Deck has been retired. Converted into Isshin, Dual Wielding the Heavens [Combat Primer], which still has Etali in it causing Chaos.


The storm rages and the earth breaks.

Etali, Primal Storm is a powerful Elder Dinosaur who looks to cheat out massive threats and overwhelm our opponents.

The general strategy is to ramp out early into Etali, Primal Storm, then protect him and attack as much as possible to flip cards off the tops of our opponents decks.

Since we are in Mono-Red, we don't have access to the Cultivate or Nature's Lore ramp spells that might be available to other commanders (Unless Etali, Primal Storm flips one from our opponents), we have to have a good suite of Mana rocks and other good sources of Mana.

Mana Rocks

Creatures

  • Farfinder/Pilgrim's Eye - On ETB, they find us a basic land. Good for ramping and for reducing the overall number of lands in the deck that we might get off Etali, Primal Storm's ability.

  • Dockside Extortionist (C19 - Such a good card for Red! On ETB, we gain Treasure token equal to the number of artifacts our opponent have. Try to play it before our Hellkite Tyrant steals our opponents artifacts.

  • Palladium Myr - A Sol Ring on a body. Could be replaced with something else, but for now it's good, repeatable ramp.

Other Spells

The big downside to Etali, Primal Storm is that he doesn't have Haste, meaning we need him to survive a rotation before we can attack and start flipping cards. However, to get around that, we've loaded the deck with Haste-Enablers, some that affect all our creatures and some that give a single-target Haste.

AoE Haste-Enablers

  • Anger - Needs to be in the graveyard to give us Haste.

  • Fervor - Gives all our creatures Haste.

  • Crashing Drawbridge - A good blocker that we can to give all our creatures Haste until end of turn.

  • Hammer of Purphoros - Gives all our creatures Haste, plus we can pay and to sac a land and create a 3/3 Golem. Good surprise blocker if we need it.

  • Urabrask the Hidden - The Red aligned Praetor of New Phyrexia both gives our creatures Haste while causing our opponents creatures to enter the battlefield tapped.

Single target Haste-Enablers

To really maximize Etali, Primal Storm's ability, being able to either attack multiple times in a row or have his on attack ability trigger multiple times.

Major Threats

While half the fun is flipping cards off your opponents decks to use against them, we've also loaded up the deck with several powerful threats of our own.

  • Avatar of Slaughter - Gives ALL creatures Double Strike and makes ALL creatures have to attack. A bit chaotic, but if we've stolen enough of our opponents creatures, then we could overwhelm them with Double Strike damage.

  • Blightsteel Colossus - A massive threat, capable of 1-Hit KOing an opponent if they get through with the Infect Damage.

  • Desolation Twin - On ETB, it creates another 10/10 Token copy of itself.

  • Embercleave - Our opponents might not expect an Equipment to be flipped. Since Etali, Primal Storm's ability happens before combat, and Embercleave attaches to a creature when it ETBs, we can flip it, equip it to Etali, Primal Storm, and swing in for 14 commander damage.

  • Emrakul, the Promised End - One of our Eldrazi Titans and the only unbanned version of Emrakul. We can control an opponents turn and make it harder for them to block Etali, Primal Storm on future turns.

  • Hellkite Tyrant - An Alternate Win-Con. When this dragon deals combat damage to an opponent, we steal all their artifacts, and if we have 20 or more artifacts on our next upkeep, we win the game.

  • Inferno Titan - On ETB and Attack, it deals 3 damage divided amongst up to 3 targets. Good for getting rid of mana dorks and other utility creatures our opponents might have.

  • Magmatic Force - On EACH upkeep, we can deal 3 damage to ANY target. In a 4 person pod, this can deal 9 damage before it even gets back to your turn.

  • Kozilek, the Great Distortion - The more recent iteration of the second Eldrazi titan. While you only get the hand refilling perk if you cast Kozilek, the Great Distortion, we can still potentially discard cards to counter spells.

  • Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - We can deal 3 damage to any target, or wipe the board of colored threats. If we have a few of our Eldrazi Titans in play, they will be untouched by Ugin, the Spirit Dragon pseudo board wipe.

  • Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger - The more recent iteration of the third Eldrazi Titan. Has a good cast trigger of exiling two permanents that we don't get to use if flipped by Etali, Primal Storm, but exiling 20 cards from the defenders library on attack can end games.

  • Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre - The original version of the third Eldrazi Titan. Also has a good cast trigger of destroying a target permanent, but has Annihilator 4 and is Indestructable. Plus, if it gets milled, we can shuffle our graveyard back into our library and potentially cast or flip into it again.


I really like Etali, Primal Storm as a commander because he scales well with your opponents. If you're playing against strong decks, there are more powerful cards to steal and use, while against lower power decks, you can primarily rely on what in your own deck while treating the cards stolen from your opponent as bonus. This allows for many games to feel more unique.

Thank you for reading about my deck. If you found it interesting, please give it a Like. If you've got any comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

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Date added 4 years
Last updated 1 year
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

18 - 0 Mythic Rares

35 - 0 Rares

17 - 0 Uncommons

10 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 4.30
Tokens Copy Clone, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Enchantment Golem 3/3 C, Gold, Treasure
Folders My Deck Creations
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