Hello, and welcome!

Have you seen Torbran?

Torbran is the Thane of the Red Fell, and thus likely heads their court and such. Torbran's fun! He's a powerful four-mana dork that can increase Red damage you are doling out to enemies and their stuff by 2 each.

That's great for an epic amount of reasons. Let's take a look at my normal list, and I want to unpack a massive amount of powerful cards that are going to break him all up and down the block.

This guy has a ton of potential, particularly in Commander, to change a game massively in your favor by taking advantage of cards that were meant to be synergetic.

Before I do, let's put on a moment of pause.

You might be thinking that Torbran isn't that hot cakes. We've had Red cards before that increase damage, and we'll have them again.

We sure have! We've had things like Fire Servant that will increase the damage of your Red instants/sorceries by double. Nice! Lightning Bolt for 6. You also have Furnace of Rath that doubles all damage that anyone would deal. You got it! Embermaw Hellion? It increases Red damage from any of your sources by one. Sure thing, great cards all around. Ditto Jaya, Venerated Firemage.

But that's not why Torbran is so new and powerful.

Look at him again.

"If a Red source you control, would deal damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, it deals that much damage plus 2 instead."

I have italicized the part that changes Torbran completely from previous version of this ability. He is not synergetic. Prior, there were breaks. All damage was doubled. All Red damage was increased. But now? Any Red damage from any source is increased by 2 to things your foes' control and themselves. It's a very, very different ability, and Red is something that is really powerful in this regards, and it often damages everyone for effects.

Let's unpack a long laundry list for you as a part of today's article.

15. Hellrider / Scalding Salamander and Others

There are a number of Red dorks out there that will shoot a lot of damage as they swing. Hellrider is fun because you can shoot the defending player for 1 damage each time something punches that way, prior to damage to being dealt. Now you deal three damage if you control a Torbran. That's a lot of damage! The Salamander is a little different as it'll deal one damage to each ground creature the person you are swinging at prior to damage arriving on the scene. But now? Three damage to them all, muahaha!

14. Pyroclasm (and Similar Effects)

Any damage based Red removal will deal more damage to your foes. For example, take Pyroclasm. Now, with the Thane out, you are dealing four damage to your foe's stuff but only two to yours. Which means that Torbran won't die with it. And this is true for any damage-based sweeper. I just chose Pyroclasm because it's cheap and strong early, but you could run things like Hour of Devastation of others that you could potentially survive but not them.

13. Forked Bolt (and Similar Damage Splitting Effects)

The Thane also works very well with effects that split damage. Something like Arc Lightning or Flames of the Firebrand can deal three damage to three targets for three damage, a nasty knock-out effect. Forked Bolt? Six damage for one mana! Dang!

Burn lovers, you are never going to get it this good again.

12. Searing Blaze

Searing Blaze, with landfall, is dealing 10 damage! And unlike some of the better damage splitting effects above, it's an instant. Searing Blaze is so good it's run in places like Modern's Burn deck and more. Once again though, ten damage for just two mana at instant if you've dropped a land. That's just so powerful.

11. Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh

How about with Chandra? Consider the synergy with her. With Torbran on your side, you tap Chandra to deal three damage, which will flip her over without you needing to do anymore dances. Then +1 her to shoot someone for four damage more, and you will have just death 7 damage to someone's face and have a 5 loyalty 'walker out. On the fourth turn.

Drop Chandra first on turn three, then Torbran on turn four, then tap and use and make a Chandra and use. I know! So nice, and Torbran can protect Chandra on the backside from folks that may want to swing into her and keep you down.

10. Impact Resonance

But here is my Piece de Resistance for your consideration. How much damage was dealt to anything this turn? Okay, great. Here's another dose of that damage, and you'll deal even more damage!

Here, let me do a quick analysis.

You control the Thane of Red Hall:

1. You cast Forked Bolt. Deal one damage to one player, and one to either another player, or a planeswalker or something (it's now errata to work on any target).
2. You dealt 6 damage.
3. Cast this. You have 6 damage to divide for creatures. You could hit six creatures for three damage each, or two creatures for three each and one for six.

If all you did was a four damage activation with Chandra the Walker of Fire, then this is a two-mana death machine for dorks.

You know what? Why don't I pause this article and give you a quick deck list built around some of the cards above?

Here's my first Chandra/Torbran deck.

First Comes Love | Casual | Abe Sargent

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Akki Lavarunner
• 1 Angrath's Marauders
• 2 Embermaw Hellion
• 3 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
• 4 Mogg Fanatic
• 4 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
• 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 2 Jaya, Venerated Firemage

• Spells (15)
• 1 Violent Eruption
• 2 Impact Resonance
• 2 Searing Blaze
• 1 Rolling Thunder
• 4 Flames of the Firebrand
• 4 Forked Bolt
• 1 Chandra's Regulator

• Lands (25)
• 25 Mountain

Buy This Deck Export text format

And there you are! I also have a few ways to increase damage in other places in the deck. You can see some more ways to divide damage like Violent Eruption here too.

