Magic: The Gathering - Zada, Hedron Grinder Commander Deck Guide

One of the best things about Magic: The Gathering's Commander format is that the deep card pool and singleton rule allow cards that would be considered underpowered in other formats to shine. If you need a specific effect, you won't reliably have access to the most efficient versions of that effect and will want to include a few less optimized versions.

Magic: The Gathering – Complete Red Guide

Aggression is the name of the game.

Another reason is because your Commander's abilities can cause spells to act in novel ways. An excellent example is Zada, Hedron Grinder. A simple 3/3 Goblin may seem unobtrusive, but Zada can make the most minor red spells into powerhouses. All you need to do is find the right effects.

The Commander

Zada, Hedron Grinder, is a 3/3 legendary Goblin Ally first printed as a rare in Battle for Zendikar and subsequently printed as an uncommon in Masters 25, Multiverse Legends, and Commander Masters. Costing three generic and one red mana, she's a little expensive for a standard goblin, but Zada has one unique ability.

Any spell that you cast that targets Zada and nothing else will be copied and target every other creature you control. And while you might wonder how that could be useful in red, best known for burn spells like Lightning Bolt, take a moment to think about how many inexpensive buff spells red has that aren't efficient enough to include in most decks.

Building Your Deck

To build this deck to Zada's strengths, you'll need a handful of key elements in your deck: cheap creatures, card draw, mana sources, and buffs. Some of these categories overlap, such as cantrips that provide a small buff to a single creature and draw a card to replace themselves.

Since Zada, Hedron Grinder powers up a lot of otherwise overlooked cards, you're likely to find most of what you need in your existing collection or in the pile of abandoned cards that builds up in many local game stores.

Creatures

The more creatures you have on the battlefield, the more effective Zada will be. After all, would you rather give two creatures haste and draw two cards for one red, or give ten creatures haste and draw ten cards for the same cost? More is obviously better, so the first part of your strategy should be to load up your battlefield with lots of cheap creatures.

Ornithopter is a free 0/2 artifact creature with flying. It doesn't matter that it has zero power, because you'll be buffing it a lot. Meanwhile, it has evasion and can block small fliers while you're setting up. Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh, offers similar value, but his one toughness may be problematic.

Young Pyromancer, Genesis Chamber, and Goblinslide all provide you with the opportunity to make creature tokens as a side effect of other spells. Of the three, Young Pyromancer is the best fit for this deck, because unlike Goblinslide it costs nothing to activate the effect, and Genesis Chamber won't trigger as often as you'd hope unless you build heavily into nontoken creatures.

Kessig Firebreather will ping your opponents every time you cast a noncreature spell, and that can add up quickly once your deck hits its stride. Pair it with Electrostatic Field and each cantrip will double as a shock.

Playing creatures directly works fine, but some spells will net you two or more creatures for a single card, allowing you to maintain card advantage. Krenko's Command and Dragon Fodder are two examples which will also trigger your Kessig Firebreather and Electrostatic Shield, while Goblin Instigator and Mogg War Marshal both bring a friend to the party. And don't sleep on Empty The Warrens: Zada decks have the potential for huge storm effects.

Be wary of board wipes. Consider creatures such as Grim Initiate and Harried Spearguard, which will replace themselves with tokens when destroyed, or spells like Otherworldly Outburst and Felonious Rage to give all of your creatures similar abilities.

Card Draw

Red isn't known for having good card draw options. Generally effects like Faithless Looting, which allows you to draw two cards and then discard one, are about the best you can hope for.

But every color has cantrips, low-power spells that replace themselves by having you draw one card. Zada, Hedron Grinder allows you to copy those effects for massive draw effects that cost practically nothing.

Renegade Tactics is the most basic of these cantrips. In other decks it would be used to prevent a single problematic creature from blocking, and replace itself with a new card. But nothing requires you to choose your opponent's creatures! Target Zada with it: Your creatures can't block on your own turn anyways, so the only effect it will have is to draw a card for every creature you control, at the cost of one red mana. Use Panic the same way, waiting until an opponent declares his attacks against another player before preventing your own from blocking in order to draw on the next turn.

Even better than drawing cards is drawing while buffing. Crimson Wisps will give all of your creatures haste, and Ancestral Anger will give all your creatures +1/+0, both while drawing plenty of cards. The best deal, though, is probably Fists of Flame, which will draw a card for each creature, give them trample, and then increase their power by the number of cards drawn in the turn.

