Turbo Prosper
Table of Contents
Deck Overview
Why Play Prosper?
- The first thing to note is the Rakdos color combination. This provides access to things like Ad Nauseam, Necropotence, Underworld Breach, Dockside Extortionist and Doomsday! And much more!
- The next thing is the relatively friendly casting cost of Jeweled Lotus but can be done with multiple other card combinations. Dark Ritual and either Simian Spirit Guide or Chrome Mox can do the trick. . The deck is capable of casting Prosper on turn one. This can be done most simply with a or producing land and
- Early Prosper means early value. He makes cards from exile available for casting and he produces treasures, so the earlier he's in play, the better. Prosper makes impulse spells and abilities, such as March of Reckless Joy, better. The deck includes several of these cards. Prosper's treasure making also makes Professional Face-Breaker's impulse ability rock, as well as fueling that ability!
- Prosper's abilities are important to several lines of play, the impulse draw cracks the Doomsday pile and the treasure making fuels the distinctly Prosper combo of Harnfel, Horn of Bounty and Sensei's Divining Top
- No ! Playing only two colors reduces the cost and complexity of the deck.
- The deck contains several, powerful cards and combinations. These are described in some detail below and include Doomsday, Ad Nauseam, Peer into the Abyss and Bolas's Citadel. The deck is truly as much a Turbo Ad Nauseam deck as it is a Turbo Prosper deck. Ad Nauseam is just incredibly powerful and can be profitably cast surprisingly early.
- Taken together, Prosper's abilities and the available Rakdos staples add up to a dynamic deck that can be super fast and can win unexpectedly. Turn-four wins are not uncommon, turn-three and even turn-two wins happen occasionally and it's even possible to win on turn one. I've yet to experience a turn-one win, but I've lived the turn-two dream.
- This list is patterned heavily after the Doomscrolling cEDH list in the database. It follows another list that was formerly in the database as well, Impulsive Prosper.
- While this deck seeks to win very quickly, Prosper is also suitable to mid-range, casual play. Some card choices are included below for this type of play and discussion is encouraged.
Why Not Play Prosper?
- Drannith Magistrate stops all of the fun.
- Rule of Law effects spoil the party.
- Stax - resource denial - in general, hurts the deck.
- No Doomsday in particular is a risky approach in a Rakdos deck; it's fast and efficient, but without counter magic or Silence-like effects available, it is risky. !
- Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh and Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools arguably do it better.
- The Turbo-Ad Nauseam approach may be ill-suited for casual play in general. Playing this deck can, at times, feel like pub-stomping. When it does, I switch. I keep this deck for those times when I get to play with the cool kids. No one has really gotten annoyed with me yet - well, maybe once, but winning on turn two will occasionally annoy someone! Some people genuinely admire what the deck can do.
Deck List
Commander
Creatures (16)
Instants (18)
Sorceries (16)
Artifacts (18)
Lands (29 + 1 MDFC)
Budget Considerations
- This is a somewhat limited-budget attempt at a Turbo Prosper deck. The most expensive card currently in the list is Mana Crypt, taking that spot from the previous title holders Jeweled Lotus and Imperial Seal - which has dropped in price precipitously since the Double Masters 2 reprint. Having finally obtained a Mana Crypt, I will not likely pursue anything more expensive than that. My budget picks are explained in the Notable Includes section.
- Much of the expense is in the mana-base. And that's without Badlands! There are alternatives, but they all come a a cost. If one doesn't envisage using Tainted Pact, some expense can be saved. Some of the fetches might be excluded, but one shouldn't go down many if one hopes for consistency. Ancient Tomb is the most expensive land in the list and one of the best. That often seems to be the way it goes.
- Of the cards in the expensive ($25+), but not obscenely so ($200+) category, Dockside Extortionist and Cloudstone Curio seem most impactful. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is nice, but he doesn't fuel any lines the way Dockside can. Mana Crypt is getting very close to that $200 mark, but it is VERY impactful and HIGHLY recommended. I've tutored for it on turn one many times to facilitate a turn-two Prosper.
