Magda, Brazen Outlaw is another support for Ragavan's abilities. She's strong enough on her own, plus she better rewards building a list around protecting her.Īnd speaking of building around, Lizard Blades is one of the few cards on the list for its potential alongside the commander, but it's just as powerful alongside some of our late-game threats. Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat is one of the most powerful cards ever released in Alchemy sets, and the likely deck's commander should Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer be banned in the future. Our second-turn plays, when not focused on removing the opponent's blocker to attack with Ragavan and generate a Treasure, are proactive creatures that work very well on their own and/or interact directly with the commander's proposal.įeldon, Ronom Excavator, Earthshaker Khenra, Bloodthirsty Adversary and Robber of the Rich are all aggressive creatures, which also generate some value during the game. These commanders (and many others) tend to have a slow early game - these are the famous "manafixing turns", where tapped lands are played and/or certain cards are used to speed up mana and/or find the necessary colors to execute your game plan. They're excellent because once they start generating value, it's almost impossible to compare to them in terms of card advantage and board presence. On the other hand, if we look at the most played decks of Historic Brawl, we will see multicolored commanders such as Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Jodah, the Unifier, which are among players' top choices. It won't surprise me if, after a few weeks, Ragavan becomes that kind of threat in Historic Brawl. When every list has to create concessions to deal with a single commander, it means that he is problematic for the format. It breaks one of the main proposals of formats focused on the casual scenario, such as Historic Brawl: the possibility of making insane plays that require too many pieces to be played in competitive environments. This creature is the perfect example of the card that generates a "snowball effect" if the other players don't adapt their lists to face it. In general context, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is almost absurd as a commander: it comes in too early, generates too much value for its cost, generates a Lotus Petal per turn with no difficulty, and demands that other decks play with one-drops and/or more removals, and a single hit from him can bring any more impactful threat to the battlefield. Therefore, the "threshold" of answers becomes even more limited, and if the opponent fails to find interactions at the beginning of the game, the amount of value generated by Ragavan becomes immeasurable - not by "stealing" a card every time it deals combat damage, but because the Treasure token lets you play more impactful cards sooner. With it in the Command Zone, its controller can cast it from the first turn. Otherwise, its controller will accumulate a mana advantage with the Treasure created, in addition to having an "extra card" per turn for each combat that Ragavan is unimpeded. What makes the albino monkey so strong is that when it comes into play, the opponent is bound to have a removal and/or a chump block to prevent it from successfully dealing damage. Let's be honest: having access to Ragavan in the first turn, every game, is offensive in 1v1 formats, so much so that he was banned from Duel Commander on May 31, 2022, for being the best early game play available in the format, while also being relevant in later stages. In this article, I present a decklist that seeks to optimize Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and their abilities for Historic Brawl! And despite the deckbuilding concessions of playing a Mono Red deck, my tests with the monkey not only demonstrated that it's very viable in the format, it's also as strong as we'd expect it to be. Therefore, we can assemble lists aimed at him in the format. Ragavan, for some reason, is not banned from Historic Brawl. In this format, players assemble 99-card decks and a commander, and battle in one-on-one games, with a total of 25 life. For now, the Historic Brawl a format that seeks to meet the need for "Commander" in Magic Arena, remains as an option to play it. However, its ban also left a number of players disappointed, as they wanted to experiment its power in games. The expectation brought both disappointment and relief: Ragavan was pre-banned from Historic before the set was released on the digital platform, and players were spared having to invest in large deckbuilding concessions due to the most famous monkey in Magic: The Gathering.
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