So this is my first post on this site. My Rafiq of the Many deck as gone through a lot of iterations since I started playing him over the summer. I like this one the best due to the awesome ramp it has. I believe that you can play this deck both as a single player deck or a multiplayer deck.
Any card with an asterisk (*) after it is cards that I'm looking for. I'd be willing to trade or buy for reasonable offers. I don't have a lot of good trade cards though.
If you are wondering why I chose the cards I did, ask. I'll try to explain.
Also if you think there is something that I'm missing from this deck, let me know. I missing a lot of cards as it is and I'm on a very tight budget at the moment, but I may take your suggestion into consideration. In addition, suggestions on the land base would be awesome. I'm think that I might need to run more basic lands due to all of the creatures that allow me to search them out and all of the recursion that is in the deck. Let me know what you think.
I didn't think of that one. I don't think that I'll use it though, because I would have very little way of recurring it, which is one of the major themes of this deck.
I'll keep it in mind if I decide to go in that direction.
I know that I just posted the original list just a few days ago, but after thinking on the list a little more, I decided that I needed to make changes to the land base. I decided that with all the search for basic lands I need more of them and that I had way too many lands that came into play tapped.
Seedborn muse begs the question "why" in this deck. You seem to have no reliable mana dump in between turns, so I don't get it.
Yavimaya Elder is slow. Rafiq is fast. Replace this with something like Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, etc.
I guess Knight of New Alara gives Rafiq +3/+3 for 4, but 0 evasion whatsoever. He's a little dude on the ground that hits like a truck already, I think evasion would be better to give here. Which brings me to my next point.
Taj-Nar Swordsmith is slow, and would cost 6 mana to give greaves, or 10 for grafted exo. Why not replace this guy with Stoneforge Mystic? She comes down sooner, only costs two, and can cheat dudes into play. Furthermore, get your hands on some swords. Sword of Feast and Famine / Sword of Fire and Ice are both amazing. ESPECIALLY WITH DOUBLE STRIKE! Hell even War and Peace is pretty good here. You get Rafiq down on turn 4 with a war and peace on it by turn 5 and you're likely dealing 20 points of damage (assuming they have 5 cards in hand) and gaining ten life. That's a pretty large turn 5 life swing.
Avenger of Zendikar I imagine is an alternate win condition with tooth and nail? Boring!
Draining whelk entices you to hold 6 mana open and only counter their big spells. The came should be over by the time this is relevant. Swap this out for a cheaper counter.
Day of Judgement? Try rout
Explosive Vegetation? Try Cultivate, Skyshroud Claim, Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, etc. Skyshroud Claim and Wood Elves really come into their own once you have any of the dual lands that are Forests and X other land. Being able to fetch a dual land and not have it come into play tapped is pretty solid.
You may want to look into bringing down the CMC of the deck. Rafiq is supposed to be a fast deck, and the longer you give your opponents to build their defenses / kill him the more trouble you will have. People know how fast rafiq is, and when you sit down at a table people will gang up on you. Once rafiq loses steam, he loses it big time. You could even look into playing a lot of the very low mana ramp spells as well. Think Birds of Paradise style cards that can help you do things even sooner.
After looking at the list for a while I see you're focusing a lot on trying to pump Rafiq, which is all fine and dandy. However when he keeps biting the dust you're going to be really sad. I think you want to focus on giving him better evasion, giving him protection from removal spells, getting him out as soon as possible, and continue generating immense card advantage. If you can do these things while continuing to generate additional mana you will be in very good shape.
There's another Rafiq list made my JoshuaD I believe that has an absurdly low average CMC. It should still be on the first page, if not the second by now. It's extremely efficient I'm sure, and probably has some ludicrous win %.
3 conditions to a fast start. One is have a first turn mana dork or stone. Second is a turn 1 or turn 2 ramp spell. Third is have draw to replenish your hand.
1 Rafiq of the Many
Creature:
1 Battlegrace Angel
1 Acidic Slime
1 Reveillark *
1 Primeval Titan *
1 Sun Titan
1 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
1 Draining Whelk
1 Consecrated Sphinx *
1 Akrasan Squire
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Mother of Runes
1 Mistmeadow Witch
1 Aven Squire
1 Phantasmal Image *
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder *
1 Dauntless Escort
1 Giltspire Avenger
1 Blighted Agent
1 Clone
1 Avenger of Zendikar *
1 Terastodon
1 Phyrexian Metamorph *
1 Taj-Nar Swordsmith
1 Knight of New Alara
1 Yavimaya Elder *
1 Eternal Witness *
1 Ranger of Eos
1 Seedborn Muse *
1 Fierce Empath
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Stoic Angel
1 Cephalid Constable *
1 Solemn Simulacrum *
1 Jace Beleren
Sorcery:
1 Tooth and Nail *
1 Day of Judgement
1 Rite of Replication
1 Wrath of God
1 Kodama's Reach *
1 Explosive Vegetation *
1 Hymn of Rebirth *
Instants:
1 Brainstorm
1 Path to Exile
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Counterspell
1 Eladamri's Call *
1 Beast Within
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Voidslime *
1 Rewind
1 Cryptic Command
1 Put Away
1 Dissipate
1 Bant Charm
Enchantments:
1 Dueling Grounds *
1 Mirari's Wake *
1 Eldrazi Conscription
1 Finest Hour
Artifacts:
1 Sol Ring
1 Lightening Greaves
1 Grafted Exoskeleton
1 Loxodon Warhammer
1 Behemoth Sledge
6 Forest
9 Island
5 Plain
1 Seaside Citadel
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Mystifying Maze
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Command Tower
1 Seachrome Coast
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Elfhame Palace
1 Azorius Chancery
1 Sejiri Refuge
Any card with an asterisk (*) after it is cards that I'm looking for. I'd be willing to trade or buy for reasonable offers. I don't have a lot of good trade cards though.
