"The food chain build you've been looking for."
I am the original creator of the first primer for FCP on MTGSalvation aka MCR. Been playing this list on and off over the years, but always keeping it tuned.
I've tried many variants of Prossh, from aggro to midrange to storm to stax - in the end I feel that heavy-reliance on Food Chain is still the most powerful use of the commander.
I primarily play Korvold Demon Chain now, due to its flexibility, but I still updated Prossh annually to keep up to date.
COMMANDER LEGENDS UPDATE - OCT 2020
- Prossh is no longer a tier 1 strategy, although it will forever live on the outer-rim of competitive commanders due to its speed and consistency.
- Commander Legends doesn't change how the deck plays, but we do get three major inclusions: Jeweled Lotus, Wheel of Misfortune, and Opposition Agent.
- All three of these cards are powerhouses and should be auto-includes in any deck that can play them; Prossh is no exception and can use them to nearly full potential.
- Finally decided to replace Dimir Machinations with Wishclaw Talisman. I know it's obvious I'm grabbing Food Chain, but I'd rather not alert the whole table when I do. Wishclaw has some slight synergy with Dockside Extortionist and Opposition Agent.
- Dropped the land count down to 29 thanks to the inclusion of Jeweled Lotus.
- Added in Allosaurus Shepherd and Destiny Spinner as creature-based anti-blue cards to help feed Food Chain.
- Updated mana base to include the full cycle of bond lands - these are best-in-class for a fast deck.
A few key points about how I like to build Prossh:
- Play good Magic cards: keeping card quality high and reducing "dead" slots is one of the most important goals for me. Due to needing many finishers for the sake of consistency, Prossh has often run weak cards such as Blood Artist to fill these slots. While we haven't reached a point where they can all be eliminated, the payoffs have been reduced to Goblin-type fetchables for Goblin Matron or ones that can be used in alternate situations (Walking Ballista and Mayhem Devil for board control, Purphoros, God of the Forge for the man plan).
- Have a plan B that weaves into your plan A: the enabler payoffs, such as Selvala, Heart of the Wilds, are all useful when paired with Prossh himself. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician , God-Eternal Bontu , and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King are all alternative ways to create pressure against your opponents without Food Chain. They draw cards, reset Prossh, and offer a way to win without comboing outright. While this may not always work, they are not "extra" cards we put in the deck, as they all act as Food Chain payoffs.
- Keep the mana count high: I'm a firm believer in keeping lands at 30, even for an all-in combo deck. Games where players are all on equal footing tend to go a little longer, and I want to be able to hardcast Prossh if need be, especially to turn on all of the plan B outlets I mentioned before.
- The Goblin package: over the years, the goblin package has become quite robust. Keep in mind the options: Goblin Bushwhacker, Reckless Bushwhacker, Squee, the Immortal, Dockside Extortionist, Vexing Shusher.