I call this my “Degenerate Gambling” deck because playing it is a wager: I am shoving all my chips into the middle on Turn 4, and daring the table to have the answer. As a friend has pointed out, this deck turns the whole table into gamblers. Every opponent must decide on their turn if they can afford to ignore Longshot, Rebel Bowman. Any player that spends resources setting you back is also setting themselves back, while those who ignore you risk sudden death.
Here’s how we win that gamble.
The Win Condition
The Goal: We cast 15 spells with Longshot on the board to blast our opponents to death.
The Path to Victory: We start the game (turns 1-3) with patience. Do not cast Longshot too fast. There are three critical reasons for this:
- Missed Triggers: By casting too many ramp spells like Rite of Flame or Lotus Petal early, we lose out on the damage triggers those spells would generate if Longshot were already in play.
- Mana Choke: If we ramp into Longshot too early, we usually won’t have enough mana remaining on that turn (or the following turns) to initiate a storm chain.
- Card Disadvantage: Theoretically, the deck could spend 3-4 cards to play Longshot on Turn 1. However, this leaves us with only two mana and—crucially—down 3-4 cards in hand. We need a full grip to storm off.
With this in mind, the only spells we want to cast on early turns are creatures, plotting Highway Robbery, or occasionally a 2-cost mana rock like Mind Stone. Generally, you shouldn’t keep opening hands with fewer than 3 lands. If you must keep a land-light hand, prioritize playing card draw early to find your land drops before committing Longshot to the board. If you get a land-heavy hand with 4-5 lands, it’s often keepable.
The Storm Turn
In most games, you will cast Longshot on Turn 3 or 4. You will not usually storm off that turn. The following turn you’ll have all your mana available to focus on the aim: casting 15 spells.
The Exception: Playing the “Sticker Goblin” (_____ Goblin) with the “Delusionary” sticker is the biggest exception to the rule. This card can generate enough floating red mana to allow you to cast Longshot and start storming off immediately.
Recovery: If the plan goes awry, fear not. The deck runs tons of mana acceleration; you will almost certainly be able to cast Longshot again if he is removed. Paradoxically, the key to this super-fast burn deck is patience. Do not cast spells you don’t need to until Longshot is back on the battlefield.
Card Selection
To cast 15 spells successfully, you need two things: A) Spells to cast and B) Mana to cast them. Therefore, our 99 is divided into three primary categories:
- Card Draw
- Mana Acceleration
- Support Cards
Crucial Note: We do not have a category for damage spells. Our Commander is already dealing damage to our opponents.
- No Direct Damage: We do not want cards like Lightning Bolt or Lava Spike.
- No Creature Removal: We do not want cards that damage creatures.
Our goal is to storm before opponents combo off, before their board states matter. We are an aggro deck and we stay focused on our own game plan. If we wanted to control the board, we would be a control deck and choose a different commander. Cards that don’t draw or accelerate don’t help us win; they may only delay how long until we lose. You have to be okay with losing sometimes—that is the key to the deck.
1. Mana Acceleration
There are two sub-categories:
Mana Positive (Rituals): Pay less, get more. In this deck, your 2-mana red rituals become Dark Rituals. We run the full suite: Rite of Flame, Desperate Ritual, Pyretic Ritual, and Seething Song. We also run Battle Hymn (fueled by our goblin tokens) and Mana Geyser for late-game explosions. Note: Springleaf Drum effectively becomes a ritual here by virtue of the discount Longshot provides.
Mana Neutral: These keep the storm count going by refunding the mana you spent to cast them. This includes Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone, Mind Stone, and Prized Statue.
2. Card Draw
We run loads of draw and “eggs” to cycle through the deck. There are important mechanical distinctions to master here:
The Power of Flashback: One of the strongest engines in this deck is Flashback. We run all the best Flashback cards (like Faithless Looting and Electric Revelation) because they allow us to cast a spell twice. This is pure value: one card in hand becomes two triggers for Longshot. Many of these cards also draw us more cards, keeping the engine greased.
