The Solution is a metagame call that I've built in response to my own EDH metagame. We run an EDH league every Wednesday and while we (thankfully) contain no ridiculous combo strategy, there are a TON of blue decks, and in general the metagame is "sit back, build a board state, draw cards, pounce on/counter out the player who does something proactive/threatening". Frankly, I find this boring, so I've decided to craft a deck built to be aggressive and punishing to the reactive decks in my metagame that tend to play on my turn rather than theirs.
Red/Green seemed to be my colors for hating out the blue decks, that was for certain. But I designed this deck with something else in mind; while it can eat counterspell shells for breakfast in theory, it needed to be able to deal with other strategies. The strategy was to create something aggressive, to be able to deal with other colors when I didn't have answers. I wanted an aggressive, fast creature to use, and this seemed like the deck to play for that sort of strategy.
How does one play this deck?
The deck is an all-in Voltron strategy aimed at being able to kill opposing players as early as turn 2 with a god draw. If Radha gets hit by Swords to Plowshares or something like that, you're generally in deep trouble, but in multiplayer often times you're left alone. Aside from that, this deck still has remnants of what the deck was built to do; counter the other colors. While having much less cards to do so now than before, the deck still has a few slots dedicated to keeping Radha protected, while also aimed at punishing players who want to play their spells on your turn.
Pump Combinations
This section is aimed at showing the ways it's possible to deal 21 general damage to your opponent through your various pump spells.
3CC:
-Inner Calm, Outer Strength - usually gives 5-6, provided you lead with it
-Rush of Blood - ALMOST a double strike enabler
-Champion's Helm - gives hexproof, which is absolutely necessary
-Tenza, Godo's Maul
-Umbral Mantle pretty much an X spell
-Aggravated Assault may as well be a 5, but you can waste turn 3 casting it if you can't kill them. Allows multiple kills in one turn if you have the mana, great lategame
-Fires of Yavimaya - useful to have around if Radha ever does die / get bounced
-Turn 1 Land, Llanowar Augur
Turn 2 Land, Radha, Heir to Keld
Turn 3 activate Augur, attack, pump for 16 (easiest when you have double strike, but four pump spells will do)
-Turn 1 Land, Sol Ring, (equipment)
Turn 2 Land, Radha, Heir to Keld, (equipment)
Turn 3 ??? (There are a lot of variables here. Generally, Sol Ring allows for really explosive starts, the most of which is probably Civic Saber + Bonesplitter. You can also pull the combo off much easier with Inquisitor's Flail giving you double strike. You can use much more mana-intensive pumps like Might of Oaks or Stonewood Invocation as well since turn 3 you have 7 mana at your disposal when attacking. Having a double strike enabler furthers your damage since it synergizes with Inquistor's Flail; one 4-pump spell + a double strike enabler is a kill if you went Flail turn 1 equip turn 2.)
-Turn 1 Land, Carpet of Flowers
Turn 2 Land, Radha, Heir to Keld, (???)
Turn 3 ??? (Again, many things are possible here. On the play, you get 2 mana if an opponent went Island -> Island, and on the draw you get 3 mana if your opponent played 3 Islands in a row. Unlikely, but it's entirely possible. Usually Carpet can get you two mana on average by turn 3, but in some very rare cases you'll have access to 8 mana during your combat step, which can be even crazier than the Sol Ring start. See how it goes, but you're softer to removal since you have to main phase pump. Regardless, 8 mana means you have greater options.)
Nuances of the Deck
-Assess your opponents and craft a game plan. If your opponents are largely blue or white, be conservative and build defense for Radha before going in for the kill. If your opponents tap out, punish them.
-If you draw Wild Defiance, try to hold it back until you can get to 21 general damage with it. While the damage sticks, you want to ideally kill your target when you use your spells to commit to them.
-Kessig Wolf Run and Umbral Mantle can seal the deal by themselves. Having Umbral Mantle is like having Untamed Might able to cast every turn, and Kessig Wolf Run will activate for 1 just off a green source, and enables trample, an extremely important ability when your opponents can block you. Generally, these two cards are in it for the lategame, so use them to finish off your last opponents.
