MTG Salvation

Hello all. After close to 20 years of playing the game, I have finally been convinced to build an EDH/Commander/whatever it's called now deck. I played from the early core sets through Mirage, then came back around Shards of Alara. Right off the bat, I was intrigued with the Bant shard and Rafiq. Therefore, it was an easy decision to make Rafiq my general/commander/whatever it's called now.

All fluff aside, the goal of my deck is to drop some early ramp spells and cheap(ish) disruptive creatures to stall the game until I'm able to drop one (or more) of my countless game-ending fatties. I have little spot removal, as my creatures will typically out-class those of my opponent, but I do run mass removal for any super aggressive decks. Once I drop my fatties, I also run a few counters to ensure that they take me to victory.

Here is my current decklist. Keep in mind I'm always finding ways to improve it, but I'm finally happy with its present state. That said, any and all criticism/suggestions is/are welcome. This is meant, at the moment, for competitive single player duels, but I am open to multiplayer games as well. I'm not sure how my deck would change if it all, but that was my focus when creating the decklist.




I only run 3 basics, so standard ramp cards such as Kodama's Reach and Cultivate didn't make the cut. The same reasoning applies for excluding Solemn Simulacrum. I run enough fetches to find all my duals.

I'm not sure about a few of the card choices - should Serra Avatar be Serra Ascendant? Should Battlegrace Angel be Baneslayer Angel? Should Seedborn Muse be something else? I like Muse because she untaps my artifact ramp so that I don't have to pay the costs.

As from Avacyn Restored, the new Time Walk and the angel that makes everything indestructible will likely find their way in here.

Any advice would be awesome. Card suggestions/critiques always welcome.

Here is a trick that will save you some time and make your deck list look a bit more organized. Use deck tags like this:

*Change the { } to [ ]
{deck}
General (1)
1 Rafiq of the Many

Creature (4)
1 Noble Hierarch
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Cold-Eyed Selkie
1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
{/deck}
to get this:

well if your building rafiq for 1v1 youll likely be able to count on him more often than not instead of the other fatties.

if you run cards like chrome mox birds of paradise and noble hierarch you can drop him early (turn 2 with a god hand), and he starts swinging for 8 the next turn, the same if you put down lightning greaves.

id also recommend a few more tutors for your utility stuff, things like green sun zenith and worldly tutor for important creatures then enlightened tutor and idyllic tutor for enchantments like finest hour.

also for counterspells spell crumple and hinder are pure win if you play against another aggressive general as they pretty much neuter there game plan.

and since your running gilded drake id suggest running venser the sojourner. with the drake you can steal a creature every turn and his -1 can make rafiq unblockable which by itself is almost worth including him

hope i helped and i hope you get as hooked on edh as everyone else seems to

Thanks for the formatting advice, OmniDreamer! Much appreciated.

@boxtrotalpha: I like the idea of a few more ramp spells in the form of tutorable utility creatures. Should I also run Dryad Arbor then? I originally had Lightning Greaves in here, but just cut it last night when compiling a final list. Is it crucial?

Spell Crumble and Hinder are good w/the Bant Charm effect on an opposing general.

Never thought of Venser with Gilded Drake. That's awesome. I originally had Venser in here just for his unblockable ability, but this news makes his even more awesome. I'll try to find room to fit him back in.

Any suggestions on what I'd cut first? That's always the hardest part.

Thanks again!

So I'm going to highlight some points about 1v1 and Rafiq as well as what you seem to want from the deck.



Somewhat Typical 1v1 Rafiq:

• Fast General Damage
• Low Curve
• Ramp
• Protection
• Evasion
• Pumps
• Removal

Your interests from what I gather:

• Mid to High Curve
• Ramp
• Fatties
• Board Wipes
• Control
• EtB Triggers / Abilities to "Out Class" other creatures

Next I want to point out the stereotypes of 1v1 vs Multiplayer:
1v1
Fast Paced
Low Curves
Typically Spot Removal > Board Wipes
1-for-1 effects acceptable but 2-for-1 should still be sought after

Multiplayer
Slow Pacing
Mid to High Curves
Board Wipes > Spot Removal
2 or More-for-1 effects necessary to get card advantage and have lasting resources

So based on these observations and sterotypes your current decklist is very Multiplayer oriented. If you'd like it to stay that way and improve you may consider creating a thread for it in the Multiplayer section or if you want it to be used for either maybe in the Casual section.

If you'd like to move towards a 1v1 list you can probably start by cutting anything that costs more than 6 mana.

Then cut cards that attempt to cheat fat into play like Elvish Piper & Quicksilver Amulet.

Next you need to decide whether or not you want to focus on general damage, creature damage (using Rafiq mainly as a pump to other beaters), infect, or a mix of these.

Depending on which ban list you follow other noteable cards may or may not be allowed such as Serra Ascendant, Mana Crypt, Crucible of Worlds, Strip Mine, Mana Drain, etc...

If you look at the link for Rafiq of the Many in my signature you'll find in the lower half of my first post a list of almost all of the useful low curve spells for a Rafiq list. In the second post you can find a more balanced list that mixes strategies and doesn't fold to having Rafiq tucked into your deck. I believe my balanced list includes the following win conditions (General Damage, Regular Beats, and Combo via Reveillark/Body Double/Mirror Entity/and any EtB critter that screws your opponent).

If you want to design around an infect list click the Phyrexian Rafiq link in my signature for a list to get some ideas from.

I hope this was helpful and good luck!

P.S. If you'd like a list to look at that is more oriented towards the creatures in your deck utilizing Rafiq like a pump effect then check out Amadi's primer from waaaaaaaay back at this link:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=197709

Thanks again for your reply. I think my biggest problem is basically trying to figure out what I want to do with my deck, and which direction I should take it. I've only played in single player games so far against a highly aggressive Ezuri deck fraught with Elves, so I can't comment much on how it'd fare in multiplayer games. I believe my LGS holds multiplayer tournaments every Monday, so I'm guessing I should head in that direction. From what you said, it sounds like that's the unintentional direction my deck is heading so that actually works out.

I'll take a look at the threads you referenced to get a better idea. Is 38 land too many with all the other ramp I'm running?

Typically EDH decks run 35 to 40 lands with the average being 37 more often than not.

I'd run Serra Ascendant over Serra Avatar. If you want to run something for Multiplayer that can be huge like Serra Avatar but is a little harder to kill try Multani, Maro-Sorcerer.

Cultivate and Kodama's Reach may not work with your low number of basics but cards like Three Visits, Nature's Lore, Wood Elves, and Mwonvuli Acid-Moss help you ramp out those dual lands.

If you want to seek advice from threads based around multiplayer then try these:

For Rafiq:
Swift2210 has been working pretty hard on his list:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=360042

For Jenara another Bant General:
ISBPathfinder has a very well developed list that has lots of feedback and updates:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=311261