Mono-Red Group Hug

“Hey everyone! Today my first Commander article went up on Star City Games about a truly unhinged idea I had: mono-red group hug.

Before sleeving my first 99 six months ago, I was your typical Arena draft grinder. When I brought that same mentality to EDH, I found myself kind of miserable. My decks weren’t meeting the expectations of my pod, I was constantly chasing more expensive cards, and I wasn’t making fun decisions. I was just netdecking another format.

Okay, so what could I do that would be completely different? I wanted to break the color pie and expectations. This list has been tuned to do just that. I describe it as the deck my grandma would have played: it wants to feed everyone a little too much. Then offer them seconds and thirds.

Since we’re red, it doesn’t suffer the endless games that hug/pillow forts are prone to: there are lots of resources and damage we help dole out. We also play a legitimately altruistic game. If we eke out a win, it’s usually because everyone wants to keep us alive as long as possible to keep the gifts coming. It can also be built on a budget, as a lot of the cards that give your opponents massive advantages aren’t particularly spendy.

Speaking of, a few egregiously huggy red cards to mention that I want to give some shine to:

Hired Giant gives our opponent a tutor for a free land. Is it untapped? Ohhhhh yeah.

Shah of Naar Isle because who doesn’t like a group Ancestral Recall?

Boldwyr Heavyweights really depends on the group. If you can trust everyone to do something fun with it, I’m a BIG fan.

Wild Evocation creates fun moments every game I’ve cast it. This deck loves when random good stuff happens for people.

I’ll also note that it’s more important to me to run this as a balanced deck than playing king/queenmaker. Usually, the player to my left gets a massive advantage, so I try to help everyone else out with [[Death by Dragons]], [[Aeon Engine]], etc. Since our win is everyone else having fun, I think I’m legitimately a better pod mate having run this a few times.

Is there anything egregious you’re not seeing in the list? I mentioned a few cards at the end of the article, but I took a break from the game during my 20’s so there are a lot of cards I’m still discovering. It rules.”