MTG Salvation

Hello everybody!

I don't know about you, but these common downgrades have me pumped already! Zada, Hedron Grinder was also bumped down to Uncommon along with Jalira, Master Polymorphist. Although Jalira is in the better colour, Zada is much easier to build around and finally offers Red what it lacked the most in Pauper EDH: Card advantage!

But how?

The answer is a board of creatures and cantrips. Something innocuous like Expedite suddenly becomes "Creatures you control gain haste until end of turn. Draw a card for each creature you control." for just R. How much would you pay for an ability like that? Easily 5 mana.

There are tons of cantrips that will allow us to draw tons of cards to help play more creatures and then snowball from there. Zada, Hedron Grinder in PDH has a very clear direction for deck building. Play lots of small creatures, play Zada, draw tons of cards, play pump spells and attack for the win. Sounds like a promising game plan!

TL;DR: Play Cantrips on Zada to draw cards and pump spells to win. Deck list below.



The brand-new Fists of Flame is going to be an amazing addition to the deck, being both a pump spell and a draw spell for the deck. It's currently taken the place of Fists of the Anvil in my deck.

Deck ideas: Blood Lust, Fit of Rage, Seething Anger, Fists of the Anvil

Check out this deck in action against non-Pauper EDH decks here:

Very cool stuff Upkeep! It's like an all-out explosive Goblin Overrun deck that can actually draw cards.

Zada is badass, free mass replication of instants/sorceries is unique in PDH.

Off the top of my head, maybe try a few of these to support the deck:

• Blood Lust
  
• Onslaught
  
• Goblin General
  
• Goblin Shrine
  
• Goblin War Drums
  
• Faithless Looting
  
• Kiln Fiend
  
• Firebrand Archer
  
• Thermo-Alchemist
  
• Fling
  
• Flame Slash
  
• Brimstone Volley
  
• Shattering Pulse
  
• Undying Rage
  
• Ruthless Invasion
  
• Bonesplitter
  
• Slagwurm Armor
  
• Vulshok Morningstar
  
• Wayfarer's Bauble

*As for cutting down the decksize from 106, you could maybe remove some of the
non-goblin creatures and focus more on goblins, goblin tokens, cantrips,
pump and burn.

Thanks so much TEMUJIN! You have some great suggestions!

I've cut down to 98 cards now. I switched out a few of the lower-impact cards, especially in the removal section. I cut a few creatures, but I think I should have at least 32 creatures in order to keep the threat-count high enough.

I'm looking to add Blood Lust, Fists of the Anvil, Fit of Rage, Seething Anger,Ondu Champion, Akoum Flameseeker and Screaming Fury.

Which do you think is better, Blood Lust or Fists of the Anvil? Blood Lust weakens my creatures, but could potentially be used to trade up against an enemy creature, though that seems really narrow.

I realized last night that Zada is also an Ally for some reason. So I added Goblin Freerunner in order to create synergy with Ondu Champion and Akoum Flameseeker. They both have fairly strong abilities that should be able to see some use, but they aren't part of the tribe. Is it worth going off-tribe for a little value with Zada?

Screaming Fury seems like an insane finisher. Making all my tokens 6/1s sounds like game over.

The major weakness in the deck will be looking for protection for Zada, as being outside blue rules out most common forms of protection like Neurok Stealthsuit, Diplomatic Immunity, Alexi's Cloak, Elgaud Shieldmate and Counterspells. We have Whispersilk Cloak but I can't remember much else.

Titan's Strength, Reckless Charge, Otherworldly Outburst and all other pumps that offer some form of insurance or virtual CA should also be staple above regular pump IMO. I'll be monitoring this thread since we've finally gotten a Red commander that doesn't suck and does it's unique thing.

Quote from Zephyr Scarlet »

The major weakness in the deck will be looking for protection for Zada, as being outside blue rules out most common forms of protection like Neurok Stealthsuit, Diplomatic Immunity, Alexi's Cloak, Elgaud Shieldmate and Counterspells. We have Whispersilk Cloak but I can't remember much else.

