Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster (let alone account activating). I've only been playing for a couple years, primarily edh. I've made a handful of casual "mess around" decks, but my money pit is Rafiq. With that, I figured my first thread should be my pride and joy deck. It's gone through many, many play tests, changes, and styles. Voltron, Infect, Good stuff, even tried switching out Rafiq for Jenara. Jenara was nice, but kind of underwhelming compared to Rafiq.
About the Deck
As said before, Rafiq's gone through about 14 months of changes. I started with my own idea on how to build him, but inevitably started veering towards the "Top8" lists. I still have my own select cards in the list, which I feel play better and/or funner.
I love the pressure that Rafiq brings to the table. He's a machine that's hard to keep up with the appropriate hands. Turning otherwise non-worthy swinging 2/2 utility creatures into 3/3 double striking death machines. He's a blast to play and regardless of the mainstreamed way of winning (double strike face pounding), the game's always different.
The list has been alphabetized for those that like those sort of things
Card Choices
Some of my choices of cards for this deck are not the usual ones included in a Rafiq deck. For each of these cards I'll give my reason on why I decided to choose these cards over the other popular choices:
Mirri's Guile Who doesn't like a Sylvan Library that costs one less? Dungeon Geists This one I've been partial with, but I like that it's a flyer with a lockdown ability. It's helped me in a handful of games and it swings for 8 in the air with Rafiq.
Questionable Cards
Throughout my playtesting this deck has had a vast amount of cards go through it, sometimes more than once. While some other decks run them, I just don't see them being all that useful in this deck.
Glen Elendra Archmage I've tried her a couple times, but the one thing I could never get over is her 4cmc. She's a flier with a decent ability, but whenever I drew her she'd always sit in my hand as I would have a better play than her. Survival of the Fittest Another good card, but I just don't see it taking up a card slot Knight of the Reliquary There's really no land I'd want to tutor for other than Maze of Ith, with that and her having no evasion makes this card not so good. Meddling Mage Good for casting to name their general, soaks up kill spells, sword carrier. However, he always ended up sitting in my hand when I had him in the deck. Dryad Arbor I worry about him being destroyed by any wrath effect, thus wasting a turn of mana. I always feel like he makes the deck clunky when I play him. Because of his summoning sickness I feel as if I don't play a mana that turn and will behind. Winter Orb I've been curious about this card since it's unbanning, I may try it out in the future. Treachery I really like the card, but I feel like the 5cmc is too much (even with the lands untapping) Jace, the Mind Sculptor I know, I know...BUT HES SO GOOD. He is, but every time he's in my hand and ready to be played my board state isn't in my favor. If I do cast him he always ends up being a 4cmc bounce or brainstorm as he gets killed the next turn. He's in my deck now, but I don't know for how long.
All of the above cards are not in my deck more or less because of personal opinions. However, I am not against someone telling me their opinion on why it should be in the deck; I actually encourage it!
Match Ups
Since I'm a little late on making a thread about my deck since it was first put together, there will be a handful of matches that have slipped my mind. Thankfully, I play with basically the same group of friends for the most part with the occasional tournament at my local card shop.
Animar, Soul of Elements Playing against Animar is a pure race. Animar being pro white hurts a lot more than I thought it would. Not much in my deck can take care of him and once he gets going the combos start pouring out. Council's Judgment, True-Name Nemsis, Sword of Fire and Ice and any of my creature stealers are my only real defenses against him.
Marchesa, the Black Rose Games are very 50/50 when I play against her. I have enough self infliction (pain lands, shocks, fetches) to help maintain my life where her ability won't trigger early game, but then comes the decision on when to start swinging. Sometimes I misjudge on when the time to strike is and boom bang bam she goes off into combo land, population her.
Marath, Will of the Wild I find him one of the hardest to compete against. He's very fast and very threatening to Rafiq 3 toughness. If I don't have an explosive and/or control oriented hand I usually end up on the bottom end of the deal.
The Mimeoplasm It's always a surprise against him. If I don't end up pulling ahead of all the removal and graveyard shenanigans he'll usually come out as a 50/50 shroud islandwalk destroyer machine.
