Legendary Creature — Human

Baral and Kari Zev

Mana value3EDHREC#6,828

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The Commander

First strike, menace

Whenever you cast your first instant or sorcery spell each turn, you may cast a spell with lesser mana value that shares a card type with it from your hand without paying its mana cost. If you don't, create First Mate Ragavan, a legendary 2/1 red Monkey Pirate creature token. It gains haste until end of turn.

Guide

Gameplan

Cast a spell each turn to trigger Baral and Kari Zev, chaining a free lesser-value instant or sorcery to generate massive value, or banking Ragavan tokens when you can't. Build a low-curve spellslinger shell that abuses the free-cast trigger to bury opponents in card advantage, then close with burn, spell-payoffs, or aggressive Monkey Pirate beats backed by an evasive first-strike commander.

Strengths

Free spell every turn generates enormous tempo and card advantage in a tight curve
Built-in fallback: a hasty 2/1 token if you have no chaser, so the trigger is never wasted
First strike + menace makes the commander a real evasive threat and decent blocker
Loves cheap instants/sorceries, which double as interaction, making the deck reactive and proactive
Stacks beautifully with spell-copy and cost-reduction effects to snowball

Weaknesses

Trigger only fires on your FIRST instant/sorcery each turn, so it's one chain per turn
Requires a chaser with strictly lesser mana value sharing the type, demanding careful curve construction
Color identity locks out tutors/recursion outside blue-red
Commander-reliant value engine is vulnerable to repeated removal and tax effects
Token plan is weak against board wipes and go-wide hate

Key Cards

Brainstorm — A cheap instant that triggers Baral and lets you free-cast a one-mana instant while smoothing draws.
Ral, Storm Conduit — Pings opponents whenever you cast or copy instants/sorceries, turning your free-cast chains into reach.
Young Pirate's Eye... — placeholder
Archmage Emeritus — Magecraft draws a card on every cast and copy, refueling your hand as you chain free spells.
Underworld Breach — Recasts spent instants/sorceries from the graveyard, fueling repeated triggers and combo potential.
Murktide Regent — A huge evasive payoff that grows from all the cheap spells you're slinging into the yard.

Upgrade Path

Tighten the curve so nearly every spell has a cheaper same-type chaser, then add cost reducers like Goblin Electromancer and Baral, Chief of Compliance to enable bigger chains. Slot in magecraft payoffs (Archmage Emeritus, Ral) and a Underworld Breach combo package for explosive turns, and lean on fast mana (Mana Crypt, Jeska's Will) and efficient interaction (Swan Song, Mystic Confluence) to protect your engine and pull ahead.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Direct damage from spell-payoffs like Ral, Storm Conduit, Guttersnipe, or Aria of Flame
▸Beatdown with a buffed Murktide Regent and evasive commander/Ragavan tokens
▸Storm-style combo finish via Underworld Breach plus cheap spell loops
▸Incremental card advantage overwhelming opponents into a grindy spell-fueled victory

Archetypes

Spellslinger — The whole deck is built around chaining cheap instants and sorceries to maximize the free-cast trigger.
Combo — Free-casting plus copy/recursion effects like Underworld Breach enable explosive storm-style turns.
Tempo Control — Cheap interaction triggers the commander while keeping opponents off balance.
Tokens (aggro) — Banking First Mate Ragavan tokens builds an evasive Monkey Pirate board to swarm.