$0.43 Rakdos Wizard Creates Infinite Damage and Card Draw Combos

In Commander there’s no shortage of big bombs to cast that can pull you super far ahead. If you’re going to fill your deck with haymakers, though, it’s essential that you have ways to accelerate towards them. Fortunately, Rowan, Scion of War Rowan, Scion of War Menace
{T}: Spells you cast this turn that are black and/or red cost {X} less to cast, where X is the amount of life you lost this turn. Activate only as a sorcery. makes this an easy task, despite being in a color pair that’s not well-known for ramp. Throw in its infinite combo potential as a bonus, and you’ve got a powerhouse legend.

MTG Rowan, Scion of War

Nearly all of Rowan, Scion of War’s value comes from its activated ability, which is capable of providing a massive discount to your black and red spells. The key to making this happen is to incorporate plenty of cards that allow you to pay lots of life at once.

The best of these options are those that can be activated repeatedly and require no mana input, like Necropotence Necropotence Skip your draw step.
Whenever you discard a card, exile that card from your graveyard.
Pay 1 life: Exile the top card of your library face down. Put that card into your hand at the beginning of your next end step. . K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth ({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
Lifelink
For each {B} in a cost, you may pay 2 life rather than pay that mana.
Whenever you cast a black spell, put a +1/+1 counter on K'rrik. and Treasonous Ogre Treasonous Ogre Dethrone (Whenever this creature attacks the player with the most life or tied for most life, put a +1/+1 counter on it.)
Pay 3 life: Add {R}. are also extremely important inclusions, since they help you pay the colored pips on cards that Rowan’s ability doesn’t reduce.

Once you have your life payment options situated, you can then get even more mileage out of Rowan’s ability via untap effects like Thousand-Year Elixir Thousand-Year Elixir You may activate abilities of creatures you control as though those creatures had haste.
{1}, {T}: Untap target creature. or Magewright’s Stone Magewright’s Stone {1}, {T}: Untap target creature that has an activated ability with {T} in its cost. . With activation-copying effects such as Rings of Brighthearth Rings of Brighthearth Whenever you activate an ability, if it isn't a mana ability, you may pay {2}. If you do, copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy. in the mix, you can easily get massive spell discounts.

From there, all you need are high-impact, expensive haymakers to cheat out, including Hoarding Broodlord Hoarding Broodlord Convoke
Flying
When this creature enters, search your library for a card, exile it face down, then shuffle. For as long as that card remains exiled, you may play it.
Spells you cast from exile have convoke. and Valgavoth, Terror Eater Valgavoth, Terror Eater Flying, lifelink
Ward—Sacrifice three nonland permanents.
If a card you didn't control would be put into an opponent's graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead.
During your turn, you may play cards exiled with Valgavoth. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to its mana value rather than pay its mana cost. . Vilis, Broker of Blood Vilis, Broker of Blood Flying
{B}, Pay 2 life: Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
Whenever you lose life, draw that many cards. (Damage causes loss of life.) is particularly strong in this department, providing a steady stream of card draw alongside your life payment effects.

The only concern then is running out of life to pay, but luckily, life gain effects provide a solid buffer along the way. Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life. pairs nicely with your card draw elements, while Bloodthirsty Conqueror Bloodthirsty Conqueror Flying, deathtouch
Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life. (Damage causes loss of life.) and Exquisite Blood Exquisite Blood Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life. synergize with your massive beaters. You can even utilize Magus of the Mirror Magus of the Mirror {T}, Sacrifice this creature: Exchange life totals with target opponent. Activate only during your upkeep. to reset your life total and tank your opponent’s in the process.

After getting your engine chugging along, any number of X spells allow you to seal the deal, like Torment of Hailfire Torment of Hailfire Repeat the following process X times. Each opponent loses 3 life unless that player sacrifices a nonland permanent of their choice or discards a card. or Jaya’s Immolating Inferno Jaya’s Immolating Inferno (You may cast a legendary sorcery only if you control a legendary creature or planeswalker.)
Jaya's Immolating Inferno deals X damage to each of up to three targets. . Exsanguinate Exsanguinate Each opponent loses X life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. is particularly strong here since it gains tons of life, offsetting the life loss that Rowan requires.

Infinite Damage, Storm, and Card Draw Combos

Beyond enabling massive Fireballs as finishers, Rowan also sets up some gnarly infinite combos. After losing at least three life during your turn, for example, you can use Electrodominance Electrodominance Electrodominance deals X damage to any target. You may cast a spell with mana value X or less from your hand without paying its mana cost. and Reiterate Reiterate Buyback {3} (You may pay an additional {3} as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Copy target instant or sorcery spell. You may choose new targets for the copy. to deal infinite damage to your opponents.

To start, activate Rowan, then cast Electrodominance for X=3, paying RR thanks to your Commander’s discount. Holding priority with Electrodominance on the stack, you’ll want to cast Reiterate with Buyback targeting Electrodominance, once again paying just RR. Then, resolve the copy of Electrodominance, dealing three damage to an opponent, and choose to recast Reiterate with Buyback for free. This will create yet another copy of your burn spell, and you can repeat until each opponent takes lethal damage.

Interestingly, this isn’t the only infinite damage combo involving a Buyback spell. With Rowan and Storm-Kiln Artist Storm-Kiln Artist This creature gets +1/+0 for each artifact you control.
Magecraft — Whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") in play and Searing Touch Searing Touch Buyback {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Searing Touch deals 1 damage to any target. in hand, you can easily reduce the cost of Searing Touch to a single mana and cast it infinite times. Alternatively, swapping Searing Touch with Seething Anger Seething Anger Buyback {3} (You may pay an additional {3} as you cast this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.)
Target creature gets +3/+0 until end of turn. can grow your creatures infinitely large or enable a Tendrils of Agony Tendrils of Agony Target player loses 2 life and you gain 2 life.
Storm (When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.) kill.

Going a different direction, you can even draw your whole deck with Acererak the Archlich Acererak the Archlich When Acererak enters, if you haven't completed Tomb of Annihilation, return Acererak to its owner's hand and venture into the dungeon.
Whenever Acererak attacks, for each opponent, you create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token unless that player sacrifices a creature of their choice. and Relic of Legends Relic of Legends {T}: Add one mana of any color.
Tap an untapped legendary creature you control: Add one mana of any color. . Simply activate Rowan, discounting Acererak by at least two, then cast Acererak. With Acererak’s enters ability on the stack, tap it floating a black mana, then resolve the enters effect, Venturing into a Dungeon and bouncing Acererak back to your hand. By repeating this, you can go through The Lost Mines of Phandelver infinite times, draining each opponent for 1 and drawing a card each time.

Surprisingly Cheap

While Rowan does see a decent amount of Commander play, given how easy it is to abuse Rowan’s activated ability, we’d argue it should be even more prevalent. After all, it has just over 9,000 decks to its name as a Commander, and appears even less in the 99 of other decks.

Luckily, this has helped keep the legend’s price down, available for just $0.43 despite being a Mythic. This makes it a great deal and a low-risk purchase, offering an extremely powerful combo-esque Commander for those who want to try her.

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