Pavel the Mighty, Hero We Deserve

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Casual Chaos Control Humans Indestructible Jank Tokens Voltron Vorthos

DreadKhan

Land (32)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drossforge Bridge
• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Guildless Commons
• 1x Lavaclaw Reaches
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rakdos Guildgate
• 1x Rocky Tar Pit
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shadowblood Ridge
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Springjack Pasture
• 1x Sulfurous Mire
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Tyrite Sanctum
• 1x War Room
• 1x Witch's Clinic
• 1x Hagra Mauling *f-pp*  ^Flip

Battery Ramp (8)

• 1x Bottomless Vault
• 1x Dwarven Hold
• 1x Mercadian Bazaar
• 1x Springjack Pasture
• 1x Subterranean Hangar
• 1x Black Mana Battery
• 1x Red Mana Battery
• 1x Rousing Refrain

Occult Pact (8)

• 1x Witch's Clinic
• 1x Dream Devourer
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Mask of Griselbrand
• 1x Ensnared by the Mara
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder

Find Out (7)

• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Tyrite Sanctum
• 1x Witch's Clinic
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Berserkers' Onslaught

Bring Out Your Dead! (5)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Necromantic Selection
• 1x Too Greedily, Too Deep
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms

Vandals (5)

• 1x Goblin Welder
• 1x Gorilla Shaman
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Boom Box
• 1x Wake the Dragon

Rock Band (3)

• 1x Banshee
• 1x Uncle Istvan
• 1x Tsabo Tavoc

Consultancy (1)

• 1x Detective's Phoenix

Pavel's Little Demon (1)

• 1x Dream Devourer

Secret Feminist Headquarters (1)

• 1x Command Tower

The Ballad of Pavel the Mighty (1)

• 1x Rousing Refrain

The Rakdos Superman's Triumph (7)

• 7x Swamp

Doom Doom Doom Doom (21)

• 1x Goblin Welder
• 1x Gorilla Shaman
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Boom Box
• 1x Dwarven Blastminer
• 1x Dwarven Miner
• 1x Kiku, Night's Flower
• 1x Liquimetal Torque
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Fire Covenant
• 1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
• 1x Banshee
• 1x Hagra Mauling *f-pp*  ^Flip
• 1x Make an Example
• 1x Olivia Voldaren
• 1x Brash Taunter
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Omen of Fire
• 1x Volcanic Offering
• 1x Wake the Dragon
• 1x Tsabo Tavoc

Politics of Chaos (9)

• 1x Dwarven Blastminer
• 1x Dwarven Miner
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Protection Racket
• 1x Ensnared by the Mara
• 1x Olivia Voldaren
• 1x Allure of the Unknown
• 1x Captive Audience
• 1x Thieves' Auction

Creatures Go Kaboom! (8)

• 1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Phyrexian Purge
• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Necromantic Selection
• 1x Too Greedily, Too Deep
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Blasphemous Act

Wrath of Nature (8)

• 1x Lavaclaw Reaches
• 1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
• 1x Berserkers' Onslaught
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Omen of Fire
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1x Volcanic Offering
• 1x Grave Betrayal

Solution (7)

• 1x Emergence Zone
• 1x Goblin Welder
• 1x Liquimetal Torque
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Wake the Dragon
• 1x Thieves' Auction

Fashion Statement (5)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Dauthi Embrace
• 1x Detective's Phoenix
• 1x Mask of Griselbrand
• 1x Scavenged Brawler

Trolls Never Die (4)

• 1x Uncle Istvan
• 1x Brash Taunter
• 1x Gift of Doom
• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar

Left Hand Welder (1)

• 1x Goblin Welder

Pavel's Mount (1)

• 1x Ilharg, the Raze-Boar

The Carnival (1)

• 1x Rakdos Carnarium

The Uncle In Black (1)

• 1x Uncle Istvan

Commander (1)

Draw (12)

• 1x Bonders' Enclave
• 1x War Room
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Sign in Blood
• 1x Protection Racket
• 1x Ensnared by the Mara
• 1x Allure of the Unknown
• 1x Diabolic Revelation
• 1x Stinging Study
• 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
• 1x Decree of Pain

Ramp (9)

• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dream Devourer
• 1x Liquimetal Torque
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Worn Powerstone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x There and Back Again

Friend of Little People (8)

• 1x Bottomless Vault
• 1x Dwarven Hold
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Dwarven Blastminer
• 1x Dwarven Miner
• 1x There and Back Again
• 1x Wake the Dragon
• 1x Too Greedily, Too Deep

Feminist Critical Theorist (7)

• 1x Kiku, Night's Flower
• 1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
• 1x Banshee
• 1x Olivia Voldaren
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Kothophed, Soul Hoarder
• 1x Tsabo Tavoc

Tokens (7)

• 1x Springjack Pasture
• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Rite of the Raging Storm
• 1x Sarkhan the Masterless
• 1x There and Back Again
• 1x Wake the Dragon
• 1x Captive Audience

Revivification (5)

• 1x Witch's Clinic
• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Mask of Griselbrand
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Scavenged Brawler

Bodyguard (3)

• 1x Tyrite Sanctum
• 1x Daring Fiendbonder
• 1x Gift of Doom

Boombox (1)

• 1x Boom Box

Legendary T Dawg (1)

• 1x Tsabo Tavoc

Queen of K-Pop (1)

• 1x Kiku, Night's Flower

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Maybeboard

Doom Doom Doom Doom (7)

• 1x Deathgrip
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Aftershock
• 1x Lethal Vapors
• 1x Illicit Auction
• 1x Tetzimoc, Primal Death
• 1x Cruel Reality

Fashion Statement (1)

• 1x Homura, Human Ascendant  ^Flip

Tokens (1)

• 1x Army of the Damned

Politics of Chaos (4)

• 1x Citadel of Pain
• 1x Maddening Hex
• 1x Sands of Time
• 1x Goblin Game

Land (2)

• 1x Guildless Commons
• 1x Molten Slagheap

Find Out (1)

• 1x Grafted Exoskeleton

Vandals (1)

• 1x Goblin Welder

Bring Out Your Dead! (4)

• 2x Finale of Eternity
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial

Card Draw (2)

• 1x Stinging Study
• 1x Blood for the Blood God!

Ramp (2)

• 1x Phyrexian Totem
• 1x Rousing Refrain

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I'm Only Human, Don't Put A Type On Me

Pavel the Mighty, Grand Champion of Righteous Chaos, Bearer of the Hand of Doom! Bound to do evil and spread chaos in exchange for ultimate power, Pavel corrupted the deal such that he could atone, manipulating chaos to do good in the world and ceasing his evil ways. Pavel is a famed firebrand and outlaw, for his self-appointed burden is to challenge the authority of the corrupt, using the power of evil to do 'good', all in the name of maximum Chaos! Pavel is famed for traveling to areas with unfit leaders and publicly challenging their authority, giving them a time of reckoning if they don't abdicate. When the time of reckoning arrives, so does Pavel, and neither man nor barrier can keep him from meting out justice to the unworthy. With (potentially) infinite power at the tips of his fingers, it's no surprise when incredible things are written by the bards, tales of the brush Pavel's smallest finger slaying stalwart foes, of Pavel laughing in the face of certain death, even coming out unscathed standing against whole armies due to his unholy Gift. The power of Doom courses through his very being, and all unworthy leaders cower in fear at Pavel's name. Pavel's path is unique, he's firmly on the anarchy side of Libertarianism (Pavel is perhaps a Radical Egalitarian, if such a thing exists), and though his ends are always for the betterment of all (overall), his methods are sometimes suspect, so maybe have a Rule Zero talk before playing a deck like this!

Pavel may not look like much at first glance, but I loved the art, and the flavor text seemed to have more substance than many, so I thought it was a good pick for a Vorthos-leaning deck. Pavel represents a figure that brings absolute Chaos where he goes, much like many of my favorite characters from Russian novels, characters like Pechorin or Stavrogin. Both of those character would have to be a bit different today to work, and Pavel reflects this. Both represent a sort of extreme freedom, and are very 'larger than life', things this deck aims for. The Custom Headings can be switched to Type if that's more helpful, I think most of the headings are clear enough.

