Pauper Commander - Zada, Hedron Grinder

Zada, Hedron Grinder by Chris Rallis

The Cream of the Paup

Once again, we're looking at the best commander's in the entire pEDH format. In case you're unaware, we're building decks with nothing but commons and a single uncommon commander. It's quite a challenge, yet there's some incredibly powerful decks that appear at the top of the Pauper charts.

Today, we're looking at Zada, Hedron Grinder

A Swarm of Spells

Zada, Hedron Grinder

I'm sure you can see how this would be quite powerful, but let me prove it. Let's say you have five creatures on board and you cast Flick a Coin

Creatures

As you can see, we maximize Zada's value by having a colossal board, so let's sort that out first. Luckily, we're in red, the color of annoying little guys who come in hordes. Goblins, Devils, Elementals, and more Goblins are all available to us. We can start with some instants and sorceries that spawn tiny armies.

Dragon Fodder

Some bigger spells come with even more benefits, like Goblin War Party

Then, there are creatures who make more creatures. Just what we want! Mogg War Marshal

They don't all have to make tokens, however. Goblin Matron

Pretty soon, we're gonna be casting a ton of instants and sorceries, so these fellas will do some work. 

Spells

And that takes us to the meat of the deck, the instants and sorceries we're gonna be casting. What we're looking for is pretty obvious. The cheapest instants and sorceries that do something significant while targeting a creature. Expedite

Ancestral Anger

But hey, there's more to life than card advantage. How about giving our entire team a colossal boost? Brute Force will do the trick there, along with Balduvian Rage, Brute Strength, Run Amok, Reckless Charge, and many others. If we're giving 5+ creatures +3/+3 buffs with ease, there's little that will stand in our way, and Zada makes it so ridiculously easy, our opponents aren't going to stand a chance. 

There's a few more standouts that I'll highlight as well. Does doubling the size of our board sound good? Have a slice of Make Mischief. Does drawing two cards for each creature and giving a buff to the whole team sound great? Take a bite of Witch's Mark! What about giving each creature double strike and trample?

Look out for Temur Battle Rage. Or how about buffing each creature by progressively larger amounts based on the amount of cards we've drawn by the time a copy of Fists of Flame resolves? That sounds fun to me!

The Gameplan

The point is, there's an endless list of cards that become incredibly overpowered with Zada out on the board, and that means that our Goblin commander is going to become quite the target for removal. One way to combat this is by playing Whispersilk Cloak, but unfortunately, that garment is the only mono-red-compatible, Pauper-legal card that grants shroud, hexproof, indestructible, or protection.

We have basically no way to protect Zada from the wrath of the board, so we're gonna need another way to ensure we can get our value, and that strategy is to just go as fast as possible. To accomplish this, we're jamming rituals and ramp into our deck, like Big Score, Unexpected Windfall, and Mana Geyser. 

Of course, the best way to avoid removal is just to plan ahead. This deck wants to have a full board, a load of mana, and a fat stack of cards in hand before even casting Zada. Once you do, the deck can absolutely go off, but it's vulnerable to any removal. So play carefully, and prepare yourself for the right time. 

And that's the deck! It's clear why it's a favorite among both EDH and pEDH players. There's a ton of fun to be had here, from executing complex chains of spells, to blindly swinging in with a flood of Goblins. Whatever happens, it's sure to be spectacular.