We need to talk about Plargg
Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2021 2:51 am
Of all the legends spoiled this season, I think Plargg, Dean of Chaos // Augusta, Dean of Order might be my favorite. He's got an incredible number of directions to go in build-wise, he's got low-cmc, and he's even got a whole second side. But while Augusta is a fine option, I'm mostly focused on the front half since they don't have a TON of overlap.
Another thing I've noticed about plargg, though, is that a lot of people are really skipping over him. He's among the least-built on EDHrec so far, and multiple videos I've seen going over commanders practically skip right over him. Which I kinda get, because there's a lot of commanders to go over, they want to get to the more popular ones, and also most content creators for commander are no more experts in this format than I am an Olympic athlete. But while this is somewhat disheartening, it also means Plargg gets to retain his hipster street cred, and this is, of course, crucial.
Anyway, I swear every time I turn around I see a new way to build this guy. Of course, the main element to most builds is to maintain a low-very low hit rate for his second ability, allowing it to function like a tutor, or tutor-adjacent depending on exact numbers. The lovely thing about his design is that, while this prevents you from running all sorts of "auto-include" garbage format staples, it doesn't force you to have a completely garbage curve - for one thing, plargg himself is an always-available play on 2, but he also allows any number of legendary permanents of cmc 3 or less, including Squee, Goblin Nabob which works beautifully with his rummaging ability. So for many builds, they'll want a decent number of 3-cmc legendaries to establish board presence, as well as strong cards like Mox Amber and equipment like Sword of the Animist and Blackblade Reforged (which works great with the high legend count). Another crucial element for a fair number of decks is the use of Mistveil Plains to recycle cards back into the deck - this can be tutored semi-reliably off fetches (don't forget the mirage ones!).
Ok, so let's get down to some of the builds I've seen or thought up:
-Sunforger + Brass Squire: you can only play instants with cmc = 4, but luckily that's where a lot of the highest-impact stuff is. Running both gives you both sunforger and a way to activate it repeatedly. The strongest combo I've found to win off this setup is Repeated Reverberation into Benevolent Offering on endstep, then untap into Akroma's Will and Tears of Rage, but the deck has also won via straightforward beatdown. It's worth adding that the Augusta side is actually synergistic here once sunforger is online, since she can untap squire for even more shenanigans.
-Legendary Reanimator feat. Loyal Retainers: Plargg's rummage can enable reanimator archetypes, but in particular Loyal Retainers really pushes this over the edge (although without it, you do have the flexibility to ignore Plargg's second ability and play a more "normal" deck). You can pack the deck with Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger...even the ROE titans (Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre) work because, while retainers' ability is timing restricted, it's still instant-speed activation so you can respond to the trigger. The rest of the deck, besides curve-fillers, can include reanimation spells like Breath of Life, False Defeat, Death or Glory, etc. And don't forget Mistveil Plains can allow for repeated use of retainers if Plargg isn't busy fueling the graveyard.
-Combo: There are a few options that fit within Plargg's constraints. Painter's Servant + Grindstone kills one at a time. Last Chance et al + Sundial of the Infinite (using Mistveil Plains to recycle last chance) gives infinite turns. Probably some others I've missed. These don't interest me too much since they're very predictable, but hey, they're there.
-Cast it over and over: There are a few ways to go about this - either literally have only one instant/sorcery hit in the deck, or include some synergy pieces for Plargg like Rings of Brighthearth that can enable repeated castings. There are a ton of options for strong targets - Price of Progress should kill all your opponents in as little time as possible through repeated casting. Orim's Chant can lock one player almost entirely out of the game - with enough mana, Thousand-Year Elixir or similar (plus a way to copy mistveil, or a Reito Lantern) could let you lock out two at once. There are a ton of options here.
-Sunforger-ish: Obviously Plargg lacks the ability to reliably hit anything once you're including multiple hits in the deck, but you can increase control in a few ways. One is by reducing the number of effects, and when they're useful. Having a spell for every different function works great for sunforger, but Plargg is probably better off with broad answers - think Chaos Warp instead of Disenchant. With clever building, this should mean you'll at least usually get a decent response off the top. The second strategy is, once you've gone through all your targets, to use mistveil plains as a way to put whatever you need on the bottom right before activation, thus giving you full control over what you cast.
