Commander Deck of the Week: Rohgahh, Kher Keep Overlord

Typal decks are incredibly popular in Commander. They’re fun to build and fun to play, and Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has created a ton of support for typal decks. I’ve got a few strictly typal decks myself! But what I find really cool are commanders and cards that encourage two types of creatures working together synergistically, like the commander I’m sharing today: Rohgahh, Kher Keep Overlord!

Rohgahh is a Kobold “lord”, giving all your other Kobolds +2/+2 while it’s on the battlefield. But then it has ways to make both Dragon and Kobold token creatures when you cast a spell of the opposite creature type. Whenever you cast a Kobold spell—which are traditionally quite cheap—you can pay two extra mana, and if you do, you create a 4/4 red Dragon token. And whenever you cast a Dragon spell, you create a 0/1 Kobold creature token, which gets that bonus from Rohgahh.  Neat!

Overpowered Origins

The origins of this deck reach back to the early days of the official Commander format, when I built a deck around Prossh, Skyraider of Kher. I wanted to play “Kobold boosting” creatures from Legends, and while everyone was worried about Prossh, I’d secretly be making a bunch of Kobolds and boosting them to make them the actual threat of the deck.

Unfortunately, everyone assumed I was playing a Food Chain Prossh combo deck, and even if I explained I wasn’t playing Food Chain, people still worried enough that I was getting ganged up on and killed early most of the time I was playing Prossh. So eventually I removed all the fun Kobold stuff, added Food Chain, and just embraced the high power of Prossh, and you can read about that below.

Commander Deck Of The Week: Food Chain Prossh, Skyraider Of Kher

When Rohgahh came out in Dominaria United Commander, I knew I had a new home for those cool Kobold cards. Plus, I didn’t really have many Rakdos Commander decks pulled together, so I was excited to check off that box.  Let’s dig into the decklist!

Changelings

Changelings are fun because they count as both Kobolds and Dragons, so they get Rohgahh’s bonus and also kick off both triggers. Note that Maskwood Nexus doesn’t make spells you cast both Kobold and Dragon spells, but it does let Rohgahh boost your Dragons, and in a pinch the activated ability can help keep a battlefield presence after a sweeper.

Kobolds

The mana-value-zero Kobolds are awesome to hang onto until after you’ve got Rohgahh on the battlefield and you’ve got two mana available to create a Dragon token. With Erratic Portal, you can use it to return a Kobold to your hand and do it again. Cloudstone Curio lets you bounce a Kobold back to your hand each time you cast a Kobold, letting you loop a few times and churn out some Dragons with Rohgahh. Now, combo fans would note that, if I had a Mana Echoes in the deck, I could use this loop to generate a ton of Dragon tokens and potentially a ton of colorless mana, but I decided to not do that to keep the power level of the deck lower. I figure making two or three Dragon tokens a turn is sufficiently potent for the games I’m looking for.

Kobold Synergies

These are the cool cards from Legends that I was excited to play in my old Prossh deck, so now they’re nice and comfy in their new home. The original card Rohgahh of Kher Keep isn’t the best collection of abilities for modern Commander creatures, but it feels wrong flavor-wise to leave him on the bench.

Dragons

I’ve got a bunch of fun black and red Dragons up and down the mana curve, including my Fourth Edition Shivan Dragon that feels right in the deck. I have Topaz Dragon here for its Entropic Cloud Adventure; giving my creatures deathtouch until the end of turn can be an instant-speed surprise when my normally small Kobolds get into combat with other creatures – assuming, of course, their power has been boosted beyond zero!

Ganax, Astral Hunter is awesome with Rohgahh, churning out a Treasure each time you make a Dragon token. Archwing Dragon doesn’t appear in many Dragon decks, but I think it’s worth a slot since it can make a Kobold token with Rohgahh each time you cast it.

Dragon Synergies

I love that they’ve made more Kobolds that play great with Dragons. Minion of the Mighty’s pack tactics ability loves to attack alongside a big Dragon, letting you put a Dragon card from your hand onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. Nogi, Draco-Zealot discounts your Dragon spells, and if you control three or more Dragons, Nogi gets to turn into a Dragon and fly alongside them.

Rivaz of the Claw is an honorary Kobold in my book, giving you mana to cast Dragon spells from your hand or, once a turn, from your graveyard.  How cool is that?

Removal

Rakdos has a ton of removal options, and I’m playing a handful here. Feed the Swarm’s option to destroy an enchantment is clutch in a color combination that struggles there.

Card Draw

I’m not entirely sure Havengul Laboratory belongs here, but I thought it might be a decent late-game mana sink if there’ve been a few battlefield sweepers.  Skullclamp is awesome if Rohgahh has been killed, as you can easily equip it to Kobold tokens to draw a new hand of cards. Phyrexian Reclamation is also a way to help recover from a battlefield sweeper, assuming you’ve got the life to work with.

Interaction

Speaking of life, Shadowspear equipped to a big Dragon can really help offset life loss, and of course its ability to turn off hexproof and indestructible from opponents’ stuff really helps take care of otherwise impossible problems. I have an Impact Tremors from a Secret Lair drop that I hadn’t found a home for, and since I’m hoping to churn out Kobold and Dragon tokens, the plan is to get in chip shots early to help flying Dragons seal the deal.  Bontu’s Monument is there for a similar reason, and if I can get the chain going with Cloudstone Curio, each time I recast a zero-mana Kobold could whittle away everyone else’s life totals.

I love Sudden Spoiling in any deck that generates a fair number of smallish creatures, which lets them block or be blocked by superior creatures and take them down.  The cheers of the Kobolds will be glorious!

I haven’t drawn Saw in Half yet to know just how good it might be in this deck; I’m not sure that I have enough enters effects to make it worthwhile, but it’s a wild card I’m looking forward to drawing at some point.

Mana Ramp

With the card draw in the deck and running a solid 39 lands, I’m planning on making a land drop each turn, but I’ve got a few extra ways to ramp and fix mana.  Reckless Barbarian is a fun small Dragon that can be sacrificed to provide a temporary boost of two red mana to cast a big Dragon – or maybe Rohgahh – ahead of time.

The Deck

Okay, here’s the full decklist!

Here are the deck stats from our friends at Archidekt:

So, what other must-have cards might I have missed including here?  What are your favorite creature types you play together in the same deck?

Talk to Me

Do me a solid and follow me on Twitter!  I run polls and start conversations about Commander all the time, so get in on the fun!  You can also find my LinkTree on my profile page there with links to all my content.

I’d also love it if you followed my Twitch channel TheCompleteCommander, where I do Commander, Brawl, and sometimes other Magic-related streams when I can.  If you can’t join me live, the videos are available on demand for a few weeks on Twitch, but I also upload them to my YouTube channel.  You can also find the lists for my paper decks over on Archidekt if you want to dig into how I put together my own decks and brews.  

And lastly, I just want to say: let us love each other and stay healthy and happy.