Compare to other legends in this set, Rona received quite a bit of criticism. As always, I prefer making a list first.
Rona’s Strength
1) Upon entering the battle, you may exile a historic card in your graveyard and cast it when you are able. Historic includes artifacts, Saga, and ANY legendary spells, which includes creatures, enchantments, planeswalkers, and two new sorceries.
2) The effect last indefinitely till Rona leaves the battlefield.
3) Rona could exile the top card of your library for similar effect.
4) Unlike Snapcaster Mage, spells exiled by Rona do not get “exiled” after cast.
5) Exile top card of the library could be beneficial after rearrangement.
Rona’s Weakness
1) Expensive activation of her second ability.
2) Small body.
3) When Rona died, you can no longer cast spells exiled by her.
Bonus Clarity
1) Rona’s EtBF effect is easier to abuse and less burdensome. Blink cards like Conjurer's Closet and Ghostly Flicker let you reuse her trigger too, same with reanimation spells and clone spells.
2) You don’t need to store up multiple spells on Rona, just the most critical cards. One, if needed be.
3) According to the rule, “Once you begin to cast a card, losing control of Rona won’t affect the spell,” which means if it’s your turn you have priority and the spell will not go to waste.
Rona’s ability to “reanimate” historic permanents and spells by herself is unique. Instead of comparing Rona to Snapcaster I’d prefer seeing her as Yawgmoth’s Will for historic. If Dralnu, Lich Lord’s drawback didn’t stop him from being played, Rona should definitely be given the chance to shine.
Potential Synergy
1) With a sac outlet, Conjurer’s Closet could blink Rona each turn to exile a dead Venser, Shaper Savant for counterspell purposes (sac, blink and repeat).
2) Use up a PW, “reanimate” it with Rona afresh.
3) Sac and draw artifacts likes Mishra’s Bauble is repeat draw with Closet.
4) Cloudstone Curio could bounce Rona back to hand after having a legendary creature (exiled by her) enters the battlefield. Same with cards like Erratic Portal and Time of Ice.
5) Cackling Counterpart allows an instant “replacement” of Rona.
6) Chisei, Heart of Oceans and Hex Parasite allows you to remove counters from Saga. You may allow Chisei or the Saga to die then retrieve them with Rona.
Currently, I think there are a few ways to build Rona:
1) Counter-matter, which focus on PWs, Sagas, and artifacts with counters on it. Proliferate, energy, and Poison theme, even.
2) Artifact centric, like Silas Renn, Seeker Adept but without the need for combat.
3) Stax, Rona will use to retrieve resources needed to maintain pressure. (Smokestack, Eggs)
4) Mixed control, use Rona to continuously retrieve cards like Engineered Explosives.
Below is a progressive list on how to maximize Rona’s power. The emphasis is on reusing not only her ability but also others’. I suspect artifacts will always be easier for a historic deck.
This definitely makes her a better draw engine (as does Heartstone and Illusionist's Bracers which she can also recur), but her ability isn't that great. It's not noticeably better than using Dimir Guildmage or Azure Mage, most of the time, and for recurion is generally less reliable than Phyrexian Reclamation or Haunted Crossroads. As the OP is building her she's more of a reanimtor commander, flickering in and out to recur one or two specific targets over and over. You want quantity over quality, and would be looking to flicker/bounce/sac/loop her EtB trigger and then find discounts on casting those specific spells. If you want to go ham and use her to draw a bunch of legends, however, Training Grounds is the way to do it.
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Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I will add all your suggestions to the list. Remember Rona could recur artifact, planeswalker, and legendary enchantment as well, not just creatures like with Phyrexian Reclamation or Haunted Crossroads.
EDIT: I think Dire Undercurrents fits the theme of blink and clone, and Null Profusion is less dangerous with Rona's ability around.
