Inferno of the Star Mounts because Imvaernarhro was way too complicated!
Art: Inferno of the Star Mounts
by Jesper Ejsing
Todays Featured Commander Is:
Inferno of the Star Mounts is a really sweet dragon with an even sweeter ability, being able to use our red mana as a buff not only makes killing with commander damage easy but if we make a ton of mana and pump Inferno we can also do 20 direct damage to our opponent. Inferno enables us to play a Mono-Red combo deck packed to the brim with ways to make infinite mana and do infinite damage, while there are some drawbacks to mono-red this deck is very strong and a ton of fun to pilot.
The Deck:
Inferno of the Star Mounts Combo!
Why Inferno of the Star Mounts?
The main reason that we play Inferno of the Star Mounts as our commander is that Inferno is a great payoff piece for our infinite combos as well as a great damage threat both noncombat and combat damage! Inferno having flying and haste means that as soon as we can combo we can get him out there ping someone for 20 and one shot someone else. Inferno is a great commander for the combo strategy that we are going for. While mono-red may not be the most popular color for combos in EDH Inferno is a very strong deck that is a ton of fun to pilot, Being able to threaten opponents with combat and noncombat damage is a great way to present a clear threat and end games quickly.
Deck Overview:
Our creature package is pretty small focused pretty much on value cards as well as mana producers. One of our best mana producers is Treasonous Ogre
which can be a great card in a pinch to generate some mana and kill an opponents creatures or give us the extra mana we need to go off! Treasure Nabber
is another great way to generate mana since we can steal our opponents mana rock for a turn, mileage may vary with this card since we have no guarantee on what we are going to steel but it can come down early and at the very least deny our opponents resources. Birgi, God of Storytelling // Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
is a great way to hold some extra mana we have and save it for a big X spell. Leyline Tyrant
is like an upgraded Birgi and allows us to save an absoulte ton of mana in testing I cast tyrant really early and just held a bunch of mana and was able to cast Inferno and immediately deal 20 to an opponent! Fiendish Duo
is a great way to make one Inferno trigger lethal! Ancient Copper Dragon
is a workhorse for our mana production and allows us to combo off even quicker! Since we are Mono-Red deck Magus of the Moon
can make our opponents who are heavy on non-basics not be able to play the game!
We only have planeswalker in Sarkhan, Fireblood
Sarkhan basically serves two purposes since we dont have a ton of card draw Sarkhan can be a great way to draw cards, additionally we can use his mana to cast Inferno earlier which is never a bad thing! In testing I never got to the point where I ever ult-ed him but in a slow grindy game that can be a great way to get a creature advantage.
Our spell package is where most of the real magic happens, check out the main win conditions section below for a full breakdown of the combos, since they are all explained below I am going to focus on our non-combo spells! Since we are in mono-red we dont have a ton of interaction of the best ways for us to protect our combos is Red Elemental Blast
. Rush of Blood
is a great card when we already have Inferno at +20 since we can oneshot someone very easily! Star of Extinction
is a great way for us to reset the game if we fall behind, while star of extinction has an expensive mana cost it is still very easy for us to cast. Insult // Injury is a great way for us to make sure that the damage we do sticks and can also be used as targeted removal as needed. Since we are trying to win through sheer damage one of our biggest enemies is lifegain, to prevent this we have Skullcrack
. Chef's Kiss
is a great way for us to stop single target removal from hitting Inferno, who for the most part is the creature that we want to protect the most.
Since we want to produce a ton of mana we of course have artifacts that produce a ton of mana like Caged Sun
and Extraplanar Lens
since we can use them to produce a bunch of mana, both of these cards can come down relatively early and have a big impact on the game! Since we play mostly mountains Sceptre of Eternal Glory
allows us to produce 3 mana for only 4 colorless, especially in this deck the return of investment for this card is very high. On turns where we cant combo off and need to get some mana and just attack with Inferno, The Reaver Cleaver
is a great card to make an absolute ton of treasure tokens and help us have the mana to go off! Pyromancer's Goggles
is one of the coolest card in our deck since it allows us to double cast our instants and sorcerys that we tapped Pyromancers Goggles for, I found in testing that the best target is one of our spells that buffs Inferno or one of our big damage spells!
Our enchantment package features one of my personal favorite cards Braid of Fire
this card is great at really any stage of the game but if played on turn 2 allows us to go off in just a few turns! Curse of Opulence
is a great card that allows us to produce a decent amount of treasures and can help generate a bunch of mana. Claws of Valakut
is a great way for us to buff Inferno and make his 20 damage ability trigger very quickly! Furnace of Rath
and Dictate of the Twin Gods
are both great permanents that can help us end games really quickly whether this be for one of our combos or attacking with Inferno this can make our damage output especially ridiculous. Blood Moon
is great since we only play 3 nonbasics and we really dont need any of them for our strategy to work. Court of Ire
is a great way for us to deal some damage and if we can keep the monarch it is also great to draw a couple cards!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can pretty much one shot opponents
- Large amount of mana production, combos can go off early
- Many ways to deal direct damage to opponents
- Glass Cannon style deck can be hard to rebuild if main combos are stopped
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Not a ton of protection for our combos
- Not a ton of way to draw cards
- Weak to Aggressive strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
Our main win conditions are our combos, once we have infinite mana we can utilize all of the power on Inferno to just one shot kill someone! Below are all of our infinite combos explained. While all of these combos may not be game winning I have included all possible combos!
Result: Infinite red mana. Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: All cards in hand. Opponents control at least seven tapped lands. 7RRRR available.
Steps: Cast Mana Geyser by paying 3R. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 4RR, creating a copy of Mana Geyser and returning Reiterate to your hand. Resolve the copy of Mana Geyser, adding at least seven R. Repeat from step 2.
Result: Infinite red mana. Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: All cards in hand. An opponent with at least seven cards in hand. 6RRR available.
Steps: Cast Jeska’s Will by paying 2R, targeting an opponent with at least 7 cards in hand. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 4RR, creating a copy of Jeska’s Will. Resolve the Jeska’s Will copy, adding at least seven R. Repeat from step 2.
Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite Treasure tokens. Infinite colored mana. Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: Both cards in hand. You control at least seven lands. 10RRR available.
Steps: Cast Brass’s Bounty for 6R. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 4RR, creating a copy of Brass’s Bounty. Resolve the Brass’s Bounty copy, creating at least seven Treasure tokens. Holding priority, activate six Treasure tokens by tapping and sacrificing those, adding 4RR. Repeat from step 2.
Card not found + Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: Ruby Medallion on the battlefield. All other cards in hand. 4RRR available.
Steps: Cast Seething Song by paying 1R. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 3RR, creating a copy of Seething Song. Resolve the Seething Song copy, adding RRRRR. Repeat from step 2.
Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite ETB. Infinite LTB. Infinite storm count.
Requires: Birgi on the battlefield. Grinning Ignus in hand. 2R available.
Steps: Cast Grinning Ignus. Birgi triggers, adding R. Activate Grinning Ignus, returning it to your hand to add CCR. Repeat.
Card not found + Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite storm count. Infinite red mana. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: All cards in hand. 4RRR available.
Steps: Cast Bonus Round by paying 1RR. Cast Seething Song by paying 2R. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Seething Song. Resolve the Seething Song copy, adding RRRRR. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 4RR, creating a copy of Seething Song. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Reiterate. Resolve the Reiterate copy, creating a copy of Seething Song. Resolve the second Seething Song copy, adding RRRRR. Resolve the first copy of Seething Song, adding RRRRR. Repeat from step 5.
Card not found + Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite storm count. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: All cards in hand. 5RRR available.
Steps: Cast Bonus Round by paying 1RR. Cast Pyretic Ritual by paying 1R. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Resolve the Pyretic Ritual copy, adding RRR. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 4RRR, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Reiterate. Resolve the Reiterate copy, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Resolve the second Pyretic Ritual copy, adding RRR. Resolve the first copy of Pyretic Ritual, adding RRR. Repeat from step 5.
Card not found + Card not found + Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite storm count. Infinite red mana. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: Ruby Medallion on the battlefield. All other cards in hand. 2RRR available.
Steps: Cast Bonus Round by paying RR. Cast Pyretic Ritual by paying R. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Resolve the Pyretic Ritual copy, adding RRR. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 3RRR, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Reiterate. Resolve the Reiterate copy, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Resolve the second Pyretic Ritual copy, adding RRR. Resolve the first copy of Pyretic Ritual, adding RRR. Repeat from step 5.
Card not found + Card not found + Card not found + Card not found
Result: Infinite storm count. Infinite red mana. Infinite magecraft triggers.
Requires: Ruby Medallion on the battlefield. All other cards in hand. 2RRR available.
Steps: Cast Bonus Round by paying RR. Cast Desperate Ritual by paying R. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Pyretic Ritual. Resolve the Desperate Ritual copy, adding RRR. Holding priority, cast Reiterate with buyback by paying 3RRR, creating a copy of Desperate Ritual. Bonus Round triggers, creating a copy of Reiterate. Resolve the Reiterate copy, creating a copy of Desperate Ritual. Resolve the second Desperate Ritual copy, adding RRR. Resolve the first copy of Desperate Ritual, adding RRR. Repeat from step 5.
Card not found + Card not found
Result: Each opponent loses the game.
Requires: Blightsteel Colossus on the battlefield. Chandra’s Ignition in hand. 3RR available.
Steps: Cast Chandra’s Ignition by paying 3RR, causing Blightsteel Colossus to deal damage equal to its power to each other creature and each opponent. Each opponent loses the game due to having ten or more poison counters.
Conclusions:
Inferno of the Star Mounts is a really fun commander who also lends himself really well to the chaotic and combo playstyle of Mono-Red in EDH. While some players may not enjoy the combo playstyle, this deck is really fun for all combo lovers and is very different then many of the combo decks that are normally played in EDH.
Thanks for reading to the end!