Discard Costs vs. Effects: Many cards use “discard a card as an additional cost” text. We rely heavily on Big Score, Unexpected Windfall, Thrill of Possibility, and Tormenting Voice. Tip: Track which cards discard as a cost (like Faithless Looting) versus an effect. Save cards like Romantic Rendezvous or Dangerous Wager for the end of your storm chain so you can draw without having to discard a card you needed.
Impulse Draw Timing:
- Glimpse the Impossible and Experimental Synthesizer: You must play these cards this turn.
- Reckless Impulse and Wrenn’s Resolve: You can play these until the end of your next turn.
- Galvanic Relay: You can only play these on your next turn, not the current one.
3. Support Cards & Creatures
Because our primary win condition triggers off non-creature spells, we run very few creatures—only the essential five.
The Creatures
- Goblin Chirurgeon sacrifices itself or another goblin to regenerate the Commander.
- Burning Prophet allows us to manipulate the top of the library to find the gas we need during big storm turns.
- “Delusionary” Goblin (_____ Goblin) As mentioned, this is one of our best mana sources and feeds into Infernal Plunge and Battle Hymn. Opening with this card can enable a Turn 3 win.
- Kessig Flamebreather & Mysidian Elder These are the only two other pingers in the deck. They have 3 toughness (good blockers) and trigger off all non-creature spells. Mysidian Elder also creates two bodies for blocking.
The Math of Pingers: We do not run a huge package of pingers because of diminishing returns.
- Longshot alone: Deals 2 damage per spell. To deal 30 damage, you need 15 spells.
- Longshot + 1 Pinger: Deals 3 damage per spell. To deal 30 damage, you need 10 spells. (A reduction of 5 spells).
- Longshot + 2 Pingers: Deals 4 damage per spell. To deal 30 damage, you need 8 spells. (A reduction of only 2 spells).
Seeing one pinger in your opening hand is a blessing because it drops your requirement from 15 to 10. However, adding a second one only reduces the requirement by 2 more spells. It simply doesn’t make sense to run a large number of additional pinger effects for such a small marginal gain.
Graveyard Cards
Satyr’s Cunning is one of the best cards in the deck. With enough mana and a stocked graveyard, you can end the game by escaping and casting this repeatedly. Hide this card in your hand so you don’t scare the table. Lava Dart and Flame Jab allow you to turn cards in your graveyard or excess lands in hand into extra cast triggers via Retrace/Flashback. Flaring Pain provides two triggers (Cast + Flashback) and bypasses damage prevention like Prismatic Strands.
Graveyard Hate: I currently run Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus, but I am strongly considering cutting them. Neither actively pushes our game plan forward. Relic of Progenitus is particularly problematic because it exiles our own graveyard, removing access to our Flashback, Escape, and Retrace spells that help us win. As soon as better options are printed, these will be thrown to the wayside.
The Mana Base
Do not get fancy. Run Mountains. Reliable red mana is king. And we only have 27 lands, making your land count an important consideration of your mulligans. Trust me, running too many lands can lead to impossible bottlenecks during storm turns, which you can see in a recent gameplay video I did with the Jalapeno Paupers.
- Cycling Lands: Do not run them. Every Mountain is effectively a cycling land because of our high volume of “discard-to-draw” effects. Coming in untapped is the most powerful effect a land can have in this deck.
Exceptions:
- Great Furnace: Artifact fodder for Kuldotha Rebirth and Demand Answers.
- Dwarven Mine: Free 1/1 creature for sacrifice rituals while usually entering untapped.
Alternative Packages
The following sections outline specific “Packages” or strategies you can build into the deck. While I do not run full versions of these packages in my current list, they are popular options that may appeal to your playstyle.
The Goblin Package
I run a light version of this to support Battle Hymn and providing blockers, but you can lean all the way in.
- Why play it? You want more board presence and blockers.