Sidisi, Blood Tyrant Some of the best games I've played have been against this deck. As long as either of us doesn't get mana screwed, the games usually go 12-15 turns of back and forth spells. With that said, most times I play this I go 1-2 against it.
Geist, of Saint Traft Aggro control vs. super control. I've only played this deck a handful of times, but the only time I've been able to defeat this deck is when I had a Maze of Ith out and was able to tap down his angel each combat. Other than that Geist usually out controls Rafiq.
Krenko, Mob Boss Goblin tribal. If they didn't explode into a ridiculous amount of goblins on turn 2, I usually can pull through and finish it before it does happen.
Ghave, Guru of Spores Ghave is too slow against Rafiq. Unless I draw an awful hand I can usually start laying down threats sooner than he can and with answers to follow.
Vendilion Clique This wasn't a completely fine tuned clique deck, but it was still a challenge at times. As long as I had a strong opening hand and strategically played my spells for counter bait it worked out alright. Key is to go in swinging as fast as possible (Sword of Fire and Ice always helps too)
Change Log
My change log is going to start out very minuscule being how long the deck has already been a thing. But with that there's always new cards coming out and I'm always wanting to try out new cards.
-Spell Pierce
-Skullclamp
+Dispel
+Armageddon
-Dragonlord Ojutai (5cmc ended up being a little too much)
-Dispel
-Snow-Covered Plains
+Restoration Angel
+Flagstones of Trokair
+Deprive
-Consecrated Sphinx
+Dragonlord Dromoka
-Stirring Wildwood
-Flickerwisp
-Sylvan Carytid
+Celestial Colonnade
+Knight of the Reliquary
+Voice of Resurgence
Thanks again for looking through my pride and joy! I'm very open to any questions and comments about the deck and always interested in new cards to try out in it
Nice to see a thread about Rafiq, he's a cool general even if people often prefer Jenara for bant goodstuff/aggro.
Your list seems strong
Thanks for the comment. I agree, that Jenara is the more popular choice but in my opinion I felt like she never really brought anything to the table. When she was my general for a short time I always ended up with and underwhelming board of 1/1 utility creatures that showed very little threat. Rafiq at least makes them into something worth swinging.
A change log has been added to the original posting, I'll keep it updated as new cards move into the deck.
I was thinking of trying out Treetop Village in the deck. The only lands that I would be alright with swapping out for them would be my basics, but I don't want the "enters tapped" to screw me up early game. But with that, I think a 3/3 trample creature for 2 cmc as a backup isn't a terrible thing. Any opinions on this?
Another card I was contemplating was Sword of Light and Shadow. I like the card, the pro colors are a good combo and the abilities aren't half bad, but I don't know what I would swap out for it. Do you guys see anything in my deck that would be a good to be replaced with it?
Updated the changelog to some cards I'm going to do some testing on (mainly Restoration Angel and Dragonlord Dromoka). I want to give her a try as added spot protection and a potential surprise flyer. Also updated the match ups with a Vendilion Clique deck, I'm curious to see how it plays out in future games when it gets a little more fine tuned.
There is going to be a 1v1 tournament at my local card shop on August 1, I will be posting the matches and results after.
