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By: Leviathan, Mike Morales
Mar 07 2012 10:29am
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THERE'S THE BIG FELLA!

So after finishing up with my budget Azami deck from last week, I felt like I was on a roll.  I wanted to finish up the mono-colored budgets lists and all I had left was Red.  And I had just the right guy for the deck!

maraxus of keld

That's right, big old buff Maraxus!  He was in my list of Unloved Commanders, and I figured that I would give him some love!  My plan for the deck was pretty simple:  I would use a lot of phoenixes and Red's other return from the graveyard cards such as Rekindled Flame and Hammer of Bogardan to gain incremental card advantage in a color that had difficulty with the long game.  I would also include buyback spells like Fanning the Flames and Shattering Pulse so I could get multiple uses out of the spells I had.  Finally I would add some other cards that I had been thinking of playing for a while, like Butcher Orgg and Falkenrath Marauders.

Unfortunately, this deck didn't work out very well.  As you can probably imagine it was very, very mana hungry.  On top of that, although I like the idea of a lot of the different available phoenixes, most of the time they weren't very high impact or they just took too much work to get them back into play.

skarrgan firebird
I especially
 wanted you to work big guy...

In addition, trying to make sure that Maraxus stayed big was a tremendous pain in the ass especially considering I was tapping out practically every turn.  In messing around with the deck some I noticed that equipment really helped out Maraxus' cause a lot.  Equipment obviously doesn't tap when he attacks keeping his power and toughness up.  After adding some fun equipment, I noticed that Maraxus himself was better, but I was still having the same problems with the deck being mana hungry and, you know, actually winning a game.  I kept adding equipment so I could one shot kill people with Maraxus (which occasionally did happen) until I realized something:  I was basically playing a bad Godo deck.  If I switched to Godo, I could have a more consistent deck with a more powerful Commander.  Of course, I would lose the cool points I was getting for playing with Maraxus (everyone loved the guy) but in exchange I could actually win a game.  And since I want to give you guys a chance out there if you use my decks to work off of, especially with a budget deck, I figured I would move on to Godo.  So here we are.

By the way, I'm not saying a Maraxus deck isn't possible.  I just think it may be a little outside the 20 ticket price range I give myself for these budget decks.  With that out of the way, let's get on with it!

THERE'S THE REAL BIG FELLA!

Anyone that has been playing Commander for more than a week knows exactly what Godo does.

godo, bandit warlord

He basically loves equipment, and loves to smash into the red zone.  And here are some of his favorite pieces of equipment:

sword of war and peace sword of fire and ice sword of light and shadow sword of feast and famine

Well, I'm sure that you can already figure out the main problem with these. All of these Swords are expensive, with 2 of them being more than the anticipated cost of the entire deck.  Sure, Sword of Fire and Ice can be found for around 7 tickets, but that's about a third of the total deck cost.  So I knew that I was going to have to find powerful equipment that was cheap.  Luckily there is plenty of effective and cheap equipment to be found.

Although equipment was going to be a large part of the deck, I knew that I wanted a little bit more in the deck.  Specifically, I wanted to make sure that I could make a decent amount of tokens.  This was for 2 reasons, with the main one being Skullclamp food.  Card draw is really tough in mono-Red, but with a Skullclamp tutor in my Commander and a few ways of making tokens I knew that I could get some extra cards.  In addition, I wanted to make sure that I had guys that could carry my equipment if I didn't have Godo around.  Sure, a kobold with a Sword is scarier that a kobold with Sword of Vengeance, but they can still pack a little bit of a punch.  Some haste enablers and mana doublers, and we have a deck!

