Rionya, Fire Dancer - Combat Storm

[MeowZeDung]

I'm pretty sure "Anax" just refers to himself here, not other cards called that. You're likely to get 2 satyrs per Anax though due to the whole power devotion thing, as he himself has two pips already.

Ah jeez, I forgot he gets more tokens for being power 4+. Good catch.

[WizardMN]

I'm pretty sure "Anax" just refers to himself here, not other cards called that. You're likely to get 2 satyrs per Anax though due to the whole power devotion thing, as he himself has two pips already.

Because of the nontoken clause, the others won't trigger (just want to make sure we aren't expecting the original to trigger at all here) but the first sentence is important: each Anax refers only to itself dying for the "Whenever Anax dies" clause.

[MeowZeDung]

You will end up with 4 tokens: two each from the dying Anax's that trigger themselves. They will not trigger each other since they are tokens.

However, if you kill the original and a token, you get 8 tokens: 2 from the token's trigger for itself when it dies and 2 from each Anax when the original dies (since that isn't a token, all 3 trigger).

Ok, so the proper name "Anax" has no bearing on how they proc. Got it.

Still, two tokens per anax with room for more if you sac the original means it's still not a bad deal. Your dream's alive @Guardman! I might just slot anax in over war marshal.

[MeowZeDung]

Just a few more random thoughts while I'm here and thinking about the deck:

I'd love more draw seven effects, but making a bunch of Magus of the Wheel tokens then activating Sundial of the Infinite is pretty narrow and telegraphed while also being awkwardly positioned with how I'd rather storm pre combat.

That got me thinking of ways to "cast" Wheel of Fate and then possibly copy it and burn through instants between resolutions. So, some stuff I might consider is Kari Zev's Expertise, Electrodominance, Goblin Dark-Dwellers, Dreadhorde Arcanist, Finale of Promise, Wildfire Eternal, Efreet Flamepainter, etc. Those are all options that are flexible, enable some free wheels, and powerful on their own, and I thought I'd list em here for future reference. For now I want to roll with low cmc French vanilla aggro beaters that stack a la Signal Pest and Kruin Striker, but I think no matter what I look to copy the storm half of the deck is more critical (hence draw 7s).

Honestly, the more I look at options with rionya the more silliness I imagine having a blast with. Can you imagine 8 Mindclaw Shamans. Lulz.

[Guardman]

If you are looking for higher mana cost options Anarchist is an interesting card as it can buyback all of the cards used to create the tokens (as long as they are sorceries). But personally I agree with Mindclaw Shaman as something to include just for the lulz.

Another interesting choice to add (but not copy) is Krark, the Thumbless. Both options seem good for the deck as either you copy the spell or it returns it to your hand for another Ryona trigger.

[MeowZeDung]

Oooh, Krark, the Thumbless is a good one here. I like him especially with the rituals. Double wheeling could be good too - if we draw into instants. Krark + Bonus Round to set the tone for the turn sounds delightful.

[MeowZeDung]

I've just been gushing about Harmonic Prodigy in my Kykar thread. Putting the word out here too incase anyone is keeping up with Rionya.

There's also Dragon's Rage Channeler, Galvanic Relay, and the Mogg Salvage reprint that have caught my eye so far EDIT: forgot Breya's Apprentice, which is actually fantastic here. Mostly I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for Prodigy though.

If you aren't seeing the "trick" here: Harmonic Prodigy copies Rionya's trigger a second time. Assuming x = a reasonable number, you can then sling a few more spells to "multi-prowess" all your prodigy tokens. The best is if you cast an extra combat spell though, because then you trigger Rionya many, many times at the beginning of the second combat. Essentially, this thing is game ending in the way Combat Celebrant is while only asking for slightly more support.

