Adamaro, First to DesireAdamaro, First to Desire | Art by Paolo Parente

I need to say a few things about Adamaro, First to DesireAdamaro, First to Desire. First, he's shredded like wheat. Second, the man is way too thirsty. I mean, he is down bad. I mean, it's such a known factor that he's named for it. I'll let you decide if that's good or bad, but acknowledging it does allow me to suggest to our editors we include this meme I just made:

Adamaro, First to DesireAdamaro, First to Desire

Adamaro has only one printing, from Saviors of Kamigawa (2005). His ability reads: "Adamaro, First to DesireAdamaro, First to Desire's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in the hand of the opponent with the most cards in hand."

Much like wine, Matthew McConaughey, and Maze's EndMaze's End, Adamaro has gotten better with age. Thanks to the influx of card draw in Commander, he reliably hits the board as a 6+ power beater. This brew doubles down on his over-statted beef by being a Voltron strategy at heart, but with a twist that makes for a unique Commander deck. By encouraging opponents to draw cards, we fuel Adamaro, turning their advantage into our win condition.

Strategy One: Voltron

Adamaro can come down fast, and with haste enablers like Swiftfoot BootsSwiftfoot Boots, he can attack as soon as turn three. The Voltron plan is supported with Equipment like The Reaver CleaverThe Reaver Cleaver and EmbercleaveEmbercleave to help our thirsty friend trample over blockers. And Unquenchable FuryUnquenchable Fury, fittingly from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, is a recurrable Aura that ensures Adamaro is dishing out damage whenever he turns sideways.

And, it plays into our subtheme of punishing card draw.

Strategy Two: Punish Card Draw

Part of the joy in brewing a fun Commander deck is finding the little ways your commander supports multiple strategies. Since Adamaro already punishes opponents for having a lot of cards in hand, let's lean into that. It is, after all, the closest thing our man has to an identity (outside of floating decapitated heads and Dracula-levels of thirst).

Anyway, Razorkin NeedleheadRazorkin Needlehead and Scrawling CrawlerScrawling Crawler both punish our opponents drawing cards. Howling MineHowling Mine and Temple BellTemple Bell force our opponents to draw cards. Savvy?

Mono Red Card Advantage; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Monarchy

Adamaro and the monarchy are made for each other. If your opponent takes it from you, they're drawing more cards, fueling Adamaro and your other draw hate. Of course, Court of EmberethCourt of Embereth andits sister courtits sister court are here, but the real star is Emberwilde CaptainEmberwilde Captain. This card is doing everything our deck wants by introducing the monarchy and punishing our opponents' hand size. Simpatico! 

Also, Coveted JewelCoveted Jewel is here. 

Goad to Hell

This is where I had a big-brain moment. If Howling MineHowling Mine and Coveted JewelCoveted Jewel are drawing opponents extra cards, they're likely playing creatures to the board. And, Adamaro is already incentivizing our opponents to dump their hands, so we can anticipate the board might get clogged pretty quickly. Now, if we also want to play to the board, what is the perfect mechanic to keep us alive without having to wipe our own creatures? 

Enter: goad. Goad is the perfect mechanic to clear messy boards, damage our opponents, and strengthen our own position. Using cards like Baeloth Barrityl, EntertainerBaeloth Barrityl, Entertainer and Vengeful AncestorVengeful Ancestor, we can force our opponents to attack each other instead of us. It also ensures our opponents' creatures are tapped and unable to block the Spirit of Bodybuilders Past. This means that in many board states, goading is better than wiping the board. Trust me, I did the math on this. 

Also, I found this hidden gem: The Sound of DrumsThe Sound of Drums. From the Doctor Who set, this is the perfect card for Adamaro. It can goad an opponent's creature, or we can suit up our commander to double its damage! 

Ramping in Style in Mono-Red

Of course, we're running Sol RingSol Ring. But I'll also highlight some flavorful, on-theme ramp picks.

• Curse of OpulenceCurse of Opulence supports our primary crash-out plan and incentivizes our opponents to hit each other. 
• Laser ScrewdriverLaser Screwdriver can goad creatures, which ties in to our defense strategy. 
• The IrencragThe Irencrag is a mana rock in the early game that can turn into an Adamaro-pumping Equipment when you no longer need the ramp. 
• Liquimetal TorqueLiquimetal Torque turns all our artifact removal into permanent removal. 

Oddities and Hidden Gems

Woah there! I see you side-eyeing the deck list. I know it looks a little weird. Let me explain some of the hidden tech in this Commander deck tech. 

Breaking Symmetry

These three odd-ball enchantments come from my love of breaking symmetrical effects. The idea here is that we can encourage our opponents to keep cards in their hand by tempting them with impulse draw. And of course, we can get some card advantage from them as well. I don't know if it's the most effective way to spend these slots, but I've been looking for a home for Expedited InheritanceExpedited Inheritance since it was printed. 

Land Destruction? How Did You Get In Here?

Hey! Woah! Hey! Who put land destruction in this list? That's weird. But now that it's here, a little land hate would slow down the rate at which our opponents could play cards, meaning their hands might be more full for Adamaro. 

On that note, any artifact hate like Shattering SpreeShattering Spree or BalorBalor could be used to target mana rocks, similarly slowing down our opponents. Hmm... 

Hater Blockers

It's dangerous to Adamaro alone! Take these.

When optimizing decks for the Commander format, I like protection pieces that have utility. Untimely MalfunctionUntimely Malfunction is the perfect example of a card that can protect our commander, but also remove troublesome blockers for a turn, or destroy an artifact. Incidental artifact hate like this is a great argument for making Liquimetal TorqueLiquimetal Torque a must-run in any red deck. 

Pillow Fort, But Mono-Red

I'm not sure if you can tell, but I don't like to die. Voltron decks draw a lot of heat, and Adamaro isn't killing folks so quickly that we don't have a need to play defense. Thankfully, if anyone likes playing D, it's probably the guy named Adamaro.

Adamaro, First to DesireAdamaro, First to Desire: a Surprisingly Threatening Voltron Commander

This deck requires a little bit of politicking and strategizing to make it to the end game, but it's a lot of fun fitting all the pieces together. With a mix of Voltron pieces, draw punishment, and goad effects, Adamaro becomes a surprisingly consistent and threatening Voltron option.