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Torbran, Thane of Incremental Damage

Commander / EDH Aggro Budget Mono-Red

Brynx

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Card Advantage (10)

Creature Synergy (9)

Other (8)

More Damage (3)

Land (34)

Mana (9)

Targeted Damage (8)

Commander (1)

Commander: Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

Sweepers (9)

Tokens (5)

Removal (4)

Maybeboard

Removal (3)

Sweepers (3)

Other (2)

Description

The goal of this deck is to use Torbran, Thane of Red Fell and many increments of low damage to burn out your opponents. The issue a lot of Aggro EDH decks have is that they aren't fast enough to kill all of the other players before they have a chance to take control. Torbran takes the aggro cards that were previously not fast enough and boosts their impact and speed.

There are lots of opportunities to use Group Slug to great effect in this deck, but I avoided most of them. Most group slug cards are rather slow, and don't fit with the fast and aggressive theme of the deck. on top of this, they have a tendency to make you a target.

Budget

I tried to keep the deck around $100 on CardKingdom, my preferred MtG seller. If you want to purchase the deck for cheaper replace Hanweir Battlements   with a mountain, and Pyrohemia with Scalding Salamander

Categories

This is the section in most of my decks that I would call card draw, but that name doesn't work here. Most of the gas in this deck is impulse draw because it works really well with this strategy. Its the best that aggro can do to plow through the deck and dump as much junk into play as possible.

Experimental Frenzy is an absolute house in this deck. This card paired with the low mana curve can be all the gas you need to run the whole table over.

This section is a bit of a mish-mash of powerful cards that all revolve around doing more with creatures. These cards either give keywords, do damage when creatures attack or do damage when creatures enter.

Hellrider is the shining star in this category alongside Raid Bombardment. Dropping Hellrider onto a board with Torbran and a few tokens will turn a 10 damage attack into a 25 damage attack. The effect has lead to some of my most unsuspected 1 shots with the deck.

You might notice that Swiftfoot Boots and Lightning Greaves are absent from the deck. The latter breaks the budget, and the former got cut for Rabbit Battery. Having a cheaper 1/1 body with haste that procs Torbrans ability is better in my mind than hexproof.

Every deck needs a good base of mana producers, and this strategy has some good options. I run the traditional rocks like Sol Ring and Arcane Signet. I also put Alpine Guide in (mostly just to make the joke that red can ramp) and he works pretty well.

The lands in the deck are pretty straight forward. You don't want a lot of colorless because Torbran costs. Dwarven Mine is an auto-include and Ghitu Encampment is good for making a 4/1 first striker appear out of thin air.

Runaway Steam-Kin is by far one of the best cards in the deck. Pair him up with Experimental Frenzy and some lucky draws and the game is yours. Steam-Kin is so efficient that the trouble is usually having enough gas to keep up with the mana.

This is a pretty niche part of the deck, despite Torbran's effect being the core of the strategy. Cards like Embermaw Hellion and card:Jaya, Venerated Fire Mage used to make the cut in this category. Their high CMC and low initial impact make them a stretch for a deck as aggressive as this.

Toralf and the Incinerator both make people squirm when they hit the table. Everyone knows that all it takes is one sweeper for everyone to be in a world of hurt.

The removal in the deck is kind of split into three groups. The section actually labeled removal is the removal that doesn't just do direct damage to creatures.

Fiery Confluence is in this section because it destroys artifacts, but it usually doesn't get used to do that. It's pretty hard to pass up spending four mana to do 12 damage to each opponent when Torbran is out.

The board-wipes in this deck tend to be really efficient for getting creatures out of the way. A good few of them also lay down the hate to opponent's life as well. It might seem like running 9 "board wipes" is overkill, but they are almost always effective. If anything, I would consider adding more. You might notice that I don't run any boardwipes strong enough to kill Torbran, this is intentional.

I really like being able to interupt combos by board-wiping at instant speed, so thats where Cards like Cinderclasm come in.

Another bomb in the deck is Pyrohemia. Letting a Torbran deck untap with Pyrohemia is a sure-fire way to lose the game.

This category is a mix of pingers and direct damage spells that target creatures and/or players. I run the two MDFCs in slots I would usually run lands in this deck because they fit the strategy well.

Some people lean really hard into dumping boatloads of tokens in Torbran decks. I find that with tokens its a less is more situation. Skipping the pile of token cards lets you run the good support cards and direct damage effects.

The token makers that did make the deck are the best bang-for-your-buck ones you can get. Most of them bring their tokens in rapped and attacking, furthering the relentless aggression of the deck

Hanweir Garrison   is another really powerful card in this deck. As long as you have a safe swing, you can keep pumping out tokens that come in already attacking.

This section is for all the misfits that didn't fit in the other sections. A lot of cards in this group are low CMC creatures. These all serve to make the deck quicker, and to try to establish a board to swing with as soon as Torbran hits the table.

Fervent Champion doesn't look like it synergizes much with the deck. It's a great example of how Torbran can take something as simple as a 1/1 First Strike Haste and make it into threat that not many people will be willing to block in the early game.

Tips and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Thanks for checking out my list!

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93% Casual

Competitive