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Anyway, initially I dismissed Rona as simply way too weak to be worth trying out, but after some thinking and some specific pulls from my prerelease kit, I think she could pretty fun and flavorful as the commander of an artifact creature army, for two reasons:
These two sagas are probably the overall strongest sagas in EDH, but as enchantments they are not very easy to recur in UB, as cards that would do that are almost exclusively G/W, colors which offer poor support for artifacts. However, Rona is an easy-access way to get these sagas back, as well as whatever other key artifacts/legendaries are needed.
When Rona, Disciple of Gix enters the battlefield, you may exile target historic card from your graveyard. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
You may cast nonland cards exiled with Rona.
4, T: Exile the top card of your library.
So, looking at her two abilities, I feel that including tons of blink, topdeck manipulation, mill, activated ability cost reducers/copiers, etc. is an utter waste of time. I don't want to go through a bunch of hoops just to get an AEther Spellbomb back, and I if I haven't won after casting The Antiquities War a couple times already, then adding more air to the deck is the last thing I should do. Mill+etb is pointless when you have black's (and blue's) tutors, and relying on her for card draw is also bad when you are in the literal best colors for card draw.
To me, her abilities read:
Get back the best things in your deck so your opponents have to deal with them again
Flood insurance
I would go from there, with a focus on the two sagas mentioned because they're pretty strong and cool.
Rona is aggressively mediocre. I can't think of anything she or her deck would do that would be even remotely comparable to other UB commanders.
She has unique abilities and she is a challenge to build. Don't know about you, but that's all the reasons I need to make a deck. Care to detail some constructive criticisms?
Updated the list with PWs and Voyager Staff. I wonder if the Staff + Rona could lead to some infinite enter/exit combo?
Currently, I think there are a few ways to build Rona:
1) Counter-matter, which focus on PWs, Sagas, and artifacts with counters on it. Proliferate, energy, and Poison theme, even.
2) Artifact centric, like Silas Renn, Seeker Adept but without the need for combat.
3) Stax, Rona will use to retrieve resources needed to maintain pressure. (Smokestack, Eggs)
4) Mixed control, use Rona to continuously retrieve cards like Engineered Explosives.
Aye, Mindslaver is in the list. Shell of the Last Kappa is an interesting concept, consider Rona with set up could recur it over and over.
The list went through a major update this afternoon, I'm personally pleased with how many directions Rona could go. It's quite entertaining to make Ashiok even more annoying than Ashiok already is.
Shell of the last kappa is hard to combo with. You can counter a spell that targets you with it each turn or play one of them but need to sac it. Roughky speaking to go infinite turns with time strech, you need the commander, an instant bounce/fliker outlet, a way to give an artifact flash and a way to copy a spell each turn. Ohh and time strexb and a l o t of mana.
This way, you can play time strech on yourself, copy it, play kappa to counter the original. Next turn you can then sacrifice kappa to play time strech and get kappa back with your commander and then otherwise as before (note that you need to sac kappa to play time strech and then use kappa to counter time strech - thus the flash).
Alternately, there is a lot of creaturs that can recur spells which removes most of the reqs. from the combo.
Also, regarding: According to the rule, “Once you begin to cast a card, losing control of Rona won’t affect the spell,” which means if it’s your turn you have priority and the spell will not go to waste.
This is true but suggests something false. If you play Rona, then your oppeont can kill her in response to the etb effect. In that case you cannot play the card you targeted at any point - on the plus side, you can choose to not exile if that happens.
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"Hail to the speaker, hail to the knower; joy to he who has understood, delight to they who have listened." - Odin
You can then cast Time Stretch, copy it, let the copy resolve and use Shell to exile the original Time Stretch. That will set you back a cool 16 mana (not counting mana to already have SotLK, Mirari, Rona, Portal, and Leyline already in play)... but once you get it going, you have basically infinite turns as you sacrifice Shell of the Last Kappa to play the Time Stretch for 3 mana, copy it with Mirari, use Erratic Portal to bounce the Rona, play Rona (with Flash) to Exile the Shell of the Last Kappa from your graveyard, cast the Shell (with Flash), then activate it to exile the Time Stretch again. That will cost 3+3+1+1UB+3+3=14UB (total flashback to Clue the movie writing that sentence), but since Time Stretch nets you two turns you can use every other turn to play other stuff.
