Introduction
This deck started out as a modified version of the Exit from Exile commander precon headed by Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald. As I was building the deck, I kept thinking to myself, "Man, wouldn't it be great if I had access to white spells too?" Fortunately for me, it was around that time when the March of the Machine - Aftermath set came out and Rocco, Street Chef caught my eye.
Rocco, Street Chef will enable impulse draw for the entire table. If any player (including you) uses that impulse draw, then you get little incremental benefits. If a player opts not to play the card, then they lose out on card advantage and quickly fall behind the players who are using it. Newer players don't often recognize this dichotomy, so it usually helps to explain the benefits of card advantage before the match begins.
Personally, I'm happy if a player plays a card from exile and gives me a small gain. But I'm even happier if a player doesn't play
the card from exile and loses out on the provided card advantage.
Looking at Rocco, Street Chef will highlight the three main strategies of the deck:
- Playing cards from exile
- +1/+1 counters
- Food tokens
Exile Engine
Herein lays the real meat and potatoes of the deck. Of the 27 cards listed here, 11 are transplants from the original Exit from Exile commander precon. When you start laying down these cards is when you really start getting to cook with fire.
Cascade is an inherently broken mechanic. You're casting (at minimum) two spells for the price of one. For this reason, cards with the cascade keyword tend to be a little underwhelming in themselves, but these three still found their way into my heart.
Apex Devastator is just pure value. Not only do you get a beefy 10/10, but you also get four additional spells at no extra cost. Sure, 10 CMC is a tough pill to swallow, but you need to remember that it's 10 mana for 5 spells (four of which will trigger Rocco). Apex is best used to help bring a game to a close, or cheated into play through some combination of a tutor and a free cast, such as:
Etali, Primal Conqueror + Worldly Tutor
or
Invasion of Kaldheim + Tlincalli Hunter
if the beast is already in hand.
Bloodbraid Elf seems pretty innocuous, and that's because she is. Her niche is in helping to fill out the mana curve. Plus she'll bring out a spell that costs 3 CMC or lower. At the deck's current statistics, she has the chance of pulling out the following:
- 48% Utility (20 cards)
- 24% Ramp (10 cards)
- 19% Removal (8 cards)
- 9% Wasted Effect (4 cards)
Wild-Magic Sorcerer is a force multiplier. He'll give the first spell you cast from exile each turn the cascade keyword. What a tasty little morsel.
Impulse draw is a sweet little mechanic. Sure you only have one or two turns to cast the spell before it disappears forever, but card advantage is still card advantage.
Rocco will get the engine rolling, but these cards will ensure the engine keeps rolling even if someone gets cheeky and tries to stiff the chef.
Atsushi, the Blazing Sky has flying and trample. This makes him a prime candidate for dropping those +1/+1 counters onto. Inevitably, he's going to scare someone bad enough to swat him out of the sky, but you'll still get to impulse draw as a consolation prize.
Breya's Apprentice drops a 1/1 with flying on ETB. It doesn't seem like much, but the benefit of a +1/+1 counter strategy is the ability to beef up those tiny evasive creatures. More to the point, if he chows down on Rocco's meals he can help fuel your impulse draw engine.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - Her first +1 ability enables you to impulse draw. If you choose not to cast the spell, she'll ping each opponent for two damage. that's some pretty good value.
Hedron Detonator - Whenever you cast a spell from exile, Rocco will make a food token... which will ping everyone for one damage. Then you can sacrifice two food tokens to impulse draw... then cast another spell from exile... then make another food token... which will ping everyone for one damage again. Overeating can be a vicious cycle.
Jeska's Will exists in just about every deck that runs red. The difference here is that the card actually synergizes with the rest of the deck.
Kami of Celebration - Every time a creature with a +1/+1 counter attacks, you get to impulse draw. Every time you cast a spell from exile, you get to drop an additional +1/+1 counter on a creature. This is basically just a nonlegendary version of Rocco.
Laelia, the Blade Reforged gets a little bit bigger every time you impulse draw or cascade, and she allows you to impulse draw every time she attacks.
Moria Marauder is a newer addition from the Lord of the Rings set that immediately grabbed my attention. He has the double strike keyword which makes him a great candidate for +1/+1 counters. Plus he lets you impulse draw upon dealing combat damage to a player. That's two impulse draws if he's left unblocked. That's something very dead if he is blocked. What a great little cook to add into the kitchen!
