Welcome to Version 1! There's still plenty of work to do on this build, but after some fussing in goldfish and playing a couple games, I'm satisfied with its powerlevel.
The basic ask of Flubs is that you never care about cards in hand. A simple workaround is to go hard on creature combo, which is extremely easy to do with a Temur base. We can bounce and force-play lands and creatures, search our pieces with a handful of powerful permanent tutors, and--most importantly for Flubs--cast our whole hand quickly. If you don't think your whole hand will hit the board fast enough, consider a mulligan. "Fast enough" depends on your playgroup and opponents. If you're against cEDH, play something else.
--What is "Pod-Rangers?"--
"Pod" as in Birthing Pod, "Rangers" as in Scout-Rangers, an older monogreen cEDH deck, which we utilize the guts of for untap value. We combine these concepts into a dual-axis creature combo deck with the goal of repeatedly untapping Prime Speaker Vannifar or Yisan, the Wanderer Bard to ladder through our deck. Vannifar is Birthing Pod on a very searchable, very untappable creature. For good measure, we also run Pod. Unlike blue-focused Pod decks, we don't need to include cards like Pestermite to extend our ladder, as our Scout-Ranger engine does that for us. That being said, we do run one of these pieces in Corridor Monitor, as the utility is inarguable, and the card is extremely searchable.
Yisan is no stranger to this sort of deck, and was, at one point, command-banned for the effectiveness of his single-line untap shenanigans. Scryb Ranger and Quirion Ranger, as well as a few of their buddies, take up their usual spots as the core of our untap engine. Clement, the Worrywort and Temur Sabertooth are there to help reset our rangers, and can also be used to get Flubs off the field in case our opponents start filling our hand.
--The Yisan Untap Trick--
Yisan, the Wanderer Bard adds a verse counter on activation, then checks the number of verse counters when his effect resolves. This means we can use a Ranger to untap Yisan in response to his own activation, then re-activate him on the stack to search for multiple creatures of the same CMC. The classic combo is to hit Temur Sabertooth and Karametra's Acolyte using this trick, cheating out 8cmc worth of combo pieces for 6cmc and an untap. Let's call this 2x search at 4cmc a 2x4 search. Our inclusion of haste enablers in the creature spot can greatly accelerate the output of these combos! I'm sure you can imagine the extension options we can make available if we 2x4-search for Ogre Battledriver and Prime Speaker Vannifar. If you're really clever, you might even be able to pull off a 3x4 search!
Note that we have instant haste enablers at, 4, 5, and 6 cmc, meaning you should be able to 2x4, 2x5, or 2x6 search for haste, in addition to a standard board piece. Beware of 2x7 and 2x8 searching, as these mana values only have two creatures each respectively, and you may end up spending your mana and untaps on a fail-to-find if you aren't paying attention. However, if you can 2x7 search for Protean Hulk and Avenger of Zendikar, you can probably win before untap, especially since Hulk can Pod into Craterhoof Behemoth while searching for even more board pieces.
We also include a couple unconventional cards for Pod-Rangers, which we gain access to with the addition of Red. Krenko, Mob Boss and Heartless Hidetsugu are very searchable, and they combo with the same pieces as Vannifar and Yisan. This provides us with additional outlets for games that require additional aggression. Their mathy natures also enable us to crank down opponents with shockingly high healthpools.
--Where did this come from?--
I've built this deck with both Vannifar and Yisan at the helm, and each time I ran into three problems:
1) I empty my hand far too quickly, and am left topdecking very frequently.
2) There aren't many haste enablers in G/U, meaning I often have to wait for untap to use my new pieces.
3) I'm bouncing forests to hand faster than I can replay them, leaving me at a land deficit after a big combo.
Flubs solves all three problems. Per point 1, as soon as we're topdecking, we play Frog and revel in our constantly-increasing advantage. By running Flubs in command zone, our topdecking problems turn into topdecking solutions. Flubs also alleviates the land deficit issue, as he's an Exploration in the command zone.
Flubs doesn't necessarily solve the haste issue on his own, but expanding into Temur does. Urabrask the Hidden and Ogre Battledriver, being searchable in the critical 4-and-5 cmc slots, speed us up considerably. The release of Surrak and Goreclaw also enables speedier kills, especially since we can 2x6 search it alongside Pathbreaker Ibex to turn our board of combo dorks into a beefy swing.
We accept Flubs's downsides (discarding cards, inability to hold removal) because Flubs shores up the weaknesses of Podranger in a way that no other commander can. We will, however, consider the downsides.
--WORDS OF CAUTION--
Flubs can't hold removal. As someone who loves to say "Hold up, response," this was my biggest block during deck construction. Luckily, Muldrotha the Gravetide let me borrow Cankerbloom and Glen Elendra Archmage, which are better than nothing. We can also utilize Feldon of the Third Path to recycle our creatures as necessary, and Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs can go a very long way in protecting against aggressive, wide boards. That being said, our extremely limited removal package remains a weakness. With cards like Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Blind Obedience in the metagame, what little we do have needs to be used judiciously.
Our final risk is overextension. Understandably, a creature combo deck that digs as quickly as Flubs does has a tendency to combo itself right off a cliff and into a Blasphemous Act. We don't have access to powerhouse protection like Heroic Intervention, Veil of Summer, or even Counterspell, since reactive instants stop us dead in our tracks when Flubs starts to dig. Treat this deck as the glass cannon it is. You should never feel pressured to go all-out if your wincon isn't clear, and it's perfectly fine to leave Flubs in the command zone if you don't need to dig. Build small combos, bait removal, play politics, and get ready for that One Big Turn.
--FINAL NOTES--
This build was a real tooth-puller, for sure. There's enough moving parts here to keep me coming back for edits for quite a while, and I'm always hoping for feedback. Try out the build, and let me know what you think!
