Ral, Monsoon MageRal, Monsoon Mage | Art by Dmitry Burmak

Monsoon season? That's good, we've been in dire need of some rain anyways!

Welcome once again to Fire and Ice! This is the data-driven series where I go over cards that are becoming more or less popular for different Commander decks, and talk about why they may be gaining or losing popularity. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data, and I'm super excited to jump into today's article.

EDHREC, of course, has a ton of data. We'll draw conclusions from that data about how certain commanders' decks have changed over time, give insight into new cards, and hopefully provide some tech for your favorite commander's list.

It's that time again, so we'll be focusing on a Bracket 5 (a.k.a. cEDH) commander in this article. Today's edition is about Ral, Monsoon MageRal, Monsoon Mage, a super cool flip card from Modern Horizons 3. Ral has been gaining steam recently, and has proved himself to be a super powerful commander. Let's see what this one-time guild leader can do.

Ral, Monsoon MageRal, Monsoon Mage

What's Hot and What's Not for Ral, Monsoon Mage?

For , Ral is a 1/3 Human Wizard. He reduces the cost of our instant and sorcery spells by . Additionally, when we cast an instant or sorcery, we flip a coin. If we win the flip, we get to flip Ral into a super powerful planeswalker that enters the battlefield with two loyalty, plus one additional loyalty counter for each instant or sorcery we've cast that turn. We can then +1 Ral to reduce the cost of our spells by again, -2 him to deal two damage divided as we choose among up to two targets (and probably draw a card), and -8 Ral to get a whole bunch of free spells from the top of our deck.

Players often try to storm off before flipping Ral, stacking a whole bunch of spells up before letting any of the coin flips go off. This allows for an immediate activation of the planeswalker's ultimate ability. Pilots make good use of Ral's cost reduction, stringing together card draw spells and rituals to build up a storm count of at least six before transforming their commander. These decks can win the game quite quickly, and often present lethal to their opponents before they can blink.

Among this commander's most popular cards are Desperate RitualDesperate Ritual (79% inclusion rate), Past in FlamesPast in Flames (75% inclusion rate), and Brain FreezeBrain Freeze (66% inclusion rate).

What's Fiery for Ral Decks?

Vision of LoveVision of Love and Abandon AttachmentsAbandon Attachments - Fire Scores of 9.55 and 1.27

These cards are very similar, and they're both improvements on the classic Tormenting VoiceTormenting Voice. Both Vision of Love and Abandon Attachments are card neutral, and don't force us to discard (or sacrifice) anything as an additional cost.

Upon resolving, these spells remove themselves and a discarded card from our hand, replacing them with two cards from our library. This isn't technically "card advantage," but it is great card selection. With our commander on the field, we can cast either of these spells for just one mana. That's a great rate to see two more cards, and we can even dump some spells into our graveyard for later use.

Some players in the Ral cEDH Discord community told me that they'll often sacrifice artifacts instead of discarding cards during Vision of Love's resolution, often preferring to sacrifice tapped mana rocks (or Great FurnaceGreat Furnace). This is a fantastic move, and can actually make the spell card-positive. If we sacrifice a spent Springleaf DrumSpringleaf Drum after using it to make the we need for this spell, it's practically free to cast!

FlashbackFlashback - Fire Score of 9.15

Speaking of reusing cards in our graveyard...

Flashback is a fantastic spell, letting us pay just to use the best spell in our 'yard one more time. We can use this to interact with an opponent's spells on the stack, generate more mana, or even draw extra cards. This spell gets better and better as the game goes on, given the inevitable growth of our graveyard's size.

It's also of note that Ral reduces the cost of whatever spell we choose to grant flashback to. That lets us continue benefitting from his mana-saving ability.

Hex MagicHex Magic - Fire Score of 7.86

This is a super powerful card advantage spell, often granting us access to five or more cards for just three mana. That rate is unbeatable, even at sorcery speed. It's better than most of the one-sided wheel effects out there, like Valakut AwakeningValakut Awakening, because we maintain temporary access to the cards that we're getting rid of.

There are tons of cards in Ral lists that allow us to ditch our hand to draw a large number of cards, but this is the only one-sided wheel that allows us to cast the cards that we remove from our hand! Will of the JeskaiWill of the Jeskai also lets us use the cards we say goodbye to, but it unfortunately also allows our opponents to wheel.

Flow StateFlow State - Fire Score of 6.63

Unless this is the first spell we're casting in a game, we'll be able to place two cards into our hand with its effect. Putting an instant or sorcery spell into our bin is trivial! Other card draw spells, like ImpulseImpulse and Stock UpStock Up, let us look at more cards. But Flow State's rate of two cards for two mana is subtly more powerful than most other card advantage pieces available to Commander players.

We get shiny, new card draw spells nearly every set these days, so it's not guaranteed that Flow State is a permanent fixture for Ral pilots. But, at least for now, it's a great inclusion in competitive 99s.

Hexing SquelcherHexing Squelcher - Fire Score of 2.77

What can I add to the discourse about this card that hasn't already been said? It's a lovely way to protect our stuff, and the Goblin depicted in the art is probably a very nice guy!

Seriously, though, we'll usually win by storming off, which involves casting lots of valuable spells. We can use this guy to protect our rituals and card draw spells, letting us continue moving towards repeated activations of Ral's big .

What's Icy for Ral Decks?

RecoupRecoup - Ice Score of -1.54

A few Ral players told me that this spell is outdated, having been replaced by both FlashbackFlashback and Sorceress's SchemesSorceress's Schemes. It is nice, admittedly, that this spell both provides flashback to a spell and has flashback itself. That makes it much easier to put this spell in the graveyard with something like ConsiderConsider, as we can still extract some usefulness from it down the line.

But Flashback is an instant and costs less. It's hard to make the case for Recoup under these conditions.

Flare of DuplicationFlare of Duplication - Ice Score of -1.41

Many Ral lists run 10 or fewer creatures, and pilots aren't often willing to sacrifice their commander for this sort of effect. Flare of Duplication is better suited for cEDH decks with disposable, low-on-board-impact commanders like Rograkh, Son of RohgahhRograkh, Son of Rohgahh.

Flare of Duplication isn't a bad spell by any means, it's just not a great fit in this 99.

Runaway Steam-KinRunaway Steam-Kin - Ice Score of -1.23

The Ral players let me know that this creature isn't often targeted with opposing removal spells, as those are usually saved for Ral himself. But, even still, this creature can be a bit too slow. It only gives us mana in bursts of , forcing us to string together spells in a somewhat awkward way. Birgi, God of StorytellingBirgi, God of Storytelling, Electro, Assaulting BatteryElectro, Assaulting Battery, and even Storm-Kiln ArtistStorm-Kiln Artist can give us access to that mana right away, which is much more in line with our game plan.

What's in a Ral, Monsoon Mage Deck?

In lieu of our traditional deckbuilding process, I've taken significant inspiration from JankOfJank's "'NASA: The Parker Solar Probe' — Ral, Monsoon Mage: Turbo Storm cEDH" list from the cEDH Decklist Database. I modified their list slightly, just adding our Fiery cards and removing our Icy cards.

Conclusion

As always, these cEDH articles are made possible by some extremely helpful folks on relevant Discord servers. During this writing process, I consulted the players over at the Ral Monsoon Mage - cEDH server, using their thoughts to guide my write-up. If you're interested in bringing Izzet spellslinging shenanigans to your next cEDH game, go join the server. Thanks to the Ral players for their help, and thanks to all of you for reading this edition of Fire and Ice.