It's a total Rube Goldberg, glass cannon, "wait WTF just happened?!?!" kind of combo, but who has ever found a good any use for Shell of the Last Kappa before???
You can then cast Time Stretch, copy it, let the copy resolve and use Shell to exile the original Time Stretch. That will set you back a cool 16 mana (not counting mana to already have SotLK, Mirari, Rona, Portal, and Leyline already in play)... but once you get it going, you have basically infinite turns as you sacrifice Shell of the Last Kappa to play the Time Stretch for 3 mana, copy it with Mirari, use Erratic Portal to bounce the Rona, play Rona (with Flash) to Exile the Shell of the Last Kappa from your graveyard, cast the Shell (with Flash), then activate it to exile the Time Stretch again. That will cost 3+3+1+1UB+3+3=14UB (total flashback to Clue the movie writing that sentence), but since Time Stretch nets you two turns you can use every other turn to play other stuff.
It's a total Rube Goldberg, glass cannon, "wait WTF just happened?!?!" kind of combo, but who has ever found a good any use for Shell of the Last Kappa before???
Base on my testing, it's actually easier to set up a perma-blink with Rona (like with Closet or with Navigator), uses Codex Shredder to recur Time Stretch, or Time Warp, which is more mana efficient even if it requires recur to happen each turn.
My current deck has 8 planeswalker in it, using and reusing them has been the most entertaining part playing a Rona deck..
You can then cast Time Stretch, copy it, let the copy resolve and use Shell to exile the original Time Stretch. That will set you back a cool 16 mana (not counting mana to already have SotLK, Mirari, Rona, Portal, and Leyline already in play)... but once you get it going, you have basically infinite turns as you sacrifice Shell of the Last Kappa to play the Time Stretch for 3 mana, copy it with Mirari, use Erratic Portal to bounce the Rona, play Rona (with Flash) to Exile the Shell of the Last Kappa from your graveyard, cast the Shell (with Flash), then activate it to exile the Time Stretch again. That will cost 3+3+1+1UB+3+3=14UB (total flashback to Clue the movie writing that sentence), but since Time Stretch nets you two turns you can use every other turn to play other stuff.
It's a total Rube Goldberg, glass cannon, "wait WTF just happened?!?!" kind of combo, but who has ever found a good any use for Shell of the Last Kappa before???
Base on my testing, it's actually easier to set up a perma-blink with Rona (like with Closet or with Navigator), uses Codex Shredder to recur Time Stretch, or Time Warp, which is more mana efficient even if it requires recur to happen each turn.
My current deck has 8 planeswalker in it, using and reusing them has been the most entertaining part playing a Rona deck..
Funny enough, I realize the deck is stronger if it's less obsessed with historic stuff. Having cards like Cryptic Command (works with Time of Ice), Hero's Downfall (instant removal), Recoil (can be used on yourself to save Rona and discard historic), Rescue from the Underworld (much like Recoil), etc. In other words, play control while using Rona to recur your opponent's worst enemy.
Aside from the Tezz family, I also added Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Karn Liberated, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor for repeated removal and creature steal. I am planning on getting Karn, Scion of Urza and hopefully Liliana of the Veil in the long run for more stable draw/removal. It's funny how well Karn #2 works with Liliana, since your opponent would always give you the bad card and you could just discard it via Liliana. Now imagine they keep coming back with Rona around.
As long as you have enough mana to pay for activation and mana cost of spells, you can cast your entire deck. Throw in a Goblin Charbelcher to make the Mana Severance/Trench Gorger a more viable fit.
The best thing about Rona is that if you play a combo centric deck, that has special unqiue cards, then she has the ability to recast them from graveyard if they were removed by opponents.