-Remember that Umezawa's Jitte triggers twice when Radha has double strike. So in first strike, Radha can deal damage, get the Jitte counters, and you can remove them to pump Radha during the regular combat damage step.
-Moved Boil over to Instants (oops)
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
Phew. Huge update.
Basically, I felt that the deck had a really bad "best case scenario / worst case scenario" problem. Best case scenario, you lock opponents out and slowly kill them with general damage. Worst case scenario, you draw awkward cards that don't help you and Radha ends up dying to all the attention you've drawn to yourself and with nothing to protect it your opponents spiral out of control and win the game anyway.
I feel going the route of all-in was a decent strategy. Has a similar problem of best/worst, but it's significantly less clunky, the curve is better, and it can completely take opponents by surprise. You can kill opponents as early as turn 3 with this strategy (Radha's triggered ability on attack is fantastic, seriously), which is also a big "screw you" to my meta of "build-a-board-state", which is getting incredibly stale.
-Edited the opening statement.
-Edited the How Does One Play This Deck? section.
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
-Added a Pump Combinations section to detail the myriad of ways the deck can deal 21 general damage.
Another large update.
Ever since I redid the deck, I've been racking my brain trying to think of ways to improve its combo of pump spells that can kill opponents quickly. This is what I've come up with so far.
On turn 3, you generally have access to 5 mana; the 2 mana Radha provides, and 3 mana from your lands. Any double strike enabler means that a total of 9 pump is lethal, so Wild Might came in due to the strength it provides in a vaccuum. It, either Assault Strobe or Psychotic Fury, and any other +4 power spell is lethal, and is very easy to accomplish in the deck.
Stonewood Invocation, Inner Calm, Outer Strength and Might of Oaks are one-card wrecking crews due to the fact that they provide large amounts of power in one card, and SI doubles as protection that opponents can't counter.
Stone Rain is for Maze of Ith, which is REALLY popular in my meta.
Oak Street Inkeeper is a way to protect Radha, something I feel the deck HAS to be doing.
As far as the cuts, I went top-down from the curve, cutting four 4CC cards, two 5CC and a 6CC. With that, I felt safe cutting a Mountain. If the mana becomes a problem, I'll edit accordingly.
-Edited the Pump Combinations section.
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
After doing a few goldfish games, I realized that I never wanted to draw Worldly Tutor in any situation. If in actual testing tuck effects become a problem, I'll readd the Worldly Tutor. Expedition Map is just not strong enough imo, even if it DOES grab Rogue's Passage. I'm testing the Spirit Guides to see if they're worth the slots atm, I'll remove them if they don't pull their weight.
-Updated the format of the deck.
-Updated the Pump Combinations section.
Gatecrash brought this deck Bloodrush, a fantastic mechanic for this particular shell, but of course they had to wait until the rest of the set was spoiled all at once to show me the best Bloodrush card not close. Wrecking Ogre is exactly what this deck wants - not only does it pump, but it gives double strike? SOLD.
Haha, I like the idea of a deck designed to hate on blue players. I especially hate Azami.
But why in the world would you play Anarchist but not Eternal Witness? The only drawback of the Witness I think of would be the GG but by the time you have the 5 mana for the Anarchist (and something interesting in the GY), there should be two green sources among your lands...
Also you have very little mana fixing. Why? In an allied color combination like RG there are tons of budget friendly options.
I love Radha, great, great hero. However, I don't think she's General status. You might be better off with Kresh and putting Radha in. I've ran a Radha general, and I loved it, but power wise she is outdone by a lot of generals.
The problem with playin the red counterspells is that they're dead weight draws when I've already killed the blue players and am focusing on the white players. In addition, they're inferior to Fork effects.
The problem with playing the Null Rod route is that I lack win conditions, and the deck becomes a one-sided group slug deck that will get me killeduch faster than I'll be able to kill them, even with all my hate cards.