[MeowZeDung]

I finally got this deck sleeved and should be able to get at least one game in with it this weekend! I did make a couple of changes:

5/28/21

DecklistCMCManaPricesChartsDraw 7

IN (9)

1 High Market

1 Rageblood Shaman

1 Zealous Conscripts

1 Heat Shimmer

1 Hate Mirage

1 Pyretic Ritual

1 Greater Gargadon

1 Rousing Refrain

1 Experimental Frenzy

OUT (9)

1 Mountain

1 Vile Aggregate

1 Kolaghan Forerunners

1 Sundial of the Infinite

1 Goblin Chainwhirler

1 Manascape Refractor

1 Seize the Day

1 Dual Strike

1 Seize the Spoils

Approximate Total Cost:

Mountain → High Market - Pretty self explanatory. Mono colored deck gets more utility land slots, and I want to be able to sac stuff.

Vile Aggregate → Rageblood Shaman - I included the minotaur at first, then for some reason went with the eldrazi. While I was sleeving up I did a double take and could not think for the life of me why I would go with aggregate over shaman which is strictly better. I guess there's a world where I've activated a Sundial of the Infinite the previous turn on a bunch of Filigree Familiars or whatever, but that's awfully narrow.

Kolaghan Forerunners → Zealous Conscripts - I'm making a concession to my desire for a bomb creature to copy with Rionya over my desire for a low mana curve with a far less exciting Rionya target.

Sundial of the Infinite → Heat Shimmer - Somehow I missed sundial in my last order of cards. This is only a temporary swap until I've gotten a copy. Heat Shimmer seems like a good include, and I'll probably keep it over something else when I get my sundial.

Goblin Chainwhirler → Hate Mirage - Similar story here: I could have sworn I had a copy of chainwhirler sitting around. Turns out I didn't, so here's another temporary swap. Again, mirage will likely stay in the list over something else after I've tested a bit.

Manascape Refractor → Pyretic Ritual - I was trying to be cute with refractor and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, plus there is a Cabal Coffers/Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth floating around my meta. I thought better of it and will be going with another ritual I can copy and generate storm count with.

Seize the Day → Greater Gargadon - I forgot I was loaning my boy the only copy of Seize that I own for his Gishath, Sun's Avatar deck. I'm going to be a good dad and put off taking it back for a while. GG doesn't see much play anymore and I like that thing. Seems great for saccing a bunch of Solemn Simulacrums or Mogg War Marshals before they exile EOT, then I can copy the fat body for a big alpha strike later on in a pinch.

Dual Strike → Rousing Refrain - Strike was meant to copy rituals and such, but I dislike the copy spells that aren't more flexible and able to nab opponents' stuff too. Refrain really impressed me in the C21 precon, and I don't think a storm deck can really have too many ritual effects. I decided I'd try it over something like Inner Fire, Brightstone Ritual, or Battle Hymn, which are even more situational than Refrain.

Seize the Spoils → Experimental Frenzy - I think I was trying to be cute with Spoils and draw/ramp simultaneously with the expectation that I would Reverberate it or something a reasonable amount of the time. I think Frenzy is just better for this deck, even though it is a turd sometimes.

[MeowZeDung]

Goldfished a speck with the list and came to some pretty quick conclusions:

1. This deck is gas. I goldfished a turn 4 win with a sol ring opener into turn 3 Fanatic of Mogis into turn 4 ritual → Increasing Vengeance → flashback vengeance → more mana and draw/filter crap → cast Rionya and "oops, 7 Fanatic of Mogis ETB with 10 devotion". Goldfish is the operative word in all this ofcourse. A single Doom Blade changes everything.

2. On that note, there are definitely going to be some puzzling and risky calls to make. One game of solitaire had me hemming and hawing over whether I would, in a real game, try to stick the Combat Celebrant and just win, or keep my last 3 mana open for the Shunt I had in hand so that I would be nearly guaranteed to keep Rionya alive and resolve her trigger for a pile of Humble Defectors to set up for the win on the following turn.

