Daretti - New and improved | Primer

Commander / EDH Artifact Combo Competitive Mono-Red Primer Stax

PeaceAndMusic

Artifact (41)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Chalice of the Void
• 1x Codex Shredder
• 1x Crucible of Worlds
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Damping Sphere
• 1x Engineered Explosives
• 1x Everflowing Chalice
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x God-Pharaoh's Statue
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Grim Monolith
• 1x Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 1x Lion's Eye Diamond
• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Mindslaver
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Mox Opal
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Pithing Needle
• 1x Ratchet Bomb
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1x Sphere of Resistance
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Static Orb
• 1x The Chain Veil
• 1x Thought Vessel
• 1x Tormod's Crypt
• 1x Trinisphere
• 1x Voltaic Key
• 1x Winter Orb

Land (29)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Barbarian Ring
• 1x Bazaar of Baghdad MP
• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Blinkmoth Nexus
• 1x Blinkmoth Well
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Darksteel Citadel
• 1x Drownyard Temple *f-pre*
• 1x Gemstone Caverns
• 1x Great Furnace
• 1x Inkmoth Nexus
• 1x Inventors' Fair *f-pre*
• 1x Mishra's Factory
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 8x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1x Strip Mine
• 1x Wooded Foothills

Sorcery (8)

• 1x By Force
• 1x Devastating Dreams
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Scrap Mastery
• 1x Trash for Treasure
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Whipflare

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Blood Moon
• 1x Stranglehold

Commander (1)

Creature (13)

• 1x Combustible Gearhulk
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Goblin Engineer
• 1x Goblin Welder
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Magus of the Moon
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Myr Retriever
• 1x Sandstone Oracle
• 1x Scrap Trawler
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x Voltaic Construct
• 1x Walking Ballista

Instant (4)

• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Galvanic Blast
• 1x Pyroblast
• 1x Red Elemental Blast

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Karn, the Great Creator *f-pre*
• 1x Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

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Maybeboard

Artifact (26)

• 1x Aetherflux Reservoir
• 1x Blasting Station
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Clock of Omens
• 1x Coveted Jewel
• 1x Damping Matrix
• 1x Darksteel Forge
• 1x Ensnaring Bridge
• 1x Fire Diamond
• 1x Galvanic Key
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Lotus Bloom
• 1x Mycosynth Lattice
• 1x Mystic Forge
• 1x Null Brooch
• 1x Orb of Dreams
• 1x Portcullis
• 1x Possessed Portal
• 1x Pyrite Spellbomb
• 1x Sculpting Steel
• 1x Smokestack
• 1x Storage Matrix
• 1x Tangle Wire
• 1x Thorn of Amethyst
• 1x Torpor Orb

Creature (21)

• 1x Dross Scorpion
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Goblin Cratermaker
• 1x Goblin Matron
• 1x Goblin Recruiter
• 1x Junk Diver
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Krark-Clan Shaman
• 1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
• 1x Lesser Masticore
• 1x Lodestone Golem
• 1x Merchant of the Vale
• 1x Metallic Mimic
• 1x Nullstone Gargoyle
• 1x Phyrexian Revoker
• 1x Shimmer Myr
• 1x Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer
• 1x Squee, Goblin Nabob
• 1x Treasonous Ogre
• 1x Treasure Nabber
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Land (9)

• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Inkmoth Nexus
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Kher Keep
• 1x Mishra's Workshop
• 1x Nephalia Academy
• 1x The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
• 1x Wasteland

Instant (10)

• 1x Abrade
• 1x Burnout
• 1x Firestorm
• 1x Impact Resonance
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Mages' Contest
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Starstorm
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Warping Wail

Sorcery (10)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Anger of the Gods
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Magmatic Insight
• 1x Obliterate
• 1x Pirate's Pillage
• 1x Rolling Earthquake
• 1x Shattering Spree
• 1x Shenanigans
• 1x Wild Guess

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Smoke

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Work in Progress: Cute shit going on here. Working on a 2020 update now.

Please understand the word "PARITY" before reading the primer!

Why Daretti?

There are a lot of stax commanders out there, so why Daretti? I chose Daretti because he is more focused on the stax part of stax than the other commanders. He is also janky and I like the fact that he is not a cookie cutter commander. Other commanders have been worked on to the point where the most optimized build is already available. The lists I've found for Daretti online made me feel like there was a lot of room for improvement.

