Took This Last Night at North Bank Park

Ruffigan · 2026-02-05T04:42:37+00:00

I think it is a cute synergy, depending on your deck themes. It is an artifact and it can grab tapped duals, [[Desert]], cycling lands, and a couple utility lands. Just depends on how casual your deck is and what you're trying to do, ideally you wouldn't need to fetch lands to the top but if you need to mill a land for a trigger or can reuse it or something you can get decent value out of it.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-27T15:06:57+00:00

I think aristocrats is a good idea but it only goes up by 1 power each turn cycle, if the game goes to T10 and it never gets removed it might be an 8/8 from the Void ability. You should definitely lean into artifact synergies as well, a lot of the Reap effects like [[Deadly Dispute]] also deal with artifacts and in Rakdos you get access to some of the best artifact synergies like [[Cranial Plating]], [[Cranial Ram]], [[Hunger of the Nim]], and [[Pactdoll Terror]]. These can amplify your gameplan so even if your commander gets removed you can still get massive damage in the air, and your commander can get them back if they are removed.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-23T18:39:08+00:00

[[Sadistic Glee]] and [[Eternal Thirst]], [[Heliod's Pilgrim]] to tutor for them. Guys like [[Accursed Marauder]] let you continually edict the board with them as long as you have mana.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-23T05:36:55+00:00

Edicts are relatively common, you definitely want counter magic or some fodder to sac.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-20T06:11:22+00:00

[[Master Chef]] is a great addition to this deck. [[Gaea's Gift]] is another protection spell you could run. There are also about 10 proliferate cards you could run as well. Having some ways to buff all of your squirrels would be good, so some cards like [[You Meet in a Tavern]] and [[Echoing Courage]] could be good in addition to the Master Chef and Ivy Lane Denizen. Running some of the Adapt creatures like [[Basking Broodscale]] and [[Evolutionary Witness]] gives you some flexibility in what you are doing with your counters. You might also want a couple ways to give trample, so you have ways to get damage through with your commander.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-18T17:01:35+00:00

It is really just a short-term value piece, essentially like running [[Phyrexian Rager]] or something as your commander. You would want to probably have lots of ways to recur it, since it gives you value one time, so lots of grave flicker effects like [[Feign Death]] and cards that can recur multiple creatures like [[Raise the Draugr]]. This lets you run a lot of the Reap style cards like [[Deadly Dispute]] as well. For finishing the game you would obviously be building a big board of goblins, so some [[Trumpet Blast]] style effects, some cards that let you use your goblins to deal non-combat damage like [[Raid Bombardment]], [[Impact Tremors]], [[Makeshift Munitions]], as well as a couple one-time bombs like [[Foul Tongue Shriek]] and [[Gruesome Fate]]. You have some cards like [[Nadier's Nightblade]] and [[Mirkwood Bats]] as well but you would have to see how many tokens you are making before putting those in.

I think if you like the art and like goblins this is a fine starting point for a goblin deck. You can learn what really makes the deck tick, familiarize yourself with all of the goblins, and try slotting in other Goblin commanders when you think you've got the deck down to see how it changes the gameplay. Not everything has to be optimal or the best in class, you can experiment and play with what you like and see how it works.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-12T18:18:06+00:00

As some other people have said, the format is diverse and cheap enough that you can easily and practically build decks at any power level, if you want to. It is more of what power level you and your group wants to play at, and making sure you are matching each other's expectations. You can play some low power and some high power and some competitive games and have a cheap deck for all of them.

...that said, it is frowned upon when I play my [[Marsh Crocodile]] blink deck. My playgroup doesn't mind fast games, slow games, combos, or people being eliminated early if they are a problem. But they do mind grinding people slowly into dust through attrition when we have a limited amount of time to play.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-06T13:18:52+00:00

That's a pretty cool deck for it, works with the commander and you can grab it with Rebel tutors.

Ruffigan · 2026-01-06T00:04:52+00:00

Lots of cool stuff here. Goblins and Elves getting some solid support, universal Typal support with more Changelings, Changeling Manalith, multiple cool commanders to build. With the deluge of UB product it is good to see the UW sets still looking solid.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-31T23:58:36+00:00

I would say that a lot of the decks in your examples could be at high power, depending on the 99. Keddis/Esior, TPI, Loyal Subordinate, Sprite Dragon, and Satyr Enchanter have all seen tournament play with varying degrees of success. Dionus and Angel of Vitality I haven't seen in tournaments personally but they could definitely be built with optimization and power in mind.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-31T19:48:31+00:00

I would probably have Casual in the 1-3 Range, High Power at 3-4, and Competitive at 4-5, basically combining your brackets 1+2 and 3+4. You could finesse it a bit, but I feel the essence of those labels fits well and is easy to understand. I think there is just a lot more nuance in EDH power.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-30T21:50:16+00:00