Otherwise she is strictly worse than say Thrasios, Triton Hero. But having access to graveyard means that you are more likely to play combo cards into disruption. That's how I think of this commander strength, as her actual ability is pretty medium, especially mana cost wise.
As long as you have enough mana to pay for activation and mana cost of spells, you can cast your entire deck. Throw in a Goblin Charbelcher to make the Mana Severance/Trench Gorger a more viable fit.
The best thing about Rona is that if you play a combo centric deck, that has special unqiue cards, then she has the ability to recast them from graveyard if they were removed by opponents.
Otherwise she is strictly worse than say Thrasios, Triton Hero. But having access to graveyard means that you are more likely to play combo cards into disruption. That's how I think of this commander strength, as her actual ability is pretty medium, especially mana cost wise.
With Paradox Engine and mana rocks + Crystal Shard, you could repeatedly return/recast Rona to exile/play a 0/1 cc cantrip artifact, proceed to draw your whole library (in Conjurer's Bauble's case, you can get non-historic cards back to the library for it to be found). Rona's option to revive used up cards is one reason why I like her, and why I feel that she's been overlooked by people.
I think the best way to build Rona is to behave as if her activated ability does not exist, because it's pretty terrible and like 99% of the times you use it will be if you have literally nothing else to do. Paying 4 mana to sort-of half draw a card (she doesn't let you play the lands she exiles) in U/B is ludicrous. I think her ability to just be a Snapcaster Mage for artifacts and synergistic legendary cards (Oath of Jace, for instance) is where she can be made to shine. I'd start with a control shell, keeping artifacts, incidental self-mill, and looting in mind.
With Paradox Engine and mana rocks + Crystal Shard, you could repeatedly return/recast Rona to exile/play a 0/1 cc cantrip artifact, proceed to draw your whole library (in Conjurer's Bauble's case, you can get non-historic cards back to the library for it to be found). Rona's option to revive used up cards is one reason why I like her, and why I feel that she's been overlooked by people.
I think is easier with PE + mana rocks + Top you can draw your whole deck by drawing with top, exile top with rona, and cast top triggering PE.
But PE combo with anything so...
I'm just going to add to this, with Rona's activated ability; if you create infinite colourless mana with the dramatic reversal/isochron scepter/nonland source of 3+ mana , you can exile all the cards in your library and play them from exile in a similar way to how thrasios, triton hero is used.
Indeed, though unlike Thraios one couldn't use Laboratory Maniac as a wincon under infinite mana. A small drawback, I guess.
Compare to other legends in this set, Rona received quite a bit of criticism. As always, I prefer making a list first.
Rona’s Strength
1) Upon entering the battle, you may exile a historic card in your graveyard and cast it when you are able. Historic includes artifacts, Saga, and ANY legendary spells, which includes creatures, enchantments, planeswalkers, and two new sorceries.
2) The effect last indefinitely till Rona leaves the battlefield.
3) Rona could exile the top card of your library for similar effect.
4) Unlike Snapcaster Mage, spells exiled by Rona do not get “exiled” after cast.
5) Exile top card of the library could be beneficial after rearrangement.
Rona’s Weakness
1) Expensive activation of her second ability.
2) Small body.
3) When Rona died, you can no longer cast spells exiled by her.
Bonus Clarity
1) Rona’s EtBF effect is easier to abuse and less burdensome. Blink cards like Conjurer's Closet and Ghostly Flicker let you reuse her trigger too, same with reanimation spells and clone spells.
2) You don’t need to store up multiple spells on Rona, just the most critical cards. One, if needed be.
3) According to the rule, “Once you begin to cast a card, losing control of Rona won’t affect the spell,” which means if it’s your turn you have priority and the spell will not go to waste.
Rona’s ability to “reanimate” historic permanents and spells by herself is unique. Instead of comparing Rona to Snapcaster I’d prefer seeing her as Yawgmoth’s Will for historic. If Dralnu, Lich Lord’s drawback didn’t stop him from being played, Rona should definitely be given the chance to shine.