3. "Storm" count consistency is. . . inconsistent at best. I don't think I can by any means rely on getting Rionya's trigger up to X=6-10 on a regular basis. It feels as if X=2-4 is pretty reliable, but it's either that or X=a million. The middle ground doesn't really exist from what I'm feeling out so far. I'll have to test more, but I think this will change my evaluation of some of the value targets.

4. Hellrider might be the most magical christmas land of the beatdown creatures, basically only doing anything of real consequence if I hit that X=a million scenario. I'll probably swap it out for a cheaper creature or Calamity Bearer.

[MeowZeDung]

Alrighty, first game in the books! I was up against Alela, Artful Provocateur and Gishath, Sun's Avatar.

I didn't really get off to a good start at all. My only real action early on was some cheap creatures just to have board presence and Faithless Looting then Ignite the Future which got me a land, something I can't remember, and Rousing Refrain. On subsequent turns I had to Wheel of Misfortune, then Reforge the Soul, then Shattered Perception (getting six stupid mountains!!!) just to keep hitting land drops and/or doing anything at all. Because I stumbled on draws I never got to do any sweet value copies of my Humble Defector or anything similar with Rionya. Despite my complaining, the wheels did save my bacon for a few turns as first Alela, then Gishath were positively going off.

The turn after the Shattered Perception I was at five life with Rionya still in the command zone and not much optimism as to my outs. Rousing Refrain cast on upkeep and gave me 6 red mana, which put me at just one shy of being able to both flashback Ignite the Future and cast my commander. However, with a grip full of lands it didn't make much sense to cast Rionya with no targets, so I gave it a whirl with the Ignite. I flipped Wily Goblin, Abrade, and. . . Combat Celebrant.

Oooh lala. Cast Wily for free and now the treasure lets me afford Rionya! My opponents are tapped out! I cast Combat Celebrant for free! Omigosh! Am I going to do it?!?!

Well, you see here fam, this is the thing. I also got an Abrade, and Alela had a Sol Ring. I knew that I was about to win, and who doesn't love smashing Sol Rings that don't belong to them for funsies? Especially when it's FREE to do so? So, with Rionya's trigger on the stack and victory nigh, I Abrade that Sol Ring. What I forgot about was Gishath's Lurking Predators. Sigh.

So that stupid thing had flipped like four lands, two spells, and some inconsequential creatures up until that point. Basically, I had tuned it out. Well, Abrade triggered it - and the Gishath player got a free Kinjalli's Sunwing.

Naturally I felt like an idiot, but it was worth it for the kitchen table lulz equity and the memorable turn of events. I went from the verge of losing, to almost winning, to snatching defeat from the jaws of victory all in half of a single turn. Rionya made 4 Combat Celebrant tokens with haste... that entered tapped while the nontoken Celebrant sat there summoning sick and my mana was tapped out. Gishath ran away with the game from there.

TL;DR - the deck can win out of nowhere if you play with any common sense about you and don't get cute when you have a line with Rionya and Combat Celebrant. I look forward to more mono red fire dancing fun.

[MeowZeDung]

Got there tonight. It was sweet.

I had early filtering via Faithless Looting and Cathartic Reunion into some more draw with Skyscanner and additional setup/chump blocks with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Thespian's Stage (neither of which ever got used believe it or not), and Kruin Striker. I had already taken a mound of damage from the Adrix and Nev, Twincasters player opening on Sol Ring → commander → Deep Forest Hermit, but the best I could do was either T5 Pyretic Ritual into Caged Sun for big mana the following turn, or Rionya for a Skyscanner token and hold onto the ritual for future storm. I went for the Caged Sun and I think that was correct. I definitely got rewared.

The following turn I cast Ignite the Future for Seething Song, Reverberate, and Gamble. Naturally I cast SS → copy spell, then Gambled for a Past in Flames with a Primal Amulet // Primal Wellspring and Pyretic Ritual in hand and lost the amulet. I rounded that turn off with Rionya for some value Skyscanner action.

