“It’s been 25 minutes, and they won’t stop!”
Art:Raucous Entertainer
by Forrest Imel
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
There is certainly no shortage of amazing Pauper EDH commanders, especially ones that focus on +1/+1 counters. Raucous Entertainer is a new face in a long line of strong counters commanders. Raucous Entertainer is a little bit different because they focus on creatures entering the battlefield on the same turn; because of this, we have pushed our mana values down and focused more on cheaper creatures while still having strong mid-late game payoffs. Even though we are in mono-green, we have strong sources of card draw, protection in combat, and ways to protect our commander and creatures from single-target removal. If you love +1/+1 counters or are looking for a new commander within the archetype, Raucous Entertainer is a wonderful new commander and a deck I have been having an absolute blast with. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Why Raucous Entertainer?
Raucous Entertainer is just super sweet and very much feels like a Thunder Junction character, from the theme to the art, and just all of it feels super sweet and beyond its abilities, which is one of the main reasons I was drawn to this commander. While we follow the typical +1/+1 counters gameplan that many decks within the format do, we have some extra layers due to the fact that we have a higher emphasis on smaller creatures since we want to get the most value out of activating our commander, our ramp certainly helps with this allowing us to drop more creatures and use the leftover mana to buff them up from our commander. Raucous Entertainer falls more into a support role within the deck
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 are focused on our commander, and because of this we have quite a few small creatures that get better when buffed up and can easily be buffed up by our commander on the early turns like Experiment One
, Placid Rottentail
and Skarrgan Pit-Skulk
. Pit-Skulk is a crazy card to get any counters on because once they get big they are pretty much unblockable and can be a huge source of damage within the deck. One of my favorites in this deck is Ivy Lane Denizen
. While there is no doubt this card is amazing, it gets even better in a deck that is mono-green since we can trigger it on every single creature that enters and it is effectively an additional copy of our commander. Fairgrounds Trumpeter
is another very strong creature and due to the nature of our deck this gets bigger and bigger every turn and can be an amazing attacker/blocker. While many of our creatures aren’t that interesting, we have a ton that are! Dread Linnorm // Scale Deflection is especially strong because we are able to use its adventure side to buff and protect a creature from removal and have an absolutely huge creature at our disposal whenever we want to cast it. What is a strategy without its payoffs? Well, honestly, not much, but don’t worry, we have some pretty strong payoffs like Longshot Squad
, which helps address one of greens biggest weaknesses, and Crowned Ceratok
, which is an absolute game-ender if we drop this with a built up board.
Instants:
Let’s go against a control-style deck that tries to take out our board or a combat deck that can be effective at blocking us. We can get a ton of value out of Wrap in Vigor
, which is a great way to protect our board if something happens where we could lose it all; this card may not always be an absolute bomb but is a great card to have in our arsenal. While mass removal is not that common in Pauper EDH, single-target is so that’s the main reason why we are packing Snakeskin Veil
. The same is true for Aspect of Hydra
and Might of the Masses
, which is a great card to have when we have big board and can allow us to do an absolute ton of damage especially when our opponents decide not to block. While we rarely get outmuscled in combat, if we do, we have Moment's Peace
to fall back on for a couple of turns, which can be great if an opponent is popping off.
Sorceries:
The most important cards in our deck are our ramp spells; they enable us to cast bigger creatures and flood out our board, as well as activate our commander and cast a ton of creature spells in a turn; because of this, it is key to look out for Cultivate
and Kodama's Reach
in our opening hand because they can certainly be game-changing. Atraxa's Fall
and Carnivorous Canopy
are both decent pieces of removal, and with Canopy, we almost always try to target something three or less because that proliferate can be absolutely huge, and allow us to take over games. Smell Fear
is another strong piece of removal. While it can only kill creatures, it also proliferates, allowing us to buff up our board; once our board is all nice and buffed up, we can easily go over the top with You Meet in a Tavern
which is an amazing finisher for the deck and the card I most often use to close out games, that extra +2/+2 can help an absolute ton when hitting opponents.
Artifacts:
Mono-green sadly does not have a ton of card draw within it, so we look to our artifact package to supplement it; while they are not the best in the world, we do have both Spare Supplies
and Letter of Acceptance
which are both cheap and can be strong sources of draw, these are absolutely perfect after a turn where we have been able to ramp and we have a little bit of extra mana flowing around. Wedding Invitation
is also a source of supplemental card draw but is in a league of its own because the unblockable for one creature can easily be a game-ending hit, especially if the creature is heavily buffed-up with +1/+1 counters. We, of course, have some mana rocks that help us to ramp, like Moss Diamond
and Bonder's Ornament
; Bonders get an additional nod because more card draw is always nice.
Enchantments:
Master Chef
, in my opinion, is one of the best cards in the deck; it is essentially an additional copy of our commander with no mana requirement and is able to buff up our commander and everything else allows us to continue to be a powerhouse in combat. Master Chef is great and pretty similar to the rest of the deck, as well as the rest of our enchantment package because they all pretty much help with more and more +1/+1 counters. New Horizons
and Grafted Growth
are some of my favorite cards because they provide an additional ramp for the deck and extra counters; these cards are both great and cards I absolutely prioritize when I have them in hand. Creatures are a huge part of Pauper EDH. Because of this you can get an absolute insane amount of value from Predatory Hunger
which goes crazy against pretty much any deck, this card is amazing and can make the smallest creature in the deck an absolute beast in just a couple of turns. We absolutely had to include Spidersilk Armor
, one of green’s biggest weaknesses is not being able to block flying creatures, and spidersilk armor easily solves this problem and helps us be strong against flying-focused decks, in Pauper EDH there are quite a few so this card can be ok in some matchups but absolutely necessary in others, just a great card to have.
Land Base:
There isn’t a whole lot to say about our landbase beyond that it’s strong and efficient and contains all of the supplemental card draw that we typically have, like Desert of the Indomitable
, as well as strong cycling lands like Slippery Karst
and Tranquil Thicket
. Even though we do have some higher-cost cards within the deck, I still think it’s correct to play thirty-five lands as we are mostly ramping anyways, so there’s no need to go higher and run thirty-six or seven. I like this landbase a lot and have had a lot of success with it; out of 35 games played with this deck, I was mana-screwed twice and mana-flooded once.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We are quite strong in combat, even in the early game, and once we have our creatures buffed up, we can easily do a ton of damage and be great at blocking as well.
- We have quite a few pieces of ramp within the deck, allowing us to speed out huge creatures and have a ton of mana to cast creatures and activate our commander.
- We have an absolute ton of sources of counters within our deck, from creatures to our commander to our spells. There are a ton of counters to go around, and we will get them all over the place.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- If we can’t keep creatures on the board due to a large amount of removal or board wipes, we can struggle. We are certainly a deck that focuses on strength in numbers and having a buffed-up board.
- Beyond fighting other creatures, we have almost no other removal within the deck.
- A lot of the best cards in our deck are win-more cards, which are great if we already have a board established but not that great if we don’t.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a combat deck through and through that overwhelms the early-game with our smaller creatures like Iron Apprentice
, Placid Rottentail, and Skarrgan Pit-Skulk these, of course, get bigger and better when combined with our commander and can be great early-game attackers. Since we are in mono-green, we also have a fair bit of ramp, which allows us to curve into our bigger and badder creatures, which can easily overwhelm our opponents in combat. We are quite strong in combat because our commander buffs up a lot of the creatures that enter and uses a ton of different ways to add counters and payoffs.
Conclusion:
Raucous Entertainer is a very strong commander who is super fun to pilot and is a breath of fresh air and a little bit different than many other of the +1/+1 counter-focused commanders. I have been having a ton of fun and success with this deck within my playgroup, and if you love mono-green, going to combat, or just putting a ton of counters on your stuff, I think you will enjoy this one. I hope you all enjoyed this one as much as I did! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!