Turbo decks are the poster child for power in cEDH. Consistently presenting win attempts on turn two, if not turn one, these decks are the aggressive interaction checkpoints of the format.
Did your opponents mulligan properly so as to have opening hands that can stop you? If not, great! Odds are that you'll be the one walking away from the table victorious, while everyone else shuffles up for another attempt.
For this guide, we'll be showing you the ins and outs of how to play turbo in cEDH. We'll look at top commanders, best cards, and unique win conditions popular across Turbo decks.

Like its name implies, Turbo decks are designed with speed as the foremost value, with resiliency pushed to second place.
If you're piloting a Turbo deck, you're going full throttle from the very first turn, stacking ritual after ritual to accelerate your game plan, immediately tutoring up the most potent cards in the game, and aiming to play them as soon as a window presents itself...usually as soon as you have the mana to do so.
cEDH's other two strategies - Stax and Midrange - both plan on using the first two turns to set up the resources necessary to capitalize on a longer battle. Turbo, meanwhile, attempts to end the game just as the other strategies are setting up.
The cost for this speed is long-term strength; if turbo falls flat in its early-game attempts, then it has a much harder time recovering. It isn't impossible - these decks still run plenty of their own engines - but they're far from the primary plan.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh"></div></div>
If each cEDH strategy were to have a mascot, then turbo's would most definitely be <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh" href="#" target="_blank">Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh</a>. On its own, this card does nothing. It's not an engine, it's not an outlet, it doesn't even serve a real role in combat. Despite all that, this little guy is one of cEDH's strongest commanders, and it all comes down to its synergies with other cards.
With Rograkh, every card in the <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Fierce Guardianship" href="#" target="_blank">Fierce Guardianship</a> cycle becomes live from turn one onwards. Similarly, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mox Amber" href="#" target="_blank">Mox Amber</a> is a guaranteed <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mox Ruby" href="#" target="_blank">Mox Ruby</a>. Both <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Culling the Weak" href="#" target="_blank">Culling the Weak</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diabolic Intent" href="#" target="_blank">Diabolic Intent</a> have guaranteed sac-fodder. The list goes on.
Plus, it adds red to your color identity - the color of turbo!
Rograkh isn't meant to be a commander that does anything specific. Rather, it's a commander that lets you do everything generically-commander oriented.

<div class="edhrecp__cards side-by-side"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ral, Monsoon Mage"></div></div>
Speaking of red, next up is another cheap red commander, although this one packs so much of a punch that the decks it helms are all-in on supporting it from the 99.
On the front side, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ral, Monsoon Mage" href="#" target="_blank">Ral, Monsoon Mage</a> is a legendary 1/3 Human Wizard creature for which reduces all instant and sorcery spells you cast by .
Additionally, whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell during your turn, you flip a coin. If you lose the flip, Ral deals one damage to you. If you win the flip, you may exile Ral and return him to the battlefield transformed.
Ral's strategy is all based around resolving Ral as soon as possible, casting as many cantrips and rituals in that same turn as you can, and only transforming Ral after the last cast (preferably once you've hit exactly six spells). Why? Because, on his back side, Ral becomes Ral, Leyline Prodigy, a blue-red planeswalker with two starting loyalty counters that enters with an additional loyalty counter for each instant and sorcery spell you cast this turn.
This is where the six instants/sorceries come in - Ral's final loyalty ability costs eight loyalty to use, and when it resolves will cause you to exile the top eight cards of your library. You may cast instant and sorcery spells from among them without paying their mana costs.
From here, you'll just keep churning, casting and recasting Ral, using his final ability time and time again.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vivi Ornitier"></div></div>
Wouldn't you know it, next up on our list is another blue and red commander that tends towards centralizing the strategy of its 99.
At its core, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vivi Ornitier" href="#" target="_blank">Vivi Ornitier</a> is a combo piece that, with any of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Curiosity" href="#" target="_blank">Curiosity</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ophidian Eye" href="#" target="_blank">Ophidian Eye</a>, or <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tandem Lookout" href="#" target="_blank">Tandem Lookout</a>, becomes a near-unbeatable value engine, drawing three cards off of every noncreature spell cast, dealing one damage to each opponent, and putting a +1/+1 counter on the base 0/3 Vivi.
These counters feed into Vivi's mana ability, which allow you to pay once per turn (on your turn only) to add X mana in any combination of and/or , where X is Vivi's power.
Vivi's mana cost of give the deck a bit more flexibility, allowing it to play both Midrange and Turbo, depending on the style the pilot is aiming for. But don't mistake this flexibility for a lack of explosivity. Turn-one Vivi isn't too terribly uncommon, and neither is landing a Curiosity on the following turn.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dihada, Binder of Wills"></div></div>
Here comes another planeswalker! <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dihada, Binder of Wills" href="#" target="_blank">Dihada, Binder of Wills</a> is a deck that's all based around the second loyalty ability, so let's dig into it.
For , Dihada, Binder of Wills is a legendary Dihada planeswalker with five starting loyalty. Her second ability costs three loyalty to activate, and causes you to reveal the top four cards of your library. Put any number of legendary cards from among them into your hand, the rest into your graveyard, then create a number of Treasure tokens equal to the number of cards put into the graveyard this way.
Most of the time, Dihada's second loyalty ability functions as essentially "mill four, create four Treasures."
Because of this, Dihada is a combo piece with <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Flicker" href="#" target="_blank">Flicker</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Breach" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Breach</a>, as flickering and reusing Dihada nets infinite Treasure and infinite self-mill.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lumra, Bellow of the Woods"></div></div>
Last but not least, we come to the only true-green deck in the Turbo field, and that's <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lumra, Bellow of the Woods" href="#" target="_blank">Lumra, Bellow of the Woods</a>.
For , Lumra is a legendary Elemental Bear creature with vigilance, reach, and power and toughness each equal to the number of lands you control. Additionally, when Lumra enters, mill four cards, then return all land cards from your graveyard to the battlefield to tapped.
If Lumra is paired with a land-sacrifice outlet, such as <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zuran Orb" href="#" target="_blank">Zuran Orb</a>, and a land-untapper, such as <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Amulet of Vigor" href="#" target="_blank">Amulet of Vigor</a>, then it becomes painfully easy for Lumra to churn through an entire deck. By sacrificing all of your lands in response to casting Lumra, Lumra will die due to having zero toughness (this happens before the enters-trigger resolves), sending it right back to the command zone.
Assuming you mill at least two mana worth of lands as a result of Lumra's trigger, you can immediately repeat the process, as the additional lands will cover the commander tax.
Lumra has a terribly difficult mana cost for a Turbo deck, but thanks to the likes of <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Elvish Spirit Guide" href="#" target="_blank">Elvish Spirit Guide</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mana Vault" href="#" target="_blank">Mana Vault</a> it's actually deceptively easy in the early turns.
However, unlike most other Turbo decks, Lumra does tend to start casting win attempts from turns three onwards. Despite this, Lumra's ability to force a win attempt consistently and early does make it classically Turbo.

