After several months of either being unwell or too busy to play Commander (in addition to drafting), I recently managed to squeeze in a few live games of Commander with various iterations of this deck, and learned a few things. The fact that your opponents can see your impulsed cards seriously gimps your ability to play reactively. They will just play around reactive cards, leaving them stranded in exile forever. A proactive Prosper deck will utilize more of its resources, and therefore be more effective, than a reactive Prosper deck. It's all too easy to impulse away cards with MV greater than 4, so a relatively low mana curve is helpful towards effective impulsing. If there was ever a Commander deck with an engine that backfires, this is the one. Proper sequencing is extremely important for an effective and rewarding gameplay experience. The best card to play from impulse while Prosper is on the battlefield is a land. It's free, doesn't telegraph your plays to your opponents, and still makes a treasure token. Sensei's Divining Top is perfect for setting this up. Bolas's Citadel can do it, too. When you're unable to set up the top of your library, there's tension between trying to save up treasure tokens for a big turn or spending them on an impulsed card just in order not to lose it forever.
Though it isn't reflected in the deck list, I've come to think of three terms to describe this deck's engine:
Impulsing, which allows you to play the card(s) on the same turn.
Prospering, which allows you to play the card(s) until the end of your next turn.
Pilfering, which allows you to play your opponent's card(s).
I was delighted to find that there's a large number of cards that fit Prosper's themes of Impulsing, Prospering, Pilfering, and Treasuring.
List of Treasure Cards
List of Impulse and Pilfer Cards
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- Abbot of Keral Keep
- Act on Impulse
- Apex of Power
- Ardent Dustspeaker
- Author of Shadows
- Breeches, Brazen Plunderer
- Breya's Apprentice
- Chandra, Fire Artisan
- Chandra, Heart of Fire
- Chandra, Pyromaster
- Chandra, Torch of Defiance
- Chaos Channeler
- Chaos Wand
- Colfenor's Plans
- Commune with Lava
- Conspiracy Theorist
- Cunning Rhetoric
- Dark-Dweller Oracle
- Dauthi Voidwalker
- Dead Man's Chest
- Dire Fleet Daredevil
- Draugr Necromancer
- Dream Pillager
- Elkin Bottle
- Elkin Lair
- Etali, Primal Storm
- Eternal Scourge
- Fevered Suspicion
- Fiend of the Shadows
- Fire Giant's Fury
- Flameskull
- Furious Rise
- Galvanic Relay
- Gonti, Lord of Luxury
- Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
- Grinning Totem
- Grotag Night-Runner
- Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
- Hazoret's Undying Fury
- Hedonist's Trove
- Hellcarver Demon
- Howltooth Hollow
- Hurl Through Hell
- Ice Cauldron
- Ignite the Future
- Ire Shaman
- Izzet Chemister
- Jeska's Will
- Kheru Mind-Eater
- Knowledge Pool
- Light Up the Stage
- Lukka, Coppercoat Outcast
- Magmatic Channeler
- Mindleecher
- Muse Vessel
- Oblivion Sower
- Omen Machine
- Opposition Agent
- Oracle's Vault
- Ornate Kanzashi
- Outpost Siege
- Possibility Storm
- Praetor's Grasp
- Prophetic Flamespeaker
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- Robber of the Rich
- Share the Spoils
- Shell of the Last Kappa
- Soulfire Eruption
- Spark of Creativity
- Spinerock Knoll
- Squee, the Immortal
- Stolen Strategy
- Syr Carah, the Bold
- Tectonic Giant
- Tuskeri Firewalker
- Uba Mask
- Unpredictable Cyclone
- Valakut Exploration
- Vance's Blasting Cannons
- Valki, God of Lies // Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor
- Yawgmoth's Testament
- You Find Some Prisoners
Madness. — A card cannot be discarded from exile (or from a library). While Prosper, Tome-Bound is suitable as one of the 99 in a Rakdos madness deck, Anje Falkenrath and Chainer, Nightmare Adept will be far more rewarding at the helm.
Suspend. — A card cannot be suspended from exile (or from your library). Consider instead Jhoira of the Ghitu for a bona fide suspend deck or even Ith, High Arcanist for a suspend theme deck (since it can't be suspended from the command zone).
Foretell. — A card cannot be foretold from exile (or from your library). And the surprise element of foretell, which is the best part, is lost when the card is exiled face up. It's quite disappointing.
Rebound. — Rebound won't trigger from exile (or from your library). Fevered Suspicion on impulse was the heaviest brick I ever lifted in this game.
Adventures. — Adventures can be cast from exile (and from your library). Not much to say here except their usefulness is contingent on one's meta and intentions rather than on impulsing.
Cascade — Cascade does trigger from exile (and from your library). Not much to say here either except their usefulness is also contingent on one's meta and intentions rather than on impulsing.
Cycling — A card cannot be cycled from exile (or from your library). It's worth mentioning cycling because there's two cards with cycling that also impulse, and because there's are some decent cyclers that lose much of their value if impulsed.
When building, keep in mind that "copies" aren't "cards". So cards like Midnight Recovery, Mizzix's Mastery, and Isochron Scepter by which a copy of a card may be cast from exile won't trigger Prosper.
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RAKDOS PROSPER
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