Legends Legends - Rohgahh of Kher Keep
Welcome back to Legends Legends, the column where you, me, and the hivemind at EDHrec try to staple together a Commander deck based on one of the original 55 legendary creatures in 1995's Legends set. This week, we're tackling a character I can't believe we haven't hit yet: Rohgahh of Kher Keep!
Kobolds are one of my favorite fantasy setting creatures. They're distinct from goblins in that they have a lizardlike appearance, and many claim they descended from dragons. Rohgahh is the undisputed lord of the Kobolds, but it's not like we had many options.
What does a modern-day Kobolds deck look like, and how can we mix it with Dragon spells to become an actual threat on the board? Let's dig in!
General Thoughts
Rohgahh of Kher Keep is a six-mana 5/5 that gives other creatures you control named Kobolds of Kher Keep +2/+2. Furthermore, if we don't pay each turn during our upkeep, an opponent gains control of all of our Kobolds of Kher Keep and our commander.
There's a single actual card named Kobolds of Kher Keep, hailing from Legends as well, and it'll play a key role in this deck. Since there are only 14 total Kobolds in Magic (and only 13 in paper), we needed to find another way to fill the deck with on-theme creatures. We've landed on Dragon creatures as our filler since they tend to keep Kobolds around as minions to guard their treasure hoards when they aren't around.
In addition to the typical suite of kindred-based anthems, we'll also use cards like Maskwood Nexus to change the types of our creatures so our Kobold and Dragon spells will still affect them. By merging these two creature type kindreds into one deck, we've created a truly unique hybrid kindred deck!
Kobolds...
The 13 Kobolds are the bedrock of our creature base. Most cost zero mana or one mana to play and have no power. A few lords (Kobold Drill Sergeant, Kobold Taskmaster, and Kobold Overlord) each give small power boosts to our 0/1s, but they'll still remain lackluster until we can stick Rohgahh of Kher Keep to the field.
Since our commander can only give his +2/+2 anthem to cards named Kobolds of Kher Keep, we have a few options for creating as many of those cards as possible despite our singleton deck.
The first is one you're likely familiar with: Kher Keep itself is an excellent way to spit out another Kobold each turn for cheap, though not as cheap as their namesake. Expedition Map is only here to fetch specifically this card and nothing else. Remember, we don't have any Second Harvests in our color identity, so, like country Kobolds, we'll have to make do.
Next, we can use Orthion, Hero of Lavabrink to make extra copies of our Kobolds of Kher Keep.
The Dominaria United Commander Decks version of Rohgahh is Rohgahh, Kher Keep Overlord, and he's undoubtedly a better source for Kobolds of Kher Keep tokens than almost anything else, we just need to consistently cast Dragon spells.
I've finally found a use for Spy Kit and Psychic Paper in our Kobolds deck: now any creature can become Kobolds of Kher Keep and get access to Rohgahh's +2/+2 anthem!
Rosnakht, Heir of Rohgahh might not have any spells to trigger its Heroic effect, but its battle cry will still be useful for our weeny little 0/1 creatures.
...Dragons...
It's unclear whether or not the Kobolds and various overlords they've endured actually worship Dragons, like their Dungeons & Dragons counterparts, or have just found themselves as the hapless subjects of many a Prossh, Skyraider of Kher. Whatever their connection, Kobolds and Dragons are undeniably linked in lore across multiple fantasy worlds, and even somewhat mechanically in Magic.
Our main purpose for including Dragons is to create flying threats on larger bodies than we could hope to with our Kobolds. With a little Conspiracy and Maskwood Nexus-ing, we can even use our Coat of Arms and Obelisk of Urd together to make both kindreds stronger simultaneously.
It remains to be seen whether we want to use Conspiracy to make all of our creatures into Kobolds or Dragons in addition to their other types. We have far fewer Kobolds than Dragons, but really only want specifically Kobolds of Kher Keep for Rohgahh's buff. Choosing which creature type to declare with Conspiracy will ultimately be a case-by-case basis.
That said, choosing "Dragon" means cards like Ganax, Astral Hunter will net you more mana each time you cast a zero-cost Kobold. Utvara Hellkite will create a 6/6 Dragon whenever a Kobold attacks, and Scourge of Valkas will start obliterating opponents with its fiery breath for nearly free whenever we activate Kher Keep.
Ancient Brass Dragon, Ancient Copper Dragon, and Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury are all here as our top-end game-enders. Big creatures with powerful effects that change the balance of power on the battlefield, these three can rocket you into an effective position as soon as they come down.
Terror of Mount Velus functions similarly as a pseudo-Overrun effect to put big damage down on the board all at once.
Finally, we're running Swift Warkite as some simple recursion for our cheap Kobolds.
...What's the Difference?
As it turns out, the only real difference between the Kobolds and Dragons in this deck is their mana costs. With Conspiracy and Maskwood Nexus, we'll be splitting all of our kindred synergies onto two different types. This is a key part of making this deck run, so we'll be using our mountain of tutors to dig up these two cards specifically in most every game, and using Crystal Chimes to recur it from our graveyard if it's been Naturalized.
Once all of our creatures share a creature type, our Dragonlord's Servant and Dragonspeaker Shaman can really come alive, reducing the cost of everything in our deck (our Kobolds were already dirt cheap, but now we'll get that Solemn Simulacrum for just one mana! Wow!)
A handful of non-Kobold, non-Dragon creatures fit in to support our deck's general gameplan. Humble Defector can generate a lot of card draw, and we can get it back with our Brand if need be. Rivaz of the Claw is a Rakdos-aligned mana dork that works on all of our creatures if we can stick our Maskwood Nexus.
Finally, should all else fail, we have two late-late game-enders to wrap things up when the boards stalled out and we'd really rather just pack up and go home. Crackle with Power and Rise of the Dark Realms are the two spells that you should hold off on casting until you're certain they'll end the game.
Mana Base
Rohgahh of Kher Keep comes with a steep upkeep cost, so we'll need to make sure we have access to each turn, or our Brand if we want to save that mana for something else.
To that end, we're running eight whole mana rocks, including Dragon's Hoard and Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind. We've also got Iron Myr, Burnished Hart, and Solemn Simulacrum to help out.
Rohgahh of Kher Keep Deck List
Wrap Up
Rohgahh of Kher Keep might not be the best version of himself, but I'll be damned if he isn't the ugliest. Wait, that's not really selling him, let me try again.
Combining two creature types into a single, cohesive kindred deck is not easy. Special care must be taken to balance the creatures against each other, and without access to blue and spells like Arcane Adaptation, we're forced to rely on changelings (a cop-out), or consistently fetching one of two type-changer cards. It's not impossible, though, as is evidenced by this ridiculous Rohgahh of Kher Keep Commander deck.
Which two creature types would you sew together into a single kindred deck? And which Dragons deserve a spot in the Kobold deck list? Let me know in the comments!
As always, thanks for reading!
