Red Commander Partners

Posted on November 3, 2020

Though I normally write articles about the casual formats of Jumpstart and Oathbreaker, this week we're honoring the grandfather of the kitchen table, Commander. Now sit down and listen up. Your other father, Wizards of the Coast, made you a beautiful meal of Jeweled Lotus, and you're going to eat it. The taste isn't any stronger than Sol Ring or Mana Crypt, and you can't get enough of those dishes. Look, I know things are hard right now, but that's no reason to be picky around the dinner table. Just try it. You may even come to enjoy it.

If we have the fortune to draw Jeweled Lotus in our opener, we can wow the table with a strong play of a turn-one legendary goblin artificer. Previewed at (aptly enough) the Lotus Channel, this goblin genius will equip our creatures with the most advanced of weaponry. That's right, when a new recruit enters the battlefield, they will receive a state-of-the-art rock. And as we know, Commander players can never get enough rocks.

This aerodynamic missile can be thrown at any target, even at other rocks. Take that, Arcane Signet! But sequencing is critical. Play Jeweled Lotus first, the legendary goblin second, and your land drop third, for the all-important trigger. You can then immediately equip the rock. Let's see our opponents try to recover from this devastating turn one play!

But seriously, Jeweled Lotus will be a strong card in strong decks, but in casual formats our main goal shouldn't be power. It should be to play for fun, and there's nothing more hilarious than equipping our creatures with cutting-edge rocks. That turn-one play with the lotus may be better than winning the game outright. Any Spike can beat a table, but great Commander players create stories that we can remember years later with a grin.

Anyway, our legendary goblin also can have a partner. Let's pair him with someone who would prefer treasure tokens but will make do with rocks in a pinch.

Sacrifice three rocks, and your seven-power creature only costs . That's fun, and hey, you can even play him turn two off a Jeweled Lotus. Is that strong? Still, no, but attacking for seven commander damage at a time is at least a game plan. I like combining whimsy with a specific strategy. Ours just happens to revolve around rocks. And lotuses, which I guess if you think about it, are mana rocks with pretty petals.

Red Rock Tribal | Commander | AE Marling

Yes, we're playing a goblin sled-full of artifacts, but not so many that we could never recover from a Shatterstorm. If fact, we're hoping for our artifacts go to the graveyard. That's why we're casting rummaging cards like Thrill of Possibility. Then we can Trash for Treasure our rock into a Platinum Emperion. Arguably, the graveyard is the best place for Coveted Jewel. Tap it for and then immediately sacrifice it to help cast Toggo, Goblin Weaponsmith. Your mana rock had a net cost of one colorless mana and drew you three cards.

Our deck is all about sacrificing rocks, mana or otherwise. They enable our pirate commander, of course, but you don't have to sacrifice them to him. Eating them with the classic hungry boy Atog reduces the pirate's cost just as much. Ichor Wellspring loves being sacrificed, of course, and Servo Schematic gives us breakable toys for days. Surveyor's Scope is underplayed and will be perfect for our purposes. The extra lands entering the battlefield will even give us more rocks. Joy!

I can't wait to cast Indomitable Creativity and turn three pebbles into Myr Battlesphere, Gilded Lotus, and Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer. Our artifacts, like Meteor Golem and Oblivion Stone, will prevent our opponents from winning with permanents Red may otherwise have problems with. We will grind out value with our stones, while drawing cards and walloping our opponents for seven with a very greedy pirate.

Pirate's Pillage is worth mentioning. Every treasure you sacrifice discounts Dargo, the Shipwrecker by three. No surprise, this swashbuckler loves his loot. What he likes less are plain grey stones. They make him angry, and when Dargo gets angry, he starts smashing ships and the faces of our enemies.

Now, experienced Commander players may have taken a look at my decklist and thought, "Where are all the good cards?" Fear not! I included them all below. They're more costly than the ones listed above. Plus, I wanted to feature silly alternatives. Don't feel bad if you don't own them. You can have fun without them and may even win more casual games, as playing more power cards will make you more of a target.

Premium Upgrades | Commander | AE Marling

Instants (1)
1 Deflecting Swat

Clearly, Jeweled Lotus should be on this premium card list. I just wanted to joke about it earlier. Two other cards that should be talked about for our Mono-Red deck are Ruination and Blood Moon. Yes, they're strong. Again, that's not reason enough to play a card in Commander, unless your goal is for your deck to be competitive. You could argue our silly commanders will lure our opponents into a false sense of security. Then we devastate their mana base. Probably, though, that's a bit much. Be content with From the Ashes, which can already be punishing enough and at least synergizes with our commander to give us a full armory of rocks.

Sure, our miniature boulders aren't especially scary, unless they're thrown by a creature with deathtouch. A Basilisk Collar will give you deadly aim and allow you to keep other commanders in check. As individual cards, our commanders aren't impressive. But remember, they're still like the eighth and ninth cards in our opening hands. Give them a little respect. They also incentivize playing more lands because if we otherwise flood out we'll still have two cards to play with, and a pile of rocks.

I will close the article with a thought and then an equation. Dargo, the Shipwrecker has 7 power. And 7 x 3 = 21.