Placed 4th in the tournament today out of 8 people. Match ups were as follow:
1: Iroas, God of Victory This was a very new deck build by a new player. A handful of misplays and unneeded cards, wasn't as agro as the deck should have been. 2-0
2: Krenko, Mob Boss My first game was great, thanks to turn 3 True Name-Nemesis with a Rancor. Rafiq on the next turn made it a quick one. The last 2 games weren't so much in my favor. Mulliganed to 6 each time, even then should have went to 5 but didn't want to. Krenko ended up being faster by a long shot. 1-2
3:Tajic, Blade of the Legion Our first game was a slow start on both parts, but I had a board state of Rafiq and True-Name when I played Armageddon. Flagstones of Trokair being in play and a Wooded Foothills in my hand ensured 2 mana after the Armageddon as well. Second game I had counters galore in my hand and ended up taking the cake with Rafiq alone. 2-0
All in all it was a good tournament, however I will say I went against some fairly easy matchups compared to the others being play (Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Braids, Cabal Minion and similar)
I've updated the decklist with a couple of changes and will hopefully get to try them out soon. As always, thanks for reading and following up for those that are
Played in a tournament at my local shop a few days ago. Went 3-1 and ended up taking 2nd place. Match ups were as follows:
1) Nath, Gilt Leaf: the deck was built too slow for a matchup against Rafiq. He wasn't drawing answers and never really played anything explosive because the game was over before he could. 2-0
2) Radha, Heir to the Keld: this was a built land destruction deck. Super annoying. I lost in the first round because of a slow hand compared to his dust bowl/wasteland/crucible of worlds combo. The last two games were better for me because he ran out of gas before I did. I was able to get dorks out and maintain at least enough mana to keep going. 2-1
3) Eladamri: elf ball tribal, super quick but I was able to have some sort of pro green permanent out in 2 of the 3 games. Mirran crusader, true name and sword of feast and famine were my saviors. 2-1
4) Zurgo Bellstriker: crazy quick deck and was capable of dealing 21 commander damage in 4 turns. First game I misplayed early game and was never able to catch up. Second game I was able to have a quick board state with flyers. Third game he played a turn 3 blood moon when I had no dorks or any way to come back. I had to scoop.
Overall played well and was very happy with the turnout.
Ps I posted this from my phone so I didn't link to any cards, sorry. As always thanks for reading
Hello all! Long time lurker, first time poster (let alone account activating). I've only been playing for a couple years, primarily edh. I've made a handful of casual "mess around" decks, but my money pit is Rafiq. With that, I figured my first thread should be my pride and joy deck. It's gone through many, many play tests, changes, and styles. Voltron, Infect, Good stuff, even tried switching out Rafiq for Jenara. Jenara was nice, but kind of underwhelming compared to Rafiq.
About the Deck
As said before, Rafiq's gone through about 14 months of changes. I started with my own idea on how to build him, but inevitably started veering towards the "Top8" lists. I still have my own select cards in the list, which I feel play better and/or funner.
I love the pressure that Rafiq brings to the table. He's a machine that's hard to keep up with the appropriate hands. Turning otherwise non-worthy swinging 2/2 utility creatures into 3/3 double striking death machines. He's a blast to play and regardless of the mainstreamed way of winning (double strike face pounding), the game's always different.
The List
1 Rafiq of the Many
Lands
1 Adarkar wastes
1 Arid Mesa
1 Breeding Pool
1 Brushland
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Command Tower
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Flooded Grove
1 Flooded Strand
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Mana Confluence
1 Marsh Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Mystic Gate
1 Pendelhaven
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Savannah
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Snow-Covered Forest
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Temple of Mystery
1 Temple of Plenty
1 Tropical Island
1 Tundra
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Yavimaya Hollow
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
1 Umezawa's Jitte
Enchantments
1 Mirri's Guile
1 Rancor
1 Sylvan Library
Creatures
1 Avacyn's Pilgrim
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Bloom Tender
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Dungeon Geists
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
1 Edric, Spymaster of Trest
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fyndhorn Elves
1 Gilded Drake
1 Jenara, Asura of War
1 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Llannowar Elves
1 Mirran Crusader
1 Mother of Runes
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Phantasmal Image
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Restoration Angel
1 Saffi Eriksdotter
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Spellskite
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Sublime Archangel
1 Voice of Resurgence
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
1 True-Name Nemesis
1 Trygon Predator
1 Vendilion Clique
1 Berserk
1 Deprive
1 Counterspell
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Mana Leak
1 Memory Lapse
1 Miscalculation
1 Negate
1 Path to Exile
1 Remand
1 Swords to Plowshares
Sorcery
1 Armageddon
1 Council's Judgment
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Steelshaper's Gift
Planeswalkers
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
The list has been alphabetized for those that like those sort of things
Card Choices
Some of my choices of cards for this deck are not the usual ones included in a Rafiq deck. For each of these cards I'll give my reason on why I decided to choose these cards over the other popular choices:
Mirri's Guile Who doesn't like a Sylvan Library that costs one less?
Dungeon Geists This one I've been partial with, but I like that it's a flyer with a lockdown ability. It's helped me in a handful of games and it swings for 8 in the air with Rafiq.
