“The ocean is not our territory – it’s theirs”
Art:Marauding Mako
by Alix Branwyn
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
We are starting off our Pauper EDH Aetherdrift content strong with Maruading Mako; this is a fast deck that focuses heavily on discard and Voltron packages and can get kills in the early game really easily. When we do come to the mid-late game, we can come in strong with our Voltron package and continue to outpace our opponents. This deck is as mono-red as they come, complete with a ton of drawing and discarding as well as a one-mana commander that can help bring the pain very early. This one is a blast, and if you love aggressiveness and fast-paced gameplay, this is the one for you! Without further ado, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Marauding Mako Discard Voltron!
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Why Marauding Mako?
Marauding Mako is a great commander, one of the best from Aetherdrift in my opinion. They can come down on turn one and can get out of hand really quickly, especially with cards like Burning Inquiry
and Faithless Looting
, which can allow us to attack with a 4/4 on turn two! Commander damage kills are absolutely possible in this deck, and I did them quite often. Mako is busted in this deck and allows us to be a powerhouse even at a table of aggressive decks.
Deck Matchups:
Since this is Pauper EDH, there are an absolute ton of things that can tip a game in your favor or out of it. While an archetype may seem favorable, there are absolutely good and bad commanders for our deck to go up against; I have included both these, which were all played among my testing groups using various decks, and I have included the sample size for clarity purposes. This is just meant to be a guide after testing a bunch of games with this deck!
The information below is notes about specific decks that were featured in our testing pods and how we fared against them. Naturally, Pauper EDH is a multiplayer game, so these are just a summary of my notes against different commanders and strategies. When we test these decks we try to test to its strengths and weaknesses to give a full spectrum of what the deck has to offer. Various commanders and archetypes/strategies are used to get the most accurate information.
Commanders, we have a good matchup against:
Mentor of the Meek
Record against Mentor of the Meek 3-0
This is a very good matchup for our deck, in testing I just ran this deck over, it wasn’t really a challenge, Mako early and buffing them up early means a pretty easy kill, while they have some protection for their own creatures they don’t have a lot of removal which is absolutely in our favor.
Displaced Dinosaurs
Record against Displaced Dinosaurs 4-0
If we are aggressive and go for commander damage kill, this is a really easy matchup for our deck, they don’t commit much to the board in the early game, and we can take advantage of that; if we have some early discard spells out, it’s very easy for us to just run them over. I like this matchup a lot.
Reinforced Ronin
Record against Reinforced Ronin 3-0
It’s a true aggro vs. aggro matchup, and In testing, Mako absolutely had the advantage; Ronin can hit pretty hard, but we scale much better than they do; they also don’t have much removal, but we have far more card draw than them and Mako can overwhelm them in combat. I like this matchup a lot.
Commanders, we have a tough matchup against:
Alexios, Deimos of Kosmos
Record against Alexios 2-4
This is a winnable but pretty tough matchup, after all. Alexios can get going super quickly, and while we are able to get Mako out on turn one, it can still be pretty tough since they can get out of hand pretty quickly. With a really aggressive hand, an early commander damage kill is possible, but it can be quite tough.
Arabella, Abandoned Doll
Record against Arabella, Abanoded Doll 0-3
This is one of the worst aggressive decks that we can come up against. Arabella’s lifegain is what poses a problem for us; they also tend to have some removal, so it can be tough to keep Mako on the field in this matchup. Even though we have limited removal, if we do try to kill their commander with something like Lightning Axe
, they typically have protection.
Kardur, Doomscourge
Record against Kardur, Doomscourge 0-3
It’s another tough matchup; they are basically a control deck and have a ton of removal; their commander can also force them into really rough combat situations, which can make the whole matchup just terrible. In testing against them, I struggled against them, especially because I could barely keep Mako on the field.
Strategy Overview:
Stick to the Gameplan:
Like most mono-red decks, there are no frills in this one; we always cast Mako on turn one if we can and start the discarding and buffing as soon as we can. Always attacking in advantageous situations is key to winning these games.
Discard as much as we can:
Having huge discard spells like Burning Inquiry and Faithless Looting is actually great for our deck since we can get Mako out so early being able to get some huge early buffs allows us to go for a commander damage kill and put a lot of pressure on our opponents.
Transition to the Voltron Package:
If we can’t get a super early commander damage kill, we transition really nicely to the mid-late game, our Voltron package has a ton of awesome pieces that can help for commander damage kills, or if we have one of our Voltron creatures, put a lot of additional pressure on our opponents.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We really don’t run a lot of creatures since our deck is really focused on Mako and commander damage kill. We have some nice support creatures like Guttersnipe
, which can deal quite a bit of damage to our opponents and is a way nice way to get some benefit from all of the instants and sorceries we cast. While we don’t have a ton of recursion, it is nice to have Ardent Elementalist
, which can get back some of our best spells; I typically use this to recur spells that stop our opponents from blocking. We also have some really nice damage boosters that trigger our commander like Rubblebelt Maaka
and Scorchwalker
, which not only trigger Mako but allow us to get a huge buff in combat, these are also great ways to get an early-game commander damage kill. Now, let’s get into our Voltron package, which is super strong if we don’t kill opponents early and need to transition to the mid-late game. If Mako keeps getting killed and we can’t keep them on the field, we are able to recover with cards like Goblin Gaveleer
and Champion of the Flame
, which are both great Voltron targets, and only get better and bigger as the game goes on. They also work really well with Bladegraft Aspirant
, which isn’t a huge damage dealer but is a great piece of the deck and makes the deck better overall.
Instants:
While we don’t have a lot, we actually do have a little bit of removal like Lightning Axe and Abrade
, which can be a great way to remove commanders/creatures our opponents have. I tend to use these very wisely because we don’t have much backup in this department, I always wait to see a huge threat before I bring either of these out. If you’ve followed any of my decks before, you know I love Big Score
and Unexpected Windfall
, which in this deck are four mana for two cards, two treasure tokens, and +2/+2 on Mako which is absolutely worth a four mana investment. Since Mako can get out of hand so quickly, I am a big fan of Soul's Fire
and Fling
, which can allow us to finish off an opponent after combat very easily. We also have Uncaged Fury
and Temur Battle Rage
which are also great ways to end the game as well.
Sorceries:
Cosmotronic Wave
and Coronation of Chaos
are two of my favorite red spells in the format and can allow us to get in a ton of damage and end games with ease. Beyond that our sorcery package contains a ton of draw/discard for the deck. Some of the best in our deck like Burning Inquiry and Faithless Looting which are really strong early-game buffs for Mako and can help us output a ton of damage. Discarding to buff Mako is really what this deck is all about in the early game, and having access to huge buffs like this can help us to end games super early.
Artifacts:
We have mostly awesome equipment in our artifact package, with some more defensive equipment like Leather Armor
, as well as some really aggressive equipment like Mirran Banesplitter
and Dueling Rapier
which can help us maximize our damage and put a ton of pressure on our opponents, putting these on an early-game Mako, can allow us to get a commander damage kill very quickly. It gets even easier with cards that make our commander and our Voltron creatures really hard to block like Whispersilk Cloak
and Wedding Invitation
. The beauty of our artifact package is that we have a ton of early-game equipment that can help us with early-game commander damage kills, and we have some good mid-late-game equipment that allows us to end games like Golem-Skin Gauntlets
.
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package has a lot of discard support for the deck with cards like Bitter Reunion
. While the haste isn’t always relevant, the discard pretty much always is! Prophetic Ravings
is a card that helps a ton with the overall gameplan and can provide us consistent discard and buff for Mako, It is especially good in conjunction with cards like Senseless Rage
, which we can get for much cheaper and help us increase our damage. Our damage certainly doesn’t end there with cards like Claws of Valakut
, which in the mid-late game can be an absolutely huge damage dealer for the deck.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are really aggressive and, with our commander, can put a ton of pressure on our opponents.
- We have a ton of card draw within the deck, allowing us to continuously discard and fill our hands.
- Our Voltron package allows us to be really strong in combat as we and our opponents transition to the mid-late game.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Outside of cards like Lightning Axe
we don’t have a lot of removal. - We are weak to artifact hate.
- We are weak to creature hate, we just don’t have a way to stop it, and our commander can be quite the target.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Conclusion:
Thanks so much for reading to the end! We have a lot of fun aetherdrift content coming your way. I like this set for Pauper EDH, and in testing so far, I have been having an absolute blast with a lot of these decks. I hope you all like Mako as much as I did, one-mana commanders and discard just feels uniquely mono-red, and this deck has a ton of support and utility within the color. This deck has been a blast and one I am going to be playing with for quite a long time! Stay tuned and tap in!