Amazingly, my Caged Sun and Rionya survived a round of the table (I don't think my meta has the right evaluation of her yet). That let me Past in Flames for seething song → reverberate → ignite the future for some free stuff, a Vandalblast in my yard from earlier, the other ritual from earlier, blah blah blah stormy stuff - I eventually dropped a Signal Pest on the table with an instant/sorcery "storm" count of 12 and proceeded to beat down the table (only a three player game, which makes it even easier) with 13 12/1 evasive pests, plus a 28/1 Kruin Striker, and a 14/1 Skyscanner. What fun.

[Robobro72]

Had an idea for an include that has a hilariously high ceiling with Harmonic Prodigy. Rage Forger functions somewhat similarly to Hellrider that, while having less utility on a normal, non- combo combat than the Devil, creates larger bodies on a combo attack, costs 1 less mana, and provides a somewhat similar amount of noncombat damage as rider (again assuming they are the rionya target) if I'm reading things correctly.

[MeowZeDung]

Had an idea for an include that has a hilariously high ceiling with Harmonic Prodigy. Rage Forger functions somewhat similarly to Hellrider that, while having less utility on a normal, non- combo combat than the Devil, creates larger bodies on a combo attack, costs 1 less mana, and provides a somewhat similar amount of noncombat damage as rider (again assuming they are the rionya target) if I'm reading things correctly.

I looked at Rage Forger for v2.0, but the issue is that even with a reasonably high storm count the non evasive bodies (quasi evasive i guess) aren't exciting, no matter how big. That said, I think you're right that it's an upgrade over Hellrider. The question is whether it's better than any other potential inclusions (aside from obvious ones outside of my budget a la Dockside Extortionist and Terror of the Peaks). I'll consider it, but at the moment I'm looking at Breya's Apprentice, Harmonic Prodigy, and Dragon's Rage Channeler which all seem more exciting.

The ceiling of high rionya storm count + forger + Harmonic Prodigy would be a glorious way to win though. Sweet catch!

[MeowZeDung]

Another win in the books for Rionya! In my experience thus far, this deck plays out very much as, "Oh wow, I am losing this so bad... I've done almost literally nothing for the first 5-7 turns of the game and I'm at a single digit life total... Oh wait, I win."

I was facing Gishath, Sun's Avatar and a Siani, Eye of the Storm // Eligeth, Crossroads Augur deck that was drawing a ton and dominating the skies. I had to Tibalt's Trickery their Mystic Speculation before they buried us in card advantage. Other than that, I barely interacted at all. Just developed my mana with Wily Goblin and some tokens. The blue player actually did me a favor with a Windfall. On the "winning" turn Eligeth // Siani was wide open and I was able to Ignite the Future with Pyromancer's Goggles mana, then cast an Increasing Vengeance on the original from the cards revealed upon resolution of the copy. So cards weren't a huge issue, and I also Underworld Breached my Seething Song several times with a Runaway Steam-Kin on board

TL;DR with a "storm" count of 8 iirc, I went to combat and made a whole lot of stompy minotaurs to one shot Siani // Eligeth and take a hunk out of Gishath. I had basically won at that point because of how far behind Gishath was, but my life total was low so it was still sort of a contest. I couldn't block all of Gishath's damage on the crackback, but the only way they were going to win was if they flipped exactly Burning Sun's Avatar, which they did not and thus scooped.

My thoughts on the deck are that it's fun, funny, and swingy with VERY explosive turns - but a fair criticism is that it is one note and can be solitaire sometimes a la every storm deck ever. I've now "done the thing" a couple of times having won with a swarm of Signal Pests, effectively winning with Combat Celebrants (had I not punted so hard), and now with Rageblood Shamans. I think I'll play it at least a few more times and unlock the Fanatic of Mogis and Zealous Conscripts achievements, then see how I feel. Right now, however, I'm leaning towards retiring the deck after a few more games. I already play stormy stuff with Kykar, and I don't want to bore my playgroup or get hated into oblivion with such a "surprise, I win" style of gameplay.