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PolyStriker

Commander / EDH* Mono-Red

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Draw/Cycle (24)

Removal (13)

Copy (4)

Lands (35)

Ramp (14)

Voltron (8)

Other (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: Zurgo Bellstriker

Combo Help (15)

Disruption (8)

Polymorph (5)

Payoffs (2)

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Other (32)

Voltron (3)

Draw/Cycle (20)

Ramp (8)

Lands (4)

Removal (13)

Disruption (10)

Combo Help (6)

Copy (3)

Now you may be asking, "What the hell is this". Well, put simply, it's a polymorph deck. In mono-red. Before you tell me this a stupid idea and would never work, through testing in multiple playgroups, I've found it can fairly consistently get a turn 4 or 5 Blightsteel/Ulamog with little to no hassle. The deck has 4 Polymorphs, each with varying use and power.

Shifting Shadow is somewhat weak late game when everyone can easily kill Zurgo Bellstriker, but sometimes a turn 3 Shifting Shadow on Zurgo just doesn't get dealt with. And then you get either of the payoffs. With haste. And get the other next turn also. Also with haste. If you can pull it off, Shadows is the most powerful of the red polymorphs, but obviously one of the riskiest. The deck runs Swiftfoot Boots and Champion's Helm to make it a little more viable in the late game, but it can still be dangerous.
The second polymorph is Possibility Storm, the basis of the deck and the safest of the bunch. This is why we run Zurgo as the commander. The dash ability puts him back into our hand, allowing for an instant polymorph with Possibility Storm (needs to be in hand since the Storm doesn't trigger from cards cast from the command zone). Possibility Storm also has the added benefit of nullifying any counter spell or kill spell an opponent could have and makes them go spinning for another instead. While it is the safest, it is unfortunately also the slowest. You do also have the chance to destroy any permanent if you spin into Ulamog though, so that's fun.
The third polymorph is Reality Scramble. This is newest one, but that doesn't mean it isn't powerful. In fact, it's arguably the best of the four. This card is close to as safe as possibility storm only with a faster activation time. It also has the added benefit of being incredibly safe to search with Gamble, red's only real access to tutor without branching into 11 mana colorless ones that are just pitifully slow in a deck that tries to get out a big creature before turn 6. The retrace ability is the real winner for this one.
Finally, Divergent Transformations. To be honest, this one is easily the worst, but that doesn't mean it doesn't get the job done almost as effectively as the others. It does have the added benefit of being able to get both payoffs at the same time if you get a token out, but with a small list of token makers in the deck, it's usually just a 4 mana polymorph that might deal with a big creature on an opposing board. It's a little unfortunate it needs another creature on the field to work but it's rare for there to be no creatures so it's usually not the biggest issue.

Originally, I had three payoffs in the deck those being Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Blightsteel Colossus, and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, but I've recently cut Kozilek due to it's lack of Indestructible, making it much less resiliant than the others. With that being said...

Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, while being a good payoff, has a few downsides. Some decks such as token decks can pretty much avoid the annihilator all together and while Ulamog is big, it won't just kill an unpreppared opponent in one turn like Blightsteel Colossus will. Despite it being an obviously worse payoff, it's somewhat necessary just in case you draw Blightsteel. One advantage it does have is the ability to destroy a permanent when spun into by Possibility Storm, but that pales in comparison to the raw power of the Colossus. While a little weak, it still can wipe a person's board if it comes down early enough, making it a fine backup win con.
The big bady of the deck, Blightsteel Colossus is the true payoff. This card, if left unchecked, kills a player in one or 2 shots 90% of the time. The Indestructible gives it sustainability, and cards like Swiftfoot Boots make it almost impossible to remove. By far the strongest creature in mono-red.

Because this deck focuses on getting a Payoff out so fast, and since there's only a few Polymorphs in red, Card Advange is key in this deck. While red has very little straight forward card draw, there are ways to get around the downsides and become the blue player you're trying to imitate.Without further ado, here are the card that power-up card draw in red.

If you've never cast a Reforge the Soul with Alhammarret's Archive on the field in mono-red, you haven't lived. Archive is far and away the most powerful booster of red card draw. Unlike something like Pyromancer's Goggles that only works on very specific cards, Alhammarret's Archive is a powerhouse in most every situation. Draw 6 with Jaya Ballard's second +1? Why not. One mana draw 4 discard 2 with Faithless Looting or draw 4 discard 1 land with Magmatic Insight? Sure. What I'm trying to get at is the Archive is a highly underrated card. Sure it doesn't work with "Impulse" draw like Goggles, but who cares when you can use the ability as many times as you want in a turn? All I'm saying is this thing WILL find you a Polymorph if left for even just one turn. Trust me on this one.
I know I mentioned Goggles in the description of Alhammarret's Archive a lot, but I think it deserves it's own spot. While not as good at digging as the Archive, Goggles is most universal in it's use. It works with Wild Guess, Magmatic Insight, Tormenting Voice, and Cathartic Reunion, but it also functions quite well with Commune with Lava as well (btw if your wondering why the list doesn't include other one time "Impulse" draw spells, it's because of Commune's wording. Notice "until end of your NEXT turn", meaning you will have plenty more mana to take advantage of the limited time offer. But anyways back to Goggles). The Goggles also work as a general way to increase the power of removal or anything else offered by the included instants and sorceries. They serve well as a card advantage boost, but is more focused on general utility than Archive, a hardcore card advantage machine.
See Pyromancer's Goggles. While Primal Amulet   is similar to Goggles, it has some upsides. First of all, the discount for spells on the front is quite nice and somewhat benefits early polymorphs. Though it takes a while, when it does flip, it becomes very hard to remove. It's possible it is better than Goggles but they are about equal in power due to the lengths you have to go to flip it.
Again, these two are the same idea as those that came before them. Copy draw spells, or others if need be. It's nice that Mirrorpool is a land, making it have a low deck entry cost, as well as occasionally making a second Blightsteel Colossus. Reverberate is nice because it can sometimes copy powerful plays by opponents, or even be a sneaky Guttural Response-type effect, allowing you to copy a counterspell in order to counter back and allow your play go through. Nothing too special about these but both are important and fine one time effects for boosting the power of your spells.

Whenever it seems like you won't be able to get a big creature or you think it won't be powerful enough, Repercussion is always a strong backup win con. With the pairing of very few creatures and a high amount of boardwipes, Repercussion becomes a great instant kill on all other players. The two big ones are Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction. Even with just 5 creatures on their board, the combination of Repercussion with one of these can easily wipe out an opponent (Chain Reaction depending on other players' creature dedication as well).Repercussion is an often underrated card and a very powerful backup win condition if needed. While not as flashy as the polymorphs, it most certainly gets the job done.

Fire Diamond -> Arcane Signet, overmaster -> deflecting swat, hedron archive -> lavabrink floodgates, repurcussion -> lukka, coppercoat outcast, sensei's divining top -> trailblazer's boots, bonehoard -> embercleave

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Date added 6 years
Last updated 4 years
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)

10 - 6 Mythic Rares

43 - 4 Rares

16 - 0 Uncommons

11 - 0 Commons
Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.16
Tokens Copy Clone, Dragon 6/6 R, Dwarf 1/1 R, Emblem Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Goat 0/1 W, Kobolds of Kher Keep 0/1 R, Spirit 2/2 C, Monarch Emblem, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders EDH, Fun Decks, Funny, Finished EDH, Decks to look at, EDH Decks to Ponder, CMDR, Cool commander decks from cool people.
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