-Madness/cycling: while RW doesn't have a TON of madness, we also get to benefit off cycling synergies like Spirit Cairn, Surly Badgersaur, Brallin, Skyshark Rider, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, Conspiracy Theorist, etc. We could even go all-in cycling with Fluctuator, Astral Drift, etc. There are only 17 cards we can run that free-cycle off fluctuator, but still.
-Stax: a lot of stax pieces are within Plargg's range, and he can happily start stacking then up for you. Do be a little careful, though, since Sphere of Resistance effects will hit Plargg's ability too. Winter Orb/Static Orb + a way to tap it down is easy-peasy off Plargg, if you want to avoid getting invited back.
-Restore Balance: Mitch is one of the few people with any following on YouTube who gave Plargg the time of day, and Restore Balance was the direction he went with it, so I think it deserves discussion. I'm not so sure it's viable, though. Without destroying lands, I don't think the impact will be high enough to finish the game, and the easiest way to win post-balance is with planeswalkers, which means you really want the board clear too. That means you need a way to get Plargg plus all your lands off the board, and ideally hands emptied too, all without any cheap pieces. There are definitely cards that help you do this, but at a certain point it stops feeling like "omg, Plargg is a one-card-combo!" and starts feeling like a 2-3 card combo plus Plargg that restricts your deck. If the lands problem can be solved without requiring a small number of cards to be drawn naturally, that would help a lot, but I only see 10 lands that tap for mana while being sacrificed. You can maybe kick that to 13 if you're counting Strip Mine, Wasteland, and Ghost Quarter (which you can use to blow up a land that DID tap for mana on the turn you activate Plargg), and some of the lands tap for 2 when sacrificed, but it's still a tall order to generate 5 mana off just 13 lands in the deck in a reliable and timely manner. And you'd need to sacrifice all your other lands before going into your balance turn, plus presumably try to empty your hand and battlefield, so a counterspell would be utterly devastating. So idk, I'll believe it when I see it. The cards Mitch talked about point in some directions, but I'm dubious that the whole thing adds up to a real deck.
That's what I've got so far, but I suspect that Plargg will be a commander I try out multiple times. What other builds have people thought up for our Boros Orc?
Another thing I've noticed about plargg, though, is that a lot of people are really skipping over him. He's among the least-built on EDHrec so far, and multiple videos I've seen going over commanders practically skip right over him. Which I kinda get, because there's a lot of commanders to go over, they want to get to the more popular ones, and also most content creators for commander are no more experts in this format than I am an Olympic athlete. But while this is somewhat disheartening, it also means Plargg gets to retain his hipster street cred, and this is, of course, crucial.
Anyway, I swear every time I turn around I see a new way to build this guy. Of course, the main element to most builds is to maintain a low-very low hit rate for his second ability, allowing it to function like a tutor, or tutor-adjacent depending on exact numbers. The lovely thing about his design is that, while this prevents you from running all sorts of "auto-include" garbage format staples, it doesn't force you to have a completely garbage curve - for one thing, plargg himself is an always-available play on 2, but he also allows any number of legendary permanents of cmc 3 or less, including Squee, Goblin Nabob which works beautifully with his rummaging ability. So for many builds, they'll want a decent number of 3-cmc legendaries to establish board presence, as well as strong cards like Mox Amber and equipment like Sword of the Animist and Blackblade Reforged (which works great with the high legend count). Another crucial element for a fair number of decks is the use of Mistveil Plains to recycle cards back into the deck - this can be tutored semi-reliably off fetches (don't forget the mirage ones!).
Ok, so let's get down to some of the builds I've seen or thought up:
-Sunforger + Brass Squire: you can only play instants with cmc = 4, but luckily that's where a lot of the highest-impact stuff is. Running both gives you both sunforger and a way to activate it repeatedly. The strongest combo I've found to win off this setup is Repeated Reverberation into Benevolent Offering on endstep, then untap into Akroma's Will and Tears of Rage, but the deck has also won via straightforward beatdown. It's worth adding that the Augusta side is actually synergistic here once sunforger is online, since she can untap squire for even more shenanigans.
