Ragost, Deft GastronautRagost, Deft Gastronaut | Art by Zack Stella

Hello and welcome to a deck tech featuring Ragost, Deft GastronautRagost, Deft Gastronaut from Magic's newest set, Edge of Eternities (EOE). I'm Brian, your usual host of Brew For Your Buck (BFYB). I've been on a writing hiatus for a bit - I had my first kid at the end of May, but I'm stoked to be back for EOE preview season. BFYB will be back soon too!

Being from the state of Maine in the US, I called dibs on writing about Ragost as soon as he was previewed; who better to write about a legendary Lobster?!

What Does Ragost, Deft Gastronaut Do?

Ragost is another addition in the line of noncombat focused Boros () commanders that give the color identity a little more breathing room outside of the "turn things sideways" strategies.

Ironically, turning Ragost sideways is exactly what we want to be doing, just not in the combat phase. Let's break down Ragost's abilities and then we'll look at some cards related to each that'll allow us to maximize our new favorite Lobster:

• Artifacts you control are Foods in addition to their other types and have ", , Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life."

Okay, so all of our artifacts become Food, with the standard Food ability. Clearly Food synergies will be good here. It would be pretty flavorful if this was on a Shark, as they've been known to eat all sorts of inorganic stuff, but I digress.

• , , Sacrifice a Food: Ragost deals 3 damage to each opponent.

We can tap Ragost to steam (my favorite way to prepare lobster) our opponents for three damage. With Ragost on the battlefield the cost basically reads "sacrifice an artifact." We can look for ways to improve the damage and fun artifacts to sacrifice.

• At the beginning of each end step, if you gained life this turn, untap Ragost.

If we can gain life on every player's turn, we can untap Ragost, to continue to steam our opponents, or maybe some other interesting stuff.

Existing Comparisons

Before we get into the cards, it's always smart to take a look at similar lists to get some ideas.

I dove into the EDHREC pages for Boros artifacts and Boros lifegain to get started. Osgir, the ReconstructorOsgir, the Reconstructor jumped out right away. He's got a similar ability requiring the sacrifice of an artifact, and he's popular enough that there are plenty of great ideas on his page.

Arbaaz MirArbaaz Mir is also a good place to look, with artifacts and lifegain synergies being part of his list as well.

Alright, now that we've got an idea of what types of cards we want to look for, here are some highlights that I think will make every Ragost deck work like a perfectly managed kitchen at the dinner rush.

Key Cards for Ragost, Deft Gastronaut

Artifacts Are Food

Turning all your artifacts into Food was something I expected to open up some big synergies. Sadly, there would be a lot more potential if Ragost was in Golgari () colors, but that doesn't mean there aren't a few tricks up our sleeves.

The first and most powerful one is with Nuka-Cola Vending MachineNuka-Cola Vending Machine. When we sacrifice a Food, it will make a Treasure-Food, which can be sacrificed again to repeat the process. Throw in Grinding StationGrinding Station, and we've got a game-winning infinite combo. The station will untap each time and we can proceed to mill out our opponents and watch them lose on their draw step.

The next Food synergy card, perhaps to no surprise, is Academy ManufactorAcademy Manufactor. This will go berserk, adding a Clue-Food and a Treasure-Food to each artifact token we create.

To that end, Stridehangar AutomatonStridehangar Automaton and Hangarback WalkerHangarback Walker are going into the list too, since they function fine without Manufactor and are additional artifacts to sacrifice if we need to.

A few other Food-centric creatures include Astrid PethAstrid Peth to give us some card selection and Apothecary WhiteApothecary White who brings a bunch of guests to dinner.

Otherwise, it's a little light on power level, but this ability leaves the door open for plenty of abuse for future Food-related cards. Let me know in the comments if there's some you think I missed!

Steaming Opponents

Obviously Ragost can win the game all on his own by steaming out our opponents. We can increase the clock with the typical damage amplifiers: Fiery EmancipationFiery Emancipation, Twinflame TyrantTwinflame Tyrant, and others. I'll include those two, but cards like these tend to draw a lot of negative attention from opponents and I'd rather lean into the tap/untap shenanigans a little bit more.

First, let's address the mana problem: while it's only to activate Ragost's second ability, this means leaving up three mana for opposing turns, on top of mana for whatever else we want to do at instant speed.

Enter: Treasonous OgreTreasonous Ogre. Three life is a magic number in a Food deck, and we'll have some of the lifegain cards (see below) to pad our life total even further. Crime NovelistCrime Novelist and the classic Krark-Clan IronworksKrark-Clan Ironworks are also easy ways to generate some extra mana, so we'll add them as well.

Next, we can add some cards that benefit us from throwing steaming hot bisque around the table.

Two of my favorites that I use in my volcano-themed deck are Fear of Burning AliveFear of Burning Alive and Virtue of CourageVirtue of Courage. Fear of Burning AliveFear of Burning Alive helps us keep the board clear of opposing creatures. With a single activation of Ragost, we can hit a creature on each opposing board for three damage (assuming we have Delirium turned on).

Meanwhile, Virtue is absolutely bonkers. Without any help, one activation of Ragost gives you access to nine additional cards. Even better, it's a "may" ability, so if you don't need the cards, just decline it. But how will you cast all those cards? Neheb, the EternalNeheb, the Eternal is here to help. Just make sure to get the timing right, and you'll get access to nine red mana too.

Gaining Life

Now that we've demonstrated all the fun stuff we can do with Ragost's activated ability, we'll want to include the tools to get him to untap every turn, which means we need to gain life on every turn.

Sure, there are the classic ways like Soul WardenSoul Warden and friends, including lesser known Leonin ElderLeonin Elder. I'm also going to throw in Sun DropletSun Droplet and ScrapheapScrapheap for some artifacts (a.k.a. Food) that fill a similar role to ensure we trigger that untap ability every turn.

Of course, since Ragost is doing damage, the other way to get the untap trigger is giving him lifelink. Equipment like Basilisk CollarBasilisk Collar and ShadowspearShadowspear are going right into the list, and we can even include some ways to find them like Open the ArmoryOpen the Armory and Axgard ArmoryAxgard Armory.

Another great way to give Ragost lifelink is Witch's ClinicWitch's Clinic. Having it in the mana base is such a low opportunity cost for the deck (it even enters untapped!) and it has the very funny political upside of giving an opposing commander lifelink as well.

We'll throw in some payoffs for gaining all this life to round out the package. Like I said with Treasonous OgreTreasonous Ogre above, three life is a magic number in Food decks, so The GafferThe Gaffer has potential to be quite a draw engine. Exemplar of LightExemplar of Light will also draw us cards and grow into a big flying threat.

Finally, Ratchet, Field MedicRatchet, Field Medic has some really funny synergy with artifact lands. Cast Ratchet on the back side, and sacrifice an artifact land to Ragost. Ratchet will flip and as long as you gain one life, you can get the land back and ready to repeat the process.

"Soup of the Day"

Perhaps the most fun part about Ragost is deciding what your opponents are going to eat. And by that, I mean finding the best artifacts we can throw at them.

Prized StatuePrized Statue, and bothboth schematicsschematics are great since they make multiple artifacts (Food) to fuel all our synergies. IchorIchor and Mycosynth WellspringMycosynth Wellspring are pretty straightforward additions too.

Of course Spine of Ish SahSpine of Ish Sah might be the most ridiculous thing to throw, despite the hefty mana value.

Scrap TrawlerScrap Trawler can help get more value out of all of these by recurring them, and this deck is a really cool spot for Pia's RevolutionPia's Revolution as well. Usually, giving your opponents a choice isn't the best idea, but if we're pinging them with our commander over and over again, that choice becomes more difficult to make.

There are a ton more cards to add, after all we still need to sort out the mainstays of any Commander deck, like mana acceleration, card advantage, and interaction.

I'd love to talk about them all, but sadly we do have length limits on these articles. You can check out the final list at the bottom to see where I landed, and of course drop a comment if you're curious or if you disagree with a choice I made.

Gameplay

Let's talk quickly about how I'd expect this deck to play out. With a two-mana commander we have the option to run out Ragost pretty fast, but I'd recommend holding him until we're ready to take advantage of his abilities.

Instead, the early game should be all about setup: finding a source of lifegain and deploying artifacts to turn into yummy "treats" for our opponents. Once ready, cast Ragost and let the lobster feast begin!

As we start steaming opponents, we'll draw more and more hate, so it's important to sandbag some protection spells to keep the chef in the kitchen. Fortunately Ragost's cheap casting cost makes the commander tax not too backbreaking.

Wrap Up and Mini-BFYB

Before we wrap up in earnest, I wanted to comment about the final list. I made sure not to include any Game Changers from these colors so it can be played down to Bracket 2 if that's your desire.

The Grinding StationGrinding Station combo I mentioned at the top is a three-card combo (including Ragost) and with only Inventors' FairInventors' Fair to find one of the pieces, I think it's acceptable at that level. If you don't agree, just swap it out. And of course, throwing in some heavy hitters like Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe, Jeska's WillJeska's Will, and Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat can be used to power this list up significantly.

Second, because my main series is focused on budget brewing, I'll give you some quick replacements for some of the cards I called out, should you want to drop the price of the list a bit:

• ShadowspearShadowspear ($34.63) --> Felidar UmbraFelidar Umbra ($2.58)
• Twinflame TyrantTwinflame Tyrant ($21.88) --> Gratuitous ViolenceGratuitous Violence ($0.47)
• Krark-Clan IronworksKrark-Clan Ironworks ($11.46) --> Krark-Clan StokerKrark-Clan Stoker ($0.12)

Overall, I love Ragost. This commander opens up some really fun design space, has excellent flavor, and has a multitude of directions to be built from mechanics to power level.

I hope you enjoy the build and after you check out the list below, be sure to drop me a comment with your thoughts. Also be on the look out for the return of Brew For Your Buck starting in August, but you can check out any of my previous articles here. Until then, have a lovely day and happy brewing!

Ragost, Deft Gastronaut Commander Deck List