Outrageously Pushed Reality Fracture Flier Gives Beatdown EDH Deck New Identity

While aggro decks aren’t the most popular in traditional Commander, the same cannot be said for Duel Commander. The format’s 20-life, one-versus-one nature gives assertive strategies a perfect opportunity to punish slower decks.

Still, hyperaggressive decks sometimes struggle in grindy games because of their weak individual card quality. Luckily, the newly printed Aerid Konstrari helps solve this weakness, giving Gruul beatdown some new angles of attack.

Unique Artifact Subtheme

At its core, this decklist that 5-0d a Magic Online Duel Commander League is looking to get on board as quickly as possible. Unsurprisingly, mana dorks ranging from Boreal Druid Boreal Druid {T}: Add {C}. to Molt Tender Molt Tender {T}: Mill a card. (Put the top card of your library into your graveyard.)
{T}, Exile a card from your graveyard: Add one mana of any color. play an essential role, helping you stay ahead of the curve. With the help of temporary mana bursts like Elvish Spirit Guide Elvish Spirit Guide Exile this card from your hand: Add {G}. and Tinder Wall Tinder Wall Defender (This creature can't attack.)
Sacrifice this creature: Add {R}{R}.
{R}, Sacrifice this creature: It deals 2 damage to target creature it's blocking. , it’s not impossible to jam Aerid Konstrari on turn two.

From there, you not only have an enormous flier to start attacking with, but you also ramp in the process. Given how massive this card is as a threat, your opponent will be incentivized to kill it, but that only increases your Heartwood production. Obviously, these tokens make it easier to replay Aerid Konstrari and activate its final ability, but this deck has plenty of other ways to utilize the excess mana.

Naturally, the easiest way to abuse the extra ramp is to add mana sinks like Mawloc Mawloc Ravenous (This creature enters with X +1/+1 counters on it. If X is 5 or more, draw a card when it enters.)
Terror from the Deep — When this creature enters, it fights up to one target creature an opponent controls. If that creature would die this turn, exile it instead. and big bombs like Ugin, Eye of the Storms Ugin, Eye of the Storms When you cast this spell, exile up to one target permanent that's one or more colors.
Whenever you cast a colorless spell, exile up to one target permanent that's one or more colors.
+2: You gain 3 life and draw a card.
0: Add {C}{C}{C}.
−11: Search your library for any number of colorless nonland cards, exile them, then shuffle. Until end of turn, you may cast those cards without paying their mana costs. . Otherwise, being able to hard-cast Oliphaunt Oliphaunt Trample
Whenever this creature attacks, another target creature you control gets +2/+0 and gains trample until end of turn.
Mountaincycling {1} ({1}, Discard this card: Search your library for a Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.) or Disciple of Freyalise Disciple of Freyalise When this creature enters, you may sacrifice another creature. If you do, you gain X life and draw X cards, where X is that creature's power. , which can otherwise function as lands, gives you considerable versatility. If you ever manage to stick Roxanne, Starfall Savant Roxanne, Starfall Savant Whenever Roxanne enters or attacks, create a tapped colorless artifact token named Meteorite with "When this token enters, it deals 2 damage to any target" and "{T}: Add one mana of any color."
Whenever you tap an artifact token for mana, add one mana of any type that artifact token produced. alongside these Heartwood tokens, you’ll have tons of mana to cast a flurry of spells.

Beyond just ramping, however, the excess artifact tokens go a long way towards fueling Broadside Bombardiers Broadside Bombardiers Menace, haste
Boast — Sacrifice another creature or artifact: This creature deals damage equal to 2 plus the sacrificed permanent's mana value to any target. (Activate only if this creature attacked this turn and only once each turn.) or Legion Extruder Legion Extruder When this artifact enters, it deals 2 damage to any target.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice another artifact: Create a 3/3 colorless Golem artifact creature token. . Similarly, buffing Construct tokens generated by Nettlecyst Nettlecyst Living weapon (When this Equipment enters, create a 0/0 black Phyrexian Germ creature token, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +1/+1 for each artifact and/or enchantment you control.
Equip {2} and Karn, Scion of Urza Karn, Scion of Urza +1: Reveal the top two cards of your library. An opponent chooses one of them. Put that card into your hand and exile the other with a silver counter on it.
−1: Put a card you own with a silver counter on it from exile into your hand.
−2: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with "This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control." makes these tools much more threatening. You can even use Heartwood Tokens alongside Stax pieces like Winter Orb Winter Orb As long as this artifact is untapped, players can't untap more than one land during their untap steps. to slow down your opponent while your artifact mana remains unaffected.

A Versatile Approach

While many of the decks here are interesting novelties instead of metagame contenders, Aerid Konstrari looks like it can go the distance. By blending aggro, midrange, and ramp themes, Aerid Konstrari can take on different roles depending on the matchup. Against low-to-the-ground aggro decks, using Aerid as an early roadblock that demands an answer is quite strong. With Pyrokinesis Pyrokinesis You may exile a red card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Pyrokinesis deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures. and Fiery Confluence Fiery Confluence Choose three. You may choose the same mode more than once.
• Fiery Confluence deals 1 damage to each creature.
• Fiery Confluence deals 2 damage to each opponent.
• Destroy target artifact. to stave off early pressure, you can buy time until Aerid turns the corner.

At the same time, though, Aerid provides a fast enough clock alongside Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes When Minsc & Boo enters and at the beginning of your upkeep, you may create Boo, a legendary 1/1 red Hamster creature token with trample and haste.
+1: Put three +1/+1 counters on up to one target creature with trample or haste.
−2: Sacrifice a creature. When you do, Minsc & Boo deals X damage to any target, where X is that creature's power. If the sacrificed creature was a Hamster, draw X cards.
Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes can be your commander. to outrace combo decks. All the while, Winter Orb, Winter Moon Winter Moon Players can't untap more than one nonbasic land during their untap steps. , and similar lock pieces slow down Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers Trample, haste
Whenever Raph & Mikey attack, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card. Put that card onto the battlefield tapped and attacking and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. even further.

With haymakers like The Great Henge The Great Henge This spell costs {X} less to cast, where X is the greatest power among creatures you control.
{T}: Add {G}{G}. You gain 2 life.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on it and draw a card. in the mix, you have a better chance of out-grinding midrange shells like Slimefoot and Squee Slimefoot and Squee Whenever Slimefoot and Squee enters or attacks, create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.
{1}{B}{R}{G}, Sacrifice a Saproling: Return this card and up to one other target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery. than other aggro decks. While this doesn’t make the deck foolproof, its ability to compete against any archetype is what makes Aerid so unique.

On top of that, this deck can adjust to the metagame quite well. Some Aerid players have leaned more on the aggro plan with extra three-drops like Laelia, the Blade Reforged Laelia, the Blade Reforged Haste
Whenever Laelia attacks, exile the top card of your library. You may play that card this turn.
Whenever one or more cards are put into exile from your library and/or your graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on Laelia. , for example, which improves their speed. Ultimately, it’s still early, but we wouldn’t be surprised if Aerid’s immediate success continues.

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