08/27/13 - Currently undergoing major formatting work, bear with me.
Are you a Bad Enough Dude?
This is Radha, Heir to Keld. Don't scoff, she's killed everyone who stood in her way. You see that broken sword? It was Kamahls. He's dead now, and he had the Mirari on that bad boy. Think you have what it takes to play with a rock on the GO FASTER pedal? Sure you do. Gruul for life, am I right? Start strong, swing hard, don't relent? Welcome to the arena, here's your lead pipe.
Maybe you like to relax in your study with a good book and some exotic tea? Fiddle with blue mana, or gain life and generally not be awesome? Take it slow, see the sights, die of old age? You'll find Angus Mackenzie over that way. He's not busy, maybe you can get a few pointers on your flowery hairdo, or paint your nails together? Nothing for you here.
Nim Deathmantle + Sneak Attack : Any creature in the deck (with ETB and dies triggers), on any turn, AND you get to keep it? For :4mana::symr:, seems good
Chancellor of the Tangle will grant you a turn 1 Radha in most cases, but that only rarely comes in handy; the curve is pretty high. He might make his way out for an Ant Queen, but that Reach of his is nothing to scoff at.
Outside of that, I've been pretty pleased to just snag the biggest fatties in these colors from the Top 50 lists, and update with new creatures that look big, explosive, or otherwise just silly. Originally, the deck was supposed to have the highest average converted mana cost in my meta, but I just couldn't win that contest and still have a competive deck.
I do NOT want to run just another Animar or Riku list; they're all pretty similar and while they play well, they're a dime a dozen locally.
Primal Surge + Warstorm Surge / Urabrask the Hidden : Hope to get the Warstorm Surge early in the Primal Surge, but if not, just go ahead and kill someone!
AFAIK everything comes into play off the primal surge and resolves at once. Which means that no matter when you primal surge into warstorm surge all of the creatures are recognized at the same time and warstorm surge deals its damage accordingly.
Steel Hellkite (Prerelease foil)
Pack foil looks better
Blightsteel Colossus / Hamletback Goliath + Bloodshot Cyclops : Winning is easy; throw a fat guy!
You're turning me on!
Greater Gargadon + Stalking Vengeance : Someone wrathing soon? Need to fix a botched attack? Kill someone!
I think there's better sac outlets available than the gargadon. Greater good is a nice example.
Edit: Holy !@($* at your mana curve. 5.89 Mana per Card makes me cringe.
You like Conquering Manticore? Meet Zealous Conscripts!
I'm not sure how I feel about Darksteel Colossus: 11 mana is a lot. Sure he's indestructible and has trample, but he doesn't have haste and doesn't draw you four cards. *Ahem* Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Or dragon Broodmother, although she is cool and pretty and makes cute dragons.
Omnath: A good way to hold green mana, but it's only green mana which makes me feel a bit less excited about him. Run more Wood Elves, Yavimaya Druid, Yavimaya Granger type effects to help ramp into your scary fats?
Chancellor: A comical way to play Radha T1, but aside from that I think he's a big mana sink for not that good of a creature.
Engulfing Slagworm: you spelled this wrong
Pelakka Wurm: Icky wurm!
So if you Primal Surge and someone kills your Urabrask as you enter combat you just fold on next draw? You need more haste, go with Fires of Yavimaya and maybe Fervor. You also need to way to solve the problem of decking yourself; were you playing the optimal primal surge general (animar) you could run Lab Maniac, but as you aren't I think you should just use a few good sacrifice outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar) and if you are going to be decked just sacrifice a legendary eldrazi or a darksteel/blightsteel colossus and shuffle your GY into your library.
Beyond that I think you have way too many mediocre high CMC creatures (ancient hellkite, living inferno, etc) and not enough ramp creatures. I would try to figure out which creatures will help you best win the game and build around those, and then also make sure that if you are able to cast Primal Surge you just win.
AFAIK everything comes into play off the primal surge and resolves at once. Which means that no matter when you primal surge into warstorm surge all of the creatures are recognized at the same time and warstorm surge deals its damage accordingly.
No such luck, unfortunately. See the rulings forum. Still, someone will be dying
A pack foil of Steel Hellkite is actually one of the only newer dragons I'm missing in foil >.< It'll be on the next big online order
As for the mana curve, this deck was originally competing for the highest average mana cost among our group, and lost to a Sol'Kanar deck that features strongly Infernal Genesis and Psychic Battle. The novelty wasn't worth it for me, and in my defense, I can actually play cards before turn 10, unlike that deck. Also note all the different ways this deck has to "cheat" creatures into play. I'm usually rolling with 20 power or more by turn 6, and the most dangerous spell against me I've encountered is Reins of Power. I've lost on turn 5 to a single attack from my own creatures. Feels bad, man.
