The time has come. I have revised my Purphoros build!
This deck flames up quickly and leaves our opponents charred rather quickly. The deck maximizes direct damage from our General by pumping out as many creatures as possible. While we can go wide on attacks, the tokens double as useful defenders. Indiscriminately firing damage in every direction tends to rustle everyone's jimmies. That means we need defense from the inevitable coalitions that will form against our awesome power.
As you can see, our token game runs deep. Nearly a third of the cards in our deck can spawn an unexpected creature, which will trigger Purphoros for 2 damage. That's our bread and butter. If anything, I think we need MORE ways to make tokens! Perhaps round them up into a goblin theme to make use of lord mechanics and other creature-type abuse.
Next up are the abusers, which can massively accelerate our conflagration. Some of these cards make use of the swarm we are spawning. Ashnod's Altar turns our dudes into fast mana. Impact Tremors gives us an extra 1 damage on ETBs to make every token into a group-wide bolt. Our default win-con would be Mogg Infestation, Spawning Pit, or Descent of the Dragons. These cards can cash in our whole swarm for 2 damage each while replacing them! The latter even gives us fricking DRAGONS!
The deck is certainly low on removal, but for good reason. We're playing the EDH equivalent of burn! Hopefully we're spewing mad damage within two turns of Purphoros resolving, and he happens to become a nice form of "attacker-removal" once he becomes a huge, indestructible creature. However, our opponents will likely rally together to counter our explosive plays. Blasphemous Act can wipe the board pretty quickly with all the tokens we're playing, which can seriously stunt our opponents board state while leaving Purphoros in play. Outnumber and Burn at the Stake can use our tokens to take down a mighty attacker, and the latter can even help finish off an opponent. Smash to Smithereens, Sunder from Within and Volcanic Submersion gives us obligatory artifact hate. The last two can also destroy lands, along with Survey the Wreckage, which gives us yet another ETB trigger. They synergy is nuts!
Finally we come to the tech. There are a few of the usual suspects present, such as Sol Ring, Swiftfoot Boots, and Expedition Map. Both Forgotten Cave and Smoldering Crater can be cycled if we are looking for our kill, and Myriad Landscape speeds up our lands while thinning the deck a bit. Hanweir Battlements gives stuff haste, but more importantly it can meld with [/card]Hanweir Garrision[/card] to begin spitting fatties while triggering Purphoros. Why include Insurrection, you ask? Sure it doesn't trigger Purphoros, but c'mon dude. It's too sweet to pass up in my mono-red EDH deck! Outpost Siege can be dope in either mode, either dealing damage from blocks/sacs or basically drawing an extra card every turn. Reforge the Soul can refill our hand easily, and Sarkhan is just a good way to apply pressure until ticking up to his sweet ultimate.
CAUTION! The list above is deceptive. We aren't running just 25 lands. Total count comes to 35 when we add the tech lands I've mentioned. It's low for EDH, but our curve peaks at 5 cmc. Sure, drawing an Insurrection late-game after cycling some lands can feel bad, but this way we optimize our tricks! So that's about it. I think the deck is low on removal and a bit high on Purphoros abusers. If we edit down our tokens to a strong Goblin theme, cards like Goblin Warrens would help us wreak untold havoc.
I recently found a group of commander players near me, so I'll be getting a lot of testing done soon. I'll be sure to report back my findings. In the meantime, what do you think?
This deck flames up quickly and leaves our opponents charred rather quickly. The deck maximizes direct damage from our General by pumping out as many creatures as possible. While we can go wide on attacks, the tokens double as useful defenders. Indiscriminately firing damage in every direction tends to rustle everyone's jimmies. That means we need defense from the inevitable coalitions that will form against our awesome power.
Let's take a look at the cards:
01 Purphoros, God of the Forge
Token Producers (31)
02 Beetleback Chief
03 Chandra, Flamecaller
04 Dragon Fodder
05 Dragonmaster Outcast
06 Elemental Mastery
07 Emrakul's Hatcher
08 Feldon of the Third Path
09 Firecat Blitz
10 Flameshadow Conjuring
11 Foundry of the Consuls
12 Goblin Assault
13 Goblin Rabblemaster
14 Goblin Rally
15 Goblinslide
16 Hammer of Purphoros
17 Hanweir Garrison
18 Hordeling Outburst
19 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
20 Kher Keep
21 Krenko, Mob Boss
22 Krenko's Command
23 Mimic Vat
24 Mogg War Marshal
25 Myr Battlesphere
26 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
27 Rakka Mar
28 Siege-Gang Commander
29 Sparkspitter
30 Spawning Bed
31 Warbreak Trumpeter
32 Warchief Giant
33 Ashnod's Altar
34 Descent of the Dragons
35 Impact Tremors
36 Mogg Infestation
37 Skullclamp
38 Spawning Pit
Purphoros Abusers (18)
39 Conjurer's Closet
40 Embermaw Hellion
41 Flamerush Rider
42 Flamewake Phoenix
43 Gargoyle Castle
44 Goblin Heelcutter
45 Grinning Ignus
46 Hellion Crucible
47 Illusionist's Bracers
48 Lightning Berserker
49 Mardu Scout
50 Norin the Wary
51 Panharmonicon
52 Quest for Pure Flame
53 Screamreach Brawler
54 Splinter Twin
55 Talon of Pain
56 War Elemental
Removal (7)
57 Blasphemous Act
58 Burn at the Stake
59 Outnumber
60 Smash to Smithereens
61 Sunder from Within
62 Survey the Wreckage
63 Volcanic Submersion
64 Expedition Map
65 Forgotten Cave
66 Hanweir Battlements
67 Insurrection
68 Myriad Landscape
69 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
70 Outpost Siege
71 Reforge the Soul
72 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
73 Smoldering Crater
74 Sol Ring
75 Swiftfoot Boots
Basic Lands (25)
25 Mountains
As you can see, our token game runs deep. Nearly a third of the cards in our deck can spawn an unexpected creature, which will trigger Purphoros for 2 damage. That's our bread and butter. If anything, I think we need MORE ways to make tokens! Perhaps round them up into a goblin theme to make use of lord mechanics and other creature-type abuse.