Godo, Bandit Warlord
A Budget Commander Deck
Creatures
1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Anger
1 Arcbound Reclaimer
1 Balefire Dragon
1 Brass Squire
1 Cyclops Gladiator
1 Dwarven Blastminer
1 Etched Champion
1 Hellkite Igniter
1 Hoard-Smelter Dragon
1 Junk Diver
1 Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs
1 Knollspine Dragon
1 Kuldotha Phoenix
1 Kumano, Master Yamabushi
1 Palladium Myr
1 Pilgrim's Eye
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer
1 Steel Hellkite
1 Taurean Mauler
1 Urabrask the Hidden
1 Viashino Heretic
1 Vulshok Battlemaster
24 cards

Other Spells
[Artifacts]
1 Caged Sun
1 Crystal Ball
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Druidic Satchel
1 Everflowing Chalice
1 Expedition Map
1 Gauntlet of Might
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Guardian Idol
1 Journeyer's Kite
1 Mind Stone
1 Mind's Eye
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Spine of Ish Sah
[Equipment]
1 Argentum Armor
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Diviner's Wand
1 Fireshrieker
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Skullclamp
1 Strata Scythe
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Sword of Vengeance
1 Tenza, Godo's Maul
1 Umezawa's Jitte
[Enchantment]
1 Goblin Assault
[Instants]
1 Grab the Reins
1 Starstorm
1 Wild Ricochet
[Sorceries]
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Hammer of Bogardan
1 Icefall
1 Insurrection
1 Molten Disaster
1 Shattering Spree
1 Wheel of Fortune
38 cards
Lands
1 Buried Ruin
1 Dormant Volcano
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Hall of the Bandit Lord
1 Kher Keep
25 Mountain
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Phyrexia's Core
1 Spinerock Knoll
1 Springjack Pasture
1 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple of the False God
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
37 cards

Sideboard
1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
1 cards
argentum armor

 

Let's break it down

Card Draw  
wheel of fortune Knollspine DragonMind's EyeDiviner's WandSkullclampWheel of Fortune
Knollspine Dragon, Mind's Eye, Diviner's Wand, Skullclamp, Wheel of Fortune:  This may not seem like a whole ton of card draw, but it actually did enough for me.  If I had a token producer, Skullclamp would often be the first piece of equipment I would tutor up.  Knollspine Dragon and Wheel of Fortune did yeoman's work for me.  Everyone knows how good Mind's Eye is, but it is especially important in a mono-Red deck.  And Diviner's Wand actually worked out very well as well.  Although it costs a lot to draw with the Wand, but pumping the equipped creature as well as giving it evasion is pretty sweet.  And if it is on Godo when you cast Wheel of fortune it can pump him into a monster.  Good times. 
Destruction  
balefire dragon Balefire DragonCyclops GladiatorDwarven BlastminerHoard-Smelter DragonKumano, Master YamabushiSteel HellkiteViashino HereticSpine of Ish SahRelic of ProgenitusArgentum ArmorGrab the ReinsStarstormBlasphemous ActIcefallMolten DisasterShattering Spreetectonic edge
Balefire Dragon, Cyclops Gladiator, Dwarven Blastminer, Hoard-Smelter Dragon, Kumano, Master Yamabushi, Steel Hellkite, Viashino Heretic, Spine of Ish Sah, Relic of Progenitus, Argentum Armor, Grab the Reins, Starstorm, Blasphemous Act, Icefall, Molten Disaster, Shattering Spree:  Lots of ways to blow stuff up here.  My favorite interaction is blowing up my own Spine of Ish Sah with my Hoard-Smelter Dragon before attacking someone.  Cyclops Gladiator is an experiment that I haven't drawn often enough.  He seems like he would be good at getting rid of smaller Commanders and utility creatures.  Plus, his ability is a "may" ability, so you don't have to use it.
"Recursion"  
kuldotha phoenix Arcbound ReclaimerJunk DiverKuldotha PhoenixNim DeathmantleIcefallHammer of BogardanBuried Ruin
Arcbound Reclaimer, Junk Diver, Kuldotha Phoenix, Nim Deathmantle, Icefall, Hammer of Bogardan, Buried Ruin:  You can see the remnants of my initial Maraxus build in the Kuldotha Phoenix (awesome due to haste), Icefall (occasionally great) and Hammer of Bogardan (just for some old school flavor).  The Reclaimer and Junk Diver do good jobs of getting back spent artifacts, and both can carry equipment.  Nim Deathmantle is great at giving another form of evasion plus can bring back creatures when you have spare mana.    
Mana Help  
druidic satchel palladium myrPilgrim's EyeDarksteel IngotDruidic SatchelEverflowing ChaliceExpedition MapGuardian IdolJourneyer's KiteMind Stone
Palladium Myr, Pilgrim's Eye, Darksteel Ingot, Druidic Satchel, Everflowing Chalice, Expedition Map, Guardian Idol, Journeyer's Kite, Mind Stone:  My initial build had more acceleration than this, but then I found that I was just rushing Godo out and that wasn't as fun.  So I cut back and made sure some of my stuff could carry equipment as well.  Druidic Satchel is sweet in that it can actually push ahead your land count.  You may not be able to keep up with most Green decks, but at least you will have a shot at continuing to make your land drops with Journeyer's Kite.   