If you are wondering why I chose the cards I did, ask. I'll try to explain.
Also if you think there is something that I'm missing from this deck, let me know. I missing a lot of cards as it is and I'm on a very tight budget at the moment, but I may take your suggestion into consideration. In addition, suggestions on the land base would be awesome. I'm think that I might need to run more basic lands due to all of the creatures that allow me to search them out and all of the recursion that is in the deck. Let me know what you think.
BRGrenzo, Dungeon Warden EDH
GAzusa, Always in a Rush EDH
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Warlord EDH
Trade thread on MOTL
I'll keep it in mind if I decide to go in that direction.
Here were the changes:
Out:
In:
2 Islands
3 Forests
3 Plains
Also I took Sol Ring out and put in Putrefax to go with my infect win condition. Thanks Swift2010 for the idea.
Silent Arbiter - Dueling Grounds v2
Wargate - Tutor a permanent into play.
Yavimaya Elder is slow. Rafiq is fast. Replace this with something like Farhaven Elf, Wood Elves, etc.
I guess Knight of New Alara gives Rafiq +3/+3 for 4, but 0 evasion whatsoever. He's a little dude on the ground that hits like a truck already, I think evasion would be better to give here. Which brings me to my next point.
Taj-Nar Swordsmith is slow, and would cost 6 mana to give greaves, or 10 for grafted exo. Why not replace this guy with Stoneforge Mystic? She comes down sooner, only costs two, and can cheat dudes into play. Furthermore, get your hands on some swords. Sword of Feast and Famine / Sword of Fire and Ice are both amazing. ESPECIALLY WITH DOUBLE STRIKE! Hell even War and Peace is pretty good here. You get Rafiq down on turn 4 with a war and peace on it by turn 5 and you're likely dealing 20 points of damage (assuming they have 5 cards in hand) and gaining ten life. That's a pretty large turn 5 life swing.
Avenger of Zendikar I imagine is an alternate win condition with tooth and nail? Boring!
Draining whelk entices you to hold 6 mana open and only counter their big spells. The came should be over by the time this is relevant. Swap this out for a cheaper counter.
Day of Judgement? Try rout
Explosive Vegetation? Try Cultivate, Skyshroud Claim, Wood Elves, Farhaven Elf, etc. Skyshroud Claim and Wood Elves really come into their own once you have any of the dual lands that are Forests and X other land. Being able to fetch a dual land and not have it come into play tapped is pretty solid.
You may want to look into bringing down the CMC of the deck. Rafiq is supposed to be a fast deck, and the longer you give your opponents to build their defenses / kill him the more trouble you will have. People know how fast rafiq is, and when you sit down at a table people will gang up on you. Once rafiq loses steam, he loses it big time. You could even look into playing a lot of the very low mana ramp spells as well. Think Birds of Paradise style cards that can help you do things even sooner.
I'd also swap out stuff like brainstorm for something like Chord of Calling, Worldly Tutor, Time of Need, and Green Sun's Zenith. If Rafiq gets tucked, you will be sad!
Put sol ring back in.
I'd cut jace
Coiling Oracle is nice
Mana vault is nice
Cold-Eyed Selkie is great
Survival of the Fittest tutor your deck for the best creature in that situation? Yes plz
Sylvan Library look at the top 3 cards every turn, draw the best one, pay 4 life to draw another? Yes please
Sensei's Divining Top where are you?
Noble Hierarch is better than the other exalted 1 drop you have
After looking at the list for a while I see you're focusing a lot on trying to pump Rafiq, which is all fine and dandy. However when he keeps biting the dust you're going to be really sad. I think you want to focus on giving him better evasion, giving him protection from removal spells, getting him out as soon as possible, and continue generating immense card advantage. If you can do these things while continuing to generate additional mana you will be in very good shape.
There's another Rafiq list made my JoshuaD I believe that has an absurdly low average CMC. It should still be on the first page, if not the second by now. It's extremely efficient I'm sure, and probably has some ludicrous win %.
I hope this helps.
BRGrenzo, Dungeon Warden EDH
GAzusa, Always in a Rush EDH
GWUDerevi, Empyrial Warlord EDH
Trade thread on MOTL