Potential Synergy
1) With a sac outlet, Conjurer’s Closet could blink Rona each turn to exile a dead Venser, Shaper Savant for counterspell purposes (sac, blink and repeat).
2) Use up a PW, “reanimate” it with Rona afresh.
3) Sac and draw artifacts likes Mishra’s Bauble is repeat draw with Closet.
4) Cloudstone Curio could bounce Rona back to hand after having a legendary creature (exiled by her) enters the battlefield. Same with cards like Erratic Portal and Time of Ice.
5) Cackling Counterpart allows an instant “replacement” of Rona.
6) Chisei, Heart of Oceans and Hex Parasite allows you to remove counters from Saga. You may allow Chisei or the Saga to die then retrieve them with Rona.
Currently, I think there are a few ways to build Rona:
1) Counter-matter, which focus on PWs, Sagas, and artifacts with counters on it. Proliferate, energy, and Poison theme, even.
2) Artifact centric, like Silas Renn, Seeker Adept but without the need for combat.
3) Stax, Rona will use to retrieve resources needed to maintain pressure. (Smokestack, Eggs)
4) Mixed control, use Rona to continuously retrieve cards like Engineered Explosives.
Below is a progressive list on how to maximize Rona’s power. The emphasis is on reusing not only her ability but also others’. I suspect artifacts will always be easier for a historic deck.
1 Conjurer's Closet
1 Crystal Shard
1 Deadeye Navigator
1 Erratic Portal
1 Essence Flux
1 Nephalia Smuggler
1 Sentinel of the Pearl Trident
1 Siren's Ruse
1 Voidwalk
1 Voyager Staff
Bounce
1 Cloudstone Curio
1 Curfew
1 Guardians of Koilos
Clone
1 Cackling Counterpart
1 Sakashima the Impostor
Creature Recur
1 Dawn of the Dead
1 Goryo's Vengeance
1 Haunted Crossroads
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Resourceful Return
1 Skeleton Shard
1 Whip of Erebos
Artifact Recur
1 Academy Ruins
1 Buried Ruin
1 Junk Diver
1 Myr Retriever
1 Reconstruction
1 Rootwater Diver
1 Scrap Trawler
1 Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
1 Workshop Assistant
Reanimate/Recur Both
1 Beacon of Unrest
1 Fortuitous Find
Spell Recur
1 Snapcaster Mage
1 Torrential Gearhulk
Reanimate/Recur Self
1 Ovalchase Daredevil
Legendary Creatures
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Legendary Sorcery
1 Karn's Temporal Sundering
1 Yawgmoth's Vile Offering
Legendary Enchant
1 Honden of Night's Reach
1 In Bolas's Clutches
1 Lich's Mastery
1 Meishin, the Mind Cage
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Search for Azcanta
Planeswalkers
1 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
1 Jace Beleren
1 Jace, Architect of Thought
1 Jace, Cunning Castaway
1 Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage
1 Jace, Memory Adept
1 Jace, the Living Guildpact
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana Vess
1 Liliana, Death Wielder
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Sorin Markov
1 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
1 Teferi, Temporal Archmage
1 Tezzeret the Schemer
1 Tezzeret the Seeker
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Tezzeret, Master of Metal
1 Vraska, Scheming Gorgon
1 Chainer's Torment
1 Phyrexian Scriptures
1 Rite of Belzenlok
1 The Antiquities War
1 The Eldest Reborn
1 The Mirari Conjecture
1 Time of Ice
EGGS
1 Trinket Mage
1 Aether Spellbomb
1 Conjurer's Bauble
