Commander Deck Tech: Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer

Our proposal is to build a Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer deck using common cards of small price and great value, surprising our opponents with a consistent strategy based on creatures.

Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer is one of the new Cabaretti commanders introduced in New Capenna. The elf's ability replicates the Chord of Calling spell when entering the battlefield, making virtually any creature our commander.

Its great versatility allows you to choose different themes to build your deck, whether linear or diversified, adapting your opponents' plays.

In the Naya colors, we easily reach large sums of mana allowing to play the commander in the initial turns, creating a staggered advantage in a cadence similar to the gears of a vehicle and generating possibilities to create a highly adaptive toolbox. This ensures access to the appropriate responses for each situation, or access to combo pieces consistently.

Suggested List

The deck has strong interaction and adaptation, playing with several interactions. The idea here is to sculpt the battlefield as you dictate the pace of the game until you assemble one of the combos and win in an explosive turn. Let's highlight the main packages and interactions for better understanding.

Mana Dorks

Mana generators are one of our most important resources, as they are our commander's fuel.

Some of these mana generators are important pieces of combos, so they deserve special attention.

Devoted Druid, Pili-Pala, Skirk Prospector and Thermopod are capable of generating infinite mana in peculiar interactions, and the allies Stonework Packbeast and Skyshroud Elf filter this mana by correcting the colors.

The list was composed of common cards in a way that is compatible with the standard and Pauper versions of Commander, however, some cards even though common have high prices, so we closed on a reduced budget even for the PDH format, avoiding cards like Lotus Petal and Ashnod's Altar.

Combo Lines

Our win conditions are tied to infinite mana loops, with main finishers Rolling Thunder for lethal damage to all opponents and endless damage with Impact Tremors and creatures with Persist.

Infinite Mana lines

The main inspiration for this construction was the Goblins deck known as Moggwarts, parodying the university in the famous English book series. That used the interaction between the mechanics of Persist plus First Day of Class to generate infinite mana with Skirk Prospector. Our version replaces the original version's Putrid Goblin with Scuzzback Marauders for the same purpose.

Moggwarts RG Combo

- Cast or have on the battlefield: Skirk Prospector

- Cast First Day of Class;

- Sacrifice Scuzzback Marauders;

- Persist's ability will trigger, and Scuzzback Marauders will return to the game with a -1/-1 counter.

- First Day of Class will trigger, adding a +1/+1 counter.

- +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters cancel each other out.

- Repeat the process for infinite

Combo Variant

Next we have the same combo using Thermopod for mana, the main advantage is that Thermopod allows us to sacrifice other creatures including our commander, which using mana filters allows us to easily cast all creatures in the deck:

Thermopod Variant

- Cast or have on the battlefield: Thermopod and Ivy Lane Denizen

- Sacrifice Scuzzback Marauders;

- Persist's ability will trigger, and Scuzzback Marauders will return to the game with a -1/-1 counter.

- Ivy Lane Denizen's ability will trigger, adding a +1/+1 counter.

- +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters cancel each other out.

- Repeat the process for infinite

Elvenpod Variant

Birchlore Rangers

A variation of the classic Midnight Guard and Presence of Gond combo to generate infinite mana with the addition of Birchlore Rangers, which by tapping two of the created tokens allows us to generate mana of any color.

Pili-Pala Cultivation

Known in various formats for numerous turn three combos, Pili-Pala has been added to our list combined with the Kamigawa Neon Dynasty card, Careful Cultivation, which is perfect for that explosive victory. This line was added after contacting the cPDH deck of TallWizard88, which shares great similarities with our list.

- Enchant Pili-Pala with Careful Cultivation;

- Generate 2 green mana using the ability granted by Careful Cultivation;

- Pay 2, untap Pili-Pala and add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

- Repeat this process as many times as you like.

Finishers

When generating infinite mana, we have a series of possibilities of use for the generated resources.