The deck also contains a few token makers in Goblin Assault, Kher Keep, Siege-Gang Commander and Springjack Pasture.  Don't forget that these cards will make little guys who can carry your equipment, and can often attack the same turn with haste enablers.  I lost a game because I didn't think about making a kobold token, equipping it with Argentum Armor and Swiftfoot Boots and taking out a very large Bonehoard.

A couple of the beaters may seem random, but they actually work well in the deck.  Red Akroma has lots of protection abilities and built in Firebreathing.  With the high amount of artifacts, Etched Champion almost always has protection, and Hellkite Igniter can get huge.  Kazuul provides some manner of defense and Vulshok Battlemaster is a beast when there is a decent amount of equipment in play.  On top of all that, we have a bunch of haste enablers in Anger, Urabrask, Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots and Hall of the Bandit Lord.

The unexpected all-star of the deck was this guy:

slobad, goblin tinkerer

There are often times when you have a particular artifact or piece of equipment that you want to save from destruction.  Just toss away a mana rock to Slobad, and you get to keep it!  Don't forget that you can use his ability to save your artifact creatures as well.  Also make sure that you don't play him when Goblin Assault is out, otherwise you will be forced to attack with him.  He's too small to get into a fight by himself.

A card that I just couldn't find room for was Blades of Velis Vel:

blades of velis vel

It seemed like it would be great with Godo's ability.  You would turn 2 other creatures into samurai, give them power boosts and be able to attack multiple times with them!  Sort of like a cheaper Aggravated Assault.  Unfortunately I found that I would rather have another creature, so it didn't make the cut.  But in a more powerful build I think it would be pretty sweet.

As built, this deck comes in at around 19.50 tickets, which is pretty good.  As a matter of fact, this was the first budget deck I built where after my initial build I found I actually had tickets to spare!  I was able to add some more expensive cards as a result.  Here are the only cards in the deck that cost over a ticket:

urabrask the hidden balefire dragon basilisk collar
mind's eye umezawa's jitte

That's right, 5 cards over 1 ticket!  This is really due to the fact that a lot of Red rares are .05 ticket rares, especially most dragons.  Each of these cards are pretty much Commander staples, although there is a probably an argument that Jitte isn't as powerful in this format.  But putting the Jitte on a goblin token and sending it into combat can only lead to good things.  Interestingly I have yet to see anyone else play Balefire Dragon, but he is a true beast.  As such, I think each of these cards is well worth the price.

So how do you play this deck?  Well, like just about all other decks with a high powered Commander you want to wait on casting Godo.  If you rush him out before turn 5, people will freak out, no matter what piece of equipment you tutor for.  It's better to try and develop your mana and hard cast the random piece of equipment, or break out some answers every once in a while.  Usually the longer you can go without casting Godo, the better.  Of course, that doesn't mean that you should pass up the opportunity to take out an open player who is clearly threatening.  But at least if you wait a little bit you can let other people take center stage.  I know that it's tough practicing patience when you are playing with a barbarian as your Commander, but it usually works out for the best.

Let's see how this deck does:

GODO SMASH!

My opponents for this game are Lady Evangela, Teysa, Orzhov Scion and Kemba, Kha Regent.  Lots of White means lots of ways to blow up my artifacts, but we will see what really happens.  On my first turn I play Spinerock Knoll sticking Gauntlet of Might under it.  On turn 3 Kemba plays Darksteel Plate, I get out Swiftfoot Boots, Evangela plays Druidic Satchel and Teysa is ready to pop an Armillary Sphere.  On turn 4 Kemba gets out an Aurification and I play Goblin Assault.  Teysa gets out a Vampire Nighthawk.  

