An Introduction to Krark and Thrasios in cEDH

I think Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh
The problem is that if Krark gets killed in response to Sakashima, they can fall pretty far behind, and playing around that can make the deck slow, plus it's vulnerable to some hate cards, like Rule of Law
Why Krark/Thrasios?
Sakashima of a Thousand Faces
Krark is still bad without a way to duplicate its trigger, but there are several creatures that do that, and once you're playing green you get more ways to find specific creatures.
Krark also requires a lot of dedication to maximize: Krark/Sakashima has an extremely focused gameplan, while Rograkh/Thrasios is built around flexibility. My attempt to built Krark/Thras is an attempt to combine aspects I like from Krark/Sakashima with the strongest aspects I can preserve from Rograkh's Bouncy House. This means a lot of Krark cards combined with the core creature tutor/Cloudstone Curio
Why would I do this? What's the advantage of diluting the already very strong Krark/Sakashima deck? There are a few green cards that are incredible with Krark: Manamorphose
What Does This Deck Look Like?
Let's start with the most familiar parts to people who know my work, which is the stuff I've ported over from Rograkh's Bouncy House:
First, I'm still playing all the cEDH staples that would require more explanation not to play than explanation for their inclusion:
Mana
Interaction Suite
Broken Card Advantage
Next, I'm playing most of the tutor and Cloudstone package, ported from Rograkh's Bouncy House.
Despite the lower creature count than Bouncy House, I'm still playing Earthcraft
This is a lot of overlap with Bouncy House, and it allows you to execute a lot of the same strategies, though with fewer backup combos: no Barrin, Master Wizard
Krark Trigger Support Cards
If you have a single Krark trigger when you cast a spell, it's a simple gamble; overall, it's nice because you kind of get a card and mana when you win the flip and you only lose mana when you lose the flip, but the variance is dangerous and the overall effect isn't great. However, if you double the trigger, now you either get to cast your spell three times or you get to cast it and keep it, or, some small portion of the time (25%), you waste your mana (so you still really want cheap spells to mitigate that risk); this position is extremely strong, and the three cards above each create this while offering some additional advantages.
Harmonic Prodigy
This is a sparse package, but all your usual creature tutors can find them, and Step Through
Krark's Thumb
A few additional creatures come along to join Krark's supporting cast:
These cards are great with Krark; your goal is to convert casting arbitrary spells repeatedly into generating extra cards and mana, and most spells generate one of those or the other, a few do both, but if you pair Tavern Scoundrel
Card Draw Spells
Regrowth
Mana Production Spells
In Rograkh's Bouncy House, Crop Rotation
Emerald Charm
It could be considered ambitious to consider Chatterstorm
Cards That Make Mana and Draw Cards
These are some of the best cards to copy because they give you everything you need, and one of the biggest advantages of paring Krark with Thrasios rather than Sakashima is that you get access to Growth Spiral
The only thing that's possibly more broken with Krark than these are free cards because with a free spell, you're never really behind. If you lose a flip, you just try again, and eventually you'll get at least two copies of the spell. What you really want is to have multiple Krark triggers and to always lose at least one flip so that you can just keep casting them indefinitely. The reason Krark is so hard to play against is the way it plays with free counterspells: they'll counter your card, and sometimes it won't cost them anything, no cards, no mana, nothing.
If they have Archmage Emeritus
Free Interaction
Sometimes Mogg Salvage
The final sorcery I'm playing that wasn't in Rograkh's Bouncy House is Grapeshot
So that's the "Krark half" of the deck: seven dedicated support cards to make Krark work and a bunch of instants and sorceries that make mana and draw cards.The cards that make mana and draw cards ultimately help execute the Cloudstone combos, and I think this deck will usually win games with an infinite loop rather than just by copying spells with Krark, but the spells you copy with Krark help reach a position where it's trivial to find the cards for your loop, cast them, and protect them with counterspells after chaining through a series of advantageous spells with with Krark.
Closing Thoughts
It's a weird mashup: a storm deck and a creature combo deck, but in this case, I think the decks are surprisingly harmonious, though some weird opening hands are definitely possible.
As for the lands, they're pretty simple. I've added a basic Mountain
Incidentally, as I understand it most popular Krark/Thrasios lists revolve around Song of Creation
And of course, the full decklist is available here and below.
Sam Black's Rograkh & Thrasios cEDH
View on ArchidektCommander (2)
Lands (28)
- 1 Arid Mesa
- 1 Bloodstained Mire
- 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
- 1 Breeding Pool
- 1 Cavern of Souls
- 1 Command Tower
- 1 Exotic Orchard
- 1 Flooded Strand
- 1 Forest
- 1 Gaea's Cradle
- 1 Gemstone Caverns
- 1 Island
- 1 Mana Confluence
- 1 Misty Rainforest
- 1 Mountain
- 1 Otawara, Soaring City
- 1 Polluted Delta
- 1 Prismatic Vista
- 1 Scalding Tarn
- 1 Steam Vents
- 1 Taiga
- 1 Thundering Falls
- 1 Tropical Island
- 1 Verdant Catacombs
- 1 Volcanic Island
- 1 Windswept Heath
- 1 Wooded Foothills
- 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth
Creatures (17)
- 1 Archmage Emeritus
- 1 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Cloud of Faeries
- 1 Displacer Kitten
- 1 Dockside Extortionist
- 1 Eternal Witness
- 1 Flesh Duplicate
- 1 Harmonic Prodigy
- 1 Imperial Recruiter
- 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
- 1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
- 1 Roaming Throne
- 1 Spellseeker
- 1 Tavern Scoundrel
- 1 Trophy Mage
- 1 Veyran, Voice of Duality
- 1 _____ Goblin
Instants (23)
- 1 Borne Upon a Wind
- 1 Chain of Vapor
- 1 Consider
- 1 Crop Rotation
- 1 Deflecting Swat
- 1 Emerald Charm
- 1 Fierce Guardianship
- 1 Flusterstorm
- 1 Force of Will
- 1 Frantic Search
- 1 Growth Spiral
- 1 Gut Shot
- 1 Lightning Bolt
- 1 Manamorphose
- 1 Mental Misstep
- 1 Mindbreak Trap
- 1 Mogg Salvage
- 1 Muddle the Mixture
- 1 Pact of Negation
- 1 Snap
- 1 Submerge
- 1 Veil of Summer
- 1 Worldly Tutor