The Nuclear Option

Commander / EDH Mono-Red Spellslinger

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Artifact (18)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Fire Diamond
• 1x Heartstone
• 1x Loxodon Warhammer
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Primal Amulet  ^Flip
• 1x Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1x Shadowspear
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1x Thaumatic Compass  ^Flip
• 1x Treasure Map  ^Flip
• 1x Twinning Staff
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Creature (7)

• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Guttersnipe
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stuffy Doll

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Braid of Fire
• 1x Curse of Opulence
• 1x Gratuitous Violence
• 1x Mana Flare
• 1x Outpost Siege
• 1x Stolen Strategy

Instant (16)

• 1x Arcbond
• 1x Bolt Bend
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Commune with Lava
• 1x Desperate Ritual
• 1x Electrodominance
• 1x Increasing Vengeance
• 1x Into the Core
• 1x Magmaquake
• 1x Price of Progress
• 1x Reiterate
• 1x Seething Song
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Volcanic Offering
• 1x Wild Ricochet

Land (36)

• 1x Buried Ruin
• 1x Desert of the Fervent
• 1x Drownyard Temple
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Forgotten Cave
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Glacial Chasm
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 27x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape

Commander (1)

Sorcery (16)

• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Brass's Bounty
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Chandra's Ignition
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Ignite Memories
• 1x Insult / Injury
• 1x Magmatic Insight
• 1x Mana Geyser
• 1x Past in Flames
• 1x Pirate's Pillage
• 1x Recoup
• 1x Tormenting Voice
• 1x Twinflame
• 1x Vandalblast

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Irencrag Feat

Artifact (1)

• 1x Worn Powerstone

Creature (1)

• 1x Hoarding Dragon

Instant (1)

• 1x Deflecting Swat

Land (1)

• 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All

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An Ashling the Pilgrim spellslinger deck that is all about the explosive plays.

Why Ashling?

Simply put, I love everything about the card. It has low CMC, it builds up to an explosive play, and I've always thought that the art of the card is amazing. I decided to diverge from the traditional burn/punisher style that I see a lot of Ashling decks run. It's a fun strategy, but people generally don't like playing against it and will target you. Also, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is just so much better at that strategy.

Light the Fuse

Ashling is a ticking time bomb. First and foremost, we want to keep building Ashling up so than when she finally explodes, she can take out the table. Big mana producers like Mana Flare, Braid of Fire, Mana Geyser, Curse of Opulence, Desperate Ritual, Brass's Bounty, Seething Song, and Caged Sun helps to ensure that we always have the mana to dump into Ashling.

Keeping Ashling alive is paramount. Sword of Sinew and Steel and Darksteel Plate protect Ashling from herself, while Bolt Bend and Wild Ricochet protect Ashling from our opponents.

Take Cover

Ashling and her backup, Heartless Hidestugu, don't discriminate when it comes to who they damage. We need to protect ourselves. Lifelink is provided by Loxodon Warhammer, Shadowspear, and Basilisk Collar. Each of those equipment also give Ashling a little more pop. The Warhammer allows her to attack over chump blockers, while the Collar lets her take out ever creature. Shadowspear removes pesky indestructible creatures.

Glacial Chasm will prevent all of the damage coming from Ashling.

Boom!

Hopefully, when Ashling goes off she will be big enough to kill the table. Or use cards like Chandra's Ignition and Arcbond on a huge Ashling.

Another explosive route is to funnel the large amounts of mana produced by this deck into a massive Comet Storm or Electrodominance.

Double the Fun

Here is the real spice of the deck. Spells that copy my instant's sorceries. What's better than one Chandra's Ignition? How about 2? By copying these spells it shortens the setup needed to take out the table. Primal Amulet  , Reverberate, Twinning Staff, Dualcaster Mage, and Increasing Vengeance copy spells.

Past in Flames and Recoup give spells flashback

Gratuitous Violence and Insult / Injury double the damage

Because there are a number of spell doublers, I run a lot of the Magmatic Insight type card draw spells as they become very efficient.

If all else fails, I also run the Twinflame+Dualcaster Mage as an additional way to close out the game.

Thanks for taking a look and please +1 if you like the deck.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 40 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.17
Tokens	Copy Clone, Gold, Treasure