- Sensei's Divining Top is a bit less dear than Dockside, but also very impactful and well worth considering even in a generally budget build.
- The expensive artifacts that produce fast mana are useful for the kind of speed one needs to be consistently explosive and all of the budget alternatives reduce that consistency and speed. There's no way around that, really. I've accepted that I'm not going to get all the way there. If I were in a proxy-friendly tournament, I might well proxy the big-money cards.
- Tutors are key to consistent performance and has the best; the good ones are not cheap, although Double Masters 2 took a big step towards remediating that!
- Grim Tutor seems to be the next-best tutor not in the deck-list. Diabolic Tutor is maybe better than nothing and Profane Tutor is a very risky gamble - it can't be cast from exile. Scheming Symmetry is just awful. It really is. I tried it. The first time Prosper exiled it, it was very clear to me how bad it was. It should be said Scheming Symmetry would work fine with Opposition Agent in play.
- There are some other budget tutors that work well, especially if one isn't running Ad Nauseam and Bolas's Citadel, but those are two highly recommended cards. Beseech the Queen will nearly always be cast-able at and Dark Petition will most often be a net to cast, but they hurt off of Ad Nauseum or Citadel.
- There are links below to two cEDH Prosper decks below. They are substantially more expensive decks.
- There is also a link to a self-described budget Prosper deck below.
Deck Strategy
- In order to find win conditions, the deck seeks to make massive amounts of resources available; cards via draw or cast-from-exile or milled to be cast from the graveyard; treasures through Prosper's ability but primarily through combos with Dockside Extortionist and Cloudstone Curio. The methods for accomplishing these goals are discussed in the following two sections.
- The deck uses life as a resource and makes good use of the graveyard. Ad Nauseam, Necropotence and Peer into the Abyss, and both and provide effective graveyard utilization such as Underworld Breach, Recoup and Mizzix's Mastery. Yawgmoth's Will is the premier example but it is sadly beyond the budget here. provides numerous ways to turn life into card advantage, including
- A starting hand that can cast Prosper early is a good start; a hand that can cast an early Ad Nauseam is an even better start.
- Peer into the Abyss, one of the Dockside Extortionist - Cloudstone Curio loops, a Grinding Station line or Underworld Breach are good mid-to-late game plans. Ad Nauseam and Necropotence are always good plans.
Win Conditions
Twinflame
Dualcaster Mage
Mayhem Devil
Praetor's Grasp
Sometimes, one can grasp a multi-card win-con from an opponent with the help of Recoup, Mizzix's Mastery or Underworld Breach.
Grinding Station
Laelia, the Blade Reforged
Notable Lines of Play
Doomsday
The Doomsday pile is typically Final Fortune, Jeska's Will, Twinflame, Dualcaster Mage and some piece of interaction. The last card is usually Tibalt's Trickery or Deflecting Swat but could be Pyroblast or Red Elemental Blast or even Imp's Mischief .
After resolving Doomsday, go to the end phase; Prosper exiles Final Fortune. Cast Final Fortune. On the new turn draw then cast Jeska's Will impulsing the other three cards. Cast Twinflame targeting Prosper or some other creature; before Twinflame resolves, cast Dualcaster Mage targeting Twinflame. The copy of Twinflame targets Dualcaster. The copies copy more copies until there are enough Dualcaster Mages to kill all of the other players. The last Twinflame targets something else to break the loop.
In some cases, one might need a removal spell to allow the combo to work instead of a spell to protect it; in that case the fifth card can be Feed the Swarm, Chaos Warp, Terminate or Abrade to name a few.
If Prosper is not in play, then March of Reckless Joy can be used to crack the pile. Alternatively, Jeska's Will can be used as can Professional Face-Breaker.
An example pile usable without Prosper with March of Reckless Joy in hand is Dockside Extortionist, Professional Face-Breaker, Twinflame and Dualcaster Mage and one other card. This pile can be cast for and a Red card or more; with two invocations of Dockside - the initial casting of Twinflame can target Dockside, this is fairly easily done. Facebreaker will have to impulse Twinflame and Dualcaster, so two extra treasures are necessary.
