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Wrath of the Ancients: Budget Vrondiss Upgrades

Commander / EDH* Casual Dinosaurs Dragons Enrage Multiplayer Primer RG (Gruul)

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Land (38)

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Commander (1)

Commander: foil Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients

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Instant (8)

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This Draconic Domination Precon was upgraded with ~$50 worth of upgrades with the intent of keeping it's power level relatively low. My ulterior motive was to remove some value cards from this precon for my main decks and adding upgrades to compensate. From my research and initial playtesting, there are four main ways to upgrade/construct a Vrondiss Deck that I describe below: (1) dice rolling, (2) enrage, (3) infinite combo, and (4) dragons.

  • Dice rolling - I consider the inconsistency and variability of dice rolling effects to be relatively weak and suboptimal (especially considering how unlucky I am in general) but they make up too large a fraction of the Draconic Rage precon to simply remove without straying from the objective and budget of this primer.
  • Enrage - Enrage is fun and synergizes with Vrondiss, but there aren't really enough enrage creatures that are powerful enough to justify a pure enrage build.
  • Infinite Combo - It's possible to initiate an infinite combo with Vrondiss to win the game on the spot. If Vrondiss, Rage of the Ancients has indestructible (e.g. Darksteel Plate) and there's a consistent ETB ping like Warstorm Surge on the battlefield, then we can constantly ping Vrondiss with ETB damage effects to create new dragons with his enrage ability. This combo doesn't really do anything on it's own, since the dragon tokens we make will die upon dealing damage (unless you have something like Terror of the Peaks, which is expensive nowadays, to deal damage instead). However, if we augment this infinite combo with something like Stalking Vengeance or Goblin Bombardment then we can utilize this combo to knock all our opponents out of the game. It's possible to construct a deck with some variation of this combo in mind, but there's too many pieces needed to consistently pull off the combo (especially in Gruul colors), many of combo pieces are expensive, and the combo pieces may be niche enough that the deck becomes more of a one trick pony than the rage of the ancients it was meant to embody.
  • Dragons - Dragons are a tried and true deckbuilding style that I endear (Return Of The Ur-Dragon: A Budget Dragon Primer), but there's no need to force yourself into it. Vrondiss isn't that good of a dragon tribal commander compared to The Ur-Dragon or Scion of the Ur-Dragon for example. That said, enrage lacks the support it needs for me to 100% commit to, and an overemphasis on combos would stray from the goal of this primer (combos would either be too stale and/or too powerful), so dragon tribal fills the rest of the deck list nicely.

The upgrades I've proposed are centered around capitalizing on select enrage effects that are impactful enough to justify synergizing with Vrondiss while keeping the deck largely dragon tribal for reasons I've detailed above. All the while, I wanted to add in at least one set of combo pieces to allow us to go infinite and win the game if we get lucky, but mostly to serve as an out (albeit an unlikely one) to board states that may prove impossible to overcome in any conventional manner.

That said, let's take a look at our cuts and upgrades.

  • Klauth, Unrivaled Ancient --> Utvara Hellkite - I just cut Klauth from this deck list so I could add it to my main deck Return Of The Ur-Dragon: A Budget Dragon Primer. More importantly, I'm replacing this expensive card with our most powerful upgrade Utvara Hellkite that serves as both a win condition and a way to generate board advantage.

  • Dragonlord's Servant --> Sakura-Tribe Elder - Dragonlord's Servant is essentially a mana dork which adds colorless mana. It's bad and I'd rather have lands instead.

  • Dragonspeaker Shaman --> Kodama's Reach - Dragonspeaker Shaman is also essentially a bad mana dork which adds colorless mana. I'd similarly rather have more lands.

  • Opportunistic Dragon --> Glorybringer - Opportunistic Dragon is a temporary removal ability on a dragon. That sounds good, but I'd rather have permanent and repeatable removal on a dragon with haste.

  • Terror of Mount Velus --> Hammer of Purphoros - Temporary double strike is nice but unsatisfactory for 7 mana. I'd rather have haste for 3 mana.

  • Decree of Savagery --> Overwhelming Stampede - Decree of Savagery is simply too expensive for what it really is, a finisher. I'd rather have a card that dramatically boosts a creature's power and provides trample.

  • Magmaquake --> Apex Altisaur - Magmaquake doesn't synergize as well with our entire deck and is an overall poor board clear. Apex Altisaur on the other hand is a synergistic and flavorful board clear that leaves a body behind to do it again with enrage synergy.

  • Spit Flame --> Dragon Tempest - Spit Flame isn't mana efficient or flexible whereas Dragon Tempest is an all star win condition that provides haste and removal.

  • Explore --> Farseek - I'd rather guarantee ramp than risk ramp in a deck that isn't land matters.

  • Crucible of the Spirit Dragon --> Pyrohemia - 39 Lands is on the upper end of the number of lands a deck should have. Furthermore, Crucible of the Spirit Dragon is nice in concept but impractical in practice from my experience. Pyrohemia is an all star enrage trigger and can be emergency removal albeit at great cost.

  • Indomitable Might --> Drakuseth, Maw of Flames - Indomitable Might just isn't that good so just about anything can replace it. Drakuseth, Maw of Flames is a powerful and flavorful dragon that can also be an emergency enrage trigger.

