Rashmi cEDH DrawGo

Commander / EDH Competitive Control GU (Simic)

benzoeb Daphilis

Instant (40)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Chain of Vapor
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Dispel
• 1x Disrupt
• 1x Dramatic Reversal
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Fierce Guardianship
• 1x Flusterstorm
• 1x Force of Negation
• 1x Force of Will
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Impulse
• 1x Into the Roil
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mana Leak
• 1x Mental Misstep
• 1x Muddle the Mixture
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Natural State
• 1x Nature's Claim
• 1x Negate
• 1x Nexus of Fate *list*
• 1x Noxious Revival
• 1x Opt
• 1x Pact of Negation
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Reap
• 1x Spell Snare
• 1x Submerge
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Thought Scour
• 1x Veil of Summer

Land (30)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Flooded Grove
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 2x Forest
• 12x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Prismatic Vista
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Tropical Island
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x Waterlogged Grove
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Wooded Foothills
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Back to Basics
• 1x Carpet of Flowers
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Utopia Sprawl
• 1x Wild Growth

Creature (4)

• 1x Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Gilded Drake
• 1x Wavebreak Hippocamp

Commander (1)

Artifact (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Chrome Mox
• 1x Cursed Totem
• 1x Grafdigger's Cage
• 1x Isochron Scepter
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mox Diamond
• 1x Sapphire Medallion
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Simic Signet
• 1x Sol Ring

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Enter the Infinite
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Merchant Scroll
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Treasure Cruise

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Rashmi Counts as a Wizard

Intro

Welcome to my cEDH Rashmi Eternities Crafter primer! I have been playing Rashmi since early 2019. Rashmi falls into an unusual cEDH archetype, Draw Go. Unlike other cEDH decks, we do not lose value when countering spells because Rashmi allows us to break parity by drawing cards. This allows us to play draw-go by holding up mana and countering spells by cantripping with Rashmi.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths: Rashmi is extremely resilient to hate, plays very well into the late game, and has a wincon that is nearly impossible to prevent. Rashmi is also on the cheaper side of cEDH deck.

Weaknesses: The deck lacks closing speed - games are sometimes lost to combat damage infrequently. As decks like Korvold and Kenrith become more popular they can force us to find specific interaction with a rather quick clock.

Why Play This Deck? If you enjoy playing a deck that can go into the late game like few other decks can, having interaction for nearly any threat that can be presented, and be nearly unaffected that stax, Rashmi might be the commander for you.

Gameplan

Wincons

Nexus of Fate is a win con that is extremely hard to interact with that can also be cast for value in the mid-late game. The only cards that can effectively deal with Nexus of Fate are Praetor's Grasp effects and Force of Negation. Note that Nexus can still get shuffled while Rest in Peace is in play, and get shuffled if milled by Ashiok, Dream Render. Enter the Infinite is an expensive wincon. Do not tap out to cast it unless you are sure it will resolve or are desperate. It serves a role in our deck as a 1 card wincon. If it resolves, we will win. Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal. Unlike most Isochron Scepter decks, our commander is not an outlet for infinite mana. This means Isochron only wins on the spot if we have Enter the Infinite or an X spell in hand. Otherwise, you can use Scepter to guarantee yourself a Rashmi trigger on every turn by simply activating Isochron.

Strategy

Our primary source of card advantage is Rashmi herself. Rashmi’s card advantage is dependent on having spells to cast, so use interaction sparingly when Rashmi isn’t in play. We don’t want to be in a situation with no spells in hand to trigger Rashmi. The early game will mainly played defensively. Our goal is to get to a specific gamestate: Rashmi is in play, a few mana-sources untapped, and at least a few cards in hand. The way this deck loses is in the early game and have Rashmi removed early with no other sources of card advantage available. We also want to save most of our spells for when Rashmi or Breaching Hippocamp is in play. So we can use each card as a cantrip.