An alternate pile, if an opponent is known to be on Thassa's Oracle, again with March of Reckless Joy in hand, is Dockside Extortionist, Praetor's Grasp, Tainted Pact and two other cards. Here, two treasures are needed to cast Thassa's Oracle, a Red card or plus for the spells and Thassa's Oracle will win since your Devotion to Blue will equal two.
If Professional Facebreaker is in play, then March of Reckless Joy can be put into the No-Prosper piles if necessary; if enough treasures are available, Facebreaker can do all of the work. If not enough treasures are available without first casting Dockside, then Facebreaker will at least have to impulse March of Reckless Joy to start off.
Ad Nauseam
Necropotence
Underworld Breach
Peer into the Abyss
Harnfel, Horn of Bounty
Sensei's Divining Top
Bolas's Citadel
Necropotence works with Bolas's Citadel similarly as Top does; the cards don't go to hand immediately, but it is a simpler process. In either line, there shouldn't be an end phase.
With Top, use Top's ability to draw any card we can't or don't want to cast. Then re-play Top for one-life with Citadel. We can set aside any card we don't want to cast with Necropotence, although we have to be careful as we won't have those cards in hand.
Stitcher's Supplier
Culling the Weak
Underworld Breach
Praetor's Grasp
Grinding Station
The combo works by tapping the rock, then sacrificing the rock to Grinding Station, milling three cards. The rock can be cast from the graveyard using the mana the rock made and the three cards milled to pay the Escape price. Repeat the process until a win-con or a tutor presents itself.
Dockside Extortionist can provide multiple artifacts to grind. Each treasure will create an EtB un-tap trigger that can be responded to. Sacrifice one of the treasures in response to each trigger to mill cards. You are looking for something to flashback with Recoup, possibly a tutor or Doomsday or Peer into the Abyss.
Lastly, occasionally, you can ruin someone's Vampiric Tutor or similar effect with Grinding Station.
Some Other Lists
Card Choice Discussion
The list is heavily influenced by two current Prosper cEDH, especially the Doomscrolling list. Following is a list of cards which are common to both lists. These could be considered a basis for a competitive Prosper list.
Notable Omissions
- Badlands - The fetch-able, painless dual is certainly missed.
- City of Traitors - Not absolutely something I'd play in any case, but well worth considering. The ability to power out two-MV rocks is nice.
- Lion's Eye Diamond - While useful in Grinding Station - Underworld Breach lines, it's mostly just three free mana here, but three free mana is really good!
- Mox Diamond - One of the best of the mana rocks, the ability to make any color is awesome.
- Grim Monolith - A mana-positive rock. Not as important as the others in this list, but worth considering.
- Wheel of Fortune - Wheel of Misfortune is a poor substitute, but the deck wants both!
- Yawgmoth's Will - With the self-mill possibilities in the deck, this is badly missed.
- Defense Grid - Protection against interaction.
- Infernal Plunge - An additional ritual is worth considering.
- Thoughtseize - Same explanation as Cabal Ritual.
- Collective Brutality - See above.
- Deadly Dispute - Instant-speed card draw.
- Deadly Rollick - Conditionally free removal but somewhat painful off of Ad Nauseam.
- Delayed Blast Fireball - A potentially strong effect in the right circumstances, but getting it when it's needed and not when it's not wanted is the thing.
- Grim Tutor - A solid tutor.
- Overmaster - While it won't likely protect a combo, it can protect an important spell, like Ad Nauseam, Necropotence or Peer into the Abyss.
- Aetherflux Reservoir - The list has Bolas's Citadel and Sensei's Divining Top, so why not complete the Death Star? Mainly because there are ample, simpler-to-assemble win-cons. Citadel and Top can win without reservoir and both have tremendous utility on their own or in combination with other cards in the list. Reservoir isn't very good by itself and at four-MV, just not quite good enough in the consensus of the Discord community. It is certainly good enough for a very slightly less gung-ho approach. The Death Star can win games. I used it myself for a while until it got squeezed out by Grinding Station.