Outpost Siege is a standout because in the early game it can help feed the exile engine. In the mid to late game, however, you'll find that you already have a large board state and you may not need additional impulse draws. In those circumstances, choose "Dragons" and punish the player who wipes your board. It's great, because the wording will still trigger off of common board wipe staples like Cyclonic Rift or Farewell.
Urabrask, Heretic Praetor grants an impulse draw every upkeep. He does a lot more for you as well, but I'll cover that later.
Valakut Exploration grants an impulse draw on landfall. The advantage here is that if you choose not to cast any of those spells they'll go into your graveyard which allows you to recur them later with cards like Eternal Witness.
Battles synergize real well with the exile engine too. When a battle transforms it gets cast from exile, which will trigger your exile effects.
Invasion of Gobakhan
will exile a card from an opponent's hand and make them pay a tax if they want to cast it. Then Lightshield Array
will grow all of your creatures every turn with +1/+1 counters and will protect your board state on demand, forcing your opponents to figure out a way to maneuver around it.
Invasion of Ikoria
is a creature tutor. I tried to avoid "X" cost spells, as they'll have no effect when cascaded into. But there are some really great creature options to pull out of your library (I usually make a beeline to Jaheira, Friend of the Forest). Then Zilortha, Apex of Ikoria
will let you ignore blockers when assigning combat damage, allowing you to go in for the kill.
Invasion of Kaldheim
is something like a miniature wheel for yourself. Better yet, you still have two turns to try and play all of your old cards from exile. Afterwards, Pyre of the World Tree
will let you discard extraneous lands in the mid to late game to shoot down threats. When you do, you get an impulse draw! Great!
Aerial Extortionist - Whenever another player takes advantage of Rocco's impulse draw or plays their commander, you get to draw a card.
Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald is the commander from the Exit from Exile precon that you've heard me go on about for a while now. She can help you facilitate a "go wide" strategy where as Rocco favors a more "go tall" strategy. I say, "Why not have both?"
Nalfeshnee does the Lord's work. What's better than a Craterhoof Behemoth? How about two Craterhoof Behemoths? Or maybe you copy Etali, Primal Conqueror
. Sure, the copy dies to the "Legendary Rule", but you still get the additional ETB trigger. I haven't lost a game where I managed to keep this little terror out on the field.
Tlincalli Hunter already has great value in reducing the cost of one of your exiled cards to . But it has even greater value in being able to recur a creature from the yard.
+1/+1 Counters
+1/+1 counters has been a strategy in Magic: The Gathering ever since Khabal Ghoul was printed back in the Arabian Nights expansion. There is no end to number of cards you can choose from in order to support this strategy. For me, it was good enough for my creatures to just grow larger and kept well fed under the supervision of Rocco. But I'd be remiss if I didn't include at least a few cards to support the strategy.
Abzan Falconer
Conclave Mentor
Shalai and Hallar
Gavony Township
My favorite here is probably Abzan Falconer. The ability to give all of your creatures flying is nothing to be scoffed at. Suddenly, dragons no longer feel so dangerous.
Food Tokens
Much of my strategy with food tokens is to either turn them into mana rocks and/or make them explode in peoples faces.
Mana Rocks: Inspiring Statuary, Jaheira, Friend of the Forest
Explosions: Hedron Detonator, Ingenious Artillerist, Ghirapur AEther Grid
Peregrin Took was recently added as a cost efficient way to double up of food tokens. Plus you can sac' three food tokens to help you dig for cards if you find yourself in a rut.
Jinnie Fay, Jetmir's Second - In all of my games playtesting this deck, I've never drawn her even once. She's good, probably? I'll have to wait and see. If she doesn't perform well, I'll probably replace her with Pia Nalaar, Consul of Revival.
Mana Ramp
The first thing you might be asking yourself when reviewing the deck might be the following: "Where's the Sol Ring?" I've had to make some pretty hard cuts to this deck, and I will have to make some harder cuts in the future. When looking at Sol Ring I had to ask myself: "What is this card really doing for me?" It's fragile. Artifact destruction is prolific in my region. It doesn't get my commander out any earlier. It doesn't fix me on mana. By the time commander tax becomes relevant, I usually have several pieces out that serve the same or similar purpose (because I don't like building decks that require my commander being out in order to function).
All that being said, ramp is very important in this deck. A lot of this deck revolves around being able to cast cards from exile, but the window to cast those spells is only one or two turns. If your unable to cast all or the majority of those spells from exile, then you're just losing out on value. In the end, I made the decision to ramp mostly through land and treasures. While I don't have any mana rocks, I do play a couple cards that allow me to turn my unused food tokens into mana rocks if need be.
