Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh | Art by Chris Seaman | Silas Renn, Seeker AdeptSilas Renn, Seeker Adept | Art by Joseph Meehan

Do you like to play fast and aggressive? Do you enjoy casting spells with risk? Is your favorite thing about Magic ending the game just as quickly as it began? Well then, look no further. RogSi, the partner pair of Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh and Silas Renn, Seeker AdeptSilas Renn, Seeker Adept, is the go-to turbo deck in cEDH, and this deck tech is going to teach you all about it.

Let's jump in.

What Do Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh and Silas Renn, Seeker AdeptSilas Renn, Seeker Adept Do?

Starting off with the commander that you'll actually end up casting in each of your games, Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh is a red 0/1 legendary Kobold creature with first strike, menace, trample, and partner that costs .

So, other than adding red to your color identity, what's the point of running Rograkh? Creature/commander-conditional spells.

Culling the WeakCulling the Weak, Mox AmberMox Amber, Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship - many of cEDH's best early-game plays are all conditioned on controlling a creature, in one way or another. Culling the Weak requires a sacrifice, Mox Amber only adds mana if you control a legendary creature (or planeswalker), and Fierce Guardianship is only free if you control your commander.

Rograkh may not do anything in this deck on its own, but it does guarantee you access to some of the meta's best cards ridiculously early thank to that cost.

Speaking of commanders that don't really do anything on their own, let's look at Silas Renn. For , Silas Renn, Seeker Adept is a 2/2 legendary Human artifact creature with deathtouch, partner, and "Whenever Silas Renn, Seeker Adept deals combat damage to a player, choose target artifact card in your graveyard. You may cast that card this turn."

Technically speaking, Silas Renn does a whole lot more than Rograkh does when evaluated as an individual card. However, since it costs three mana and doesn't really do anything strong enough to justify that cost (especially in a deck as fast as RogSi), the only real contribution this commander makes is to add blue and black to the overall color identity.

Certainly a critical addition when you look at the rest of the deck, but not one that requires you to ever actually cast Silas.

Key Cards for RogSi

Rograkh Synergy

I mentioned these cards earlier on, but it really can't be overstated just how central the explosivity of Rograkh as a consistent zero-mana commander is to this deck's plan.

Culling the WeakCulling the Weak and Infernal PlungeInfernal Plunge are a better Dark RitualDark Ritual and a color-shifted Dark Ritual in this deck, respectively, Diabolic IntentDiabolic Intent is a second copy of Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor, Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship and Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat are always live...the list goes on.

Rograkh's role as a guaranteed creature makes niche cards playable, good cards excellent, and excellent cards broken.

Wheels

The second unique twist that RogSi brings to an otherwise classic good stuff Grixis () pile is its high density of wheel effects (cards that make you discard or shuffle your hand away in exchange for drawing a fresh hand). The reason, while risky, is pretty simple: this deck empties its hand so quickly - between the rituals, cheap artifacts, and flurries of interaction - that it can't afford to pass up on cheap ways to restock.

Sure, you might draw your opponents into some valuable cards they want to play as soon as the game gets to their turns, but if you win before that happens then those cards are of little concern...right?

How Does RogSi Win in cEDH?

The Combos

RogSi is essentially the best of what Grixis has to offer, supported by the fastest cards in the meta. To that end, the deck plays two of the best combos: Tainted Fish and Underworld Breach.

Tainted Fish is compact and straightforward. Cast Thassa's OracleThassa's Oracle, hold priority in response to the enters trigger, and cast either Demonic ConsultationDemonic Consultation or Tainted PactTainted Pact. You'll empty your deck, and the Thassa's Oracle trigger will win you the game as a result.

Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach combo is a bit more flexible here, as some cards are modular and the closing sequence can vary from game to game (depending on if Thassa's Oracle has been exiled earlier on somehow), but at its core it works as follows:

1. Resolve Underworld Breach and Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond.
2. Sacrifice Lion's Eye Diamond, adding and discarding your hand.
3. From your graveyard, escape Brain FreezeBrain Freeze. You'll have left over. Target yourself with the Brain Freeze and its storm copies.
4. From your graveyard, escape Lion's Eye Diamond, then sacrifice it for another . Proceed to re-escape Brain Freeze, repeating until you have milled your entire deck and added an arbitrarily large amount of .
5. Escape Thassa's Oracle from your graveyard.

Alternatively, if for some reason Thassa's Oracle is not an option, you can end this combo line by targeting your opponents with Brain Freeze, milling them out so they die the next time they go to draw.

How It Gets There

Beyond just tutoring for the combo pieces, RogSi is also a dedicated Ad NauseamAd Nauseam and NecropotenceNecropotence deck, complete with all the low-cost spells, accelerants, and flash enablers required to make the most of these two game-breaking sources of burst card advantage, both of which are pretty easily cast as early as turn one thanks to the deck's explosive mana output.

Looking at these cards individually, Necropotence takes a bit more work to get going, as it goes from broken to absurdly broken once you introduce something like Borne Upon a WindBorne Upon a Wind to the mix, but the floor on this card is still a pretty solid draw-ten (or so), then draw another twenty (or so) on your next turn.

Ad Nauseam, meanwhile, is an all-or-nothing gambit whenever you cast it, but the flexibility that this spell brings purely by its nature as an instant puts it in a league of its own as far as burst draw is concerned.

RogSi cEDH Deck List

Wrap Up

If you want to play an interactive, blisteringly fast, consistently powerful cEDH deck that readily goes head-to-head with any other deck out there, then RogSi is the one for you. It has certainly earned its prominence after all these years of tournament victories.