Greater Good as a sac outlet seems quite solid, and more card draw can't hurt. I just wish it had legs, you know?
Smaller ramp creatures are solid, but very lackluster to hit later with Lurking Predators or the like. Normally, I'd include them all over the place, but the creature-cheat is really top notch here. I've even debated cutting the Farhaven Elf for Elvish Aberration. It defies all deckbuilding reasoning, but Radha really does toss creatures out at a silly pace.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth might be an auto-include as soon as my playgroup comes down on their Eldrazi stance, but I'd very rarely, if ever, see his "draw 4." I don't actually cast much unless it's Wild Evocation or Omen Machine.
Dragon Broodmother and the Chancellor have both earned their keep for me; Kaalia is devasting with early and constant fliers, and anything I can do to up the fly-blockers and still keep the power on is priority.
Zealous Conscripts and Soul of the Harvest are awesome suggestions, and both will find their way in shortly
Pelakka is a beast by himself, but Kiki-Jiki or Minion Reflector make him absurd in tight games! And I can spell it! (fixed, thanks )
That's unfortunate about the rulings of the surge, I suppose I will have to mention that to a friend who has a surge deck. Anyways, the deck looks like fun I'm pleased just by looking at it! And get that hellkite, I think he's worth only a buck or two pack foil!
So if you Primal Surge and someone kills your Urabrask as you enter combat you just fold on next draw? You need more haste, go with Fires of Yavimaya and maybe Fervor. You also need to way to solve the problem of decking yourself; were you playing the optimal primal surge general (animar) you could run Lab Maniac, but as you aren't I think you should just use a few good sacrifice outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar) and if you are going to be decked just sacrifice a legendary eldrazi or a darksteel/blightsteel colossus and shuffle your GY into your library.
I wouldn't consider Animar the optimal; just an alternate. Every one of the dozen players in my meta also runs an Animar deck precisely because they believe him the more optimal choice, and he may be if your goal is to hard cast creatures or combo out. I'm doing neither. If your goal is to Primal Surge your entire library away and win either on hasted combat or Laboratory Maniac, then a fog effect and/or removing the maniac would have the same effect: you'd lose. I think too many people don't realize that you can stop a Primal Surge any time you want, after any number of permanents. You don't HAVE to deck yourself. For that reason, and that they don't have legs of their own, I don't run Fires of Yavimaya or Fervor. If they print either as creatures, absolutely! Also, neither Blightsteel or Darksteel Colossus will shuffle your graveyard into your library, only themselves.
This build of Radha is very different from Animar or Riku, I'm not racing my opponents to cast the bigger creatures; I'm cheating them into play early and often for little or no mana. I'm using Wild Evocation and Omen Machine for this, and to shut down spell casters and draw strategies. It works, trust me. Give it a shot sometime, win a few large games on turn 7 and you'll know instantly the difference.
Sorry bout that, green isnt one of my usual colors that im used to and im somewhat new to EDH.
Radha has a lot of potential, I know that most playgroups dont encourage massively disruptive sweeps like Worldfire, but its such a funky card that totally mauls everything on the board and practically ends the game in a funny anti-climax sort of way, it would have been good un-win condition for a Chaos type deck
I know the deck im commenting on is not a camping or chaos type deck, its more aggro, but I think what makes the OP's decklist unique is that it is so versatile. Radha and the OP's decklist can be easily adapted to many play styles. It literally took less than 5 minutes to convert it into something campy and more political than the original 100% beating face. The deck base could then be even further modified into an initially campy/political type deck but with a dynamic endgame using chaos as the un-win condition so that the winner is pretty much random (which could piss off the more serious players).
This is Radha, Heir to Keld. Don't scoff, she's killed everyone who stood in her way. You see that broken sword? It was Kamahls. He's dead now, and he had the Mirari on that bad boy. Think you have what it takes to play with a rock on the GO FASTER pedal? Sure you do. Gruul for life, am I right? Start strong, swing hard, don't relent? Welcome to the arena, here's your lead pipe.
Maybe you like to relax in your study with a good book and some exotic tea? Fiddle with blue mana, or gain life and generally not be awesome? Take it slow, see the sights, die of old age? You'll find Angus Mackenzie over that way. He's not busy, maybe you can get a few pointers on your flowery hairdo, or paint your nails together? Nothing for you here.