Exploration - There will be many times when one or more of the cards you impulse draw into are land cards. Having Exploration out really helps to prevent those lands from going to waste. Remember, you're still limited by the number of lands you can play in a single turn. Plus, the ability to drop an extra land on turn one can really help getting your commander out as soon as turn two.
Gilded Goose - This is the card that I ended up cutting Sol Ring for. A few times I've had Sol Ring on turn one and every time it was useless to me. The decision was either this card or Birds of Paradise. I still may make another cut for the Birds later down the line. This is a mana dork that taps for any color, provided you can keep it fed with food tokens (which is too easy to keep a steady supply of). Not only that, but if you find you need more food tokens in the midgame, the goose can churn out more for you instead of just eating them. Did I mention? It has flying. Seed some +1/+1 counters on it and you'll have a 5/7 flyer in no time.
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is an amazing card. Everyone knows that. That's why it's so damn expensive. But it's even more amazing in this deck. Ragavan does it all. He ramps you mana to get your commander out on turn two. He steals cards from the top opponents' libraries. He lets you cast the stolen cards from exile to synergize with the rest of the exile engine.
Dockside Extortionist - A card that needs no introduction. Provided someone has played an artifact or enchantment, he can mana fix as early as turn two. In the mid to late game, he can provide some explosive ramp to fuel your shenanigans.
Goblin Anarchomancer - You know what's better than a mana dork or mana rock? Making your spells cheaper. The majority of spells in the deck are red and green. This card will pay you back in dividends.
Nature's Lore, Three Visits - Both are staples and for good reason. On turn two you can grab yourself a Forest and put it on the battlefield. Grab a dual-land or tri-land. You know the deal.
Sakura-Tribe Elder - Another staple. Play Steve on turn two. Keep him around as a chump blocker. In response to blockers declared or on the end step right before your turn, sac' him for a land. Process complete.
Academy Manufactor will make it so that every food token you generate off of your commander also produces treasure and clues. Now who doesn't like extra mana and card draw?
Cultivate, Kodama's Reach - Two staples that do the same thing. Fetch two basic lands, put one into your hand, and the other onto the battlefield. Fixes Mana. Simple. Clean. Effective.
Inspiring Statuary, Jaheira, Friend of the Forest - It's pretty common to produce upwards of 10-15 food tokens in a single game. These cards will turn all of those food tokens into mana rocks to further fuel your spells. Did you already have Academy Manufactor out? Now you have three times as many mana rocks!
Chandra, Torch of Defiance is really a Swiss pocketknife type of planeswalker. In addition to her previously mentioned impulse draw, one of her +1 abilities produces . Hell, on the turn you play her, you can immediately refund the two red mana spent to cast her. A two mana planeswalker? Yes please!
Venture Forth - You can suspend this card as soon as turn two if you're lucky enough. From then on, it will recast itself from exile every three turns in order to play a land from exile. That's two Rocco, Street Chef or Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald triggers for every cast. That being said, It's not a very efficient way to ramp mana. This may get replaced with the aforementioned Birds of Paradise.
Disruption
A key part of any magic game is stopping your opponents from executing their strategies while progressing your own.
Let's take a moment to discuss stax effects like mature adults. I'm a firm believer that every deck should have at least a handful of stax cards. Most importantly, they should be cards that progress your board state while inhibiting your opponents. Basically, there should be some kind of STRATEGY involved. I don't play these cards just to be a nuisance, but I also play them because they are going to help me win the game. Too many times I see players build stax decks with no endgame in mind or players who will rage and throw a temper tantrum because they see just one stax effect hit the field and they have no way of dealing with it.
There is a healthy middle ground
Drannith Magistrate - I have a special section for this card below.
Possibility Storm is the real MVP of this deck. It's effectively a spell randomizer that ensures all spells cast from hand are instead cast from exile. Not only does it synergize with your strategy of benefiting from cards cast from exile, but it also stops your opponents from being able to form plans. Best of all, impulse draw is completely unaffected by Possibility Storm. For everyone at the table, the card exiled from Rocco's ability becomes exponentially more important because it won't be randomized when cast.
Urabrask the Hidden - Every praetor is great in that they provide you great benefit while also giving your opponents a similar disadvantage. This one is simple and to the point. Make your guys zoomy with haste and sink your opponents' guys into a tarpit.
Urabrask, Heretic Praetor, on the other hand, is a praetor that uniquely plays into the central strategy. You get an extra impulse draw on upkeep while your opponents' initial draw turns into an impulse draw. This means that your oppnents lose the ability to retain cards for future turns. If your opponents have no way to draw extra cards (like from Rhystic Study) then they can very quickly find themselves backed into a corner.