The first option is to play the commander over and over again, selecting the best options for each scenario. Commander recursion can be performed in different ways, one of them is sacrificing and returning to command zone, and in this line we can use Thermopod, or even a removal like Lightning Bolt. Searching for Witty Roastmaster and Heliod's Pilgrim tutoring Impact Tremors once we've made the choice for ETBs or Midnight Guard-based combos. Alternatively, we can fetch Flamewave Invoker and use its activated ability over and over again.

Another line is to return the commander to the hand through the spells Alley Evasion, and You're Ambushed on the Road or with the effects of the artifact creature Aegis Automaton, which can also generate interactions such as a loop of Lightning Bolt and Ardent Elementalist reducing all opponents' life to zero.

We can also draw cards until we lfin Rolling Thunder, creating a loop with Spirited Companion or draw and discard with Merchant of the Vale.

Other Lines

The aura Sigil of the Nayan Gods can end the game through a single attack when we create infinite tokens in instant speed, using Midnight Guard or even Devoted Druid plus Presence of Gond.

In the line using the druid, Ivy Lane Denizen acts as a finisher. Attacking with the swarm of tokens is possible by finding Tuktuk Rubblefort, which grants haste to all creatures.

Interactions

We chose a set of interactions of different types and functionality, partly aiming to protect combo and our creatures, and another to remove threats from our opponents. In the first group, we use red and white counterspells such as Pyroblast and Mana Tithe.

To protect creatures, Tamiyo's Safekeeping is a formidable card. Complementary to the commander, we use You're Ambushed on the Road and Alley Evasion, as they return creatures to hand or act as combat tricks and even as finishers within loops, as we saw with Lightning Bolt.

We have a package of removals for different types of threats, whether through spells like Abrade and Nature's Claim, or through permanents, whether creatures like Flamewave Invoker and Cathar Commando, or enchantments like Reprobation and Lignify.

Mass removals shouldn't be overlooked, whether they are symmetrical like Fiery Cannonade or asymmetrical like Electrickery. We added a sweeper that affects graveyards, Tormod's Cryptkeeper, as the presence of this kind of interaction is indispensable.

Recursion

Playing with combos, especially when playing on a restrictive budget, there are ways to return to the game if the combo fails due to some interaction with opponents.

There are two main forms: redundancy and recursion. We have already seen the combo variations and its behavior. The recursion choices were based on its versatility, so Trusty Retriever was passed over to Salvage Scout.

Optimization

Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer allows you to follow any lines your deck builder wants, after all our commander is a tutor.

Utilizing different combo lines and making use of an arsenal of hatebears, stax pieces and different combinations of creatures is common given its nature.

Alternate Version

Another way to configure the deck is to opt for a construction that favors the token swarm strategy with access to infinite token combos.

The primer can be read in the article Pauper Commander - Best cards and Commanders of New Capenna.

Optimized Version

In this version, we can see Rocco's versatility in action. Knowing that we always have one of the combo pieces in the command zone, there is a great diversity of lines that can be explored in combinations of two or more cards.

Here we have lines from Vivien Pod, based on the planeswalker Vivien on the Hunt, Food Chain, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Protean Hulk, among others. We can find the detailed description of these and other combos in the Combos section.

The Streets of New Capenna's legends has brought us excellent budget commanders, and these commanders largely break the stereotypes linked to the rarity-power ratio.

Rocco, Cabaretti Caterer is a unique Naya commander and can be played in many creature-based strategies. When we started in this universe, we had a large space for budget decks, looking for options that would allow as many people as possible access to the format, and luckily, we increasingly found new and good options for commanders.

Although it is challenging to play with low-budget decks, it is not unfeasible because during the tests for this writing we played a game in which we suffered six board wipes and still won, given the resilience of our commander. Pauper EDH is still uncharted territory for many, including me, but playing with restrictions is a reality for many regions and players.

Please let me know in the comments below if you or your friends have different versions, or any curious suggestions. Keep following the Streets of New Capenna decks!

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Thanks for reading and good games!

Any questions, I'm available in the comments!