Collected Work of the Bards (WIP) Show

Pavel's Warning

Pavel's Warning to His Foes

And remember the wolves that you run with are wolves
Don't forget
They exist to give you something to regret,
I'll beat them to it
With something sadder than that brass portrait that shines through your morning din
With something sadder than that brass portrait that shines through your morning din
I'll give you something to be sad about
-The Spirit of Giving, The New Pornographers

Liberator, Pavel's Boombox

The Tale of Liberator, Pavel's Boombox

Imagine in your mind a posh country club
The stuffy old money where the poor gets snubbed
The spread is bland sauerkraut and boiled goose
There's no way these people will ever cut loose
But then I walk in the room, hold my boombox high
And what happened next, will blow your mind
Everything got outta control
The music was so entrancing
Everyone got out on the floor
It was a bunch of old white people dancing
-Boombox, The Lonely Island

Short Primer Show

Pavel tends to win with damage, usually from combat damage, but it is more a Control deck than Aggro. The deck tries to gain gradual value by removing key permanents opponent's control, the deck is fairly good at dealing with problem cards, such that you might be able to politically angle this to keep yourself in the game until later. There is some nasty Voltron elements in here, most of which are designed to be rugged (ie non-Aura Enchantments, Equipment, Lands, and Pavel's Firebreathing work very well together), there are some token generators that offer value, there is recursion, some life gain, some Chaos effects and all of it should come together to make for fun and memorable games. The deck's Voltron btw is designed to also work with cards other than Pavel, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief for example likes most of the same pieces, same with others, so some games you don't even need to cast your Commander, but other games you might cast him a few times and it feels weirdly fine. This deck tries to run enough pushed cards that people won't freak out over that it can sneak in some pretty questionable ones that have good flavor.

Only Human (Roleplay Elements) Show

I Broke All the Rules, Oh Yeah, But I Must Let the Show Go On!

While we all know Pavel is terribly busy with his mission, he wasn't always as he is now. Once Pavel was a carnival strongman, arm wrestling even great/impervious wurms and winning, breaking even the mightiest chains for the cheering crowds, his strength was implausible, yet he possessed no magic, mere human might. Over time spent working in the carnival he met the other members of his band, and eventually the band was confident enough to go on tour. Unfortunately Pavel only had connections in the carnival world, not the music business, so the band struggled: Cheerful Tsabo smote various and sundry, several entire audiences were liquified by The Banshee, and even the notoriously well-adjusted Istvan went a little crazy. Pavel quickly realized that he needed to get a leg up in 'The Biz', so he arranged to make a pact with Kothophed the Well-Connected, using a fair bit of subterfuge to get what he needed out of the archefiend. Pavel didn't really count on Kothophed expecting him to actually spread Chaos, but he adapted. As such, Pavel doesn't have a 'job' as common people understand, and thus no subtype beyond Human, he's just a Human doing Humanness, mixed in with his Gift of the Hand of Doom he can achieve as much as a Human can!

Conclusion Show

This is a good deck to play if you want to play some cards not many people play, and some that people actively think are bad. The deck is designed to make them better, even useful, so if your happy place is having Uncle Istvan protecting your life total while Pavel the Mighty swings, this might be what you're looking for. This is also a good deck if you like some jank, and enjoy gaining advantage in unusual, asymmetrical ways, and don't mind being a bit evil if the end goal is a fun game. This deck is not a good fit if you're looking for mainstream deckbuilding, and like simple, straightforward 'good cards', or hate disruptive permanents/interaction or big clunky effects. There will be games where playing Pavel feels like you're trying to drag race with a steam train, but it's rare that you're dead before you can wipe. I find that the deck can win games at it's level, it might even be the strongest in the pod in 1v1, while also having plenty of effects that get much better with a bigger game.

Vorthos Headings Show

Feminist Critical Theorists

Don't Mess With the Girls, With the Girls, With the Girls, Hey!