Mulligans

Most MTG pros argue that people don’t mulligan enough. Then the mulligan rule changed to be more powerful. In addition, in multiplayer, you get a free mulligan. I’m including this to convince you to mulligan more. Don’t keep mediocre hand. Don’t keep a hand “lands and spells” unless you have 5 cards. Have a reason to keep a hand. Examples include: Mystic Remora, early Rhystic Study, Mana Crypt or Sol Ring to power out an early Rashmi. The power level of our cards vary a lot. Keep a powerful hand.

Matchups

• Rashmi struggles in a pod of 3 fast combo decks. We will often successfully stop the first 1-2 combos, but then run out of interaction/mana when the 3rd combo is threatened. For this reason, we would prefer to have another reactive deck in the pod. A tip for this kind of pod is to force other players to use interaction. Make it clear to them that if you always use the first piece of interaction, you will end up king-making a player.
• Rashmi has significant trouble against Niv-Mizzet Parun. Our win is not fast enough to happen before Niv is played, and we can’t efficiently kill him without drawing the Niv player a ton of cards.

Single Card Discussion

Rashmi Herself

Rashmi costs 4 mana, that means she is likely being played on turns 2-4. As Rashmi is blue and green, we have access to good ramp and interaction. Her ability essentially adds “draw a card” to the first spell we cast each turn. To maximise this, we’d like to cast spells on each turn. Playing counterspells in multiplayer is traditionally card disadvantage. If you spend a card countering a spell, the other 2 players won that exchange by not spending a card or mana. Rashmi allows us to break that parity by drawing a card.

Lands

This list is currently on Back to Basics, so there is a higher bar lands must clear for inclusion.

• Auto includes: Tropical Island, Breeding Pool, 8 fetches, Command Tower
• Mystic Sanctuary has overperformed. Including blue fetches, we functionally have 5 regrowth effects in land slots with the inclusion of this 1 card.
• Ancient Tomb is good acceleration to play Rashmi on turn 3, or various CMC 2 rocks on turn 1

Artifacts

• Grafdigger's Cage is an obvious nonbo with our commander, however Rashmi’s importance is the fact that she generates card advantage. Her ability to cast spells for free is very nice from time to time, but it certainly not necessary. It stops so many cards and combos including but not limited to Flash/Hulk, Birthing Pod, Kess, Yawgmoth’s Will, Worldgorger Combo, Reanimation, Green Sun’s Zenith / Finale of Devastation.
• Cursed Totem can slow a lot of decks down immensely, shut down card advantage engines like Thrasios, and stop many combos. Cutting our mana dorks is a small price to play for this inclusion. Rashmi is one of the few Commanders that can provide value through a Cursed Totem, running Cursed Totem allows us to leverage this.

Creatures

Because this list is on Cursed Totem, there are very few creatures.

• Baral, Chief of Compliance is a mana dork through cursed totem, and allows us to loot away cards.
• Birds of Paradise is a non-bo with Cursed Totem, but as the only dork that produces , it provides an additional needed piece of ramp.
• Breaching Hippocamp is an amazing new addition for this deck. The ability to have the equivalent of 2 Rashmis in play is amazing, and so is the ability to have a cheaper Rashmi (Especially if commander tax has accumulated).
• Gilded Drake is a cEDH staple, gaining control of value creatures for a cheap price of 2 mana is amazing.

Enchantments

• Utopia Sprawl + Wild Growth are necessary instead of mana dorks since this list is running Cursed Totem.
• Back to Basics is a meta call against many 3+ color decks with Tainted Pact manabases.
• Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, and Sylvan Library. These cards are cEDH staples, there is no reason not to run these.

Sorceries

• Gitaxian Probe, Ponder, Preordain, and Treasure Cruise are all staples, run them.
• Merchant Scroll is one of our only tutors in blue.
• Enter the Infinite is our 1 card combo. It costs a lot of mana, ideally you can cast it with some amount of countermagic to back it up.

