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Unlike the Grimm version of Little Red Riding Hood, the one portrayed inMagic: The Gatheringis no stranger to terrifying beasts. In fact, Ruby, Daring Tracker is the ideal card to lead a Commander deck full of monstrous creatures ready to leap into action—quite the switch from being a helpless victim of a big bad wolf.
With Ruby as a springboard, you can fill an entire deck full of powerful creatures that would otherwise be quite difficult to cast. Then, once she’s paired with a larger creature, Ruby can go on the offensive while still providing mana for bigger creatures to come.
The Commander: Ruby, Daring Tracker
Ruby is pretty simple as far as commanders go. For one red and one green mana, you get a 1/2 haste critter that gets +2/+2 so long as she attacks while you control another creature with power over four. That’s all well and good, butthe real draw with Ruby is that she can tap for either green or red mana.
Having that little bit of early-game power is probably not going to win too many games, but being priced at just two mana means that Ruby is almost guaranteed to show up on the second turn of every game she’s played. This means that, if you draw the required number of lands, you’re (almost)guaranteed to have four mana on your third turn.
A mana curve that starts at four mana means you canstart casting big, splashy creatures reliably in the early stages of the game.It also means you can ramp upeven more generously with cards like Migration Path and Vastwood Surge, which draw out two lands from your library instead of just one.
This doesn’t mean you should entirely ignore cards that cost less than four manaas there will always be some room to cast one, two, or three-mana spells, but you’re able to afford to push your deck into the higher-costed cards with Ruby at the helm.
With a deck that loves to cast big creatures, the rest of a Ruby Commander deck shouldfocus on empowering those big-mana critters and ensuring that you’re able to refill your handafter you cast all those ramp spells. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to do that in a deck that loves both mana and creatures to start at the number four.
How To Build A Ruby, Daring Tracker Commander Deck
Ultimately,your path to victory will be casting big-mana bombshells faster than your opponents can set up their defenses. Ruby will play a big part in that, as will other sources of fast mana, bombastically large creatures, a few big-swing sorceries, and a bunch of creatures and enchantments that refill your hand every time you cast a creature.
Ramp, Ramp, Ramp
Ruby can’t do all the heavy lifting when it comes to producing mana. To get enough to start hard-casting enormous Dinosaurs and Elder Dragons, you’ll need more.
Luckily, green is the king of ramp. Start off with Birds of Paradise, then Sakura-Tribe Elder, Three Visits, or Rampant Growth, then Cultivate, before finally hitting the big leagues with Migration Path and Vastwood Surge.
Your creatures can also help produce mana, either by making things cost less (like Goblin Anarchomancer and Drumhunter) or by letting you play more lands every turn (like Loot, Exuberant Explorer or Silverback Elder Elder).
There are also cards like Overlord of the Hauntwoodswhich creates mana-producing lands from thin air, Defiler of Vigor which lets you pay life instead of green mana, and Domri, Anarch of Bolas which both adds mana and prevents your creatures from being countered.
Powerful Creatures
Red and green have no shortage of big creatures (typically defined as having four or more power, which is where Ruby’s other ability triggers). Here, we’relooking not just for large numbers, but also additional abilities that enhance your army, sneak more creatures onto the battlefield, or provide great flexibility in how they’re played.
On the ‘enhance your army’ side, Cactusfolk Sureshot gives your team trample and haste, Railway Brawler can double the numbers of every creature you play, andSilverback Elder turns every creature played into potential removal, life gain, or ramp.
Loot, Exuberant Explorer, Bloodbraid Challenger, Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, and Emergent Woodwurm are all great at sneaking creatures into playwithout even paying for them. Overlord of the Hauntwoods, Trumpeting Carnosaur, and Kogla and Yidaro all have alternate casting costs that make them quite flexible, able to answer threats more directly than with just another big creature.
Special mention goes to Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss and Kogla, the Titan Ape. Both of these creatures directly interact with Ruby to either enhance her or themselves.
There are a lot of other options here, so feel free to experiment with whatever big red/green monsters you like, or just skip ahead to the deck list to see what other creatures are recommended.
Beastly Card Draw
Once you’ve cast Ruby, a few ramp spells, and finally have enough mana to start casting your big creatures, you’ve probably only got two or three cards left in your hand, which will limit the amount of pressure you can apply no matter how big a monster you cast.You need to draw more than one card per turnto keep the pressure on.
The best way to do that is to replace cards as you cast them. Since your deck is going to be mostly creatures,cards like Beast Whisperer, Guardian Project, and Soul of the Harvest are ideal. Cast a creature, get a card, continue until you run out of mana.
Another good alternative is to draw cards when a certain condition is met—like, say, possessing a creature with four or more power.Garruk’s Uprising, Colossal Majesty, Elemental Bond, Hunter’s Talent, Vaultborn Tyrant, Drumhunter, and Garruk’s Packleaderall fall into this category.
Then there are one-time spells that offer a lot of cards all at once.Shamanic Revelation, Hunter’s Insight, Disciple of Freyalise, and Garruk, Primal Hunterall fall into this category (although Garruk can potentially draw cards several times if your foe’s let you).
Good Red/Green Stuff
Every deck needs a few answers, andGruul (red/green) has them in spades.Heroic Intervention and Untimely Malfunction offer some protectionfor your big monsters, whileBeast Within and Chaos Warp provide targeted removalat the expense of giving your opponent something less potent (hopefully).
Call Forth the Tempest and Ezuri’s Predation are both big-swing sorceries that can win gamesall on their own, especially if you manage to cast them early enough. Blasphemous Act is a good board sweeper, while The Skullspore Nexus keeps your army alive if and of your opponents decide to sweep the board.
Jeska’s Will offers both ramp and access to additional cardsas a one-time deal that can produce truly explosive starts. It’s an expensive card, so we’ll note some cheaper alternatives in a budget substitutions section.
Terror of the Peaks
Overlord of the Hauntwoods
Soul of the Harvest
Kogla and Yidaro
Return of the Wildspeaker
Rhythm of the Wild
Mountain (5)
Budget Substitutions
Some of these cards are going to be on the pricey side for new Magic players.Here are a few substitutionsthat won’t break the bank.