- Trample
- Ambush
- Fling
- Fight
- Win
:symw:, :symu:, or1 Radha, Heir to Keld (foil)
// Creatures (50):
1 Wurmcoil Engine (Prerelease foil)
1 Colossus of Akros (foil)
1 Nullstone Gargoyle (foil)
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed (foil)
1 Dragonlair Spider (Commander's Arsenal foil)
1 Dragon Broodmother (foil)
1 Gruul Ragebeast (foil)
1 Ulvenwald Tracker (foil)
1 Fauna Shaman (foil)
1 Oracle of Mul Daya (foil)
1 Gamekeeper
1 Elvish Piper
1 Zoologist (foil)
1 Garruk's Packleader (foil)
1 Seedguide Ash (foil)
1 Acidic Slime (FNM foil)
1 Rampaging Baloths (Prerelease foil)
1 Soul of the Harvest (foil)
1 Paleoloth (foil)
1 Vigor
1 Garruk's Horde (Release foil)
1 Sylvan Primordial (foil)
1 Giant Adephage (foil)
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth (foil)
1 Moldgraf Monstrosity (foil)
1 Regal Force
1 Hornet Queen
1 Pelakka Wurm (foil)
1 Woodfall Primus
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Worldspine Wurm
1 Anger (DD:Venser vs. Koth)
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Bloodshot Cyclops (foil)
1 Inferno Titan
1 Homura, Human Ascendant (foil)
1 Stalking Vengeance (foil)
1 Balefire Dragon (foil)
1 Hateflayer (foil)
1 Molten Primordial (foil)
1 Dragon Mage (foil)
1 Ancient Hellkite (Prerelease foil)
1 Living Inferno (foil)
1 Utvara Hellkite (foil)
1 Bloodfire Colossus (foil)
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges (foil)
1 Avatar of Fury
1 Magmatic Force
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Temporal Aperture
1 Quicksilver Amulet (foil)
1 Omen Machine (foil)
1 Gate to the Aether (foil)
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Call of the Wild
1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
1 Lurking Predators (foil)
1 Sneak Attack
1 Wild Evocation (foil)
1 Guild Feud (foil)
// Spells (1):
1 Natural Order
// Lands (38):
1 Kessig Wolf Run (FTV:20 foil)
1 Mosswort Bridge (foil)
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Kazandu Refuge (foil)
1 Gruul Guildgate (foil)
1 Highland Weald
1 Raging Ravine (foil)
1 Rootbound Crag (foil)
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
15 Forest (foil)
13 Mountain (foil)
Synergies:
Nim Deathmantle + Sneak Attack : Any creature in the deck (with ETB and dies triggers), on any turn, AND you get to keep it? For :4mana::symr:, seems good
Greater Gargadon + Stalking Vengeance : Someone wrathing soon? Need to fix a botched attack? Kill someone!
1 Radha, Heir to Keld (foil)
// Creatures (46):
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Steel Hellkite (Prerelease foil)
1 Wurmcoil Engine (Prerelease foil)
1 Darksteel Colossus
1 Blightsteel Colossus
1 Dragon Broodmother (foil)
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder (Super Series foil)
1 Omnath, Locus of Mana (FTV: Legends foil)
1 Tempting Licid
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Yavimaya Elder
1 Oracle of Mul Daya (foil)
1 Elvish Piper
1 Garruk's Packleader (foil)
1 Seedguide Ash (foil)
1 Rampaging Baloths (Prerelease foil)
1 Vigor
1 Primeval Titan
1 Paleoloth (foil)
1 Hornet Queen
1 Garruk's Horde (Release foil)
1 Chancellor of the Tangle (foil)
1 Engulfing Slagwurm (foil)
1 Pelakka Wurm (foil)
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth (foil)
1 Regal Force
1 Terastodon (PDS: Graveborn foil)
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker (FTV: Legends foil)
1 Conquering Manticore (foil)
1 Inferno Titan
1 Homura, Human Ascendant (foil)
1 Bloodshot Cyclops (foil)
1 Dragon Mage (foil)
1 Hamletback Goliath (foil)
1 Hateflayer (foil)
1 Stalking Vengeance (foil)
1 Balefire Dragon (foil)
1 Ancient Hellkite (Prerelease foil)
1 Scourge of Kher Ridges (foil)
1 Bogardan Hellkite (Knights vs. Dragons foil)
1 Magmatic Force
1 Bloodfire Colossus (foil)
1 Living Inferno (foil)
1 Avatar of Fury
1 Greater Gargadon
1 Sol Ring
1 Nim Deathmantle (foil)
1 Mage Slayer (foil)
1 Quicksilver Amulet (foil)
1 Minion Reflector (foil)
1 Omen Machine (foil)
1 Gate to the Aether (foil)
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Garruk Wildspeaker (foil)
1 Call of the Wild
1 Lurking Predators (foil)
1 Sneak Attack
1 Wild Evocation (foil)
1 Warstorm Surge (foil)
// Spells (1):
1 Primal Surge (foil)
// Lands (38):
1 Vesuva
1 Kessig Wolf Run (foil)
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle (Prerelease foil)
1 Kazandu Refuge
1 Highland Weald
1 Raging Ravine (foil)
1 Rootbound Crag (foil)
1 Taiga
1 Stomping Ground
14 Forest (foil)
14 Mountain (foil)
Chancellor of the Tangle will grant you a turn 1 Radha in most cases, but that only rarely comes in handy; the curve is pretty high. He might make his way out for an Ant Queen, but that Reach of his is nothing to scoff at.