I'm also a firm believer in if you don't try you'll never know. Pushing the boundaries of cEDH is what I am aiming for with each deck I make, and the main goal is to make a new development, even if it is fringe.

For these reasons I play Daretti, I hope you'll find some of your own as well.

Maybe Board

Work in progress

The Maybe Board is vast, and there is a reason for that. A lot of the cards in the maybe board could easily be added in place of other cards, some of them are very meta dependent and because I am going for a more general stax deck they were cut in place of more general stax cards.

I will go over some of the changes that could be made to the deck and some cards worth considering that are in the Maybe Board and suggest some cards that you can take out to try some cards from the Maybe Board out.

Flex Slots

We have a couple slots for testing purposes. Use these to make meta calls as well.

Flex Spots Show

Combustible Gearhulk It either draws three or mills three, either way is great for us. I'm also trying out beats as a strategy.

Steel Hellkite: Removal/beats. The two things we need most right now.

Wurmcoil Engine We need the blocks/artifacts to sac for Daretti. The life gain and extra resilience from board wipes helps a lot.

Mindslaver There are a lot of consultation decks right now, this can straight up kill players. It's anti-Necropetence as well. Great way to slow a tempo deck, take over a combo decks win, or mess with another players math.

Cards to Test Show

Shattering Spree

Portcullis

Tangle Wire

Merchant of the Vale

Thrill of Possibility

Null Brooch

Mystic Forge

Damping Matrix

Game Plan

The main point of this deck is to be the only player above parity while your stax pieces are out. You are actively trying to stall out the board state, then you get to your combo pieces.

The stax pieces you grab will depend on your meta, and you are always actively looking at being above parity, and card draw is your main stay for this effect. This does not mean having a large hand, but it does mean seeing a good portion of your deck.

This deck mulligans hard. You want to slow the game down from turn one, and what is needed for that will change depending on who you are playing against.

Fast Combo Show

Against fast combo taxing effects are a good bet. Good cards to look for:

Damping Sphere

Trinisphere

God-Pharaoh's Statue

Sphere of Resistance

Chalice of the Void on 2 is great for Flash decks.

Some of the fast combo decks rely heavily on certain creatures, stopping a Thrasios activation with Pithing Needle, or Sorcerous Spyglass is a great plan as well, but you'll need more interaction if you go this route.

Some of the things you may want to be careful of: Depending on turn order you may not want to play heavy taxes. If there is a midrange/control deck at the table you may want to play more towards interaction/removal so you don't accidentally stop them from doing their job.

Graveyard Show

Graveyard decks range from fast combo, to midrange-y.

Great cards to mulligan for:

Grafdigger's Cage

Tormod's Crypt

Be careful when wheeling against these decks.

Turn order against these decks is not as important, since you and your opponents are likely going to be using the same type of interaction to stop them.

Midrange Combo Show

Midrange tends to rely on mana rocks/lands to get them to where they are going. The same tax effects from fast combo list tend to work fine, but they lose their oomph since they are willing to play a longer came.

Good cards to look for:

Winter Orb

Static Orb

Chalice of the Void

Keeping removal available is also a good idea, since Consultation decks are prevalent.

Hate bears Show

Work in progress

Control Show

Work in progress

Other Stax decks Show

Work in progress

Stax and Stax Lines

Work in progress

You should have an idea of what you are looking to do with stax, but I will be trying to go over some of the cute lines you can do. Remember: You should only look at assembling cute lines once you are the only one above parity. If you are struggling to get players locked you need to actively search for cards to help to that end.

IMPORTANT: Goblin Engineer is a tutor for stax pieces ABOVE all else. He only is meant to combo AFTER you are above parity

STAX! Show

Blood Moon Slow those 3-5 color combo decks down. It makes Hermit druid decks real sad.

Chalice of the Void Put this baby on 2 and watch people suffer. On 2 it stops most of the hate you need to fear IE Collector Ouphe and Rest in Peace as well as stopping many of the counters your need to worry about.

Cursed Totem Dorks no dorking. Stops most Flash Hulk lines, and you can get around it with your commander.

Damping Sphere STOP_TRYING_TO_STORM.exe Seriously. Stop.

Ensnaring Bridge Well, it's a good thing you discard your hand. Now nothing can attack.

