Hello everyone, and welcome back for another Brawl article. I’m Command Zoe and I’ve been racing and drifting my way through all the various commanders in the new MTG Aetherdrift expansion since it came out. After trying a few that didn’t vibe with me, I found a little something that clicked. This week we’re exploring the wonderful world of aggro with Kolodin, Triumph Caster.
He can drive anything – even a horse.
Vehicle Aggro Strats with Kolodin
So what’s the plan with this driver of cars, this pilot of planes, this saddler of Ornery Tumblewaggs? Well, aggro decks have a pretty straightforward plan: get our guy out, then get some Vehicles and Mounts out, then crash them into our opponent’s face until they die. Our biggest strength is that our Vehicles tend to be bigger than most creatures when we play them on curve.
Let’s look at the biggest weakness of this deck: the lackluster pool of Vehicles. If we’re attempting to the maximize the utility of Kolodin, Triumph Caster‘s ability, the deck may have to end up playing a handful of Vehicles which wouldn’t be playable if they naturally were creatures. Luckily, to compensate, the matchmaking queue’s algorithm should place us against decks with less powerful cards. In this way we get to punch above our weight, since our normally weak creatures are slightly less weak. This may or may not be a rationalization for playing neat cards that drive real fast. Who’s to say?
Got clipped by a car and now I need rabies shots.
It’s an aggro deck, so the strategy isn’t going to be overly complicated. You want to play Vehicles and hit your opponent in the face because your guys are bigger and faster than theirs. But there’s a little more to it than just dump your hand and win.
One of the big strengths we have in this kind of deck is our ability to avoid the most prevalent board wipes, like Wrath of God and Sunfall. A lot of what separates successful aggro players from average ones is the ability to apply enough board pressure without over-exerting into a wipe. If I play all my cards and you play one card to destroy them all, I can’t recover. But if I don’t apply enough pressure, then we’ll reach the part of the game where my cards aren’t as strong as yours before you die, which means I lose. It’s a tightrope walk.
Kolodin absolutely must be protected or the Vehicles won’t get anywhere, so Skrelv, Defector Mite and Giver of Runes are staples. Boros Charm helps to protect not only Kolodin, but all our permanents.
And the final piece of our aggro puzzle is spot removal. It’s important to be able to cheaply interact with an opponent’s board state in every deck in Brawl; that’s just the nature of the one versus one format. So we run a small suite of cards like Swords to Plowshares, Lightning Bolt, and Molten Impact in order to keep our opponents off their game. Choose your targets wisely; this is not a control deck.
Sometimes a piece of the puzzle is a government building on a flying boat.
Specific Card Shoutouts for Kolodin
Chrome Mox should be banned, but for some reason it isn’t. It goes in every deck with colors in them. So quite a few.
Dragonfly Pilot and Hotshot Mechanic are both amazing aggro cards with Vehicle upside. The floor of being a Savannah Lions is quite high for aggro. Crewing all your stuff once in the late game is gravy.
Cloudspire Coordinator and Skrelv’s Hive both pump out a source of Pilots for you, but also make creatures that can apply pressure and build you a board state.
Goblin Crash Pilot is an amazing way to close out a game. Toss a car at their head! And sure, it can push through a ton of damage, but it’s versatile because it can also be used to kill a blocker that’s keeping your smaller creatures from getting home or remove a troublesome Planeswalker.
Nurturing Pixie can be used to replay beneficial Vehicles, then either fly in for damage or crew those Vehicles in subsequent turns once Kolodin’s effect falls off. Also, it’s just a very strong card. I’ve started putting it in many creature-based lists.
Essence Reliquary can more or less let you crew or saddle for a card’s mana cost. Like the aforementioned Pixie, it’s also a decent way to repeat any of our abilities that trigger on enter for a second helping of value.
Nahiri’s Resolve activates Kolodin’s effect on every creature it brings back for the turn.
Hangarback Assembler is a two-mana 1/1 that makes a 1/1 flyer if it’s killed, and can be a threat later on in its own right. If you can turn the speed ability on, it can really get out of hand. I’ve loved this card’s synergy with Essence Reliquary and Nurturing Pixie.
Sram, Senior Edificer can make you get out of hand quickly. Draw cards like a blue mage!
Improvised Club and Shrapnel Blast are both great ways to turn your opponent’s spot removal into damage, or just to end a game. They both can go face!
Cleanup Step
In case you missed it, here’s my tempo list for Mendicant Core, Guidelight. Give it a look! The multiverse’s loneliest parent needs your love. I’ve had some requests across various socials to do an article on a budget deck, so I want to assure everyone who asked that it’s in the works. I also want to feature a list with some of the new Alchemy cards from Aetherdrift, so keep an eye out for that as well.
Make sure to follow and subscribe to me everywhere you see Command Zoe so I can get you all my Brawl content as soon as it’s out. Until next time, see you out on the track, racers!