Titan's Strength, Reckless Charge, Otherworldly Outburst and all other pumps that offer some form of insurance or virtual CA should also be staple above regular pump IMO. I'll be monitoring this thread since we've finally gotten a Red commander that doesn't suck and does it's unique thing.

Titan, Reckless and Outburst are all in the deck! I can't wait to blow someone out with Otherworldly Outburst.

I thought of Whispersilk Cloak, but giving Zada Shroud is not something you want to be doing. I think we have to accept that he's going to die and work around getting value out of him anyways. Playing him on turn 4 is a bad idea.

I have a normal Zada deck and its force to be reckon with. Its practically a pauper deck already, with some , rather important tough, exceptions.

Will thing some more about it, but here it comes some suggestions:
Downhill Charge - this looks like a killer eh?
Uncaged Fury
Uncanny Speed

What about Flare, Rile, and Zap? Some pump spells add toughness, I'd test some...
Will look to some ways to try to protect the commander. Let's see if I find something. I want to build some new PDHs I saw here, but I love aggro so this might be the first. Kudos!

Quote from alexandre »

Will thing some more about it, but here it comes some suggestions:
Downhill Charge - this looks like a killer eh?
Uncaged Fury
Uncanny Speed

Thanks for the great suggestions!

I can't believe I missed Downhill Charge! I never bothered to look up +X in the search terms, I guess! I'll definitely be making a cut for this.

Uncaged Fury I thought about, but eventually thought that other cards might be better, since it was roughly the equivalent of giving +3/+1 and first strike for 3 mana. Upon revisiting the idea, It might be better than Fists of the Anvil or Sure Strike, considering how it will combo so well with other pump spells.

Uncanny Speed just seems worse than Reckless Charge, besides instant speed.

Quote from alexandre »

What about Flare, Rile, and Zap? Some pump spells add toughness, I'd test some...
Will look to some ways to try to protect the commander. Let's see if I find something. I want to build some new PDHs I saw here, but I love aggro so this might be the first. Kudos!

Many of the pump spells don't affect toughness, so I think these are still a little too situational, even if they can be powerful. I probably wouldn't even bother testing Flare, though, since you basically want to use a pump spell to draw more and end the game on that turn.

if you can figure out a way to protect Zada at common in Mono-Red, I'd be very interested! So far I've come up short on that front. I've just accepted the fact that she dies sometimes and that you should never play her without some way to get value immediately (or unless you're sure it's safe to play her and pass).

In terms of changes I've been thinking about: I'll most likely be switching out most the artifact count and Kuldotha Rebirth, which was the main reason these cards were there. Although Rebirth is powerful, it wasn't really worth running unless I had already played a draw spell. I'll most likely be switching it out for Goblin Instigator when it's released. Not as efficient, but still a powerful card that requires less build-around.

I'm looking forward to more development and suggestions from you! Thanks again!

OK, first of all I gave up on trying to protect the commander. After all it's a mono red deck, so it is a glass cannon one
EDIT: Found two protection options to join Goblin Chirurgeon!!! See in the 'in' section below.

2nd round of suggestions:

Out:
Anarchist (8 sorceries on deck, 7 without Kuldotha Rebirth)
Kuldotha Rebirth
Ondu Champion
Goblin Heelcutter
Alchemist's Vial
Thought Vessel
Vulshok Morningstar
Mind Stone
Sylvok Lifestaff
Fissure
Darksteel Citadel
Great Furnace

In:
The Brute
Herbal Poultice
Gorilla Shaman
Goblin Cohort
Mogg Conscripts
Goblin General (*)
Assault Strobe
Goblin War Strike
Downhill Charge
Fireblast
2 x Mountain

Givem the suggestions above, now that the average CMC is smaller, some playtest should prove you might replace a Mountain with other spell.

Consider:
Seething Anger (buyback = CA)
Faithless Looting (flashback = CA)
Brightstone Ritual (is ramp that good?)
Sizzle, Firebrand Archer, Thermo-Alchemist (non-political)
Aftershock, Lava Flow (*) (more spot removal, but I'd play none)
Rile, Zap (still in my maybeboard )
Glasses of Urza (I swear to God I want to test this, I never saw one in EDH lol) (*)

(*) common on MTGO

Cheers

Quote from alexandre »

OK, first of all I gave up on trying to protect the commander. After all it's a mono red deck, so it is a glass cannon one
EDIT: Found two protection options to join Goblin Chirurgeon!!! See in the 'in' section below.

2nd round of suggestions:

Out:
Anarchist (8 sorceries on deck, 7 without Kuldotha Rebirth)
Kuldotha Rebirth
Ondu Champion
Goblin Heelcutter
Alchemist's Vial
Thought Vessel
Vulshok Morningstar
Mind Stone
Sylvok Lifestaff
Fissure
Darksteel Citadel
Great Furnace

In:
The Brute
Herbal Poultice
Gorilla Shaman
Goblin Cohort
Mogg Conscripts
Goblin General (*)
Assault Strobe
Goblin War Strike
Downhill Charge
Fireblast
2 x Mountain

Ha! I can't believe I forgot about Goblin Chirurgeon! I've even been playing around with that card in regular pauper recently!

The Brute is also interesting... What a weird design.

Not sure if Herbal Poultice is even worth playing.

Like I said before, taking out Kuldotha Rebirth opens up a lot of deck space from taking out so many artifacts, most of which are in your Out section.

Don't underestimate Fissure. This is an instant-speed way to straight up kill a creature (or land) at instant speed. In red, its cost is quite appropriate. It's basically a Red PDH staple in my eyes.

Ondu Champion is one of those cards you need to test before you decide to cut it. I've been really happy with the evasion is grants. The fact that it triggers when you play him or Zada makes it quite consistent.

Heelcutter gets rid of the best blocker and also hits very hard. Card's not going anywhere!

I just remembered an excellent card to add: Rites of Initiation. Our Zada combo is a bit like the Keep Watch side of the Watch Rites combo, so being able to draw a ton of cards at instant speed and then discard them to Rites is game over.

EDIT: I just noticed that I had already put the Chirugeon in my deck! Derp!

Have you considered Mark of Mutiny? Also, isn't Uncaged Fury more oomph than Temur Battle Rage here?

Quote from Sephon19 »

Have you considered Mark of Mutiny? Also, isn't Uncaged Fury more oomph than Temur Battle Rage here?

Do you mean using Mark of Mutiny targetting Zada to give all my creatures a +1/+1 counter and haste? seems decent! Not sure if it's worth it over other slots in the deck, but definitely an interesting card.

I like Temur Battle Rage because it's only two mana, making it easier to combo with a few other pump spells and end the game on the spot. Uncaged Fury is usually better as a standalone card, though.

Also, check this out!

Fists of Flame is just about the best card that could be printed for Zada, Hedron Grinder. Alone with an army, this card will end games already, but in tandem with any other draw effect and this card will wipe out a table. I can see this card easily giving creatures +7 and up from the first target. Of course, they'll all have different amounts of pumping. This card even gives trample, which is insane.

On a less exciting note, I think Goblin War Party will also make the deck, as we can use more token generators for sure. 4 mana is a lot, though. I don't think Entwine will ever be used, but you never know, I guess. I'll probably cut Skirk Commando for it.

One card I'm missing in this topic is Samut's Sprint. It doesn't cantrip, but it's still a tidy bit of pump on top of the haste. Scrying X (or rather, X iterations of Scry 1), at least let you shave some chaff from the top of your deck if you're planning to follow it up with a cantrip.

I think Samut's Sprint is severely outshined by Titan's Strength. Trading haste for an extra point of power on all your guys is a great trade. I don't really see what I would cut for it, honestly.