- Key Inclusions: Brightstone Ritual becomes a premier ritual here. Skirk Prospector turns extra goblins into more mana to help storm off. Mogg War Marshal makes 3 bodies for two mana. Goblin Surprise and Seize Opportunity buff your board to let any small tokens get in for increased damage. Casting Goblin Surprise the turn after you’ve played Empty the Warrens is usually game over.
- I’ll note that Skirk Prospector may be good enough to include in the main deck without a full Goblin Package. I’m currently testing him.
The Dragon Package (Dragon’s Approach)
I’ve seen many pilots playing with the Dragon’s Approach package. It’s not one that appeals to me because relying on spells for 60% of your damage makes you much weaker to counterspells. However, if this appeals to you, here is how to make it effective:
- Commit: Go all in. Run at least 40 copies of Dragon’s Approach.
- Ramp: Run all the mana acceleration and “eggs” you can find.
- The Dragons: I recommend only running two: Stormshriek Feral (ensures your deck is never empty of dragons) and Lightning Shrieker (best for hitting face with haste/evasion).
The Removal Package
One of the best ways to handle Longshot is by neutralizing him without killing him (e.g., Witness Protection or Temporal Isolation). The current list doesn’t handle this well. If your meta is full of these effects, consider running Scour from Existence, Zuko’s Exile, and Lunatic Pandora. These allow you to remove obstacles on an opponent’s end step, leaving you with full mana on your turn. There are many other removal spells that can fill in these slots, but these three are your best options.
Additional Cards to Consider
Cards to Include:
- The Brute: Extra protection.
- Mycosynth Wellspring: Can be an extra “land slot” without losing the Longshot trigger.
- Improvised Club: Sacrifice outlet for artifacts that have an effect when they hit the graveyard.
- Simian Spirit Guide: I don’t run this because I want as many Longshot triggers as possible, but it’s another way to pump more mana into the deck.
Cards to Avoid:
- Free Spells: Downhill Charge and Thunderclap. Free does not mean good. I’ve played with these cards and they often sit in my hand too long. I generally don’t want to sac my mountains until I know I’m going to win and these end up clogging the hand. Play good cards, whether they are free or not.
- Grapeshot: This is a trap. You usually hit a storm count of 7-8 on your turns. If you hit a full 15 storm count, you have already won via Longshot triggers. If you only get 8 pings from Grapeshot, it’s not enough of an impact to affect the game. We’re an over-the-top-aggro deck, we don’t need to remove creatures from the board.
- Burst Damage: Lightning Bolt, Fireblast. We don’t need help dealing damage; the Commander does that.
- Library of Leng: Only works on discard effects, not discard costs. Most of the discarding we do in the deck is to pay additional costs. Too inconsistent.
How to Play Against this Deck
There is no one card in the 99 of this deck that is super good. There are two bottlenecks to target with this deck.
- The Commander: The Commander is how you win. Counter or kill him and the whole deck needs to reset, recast Longshot, and start again.
- The Rituals: If you have counterspells, identify when this deck is about to run out of mana. When they use their last floating red mana to cast a Pyretic Ritual, that is the moment to strike. Countering that burst of mana ends their shenanigans for the turn.
If you’re in a pinger-heavy meta or have a way to tutor for specific auras, you should also consider Spirit Link, Armadillo Cloak, Vampiric Link, and Soul Link if you’re in the right colors. If you attach one of these to Longshot, you gain life for all the damage he deals to the table. As such, for each trigger you’ll gain 4 life (in a 4-player pod). Monored doesn’t have many enchantment removal options, so this is often a game-defining play.
A Note on Threat Assessment: This deck is a gambling deck, so it’s important to point out that Longshot needs to get lucky. It is a non-deterministic storm deck. It’s not going to definitely win. If you’ve got a bonafide infinite combo deck at the table, they should usually take priority—they’ll win 100% of the time if their combo goes off, whereas Longshot might fizzle. However, at a midrange table, Longshot is your #1 concern and you should get him out of the game as quickly as you can manage.