One shot one kill

One of my favourite things about Sygg, River Cutthroat as a general is that he’s just so damn cheap to play. The average EDH general is probably 6 CMC, so I feel like I can basically play sygg twice for “free”. It’s also nice to always have a turn 2 play (that isn’t a signet) to feel like you’re running out of the gate. Sygg is a great turn 2 play because he doesn’t really draw hate from your opponents. He’s a slow card-draw engine that beats face for a whopping 1 damage (grafted wargear notwithstanding!).

However, its just one notch up the food chain to the 3-4 CMC generals where you start to see the monsters that do draw hate. Cards like Mereike and Brion come down early and can dominate the board with just a little bit of support from their decks. These cards will annoy the hell out of the table then come back to do it over and over again thanks to their cheap CMCs.

And while “steal your dudes” generals are among the lowest of the low, sometimes there’s not much practical difference between that and a four CMC general who comes down swinging a giant sword for 8+ damage while other people are still playing signets:

Rafiq may just be the best all-around general in EDH. He is effectively an 8/4 for 4 that is very hard to beat in combat and an absolute monster whem pumped up with other spells/auras/equipment. Beyond access to every cheesy tuck spell in the game, his colours provide protection to keep him alive, and mana ramp to easily return him to play when he dies. Where a cheap general like Sygg politely converts small amounts of damage into cards, Rafiq comes out and kills people in 3 hits (hell, 1 with might of oaks). You have to look to cards like Ruhan and Karona to see that kind of kill power in a general, and both of those have major drawbacks and worse colours.

And therein lies the problem with Rafiq; he’s just a little too badass for his own good. Once the table realizes they have to kill him or die, and that they’ll have to kill him over and over again, they’ll probably decide its easier to just kill the guy summoning Mr. Rafiq (e.g. you) instead. This can quickly create an unpleasant play environment where you have to focus your opponents down one at a time (vs the usual, more equitable practice of spreading the love around) to keep them from ganging up and taking you out.

Because of race-to-the-bottom scenarios like this I usually just avoid playing “deal with me or die” generals (red akroma, karrthus, omnath). However, I’m currently testing out Rafiq to see if its possible to play him in a less threatening way. In a clearly inferior use of the card I’m applying his doublestrike and exalted to things like augury adept and hydra omnivore, while playing some of the more entertaining bant cards like mistmeadow witch and cytoshape. The swing-for-8 option is still there if I need it, but it is to be used sparingly and as a last resort.

Macaroni or Cheese?
While I’m trying to use him in an interesting way, when push comes to shove Rafiq is a bastard plain and simple, completely deserving of the cheese stamp: