Atarka Smash!

Sure, Fate Reforged gave us the five older leaders of Tarkir’s clans to rock the Commander block, but don’t forget the five legendary dragon guys we have
as well! And one really stands out in my heart and my mind.

Atarka punches hard. It just takes two hits to kill from her commander damage (6/4 becomes double strike for twelve damage each combat phase).
With haste, Atarka is going to hit even harder, even faster. So the goal here is to craft one of the smashiest, red zone-iest Gruul decks ever!

That just sounds like fun!

Atarka, World Render

Abe Sargent

Test deck on 01-19-2015

Commander

Creatures (31)

Planeswalkers (5)

Lands (39)

Get ready to smash face, break worlds, and pretty much get down tonight!

Sure, in some parts of the world, haste makes waste, but here, it makes victories. The faster Atarka can get in a hit, the faster that person is going to
fall to your horned dragon. We need a lot of haste options. And the great thing is that a lot of the ones we are looking at will do double duty.
For example, Sarkhan Vol not only hastes you but also pumps your whole team +1/+1 at the same time. Urabrask will give your team haste and keep your foes
from playing blockers easily, and thus, give you more chances to Atarka-slam them. Forget Fires of Yavimaya, we have In the Web of War to give you +2 to
the front when taking a swing for the fences. Shoot, even Flamekin Village taps for a red mana when not giving haste. We even have ways to protect our best
Atarka from an untimely death while hasting things up as well.

And the fun doesn’t stop with haste either. Nope! If you can pump Her Highness to eleven power before double striking, then you have a lethal amount of
damage as long as they are bereft of blockers. Consider something like Fatal Frenzy as a way to smash for a game-winning dose of damage. (You could add in
Might of Oaks or Berserk.) But the perfect under the table option is Stonewood Invocation. It gives Atarka enough beef to chomp down for a win, and the
split second/shroud protects her from other annoying things. No counterspells and no targeting surprises today!

Take a look at Xenagos, God of Revels and Atarka. Your World Destroyer arrives, gets haste, doubles her power, swings, and gets double strike–that’s a
twelve-power double striking, flying, trampling dragon that will slay on a whim. Dang.

Speaking of which, Spellbreaker Behemoth and Spearbreaker Behemoth will give your Atarka uncounterability and indestructibility as you can find them.
That’s a nice added amount of dash for the cash to splash on this mash.

Are you looking for junk like Solemn Simulacrum, Eternal Witness, Acidic Slime, or Reclamation Sage? You are in the wrong deck for that! We just want big
stuff and things that make or help big things. Want removal-creatures of size? Just toss in Indrik Stomphowler and Batterhorn! (You could also run Woodfall
Primus, Flametongue Kavu, and such.)

Consider Bedlam. It’s an old school card from way on back. Nobody can block anything. Drop it and then swing, unblockably, to alpha strike a player to
death. Just make sure you can survive any counter attacks from other players, and you can face-pound another player to death. Split your attacks, get in
one hit with Atarka to kill one player with commander damage and then attack with your other nasty beats and eviscerate someone else. You can also use
Bedlam with stuff like Hellkite Charger and Aggravated Assault to give you another attack in order to finish the entire table off with a bunch of
Gruul-based beats! (Take a look at Demoralize or Ember Gale for some other fun “You Can’t Block” options.)

What other cards support our theme? Well, we might as well run some other dragons, right? No sense calling this thang at Atarka. Sure, Hellkite Charger
does a really good Relentless Assault impersonation for open mic night. We can also use Scourge of the Throne to attack the highest life-totaled foe, and
then untap and get another attack to swing for the fences. Adding extra combat phases to this deck just feels right. So grab something like Seize the Day
(or Relentless Assault itself) if you want to push this sub-theme.

You know what? Let’s give Destructor Dragon a tryout in this deck and see how it works. It looks really good – you get an adequate flyer in a non-flying
color, and you threaten to kill something useful when it croaks. That’s a really nice death trigger, because you can use it to punish whoever is going to
kill it. That trick works rather nicely with Archon of Justice, who often acts like it has deathtouch because no one wants to kill it. Destructor Dragon
should prove to be the best of the uncommon dragon cycle from Fate Reforged by far.

A few dragons will help others. Utvara Hellkite and Scourge of Valkas both like it when other dragons are on the table. Churning out the dragon tokens at
an unbelievable pace makes the Hellkite from the Utvara Heights one of the best dragon-centric cards for this deck. I don’t want to dragon this thing up
too much, but let’s add in Moltensteel Dragon (since it can be played as early as turn 4 without mana accelerants, and turn 3 with just one). Want to
firebreathe your whole team rather than just one dork? Moonveil Dragon will come to the rescue. Why not make your mana do double duty, amping the whole
squad? Plus, Atarka’s double strike action will really enjoy the extra power that the Moonveil lays out. I then added in a few obvious choices (Steel
Hellkite, Thundermaw Hellkite) and moved to some enablers.

There just aren’t enough dragons to really push a draconic theme to the normal tribal level. There’s no need for changelings, Crucible of Fire, Obelisk of
Urd, and so forth. Without the required volume of dragons, I didn’t want to add in enablers like Dragonspeaker Shaman. It doesn’t have a place here.
Instead I tossed in some folks that are more generically enabling.

