Smaug, Wicked Worm | cEDH's Next Dockside?

Smaug, Wicked Worm | Art by Tyler Jacobson

Dockside Extortionist | Art by Forrest Imel

The hits just keep on coming with Magic's forthcoming set, The Hobbit, which is shaping up to have a huge impact on the cEDH meta.

So, with Elves having just received a new one-card combo thanks to Thranduil, where next can we turn for a new commander? Well, atop a hoard of Treasure, next up is Smaug, Wicked Worm — a card that does just enough of a Dockside Extortionist impression to give cEDH players some rather unpleasant flashbacks.

What Does Smaug, Wicked Worm Do?

Coming in at , Smaug, Wicked Worm is a legendary 5/5 Dragon creature with flying that, when it enters, creates a tapped Treasure token for each artifact your opponents control. It also has the triggered ability "When you cast a spell, if mana from a Treasure was spent to cast it, you draw a card and lose 1 life."

First off, that enters trigger. In an average game of cEDH, you'll likely be making around three to five Treasure tokens when Smaug enters, assuming everyone has at least one Mox, Signet, or Talisman. Unfortunately, these tokens enter tapped, making them too slow to enable any particularly potent combos, but they are exactly the kind of mass mana bank that'll launch you ahead if you can survive a turn.

Moving to the second trigger, this is where we really start to see things pop off. Red is the color of Treasure production, meaning that — with the right synergy pieces — it's not hard to imagine casting Smaug and having plenty of untapped Treasure tokens left over from previous spells and abilities. With Smaug in play, each of those Treasure tokens effectively represents up to one additional card, providing an opportunity to storm off as you flip through card after card.

Key Cards for Smaug, Wicked Worm

Treasure Producers

Our first batch of key cards is composed of just about every cEDH playable that makes a Treasure token. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is already a cEDH all star, so that's all well and good, but where things get really exciting is with creatures like Knuckles the Echidna and Grim Hireling.

These hit the board and quickly enable mass Treasure accumulation, with Grim Hireling in particular providing up to six Treasure tokens in a single combat step.

Burst Draw

So, you've made your Treasure pile, now it's time to spend it on something. From classic burst draw effects like Wheel of Fortune and Jeska's Will to the more niche Ominous Harvest (which will get copied for, among other things, the number of Treasure tokens you sacrificed this turn), cards like these are vital to ensuring that you're actually able to put all that mana to good use.

Smaug does an excellent job at flipping through cards one at a time, but it's burst effects like these that give you a range of options to pick from.

How Does Smaug, Wicked Worm Win?

Underworld Breach Combo

First up, we've got the mono-red Underworld Breach package, which uses Grinding Station and any mana-positive mana rock to generate infinite mana and churn through your deck (or mana-neutral rock, if you don't need mana and just want to find cards).

With Underworld Breach in play, the plan here is to use Grinding Station's activated ability to sacrifice an artifact (the rock) and target yourself, milling three cards. Recast the rock from your graveyard thanks to Underworld Breach, triggering Grinding Station's untap ability when the rock enters. Float whatever mana the rock can produce, sacrifice it to mill three cards, then continue the loop until you find a way to actually kill the table, which is where our next combo (or a Mayhem Devil) comes into play.

Dualcaster Mage Combo

Another red classic, this combo involves casting Molten Duplication (or Twinflame), holding priority, and copying it with Dualcaster Mage. The copied spell will then be redirected to target Dualcaster, which — upon resolution — will give you another trigger to copy a spell (which will be the still-on-stack Molten Duplication). Rinse and repeat as many times as you wish, eventually winding up with a board of infinite, hasty 2/2 creatures.

Smaug, Wicked Worm cEDH Deck List

Wrap Up

Smaug, Wicked Worm is not Dockside Extortionist.

It makes a lot of mana, certainly, but that belies the real strength of this deck: consistent card advantage, spell after spell, as you churn Treasure tokens into an unstoppable flood of card draw. It may not go infinite immediately the way Dockside did, but make no mistake — Smaug has all the makings of a unique, powerful, and all-together interesting cEDH commander.