{"ops":[{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" , a human warrior recognizes that there is nothing stronger than the elements themselves. Where can he find soldiers that will rush into battle, dome the opponents, and then die such that he can grow larger and large?? \n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"He'll command elementals"},{"insert":", or as I like to say, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ball Lightning"}},{"insert":" typal. \n\nDeckbuilding video: https://youtu.be/Y0WO86oxRHw\nChannel: www.youtube.com/@SupremeVerdicts\n\nIntroduction"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"A hallmark of elemental decks has always been their memorable evoke mechanic. This deck seeks to use the natural elemental synergies found in cards with this mechanic such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vibrance // Vibrance"}},{"insert":" in concert with the \"ball lightning-esque\" cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lightning Serpent"}},{"insert":" . With a healthy synergy package around these self-sacrificing elementals and other Jund classics, we create a unique flavor of the classic Kresh / "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fling"}},{"insert":" decks of bygone commander days. \n \nThe Commander"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" gets bigger whenever other creatures die based on the power of those creatures. Traditional "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" decks employ a variety of kill spells and sacrifice effects to leverage your opponents losing creatures against Kresh growing in size. The most common form of this deck is often a Voltron strategy centered on "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" and +1 / +1 counters. The less played, but still very popular version is based on cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Fling"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Chandra's Ignition"}},{"insert":" to end games by throwing a large "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" at our opponents. \n\nThis version of the deck minimizes its removal to focus on an aggressive typal strategy. Our fling spells like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kazuul's Fury // Kazuul's Cliffs"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Pain for All"}},{"insert":" are great with our commander, but with so much additional pressure from "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Life of the Party"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rite of the Raging Storm"}},{"insert":" , these cards can act as removal if needed or can close out games with some of our other heavy hitters like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lumra, Bellow of the Woods"}},{"insert":" , even if they end up smaller than "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" .\n\nElemental Typal"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Truthfully, I was looking into building an Amass themed deck and had settled on "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" as my commander. It was in my research of high-powered creatures that might work as backups to my fling strategy that I realized so many of them were elementals. \n\nNext thing I knew we had sacrifice elementals like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Spark Elemental"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shriekmaw"}},{"insert":" , and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Lightning Skelemental"}},{"insert":" ;\nSome powerful utility elementals like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Greenwarden of Murasa"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Omnath, Locus of Rage"}},{"insert":" ;\nand some elemental synergy pieces like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ygra, Eater of All"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Forgotten Ancient"}},{"insert":" who fill similar roles to our commander by making things bigger! \n\nWhy aren't there cards that care about how many of a particular type you have? Because those cards are bad. At least in this deck. So many of the card draw or mana reduction cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Herald's Horn"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Gathering Stone"}},{"insert":" aren't as efficient as some of our other card draw and the mana reduction doesn't have as great of an impact due to our high color cost requirements. Instead, we rely on elemental cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Champion of the Path"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Thunderkin Awakener"}},{"insert":" to provide some sweet sweet typal value.\n\nCard Advantage and Removal"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The nature of our deck's construction leads us to play high-power creatures and wants us to play one every single turn. Green offers the best card draw in this category with cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Great Henge"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Greater Good"}},{"insert":" . We also get some additional synergy by having our card draw stapled to a couple of evasion effects through "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Garruk's Uprising"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Herd Heirloom"}},{"insert":" . \n\nOur removal is severely limited in strict spells to "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Blasphemous Act"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Vona's Hunger"}},{"insert":" which both can act as potentially one-sided board wipes. There is some additional removal in the evoke elementals like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Foundation Breaker"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Ingot Chewer"}},{"insert":" . But we subscribe that the best kind of removal is player removal through the use of "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Rite of Consumption"}},{"insert":" and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Soul's Fire"}},{"insert":" .\n"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Other Card Choices "},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"There are additional \"power matters,\" evasion, and protection cards to help round out the deck and ensure a consistent flow of damage. These include "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shadowspear"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Temur Battle Rage"}},{"insert":" , "},{"insert":{"card-link":"The Skullspore Nexus"}},{"insert":" , and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Tyvar's Stand"}},{"insert":" . With all of the opportunities to have trample in this deck we can make sure that each attack hits hard, or sneak out trample at the last moment once we've made our creatures astronomically large. \n\nIt's also of note that there are only 9 black pips represented across cards. This deck is Gruul splashing black more than anything else. With so many cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Groundbreaker"}},{"insert":" creating a huge barrier to casting cost in this three-color deck, I made an active effort to minimize the use of black mana in cards and in the mana base to make it more likely that we can cast these cards as needed.\n\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nissa, Resurgent Animist"}},{"insert":" is a fun inclusion in this elemental deck. She's excellent ramp as well as a good source of card advantage with so many fetch lands. She will regularly get us an elemental to hand that we can cast and might even occasionally find us "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord"}},{"insert":" , a reusable fling effect that hits all of our opponents! \n\nLastly, you'll notice that I've maintained a large sideboard for this deck. There are so many corner cases that are meta-dependent that I couldn't bring myself to fully cut cards that mesh with the gameplan, or that offer unique opportunities to play. For now, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"War Elemental"}},{"insert":" is in the deck. But I could see it falling flat, in that case it can easily be switched out for a card that would certainly do alright (such as "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Realmwalker"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Soul of the Harvest"}},{"insert":" ). OR this might be the perfect situation to have "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Foggy Swamp Visions"}},{"attributes":{"color":"#e60000"},"insert":" ACTUALLY"},{"insert":" do something because so many of our creatures have haste. \n\nMulligans"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The deck uses 1 and 3 mana ramp to make sure that land drops are hit on time for the tight color requirements. As much of the ramp as possible does not require basic lands, also for the color requirements. Have you noticed that I haven't even talked about card draw or the plan yet? The ideal opening hand ramps 1, then 3 mana ramp on turn 2, into Kresh on turn 3, followed up with a card draw piece or ball lightning. That's unrealistic, so settle for lands/ramp and card draw where able. \n\nEnding the Game"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"The best removal is player removal. Hit fast, hit hard, get value for big hits. Hold your flings where needed and use them to close out the game at critical moments. Use your elementals to feed the kill to "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kresh the Bloodbraided"}},{"insert":" , or if you needed to fire early you can use them to close out the game (especially with haste after a board wipe). \n"}]}