God-Pharaoh's Statue Find this. Play it. Watch people cry. If you can turn one this... Do it.

Grafdigger's Cage Stop trying to play unfair magic. Looking at you Graveyard decks.

Karn, the Great Creator Only we shall use mana rocks. Also gets back exiled combo pieces.

Magus of the Moon Same as Blood Moon, just dies to a lot of stuff. Like it dies to _a lot_ of incidental shit. Be careful.

Pithing Needle Nice Thrasios, it'd be a shame if something happened to it...

Sorcerous Spyglass Look at hand, call Thrasios anyway.

Sphere of Resistance Eh, it does stuff. Great turn one play.

Static Orb Do your opponents like playing magic? I don't think so. Also, if it's tapped it doesn't work. Hmmm, if only we could tap it... ( Blinkmoth Well )

Stranglehold PLAY FAIR MAGIC. Looking at you, black decks.

Tormod's Crypt STOP WITH THE GRAVEYARD SHENNANIGANS

Trinisphere 0=3, 1=3, 2=3, 3=3. Fair magic! All these decks with average CMC of 2. Also, if it's tapped it doesn't work. Hmmm, if only we could tap it... ( Blinkmoth Well )

Winter Orb Oh man, mana really is great! Allows you to do so much, would be a shame if something happened to it. Also, if it's tapped it doesn't work. Hmmm, if only we could tap it... ( Blinkmoth Well )

Win Conditions

Work in progress

This is a build your own combo deck. You need a lot more pieces to combo off than the other decks, but that's ok! I'll try to list as many combos as I can, but understand I still run into new fun and interesting combos.

The hard part about the combo lines is that they can get pretty convoluted and if you want to win you need to be aware of what Stax you have in play. You may need to play around your own stax.

Combo Cards Show

What?!?! Why are the more combo cards listed here than in the combo list above? Since our main goal is not to combo off, but to Stax, I didn't list all of the combo pieces there. Even with the long list below I don't think I listed all the possible combo pieces.

Codex Shredder: This card goes great with Scrap Mastery and KCI.

Krark-Clan Ironworks: There are a lot of combos with this card. I'll have to dedicate a section to it.

Metalworker: Add infinite mana with Voltaic Construct. Works with some Rings of Brighthearth lines as well.

Mycosynth Lattice: I'm still figuring out lines with this one, it mostly used in synergy with Karn but I may be missing some fun combos so it makes the list.

Myr Retriever: Goes great with Scrap Trawler and KCI

Rings of Brighthearth: Oh boy, talk about an enabler. This card really pops off with infinite combos. You got Basalt Monolith, planeswalkers, Sensei's Divining Top, Memory Jar, Voltaic Key, Voltaic Construct, The Chain Veil and more. Just go ham. Also, try to play this card only when you need to. It won't last a round at the table.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Double fetch with your fetch lands. That is all.

Scrap Mastery: Sack your artifacts, get them back. Do it again. Yay Codex Shredder!

Scrap Trawler: I've talked about this card several time already. It's just great value with your commander and enables infinite sac loops.

Shimmer Myr Instant speed stax make it so that opponents can't plan their turn around your stax pieces, also allows for instant speed wins. You don't have haste on most of your combo's so having this allows for pseudo haste.

The Chain Veil: Do you like activating planeswalkers? I know I do. With Rings of Brighthearth it really shines.

Voltaic Construct: Got your self a Metalworker untapper here. Also, with Karn, the Great Creator it untaps any artifact you need to. Looking at Grim Monolith, Basalt Monolith, and Mana Vault.

Voltaic Key: Untaps shit. Works great with Rings of Brighthearth

Sensei's Divining Top: Because placing it ontop of your library is not part of the cost there are a lot of Shenanigans with this card. Sac it in response to activation for KCI loops. Double activate it for Rings of Brighthearth loops. Double tap it with Voltaic Key loops. The world is your oyster here.

Daretti, Scrap Savant: It's your commander. It does cute shit. Also works very nice with The Chain Veil.

Basalt Monolith: Infinite Mana. Look at Rings of Brighthearth

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: You kill the board with it in some combos. More of a finisher than a combo piece.

Walking Ballista: Like Ugin, but different.

Karn, the Great Creator: You want some jank ass combos with Voltaic Construct, this guys your man.