Questionable Cards
Throughout my playtesting this deck has had a vast amount of cards go through it, sometimes more than once. While some other decks run them, I just don't see them being all that useful in this deck.
Glen Elendra Archmage I've tried her a couple times, but the one thing I could never get over is her 4cmc. She's a flier with a decent ability, but whenever I drew her she'd always sit in my hand as I would have a better play than her.
Survival of the Fittest Another good card, but I just don't see it taking up a card slot
Knight of the Reliquary There's really no land I'd want to tutor for other than Maze of Ith, with that and her having no evasion makes this card not so good.
Meddling Mage Good for casting to name their general, soaks up kill spells, sword carrier. However, he always ended up sitting in my hand when I had him in the deck.
Dryad Arbor I worry about him being destroyed by any wrath effect, thus wasting a turn of mana. I always feel like he makes the deck clunky when I play him. Because of his summoning sickness I feel as if I don't play a mana that turn and will behind.
Winter Orb I've been curious about this card since it's unbanning, I may try it out in the future.
Treachery I really like the card, but I feel like the 5cmc is too much (even with the lands untapping)
Jace, the Mind Sculptor I know, I know...BUT HES SO GOOD. He is, but every time he's in my hand and ready to be played my board state isn't in my favor. If I do cast him he always ends up being a 4cmc bounce or brainstorm as he gets killed the next turn. He's in my deck now, but I don't know for how long.
All of the above cards are not in my deck more or less because of personal opinions. However, I am not against someone telling me their opinion on why it should be in the deck; I actually encourage it!
Match Ups
Since I'm a little late on making a thread about my deck since it was first put together, there will be a handful of matches that have slipped my mind. Thankfully, I play with basically the same group of friends for the most part with the occasional tournament at my local card shop.
Animar, Soul of Elements Playing against Animar is a pure race. Animar being pro white hurts a lot more than I thought it would. Not much in my deck can take care of him and once he gets going the combos start pouring out. Council's Judgment, True-Name Nemsis, Sword of Fire and Ice and any of my creature stealers are my only real defenses against him.
Marchesa, the Black Rose Games are very 50/50 when I play against her. I have enough self infliction (pain lands, shocks, fetches) to help maintain my life where her ability won't trigger early game, but then comes the decision on when to start swinging. Sometimes I misjudge on when the time to strike is and boom bang bam she goes off into combo land, population her.
Marath, Will of the Wild I find him one of the hardest to compete against. He's very fast and very threatening to Rafiq 3 toughness. If I don't have an explosive and/or control oriented hand I usually end up on the bottom end of the deal.
The Mimeoplasm It's always a surprise against him. If I don't end up pulling ahead of all the removal and graveyard shenanigans he'll usually come out as a 50/50 shroud islandwalk destroyer machine.
Sidisi, Blood Tyrant Some of the best games I've played have been against this deck. As long as either of us doesn't get mana screwed, the games usually go 12-15 turns of back and forth spells. With that said, most times I play this I go 1-2 against it.
Geist, of Saint Traft Aggro control vs. super control. I've only played this deck a handful of times, but the only time I've been able to defeat this deck is when I had a Maze of Ith out and was able to tap down his angel each combat. Other than that Geist usually out controls Rafiq.
Krenko, Mob Boss Goblin tribal. If they didn't explode into a ridiculous amount of goblins on turn 2, I usually can pull through and finish it before it does happen.
Ghave, Guru of Spores Ghave is too slow against Rafiq. Unless I draw an awful hand I can usually start laying down threats sooner than he can and with answers to follow.
Vendilion Clique This wasn't a completely fine tuned clique deck, but it was still a challenge at times. As long as I had a strong opening hand and strategically played my spells for counter bait it worked out alright. Key is to go in swinging as fast as possible (Sword of Fire and Ice always helps too)
Change Log
My change log is going to start out very minuscule being how long the deck has already been a thing. But with that there's always new cards coming out and I'm always wanting to try out new cards.