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Executioner's Capsule
1 Expedition Map
1 Mishra's Bauble
1 Nihil Spellbomb
1 Urza's Bauble
Historic-Matter
1 Artificer's Assistant
1 Cabal Paladin
1 Curator's Ward
1 Jhoira's Familiar
1 Mishra's Self-Replicator
1 Traxos, Scourge of Kroog
1 Weatherlight
Artifact-Matter
1 Arcum Dagsson
1 Master Transmuter
1 Muzzio, Visionary Architect
1 Padeem, Consul of Innovation
1 Riddlesmith
PW-Matter
1 Oath of Jace
1 Oath of Liliana
Draw
1 Arguel's Blood Fast
1 Bident of Thassa
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
1 Honden of Seeing Winds
1 Metalspinner's Puzzleknot
1 Mulldrifter
1 Null Profusion
1 Thopter Spy Network
Top-Of-Library
1 Soothsaying
1 Scroll Rack
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Thassa, God of the Sea
Training/Activation
1 Training Grounds
1 Azure Mage
1 Dimir Guildmage
1 Heartstone
1 Illusionist's Bracers
1 Magewright's Stone
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
Artifact Cost Reduction
1 Cloud Key
1 Etherium Sculptor
1 Foundry Inspector
Graveyard Dump
1 Corpse Connoisseur
1 Entomb
Discard Outlet
1 Careful Study
1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
1 Urza's Tome
Mill Outlet
1 Diligent Excavator
1 Phenax, God of Deception
Sac Outlet
1 Ashnod’s Altar
1 Claws of Gix
1 Rescue from the Underworld
Flash
1 Leyline of Anticipation
1 Thran Temporal Gateway
1 Vedalken Orrery
Removal
1 Noxious Gearhulk
1 Blighted Agent
1 Caress of Phyrexia
1 Contagious Nim
1 Core Prowler
1 Corpse Cur
1 Corrupted Conscience
1 Decimator Web
1 Flensermite
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Hand of the Praetors
1 Ichor Rats
1 Ichorclaw Myr
1 Necropede
1 Pestilent Souleater
1 Phyrexian Crusader
1 Phyrexian Digester
1 Phyrexian Juggernaut
1 Phyrexian Vat-mother
1 Plague Myr
1 Plague Stinger
1 Reaper of Sheoldred
1 Septic Rats
1 Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
1 Vector Asp
1 Viral Drake
1 Whispering Specter
Energy
1 Aether Theorist
1 Aethersphere Harvester
1 Aethersquall Ancient
1 Aetherworks Marvel
1 Confiscation Coup
1 Consulate Turret
1 Deadlock Trap
1 Decoction Module
1 Demon of Dark Schemes
1 Dynavolt Tower
1 Electrostatic Pummeler
1 Era of Innovation
1 Fabrication Module
1 Glassblower's Puzzleknot
1 Glimmer of Genius
1 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
1 Gonti's Aether Heart
1 Gonti's Machinations
1 Live Fast
1 Minister of Inquiries
1 Shielded Aether Thief
Counter Manipulation
1 Chisei, Heart of Oceans
1 Clockspinning
1 Hex Parasite
1 Thief of Blood
1 Thrull Parasite
1 Vampire Hexmage
Utilities/Tricky
1 Dire Undercurrents
1 Tezzeret's Touch
1 Trading Post
Stax
1 Possessed Portal
1 Smokestack
1 Uba Mask
Wincon
1 Mindslaver
1 Paradox Engine
Let’s brew!
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
- Several trinket targets, namely Aether Spellbomb, Nihil Spellbomb, Expedition Map, Mishra's Bauble, Engineered Explosives, and Executioner's Capsule, are MUCH better when Rona can keep on cheaply bringing them back for an encore. The map is notable because Rona is REALLY going to need mana, and it makes it much easier to assemble an Urzatron or the Urborg + Cabal Coffers set-up.
- Rona naturally wants stuff like Ghostly Flicker, Conjurer's Closet, Crystal Shard, and Deadeye Navigator, which all naturally pair with Trinket Mage as well.