Goblin Engineer: He finds stuff. Then he can bring stuff back. With Mycosynth Lattice he is artifact creature. If only there was a way to untap artifact creatures in this deck...

Goblin Welder: Like Goblin Engineer. But doesn't find stuff. And is better at bringing stuff back. Ok, not so like Goblin Engineer.

KCI lines Show

Work in progress

KCI = Krark-Clan Ironworks Know it. Love it.

You should know what to do here, I will revisit this in the future. This is most common combo for Daretti lists. (In case you don't know, an easy line is Scrap Trawler + Myr Retriever + artifact that does cool shit = cool shit)

Rings of Brighthearth lines Show

Work in progress

Card: Rings of Brighthearth

Combo 1

With Basalt Monolith add infinite mana

With Daretti, Scrap Savant double his activations

With The Chain Veil you get six activation's on Daretti

With Voltaic Key You can un-tap Chain Veil and Voltaic Key

Draw your whole deck, find Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and win.

Combo 2

With Basalt Monolith: add infinite mana

With Sensei's Divining Top: Draw whole deck

Find build your own combo and win.

Combo 3

Voltaic Key + Everflowing Chalice on 4, or Metalworker with 2 artifacts in hand add infinite colorless mana. Play that Walking Ballista and win.

Constructs, what are they even? Show

Find Metalworker + Voltaic Construct for infinite mana + Walking Ballista = Infinite damage!

Hard Counters

Work in progress

But watch out for these:

• Leyline of the Void
• Rest in Peace

Lands

Work in progress

Is 8 Mountains enough? Yes, never had a problem. If you run into problems adjust it. Utility lands really make this deck work. They do so much for the deck and add quite a nice flavor. I'll go over them here.

Utility Lands Show

Barbarian Ring: Kills Tymna/Lab Man, adds red. Great card.

Bazaar of Baghdad: What do I need to say about this... Does everything we need.

Blast Zone: Sometimes you need this to get rid of enchantments. Other times it wipes the field of all mana dorks.

Blinkmoth Nexus: Blocks flying creatures.

Buried Ruin: Brings back artifacts

Blinkmoth Well: Tap out your stax pieces. Testing it as a replacement for Clock of Omens

Command Beacon: People kill Daretti. A lot.

Drownyard Temple: Discard to Daretti, then play it from graveyard. Yay synergies!

Inventors' Fair: Find yourself an artifact.

Inkmoth Nexus Alternate win con. Blocks for Daretti. Artifact to sac. What's not to like!

Mishra's Factory: Blocks for Daretti, and wins in fights against Tymna's.

Strip Mine: Officially Crucible of Worlds is in the deck for utility... But we all know what it is really here for.

Removal

Here is the removal page. Should be fairly straight forward, but I'll go over my reasoning for choosing the pieces that I have.

Removal, duh. Show

By Force: Stop the early game mana rocks.

Chaos Warp: One of the few ways you have to get rid of enchantments.

Galvanic Blast: Sometimes you just need 4 damage. To anything.

Pyroblast: Counters counters and kills blue creatures.

Red Elemental Blast: Look at Pyroblast.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon: Seriously, we can't deal with enchantments.

Walking Ballista: Yeah, yeah, it is an infinite combo card, but you should always play it out. It kills planeswalkers, and creatures. It blocks for Daretti. Don't let it collect dust in your hand.

Whipflare: A one sided board wipe. Hooray!

Oblivion Stone: Instant speed, and if left out for any amount of time you end up keeping some stax pieces.

Ratchet Bomb: Enchantments are tough to deal with. This helps.

Daretti decks to inspire you!

I just wanted to shout out some other Daretti decks here! These decks have great ideas behind them and really push Daretti to its limits! The creators deserve a shout out for the help they gave me an my list.

Guerte's Daretti is well thought out and tuned, and has an excellent primer. Check it out here!

RecklessFable's deck list has a lot of great cards that aren't stax related. If you are looking for list that is less about stax, or if you are curious about some combo cards: Check it out here!

bimjowen's deck is another great one to take a look at! It has a primer attached to it and has a very unique flavor! Check it out here!

Top Ranked	Achieved #5 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #3 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Primer 5 years ago
Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.39
Tokens	Emblem Daretti, Scrap Savant, Treasure
Folders	Daretti, Cockatrice, EDH Decks