In order for Turbo decks to consistently have the explosive turns which the strategy relies on, each deck has a core ritual package.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dark Ritual"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rite of Flame"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Culling the Weak"></div></div>
These cards are all pretty straightforward: Pay less mana than you get out, preferably with an upfront cost no greater than two mana. On average, these spells net about one mana each, but the best of the best can add an extra two or even three mana if their conditions are met.

Just like with rituals, Turbo decks similarly turn to a critical mass of tutors to increase the consistency of their opening turns.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Diabolic Intent"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Beseech the Mirror"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Praetor&#039;s Grasp"></div></div>
This of course means running the best-in-class. <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vampiric Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Vampiric Tutor</a> and <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Demonic Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Demonic Tutor</a> come to mind here, but this also means scraping the bottom of the barrel. These tutors aren't bad cards by any stretch of the imagination, but they're first on the chopping block for decks which tend to see more cards over the course of a longer game.

Turbo decks take a very proactive approach to interaction, attempting to prevent a stack war from breaking out rather than selectively engaging in it.
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Silence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Defense Grid"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grand Abolisher"></div></div>
To do so, they run a suite of best-in-class effects such as the classic <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Silence" href="#" target="_blank">Silence</a>, along with a broader suite of similar effects, such as <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mandate of Peace" href="#" target="_blank">Mandate of Peace</a>.

Beyond commander-dependent (such as Vivi-plus-Curiosity) and typical win conditions (such as <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Breach" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Breach</a> or <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Thassa&#039;s Oracle" href="#" target="_blank">Thassa&#039;s Oracle</a>), Turbo decks are principally defined by the burst draw which assembles to their win packages.
These might not constitute a game-ender in and of themselves, but they might as well.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ad Nauseam"></div></div>
A tried-and-true classic of cEDH, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ad Nauseam" href="#" target="_blank">Ad Nauseam</a> asks a simple question: Can you count to five? Just , that's all it takes. Decks built around Ad Nauseam will often pick up about 25 or so cards upon resolution, a pile that's all but guaranteed to include a Turbo deck's bevy of rituals, tutors, and silences.
By far the easiest burst-draw to resolve, the only difficulty with Ad Nauseam (besides fighting through the counter war) is the toll it takes on the average mana value of spells in your deck.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Necropotence"></div></div>
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Necropotence" href="#" target="_blank">Necropotence</a> is a bit trickier of a mass-draw effect to resolve, as it's highly dependent on the mass of flash-enablers in your deck.
<a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Borne Upon a Wind" href="#" target="_blank">Borne Upon a Wind</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Valley Floodcaller" href="#" target="_blank">Valley Floodcaller</a>, <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="High Fae Trickster" href="#" target="_blank">High Fae Trickster</a>, etc. - these cards allow the end step resolution of Necropotence activations to effectively transform into the ridiculously broken "Pay one life: Draw a card."
Without these flash enablers, Necropotence is still a busted card, but the mass-draw it affords becomes restricted by harsh timing rules.

<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Peer into the Abyss"></div></div>
Last up is an option that has become a bit less popular in recent years but is nonetheless still a potent spell to resolve: <a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Peer into the Abyss" href="#" target="_blank">Peer into the Abyss</a>.
For , this sorcery causes target player to lose half their life and draw half their deck, rounded up (for each).
While Peer into the Abyss draws more cards (on average) than Ad Nauseam, it's brought down a peg by its sorcery-speed nature, higher mana cost, and dependence on targeting a player. This all makes it more awkward to cast, but nonetheless ludicrously effective once resolved.

guide to turbo

EDHREC Guide to cEDH Turbo