- Dark Confidant - Bob provides extra cards and has a low MV.
- Grenzo, Havoc Raiser - A combo possibility.
- Grim Hireling - A treasure maker and interaction on a stick!
- Storm-Kiln Artist - SKA is key to a storm-like Prosper build.
- Fire Covenant - Low MV, multi-target removal.
- Slaughter Pact - Removal Option.
- Bonus Round - Another key piece of the storm approach.
- Heat Shimmer - Redundancy for Twinflame.
- Infernal Grasp - Removal Option. Easy to cast with only one colored mana.
Notable Includes
Some of these cards are common to one or the other of the two cEDH lists the deck is patterned after.
Cards common to Doomscrolling
- Skirk Prospector - The goblin we care about sacrificing is Dockside Extortionist. This facilitates graveyard shenanigans!
- Fellwar Stone - This is fairly reliable colored mana.
- Rakdos Signet - This makes both of our colors! Inflexible, perhaps, but still pretty good.
- Cloudstone Curio - This combos with Dockside Extortionist and another creature to produce as many treasures as needed to win the game
- Emergence Zone - This allows us to cast something like Peer into the Abyss prior to our turn. It also allows us to make use of cards put into hand by Necropotence during the End phase.
- Prismatic Vista - This gets either of our colors.
- Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth - We have casting costs!
- Urza's Saga - We have numerous high-quality targets.
- Doomsday - Perhaps too risky in Rakdos colors, but when it works it's awesome. When it doesn't. . . Well. . . Go hard or go home, I guess.
- Mizzix's Mastery - An extra enabler for graveyard shenanigans. Especially good for casting Peer into the Abyss from the graveyard.
- Peer into the Abyss - Another high-risk, high-reward card. This feels bad with Ad Nauseam, but it's very powerful.
- Grinding Station - Part of a combo described in win conditions.
- Magda, Brazen Outlaw - Magda is part of a combo with Dockside and Cloudstone Curio but can also sometimes just tutor up important artifacts.
- Laelia, the Blade Reforged - Laelia makes cards available and helps Prosper make treasures. She can also get seriously big. Tainted Pact can make her large enough to one-shot opponents. The Impulsive cEDH list plays this in place of Skirk Prospector.
- Springleaf Drum - A budget Rock but a pretty good one. It's cheap for Ad Nauseam or Bolas's Citadel, and it can help get Prosper out a turn ahead of the curve - with a little help from a cooperative creature.
- Gemstone Mine - Rainbow lands are the best lands! A painless one is a bonus!
- Mox Amber - This is budget - compared to Mox Diamond! It's a free rock and there are a few low-MV legendary creatures that can make it work early.
- Graven Cairns - This takes the place of Badlands, and while it's a poor substitute, it feels like it's one of the next-best lands for the slot. If we can't make or , something is badly wrong. Tarnished Citadel is an alternative. Blackcleave Cliffs is also an option, but I personally don't like the possibility it could enter tapped. But to be fair, the fourth land will often not be an issue.
- Imp's Mischief - A fine interactive spell. It's been discussed in the Discord before and judged "definitely playable".
- Terminate - A good argument exists for Infernal Grasp, but the mana will rarely be an issue, life can used profitably elsewhere, and Terminate is a better pitch for Chrome Mox. Mostly, it was in the pre-con and I haven't seen fit to swap it.
- Tibalt's Trickery - A solid piece of interaction.
Credits & Thanks
Change Log
Commander
Kidding aside, I've identified some lands that will go in: and I've got fetches - mostly already in other decks - that I can add: I think the Rat package will get the boot and I will focus on artifacts (maybe Trading Post will finally get played?) and the exile-cast strategy. Beyond that, I will have to sort through what I have left and see what might be good.
If anyone has taken up Prosper as a Commander and would like to share what they've done, I'd love to hear about it. Meanwhile, there's nearly 100 Prosper decks on MTGGoldfish, so I guess I have some research to do.