Risona, Asari Commander - Explosive Pariah
Risona, Asari Commander - Explosive Pariah
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About the Deck
Risona, Asari Commander isn't always necessarily vital to the gameplan but she comes down quickly on turn 3 (assuming no acceleration) and there are a few little tricks you can pull with her indestructible counter like utilizing Contractual Safeguard or Nesting Grounds to make other creatures in your deck indestructible. You could just as easily use another indestructible commander for this deck. I usually swing with her immediately the turn she comes down to get the indestructible counter and then use her as a blocker after that unless no one is establishing creature based board states.
Once you have an indestructible creature out, giving it a Pariah effect or a reciprocal damage effect (Blazing Sunsteel) can become a major deterrent for enemies wishing to attack you. A creature with all three effects is generally a good goal to shoot for.
The +1/+1 counter generators in the deck can be great for either threatening commander damage by stacking them on Risona, or to make your reciprocal damage creatures actually a bit survivable/threatening. Phyrexian Vindicator and Wrathful Red Dragon are usually pretty great choices for these due to their evasion. Brash Taunter can get a bit silly when it is no longer a 1/1. These effects do tend to encourage opponents to attack each other as well, especially if you have a board state that discourages aggression towards you anyway.
In addition to the political maneuvering you can get with cards like Noble Heritage, Orzhov Advokist, etc., you can also sometimes make deals to intentionally throw your explosive creatures at one player who has a high power creature, or reverse this and let them attack you, to get the damage thrown at another player. This can be a way to deal with some other players defenses.
This deck may be red/white but it isn't generally a super aggressive deck. I generally just bide my time and set off some board wide explosives like Star of Extinction or Structural Assault on a board with my reciprocal damage creatures.
There is one infinite combo in the deck that I accidentally discovered was in the deck after putting it together. Coalhauler Swine + "an indestructible effect" (Darksteel Plate + "a pariah effect" (Pariah) set up a condition where as soon as Coalhauler Swine takes damage, that much damage is dealt to everyone but the Pariah effect redirects the damage you would take back to the Coalhauler Swine, which goes in a loop until everyone else dies. The key card of the combo, Coalhauler Swine, is not tutorable in this deck, so it is only random luck that will lead you to even attempting to do this, and it is a super easy combo to disrupt. It is definitely a combo to remember exists but it is not a primary goal to try to accomplish. I have pulled off this combo once with Darksteel Plate, Pariah's Shield, and damage from my own Talisman of Conviction), and it only happened because no one in my playgroup realized what I was slowly setting up until it was too late.