- Rona also really enjoys library manipulation, so conveniently Trinket Mage can find her a Sensei's Divining Top
Speaking of library manipulation, Scroll Rack seems essential.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
UBRKess, Dissident MageUBR - Controlling Dissidents
GRhonas the IndomitableG - Indomitable Four Drops
WUBOloro, Ageless AsceticWUB - Loot & Renanimate
This definitely makes her a better draw engine (as does Heartstone and Illusionist's Bracers which she can also recur), but her ability isn't that great. It's not noticeably better than using Dimir Guildmage or Azure Mage, most of the time, and for recurion is generally less reliable than Phyrexian Reclamation or Haunted Crossroads. As the OP is building her she's more of a reanimtor commander, flickering in and out to recur one or two specific targets over and over. You want quantity over quality, and would be looking to flicker/bounce/sac/loop her EtB trigger and then find discounts on casting those specific spells. If you want to go ham and use her to draw a bunch of legends, however, Training Grounds is the way to do it.
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Might i suggest a Stax variant? Rona can grab back Stax pieces when they kick the bucket. She kinda works with Uba Mask as wel
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
EDIT: I think Dire Undercurrents fits the theme of blink and clone, and Null Profusion is less dangerous with Rona's ability around.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
On phasing:
Well, also Jhoira's Familiar
----
Anyway, initially I dismissed Rona as simply way too weak to be worth trying out, but after some thinking and some specific pulls from my prerelease kit, I think she could pretty fun and flavorful as the commander of an artifact creature army, for two reasons:
Phyrexian Scriptures
The Antiquities War
These two sagas are probably the overall strongest sagas in EDH, but as enchantments they are not very easy to recur in UB, as cards that would do that are almost exclusively G/W, colors which offer poor support for artifacts. However, Rona is an easy-access way to get these sagas back, as well as whatever other key artifacts/legendaries are needed.
So, looking at her two abilities, I feel that including tons of blink, topdeck manipulation, mill, activated ability cost reducers/copiers, etc. is an utter waste of time. I don't want to go through a bunch of hoops just to get an AEther Spellbomb back, and I if I haven't won after casting The Antiquities War a couple times already, then adding more air to the deck is the last thing I should do. Mill+etb is pointless when you have black's (and blue's) tutors, and relying on her for card draw is also bad when you are in the literal best colors for card draw.
To me, her abilities read:
Get back the best things in your deck so your opponents have to deal with them again
Flood insurance
I would go from there, with a focus on the two sagas mentioned because they're pretty strong and cool.
She has unique abilities and she is a challenge to build. Don't know about you, but that's all the reasons I need to make a deck. Care to detail some constructive criticisms?
Back to the topic:
Some ideas I found on Reddit are very artifact focused, with cards like Padeem, Consul of Innovation, Muzzio, Visionary Architect, Arcum Dagsson, Master Transmuter, Riddlesmith, Etherium Sculptor, etc. She is an ARTIFICER, after all, I wonder if the original intent was artifacts also.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Currently, I think there are a few ways to build Rona:
1) Counter-matter, which focus on PWs, Sagas, and artifacts with counters on it. Proliferate, energy, and Poison theme, even.
2) Artifact centric, like Silas Renn, Seeker Adept but without the need for combat.
3) Stax, Rona will use to retrieve resources needed to maintain pressure. (Smokestack, Eggs)
4) Mixed control, use Rona to continuously retrieve cards like Engineered Explosives.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
There also has to be something worthwhile to play every turn for free with Shell of the Last Kappa like Time Stretch.
Aye, Mindslaver is in the list. Shell of the Last Kappa is an interesting concept, consider Rona with set up could recur it over and over.
The list went through a major update this afternoon, I'm personally pleased with how many directions Rona could go. It's quite entertaining to make Ashiok even more annoying than Ashiok already is.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
This way, you can play time strech on yourself, copy it, play kappa to counter the original. Next turn you can then sacrifice kappa to play time strech and get kappa back with your commander and then otherwise as before (note that you need to sac kappa to play time strech and then use kappa to counter time strech - thus the flash).
Alternately, there is a lot of creaturs that can recur spells which removes most of the reqs. from the combo.
