MTG Salvation

I'm a mono-Red player from the days of Revised and 4th Edition. In early 2014, I began playing EDH/Commander casually with two goals: (1) to have fun and (2) to keep it cheap.

Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs was my first EDH commander and my initial version of the deck was heavily influenced by bobthefunny's $50 Kazuul deck. Early on, I attempted a "forced attack" theme, using cards like Angel's Trumpet, Grand Melee, and Goblin Diplomats, but often found these cards of limited usefulness in disrupting my opponents' plans. Now, the deck relies on disruption in the form of Omen Machine, Uba Mask, and Possibility Storm, which significantly impact the table every time, dragging expensive decks down to the level of this mono-Red budget deck. I'm always looking to improve my deck, so suggestions are most welcome. However, please, note that I adhere to strict budget restrictions:

Budget Limitation: Spend no more than 50 cents on any single card.

This limitation guarantees that the final deck costs less than $50. My deck has a few outliers that I purchased cheaply (e.g., Darksteel Plate and Nim Deathmantle for 15 cents each) or received in a favorable trade (e.g., Goblin Bombardment and Steel Hellkite), but these are exceptions to the rule. As of September 2017, purchasing the entire deck list from TCGPlayer.com using the Cart Optimizer costs less than $45. (When I first made this deck, it cost less than $30, but Darksteel Plate and Nim Deathmantle continue to rise in price.)

Deck List

Deck Features

• Eliminating Card Draw: Generally, mono-Red has poor card draw options compared to other colors, especially if you're on a budget. Omen Machine and Uba Mask drag opposing decks down to our level by nullifying most of their sources of card advantage, not to mention rendering counterspells useless and severely hampering other instants and sorceries. Our deck can still play some of the best card advantage available to budget mono-Red decks without being affected, such as Outpost Siege, Sunbird's Invocation, and Oracle's Vault. (Credit for the concept of "Making Everyone Bad at Card-Draw" goes to Brandon Isleib.)
• Disruption: Further disruption of the opponents' plans comes in the form Possibility Storm, War's Toll, and forced attack cards like Fumiko the Lowblood.
• Defense: Since disruption and forced attack are liable to make you a target, building a defensive wall of creatures to hide behind is essential. Thopter Assembly and phoenixes serve as recurring aerial defense alongside a selection of dragons. The dragons also make exceptional offensive weapons and synergize well with Omen Machine and Oracle's Vault. Furthermore, Commander Kazuul and his ogre horde serve as an unassailable meat shield against token strategies.
• Steal & Sac: With 11 cards to temporarily steal creatures and 6+ potential sac outlets, this deck excels against large creature and Voltron strategies. It's quite exhilarating to achieve commander damage kills swinging with your opponent's own commander. Steal & Sac is also one of the few options Red has to deal with indestructible creatures.
• Protecting Kazuul: Keeping Commander Kazuul alive is of the utmost importance. This deck plays the long game and relies on opponents to wear each other down. Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs serves as a compelling deterrent, encouraging our opponents to prey on easier targets. Darksteel Plate, Nim Deathmantle, and Whispersilk Cloak help keep Kazuul in play. Making Commander Kazuul unblockable with Trailblazer's Boots and Rogue's Passage also help when forced attack cards are in play, as well as increasing our damage output and occasionally sneaking in lethal commander damage with a surprise Wrecking Ogre bloodrush.

Watch List: (Cards under consideration for replacement/removal.)
Potential Additions:

<Reserved for Discussion of Card Selection>


Alternative Cards

• Anti-Air: Homura, Human Ascendant and Chaosphere are outstanding cards that I never managed to acquire. Rather than relying on these cards to give me air defense, I opted to increase the number of dragons in the deck.

Trove of Temptation: It's a new card, worth .28 in TCG. Synergizes with your commander, and generates value. Something to consider.

Thanks for the suggestion!

At this point, I'm moving away from forced attack cards because I've found them fairly ineffective compared to other types of disruption. Kazuul can be a prime target for removal and, when he's not in play, forcing people to attack you isn't a great thing. I like that Trove of Temptation has further utility stapled on (unlike Angel's Trumpet and Grand Melee), but getting one extra mana of any color isn't a huge benefit for a mono-colored deck. Something like a looting effect would have been much more beneficial. That said, when Kazuul is in play, this is liable to net you a 3/3 ogre every turn at the cost of making you a target. The question is whether the opponents are more likely to send sacrificial lambs your direction or send something you can't deal with easily. My concern is that most of the time it will be the latter.

Deck update!

Iron Myr => Wild-Field Scarecrow

Iron Myr was usually just a vulnerable mana rock. The Scarecrow is a decent wall against early aggression and gives card advantage when sacrificed, ensuring we continue to hit our land drops. (The Scarecrow is basically Armillary Sphere #2.)

O-Naginata => Blood Mist

I like O-Naginata, but it's a remnant from an earlier deck design when I was trying to make the deck do too many different things. Now, it doesn't seem to further the deck's goals in any particular way. In contrast, Blood Mist can give double strike to a stolen creature without requiring an equipping cost or can turn one of our dragons into a force to be reckoned with. There are other double strike enchantments that are arguably better (Berserkers' Onslaught/Rage Reflection), but 4 mana is a pretty reasonable CMC and typically we're only swinging with one or two creatures per turn.

Rite of the Raging Storm => Sentinel Totem

Rite of the Raging Storm is a fun card that I really want to play, but every time it showed up there were more pressing matters requiring my attention. Previously, the deck lacked any graveyard hate, so Sentinel Totem helps fill that role. All we need is a copy of Scavenger Grounds and that weakness should be filled.

Commune with Lava => Darksteel Pendant

Commune with Lava is a best for decks capable of sudden mana surges using rituals or mana doublers. This deck is more about incremental advantage while locking people down with Omen Machine/Uba Mask/Possibility Storm. Crystal Ball is amazing for that purpose and, while substantially weaker, I'm hopeful the Darksteel Pendant can fill a similar role.

Jar of Eyeballs => Sunbird's Invocation

Generally, this deck doesn't actively sacrifice its own creatures and it can't steal & sac enough of the opponents' creatures to dig deep with the Jar. Costing 6 total mana to get the first card is a pretty steep price and without reliable ways to accumulate eyeball counters the card rarely pulls its weight. On the other hand, the number of 6 mana spells in this deck make it likely that Sunbird's Invocation will pay for itself on the first spell cast after it is in play.

Phyrexian Portal => Bloodmark Mentor

I'm still unsure about this change. I'm not worried about the cards exiled by Phyrexian Portal as I'll never dig through my entire deck anyway (I'm still running Orcish Librarian). The main concerns are (1) the recurring 3 mana cost per card gained and (2) the way the card slows the game down as the opponent separates the cards into two piles. Bloodmark Mentor is being tested as a low CMC card that makes our defensive wall all the more formidable. The big concern here being that Bloodmark Mentor eats removal after assigning blocks, resulting in our defensive line taking heavy casualties that would have been prevented by first strike.

Update:

Bloodmark Mentor => Frenzied Fugue

Bloodmark Mentor is fragile and hasn't been as impactful as I hoped. I'm nearly always glad to draw one of my steal spells and adding Frenzied Fugue brings the count up to an even dozen. I'm also intrigued to see how the ability to "share" a creature by borrowing it multiple times plays out in game. Captivating Crew is another potential future addition that I'll be keeping my eyes out for when perusing trade binders.

Purphoros, God of the Forge? Shocks your opponents for every Ogre token you get. EDIT: Nevermind, read the 50 cent budget restriction.