Aerial Extortionist - It's effectively a bounce spell that sends an opponent's card into exile instead of their hand. Sure they can cast it again from exile, but guess what: you've delayed them by a turn while also granting yourself some extra card advantage.
Beast Within, Chaos Warp, Generous Gift, Swords to Plowshares - Staple removal spells from their respective colors. You don't need me to explain how useful these cards are.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance - I'd be surprised if anyone let you keep her for longer than 1 turn. She's too good, and by now you'll probably be tired of listening to me talking about her. Her -3 ability will shoot down most creatures, and her -7 will grant you removal with every spell cast.
Field of Ruin - Don't underestimate the power of a well-aimed land destruction spell/ability. Is the black player ramping way too much? Destroy that troubling Cabal Coffers. Is the blue player holding too many cards? Demolish that Reliquary Tower. Will there be salt? Yes. Do I feel guilty about dismantling their broken strategy? Not even a little. When I get around to fixing the land base of this deck, I plan on adding more cards like this (like Strip Mine).
Green Slime - It's a wonderful card that will destroy most artifacts and enchantments. On this iteration of the deck, the Green Slime is one of two cards here with foretell (the other being Delayed Blast Fireball). Just be aware that if you play with the same group on a regular basis, foretelling it can be a pretty obvious telegraph. In such a scenario, consider just holding it in your hand until you need it or throwing in other foretell cards (like Demon Bolt) to keep'em guessing.
Wicked Wolf will turn all of those food tokens you've been saving up into raw power. When it's fight ETB hits the stack, sacrifice however many food tokens you need in order to kill something dangerous on the battlefield. Then in later turns, use it as a wrecking ball to smash into your opponents. Don't be afraid to attack with reckless abandon. You can give it indestructible whenever you want.
Ghirapur AEther Grid offers another way to turn your food tokens into damage. For every two artifacts you tap, you can deal 1 damage to any target. Cook up some food to pacify those pesky mana dorks and utility creatures.
When selecting board wipes for any of my decks, I try to choose the ones that will affect my side of the table the least. As much as I like Farewell, I deigned these three as "good enough":
Delayed Blast Fireball is great because when cast from exile, you get to benefit from its larger effect (even if it wasn't foretold). For example: if you rip this off the top of your library from an impulse draw. You can get the larger 5 damage effect for only 3 CMC.
Damning Verdict - If you take care to spread the love with your +1/+1 counters from Rocco's ability, you can make sure that this spell never hits any of your guys.
Mizzium Mortars - You can hold it as a spot removal spell for something troubling, or you can overload it to clear way most obstacles in your path. Truth be told, I'm not 100% sold on this spell. It's on the chopping block to make way for a better board wipe when I find one.
Locking Out Your Opponents
Included in this deck is Drannith Magistrate. Be careful with this card! In the right circumstances, this card can win you the game and completely shut your opponents out from casting ANY of their spells. Under the wrong circumstances, this card will spell your doom. Be sure not to play it prematurely. People already hate the card because it will prevent them from casting their commanders. If you play it too soon, someone will remove it before it's had a chance to really wreak havoc on the board. So you can troll the pod, or you can hold it as a win con. It's up to you.
In this deck, it also prevents your opponents from benefitting from Rocco's impulse draw ability, as it will prevent any spells from being cast from exile. If Urabrask, Heretic Praetor is out, you've effectively turned off everyone's draw step. If Possibility Storm is on the battlefield, you've now prevented all of your opponents from being able to cast any spells at all.
Drannith Magistrate + Possibility Storm
Drannith Magistrate + Urabrask, Heretic Praetor
Now let's talk about the dangers. It's simple, really. This entire deck revolves around being able to play cards from exile. If someone manages to copy or steal your Drannith Magistrate, then you're effectively neutered until you can find a way to get it off of the field. Generally, if I see a player at the table playing copies, theft, hate-bears, or stax, I'll be sure hold up a removal spell specifically for this card.
Conclusion
Overall, I've had loads of fun playing this deck. It's quickly taken the spotlight of my favorite deck that I've ever built. It doesn't win every game, but I always manage to do something and have fun with it. It probably doesn't stack up against more competitive decks, but then, I'm not a competitive player.
Special Mention
I want to make a special note of Wish on the Maybeboard. Someone brought to my attention that it covers cards put into exile as well. If you missed out on casting a spell from an impulse draw, this card could give you a second chance to cast it. I haven't been particularly troubled by it, but it's definitely something to remember.
