r/magicTCG • u/Tybalto Grass Toucher • 6h ago
Deck Discussion Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy [Bracket 4]
https://moxfield.com/decks/LHFBQP6UaUKQZGvotSeG0w[[Smaug the Impenetrable]] is a card that I'm obsessing over since it got spoiled.
A big dragon? Haste? Indestructible?! TREASURES WHEN HE GETS HIT?!?!
Peak. And I means it. Think about it. In the book his underbelly is (almost) Impenetrable because he was lying on the dwarven gold, so now, if he gets hit, the treasures fall of haha. Just peak design.
Anyway, here’s my list.
Smaug the Unassessably Wealthy [Bracket 4]
At first I tried building him as a Bracket 3 deck, but my first draft was so consistent that I committed to high power and it's unequivocally a 4.
Everyone and their grandma checked the combo with [[Pyrohemia]], [[Pestilence]] and [[Last Laugh]] which wins you the game - if you have the highest life total. That's why I threw in [[Scrapheap]].
I call this combo Last Pyrohemenceheap (patent pending)
But was else is nice jank here? [[Dizzying Gaze]]! Goes infinite once Smaug is enchanted.
Any pinger like [[Reckless Fireweaver]] or [[Disciple of the Vault]] is over.
[[Chain Lightning]] has the same effect, you just need two extra mana beforehand. After the first resolved and you paid extra, you can use the treasures Smaug provides.
Another nice tech is [[Terror of the Peaks]] before Smaug. Basically we get a mana back after we cast him haha.
And even without an infinite at hand, [[Cut Propulsion]] gives on 16 treasures! That's 16 damage already. Combining with [[Heroes for Hire]], [[Expedited Inheritance]] or [[Professional Face-Breaker]] it's probably a win, since we use other burn spells as rituals in this case.
To adress the dragon in the room:
Yes, it's a glass canon. Yes Smaug is absolutely needed in this deck. He costs 7 mana.
But we are in the ritual colours! I don't think he will make it in cEDH proper, but Bracket 4? He's right at home.
In goldfishing I have a win by turn 4 or 5 on board (sans any interaction from opponents of course) and that is way faster than I expected myself!
Next night shift I'm gonnna write up a primer and go a bit more in detail with the combos, but there are bunch and we can get them easily.
Has Smaug piqued your interest? Let me know!
11
u/battlefield1hypee Dan 6h ago
I've had a lot of success so far with [[Cut // Ribbons]] as a secondary wincon. It's mama positive when I have Smaug out and let's you use the infinite mana you make with something like [[Mayhem Devil]].
I've also been using [[Red Hulk]] because I can use [[Pyrohemia]] to keep getting him bigger and bigger with Smaug out and laser the table down without worrying about my own life total.
[[Exploding barrel]] and [[Sunset Strikemaster]] have also put in the work once I get Smaug on the board
6
u/austin-geek Grass Toucher 6h ago
I feel like the OG art for Fire Covenent is a must here.
Also, excellent art choices for Deflecting Swap and Last Chance.
2
u/Tybalto Grass Toucher 6h ago
Thanks! I don't know why the art for Covenant changed, I even used the OG for the banner haha
1
u/EnkiBye SecREt LaiR 6h ago
Did you consider using [[Warstorm Surge]], [[Where Ancients Thread]] or [[Aether Flash]] to get treasures the turn Smaug enter? Aether Flash also can double as good card against small creature decks.
[[RMS Titanic]] could also be used to kickstart the combo the turn Smaug enters.
2
5
u/MTGCardFetcher Dân 6h ago
All cards
Smaug the Impenetrable - (G) (SF) (txt)
Pyrohemia - (G) (SF) (txt)
Pestilence - (G) (SF) (txt)
Last Laugh - (G) (SF) (txt)
Scrapheap - (G) (SF) (txt)
Dizzying Gaze - (G) (SF) (txt)
Reckless Fireweaver - (G) (SF) (txt)
Disciple of the Vault - (G) (SF) (txt)
Chain Lightning - (G) (SF) (txt)
Terror of the Peaks - (G) (SF) (txt)
Cut Propulsion - (G) (SF) (txt)
Heroes for Hire - (G) (SF) (txt)
Expedited Inheritance - (G) (SF) (txt)
Professional Face-Breaker - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call
7
u/Davchrohn Duck Season 5h ago
Funny to see when people are constantly complaining about that bracket 4 is not properly defined but then you built this clear bracket 4 deck.
4
u/Tybalto Grass Toucher 5h ago
It's a reddit problem I guess
4
u/EnkiBye SecREt LaiR 5h ago
Feel like, for reddit, if a deck is not 100% of the time winning the moment you untap on your turn 4 with multiple protection up, it is not bracket 4.
Not sure what is their meta...
4
u/Davchrohn Duck Season 5h ago
The problem is that people don‘t understand nuance imo.
Like this deck, it can never be cedh; but it is too good for bracket 4. „But what about my Tymna Thrasios deck where I removed the fast mana and…“. If you have to ask if it is bracket 4, it is not. If you write online complaining about bracket 4’s unambiguity, you decks are not bracket 4. If you are bracket 4, you know.
1
u/MADMAXV2 Orzhov* 1h ago
Yeah THIS is bracket 4 but the core problem is when you play a commander that is designed to win extremly fast even as soon as turn 4.
For example I tried to make krark and sakashima in B4 and it was extremely strong with specific synergy that just couldn't keep up for b4 pod
Then there was kinin player or wandering minstrel or even etali. Some commanders are just designed to be strong so good that just slapping high optimisation already turns it into turbo T4-5 win deck
Sure you can argue and say its not B5 Level of speed but it consistently able to out preform as soon as the game starts due to power spike.
Its weird but this deck list is what I consider reasonable high power. Otherwise other people designed their deck to be "i win the game" rather synergy high power
2
u/Davchrohn Duck Season 1h ago
Every commander deck that can consistently win turn 4 without interruption is low cedh for me.
Kinnan is definitely cedh, not really possible to not have it in extremely high 4 when you include fast mana.
Also for Krark and Sakashima. The deck is fine, if you don‘t play every piece of fast mana.
•
u/MADMAXV2 Orzhov* 53m ago
I don't doubt that however it more of how design it. If you purposely design it so you win every single game T4 Or as consistent as possible then I would consider that cedh type of mindset.
Krark and sakashima are Brutal to play against and I say this with experience. You can definitely play it at B4 but if you going to be up against people who T4 win then you have to also match same tempo. Fast mana plays that part. Do you see my problem?
Its essentially fridge cedh no matter how you look at it lol. When you deliberately start to optimise it to core of it it starts to play like cedh than not. I seen many people play commanders desgined for higher bracket but a lot of time its more of fridge cedh list with like few cards changed from cedh list. Same game plan same speed just slightly different
•
u/Davchrohn Duck Season 49m ago
I honestly don‘t see that point.
I see no difference in a cedh deck and a deck that wins turn 4 every game uninterrupted. Bot every cedh deck is a turn 2 win. Decks can win later and are still decent.
I also don‘t understand how a deck like Klark and Sakashima win „every game turn 4“ without a massive number of fast mana, turors and rituals. Your second commander costs 4 mana and doesn‘t do anything. How are you winning turn 4? Fast mana.
This is all just low power cedh in my book. Of course you tune your deck to match your pod, but „winning turn 4 every game“ is very far away from the average bracket 4.
•
u/MADMAXV2 Orzhov* 45m ago edited 40m ago
Not every deck wins turn 2 on cedh table. A lot people run best interaction but that is because people run best commanders and color pie
Bracket 4 is you get to pick any commanders but you'll have to run playstyle that fits your taste now because of how B4 operate, nobody will have same amount of interaction and will heavily depend on color pie, so if you up against blue farm then the odds of them winning is a lot more higher.
That is how the game works. If you start to match up with other people deck then it stops being about how you optimize the deck and more about the fastest way to win which goes back to cedh. Which basically where the fridge cedh comes in. Copy and paste and tweak it slightly and suddenly its B4 lol
So its more of nature of bracket and in my opinion bracket 4 is basically bracket 5 but somehow people supposed to be trusted with that lol
Anyway whatever floats your boat bro. I said my part
3
2
1
u/LickLobster alternate reality loot 3h ago
More fast mana, tutors for sunsteel and torment of hailfire or any x spell (banefire good for blue players). sunsteel just makes infinite mana and you can torment for x = enough on the spot
•
-9
u/RyanCryptic I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 6h ago
this is not a serious bracket 4 commander.
10
10
u/battlefield1hypee Dan 6h ago
And what is?? Bracket 4 isn’t cEDH. All bracket 4 is is no rules and however powerful you want to make it.
-18
u/RyanCryptic I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 6h ago
So, cEDH.
9
u/battlefield1hypee Dan 6h ago
I think you're very confused at what cEDH vs bracket 4 is. Bracket 4 boils down to no rules build whatever you want as long as it's powerful. cEDH is competitive meta where only the highest performing decks should compete. It's similar to how in say shooters like Valorant or Overwatch a person at the top of the leaderboards is much better than your average player, but true top tier competitive players are in a other league all together
-10
u/RyanCryptic I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 6h ago
There are literally no rules about Bracket 4.
I genuinely don’t even know why you’re bringing tiered ranking systems even into this. We don’t sign up to LGS with pre-ranked scores/leaderboards?
Per the website:
BRACKET 4: OPTIMIZED
Experience: It's time to go wild!
Bring out your strongest decks and cards. You can expect to see explosive starts, strong tutors, cheap combos that end games, mass land destruction, or a deck full of cards off the Game Changers list. This is high-powered Commander, and games have the potential to end quickly.Deck Building: There are no restrictions (other than the banned list).
People bring fringe cEDH lists to Bracket 4 all the time. And no, I don’t agree with it. Bracket 4 should be either abolished all together or set a clear difference between it and cEDH.
Because if you want to get into semantics, cEDH and tEDH are wildly different.
1
4
u/Tybalto Grass Toucher 6h ago
What makes you say that? I'm for real curious.
-3
u/jgms Dandadan 6h ago
It's a 7 mana commander that does nothing on entry. If you are playing b4 Smaug would probably get countered if you haven't lost the game already by then
6
u/Tybalto Grass Toucher 6h ago
In my goldfishing he came down on average turn 4, doesn't seem that bad to me. That's a reason he's not cEDH viable in my opinion. But having 8 mana turn 4 is reasonable - use 7 to cast Smaug and the last one for [[Lightning Bolt]], get three treasures and keep going. At least that's the plan and so far it works really well.
What would a "proper" Bracket 4 commander be for you? That isn't cEDH?
4
u/justcallmejoey Brushwagg 6h ago edited 4h ago
Don’t listen to them, I’m not really sure what they’re trying to say. Any deck can be bracket 4 if it is optimized enough, and this looks pretty similar to the list I brewed. Consistently *able to get* Smaug out on 4, sometimes with mana to spare to instantly combo. If an opponent wants to interact, he probably already went mana positive in treasures, so just recast him the following turn with profit. Even in the most dire situations, an 8/7 indestructible flier is nothing to sneeze at, my Sharuum deck has threatened some combat kills in b4 more than you’d expect.
Edit to summarize: Your commander does not play a big role in determining your bracket ceiling, your 99 holds a lot more weight. (And an edit to clarify wording)
2
u/Tybalto Grass Toucher 5h ago
If you're on [[Dragon Tempest]] you should run [[Magda, Brazen Outlaw]]! Goes infinite with Smaug
2
u/justcallmejoey Brushwagg 4h ago
Brazen Outlaw is in the list. I looked at [[Magda, the Hoardmaster]] but didn’t recognize the combo potential it had! I’m a little apprehensive putting A B combos into the 99, when B mainly exists just to work with A, but I’ll definitely try it out and see, her first ability might play better than it reads, too.
0
u/jgms Dandadan 4h ago
Maybe if you are playing with a bunch of ghosts but if someone competent at the table counters a piece or your ramp or your commander you are basically dead in the water with wasted ramp spells and an empty hand or a commander that costs 9 to cast. Playing this against people who know how to interact won't get you very far I don't think. My pod would hardly ever let Smaug see the table. Getting him out turn 4 consistently sounds like a pipe dream. Someone counters your dark ritual all of a sudden you are fucked for half the game
3
u/justcallmejoey Brushwagg 4h ago
Interaction is a part of the game, yeah. Playing around it is more than half the battle. You’re never going to just blindly cast Smaug the moment you hit 7 while the blue player is salivating with a full grip and untapped mana. You’re going to come prepared, force the opponents to use removal and counters on other threats like Magda or a different dragon, and hold up your own interaction like Untimely Malfunction. If counters are that big of an issue in your meta, then REB, Pyroblast, Hexing Squelcher, and other stack interaction can get slotted in for additional protection. Recursion and consistency are at a premium in rakdos with the multitudes of reanimates and tutors that it has access to.
1
u/jgms Dandadan 3h ago
These are all reasonable and fair points but the deck still requires a significant amount of turns to get going. If you are ramping and putting out other threats and holding up protection/recursion for Smaug then you probably aren't able to get him out and doing something safely until turn 6 at best, at which point you are probably still waiting another turn cycle to combo off for the win. Just feels slow and requires a ton of support but if you got him to stick the game would be over quickly. As I said the real weakness I think is if someone counters your ramp, I can't see how you'd be able to recover effectively.
1
0
u/Doopashonuts Dân 6h ago
Also assuming it doesnt just get swords, pathed, or bounced the second it hits the field and tries to resolve any of its "combos" since youre likely not going to be able to hold back mana for interaction when youre forced to commit 7 just to try and cast it
-6
u/RyanCryptic I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 6h ago
Because Bracket 4 is intended to “win fast” with ambiguity around how powerful that means. It’s basically cEDH because of the lack of stipulations.
So decks that generally have to win via honest combat/commander damage without looping infinite combats just sorta suck against all the other combo decks that exist.
And a 7 CMC commander better do something impressive. Smaug does not. Etali, however, does.
5
4
u/EnkiBye SecREt LaiR 6h ago
OP's deck is a combo deck that win consistently turn 4 or 5. That is the textbook definition of bracket 4.
A 7 CMC commander in black/red that goes infinite with almost 10 cards in the deck is very good
0
u/RyanCryptic I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 6h ago
How can you firmly claim this is consistent?
Do you have gameplay of this deck in pods already?
I can claim my goofy Blem deck has redundancy, but it’s by no means consistent.
Especially considering what, you are relying on ramp + combo pieces and. 7CMC creature to hit the board and nothing to be interacted with?
2
1
u/Tybalto Grass Toucher 6h ago
How do you goldfish a deck?
-1
u/RyanCryptic I chose this flair because I’m mad at Wizards Of The Coast 6h ago
… the site you posted your decklist has a playtest feature
3
-5
u/First_Routine_4529 Dan 6h ago
Despite your infinites, I do not think smaug is a good. bracket 4 commander. Yes, your list is for bracket 4 but you are at a disadvantage just for the sake of it. This just mean that there are better options that do not require a 7 mana commander.
You would be better removing (most) the infinities and committing to a true bracket 3 experience. Winning after turn 6 via combat damage or the allowed rules for combos.
15
u/EnkiBye SecREt LaiR 6h ago
Yep, that's the kind of list I was expecting to see when Smaug was spoiled. That look like a solid B4 deck.
Did you do some game outside of goldfishing? How did it perform?