-Legendary Reanimator feat. Loyal Retainers: Plargg's rummage can enable reanimator archetypes, but in particular Loyal Retainers really pushes this over the edge (although without it, you do have the flexibility to ignore Plargg's second ability and play a more "normal" deck). You can pack the deck with Avacyn, Angel of Hope, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger...even the ROE titans (Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre) work because, while retainers' ability is timing restricted, it's still instant-speed activation so you can respond to the trigger. The rest of the deck, besides curve-fillers, can include reanimation spells like Breath of Life, False Defeat, Death or Glory, etc. And don't forget Mistveil Plains can allow for repeated use of retainers if Plargg isn't busy fueling the graveyard.
-Combo: There are a few options that fit within Plargg's constraints. Painter's Servant + Grindstone kills one at a time. Last Chance et al + Sundial of the Infinite (using Mistveil Plains to recycle last chance) gives infinite turns. Probably some others I've missed. These don't interest me too much since they're very predictable, but hey, they're there.
-Cast it over and over: There are a few ways to go about this - either literally have only one instant/sorcery hit in the deck, or include some synergy pieces for Plargg like Rings of Brighthearth that can enable repeated castings. There are a ton of options for strong targets - Price of Progress should kill all your opponents in as little time as possible through repeated casting. Orim's Chant can lock one player almost entirely out of the game - with enough mana, Thousand-Year Elixir or similar (plus a way to copy mistveil, or a Reito Lantern) could let you lock out two at once. There are a ton of options here.
-Sunforger-ish: Obviously Plargg lacks the ability to reliably hit anything once you're including multiple hits in the deck, but you can increase control in a few ways. One is by reducing the number of effects, and when they're useful. Having a spell for every different function works great for sunforger, but Plargg is probably better off with broad answers - think Chaos Warp instead of Disenchant. With clever building, this should mean you'll at least usually get a decent response off the top. The second strategy is, once you've gone through all your targets, to use mistveil plains as a way to put whatever you need on the bottom right before activation, thus giving you full control over what you cast.
-Madness/cycling: while RW doesn't have a TON of madness, we also get to benefit off cycling synergies like Spirit Cairn, Surly Badgersaur, Brallin, Skyshark Rider, Glint-Horn Buccaneer, Conspiracy Theorist, etc. We could even go all-in cycling with Fluctuator, Astral Drift, etc. There are only 17 cards we can run that free-cycle off fluctuator, but still.
-Stax: a lot of stax pieces are within Plargg's range, and he can happily start stacking then up for you. Do be a little careful, though, since Sphere of Resistance effects will hit Plargg's ability too. Winter Orb/Static Orb + a way to tap it down is easy-peasy off Plargg, if you want to avoid getting invited back.
-Restore Balance: Mitch is one of the few people with any following on YouTube who gave Plargg the time of day, and Restore Balance was the direction he went with it, so I think it deserves discussion. I'm not so sure it's viable, though. Without destroying lands, I don't think the impact will be high enough to finish the game, and the easiest way to win post-balance is with planeswalkers, which means you really want the board clear too. That means you need a way to get Plargg plus all your lands off the board, and ideally hands emptied too, all without any cheap pieces. There are definitely cards that help you do this, but at a certain point it stops feeling like "omg, Plargg is a one-card-combo!" and starts feeling like a 2-3 card combo plus Plargg that restricts your deck. If the lands problem can be solved without requiring a small number of cards to be drawn naturally, that would help a lot, but I only see 10 lands that tap for mana while being sacrificed. You can maybe kick that to 13 if you're counting Strip Mine, Wasteland, and Ghost Quarter (which you can use to blow up a land that DID tap for mana on the turn you activate Plargg), and some of the lands tap for 2 when sacrificed, but it's still a tall order to generate 5 mana off just 13 lands in the deck in a reliable and timely manner. And you'd need to sacrifice all your other lands before going into your balance turn, plus presumably try to empty your hand and battlefield, so a counterspell would be utterly devastating. So idk, I'll believe it when I see it. The cards Mitch talked about point in some directions, but I'm dubious that the whole thing adds up to a real deck.
That's what I've got so far, but I suspect that Plargg will be a commander I try out multiple times. What other builds have people thought up for our Boros Orc?