymna the Weaver fits that description. nearly every build runs keystone pieces you don't want to swing with; forcing a swing can win games.

in a Pramikon deck, this situation is exacerbated by the fact that your opponents won't choose who they swing against. picking on that one control player who doesn't have much of a board presence when goaded isn't an option, here. things can get ugly, fast.

I did my best to include enough options to make forced combat a prominent element of this deck build--five cards total, not a huge amount, but enough for a subtheme. I also went with recurrable options, so that once one of these pieces land, they stick around and become part of the game plan. that feels a lot more strategically satisfying to me than one-and-done pieces like Disrupt Decorum. it also allows us to run less of them, and to rely on card draw and tutors to get one of them down.

why stax?

to punish the sad sap who can only swing at you!

again, this is a pretty spare subtheme, but it's definitely present. the idea is that whoever's stuck swinging at you should do so at a distinct disadvantage.

these cards are key pieces for us. but they're not end-all, be-alls because, unlike most people you'll face, you're running a token subtheme, and tokens are expendable. if one of these doesn't land, you'll have Pramikon, plus plenty of chump blockers, to keep your boardstate secure.

a couple of these pieces aren't defensive, though. Smoke, War's Toll, and Smokestack can all devastate opponents and make for immense boardstate advantages on your end. I explain why in the "key card interactions" section below!

why tokens?

because we have to win somehow, and amassing an army of tokens is a deckspace-efficient way of doing that!

as you've probably noticed by now, this deck is doing a lot of different things. when a deck does a lot of different things, you risk getting spread too thin and lacking an executable endgame. recurrable token generation is a way around this problem. cards like Assemble the Legion and Luminarch Ascension are gifts that keep on giving; they're single spells that don't take up too much deckspace but keep our boardstate growing and aggressive. when we're already springing a trap for the table involving forced combat for them and a stiff defense for ourselves, card-efficient board growth becomes crucial, because we've only got 100 cards to work with here, and deckspace becomes a limiting factor.

once we've built up a token army, we can buff them with a collection of powerful cards: Aurelia, the Warleader, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight are some highlights. these pieces are what pushes the tokens from a nice threat and a good way to absorb enemy aggression into a win con.

what's with the counterspells?

they're here to protect your boardstate!

specifically, they're here to protect key pieces, like Pramikon and The Immortal Sun, from spot removal, as well as your token army from boardwipes. since you're probably the only player who doesn't have to swing each turn, your boardstate's likely to grow at a healthier rate than that of your opponents, and they'll want to do something about that. counterspells are your best way to stop that from happening.

what should I tutor for?

good question!

Enlightened Tutor and Idyllic Tutor are fantastic here; you've got a total of 25 targets for ET and 15 for IT, and those targets can solve virtually any problems you have getting your boardstate set up.

• if your mana base isn't coming together: Land Tax is a great fit or, if you're feeling greedy, Smothering Tithe.
• if you need card draw: The Immortal Sun is an incredible piece, though it's a touch expensive at 6 mana. Rhystic Study is another great pick.
• missing a forced combat piece? The Akroan War will get the job done nicely.
• what about a stax piece? Propaganda, Ghostly Prison, Smoke, War's Toll, and the titular Smokestack are all options.
• token gen? Assemble the Legion and Luminarch Ascension.
• want to buff the tokens you already have? Crescendo of War, Iroas, God of Victory, and Purphoros, God of the Forge.

then there's Mystical Tutor. not as strong a piece here, though I included it for good reason. here are some of its best uses:

• to grab a counterspell! Fierce Guardianship and Mana Drain are both ideal picks in that case, though with different case uses--FG for when you want to counter a spell for free, MD for when you wanna give yourself a mana boost.
• if your card draw fizzles badly, Wheel of Fortune will set you up!
• as a game ender, Cyclonic Rift is a great option.
• need something other than an instant or a sorcery? go get one of your other tutors!

and lastly, Gamble.

ah, Gamble. the most fun, most flavorful and, accordingly, most risky tutor WotC ever devised.

first off, this is the only tutor we've got that can fetch creatures. Fumiko the Lowblood, Consecrated Sphinx, Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant, Aurelia, the Warleader, Akim, the Soaring Wind: the list goes on. since this deck doesn't include any graveyard play, Gamble is definitely a risk here, but I included it because there are a lot of great cards it can get which no other can.

second, it's versatile! The only tutor not in black as versatile as black tutors. whatever you need, it can get it.

and lastly, it's cheap. turn 1 cheap. if you draw into gamble and you've got, say, a whole heap of lands and not much else, you can go grab powerful card draw and let the game take care of itself. it's a great feeling to use this card in the early game.

that said, there's always a real chance you'll throw away the very card you tutored for. this can ruin your game. still arguably the best tutor in the game outside of Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor.

all that said, some words of advice:

• prioritize fundamentals: card draw and mana fixing. turn 1, Land Tax, Smothering Tithe, Rhystic Tutor, and Consecrated Sphinx are some of your best picks.
• if mana and card draw are well taken care of, the best forced combat piece, Fumiko the Lowblood, is a great pick.
• if forced combat is taken care of, Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant might be your best "keep your boardstate secure" card, especially if you have a counterspell on hand. with a counterspell ready, it becomes an intimidating attrition piece, difficult to get rid of--and when you counter the first attempt your playgroup makes, it might discourage further attempts down the road.
• look through the "key interactions section" and memorize them. if you have one piece but not the other, and draw into Gamble, knowing which pieces work best with which can win you the game.

and some warnings:

• don't cast Gamble for anything other than card draw if you don't have card draw pieces established. it lands you at a net card disadvantage, since it takes a spot in your deck, replaces itself via tutoring, and causes you to discard afterward. ignoring this fact can cost you the game.
• don't cast it for a crucial piece unless you have at least three other cards in hand. 75%'s fair enough odds for most of us; don't risk a game on less than those odds unless you have no choice.
• if another card in your hand's a crucial piece, it goes without saying you should roll that into your calculations re: odds. that means not casting unless you have at least 8 cards in hand, until you can cast the other crucial piece, or unless the card you're going for is absolutely essential: say, a Land Tax if you're mana screwed.

• unless you're addressing a glaring need or padding your lead in an obvious and tangible way, don't cast Gamble. it's not a willy-nilly, oh-lookie-here kind of spell. because it's risky to cast, you should cast it intentionally. if you don't, you're using it wrong.

key card interactions

some pieces here are best friends where they're only acquaintances with the rest of the deck. I'll do my best to innumerate and explain all these dynamics in this section.

Rite of the Raging Storm + Crescendo of War - maybe my favorite single card interaction in this deck. remember when you were a kid and you got in a game of punch buggy in the back of the car that got out of hand, and started punching each other harder and harder till it might've come to blood if adults didn't intervene? these two cards force your opponents into such a dynamic while leaving you largely out of it, both because the lightning ragers can't attack you and because your creatures get a defense bonus if the opponent who can attack you, does. what a fun boardstate.

Smoke + Aurelia, the Warleader - sure to draw ire, also such a clever way to break parity that hardly anyone could fault you. attack, untap your creatures, and feel free not to attack again. your opponents won't be able to do the same.

Smoke + forced attack - game changer. these two effects are pb&j.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight + Purphoros, God of the Forge - noticed as I was writing this section! 4 damage per creature is nothing to sneeze at in a token deck.

Mana Drain + Intrepid Adversary / Ultramarines Honour Guard - I love both IA and UHG, since they hit that sweet spot where they're early, mid, and late-game cards, depending on how much mana you cast them for. Mana Drain lets you cast them ahead of the curve.

Akim, the Soaring Wind + Smothering Tithe - since Akim's effect activates each turn, regardless of whether that turn is yours, these two cards create powerful pressure together.

Krenko, Mob Boss + Dockside Extortionist / Goblin Diplomats / Goblin Spymaster - obvious, but easy to forget in a non-goblin deck: these cards synergize. might be worth Gambling for Krenko if you've got a couple of the others in play already.

Smokestack + any token gen - Smokestack is among the most loathed cards ever, given that it's the namesake of the most loathed strategy ever. I included Smokestack here because it has some exciting card interactions. first of all: any token gen. its scaling effect pairs especially well with Assemble the Legion! aside from that, though, this deck is uniquely positioned to do well with Smokestack. cast it with Smothering Tithe on the board, for example. even with Loyal Apprentice. that one forced sac per turn can add up if your opponents aren't equipped to handle it.

Smokestack + Cyclonic Rift work especially well together! cast Stax, wait a round, then overload CR into a situation your enemies will find difficult to escape.

Pramikon: left or right?

probably the single most important strategic choice you make in a Pramikon build. do you sic the Timmy on the control player at the beginning of the game, or do you defend against the timmy and trust the control player to be grateful in turn?

diplomacy is everything here. know your playgroup and how they respond to these kinds of situations. try not to piss off the folks who run lots of removal. think carefully and strategically!

above all, try to have fun with it! go with your gut. Pramikon is one of those commanders who'll do better at a table where your opponents have the impression you're not trying too hard, and the best way to create that impression is to actually not try too hard. a little whimsy can go a long way toward winning people over.

what do I do in a 1v1 game?

I'm personally gonna get a copy of Ruhan of the Fomori as my alternate commander. a bit of a weird choice for helming a deck like this one, but he's a great threat, and the rest of this deck will do its thing regardless of Pramikon's absence!

how am I supposed to afford this deck?

with an extremely lucrative career, or don't--just proxy it!

final thoughts

I've thought on Pramikon, how best to build them. but I don't come to any good, consistent answers.

that's because they're not a good commander. they lack a dynamic design. the attack direction thing is too open ended. it doesn't grant you explicit advantages, or suggest any meaningful way to exploit them.

if I had my druthers, Pramikon would've been a 4-mana commander with Flash and "creatures your opponents control attack each turn if able," alsongside their current attributes. this would've given them a cohesive identity and dynamic, interactive gameplay, both of which Pram currently lacks.

that said, I still love Pram. their open-endedness is fun for the simple reason that it forces creative deckbuilding. you won't do well with them unless you come up with something striking; that, in itself, can be a fun reason to run with a commander. sometimes a bad commander is a good commander because they're bad! Pram definitely fits that description.

so that's it! about as close to a competitive Pramikon deck as you're likely to see. suggestions welcome, give it a +1 if you like it!

Top Ranked	Achieved #37 position overall 1 year ago Achieved #29 position in Commander / EDH 1 year ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Counterspell 1 year ago
Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	18 - 0 Mythic Rares 53 - 0 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.22
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Bird 1/1 W, Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Elephant 3/3 G, Goblin 1/1 R, Goblin 1/1 R for Goblin Spymaster, Human Cleric 2/1 RW, Human Rogue 1/2 RW, Human Warrior 3/1 RW, Lightning Rager, Monk 1/1 W, Soldier 1/1 RW, Spirit 1/1 W, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure, Ultramarines Honour Guard 2/2 W
Folders	Pramikon