For example, take mana-tapping. We are rocking Whisperer of the Wilds because it should reliably tap for two mana most of the time. That’s a pretty good
deal from your two-drop, and it should help to get to you to the good stuff quickly. Exuberant Firestoker and Drumhunter are the classic Naya-themed duo
that can both tap for a mana and have some fun tricks when your best big creature is sufficiently strong to bring out the nasty side of them. Krosan Drover
is a fine replacement for Dragonspeaker Shaman and friends, especially since it’ll lower the cost of a lot more creatures in this deck. Actually, let’s
toss in an Fierce Empath to tutor up a big beater (it can grab Atarka the Awesome as well in case she gets tucked into your library).

Since Atarka the Lover ™ is amping the power of your other dragons upon attack, I wanted to toss in some additional enablers for your team. Nylea, God of
the Hunt will give them all trample, and double strike + trample just warms my inner Gruul. Don’t forget you can churn extra mana into Nylea and pump stuff
up in order to play well with double strike, Moonveil love, Sarkhan Vol, and other folks here and there.

I think that a few more beaters are going to help things out. How about the bloodrush of Wrecking Ogre, Ghor-Clan Rampager and Rubblehulk? Not only can you
drop this trinity to add to your threat level (midnight), but you can also drop them to pump up Atarka or its crew.

I wanted to include some mana-making. This deck can have a few pricier things, so let’s toss in expected cards like Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, and Far
Wanderings too, in case you have threshold. Hmm…Krosan Tusker is useful in case you get it later when you don’t need a land and you can just play it to
work well with your beats. Now for artifacts, I wanted some mana rocks that will make more than one mana. Other than the indestructible and reliable
Darksteel Ingot, I just went with Sol Ring, Gilded Lotus, and Thran Dynamo. All of those will help to fix mana needs. I was considering Commander’s Sphere
for the card drawing option. You could also look at Dreamstone Hedron (for the same reason) or Everflowing Chalice for its flexibility.

This use of lands and mana rocks enables me to push out a few more beaters. We can toss in Lifeblood Hydra because when it dies, it’s a great version of
Sphinx’s Revelation. Life and cards? Sign me up! Meanwhile, Savageborn Hydra is a huge double strike hydra of love, and you can add some extra size to it
turn after turn. Get ready for a game-winning hydra!

Now let’s add in a handful of other things and call this deck. Sure, we have Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots to protect our Atarka as well as get in
a hasted hit. But what if your intended target has out a pretty nasty defense? Say hello to Whispersilk Cloak, your best friend at protecting Atarka! She

can’t be targeted from things like Maze of Ith, and slips past any annoying defenders your foe may have. Sure, it may not be the most Gruul-ish way of
smashing someone, but what can you do when your foe is hiding behind some Mazes, a protection from Atarka creature (Commander Eesha, Iridescent Angel,
etc), or some other way of cheating? (See also – Rogue’s Passage). You can also play the protection game with Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Light and
Shadow. Slip on by, get a boost to your stats, and then add some card advantage to your side of the fence.

After that, we have just a few more fun cards. Consider Clan Defiance and Comet Storm at giving you some strong removal. But you know what? I really adore
Shamanic Revelation’s potential here. You can easily draw a few cards off it, and you should be able to get at least two lifegain triggers from it. If all
you do is draw four cards and gain eight life, you have a spell that outclasses Tidings. You can easily do a lot more. See the Unwritten is obviously
broken here too, right?

Want another in-flavor card? Hunter’s Insight! It will blow up your hand with a massive quantity of cardage if you toss in on something nasty (aka Atarka,
World Render). Let’s use Atarka as an example:

– You cast Hunter’s Insight on Atarka.

– You use Sarkhan Vol to pump/haste your stuff.

– You swing with Atarka, and give it double strike.

– Atarka is now a 7/5 double strike, flying, hasted, trampling machine.

– Atarka is chump-blocked by a Serra Angel.

– In the first attack, you will kill the Angel, and deal three damage to your foe trample-wise. Draw three cards.

– Now, in the normal combat phase, do another seven damage. Draw seven more cards.

– Use your ill-gotten gains to do sick stuff.

– Double Dang.

Hunter’s Insight is the real deal!

Now that we’ve mostly fleshed out the deck, let’s add in stuff like Garruk, Caller of Dragons and his Primal Hunter twin for card drawing fun. (Note that
Garruk can only drop green creatures with his second ability, not big creatures.) Xenagos, the Reveler will make mana or token creatures without dropping
its loyalty, and Domri Rade gives you some card-drawing fun as well. All of these planeswalkers suit the deck perfectly. Ummm…let’s toss in Warstrom Surge
and call this a deck!

Well, except for lands. I’ll add in stuff like Temple of the False God, Reliquary Tower, and Kessig Wolf Run. Even Opal Palace makes sense (since you can
pump Atarka with it).

And that concludes the Atarka Gruul Challenge. Whew! Man, a draconic leader like Atarka just assuages my inner Timmy, you know? What do you think of our
good Atarka here? What would you suggest? What’s your favorite dragon from Fate Reforged to build an EDH deck around?

Creatures (31)

Planeswalkers (5)

Lands (39)

Spells (25)