Now I want to slide into more of a Commander vibe as we move further up the list. Torbran works in 60 card builds as you can see above, but I also really like a lot of his combos specially for a format where you know you are going to be running him.

If you wanted a Torbran Commander build, as an example, you could dip into some of the fun, Johnny combos we discussed earlier.

But now, get your Spikes out.

Now, note that there are a number of Spike damage hard effects that a Thane of the Red Hall fan could run.

9. Manabarbs // Burning Earth

Whoa! I am going to take a deep dive into Manabarbs to set up where the rest of my list is coming from, so get ready.

This is Manabarbs, and it was in the very first set in the game. Now, in a normal 20-life format, being forced to take a damage for each time you tap a land for mana can be a decent break, but not always a game-ender. It's not a nice card, but it works for everyone equally.

But in a 40 life environment, Manabarbs's single 1 damage each land tapped for mana will barely make a dent.

Unless they are losing 3 life to your one...

If they have 40 life when it arrives, then they can only tap lands for mana 13 times before dying. If someone uses a pain land like an Ancient Tomb or a City of Brass? Super ouch! Meanwhile, you are taking one-third the damage, and you have 39 taps before dying from the same starting life total. And remember, Manabarbs is for each land tapped. If your foe goes to tap two lands to cast Counterspell? They are taking six to the face for their impudence. Anyone tapping four lands for mana for their Commander is taking a dozen damage to the face.

Burning Earth is even better, as in a mono-Red build, you can run a ton of Mountains, while your opponents are struggling with Command Tower and similar cards. These two cards also brilliantly show the path we are about to be hewing, so get ready.

Scald hoses one land type, but it may be a lot of land types in your metagame. Consider it.

Not only will Thane triple punish you for tapping lands for mana, he'll also...

8. Spellshock / Pyrostatic Pillar / Eidolon of the Great Revel

...he'll also double punish you for daring to cast a spell! Manabarbs and Burning Earth aren't the only effects that play into this space. Take a look at Spellshock, a three mana enchantment that also impacts everyone. You can drop it on turn three, and then your leader on turn four, and then just blow folks up with damage. They lose four life for each spell they cast, but you only lose 2. In a 40 life environment, that's fine for you, it's 20 spells down the road. But for them? Nasty. What about Pyrostatic Pillar? In Spike-y environments that push stuff as cheaply as possible? Dang. Eidolon of the Great Revel runs into a similar steam as well for water.

You have similar effects like Scab-Clan Berserker or Mondronen Shaman that may not always work, but when they do? They add a lot of redundancy to the deck. Red also has a lot of ways of shutting off life gain to prevent your foe from gaining life after taking tons of damage.

Like...say....this guy.

7. Rampaging Ferocidon

Here we have Rampaging Ferocidon that shuts down life gain and shoots folks for a damage each time they drop a dork. Taking a single damage each time? Sure, it's barely a blink? Your foes taking three to the face while you only take one? That is a game shutdown.

And of course, that the only effects that's here.

6. Leyline of Combustion

This may have been dismissed at the time you saw it but take another look at it again! Did you dare try and touch one of my things or myself? How dare you! Here, take four damage! This works for any targeted effect, even from abilities like Maze of Ith, Strip Mine, or similar ones. If you even look at me....take four damage.

5. Tunnel Ignus

Hello Tunnel Ignus! Your foe will now take a whopping 5 damage if they dared to drop a 2nd land on any given turn. No more ramping for you! Don't use your fetch land on the same turn you dropped it or you'll take a Lava Axe to the face.

4. Ash Zealot

Is your foe trying to cast something from their graveyard? Now they take 5 damage to the face each time. Note that with the other cards in this article, you could very well shut down a lot of commonly played leaders at the Commander table. Thou shalt not cast spells from thy graveyard without paying a penance.

3. Hissing Iguanar

Did you think you could kill my dorks? Or anyone else's for that matter? How dare you. Take a Lightning Bolt to the face! I may also want to kill your planeswalkers instead, so get ready for their death as well.

2. Immolation Shaman / Harsh Mentor

Is your foe trying to play the game by doing things like activating a land, artifact or dork? And it's not a mana ability? Knock that off! Deal 3 or 4 to them! These are both very powerful, because they will add to the Manabarbs and other effects. If they tap a land for mana, take Manabarbs damage. If they tap it for something else, take Harsh Mentor damage.

1. Stranglehold

Stop trying to find answers, and just accept your death.

Come on now, stop trying to do things! The more you try to drop lands, activate abilities, tap lands for mana, cast spells, kill creatures, drop creatures, and cast stuff from your graveyard, the more damage you'll take, and the faster you'll die. Stop playing the game!

And there we are! I hope you enjoyed today's article!

P.S. - Obviously, that back half was written with a facetious tone, meant to invoke irony and humor. I do think that Commander is best when you let your foes play the game, but Torbran at his worst is probably still friendlier than a Tempo Laden Stasis deck with Derevi, Empyreal Tactician or something else that prevents you from untapping and playing while they untap lands with their leader and win. (Kismet and similar effects will force anything that arrives to do so tapped locking off that level of interaction). I hope you enjoyed it!