Instants

In order to maximize the efficiency of the deck we want to be running a decklist consisting of mostly instant speed spells. That way we can generate card advantage by casting cards on each turn with Rashmi. Thought Scour is a cantrip that can fuel delve or mess with top-of-deck tutors like Vampiric Tutor, Worldly Tutor, or Enlightened Tutor. The opportunity cost of running an instant speed 1 mana cantrip is very low in Rashmi. It is sort of a pet card. Muddle the Mixture is a mediocre counterspell but also one of the only tutors we have access to. Notable cards to search for include: Isochron Scepter, Dramatic Reversal, Pull From Tomorrow, Gilded Drake, Sylvan Library, Cursed Totem.

Budget Replacements

Legacy's Allure or Vedalken Shackles can replace Gilded Drake

Maybeboard

Oko, Thief of Crowns. I have not found Oko to do as much as I’d like him to do. I think Kenrith’s Transformation will prove to be better in the same slot as it cantrips and is cheaper.

Notable Exclusions

Counterbalance, I have not found counterbalance to perform very well in cEDH in general.

Fin

A Brief Comparison with Other Simic Decks

In cEDH with the amount of cards available to us in the pool the only reason to be in just 2 colors unless it compliments a strategy like blood moon or back to basics. So to be in just G/U the reason has to be for the commander. Partner decks have made almost any other commander outside of frog somewhat worse then just a partner combo more so thrasios then any other single partner commander. That being said the few decks that can run simic effectively are Rashmi, Momir Vig Hack-Ball and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath.

• U/G Food chain: this is a powerful strategy but lacks tutors for the combo. Green gives lots of tutors for creatures as does blue but the hard part is finding food chain. So this strategy needs to lean heavily on its card draw engines and interaction with other lists in order to close out games.
• Hackball: in a similar boat to Food chain but it has the tutors necessary to find its combo pieces that being said the commander is a part of the combo and it costs 5 mana at a minimum so this deck will also lean on interaction to stop smaller lists.

A Brief Comparison with Other Control Decks

• Curiosity Control / 4 Color Rashmi looks to utilize more colors and the addition of Curiosity effects attached to a Vial Smasher the Fierce to create a pseudo-Rashmi effect. Early versions included Rashmi in the 99 but recent versions opt for other draw engines such as Sygg, River Cutthroat. Since it is in 4 colors, it has better options for certain effects but is more susceptible to Blood Moon / Null Rod / Back to Basics effects. Rashmi lacks the consistency and raw power that black provides but leveraging hard stacks pieces and more universal answers leaves us with few dead cards compared to them. They can tailor their list for meta calls much easier than us.
• Tasigur: This deck has two variants. Seasons Pastigur and Golden Control. Most deck lists will fall between both of these lists. The Golden Control variant is much more akin to the Tymna and Thrasios consultation lists, where the Seasons Past list tends to lean harder into control strategies. Rashmi comes out faster but lacks the tutors to find specific pieces in certain match ups. Tasigur can close the game much quicker since he is a draw outlet in the Command zone. Some Tasigur lists are gravitating toward consult packages.
• Niv Mizzet Parun: The trade off for green instead of red is inherently much better for us overall. That being said when Niv hits the field it is a much more powerful engine compared to Rashmi. The longer the game goes the more it favors of Niv. Niv struggles in the early game against certain fast combo decks and, without access to Sylvan Library and Carpet of Flowers, his explosive starts come at the cost of cards in hand; he lacks strong card selection other than Search for Azcanta.

Acknowledgements

• Daphilis helped me iterate on Rashmi throughout the last year and helped me write this primer.
• The previous Rashmi Primer introduced me to this commander, and I have used it as a starting point for this primer. It can be found here.

Change Log

List originally published: 1/20/20

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	WBR
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 23 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.10
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Beast 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Manifest 2/2 C