Turn 5, Kemba plays Champion's Helm.  My land situation doesn't look that great, so I tap out to play Mind's Eye.  Right after that Evangela plays Soul Warden and Strip Mines my Tectonic Edge, further hurting my land issues.  Teysa has a big Turn 5, casting Demonic Tutor, then Entomb for Rune-Scarred Demon, then Animate Dead on the demon, tutoring up another card.

On Turn 6 Kemba plays her Commander, and equips her with the Helm and Plate.  On my turn I don't cast anything, using Mind's Eye to draw during everyone else's draw phase to help my mana situation.  Evangela plays her Commander, and Teysa uses Return to Dust to get rid of both of Kemba's artifacts, then attacks me with the demon (32) and Evangela with the Nighthawk (42).  Turn 7, Kemba plays Aegis Angel, giving Kemba indestructibility.  

With my Mind's Eye I only drew one land so far, so I needed more.  However, I did draw Blasphemous Act.  So I decide to sit back a little longer and not play anything yet, hoping to draw more.  Evangela plays Polluted Bonds, and it becomes apparent that there is a life gain theme going on in her deck.  Teysa plays Necropotence and digs 3 cards deep, without attacking.  Kemba plays Helm of Kaldra and equips her Commander.  I play another land and Guardian Idol, while continuing to lay low.  Evangela plays Graveborn Muse and Chalice of Life, and is able to flip it because she's at (51) already.  Teysa plays Baneslayer Angel and Bitterblossom and then attacks me with the Nighthawk, dropping me to (28).  Kemba follows that up with Jareth, Leonine Titan.  

On my turn I think that the board is scary enough and finally cast Blasphemous Act.  Teysa helps by sending Kemba farming with Swords to Plowshares leaving Jareth as the only creature remaining.  I then play Caged Sun, and should be ready to rock and roll next turn.  Evangela makes Teysa lose 5 life with the Chalice (27) and plays Sangromancer.   Teysa plays Sun Titan, bringing Animate Dead back and reanimating Rune-Scarred Demon, then plays Bloodghast.  Then she casts Necromancy, bringing back Kemba's Aegis Angel and making Sun Titan indestructible.  Finally she drops down to (20) by using the Necropotence to refill her hand.

On my turn 10 after playing a land I'm down to (18).  I decide that Sun Titan is a little bit dangerous right now, especially has Teysa has multiple sacrifice outlets.  She could theoretically sacrifice the Demon and bring it back with Animate Dead each turn by attacking with the Titan.  So I use Grab the Reins to steal the Titan and throw it at Evangela (64), then use Spine of Ish Sah to blow up Kemba's Aurification.  Spreading the love around a little.  Evangela plays Drogskol Reaver, which will end up drawing her a ton of cards with her incremental life gain.  She also knocks Teysa down to (15) with the Chalice.  Teysa attacks me with the Demon and Bloodghast (11) and Kemba with the Angel (35), using Vault of the Archangel to go up to (24).  Kemba plays her Commander and equips her with Helm of Kaldra.

It's obvious at this point that Evangela is going to get out of control.  I decide that I need some life, so I play Strata Scythe then Godo, searching up Loxodon Warhammer, and equip him with both and Swiftfoot Boots, sending him after Evangela.  She blocks with her team, who gets wiped out, and I go up to (22) but Godo dies.  I'm fine with that at the moment.  That is, until Evangela plays Storm Herd, getting 81 pegasus tokens.  Ugh.

Teysa attacks me and Kemba with his team while activating Vault of the Archangel, so I go to (12), Kemba goes to (22), and Teysa goes up to (25).  Then she sacrifices her Rune-Scarred Demon to Phyrexian Tower, using the mana to cast Karmic Guide returning the Demon to play, searching up Damnation which she casts, clearing the board.  Pegasus disaster averted!  Kemba plays her Commander and equips her with Helm of Kaldra.  On my turn, everyone is tapped out and Evangela is at (87), so I figure it's time for her to go.  I cast Godo again, equip the crap out of him and take Evangela out with Commander damage.