Various gurus that advise Pavel during his Travels, they often show up and give aide. All are terrifying in their own way (with that way generally being to either kill or profit off of death). Any of these being out can be a big deal and exert a lot of control over the board.

Battery Ramp

This deck has access to multiple very old school mana stockpiling cards, I might keep adding to this aspect, as it seems to synergize well with the high likelihood of being stuck with high mana cost stuff clogging my hand, these can power something big out. Being able to recast Pavel after repeatedly wiping the board is actually a part of this deck's function, and these cards play into that nicely. The deck also likes to just have gobs of mana stored up to make use of with Pavel's ability, and the deck has enough big cards that some games it will be helpful even if Pavel is unavailable.

Occult Pact

Pavel's Occult Pact, in which he made an especially sneaky deal with a very powerful demon. He was gifted with great power by Kothophed the Well Connected, in exchange for creating chaos in the world by passing himself off as a doer of good deeds. The key to pulling off the scheme was brewing up an incredible batch of mead for Kothophed. Using the help of a witch he brewed a draught that even a demon would be intoxicated by, yet made it such that the effect was slow and subtle, thus rendering the normally astute fiend vulnerable to a... questionable deal. When Kothophed sobered up, he had a good laugh with Pavel and agreed to honour it on the grounds that it at least furthered Chaos.

Wrath of Nature

Pavel's Pact has bound him to the plane in a profound way, and his weird magic has wrought changes, now even the plane acts to protect him from meddlers. A lot of this stuff is meant to deter Blue decks, but it's all 'nature' feeling stuff, and represent Nature itself turning againset Pavel's enemies (for their hubris).

Rock Band

Pavel has a band that he sometimes travels with, it was part of why he ended up signing with Kothophed, he had great connections for venues. Anyways, if it's not obvious Istvan is on the ax, Tsabo can handle several drum kits with all those extra limbs and genius intellect, while The Banshee herself is the screaming lead vocalist. Pavel can technically fill in for any of the others (and does if people are 'exhausted'), but his specialty is deep vocals. He can't sing as high as The Banshee, but he can sing high enough if they can first sing the low stuff and get the crowds a bit hammered.

Politics of Chaos

These cards represent the influence Pavel has with his ability to spread Chaos in his wake. Many of these cards are a bit (or very) random, many are hard to exploit, but they also tend to be fun.

Trolls Never Die

These cards all troll hard and keep coming back to drive your opponent up the wall. These cards are lots of fun with wipes!

Find Out, Fashion Statement, Bodyguard

Various cards that are mostly Vorthos-y, these are grouped in loose associations that should be self-explanatory (Bodyguard stuff protects you, Fashion Statement stuff looks cool, and Find Out is for the stuff that'll mess you up good if you underestimate it).

Friend of Little People

Pavel has many connections among the dwarves, having amused even their best smiths by by being able to break literally any chain, no matter how strong. The Dwarves often dig for resources (possibly where someone else had an impressive structure), but sometimes dig up Dragons (or worse!)! Pavel finds that even their disasters tend to work out in the end, so he continues to work with them, and has been known to hook them up with top grade vegetables.

The Legends Best Phyrexia

This Swamp is in remembrance for the fallen during the various invasions by the Phyrexians that the Legends drove back, with The Rakdos Superman himself leading the charge! The image features Pavel the Mighty flying through a monumentally big Phyrexian.

The Singletons

Various cards that fill a roll in the deck, most are references to cool things.

MTGRemy References

This deck's sleeves are the MTGRemy Sven's Comics & Lutefisk, which seem to do a good job. The deck also references one of his songs, Doom Doom Doom Doom, which is about running too much removal in Magic. It also references The Gift. In cannon Pavel is a 'to-the-death' friend of Sven, having spent a winter with him in the frozen northlands, eating lutefisk, reading comics, and overthrowing despots, as two good friends tend to share their interests.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	4 weeks
Exclude colors	WUG
Splash colors	BR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 22 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.20
Tokens	Dragon 4/4 R, Foretell, Goat 0/1 W, Elemental 5/1 R, Morph 2/2 C, Smaug, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Deck Inspiration, EDH, Funny, uwu