Lightning-Butt Strikes Back!

Commander / EDH Combo Counters RUG (Temur) Spellslinger Tap/Untap Voltron

bushido_man96

Combat Tricks (18)

• 1x Brute Strength
• 1x Charge Through
• 1x Collision / Colossus
• 1x Fists of Flame
• 1x Fully Grown
• 1x Hadana's Climb  ^Flip
• 1x Inscription of Abundance
• 1x Leap
• 1x Predator's Strike
• 1x Primal Empathy
• 1x Psychotic Fury
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Run Amok
• 1x Shadow Rift
• 1x Simic Charm
• 1x Temur Battle Rage
• 1x Tread Upon
• 1x Wildsize

Removal (10)

• 1x Artifact Mutation
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Comet Storm
• 1x Inscription of Abundance
• 1x Lightning Bolt
• 1x Naturalize
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Simic Charm
• 1x Snap

Protection (5)

• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Insidious Will
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Simic Charm
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Synergy (4)

• 1x Guttersnipe
• 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner
• 1x Turnabout
• 1x Wilderness Reclamation

Land (36)

• 1x Cinder Glade
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 9x Forest
• 1x Frontier Bivouac
• 1x Holdout Settlement
• 7x Island
• 1x Izzet Boilerworks
• 1x Karplusan Forest
• 1x Kessig Wolf Run
• 7x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Simic Growth Chamber
• 1x Survivors' Encampment
• 1x Yavimaya Coast

Ramp (13)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Crop Rotation
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Cultivator's Caravan
• 1x Eureka Moment
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Harrow
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Natural Connection
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Roiling Regrowth
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Springleaf Drum

Tap It (5)

• 1x Cultivator's Caravan
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Honor-Worn Shaku
• 1x Opposition
• 1x Springleaf Drum

Finishers (3)

• 1x Fling
• 1x Kazuul's Fury  ^Flip
• 1x Soul's Fire

Commander (1)

Draw (14)

• 1x Charge Through
• 1x Eureka Moment
• 1x Fists of Flame
• 1x Glademuse
• 1x Growth Spiral
• 1x Kumena's Awakening
• 1x Leap
• 1x Nivix Guildmage
• 1x Primal Empathy
• 1x Psychotic Fury
• 1x Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1x Shadow Rift
• 1x Wavebreak Hippocamp
• 1x Wildsize

Copy (9)

• 1x Fury Storm
• 1x Increasing Vengeance
• 1x Insidious Will
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Nivix Guildmage
• 1x Ral, Storm Conduit
• 1x Repeated Reverberation
• 1x Reverberate
• 1x Twinning Staff

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Maybeboard

Other (11)

• 1x Archmage Emeritus
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Choose Your Weapon
• 1x Citanul Stalwart
• 1x Double Vision
• 1x Expansion / Explosion
• 1x Paradise Mantle
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Thousand-Year Storm
• 1x Veyran, Voice of Duality

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Introduction

This is my Kalamax,the Stormsire deck. When I bought the precon, my youngest son pretty much adopted it as his deck, because Kalamax is a dinosaur, of course. After playing the precon a few times, I started digging through my collection to make some improvements.

In it's first iteration, this deck didn't have any Fork spells in it. I had decided to lean a little more into the fact that most of the time Kalamax is going to be tapped from attacking, so some of the instants I have in here are combat tricks. I've decided to do both. I'm running quite a few cards that give Kalamax a small power boost along with trample to punch damage through in the early game. I have also gone in on some of more budget-friendly copy spells, like Reverberate, Increasing Vengeance, and Insidious Will. The plan is to run Kalamax in a combat-oriented way in the early game, making him bigger, whittling the table's life totals down, and then finishing with spells like Kazuul's Fury   and Fling in the late game after running his power up with the copy-spell-combos. I've put a few options that allow Kalamax to be tapped outside of combat, so I can be flexible with him, depending on how the game is going.

Thunder's Just the Noise...

Since Kalamax needs to be tapped to utilize his abilities, the combat step is the easiest way to do it, and that's the goal for the early game. Kalamax can thunder through lots of defenses, and gets bigger as he copies spells, so I've leaned into this in upgrading the deck. Simple spells like Unnatural Predation, Wildsize, Run Amok, and Brute Strength will give Kalamax a doubled combat boost and trample to push damage through. Unfortunately, I don't own a copy of Berserk. I do run a copy of Shadow Rift, which is a nice {U} trick that will also draw two cards. With combat tricks like these available, opponents have to be leery of taking the risk of letting 4 damage come through in the early game, and it makes blocking for them a challenge, too. It won't take long for Kalamax to get big enough to punch through most threats on the board.

Lightning Does the Work!

Hopefully, I've dealt enough damage with Kalamax in combat in the early game to soften up some opponents or outright eliminate them. From there, the goal is to finish out by using Kalamax's ability to copy spells to combo off, make him infinitely large, and then finish whoever is left with spells like Soul's Fire, Fling, and Kazuul's Fury  . I've got a few options that let me tap Kalamax outside of the combat step, offering flexibility throughout the game. Honor-Worn Shaku is a great mana rock with Kalamax. Opposition gives me the flexibility to tap Kalamax or any other troublesome permanent on the board. Freed from the Real offers even more flexibility to tap or untap Kalamax, giving me the chance to untap him and block, and then tap him again with enough open mana.

Make Mine Extra Crispy!

Aside from Kalamax, there are some other ways to copy spells. Ral, Storm Conduit, Repeated Reverberation, and Twinning Staff can all copy spells, so there are times when I can get three copies of an instant going in a turn. That looks really good with something like Harrow or Snap, and Capsize offers a repeatable option for bouncing problem permanents.

Combos

Nivix Guildmage + Turnabout Kalamax, the Stormsire + Reverberate

Conclusion

I guess you'd say it's kind of a spellslinger deck, focusing on the instant spells. It's only the second deck I've got in the spellslinger mold, and it's new for me, so I'm learning the archetype as I go along here. I'm sure there are some improvements that I should make, and hopefully that'll happen over time. Thanks for taking the time to look, and please upvote!

Top Ranked	Achieved #8 position overall 4 years ago Achieved #7 position in Commander / EDH 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Counters 3 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH RUG (Temur) 4 years ago
Date added	4 years
Last updated	1 year
Key combos	Nivix Guildmage + Turnabout Kalamax, the Stormsire + Reverberate
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 25 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 33 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.64
Tokens	City's Blessing, Drake 2/2 U, Saproling 1/1 G
Folders	Kalamax, Temur EDH Decks I Have, Spellslinger Ideas, fun decks, Fun EDH Ideas, Decks, Possible Future Builds, EDH Decks