Also, regarding: According to the rule, “Once you begin to cast a card, losing control of Rona won’t affect the spell,” which means if it’s your turn you have priority and the spell will not go to waste.
This is true but suggests something false. If you play Rona, then your oppeont can kill her in response to the etb effect. In that case you cannot play the card you targeted at any point - on the plus side, you can choose to not exile if that happens.
You can then cast Time Stretch, copy it, let the copy resolve and use Shell to exile the original Time Stretch. That will set you back a cool 16 mana (not counting mana to already have SotLK, Mirari, Rona, Portal, and Leyline already in play)... but once you get it going, you have basically infinite turns as you sacrifice Shell of the Last Kappa to play the Time Stretch for 3 mana, copy it with Mirari, use Erratic Portal to bounce the Rona, play Rona (with Flash) to Exile the Shell of the Last Kappa from your graveyard, cast the Shell (with Flash), then activate it to exile the Time Stretch again. That will cost 3+3+1+1UB+3+3=14UB (total flashback to Clue the movie writing that sentence), but since Time Stretch nets you two turns you can use every other turn to play other stuff.
It's a total Rube Goldberg, glass cannon, "wait WTF just happened?!?!" kind of combo, but who has ever found
a goodany use for Shell of the Last Kappa before???Base on my testing, it's actually easier to set up a perma-blink with Rona (like with Closet or with Navigator), uses Codex Shredder to recur Time Stretch, or Time Warp, which is more mana efficient even if it requires recur to happen each turn.
My current deck has 8 planeswalker in it, using and reusing them has been the most entertaining part playing a Rona deck..
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Funny enough, I realize the deck is stronger if it's less obsessed with historic stuff. Having cards like Cryptic Command (works with Time of Ice), Hero's Downfall (instant removal), Recoil (can be used on yourself to save Rona and discard historic), Rescue from the Underworld (much like Recoil), etc. In other words, play control while using Rona to recur your opponent's worst enemy.
Aside from the Tezz family, I also added Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, Karn Liberated, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor for repeated removal and creature steal. I am planning on getting Karn, Scion of Urza and hopefully Liliana of the Veil in the long run for more stable draw/removal. It's funny how well Karn #2 works with Liliana, since your opponent would always give you the bad card and you could just discard it via Liliana. Now imagine they keep coming back with Rona around.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
As long as you have enough mana to pay for activation and mana cost of spells, you can cast your entire deck. Throw in a Goblin Charbelcher to make the Mana Severance/Trench Gorger a more viable fit.
Training Grounds is a must.
The best thing about Rona is that if you play a combo centric deck, that has special unqiue cards, then she has the ability to recast them from graveyard if they were removed by opponents.
Otherwise she is strictly worse than say Thrasios, Triton Hero. But having access to graveyard means that you are more likely to play combo cards into disruption. That's how I think of this commander strength, as her actual ability is pretty medium, especially mana cost wise.
Niv-Mizzet Reborn
Feather, the Redeemed
Estrid, the Masked
Teshar
Tymna/Ravos
Najeela, Blade-Blossom
Firesong & Sunspeaker
Zur the Enchanter
Lazav, the Multifarious
Ishai+Reyhan
Click images for decks->
-Prime Speaker Vannifar
---------------------Will & Rowan Kenrith
With Paradox Engine and mana rocks + Crystal Shard, you could repeatedly return/recast Rona to exile/play a 0/1 cc cantrip artifact, proceed to draw your whole library (in Conjurer's Bauble's case, you can get non-historic cards back to the library for it to be found). Rona's option to revive used up cards is one reason why I like her, and why I feel that she's been overlooked by people.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
I think is easier with PE + mana rocks + Top you can draw your whole deck by drawing with top, exile top with rona, and cast top triggering PE.
But PE combo with anything so...
Indeed, though unlike Thraios one couldn't use Laboratory Maniac as a wincon under infinite mana. A small drawback, I guess.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs