Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss!

Raggadragga is a four mana 4/4 that gives each creature you control with a mana ability +2/+2 and whenever a creature you control with a mana ability attacks you untap it and whenever you cast a spell, if at least seven mana was spent to cast it, then you untap a creature and that creature gets +7/+7 and trample until end of turn.

Raggadragga is interesting in that he buffs mana dorks and wants them to go in for offensive purposes, which is interesting and a neat way to have what would normally be considered utility creatures be used for more than just making mana, especially since they also untap to potentially make more mana.

The plan is to get a ton of mana dorks in play in order to get Raggadragga out as soon as we can in order to start attacking or to be casting some big spells.

The first thing that we need are mana dorks, and ideally mana dorks that can add a ton of mana, are cheap to cast, or have decent stats and abilities.

Viridian Joiner is an example of a mana dork that can add a ton of mana since the amount of green mana they can add is determined by their power, meaning that once Raggadragga comes into play then it adds three green mana, potentially ten if we cast an expensive spell.

In a similar vein we can also use Marwyn, the Nurturer who can also add green mana equal to their power, but also happens to get a +1/+1 counter whenever an Elf comes into play under your control, and there are a lot of Elves that happen to be mana dorks.

You have the classic one mana trio of Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, and Fyndhorn Elves all of which can tap to add one green mana, Paradise Druid which can add one mana of any color and has hexproof when it is untapped, and Priest of Titania which can add green mana equal to the number of Elves we control.

Radha, Heir to Keld is also a mana dork that happens to be an Elf, but they can also add two red mana when they attack, which can be very useful if we want to cast some instant speed shenanigans since that mana will go away.

While there are a ton of Elves in the deck, we also have creatures like Ilysian Caryatid which adds one mana of any color unless we control a creature of power 4 or greater then it adds two mana of any color, Fanatic of Rhonas which adds one green mana but adds four green mana if we control a creature of power 4 or greater that can come back with Eternalize, and Ruby, Daring Tracker who has haste, can add a red or green mana, and when she attacks and we control a creature with power 4 or greater she gets +2/+2 until end of turn.

The next thing that we should be doing are casting big spells that will help trigger Raggadragga’s last ability.

Great Train Heist is an excellent spell for this since if we attack while Raggadragga is in play it will untap our creatures so we can tap to help pay for it, this also untaps our creatures and gives an additional combat phase, gives them an additional +1/+0 and first strike until end of turn, and can also give us some more ramp in Treasures if we deal combat damage to an opponent.

The Spree cards really can do a lot, like Smuggler’s Surprise which with just choosing the second mode of putting two creatures from our hand onto the battlefield we already have spent six mana meaning if we spend two we can mill ourselves two cards and put up to two land and/or creatures from among them into our hands or for just one mana give creatures we control with power 4 or greater hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

Outmaneuver is also a card people may not expect that helps us immensely, because we can target X blocked creatures and those creatures can assign combat damage as if they weren’t blocked, especially if we developed a wide enough board so we can get a massive amount of damage through.

We can even go traditional and play some big sorceries like Banefire and Fireball to deal some big damage, Reap the Past to put cards from our graveyard back into our deck, or Apex of Power to exile the top seven cards of our library and get ten mana of any one color if we cast it from our hand.

Electrodominance can also be a great spell to play since we can deal X damage to any target and then cast a spell of mana value X or less from our hand for free, which can be any number of things, but there is one that will help us the most.

We need ways to close out the game, and since we are playing an aggressive strategy we need a way to get more damage through.

Pyrewood Gearhulk was the card I was mentioning that works really well with Electrodominance since if we spend six mana for X we can get a 7/7 with vigilance and menace that when it enters gives other creatures we control +2/+2, vigilance, menace, and damage isn’t able to be prevented.

Decree of Savagery is an expensive spell at nine mana, but it gives each creature control four +1/+1 counters and can cycle for six mana which also gives four +1/+1 counters, but only for one creature. Combine this with any way to give our creatures trample like Garruk’s Uprising, we can deal a lot of damage.

Or we can make it awkward for our opponents to block us if we play something like Gruul War Chant which gives attacking creatures we control +1/+0 and menace, Unnatural Growth which doubles the power and toughness of our creatures for each combat, or the classic Craterhoof Behemoth to give our creatures a massive power boost and trample.

Raggadragga is an interesting combination of making our utility mana dorks into a potentially aggressive threat. Now this deck will probably be a bit light on protection and recursion, meaning that if Raggadragga is off of the battlefield then things can be a bit dicey.

We do have access to a lot of ways to produce mana via our creatures, but since it is a creature heavy strategy then we are subject being the targets of board wipes and targeted removal spells, which does make things a little more difficult.

Still, being able to say that your Llanowar Elves dealt some absurd amount of damage has to count for something, and with this deck it isn’t an impossibility.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual