Welcome to my favorite EDH deck to play in a semi-competitive environment. In this deck we aim to make aggro great again, through infinite combat. I feel the combat phase of higher level EDH is sorely neglected, this deck should help change that. Sure we might not be winning left and right against the
Zur the Enchanter
and
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Tier 1 tryhards, but you might be surprised how well you hold your own at the table, and how quickly you can go from being "That silly aggro EDH player" to "Enemy #1". This is in my experience, the most streamlined and consistent Aurelia EDH deck I've piloted to date.
A bit about me before we go further with the deck. I've been playing MTG casually since all the way back to Portal in 97'. Then took an actual interest in playing the game seriously at stores and local tournaments during the original Ravnica block. So I like to think I at least have a general idea of how to deck build :p
Always looking for comments and critiques to the deck/gameplan. I am not all knowing, so it is great whenever you can make minor improvements to a formula :D
Gameplan
In this deck we want to get either
Aurelia, the Warleader
or any of our beaters on to the field, voltron them up, and start swinging. And we want them to swing as much as possible via our commander's effect and cards like
Combat Celebrant
or
Aggravated Assault
.
Early game for us is usually ramping and tutoring. Control pieces like can be dropped here like
Grand Abolisher
since they're cheap. But most of the time you will find yourself playing mana rocks and digging for weapons/protection.
Mid game is the most important for us, and we want it to come as early as possible. Having cards like
Swiftfoot Boots
and
Lightning Greaves
on the field will make our life a lot easier. Either way you will need SOME form of protection while you pave the way for
Aurelia, the Warleader
If you have not won the match by the endgame then it's best to bring out
Sunforger
if you have not already. Make very good use of your mana and toolbox options as you look for an opportunity to steal the win. Just remember that a well timed
Silence
on your turn can be a one way ticket to victory.
Card Combos + Synergies
-
Aurelia, the Warleader
or
Combat Celebrant
or
Godo, Bandit Warlord
+
Helm of the Host
is our bread and butter combos, and the endgame of nearly all of our battle plans. Each of these creatures when given the Helm can attack forever. So if you can reliably get one out quickly, try and have the Helm ready for them.
-
Sword of Feast and Famine
+
Aggravated Assault
is a similar combo to the one mentioned above, albeit a little harder to pull off since mana rocks do not untap, and it's harder to search for Assault than it is Aurelia :P Still, as long as you have 5 tap able mana and a safe battlefield, then you win :D
-
Puresteel Paladin
+
Leonin Shikari
+
Sunforger
now you don't need all 3 of these pieces to be good, which is great because getting all 3 is kinda hard unless all your opponents are heavily focused one someone else. But IF you do get them all together, then it is INSANELY hard to get hated out of the game. A 2 mana repeatable tutor for whatever silver bullet or shield you desire at instant speed? Yes please.
-
Leonin Shikari
+
Lightning Greaves
free instant speed protection? Seems good. This also bypasses the problem of not being able to equip your guys with shroud. Being able to remove the greaves at instant speed and reequip them makes it a lot harder for opponents to react to it. And thus, makes your dudes safer.
Weaknesses
Unfortunately this deck suffer from two major weaknesses.
COLORS: R/W is not the best position to be in in commander, we miss out on a lot of good stuff (tutors, counter spells, and the best ramp cards) by being Boros. Luckily this is made up for slightly by having a more consistent mana base, but having extra colors to splash in is almost always a good thing.
AGGRO: Yes, the "Aggro Problem". The bane of my EDH career, and funnily enough, this weakness is the very reason I made this deck. But for those unaware, high level EDH play sees very little aggro. That is because aggro is easier to hate out of the game, and it's almost always faster to just goldfish out some insane combo with other commanders. This is why cards like
Sunforger
are so important as it protects us from the many threats that can come our way. And is also why it's so important to hit mana rocks ASAP, if speed is our shortcoming, then we need to try and move faster.
Despite these two flaws I find this deck very fun to pilot. I win very regularly against more casual environments. And have been pleasantly surprised how many wins I slipped in against decks that tend to goldfish at turn 3-4 consistently.
Once again, I am ALWAYS looking to make this list better. If you have any changes you'd consider than please let me know :) And if you'd be interested in me explaining individual card choices in more detail than I'd be more than happy to :D