Rile, Blindblast, and Flick a Coin offer further card drawn at the cost of dealing one damage to your creatures. Considering how many 1/1 tokens you'll have in play, be cautious with these, and wait until you've increased your creatures' toughness before using them.

Mana Sources

Since the commander's color identity is mono red, your mana base can be pretty simple. You can run about 30 basic Mountains, and toss in a Dwarven Mine to get a free creature token and a Mishra's Factory to turn itself into a creature to get extra draws and trreasures.

Normal mana rocks like Arcane Signet are unnecessary, but mana-producing creatures can fill the role of mana rocks while giving Zada more targets. Iron Myr is a must-have, while Palladium Myr and Plague Myr are also excellent. Ornithopter of Paradise offers more flying as well as mana, and Runaway Steam-Kin can keep cranking out mana as long as you're casting spells.

There are also a variety of rituals in red that can fit in a Zada deck, depending on how you build it. If you lean in on producing goblin tokens, Brightstone Ritual can provide a fast source of red mana. Battle Hymn can produce the same amount, or more if your focus is on general tokens and not on goblins specifically. And Mana Geyser will give you a big boost after your opponents have tapped out.

One of the best mana sources, though, is Storm-Kiln Artist. Its first effect gives it +1/+0 for each artifact you control, while its second effect produces a Treasure token for each instant or sorcery that you cast or copy. That means that each time you spend one mana to cast Renegade Tactics and draw a bunch of cards, you'll also get a bunch of treasure tokens. With Storm-Kiln Artist in play you'll never need to worry about mana.

Buffs

The strategy of the deck is to buff your creatures as much as possible and swing wide. With your creatures in place you'll still need the right spells to power them up. With Zada on the battlefield you'll find that most spells that only buff one creature are more effective than the ones you'd normally use to buff everything you control. Your goals should be to increase all of your creatures' power, give them trample, and give them haste if they need it.

Red contains a lot of general buffs. Built to Smash is just like Giant Growth, giving +3/+3 for one red mana, with the additional effect of giving your artifact creatures trample. Twinferno effectively doubles every creature's power by giving them all double strike, with the option to copy a spell instead.

Ancestor's Aid and Sudden Breakthrough only give +2/+0 each, but create even more of those treasure tokens. Witch's Mark gives all of your creatures a Wicked Role token, which gives them +1/+1 and may make your opponents hesitate about destroying your creatures, as they'll be punished with life loss for every one destroyed.

Most cards with effects like Act of Treason give the targeted creature haste, and if your opponent has a major threat, you can use those spells to borrow it.

Pick a couple that have an extra effect that will benefit you if you target Zada with it, such as Involuntary Employment, which can untap all of your creatures, give them haste, and generate a pile of treasure tokens, or Mark of Mutiny which will give all of your creatures a +1/+1 counter while untapping them. Kari Zev's Expertise is probably the best of these types of spells, because it will allow you to play almost any card in the deck for free.

Deck Tech

You can lean into the strong Goblin synergy of this deck, including creatures like Krenko, Mob Boss and Siege-Gang Commander, and Pashalik Mons. This will allow you to generate a lot of goblin tokens in a short time. Including Goblin Matron and Goblin Recruiter in the deck could even allow you to sneak Zada in as a secret commander, with another legendary goblin revealed for your opponents.

Another secret commander option and Zada backup option is Mirrorwing Dragon. This nonlegendary creature has an ability which is almost identical to Zada's, except that it also affects opponents' spells that target Mirrorwing Dragon. That means that as soon as they target it with Swords to Plowshares, every creature in play will be exiled.

Since your deck will often generate a ton of Treasure tokens, consider Crime Novelist, which will get a +1/+1 counter for each one you sacrifice while doubling the mana from them. And include one or two spells that can use up all that extra mana in a pinch. Fireball effects are great, and Volcanic Geyser is instant. Or use Lunar Frenzy to go for the kill.

Gravitic Punch, Fall of the Hammer, and Soul's Fire are frequently seen in Zada, Hedron Grinder decks. These cards are good for a killing blow when one of your creatures is big enough, but Zada will not copy them because they have more than one target.

Magic: The Gathering – The 12 Best Red Commanders For cEDH

These commanders embody this philosophy of "play card, hit face," to make quick work of their opponents.