As far as Anarchist vs. Eternal Witness, I have an Anarchist already, whereas I don't have a Witness. I have to invest in a significant portion of the deck already and I'm on a limited budget, so I'm using Reollect in place of Eternal Witness, mostly because Boseiju makes it straight-up uncounterable. For those who don't take budgeting into account, yes, Witness is the better card by a mile and you should run it. (Also, run Swords, and replace Inquisitor's Flail with Fireshrieker.)
The lack of manafixing is because I always want turn 2 Radha, and the cheapest dual lands all come into play tapped. The fewer tap lands I run, the better.
As far as the argument of Radha as a general goes; Umbral Mantle and Aggravated Assault are two must-includes because of how damn well they synergize with Radha. If you can afford it, try adding more vigilance enablers like Batterskull to the deck; vigilance is an excellent ability to give Radha when working with the aforementioned synergistic cards.
I wanted the fastest general to fight blue control decks with for the deck. Radha comes down turn 2 and by the time an answer is put up you either smash through it or you can severely wreck the manabase of whoever answers her while digging for a way to smash through said answer. This deck can put out 21 general damage quite quickly with the right setup (I've gotten 8 on turn 3 without giving Radha haste, to give an example). Seriously, retry her; you'd be surprised how fast she can put the pressure on.
2 Radha, Heir to Keld
Creatures - 9
1 Llanowar Augur
2 Gaea's Herald
2 Vexing Shusher
3 Elvish Spirit Guide
3 Oak Street Inkeeper
3 Simian Spirit Guide
3 Stoneshaker Shaman
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
5 Wrecking Ogre
Sorceries - 6
1 Assault Strobe
2 Hull Breach
3 Recollect
3 Stone Rain
4 Decimate
4 Seize the Day
Instants - 19
1 Brute Force
1 Groundswell
1 Might of Old Krosa
1 Mutagenic Growth
1 Ranger's Guile
1 Vines of Vastwood
1 Withstand Death
2 Colossal Might
2 Fists of the Anvil
2 Psychotic Fury
2 Wild Might
3 Hunter's Insight
3 Inner Calm, Outer Strength
3 Krosan Grip
3 Rush of Blood
4 Boil
4 Invigorate
4 Might of Oaks
4 Stonewood Invocation
0 Lotus Petal
1 Bonesplitter
1 Civic Saber
1 Infiltration Lens
1 Sol Ring
2 Inquisitor's Flail
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Trailblazer's Boots
2 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Champion's Helm
3 Darksteel Plate
3 Tenza, Godo's Maul
3 Umbral Mantle
Enchantments - 14
1 Carpet of Flowers
1 Dust Corona
1 Furor of the Bitten
1 Rancor
1 Seal of Stength
1 Taste for Mayhem
3 Aggravated Assault
3 Choke
3 City of Solitude
3 Fires of Yavimaya
3 Price of Glory
3 Wild Defiance
4 Stranglehold
4 War's Toll
0 Command Tower
0 Fire-Lit Thicket
0 Ghost Quarter
0 Karpulsan Forest
0 Kessig Wolf Run
0 Mossfire Valley
0 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
0 Rogue's Passage
0 Rootbound Crag
0 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
0 Strip Mine
0 Tectonic Edge
0 Teetering Peaks
Basic Lands - 24
13 Forest
11 Mountain
So, why Radha, Heir to Keld?
How does one play this deck?
