Commander Overview
One of the things red archetypes have been getting better at is adding mana. Jeska’s Will, Electro, and other recent cards have made it easier than ever to load up on red pips in the blink of an eye.
I cracked Avatar Roku, Firebender while playing in a Jumpstart draft, and he’s insanely powerful in limited. Whenever you or your opponent attack, you get 6 red mana, all of which you can dump into him to make him a 12/6?! That’s crazy.
I wanted to expand on his ability and see what was possible with a big-mana deck. A lot of people build Roku as a Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks a player other than you if able. deck, forcing opponents to attack so you can benefit. I took a different approach, focusing on cards that have pump effects like the OG Shivan Dragon.
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- CopyToken
- DragonToken Creature — Dragon
- SoldierToken Creature — Soldier
- TreasureToken Artifact — Treasure
- Instant$59.6329%
- Artifact$57.1528%
- Sorcery$34.6417%
- Creature$31.7715%
- Enchantment$15.548%
- Land$8.344%
- Few Tutors
- Mass Land Denial
- Chaining Extra Turns
- 2-Card Infinite Combos
- Game Changers
How to Play the Deck
This deck is pretty simple to pilot. You’re almost never hurting for mana when it matters, and your threats are straightforward. The biggest challenge is knowing how to spend your mana appropriately. Do you dump it into a dragon and push a big flying attacker out, or do you save it with Gemstone Array?
This deck doesn’t require much politicing, and it’s pretty easy to fly under the radar until Roku is out. I tried to lean into what mono red does well and tweak it a bit, and hopefully you find this deck to be an enjoyable ride.
Synergy’s in the deck
Roku costs 6 to cast, but if you cast him in your main phase and have an attacker, you’re netting that mana back. This makes it easier to run mana positive throughout the game, which makes your dragons and other pumpable creatures more threatening.
Vedalken Orrery is expensive, but it will allow us to use Roku’s 6 red mana to drop most of the dragons in our deck during combat, which is pretty funny.
While it’s unlikely this will happen, I’ve included Ogre Menial in case you can manage to get an unblocked opponent and 10 open mana. Killing someone with poison counters while running a mono-red dragon deck is also hilarious.
Phases of the Game
Early-Game – Personally, I wouldn’t keep a hand that didn’t have at least 2-3 lands and another mana source. Frenzied Goblin is a good turn 1 play, too.
Mid-Game – The mid game is all about gearing up for that Roku drop. We want to be ready for when he hits, so having a body ready to attack to net us 6 mana is a must. And having something to dump that mana into is also required, be it a burn spell or a storage cache.
Late-Game – Hopefully, you’ve saved up some resources throughout the game to blow them all on a big push. Using Hellkite Charger or Great Train Heist to get an additional combat will get you more mana, so chaining things together for a win feels pretty good.
Card Breakdowns
Ramp
The goal is big mana, so there’s some good ramp in this deck. Typical suite of rocks like Sol Ring and Cursed Mirror, as well as reducers like Ruby Medallion and The Fire Crystal.
Glittering Stockpile is also a standout card for me, allowing us to build up counters to bust them for a surge of mana. Similarly, Treasure Vault can turn that mana into more tangible assets.
In terms of mana dorks, there’s Iron Myr, Famished Foragers, and Alena, Kessig Trapper. Alena is really good in the late game when we’re dropping dragons. Most times, you’ll be spending 6 mana, but receiving 4-5 in return with Alena.
Any unspent mana can be dumped into your mana pool and saved with the Horizon Stone, or turned into charge counters for Gemstone Array.
Lavaleaper is a bit of wild card, since it helps out our opponents too. But, they’re unlikely to be running mana conservation cards, so we’ll build up a bank of resources and very quickly outpace them.
Card Draw/Card Advantage
In red, our options for card draw aren’t great. But, with the help of Thrill of Possibility and Demand Answers. I included these particular spells so that you could cast them during combat with Roku’s mana, as opposed to running Faithless Looting, which is a bit more restrictive.
While not card draw, card like Solstice Revelations gives us a bit more options when it comes to seeing more cards. Triple Triad and The Legend of Roku are later-game plays, but they also make it easier to see more cards and, in Triad’s case, cast stuff for free.
Removal
We do removal like nobody’s business. Lightning Bolt and Abrade are cheap and easy, while Comet Storm, Overwhelming Victory, and Electrodominance are a bit more pricy. The idea is to use our mana during other people’s combats to cast these spells, hopefully removing threats before they come our way.
Protection
Our options for protection are limited, and I didn’t feel like spending a lot for Deflecting Swat or Redirect Lightning. Instead, I got some cheaper options in Bolt Bend and Red Elemental Blast. I also threw in Tibalt's Trickery as well.
Typical Swiftfoot Boots add, too, since we will want to protect Roku as soon as he comes out.
Utility / Support
Because we love making mana that we can later dump into burn spells or buff up our dragons, there are a few cards that help us prepare for our inevitable strike.
Fated Firepower and Firebender Ascension are two Avatar cards that go great in this deck. Fated Firepower can easily turn a simple Lightning Bolt into 10+ damage. And Ascension will double up on your Firebending triggers from the flip of Roku’s saga or Fire Nation Palace. It can also double up on the attack trigger from Flamerush Rider to make an additional copy of something.
If things get out of hand, Disrupt Decorum can take the heat off of you, while also ensuring all 3 players attack each other, netting you 18 mana that turn Discard this card: Draw a card..
Mana Base
Because we have a suite of cards meant to produce and store mana in large quantities, our land base is pretty simple.
Fire Nation Palace is almost always an untapped red source that doubles as a firebending gift-giver. We already talked about Treasure Vault, but Terrain Generator lets us use some of our unspent mana to get an additional land out for next turn.
And because we run so many dragons (8 to be exact), Maelstrom of the Spirit Dragon can go find a big body in a pinch.
Win Conditions
There are a few ways we want to win the game. The first method is through combat damage with our big dragons. Being able to bust all of our stored mana into the +1/+0 abilities on squad with flying can easily end a player. Plus, if you have enough mana to pay into War Cadence, you can evade flyers as well.
Surge to Victory is a good way to angle yourself for a win. If you copy Mana Geyser whenever you deal combat damage to a player, you can blow your opponents out of the water with a burn spell very easily.
The next method for winning is through straight damage from stuff like Comet Storm or Electrodominance. Electrodominance is pretty funny because if you cast Irradiate, you can effectively kill everything, all creatures and opponents, at the same time.
Strengths of the Deck
Having mana available at all times.
Having blockers and attackers that can get bigger at a moment’s notice.
Weaknesses of the Deck
Weak to enchantment auras like Honest Work or Witness Protection
Can’t do much to stop combo players
Deck Upgrades
The deck is pretty solid as is, but if you want to make it a bit faster, here are some of my recommendations.
There are better things to use the extra mana for than Overwhelming Victory, and the ability to load up your mana pool quickly is awesome.
Protecting Roku is probably more important than having 3 damage or a destroy artifact effect.
Dragon Roost is cool, but it’s 7 mana to get a 5/5, which isn’t fitting into the curve of Roku’s ability. If it was 6 mana, it’d be a different story.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, I set out to create a flavorful deck that utilizes Shivan Dragon-like effects to a greater effect. When I first started playing magic, I thought Shivan Dragon was a super powerful card, and I’m glad to play it in a deck guilt-free.
Roku is only going to get better as Wizards prioritizes printing wilder ways for red to make mana, so I am sure there will be some upgrades in the future that make it really pop.