  • Taurean Mauler --> Ripjaw Raptor - Taurean Mauler card doesn't synergize with our deck at all. Any other card would do better. Ripjaw Raptor increases our enrage synergy.

  • Sword of Hours --> Ranging Raptors - Sword of Hours doesn't synergize with our deck. Just about anything can replace this with ease. Ranging Raptor adds enrage synergy to our deck.

  • Skyship Stalker --> Marauding Raptor - Skyship Stalker card is a terrible dragon card and should be replaced with just about any other creature. Marauding raptor is pseudo ramp and it provides enrage synergy.

  • Demanding Dragon --> Lathliss, Dragon Queen - Demanding Dragon is a terrible dragon card and should be replaced with just about any other dragon. Lathliss, Draqon Queen on the other hand provides a lot of dragon synergy.

  • Neverwinter Hydra --> Hellkite Charger - The only synergy this has with our deck is dice rolling, and I'd rather have this hydra in my other deck The Exemplary Zaxara: A Budget Hydra Primer. Hellkite Charger provides you with more play options and is especially potent when paired with Savage Ventmaw.

  • Gratuitous Violence --> Withstand Death - Gratuitous Violence is an expensive and powerful finisher, but it's also financially expensive for what you get and is more conditional than something like Overwhelming Stampede, so I'm willing to trade this in for a better finisher. We are missing our indestructible combo enabler and this is a decent spot to add it in.

  • Hoard-Smelter Dragon --> Krosan Grip - Hoard-smelter Dragon is really expensive for what it's designed to bring to the table: artifact removal. Krosan Grip on the other hand lets us do what Hoard-Smelter Dragon tries to do in a much more flexible manner.

  • Dragonmaster Outcast --> Rhythm of the Wild - Dragonmaster Outcast takes too long to generate value and has anti synergy with enrage.

  • Bogardan Hellkite --> Dragonlord Atarka - Dragonlord Atarka is superior to Bogardan Hellkite in every respect.

  • Shamanic Revelation --> Silverclad Ferocidons - I feel like we have a decent enough amount of card draw, and Shamanic Revelation doesn't synergize as well with our deck. Silverclad Ferocidons adds enrage synergy.

  • Wulfgar of Icewind Dale --> Brash Taunter - Wulfgar of Icewind Dale has very little synergy with our deck whereas Brash Taunter.

There are a few key synergies to keep in mind when acting as your ancestor's instrument of eternal vengeance.

  1. Making combat damage more efficient by giving dragons double strike with Atarka, World Render or Overwhelming Stampede.

  2. Attacking with Hellkite Charger and Savage Ventmaw allows for an additional number of combat phases equivalent to the amount of available mana we have. This works by having Savage Ventmaw generate upon declaring attack, which we can use with one additional mana to fuel Hellkite Charger's ability to create additional combat phases at the cost of . The primary problem is the mana investment and the lack of haste on Savage Ventmaw, which can be circumvented by summoning Savage Ventmaw the turn prior.

  3. Attacking with Utvara Hellkite while Scourge of Valkas and/or Dragon Tempest is on the battlefield can establish a board full of dragons that can grow exponentially. Left unchecked, Utvara Hellkite can get out of hand quickly. More importantly, Scourge of Valkas and/or Dragon Tempest can deal an amount of indirect damage to opponents proportional to the number of dragons we can generate with Utvara Hellkite.

  4. Winning the game with infinite Vrondiss, Rage of the Ancients enrage triggers. This is the combo that other Vrondiss decks may commit to, but we use as an out or a happy accident (since we're trying to keep our power level down). This combo requires us to have Vrondiss, Rage of the Ancients and a finisher (e.g. Dragon Tempest, Scourge of Valkas, or Outpost Siege) on the board while Vrondiss has been made indestructible (e.g. Withstand Death. A stepwise example of how to execute the combo follows: (1) Cast Withstand Death on Vrondiss to make him indestructible. (2) Ping Vrondiss once with one of our enrage triggers (e.g. Shivan Hellkite) or through combat damage. (3) Have Vrondiss summon dragons with his enrage ability. (4) Each dragon token's ETB will trigger Dragon Tempest, which will enable the summoned dragon to ping Vrondiss. (5) The dragon token dies afterwards of course, but Dragon Tempest or Scourge of Valkas will have dealt at least 2 damage to any target of our choice. (6) Repeat steps 2 to 5 as applicable until we have won the game.

I restricted myself to $50 of upgrades and a lower power level, but there are many more ways to upgrade this deck. The first few things I'd do are cut janky dice rolling cards and add the likes of...

The best way to increase the power level of a deck is to add tutors and make it more combo oriented. To do so here, swap out fun dice rolling cards to invest more into the infinite combo strategy with the likes of...

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Revision 2 See all

(2 years ago)

+1 Brash Taunter main
-1 Wulfgar of Icewind Dale main
Date added 3 years
Last updated 2 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

4 - 0 Mythic Rares

37 - 0 Rares

19 - 0 Uncommons

14 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.11
Tokens Beast 3/3 G, Dragon 5/5 R, Dragon 6/6 R, Dragon Spirit 5/4 RG, Enchantment Golem 3/3 C, Monarch Emblem
Folders Gruul EDH, Favorites, Tapped Out - User Decks
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