Outside of that, I've been pretty pleased to just snag the biggest fatties in these colors from the Top 50 lists, and update with new creatures that look big, explosive, or otherwise just silly. Originally, the deck was supposed to have the highest average converted mana cost in my meta, but I just couldn't win that contest and still have a competive deck.
I do NOT want to run just another Animar or Riku list; they're all pretty similar and while they play well, they're a dime a dozen locally.
:symr::symg: 99 Permanents, But... :symr::symg:
:symw::symg: Every Elephant :symg::symw: Support your local game stores!
Wasteland Gaming | Tower Games
AFAIK everything comes into play off the primal surge and resolves at once. Which means that no matter when you primal surge into warstorm surge all of the creatures are recognized at the same time and warstorm surge deals its damage accordingly.
Pack foil looks better
You're turning me on!
I think there's better sac outlets available than the gargadon. Greater good is a nice example.
Edit: Holy !@($* at your mana curve. 5.89 Mana per Card makes me cringe.
You like Conquering Manticore? Meet Zealous Conscripts!
I'm not sure how I feel about Darksteel Colossus: 11 mana is a lot. Sure he's indestructible and has trample, but he doesn't have haste and doesn't draw you four cards. *Ahem* Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
Or dragon Broodmother, although she is cool and pretty and makes cute dragons.
Omnath: A good way to hold green mana, but it's only green mana which makes me feel a bit less excited about him. Run more Wood Elves, Yavimaya Druid, Yavimaya Granger type effects to help ramp into your scary fats?
Chancellor: A comical way to play Radha T1, but aside from that I think he's a big mana sink for not that good of a creature.
Engulfing Slagworm: you spelled this wrong
Pelakka Wurm: Icky wurm!
I think you need a little more card draw.
Soul of the Harvest is nice!
Sensei's Divining Top would be nice with your creature sneak.
Sylvan Library too
GWUBAtraxa, Praetor's Voice PrimerGWUB
GWURoon Bant Blink WhateverGWU
BRGLord Windgrace LandsBRG
Beyond that I think you have way too many mediocre high CMC creatures (ancient hellkite, living inferno, etc) and not enough ramp creatures. I would try to figure out which creatures will help you best win the game and build around those, and then also make sure that if you are able to cast Primal Surge you just win.
No such luck, unfortunately. See the rulings forum. Still, someone will be dying
A pack foil of Steel Hellkite is actually one of the only newer dragons I'm missing in foil >.< It'll be on the next big online order
As for the mana curve, this deck was originally competing for the highest average mana cost among our group, and lost to a Sol'Kanar deck that features strongly Infernal Genesis and Psychic Battle. The novelty wasn't worth it for me, and in my defense, I can actually play cards before turn 10, unlike that deck. Also note all the different ways this deck has to "cheat" creatures into play. I'm usually rolling with 20 power or more by turn 6, and the most dangerous spell against me I've encountered is Reins of Power. I've lost on turn 5 to a single attack from my own creatures. Feels bad, man.
Greater Good as a sac outlet seems quite solid, and more card draw can't hurt. I just wish it had legs, you know?
Smaller ramp creatures are solid, but very lackluster to hit later with Lurking Predators or the like. Normally, I'd include them all over the place, but the creature-cheat is really top notch here. I've even debated cutting the Farhaven Elf for Elvish Aberration. It defies all deckbuilding reasoning, but Radha really does toss creatures out at a silly pace.
Kozilek, Butcher of Truth might be an auto-include as soon as my playgroup comes down on their Eldrazi stance, but I'd very rarely, if ever, see his "draw 4." I don't actually cast much unless it's Wild Evocation or Omen Machine.