-Spell Pierce
-Skullclamp
+Dispel
+Armageddon
-Dragonlord Ojutai (5cmc ended up being a little too much)
-Dispel
-Snow-Covered Plains
+Restoration Angel
+Flagstones of Trokair
+Deprive
-Consecrated Sphinx
+Dragonlord Dromoka
-Stirring Wildwood
-Flickerwisp
-Sylvan Carytid
+Celestial Colonnade
+Knight of the Reliquary
+Voice of Resurgence
Thanks again for looking through my pride and joy! I'm very open to any questions and comments about the deck and always interested in new cards to try out in it
Casually Competitive
Your list seems strong
Currently Playing:
Modern Grixis Shadow, Storm
Legacy: Grixis Delver, Sneak and Show
Duel Commander: Kess High Tide
Vintage Big blue(MTGO)
Thanks for the comment. I agree, that Jenara is the more popular choice but in my opinion I felt like she never really brought anything to the table. When she was my general for a short time I always ended up with and underwhelming board of 1/1 utility creatures that showed very little threat. Rafiq at least makes them into something worth swinging.
I left out Rafiq, kinda sorta not really on purpose. I'll put him in now
Casually Competitive
Also just realized I missed Jace. My mistake, good eye :). I guess that's what happens when you try to do something after a few too many beers
Casually Competitive
Casually Competitive
I was thinking of trying out Treetop Village in the deck. The only lands that I would be alright with swapping out for them would be my basics, but I don't want the "enters tapped" to screw me up early game. But with that, I think a 3/3 trample creature for 2 cmc as a backup isn't a terrible thing. Any opinions on this?
Another card I was contemplating was Sword of Light and Shadow. I like the card, the pro colors are a good combo and the abilities aren't half bad, but I don't know what I would swap out for it. Do you guys see anything in my deck that would be a good to be replaced with it?
Casually Competitive
There is going to be a 1v1 tournament at my local card shop on August 1, I will be posting the matches and results after.
Casually Competitive
1: Iroas, God of Victory This was a very new deck build by a new player. A handful of misplays and unneeded cards, wasn't as agro as the deck should have been. 2-0
2: Krenko, Mob Boss My first game was great, thanks to turn 3 True Name-Nemesis with a Rancor. Rafiq on the next turn made it a quick one. The last 2 games weren't so much in my favor. Mulliganed to 6 each time, even then should have went to 5 but didn't want to. Krenko ended up being faster by a long shot. 1-2
3:Tajic, Blade of the Legion Our first game was a slow start on both parts, but I had a board state of Rafiq and True-Name when I played Armageddon. Flagstones of Trokair being in play and a Wooded Foothills in my hand ensured 2 mana after the Armageddon as well. Second game I had counters galore in my hand and ended up taking the cake with Rafiq alone. 2-0
All in all it was a good tournament, however I will say I went against some fairly easy matchups compared to the others being play (Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Braids, Cabal Minion and similar)
I've updated the decklist with a couple of changes and will hopefully get to try them out soon. As always, thanks for reading and following up for those that are
Casually Competitive
1) Nath, Gilt Leaf: the deck was built too slow for a matchup against Rafiq. He wasn't drawing answers and never really played anything explosive because the game was over before he could. 2-0
2) Radha, Heir to the Keld: this was a built land destruction deck. Super annoying. I lost in the first round because of a slow hand compared to his dust bowl/wasteland/crucible of worlds combo. The last two games were better for me because he ran out of gas before I did. I was able to get dorks out and maintain at least enough mana to keep going. 2-1
3) Eladamri: elf ball tribal, super quick but I was able to have some sort of pro green permanent out in 2 of the 3 games. Mirran crusader, true name and sword of feast and famine were my saviors. 2-1
4) Zurgo Bellstriker: crazy quick deck and was capable of dealing 21 commander damage in 4 turns. First game I misplayed early game and was never able to catch up. Second game I was able to have a quick board state with flyers. Third game he played a turn 3 blood moon when I had no dorks or any way to come back. I had to scoop.
Overall played well and was very happy with the turnout.
Ps I posted this from my phone so I didn't link to any cards, sorry. As always thanks for reading
Casually Competitive
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
I'm a little disappointed not to see cold-eyed selkie or looter il-kor - they're so good with rafiq! But maybe I'm just biased towards those cards.
Agreed. I think Cold-Eyed Selkie should be in the 99. Most of the time it's unblockable. Draw 4, don't mind if I do!