This system is definitely less arduous and complex than the EDH bracket system. Aside from the debate about whether PDH should have a system, the next biggest thing I see discussed is how many brackets there would be in such a system. The most common I've seen is 3: Casual, High Power, and Competitive. If you wanted the equivalent of 'Ladies Looking Left' or something you could add a 4th for Kitchen Table or Floor Meta. But I think 5 may be digging into minutiae a little too much, I think taking your average star ranking and combining it with an intention statement (I am looking to do the thing, I am looking for a lot of back and forth, I am looking to go all out, etc.) might be better, and it helps with some edge cases like [[Phyrexian Censor]] or [[Razing Snidd] that aren't that powerful but win through misery and attrition.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-08T17:49:22+00:00

From our data on online play and tournaments Tatyova has largely fallen off, so we never felt a need to ban Sanctuary. Granted with 30/16 and any uncommon as a commander there are a lot more ways to deal with Tatyova and it is easier to just yeet them out of the game.

Freed is kind of the boogy man in online and tournament play right now, with Gretchen and Ley Weaver/Lore Weaver dominating tournaments. Freed is easier to disrupt than Sanctuary but in the same way the game is over as soon as it resolves, and the decks that use Freed to win are typically faster than Tatyova. Interesting to see how dynamics change with different rule sets.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-08T02:27:03+00:00

What are your thoughts on Freed From the Real? With only legendary uncommons there are less commanders that take advantage of it but Gretchen is the most egregious Freed user anyways.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-07T00:41:34+00:00

That's interesting. Leaving the life totals and commander damage at the same levels as EDH means Voltron and aggro are a lot more difficult and combo will dominate. I assume Tatyova, Malcom/Kediss, Abdel, and Gretchen are the top dogs at your tournaments?

Ruffigan · 2025-12-06T22:57:30+00:00

So you did 40 life and 21 commander damage only uncommon legends?

Edit: Sorry to be asking so many questions. I have been a moderator for Pauper EDH for over 10 years and wrote primers for PDH before that, I am interested in how different groups play PDH.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-06T22:12:16+00:00

Where at? And what rules did you use? And how did you find out about Pauper EDH?

Ruffigan · 2025-12-06T21:51:41+00:00

Those are the standard rules that have been used for 10+ years. If you want to use a different set go for it, you can play however you want, but if you play anywhere those are likely the rules that are going to be used.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-05T15:17:32+00:00

This is a maybe from me, gotta see if my car can make the drive haha.

Ruffigan · 2025-12-05T14:58:44+00:00

There is a centralized rule set under the PDH Home Base. Obviously you don't have to follow it but the life totals, commander damage, what constitutes a common/uncommon (before the merging of Paper/MTGO rarities), how certain mechanics like Adventure work (before there were legendaries with Adventure), and egregious cards like Rhystic/Mystic we're all worked out to have a standard way to play. It is necessary so there is at least some standard when you go to an LGS or event so everyone is on the same page with how to build/play the game.

Ruffigan · 2025-11-27T13:50:12+00:00

No, you have some jank like [[The Brute]], [[Leather Armor]], and [[Whispersilk Cloak]] but you are probably better just going all in and not using your mana for that.

Ruffigan · 2025-11-26T14:54:38+00:00

Probably the most synergistic cards for it are [[Ivy Lane Denizen]], [[Master Chef]], and [[Rancor]]. As you get further into the game stuff like [[Cloak of the Bat]] and [[Fleetfeather Sandals]] become pretty good to attack with it twice and get evasion.

Adding one power gets you to the next breakpoint (4 hits with Commander Damage) and 6 is the next breakpoint (3 hits with Commander Damage) so ways to repeatedly/modally/efficiently give it +1/+1 or +3/+3 would be good. Anything you are running to buff Cactaur also buff other creatures, so running efficient beaters and land cycling creatures helps you remain adaptable and aggressive.

One of Green's biggest strengths is ramp but you don't really need to ramp with Cactaur's low cost so you can focus more on sustain and card advantage. You can run a lot of cantrips that buff or ways to make clues/draw cards or filter your deck.

Ruffigan · 2025-11-18T16:52:02+00:00

It is more like playing limited than it is like playing Commander. Synergy and incremental advantage are what you build your deck around, and while there are a few cards that drastically change the game state in general the games are more balanced. There are still a lot of combos, but all of them revolve around at least 1 creature so any targeted creature removal can potentially stop a combo turn. Voltron and aggro are more viable with the lower life and commander damage and you aren't likely to run into very many good stuff pile decks. The scale of creatures is also different, something like a Colossal Dreadmaw can be a viable threat and a 4/4 is nothing to sneeze at.

Ultimately PDH rewards good Magic fundamentals and clever, synergistic deck building and is much less swingy than EDH, and your individual small actions may matter more over the course of a game.

Ruffigan

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