Hello folks!

Over the last few weeks I've looked at the least played two-color leaders in Commander over at edhrec.com. We had six that only had a single deck registered under their name, which is downright sad considering the size of its database! I build a Dimir deck around Ur-Drago that looked at cards like Merfolk Assassin and War Barge, and then I turned to mana game-winning combos with Gruul's Sunastian Falconer, which surprised me with the low amount of usage he had.

Of the remaining four, three are vanilla (Lady Orca, Jedit Ojanan, Kasimir the Lone Wolf) and one had the same first strike and turning off land-walk as Ur-Drago (Lord Magnus). I am still inspired by the theme! But none of those inspire me.

I wanted to increase my range. So today, I am opening up this challenge to any other two-color leaders that have fewer than 10 entries on EDHREC, in the 220k + database. Again, I am not interested in solo partners, no one is registered a deck with just Ravos Soultender, for example, they'll include the other partner as well.

Azorius:

In addition to the two vanilla's mentioned above we also have:

• Tobias Andrion
• Ayesha Tanaka
• Hunding Gjornersen
• Gosta Dirk

One of those is vanilla and another is the first-strike no landwalk cycle too. We also have the mighty rampage.

Dimir:

• Riven Turnbull
• Princess Lucrezia
• Sivitri Scarzam

One that is vanilla and two that tap for mana. Note that I have a budget build around Princess Lucrezia and Riven as well.

Rakdos:

• Pavel Maliki
• Tor Wauki
• Barktooth Warbeard
• Rohgahh of Kher Keep
• Boris Devilboon

That includes one vanilla and one pumpable. Note that I have used Boris Devilboon in a Budget Commander build as well as Tor Wauki for my Wasteland EDH deck.

Although that was like 8 years ago, so I could update it or make it non-Pauper.

Gruul:

• Livonya Silone
• Tuknir Deathlock
• Marhault Elsdragon
• The Lady of the Mountain
• Jerrard of the Closed Fist

We have two more vanilla dorks here and another rampage only body. I have built a Random commander around The Lady of the Mountain for you already. The rest of these are pretty open though.

Selesnya:

• Daughter of Autumn
• Torsten Von Ursus
• Kei Takahashi
• Sir Shandlar of Eberyn
• Lady Caleria
• Gabriel Angelfire

You have two more vanilla dorks here. I have a real-life commander deck around Lady Caleria that's awesome in flavor, and I've used Daughter and Gabriel for decks in the past (I had a real life Commander 95 variant that was led by Gabriel).

Any enemy colors this time? Nope!

What am I thinking?

Here's my short list:

Tuknir Deathlock has a fun flying and pumpery that would be a blast to build around, and Ayesha Tanaka is fun. She's also a legendary Artificer, hint hint, and can tap to counter non-mana abilities of artifacts unless their owner spends a mana. So she's an Artificer who shuts down other artifice. I think there's something there.

But I think we all know the direction I'll be heading.

Hello Tor Wauki!

Tor Wauki only has two decks registered over at EDHREC.com, which is just weird.

We'll be updating The Wasteland from 2011, and this time, it won't be Pauper.

What is this Wasteland? Great question!

Allow me to skip writing for a paragraph or two and quote myself from the article linked above:

This deck was called The Wasteland. It was a Red and Black construction. Whenever a new set would come out, Brad would look for the occasional card to add to his deck to pull out a nonperformer. Money was no object to Brad as far as The Wasteland went. If he wanted it, he would get it. He would wait until someone played him with a card, and if he liked it, he would have it the next day.

Brad would get whatever he wanted, and then would play it into the ground. He had Deserts from Arabian Nights that were as worn out as an old shoe. He didn't care. I don't remember all of the cards in the deck, but I do remember Sengir Vampire, Desert, Lightning Bolt, Terror, and Tor Wauki. Whenever he played his Legends Tor Wauki, he'd tap it and lower his voice to make this little half-chant, half-song. Then he'd untap it again and get it ready. He loved that Tor Wauki!

All right!

For Tor and Brad!

The Wasteland would be a bit of a mid-range deck with control and decent elements to create a powerful board presence. The first place I am adding cards is the powerful slate of Rakdos colored creatures from the first few sets, like Shivan Dragon, Sengir Vampire, and Hypnotic Specter.

Now, I am also adding in cards like Desert. I also have an innovation to Brad's build:

It's this. This is Death Pits of Rath. As you can see, whenever damage is dealt to any critter (including yours) that creature bites it.

Remember what Tor Wauki does here. He can tap to damage any blocker or attacker for 2 damage and there are no restrictions on the dork in question. With a Death Pits of Rath out, he'll now kill them. It will also make your team more painful to block. Jump in front, and you could be killed instantly prior to damage being dealt.

Desert also plays into the theme as a way to shoot a dork. In this case it's only attackers. Note that they will get in a punch first prior to doing so, but they will also shoot-kill with Death Pits.

I also have this trick with Sorceress Queen as well. Any dork that swings or blocks can be 0/2ed and then killed, without the Death Pits under your control.

Gods are great if they can slide into your build. I enjoy the power of Mogis here in particular as his ability to tax for life or sacrifices of creatures fits well. Also the indestructible of them works with my own stuff.

Brad enjoyed value, as you can see from the Bosium Strip and other additions he made. He would have loved planeswalkers. Chandra, Pyromaster is mainly here for her 0 ability to keep the cards flowing, but her +1 that can shoot a dork and slay it with Death Pits is cool. You can also tap with Tor Wauki, damage something, and then finish it with the damage if it had 3 toughness. Her Torch of Defiance is rocking as every ability works here.

But Angrath is my favorite in this build, with his forcing all foes to discard, grabbing their dorks and punching them with it (and if it's small enough, it'll die afterward) and his -8 isn't too shabby either.

Now I do want to have some built-in protection to my own Death Pits and other effects beyond the normal Lightning Greaves et. all. We don't have a lot of those in Rakdos colors. But we have these! Soul of New Phyrexia can be used to protect the team from any sort of removal, and you persist or undying can also help keep your team. In this case you'd see them killed and then return, but there's value in that.

Scythe of the Wretched is pretty cool. Equip something like Tor Wauki, and then when it shoots and kills something naturally, (or in another method) that dork will return under your control and be equipped by the Scythe.

Another way to play into this field is deathtouch. Tor can shoot and slay something with a Collar on, and you'll gain two life too. Note that Tor can shoot any attacker, not necessarily one that's looking at your direction. The same is true with blockers, so anyone who swings will be risking a lot.

How do I ensure they'll swing? Great question! Bloodthistry Blade will force them to swing at each other, and won't pump up the defense, so you can tap and kill it if its small enough.

Xantcha, Sleeper Agent is great value in the same role, and cannot attack you. You can also drain the user of life while you and others draw away. Now if I wanted to, I could toss in Grand Melee or something, but I prefer the limited take of these cards instead.

First strike changes the math for Tor too. For example, imagine you control a Mentor. You are attacked by a dork with 5 or fewer defense without first or double strike. You block with Tor, and he deals 3 first strike. Then you tap Tor and finish it off before it deals I's damage back. Or if you have first strike and something like deathtouch, you can kill two dorks on defense (Block, tap).

Now this is not a Death Pits of Rath deck, so I won't be adding in cards like Pyrotechnics or others that will dole out damage across multiple targets. However, we have a few Triskelions and such here and there, in case you manage to grab it.

And now I am just going to flesh the deck out with midrange value. We have combos and synergies around the leader, and now we are adding in cards like Flametongue Kavu and the Redcap, or the Chupacabra. These sorts of sold bodies will add value, and the damage ones can finish off a dork or smash with the Death Pits.

Another place I dipped into was the mad value of these folks, Liliana's Specter and Burglar Rat. Each of these has a powerful early ability to punish people's hands, and then also remains pertinent later in the game as folks have played or used their extra lands and cards and only holding on to gas.

We also have a few cards in here to flesh out the deck. I wanted to add in some card drawing, so in leapt Staff of Nin, which is a free bonus card for you every turn. And it can tap to smash something for a damage for free. Torbran will increase your Tor Wauki's damage to an absurd amount with his increase of damage.

Take a gander at Pestilent Spirit. This bad boy gives all of your spells deathtouch. That means something like Lightning Bolt will kill with this out. It's a useful adjunct to any deck with burn removal that wants; to make sure it's still good enough to deal with the enemy. We'll toss in a few Rolling Thunder style effects where you can split the damage if the table requires it. Doling out one damage to each creature and killing it with deathtouch can clear out the board as well as work with Torbran and Tor.

Backdraft Hellkite is my version of Brad'sBosium Strip.

Obviously, I had to add in Wasteland. Because it's well...called The Wasteland.

Now Brad was not someone to shy away from expensive cards if they worked, but he never forced an expensive card either. He didn't have any Moxen or a Black Lotus in his build. But cost was never issue with him either. If he needed it, he'd get it. You'll see that below, as I won't shy away from cards like Damnation or Badlands, but I'm not running every expensive Rakdos colored Commander card either.

And that's it! Ready to see Tor Wauki for the Wasteland-ish win?

Here you go!

Tor's Wasteland | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Tor Wauki

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Backdraft Hellkite
• 1 Bloodmark Mentor
• 1 Burglar Rat
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1 Fallen Angel
• 1 Flametongue Kavu
• 1 Fumiko the Lowblood
• 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Hypnotic Specter
• 1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
• 1 Liliana's Specter
• 1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1 Mogis, God of Slaughter
• 1 Murderous Redcap
• 1 Pestilent Spirit
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Royal Assassin
• 1 Sengir Vampire
• 1 Shivan Dragon
• 1 Sorceress Queen
• 1 Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
• 1 Triskelion
• 1 Wildfire Devils
• 1 Xantcha, Sleeper Agent

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 1 Angrath, the Flame-Chained
• 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1 Karn Liberated
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited

• Instants (6)
• 1 Bedevil
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Comet Storm
• 1 Fissure
• 1 Lightning Bolt
• 1 Shriveling Rot

• Sorceries (11)
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Disrupt Decorum
• 1 Fireball
• 1 Firebolt
• 1 Insult // Injury
• 1 Insurrection
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Rolling Thunder
• 1 Syphon Mind

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Death Pits of Rath
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Underworld Connections
• 1 Underworld Dreams

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Bloodthirsty Blade
• 1 Cauldron of Souls
• 1 Darksteel Ingot
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Gorgon Flail
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Scythe of the Wretched
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Staff of Nin
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Lands (32)
• 5 Mountain
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Badlands
• 1 Blast Zone
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Canyon Slough
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Desert
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Dust Bowl
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Hammerheim
• 1 Island of Wak-Wak
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Lavaclaw Reaches
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Temple of Malice
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Urborg
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Wasteland

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There you go! What did you think? Anything in here you want to try out or anything I missed? Just let me know! And as always, have an awesome-tastic day.