This means I go up to (38) and I'm also able to get Gauntlet of Might out from under Spinerock Knoll.  Teysa has 7 cards in hand, Necropotence, and some good recursion, so she's now my biggest threat.  On her turn Teysa casts Tidehollow Sculler, sacrificing it before looking at my hand to exile a card.  You can see my hand above, and she takes my Balefire Dragon.  She then plays Leyline of the Void and drops to (16) after refilling her hand with Necropotence.  Kemba uses Oblivion Ring to get rid of my Strata Scythe, shrinking Godo.

Having Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Might out at the same time gives me access to a ton of mana.  On my turn I cast Diviner's Wand, equipping Godo, then Red Akroma using Hall of the Bandit Lord to give her haste.  I send Red Akroma after Teysa, figuring that the protection from White will be helpful against instant speed removal.  I also send Godo at Kemba after giving him flying by drawing a card.  Kemba concedes, and I have enough mana to pump Red Akroma to take out Teysa despite having a Bitterblossom token with deathtouch due to Vault of the Archangel.

GODO WINS!

Obviously in this game if Teysa hadn't searched up a Damnation to wipe out those pegasus tokens we all would have lost.  But luckily she did and I was able to take advantage of the open door to knock out the most threatening player at the table.  Godo is good at that.

Seriously, this deck did pretty well.  Like, surprisingly well.  As in I won as much with this deck as I did with many of my full powered decks.  I knew this was a powerful deck due to the fact that I rarely had to trot out my "This is a budget deck" line.  Of course, I was dead to most combo decks, but almost all of my decks are.  I also didn't really run into many token decks.  If you do, you may want to include Rolling Thunder and other similar sweepers.  Going with just Blasphemous Act, Starstorm and Molten Disaster was enough for me, but your mileage may vary.

Obviously if you have money you will want to add Swords, plus maybe Batterskull.  If you do that you can cut down on some of the more janky equipment like Strata Scythe and Sword of Vengeance.  If you can cut down your equipment count to something around 6 really good, high powered cards that opens up a few more spots for answers.

Godo is really good.  Like, way better than I expected.  I'm assuming that a bunch of you guys out there knew this already.  He has his weaknesses, but I think this is a deck that I will play in the future.  I hope you guys enjoyed the article.  Until next time!

Leviathan, aka Tarasco on MTGO
mrmorale32 at yahoo dot com

CONQUEROR & COMMANDER ARCHIVES

3 Comments

Always a good read. I also by themonkey at Wed, 03/07/2012 - 21:51
themonkey's picture

Always a good read. I also liked reading a game report with some of the newer cards. It sounds like all the players were trying things from the new sets.

I tried Markov Blademaster in by Leviathan at Thu, 03/08/2012 - 01:42
Leviathan's picture

I tried Markov Blademaster in the deck at first, but it just wasn't as good without the Swords. So I took it out for Cyclops Gladiator. Don't think there is anything else from Dark Ascension that would have fit in here. But Balefire Dragon was a beast!

Ah good ol' mono red. It is by bogtrog at Thu, 03/08/2012 - 11:18
bogtrog's picture

Ah good ol' mono red. It is nice to see you playing around with it. I have also tried and failed to put together a Maraxus deck that works. He is so cool, and I want to run him, but being limited to red cards really restricts his generalship. I certainly can't blame you for moving into Godo, he is just plain solid.

I have played enough red commander that I have played a fair amount with almost every card in your list. One thing that I do want to try now is Kuldoltha Phoenix. My main mono red deck runs enough artifacts, that it would probably be a pretty solid addition.

You are right about Balefire Dragon, he is a total beating. He really is one of the cooler dragons in awhile. That 1 tix+ price is a recent development too. When ISD was new you could get them for as low as .25 tix.

I love seeing the Vulshock Battlemaster in there. That is a fun card, and can hit like a ton a ton of bricks if the board is good.

My main suggestion, and I think I have said it before, is Mask of Memory. The card is dirt cheap, has tiny mana costs, and can provide incredible card advantage. I still can't believe I have never seen anybody but me running it. For me it is practically an auto include in any non blue deck that is looking to get into the red zone.

My last suggestion is give Heat Shimmer a whirl. It is just a personal favorite of mine. I may not seem all that special, but I love the card to pieces. It has saved my butt, or won me games, or provided huge swings more times than I can remember. I am never unhappy to draw it, and I just can't seem to cut it from my decks. I just wish red had some more cards that were similar.