Dragon Broodmother and the Chancellor have both earned their keep for me; Kaalia is devasting with early and constant fliers, and anything I can do to up the fly-blockers and still keep the power on is priority.
Zealous Conscripts and Soul of the Harvest are awesome suggestions, and both will find their way in shortly
Pelakka is a beast by himself, but Kiki-Jiki or Minion Reflector make him absurd in tight games! And I can spell it! (fixed, thanks
:symr::symg: 99 Permanents, But... :symr::symg:
:symw::symg: Every Elephant :symg::symw: Support your local game stores!
Wasteland Gaming | Tower Games
I wouldn't consider Animar the optimal; just an alternate. Every one of the dozen players in my meta also runs an Animar deck precisely because they believe him the more optimal choice, and he may be if your goal is to hard cast creatures or combo out. I'm doing neither. If your goal is to Primal Surge your entire library away and win either on hasted combat or Laboratory Maniac, then a fog effect and/or removing the maniac would have the same effect: you'd lose. I think too many people don't realize that you can stop a Primal Surge any time you want, after any number of permanents. You don't HAVE to deck yourself. For that reason, and that they don't have legs of their own, I don't run Fires of Yavimaya or Fervor. If they print either as creatures, absolutely! Also, neither Blightsteel or Darksteel Colossus will shuffle your graveyard into your library, only themselves.
This build of Radha is very different from Animar or Riku, I'm not racing my opponents to cast the bigger creatures; I'm cheating them into play early and often for little or no mana. I'm using Wild Evocation and Omen Machine for this, and to shut down spell casters and draw strategies. It works, trust me. Give it a shot sometime, win a few large games on turn 7 and you'll know instantly the difference.
:symr::symg: 99 Permanents, But... :symr::symg:
:symw::symg: Every Elephant :symg::symw: Support your local game stores!
Wasteland Gaming | Tower Games
MAybe Worldfire too for a chaos type build,
My kind of deck =D
I know this completely butchers your deck (which is already good), but here is a Rattlesnake build version, a bit more political / laid back:
20 Forest
1 Gaea's Cradle
1 Highland Weald
1 Kazandu Refuge
10 Mountain
1 Raging Ravine
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Stomping Ground
1 Taiga
1 Vesuva
//Spells
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Call of the Wild
1 Defense of the Heart
1 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Gate to the Æther
1 Gem of Becoming
1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Golgari Keyrune
1 Gorgon Flail
1 Lace with Moonglove
1 Lurking Predators
1 Mage Slayer
1 Minion Reflector
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Omen Machine
1 Primal Surge
1 Quicksilver Amulet
1 Sneak Attack
1 Sol Ring
1 Warp World
1 Warstorm Surge
1 Wild Evocation
1 Worldfire
1 Acidic Slime
1 Ambush Viper
1 Bogardan Hellkite
1 Chancellor of the Tangle
1 Deadly Recluse
1 Dragon Mage
1 Elvish Piper
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Garruk's Horde
1 Garruk's Packleader
1 Greater Basilisk
1 Hamletback Goliath
1 Hateflayer
1 Homura, Human Ascendant
1 Hornet Queen
1 Mwonvuli Beast Tracker
1 Nightshade Peddler
1 Omnath, Locus of Mana
1 Oracle of Mul Daya
1 Paleoloth
1 Primeval Titan
1 Radha, Heir to Keld
1 Rampaging Baloths
1 Regal Force
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Seedguide Ash
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Spearbreaker Behemoth
1 Stalking Vengeance
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Terastodon
1 Thornweald Archer
1 Turntimber Basilisk
1 Vigor
1 Wasteland Viper
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
1 Wren's Run Vanquisher
1 Wurmcoil Engine
1 Yavimaya Elder
Azusa - Derevi - Glissa - Mizzix - Sharuum - Wanderer - Wort
Sorry bout that, green isnt one of my usual colors that im used to and im somewhat new to EDH.
Radha has a lot of potential, I know that most playgroups dont encourage massively disruptive sweeps like Worldfire, but its such a funky card that totally mauls everything on the board and practically ends the game in a funny anti-climax sort of way, it would have been good un-win condition for a Chaos type deck
I know the deck im commenting on is not a camping or chaos type deck, its more aggro, but I think what makes the OP's decklist unique is that it is so versatile. Radha and the OP's decklist can be easily adapted to many play styles. It literally took less than 5 minutes to convert it into something campy and more political than the original 100% beating face. The deck base could then be even further modified into an initially campy/political type deck but with a dynamic endgame using chaos as the un-win condition so that the winner is pretty much random (which could piss off the more serious players).