Next up are the abusers, which can massively accelerate our conflagration. Some of these cards make use of the swarm we are spawning. Ashnod's Altar turns our dudes into fast mana. Impact Tremors gives us an extra 1 damage on ETBs to make every token into a group-wide bolt. Our default win-con would be Mogg Infestation, Spawning Pit, or Descent of the Dragons. These cards can cash in our whole swarm for 2 damage each while replacing them! The latter even gives us fricking DRAGONS!
We might be a bit heavy on Purphoros abusers, but I freeze every time I try to cut this section down. Cards like Conjurer's Closet and Splinter Twin can pair quite nicely with creatures like Beetleback Chief, in this example netting us 6 damage every turn while contributing to the army. Embermaw Hellion does the same as Tremors, turning every ETB into a bolt. Flamerush Rider is obviously the best dash mechanic we have, but Goblin Heelcutter, Lightning Berserker, Mardu Scout, and Screamreach Brawler were all invited to the party as well. As long as Purphoros is on the field, Flamewake Phoenix will keep coming back and keep triggering that sweet, sweet ETB. Gargoyle Castle and Hellion Crucible are lands that turn into surprise tokens! Good use of what would otherwise be a dead Mountain. Grinning Ignus and Norin the Wary are fun inserts that ensure repeated ETBs all by themselves. Illusionist's Bracers and Panharmonicon can double up the Purphoros triggers quite elegantly, and War Elemental can get pretty big when we multiply these triggers. By the same philosophy, Quest for the Pure Flame and Talon of Pain can set up for huge blowouts.
The deck is certainly low on removal, but for good reason. We're playing the EDH equivalent of burn! Hopefully we're spewing mad damage within two turns of Purphoros resolving, and he happens to become a nice form of "attacker-removal" once he becomes a huge, indestructible creature. However, our opponents will likely rally together to counter our explosive plays. Blasphemous Act can wipe the board pretty quickly with all the tokens we're playing, which can seriously stunt our opponents board state while leaving Purphoros in play. Outnumber and Burn at the Stake can use our tokens to take down a mighty attacker, and the latter can even help finish off an opponent. Smash to Smithereens, Sunder from Within and Volcanic Submersion gives us obligatory artifact hate. The last two can also destroy lands, along with Survey the Wreckage, which gives us yet another ETB trigger. They synergy is nuts!
Finally we come to the tech. There are a few of the usual suspects present, such as Sol Ring, Swiftfoot Boots, and Expedition Map. Both Forgotten Cave and Smoldering Crater can be cycled if we are looking for our kill, and Myriad Landscape speeds up our lands while thinning the deck a bit. Hanweir Battlements gives stuff haste, but more importantly it can meld with [/card]Hanweir Garrision[/card] to begin spitting fatties while triggering Purphoros. Why include Insurrection, you ask? Sure it doesn't trigger Purphoros, but c'mon dude. It's too sweet to pass up in my mono-red EDH deck! Outpost Siege can be dope in either mode, either dealing damage from blocks/sacs or basically drawing an extra card every turn. Reforge the Soul can refill our hand easily, and Sarkhan is just a good way to apply pressure until ticking up to his sweet ultimate.
CAUTION! The list above is deceptive. We aren't running just 25 lands. Total count comes to 35 when we add the tech lands I've mentioned. It's low for EDH, but our curve peaks at 5 cmc. Sure, drawing an Insurrection late-game after cycling some lands can feel bad, but this way we optimize our tricks! So that's about it. I think the deck is low on removal and a bit high on Purphoros abusers. If we edit down our tokens to a strong Goblin theme, cards like Goblin Warrens would help us wreak untold havoc.
I recently found a group of commander players near me, so I'll be getting a lot of testing done soon. I'll be sure to report back my findings. In the meantime, what do you think?
Previous Version: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/750751-porphoros-list-for-critique
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