Source transparency: This Digest item is based primarily on reporting from MTG Rocks. TMF summarizes and interprets the news; original reporting remains credited and linked.
Smaug, Wicked Worm has recorded an early competitive result outside the Commander tables most players expected it to occupy. Mukai Shori piloted the new Hobbit commander to a Top 16 finish in a 73-player cEDH event with a Rakdos list built tightly around Treasure generation.
Smaug supplies both mana and card advantage when it enters, rewarding a field rich in mana rocks and Treasures. The deck compounds that output with Rev, Tithe Extractor, Ruthless Technomancer and Ominous Harvest, then converts it through Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer into engines such as The One Ring and Bolas’s Citadel. Amulet of Vigor is a particularly important support piece for accelerating Smaug’s Treasure access.
The win packages are deliberately redundant. Dualcaster Mage pairs with copy effects for infinite hasty tokens; Underworld Breach and Grinding Station can loop Mox Opal while filling the graveyard; Jeska’s Will supports storm-like finishes with Storm-Kiln Artist and Mayhem Devil. Knuckles the Echidna adds another route when Treasure production carries into an upkeep.
One Top 16 does not establish a metagame trend, and the Rakdos shell remains vulnerable to blue decks with dense free interaction. The result nevertheless gives the newly released commander tournament-backed proof of concept and a concrete technical identity: a focused Treasure-combo deck rather than a generic high-value Rakdos pile.
Smaug supplies both mana and card advantage when it enters, rewarding a field rich in mana rocks and Treasures. The deck compounds that output with Rev, Tithe Extractor, Ruthless Technomancer and Ominous Harvest, then converts it through Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Goblin Welder and Goblin Engineer into engines such as The One Ring and Bolas’s Citadel. Amulet of Vigor is a particularly important support piece for accelerating Smaug’s Treasure access.
The win packages are deliberately redundant. Dualcaster Mage pairs with copy effects for infinite hasty tokens; Underworld Breach and Grinding Station can loop Mox Opal while filling the graveyard; Jeska’s Will supports storm-like finishes with Storm-Kiln Artist and Mayhem Devil. Knuckles the Echidna adds another route when Treasure production carries into an upkeep.
One Top 16 does not establish a metagame trend, and the Rakdos shell remains vulnerable to blue decks with dense free interaction. The result nevertheless gives the newly released commander tournament-backed proof of concept and a concrete technical identity: a focused Treasure-combo deck rather than a generic high-value Rakdos pile.
Original source: New MTG Hobbit Dragon Makes Surprise Appearance In Competitive Format ↗MTG Rocks