Edge of Eternities preview season is finally here, and Wizards of the Coast has wasted no time in getting stuck into the weird stuff. Alongside the expected Spacecraft support, we’ve also had some very powerful alien Insects. Top of the surreal space tree for now, however, is Ragost, Deft Gastronaut: the first Lobster Citizen in MTG history.
Ragost isn’t just a Lobster, but a Lobster chef. Lovers of the classic ‘shrimp fried rice’ joke rejoice. It’s also a very interesting new legendary creature, just begging to be built around in Commander. Players have expended gallons of digital ink discussing this culinary crustacean already, and some are even putting their own Ragost brews together. While it’s too early to call, Ragost is definitely a contender for the ‘Hot New Commander’ title in Edge of Eternities.
Ragost, Deft Gastronaut MTG
- Mana Value: RW
- Type: Legendary Creature – Lobster Citizen
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: Artifacts you control are Foods in addition to their other types and have “2, Tap, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.”
1, Tap, Sacrifice a Food: Ragost deals 3 damage to each opponent.
At the beginning of each end step, if you gained life this turn, untap Ragost.- Stats: 2/2
Ragost, Deft Gastronaut is one of the more deceptive MTG legends we’ve seen recently. Its abilities mention Food multiple times, which would naturally lead you to believe this was a Boros Food legend. On the contrary, Ragost actually works best with non-Food artifacts. Since it makes every artifact you control a Food with its passive effect, you’re actually losing out on value if you run Food generation yourself.
Ragost works much better in a deck full of other artifacts, tokens specifically. Blood, Clues, and especially Treasures work brilliantly here. You can also dip into utility artifacts like Ichor Wellspring and Experimental Synthesizer, which provide extra value when sacrificed. Ragost will, at the bare minimum, give your other artifacts lifegain utility in a pinch. That Food conversion effect is most relevant for Ragost’s second ability, mind you.
While it says ‘Sacrifice a Food,’ this may as well say ‘Sacrifice an artifact.’ The ability to convert any artifact into a Lava Spike is pretty solid. This is triply true in Commander, where that ‘each opponent’ clause really comes in clutch. Having access to repeatable burn on tap in a deck full of artifacts is strong by itself, but Ragost actually takes this even further.
As long as you can gain life in a turn, Ragost gets to untap at the end of it and serve up more pain next turn. With all of your artifacts being Food, this isn’t hard to orchestrate at all. More efficient sources of lifegain, like Lifelink on Ragost itself, make it even easier. When you’re using this ability multiple times per turn cycle, Ragost goes from a fun space-themed meme to a very serious Magic: The Gathering threat.
Food Standards Agency
Ragost, Deft Gastronaut may not look like your typical MTG Standard superstar, but I think it could have surprising legs in the format, even for a Lobster. Boros Convoke remains a low-tier meta player and one of the few Aggro decks in the format after the recent bans. It’s also very artifact-centric, which means Ragost has a chance to slide right in.
Plenty of cards in current Boros Convoke builds either generate artifacts or are artifacts themselves. Nesting Bot is a great example, as are Novice Inspector and Arabella. The deck runs enough artifacts to consistently enable Gleeful Demolition and Warden of the Inner Sky, so it’s no slouch in that department. In such a deck, Ragost is a repeatable burn spell on a stick. The body isn’t anything special, but converting a Clue, or even an Arabella, into damage later on is a big upside. The lifegain from Arabella’s attack trigger can even untap Ragost for a double burst of damage.
With rotation coming in September, the future of Boros Convoke is very much in the balance. The deck loses a ton of pieces, including its only actual Convoke card Knight-Errant of Eos. The deck may simply cease to exist after this, or it could pivot into more of a Boros Artifact Aggro brew. If it goes down this road, Ragost would make a fantastic addition. If not, it’s unlikely that the card sees Standard play. There just aren’t any other decks in the right colors, with the right artifact density, to make the card work.
Commander Of The Kitchen
While Ragost, Deft Gastronaut may not be a shoo-in for Standard, it’s almost guaranteed to have a big impact in MTG Commander. Ragost has the potential to be a pretty solid damage engine in the format. Suiting it up with Lifelink-granting Equipment like Basilisk Collar lets it enable itself, untapping after each use of the first ability. You’ll also gain nine life with each use, which is massive even in Commander. Alternatively, you can make use of the obscure Urza’s Legacy artifact Scrapheap for a similar purpose. If Ragost prompts any price spikes, this single-printing card will definitely be one of them.
You’ll also need a steady stream of artifacts to use Ragost this way. Thankfully, Commander has plenty of options in this arena. While I mentioned above that dedicated Food cards aren’t great with Ragost, Academy Manufactor and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine are the exceptions. These two together give you an unlimited supply of artifacts to throw around with Ragost, which becomes very scary once it has Lifelink. 12 damage to each player per turn cycle should finish things off in two to three turns, which is pretty speedy for casual Commander.
Even if Ragost doesn’t prove particularly powerful in the command zone, it has one crucial bonus advantage: a Lobster chef is just an innately funny concept. A lot of players will likely build Ragost because of the character’s appeal, with little regard for how competitive it is. We saw something similar happen with Flubs, the Fool back in Bloomburrow. Whether it’s for fun or for profit, I expect we’ll be seeing Ragost in a lot of Commander pods come August.
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