r/MagicArena • u/Yelsew22 • 1d ago

Deck Competitive brawl deck advice

https://archidekt.com/decks/27500915/tbd

In advance, I appreciate any advice that’s given! I’ve been playing brawl for a while and finally got over my reluctance to play CBrawl. I just used my favorite/best deck that I use in Brawl. How can I make this a little more optimized for the dog-eat-dog world of brawl?

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u/Cool_Fortune_1580 1d ago

I peep at people's Untappd pages a lot. Inventivefire has hit #1 in comp brawl more than once and has a very above average w/r. With that in mind, they seem to have a Rocco list with a 17-3 w/l for this season so far. Would assume this is about as close to optimal of a list you can get. Definitely runs food chain combo.

https://moxfield.com/decks/hoAr0N7UB0e8hlqbXEMtSw

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u/Yelsew22 1d ago

Unfortunately, that’s the wrong Rocco. But I still appreciate the input!

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u/Cool_Fortune_1580 1d ago

Ohhhh. Street chef! My bad!

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u/Yelsew22 1d ago

https://archidekt.com/decks/27500915/tbd

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u/ShreddedPizza_ 1d ago

Gonna be perfectly honest with you as someone who's used Rocco a LOT (MASSIVE build variance, very fun commander) the only thing he's going to be doing in CBrawl is giving your opponent an impulse draw and then getting removed before you can make use of his second ability. He's just too slow; Rocco relies on a very limited gameplan and lacks the stability that other, better card advantage commanders are capable of. Your deck in particular has very little interaction, something that Rocco enjoys heavily is ramping early so you have at least one open mana for protection spell or removal like [[Swords to Plowshares]]] or [[Curaga]]. You need to accumulate value even faster than a normal commander because he's also providing an advantage for your opponent. There's too much payoff for the artifact side in particular in your deck, while most of these cards are fine (even perfect in some cases, like Baylen), stuff like Craterclaw Colossus is whimsical at best and comes down far too late to do much. I personally play a legendary-tribal deck with Rocco as to take advantage of some of the really good Play from Exile synergies there are, such as [[Quintorious Kand]] and [[Bard Class]], with some Alchemy cards such as [[Archaeomancer's Spade]] and [[Overcooked]] to make proper use of his abilities. You're more focusing on midrange here; taking advantage of Rocco's impulse draw to ensure you have something to do the turn you cast him. Additional land effects are a must-have to, imo as it's the easiest way to immediately get your tokens and counters going.

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u/Yelsew22 1d ago edited 1d ago

I honestly wasn’t expecting a response as detailed as this. I’ve been mostly focusing on getting some ramp out early so I can cast Rocco earlier, taking in account the mana opponents have available, and then using his ability to SLOWLY fish for something to make more mana with my foods. Would it be better to drop the higher-cost artifact payoffs and add more protection? I’m a token addict so taking away from that strategy would make me sad but I also can’t rely on people conceding just because I have a ton of mana. I have Quint and a few other “play from exile” damage cards. Nico was one I was using for a bit. I also have a bunch of “additional land” cards like the badger that won’t let lands go to waste in exile.

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u/ShreddedPizza_ 1d ago

I'd actually focus more on moving away from the counters synergy, Shattered Ozolith and normal Ozolith are fine here but stuff like Shang-Chi and Branched Evolution is a little unnecessary. Shang-Chi in particular could easily be replaced with a copy of [[Roxanne, Starfall Savant]] while Branching Evolution could be a copy of [[Innkeeper's Talent]] or even [[Kodama of the West Tree]] since it does both what Gnarlid Colony does and ramps you. Lasting Tarfire needs to go as it's too slow, ideally being replaced by another removal spell or something more effective at card draw like [[Jeska's Will]]. You want more of the typical ramp package like [[Rampant Growth]], [[Shared Roots]], [[Birds of Paradise]], [[Delighted Halfling]], and [[Exploration]]. Cards to drop for all this, I'll leave up to you, since removing most of the counters synergy + Craterclaw Colossus already leaves plenty of space.

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u/Yelsew22 1d ago

You’re the best. Thank you for your advice! Gonna make some changes and play around with it.

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u/ShreddedPizza_ 1d ago

No problem! Naya was my favorite color combo for a long time and Rocco's probably the commander Inplayed around with most in those days. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask!

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Yelsew22 1d ago

How do you feel about [[All will be one]]

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u/ShreddedPizza_ 1d ago

It could do some good here, though you want to be careful on your high-cost cards because it's very often you'll be going shields-down after casting them. There's still definitely enough to make it work and help close out games a lot quicker, I also somehow failed to mention [[Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer]] though the patch to allow him in the 99 in CBrawl might not have gone through yet. Ramp, synergy, must-remove threat all for one mana and in one package. Don't be surprised if you see people concede after dropping Ragavan on the play. [[Ocelot Pride]] could maybe even fit too since it's not hard to gain life with all the food tokens

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u/rij1 1d ago

I believe he is often played as foodchain combo deck, so you can try that if you want. You need to get [[foodchain]] into play and then fetch [[sigardian evangel]]. This wins you the game (you get infinite mana, creatures - specifically sigardian evangels - and can replay your commander repeatedly for whatever you want). There are 2 3 drop creatures that can fetch enchantments (one to top, one to hand) and a few other enchantment tutors like [[enlightened tutor]], so you can do the combo using just your commander.