Zada Primer (EDH / Commander)

Why Zada?

1. Zada allows for that one sweet chance at one thing red lacks, card draw.

2. She, yes she, still lets red do what it’s good at, aggressiveness and quickness.

3. The deck will definitely bamboozle your opponents from the very start. They won’t see your easily obtained win until it hits them upside the head.

4. Tokens! Goblins! Thopters! Elementals! And more!

5. Zada decks don’t usually cost more than $100 USD, which is great for a new player or a player who doesn’t want to invest their money in a card game.

6. Although this deck is very budget friendly, it still packs a punch.

Basic Strategy.
The goal of Zada decks is to ramp with massive ritual effects ie. Mana Geyser, overwhelm the board with tokens, draw a crap ton of cards using Zada’s ability in addition to a card such as Expedite, then pump the team and swing ‘em sideways. Ultimately, the deck is meant to do what red players love!

Win Cons.
This deck aims to win through combat, but that does not mean you can’t put in infinite combos or other conditions to be met for the win. It all depends on how your playgroup decides to play the game. For example, my playgroup is very battlecruiser esc, meaning it is all about creatures. We don’t really like control and find it boring to play. This is why in my personal deck, I include minimal interaction and zero infinite combos. That is not to say you can’t include them yourself. However, there is one ‘hidden’ win con. Soul’s Fire deals damage to players equal to the total power of all of your creatures, allowing for instant speed wins. I’ve personally only been able to pull this off a couple times, but it is sweet.

Strengths.
This deck’s main strength is how fast it is. I consistently win on turn 7 with this deck, which I know is not that good compared to the top tier cEDH decklists, but it is still very good for a casual deck. This is mainly why the deck packs a punch against other slower archetypes, ie. control, stax, or lifegain.

Weaknesses.
Although it is possible, after a board wipe or two, this deck fails to recover if you don’t hit one of your card draw spells beforehand. This is to be said about all aggro decks, however, this one is better at recovering than most. Nowhere near as good as Edric, Spymaster of Trest though.

Notable Cards.
Kari Zev’s Expertise - This card is insane when paired with Zada and multiple tokens. The main part we care about is the second line of text, which lets us basically cast the majority of our pump spells for free!

Young Pyromancer - Aside from Krenko, Mob Boss, this card is the best token producer in the deck. Extremely powerful, low cmc, and great synergy.

Twinflame / Heat Shimmer - Basically just doubles your creature for a turn, allowing more card draw and, most importantly, more bodies to pump.

Flameshadow Conjuring - Very good with Siege Gang Commander and other effects like that.

Dwarven Mine - A land that gives a token. Pretty good if you ask me.

All of the “dorks” this deck runs - Having our ramp be creature heavy is great in this deck, because of the extra triggers off Zada.

Removal Options.
This section is highly customizable to your playgroup. I have 5 Graveyard based decks in mine, so I run some graveyard hate. This list is not set in stone on how many removal spells or wipes you should run in a Zada deck. However, I would only run about 2 board wipes because you need your board more than other decks might. I also use the red ‘counterspells’ so that I can keep my board protected and my spells safe.

Other ways to build Zada.
If you want more colors then just red (which is the best color), then consider General Tazri, which is a five color commander that lets you tutor for Zada, right from the command zone. It also isn’t required that you include every color in the five color deck, because Tazri does not require all the colors to be cast. Also, another deck that is similar to Zada, is Feather, the Redeemed. She is also very aggro based and super fun to build. My friend has a feather deck that packs a serious punch when he draws the right hand.

Final Words.
Zada is an insanely fun commander to build around, and should always be considered when looking for a commander in red to build around. Thank you for reading and please do suggest cards and ask questions about the deck and the archetype in general. Ciao.