Pump Combinations
Your Pump Spells
-Invigorate
-Mutagenic Growth
1CC - 1-2:
-Groundswell - without landfall
-Might of Old Krosa - outside of main phase
-Ranger's Guile
-Bonesplitter
-Civic Saber
-Dust Corona
-Furor of the Bitten
-Rancor
-Taste For Mayhem - with cards in hand
-Teetering Peaks - counts as 1CC since it ETBT
1CC - 3:
-Llanowar Augur
-Brute Force
-Seal of Strength
1CC - 4:
-Groundswell - with landfall
-Might of Old Krosa - on main phase
-Taste for Mayhem - with no cards in hand
2CC - 1-2:
-Wild Might - provided an opponent can pay for it
-Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
2CC - 3+:
-Colossal Might
-Fists of the Anvil
-Ghor-Clan Rampager
-Vines of Vastwood
-Wild Might - if nobody pays for it
-Umezawa's Jitte - pretty much an X pump, great lategame and does wonders when Radha has double strike
3CC:
-Inner Calm, Outer Strength - usually gives 5-6, provided you lead with it
-Rush of Blood - ALMOST a double strike enabler
-Champion's Helm - gives hexproof, which is absolutely necessary
-Tenza, Godo's Maul
-Umbral Mantle pretty much an X spell
-Aggravated Assault may as well be a 5, but you can waste turn 3 casting it if you can't kill them. Allows multiple kills in one turn if you have the mana, great lategame
-Fires of Yavimaya - useful to have around if Radha ever does die / get bounced
4CC:
-Might of Oaks
-Stonewood Invocation
-Seize the Day - almost a double strike enabler, can enable multiple kills in one turn if you have the mana, absurd lategame
Your Double Strike enablers
-Psychotic Fury
-Inquisitor's Flail
-Wrecking Ogre
Turn 2:
Turn 2 Land, Assault Strobe, attack, pump for 9 or more (You will need Invigorate, Mutagenic Growth, or Wild Might to accomplish this.)
-Turn 1 Land, Lotus Petal / Elvish Spirit Guide / Simian Spirit Guide, Radha, Heir to Keld
Turn 2 Land, attack, Invigorate, Mutagenic Growth, pump for 3 or more, Rush of Blood
-Turn 1 Land, Lotus Petal / Elvish Spirit Guide / Simian Spirit Guide, Radha, Heir to Keld
Turn 2 Land, attack, Psychotic Fury, pump for 9 or more (You will need a combination of Groundswell, Might of Old Krosa, Mutagenic Growth or Invigorate to accomplish this)
Turn 3:
Turn 2 Land, Radha, Heir to Keld
Turn 3 activate Augur, attack, pump for 16 (easiest when you have double strike, but four pump spells will do)
-Turn 1 Land, Sol Ring, (equipment)
Turn 2 Land, Radha, Heir to Keld, (equipment)
Turn 3 ??? (There are a lot of variables here. Generally, Sol Ring allows for really explosive starts, the most of which is probably Civic Saber + Bonesplitter. You can also pull the combo off much easier with Inquisitor's Flail giving you double strike. You can use much more mana-intensive pumps like Might of Oaks or Stonewood Invocation as well since turn 3 you have 7 mana at your disposal when attacking. Having a double strike enabler furthers your damage since it synergizes with Inquistor's Flail; one 4-pump spell + a double strike enabler is a kill if you went Flail turn 1 equip turn 2.)
-Turn 1 Land, Carpet of Flowers
Turn 2 Land, Radha, Heir to Keld, (???)
Turn 3 ??? (Again, many things are possible here. On the play, you get 2 mana if an opponent went Island -> Island, and on the draw you get 3 mana if your opponent played 3 Islands in a row. Unlikely, but it's entirely possible. Usually Carpet can get you two mana on average by turn 3, but in some very rare cases you'll have access to 8 mana during your combat step, which can be even crazier than the Sol Ring start. See how it goes, but you're softer to removal since you have to main phase pump. Regardless, 8 mana means you have greater options.)
Nuances of the Deck
-Hold your pump spells for when you're able to protect Radha from removal. Until then, use Civic Saber, Bonesplitter, Dust Corona, Rancor and Taste for Mayhem for fast, efficient damage.
-If you draw Wild Defiance, try to hold it back until you can get to 21 general damage with it. While the damage sticks, you want to ideally kill your target when you use your spells to commit to them.
