Rionya, Fire Dancer - Combat Storm
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Alright, here's Version 2.0 with the pivot off of a goblin centered strategy and into a stormier build looking to profit big time off of multiple combat phases and aggressively costed creatures with favorable ETB/attack/death triggers. The big factor in separating what got included from what didn't as far as Rionya targets was evasion. If it didn't have reliable evasion or a trigger that dealt significant noncombat damage, it didn't make it in.
There is a deep card pool of playables for this general, and cuts aren't easy. For example, Breath of Fury goes nuts with Rionya if you stick it on something that can connect without dying in the process. However, I'm not going with Falter-effects-on-legs tribal, and even though it can work on just any old flier or something like Goblin Chainwhirler or Flametongue Kavu that clears the way beforehand, it just felt too gimmicky, no-fun-insta-win-esque, and has huge blowout potential when it doesn't work. My point is, there's lots of good stuff for Rionya that I cut for one reason or another, and maybe I'm just wrong and need to jam some of that stuff back in.
Version 1.0 - Rionya Goblins and the OP
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Rionya, Fire Dancer - Goblin Multiplication
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So, I knew I wanted to build Rionya, Fire Dancer as soon as I saw her, but the question was how?
I think Big Red ETB Monsters, and Dragons, and Giants, Oh My! seemed an obvious route, as did spellslinger + copy opponents' creatures, and as did Transmogrify/Sneak Attack/Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded.dec. Maybe another day. Seems fun.
Then it occured to me: I've been really into compounding anthem effects stapled to creatures lately. Mostly with Mirrorweave or Mystic Reflection, but also Mirror Entity + multiple creature-type lords in play. Attacking with 20+ Angel of Inventions is fun, ya know?
This can be done in mono-red easily enough, but I thought it would be fun to home in on a single tribe and combine their anthemy lords with utility critters and sac outlets to get value before Rionya exiles the tokens. Gee, what mono red tribe has lots of lords and a deep card pool with lots of utility? HMMMMMMM?!?!?!? I wonder? Ok, sarcasm aside, goblins was an obvious choice once I considered this route.
Cool, so if it wasn't obvious already, the goal is to use Rionya's wonderful ability to profit off of a stormy ritual/wheel/loot/rummage/copy filled turn and make as many copies as possible of some goblin with an anthem like effect, then smash. I would very much like to attack with 20+ Goblin Piledrivers, thanks. Or just 10 Goblin Chainwhirlers since there's effectively a board wipe with the deal. That's not too greedy, right?
I don't own some of the top-end gobbos, so no Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Warren Instigator, Dockside Extortionist, Muxus, Goblin Grandee nonsense I'm afraid.
The deckbuilding challenge with this idea is getting ratios right. A true tribal deck trying to also be a true spellslinger deck is awkward since you can't stuff enough creatures OR spells in to be happy either way. I erred on the side of fewer goblins, since really I only need to stick a couple to make my gameplan work. The spellslinging component is what needs to be most consistent, so plenty of card velocity - although it is monored discard and impulse heavy draw stuff. Since I'm looking to be aggressive and proactive, I went light on removal. Feels sketchy, but glass cannons gonna glass cannon.
With the right setup a win is possible without attacking if necessary. Basically if I can get a big enough ritual off (looking at you Battle Hymn and Brightstone Ritual) where I can Reiterate it with buyback and have a net gain in mana after the copy resolves, then I can loop it with the original ritual on the stack. That's arbitrarily huge amounts of mana and storm to dump into Rionya + Goblin Chainwhirler, or Comet Storm, or Goblin Bombardment/Pashalik Mons. I can draw into any of those with Goblin Lore + Underworld Breach, Skullclamp + a sac outlet, or Thrill of Possibility/Cathartic Reunion + the aforementioned Reiterate.
There's lots of little pockets of synergy I'm excited to try. Even something that doesn't necessarily win outright, like Goblin Recruiter for Conspicuous Snoop and Krenko, Mob Boss, cast snoop, make as many snoops as possible, tap em all for Krenko activations. Achievement unlocked.
Anyhow, I know I'm missing some obvious stuff here - per usual. Lots of good cards were cut, and I probably need sense talked into me before I actually go and build this thing. Hit me with it y'all.
Version 2.0 Combat Storm
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Version 2.0 Changelog
5/28/21
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5/28/21
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