“We Are What We Overcome.”
Art:Mardu Roughrider
by Kev Walker
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Mardu Roughrider is an awesome commander for Mardu; while it’s not like we have much of a choice as they are the only Mardu commander out here, here’s to hoping that changes soon. I love Mardu decks, and when I saw Roughrider’s ability to take away blocking for a turn, it gave me the idea to load up on powerful offensive auras and lock down opponents’ creatures with a ton of enchantments as well. Combine all of that into a Mardu package with card draw removal and ramp. We have a fun and powerful deck, and for anyone who loves Mardu, this is the deck for you! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
Click here to copy full decklist to your clipboard!
Mardu Roughrider Blockless Auras!
Buy This Deck!
Buy this deck using our TCGPlayer Affiliate Link: Mardu Roughrider Blockless Auras Pauper EDH
Why Mardu Roughrider?
Mardu Roughrider is an awesome commander who falls into two roles within the deck whether we can ramp early with mana rocks and cast them early then they become our primary target for all of the offensive auras that we have. If not they can be a great attacker/blocker and take out a blocker for a turn when they come down. No matter what role they fit, they are quite strong, and with all of our artifacts, the ramp can usually come down at least a couple of turns early.
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:
Champion of the Flame
is arguably the most important creature in our deck since we can use them as a huge attacker and blocker once we get just a few auras attached to them. We also have some cost reducers for all of our enchantments like Transcendent Envoy
and Starnheim Courser
. Mardu Warshrieker
is a card I love in the deck since we attack quite often, and getting an additional three mana can be extremely strong and, depending on the cards in our hand let us cast one to two additional cards! We also have some early-game mana ramps like Gold Myr
, Iron Myr
, and Leaden Myr
. Not being in green means we don’t have the best mana dorks, but these are still strong and helpful.
Instants:
At instant speed is where all of our removal lies, and since we are in Mardu, we get access to very strong spells like Unmake
and Terminate
, which are both perfect for opponents’ huge threats/commanders. We also have some classic removal like Cast Down
and Murder
. All of our card draws also come at instant speed in Big Score
and Unexpected Windfall
, which not only give us cards but some additional mana as well. Beyond that, our instant package is full of some strong additional removal to stop opponents threats.
Sorceries:
Since we are a “blockless” deck, we only have two sorceries, and as should be no surprise, we stop our opponents from blocking Coronation of Chaos
is very sweet since we can take out three creatures and goad them perfectly for our opponents biggest threats. Seismic Stomp
is another strong card that can be very good against most strategies, but some decks like faeries or anything with an emphasis on flyers can be a little tough for us.
Artifacts:
Our artifact package is pretty much exclusively mana rocks and mana ramps like Bonder's Ornament
, Arcane Signet
, and the lockets, which help us get a ton of extra mana. We also have Mardu Banner
, which is a strong card draw and a great way to produce all of our colors for only three mana. Our only non-rock artifact is Wedding Invitation
, which gives us a card draw and an unblockable creature for only two mana. This card is sweet and one of my favorites in the format.
Enchantments:
Our enchantment package can be broken up into two categories, offensive and defensive enchantments. For our offensive enchantments, we have absolute bombs like All That Glitters
and Ethereal Armor
, which can get out of hand very quickly. Dragon Breath
and Dragon Scales
are an additional crazy pair of enchantments that can put at on of pressure on opponents. My favorites in the deck are the three on-color lorwyn enchantments which I typically save for Mardu Roughrider since we get all the benefits like Fists of the Demigod
, Scourge of the Nobilis
and Edge of the Divinity
while not apart of the same cycle we also have Gift of Orzhova
which is extremely strong as well. Onto our defensive enchantments, this is the blockless part of our deck; we have strong enchantments like Dreadful Apathy
, Faith's Fetters
, and Revoke Privileges
. We also have some more offensive-focused block less enchantments like Hammerhand
, Hostile Realm
, and Malicious Intent
. We have a ton of ways to stop our opponent’s creatures from attacking or blocking, and it can get to the point where we have a full lock on them!
Land Base:
We have a pretty simple land base with dual lands like Silverquill Campus
and Lorehold Campus
. These are both great duals that help us get both of our colors established more easily. We also have some strong supplemental card draw in our land base like The Fair Basilica
and The Dross Pits
, which can be a great way to get some cards if we are falling behind. The same is true for the desert cycle since we have every on-color desert which gives us some more supplemental card draw. I have had a ton of success with this landbase and found it to be strong and efficient.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We have a ton of enchantments to lock down our opponents creatures from attacking and blocking which allows us to take huge threats out of combat and allows us to have to worry about taking damage less.
- We can easily one-shot opponents with a commander damage kill or with cards like Champion of the Flame
. - We can really hurt our opponents with enchantments / spells that don’t allow our opponents to block.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We can be a little slow to start in the first couple turns, this leads to us taking some early damage from more aggressive strategies.
- Weak to enchantment hate.
- We are light on creatures so we can not be the best at blocking in the early game until we get a creature and some auras established.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck; we win the game through combat and pumping up our creatures with Auras; in addition to that, we have many auras that lock down opponents’ creatures and make us very hard to block. We can string together wins quite quickly as we tend to be very aggressive and, if not kept in check, can do huge damage with only a few turns.
Conclusion:
Mardu Roughrider is a very fun commander whom I have been having an absolute blast with; Mardu sadly only has one option in Pauper EDH, but don’t let that stop you; Mardu Roughrider is an absolute blast to pilot! I have been having a ton of fun with this one and am excited to share this one with you all today!