-Kessig Wolf Run and Umbral Mantle can seal the deal by themselves. Having Umbral Mantle is like having Untamed Might able to cast every turn, and Kessig Wolf Run will activate for 1 just off a green source, and enables trample, an extremely important ability when your opponents can block you. Generally, these two cards are in it for the lategame, so use them to finish off your last opponents.
-Remember that Umezawa's Jitte triggers twice when Radha has double strike. So in first strike, Radha can deal damage, get the Jitte counters, and you can remove them to pump Radha during the regular combat damage step.
Changes Log
-Added:
Recollect
Seize the Day
Aggravated Assault
Tenza, Godo's Maul
-Removed:
Eternal Witness
Grafted Wargear
Scald
Ring of Valkas
11/29/2012:
Reforge the Soul
-Removed:
Anarchist
I figured the extra card advantage you get from Reforge the Soul was better than returning one hate card in your graveyard through Anarchist.
12/13/2012:
Invigorate
Seal of Strength
Might of Old Krosa
Wild Defiance
Groundswell
Vines of Vastwood
Brute Force
Colossal Might
Rush of Blood
Hunter's Insight
Furor of the Bitten
Taste for Mayhem
Bedlam
Assault Strobe
Civic Saber
Infiltration Lens
Ranger's Guile
Lotus Petal
Llanowar Augur
Psychotic Fury
Fire-Lit Thicket
Karpulsan Forest
Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
-Removed:
Acidic Slime
Brutalizer Exarch
Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
Dosan, the Falling Leaf
Blasphemous Act
Chain Reaction
Faithless Looting
Nostalgic Dreams
Primal Command
Reforge the Soul
Shattering Pulse
Lightning Greaves
Oblivion Stone
Holistic Wisdom
Magistrate's Veto
Mask of Avacyn
Akroma's Memorial
Nim Deathmantle
2 Mountains
Forest
Buried Ruin
Llanowar Reborn
Cathedral of War
-Moved Boil over to Instants (oops)
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
Phew. Huge update.
Basically, I felt that the deck had a really bad "best case scenario / worst case scenario" problem. Best case scenario, you lock opponents out and slowly kill them with general damage. Worst case scenario, you draw awkward cards that don't help you and Radha ends up dying to all the attention you've drawn to yourself and with nothing to protect it your opponents spiral out of control and win the game anyway.
I feel going the route of all-in was a decent strategy. Has a similar problem of best/worst, but it's significantly less clunky, the curve is better, and it can completely take opponents by surprise. You can kill opponents as early as turn 3 with this strategy (Radha's triggered ability on attack is fantastic, seriously), which is also a big "screw you" to my meta of "build-a-board-state", which is getting incredibly stale.
Hope you guys enjoy the overhaul to The Solution!
12/23/2012:
Oak Street Inkeeper
Stone Rain
Fists of the Anvil
Giant Growth
Inner Calm, Outer Strength
Might of Oaks
Mutagenic Growth
Stonewood Invocation
Wild Might
Withstand Death
Dust Corona
Rogue's Passage
-Removed:
Anarchy
Boiling Seas
Flashfires
Tsunami
Omen of Fire
Defense Grid
Ring of Kalonia
Compost
Curse of Marit Lage
Nature's Wrath
Boseiju, who Shelters All
Mountain
-Edited the opening statement.
-Edited the How Does One Play This Deck? section.
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
-Added a Pump Combinations section to detail the myriad of ways the deck can deal 21 general damage.
Another large update.
Ever since I redid the deck, I've been racking my brain trying to think of ways to improve its combo of pump spells that can kill opponents quickly. This is what I've come up with so far.
On turn 3, you generally have access to 5 mana; the 2 mana Radha provides, and 3 mana from your lands. Any double strike enabler means that a total of 9 pump is lethal, so Wild Might came in due to the strength it provides in a vaccuum. It, either Assault Strobe or Psychotic Fury, and any other +4 power spell is lethal, and is very easy to accomplish in the deck.
Stonewood Invocation, Inner Calm, Outer Strength and Might of Oaks are one-card wrecking crews due to the fact that they provide large amounts of power in one card, and SI doubles as protection that opponents can't counter.
Stone Rain is for Maze of Ith, which is REALLY popular in my meta.
Oak Street Inkeeper is a way to protect Radha, something I feel the deck HAS to be doing.
As far as the cuts, I went top-down from the curve, cutting four 4CC cards, two 5CC and a 6CC. With that, I felt safe cutting a Mountain. If the mana becomes a problem, I'll edit accordingly.
12/24/2012:
Elvish Spirit Guide
Simian Spirit Guide
-Removed:
Worldly Tutor
Expedition Map
-Edited the Pump Combinations section.
-Edited the Nuances of the Deck section.
After doing a few goldfish games, I realized that I never wanted to draw Worldly Tutor in any situation. If in actual testing tuck effects become a problem, I'll readd the Worldly Tutor. Expedition Map is just not strong enough imo, even if it DOES grab Rogue's Passage. I'm testing the Spirit Guides to see if they're worth the slots atm, I'll remove them if they don't pull their weight.
1/23/2013:
Ghor-Clan Rampager
Wrecking Ogre
-Removed:
Giant Growth
Bedlam
-Updated the format of the deck.
-Updated the Pump Combinations section.
Gatecrash brought this deck Bloodrush, a fantastic mechanic for this particular shell, but of course they had to wait until the rest of the set was spoiled all at once to show me the best Bloodrush card not close. Wrecking Ogre is exactly what this deck wants - not only does it pump, but it gives double strike? SOLD.
1/31/2013:
Suggestions are always welcome!
You seem to like equipment, but have you considered going the Null Rod route? You'd get Shatterstorm, Creeping Corrosion, Seeds of Innocence, and Molder Slug to work with.
Mono Red's Strengths and Mono White's Strengths
But why in the world would you play Anarchist but not Eternal Witness? The only drawback of the Witness I think of would be the GG but by the time you have the 5 mana for the Anarchist (and something interesting in the GY), there should be two green sources among your lands...
Also you have very little mana fixing. Why? In an allied color combination like RG there are tons of budget friendly options.
GWKarametra - The MistveiledGW
GWR Marath - The Egg-laying Wool-Milk-Pig GWR
RBGrenzo - Restrained RakdosRB
UWRGBHorde of NotionsUWRGB
Retired: Karador, Ghost Chieftain | Rafiq of the Many | Animar, Soul of Elements | Maelstrom Wanderer
The problem with playing the Null Rod route is that I lack win conditions, and the deck becomes a one-sided group slug deck that will get me killeduch faster than I'll be able to kill them, even with all my hate cards.
As far as Anarchist vs. Eternal Witness, I have an Anarchist already, whereas I don't have a Witness. I have to invest in a significant portion of the deck already and I'm on a limited budget, so I'm using Reollect in place of Eternal Witness, mostly because Boseiju makes it straight-up uncounterable. For those who don't take budgeting into account, yes, Witness is the better card by a mile and you should run it. (Also, run Swords, and replace Inquisitor's Flail with Fireshrieker.)
The lack of manafixing is because I always want turn 2 Radha, and the cheapest dual lands all come into play tapped. The fewer tap lands I run, the better.
As far as the argument of Radha as a general goes; Umbral Mantle and Aggravated Assault are two must-includes because of how damn well they synergize with Radha. If you can afford it, try adding more vigilance enablers like Batterskull to the deck; vigilance is an excellent ability to give Radha when working with the aforementioned synergistic cards.
I wanted the fastest general to fight blue control decks with for the deck. Radha comes down turn 2 and by the time an answer is put up you either smash through it or you can severely wreck the manabase of whoever answers her while digging for a way to smash through said answer. This deck can put out 21 general damage quite quickly with the right setup (I've gotten 8 on turn 3 without giving Radha haste, to give an example). Seriously, retry her; you'd be surprised how fast she can put the pressure on.