Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

[Borg]

Would it be possible to build a legacy deck around Torbran, Thane of Red Fell ?
His cmc4 may seem like 1 mana too expensive at first glance but at cmc3 he might be just overpowered.
Keep in mind he benefits from his own ability so he is in fact a 4/4 attacker who boosts every other red damage source by 2.


I've been searching which cards would have excellent synergy with him and I must say the list looks pretty good :

Young Pyromancer
Creates a new red damage source with every instant/sorcery you play.
3/1 tokens for free are good.

Rite of Flame
Gets your Pyromancer and possibly Torbran in play on T1 !
Fuels Pyromancer.

Lightning Bolt // Chain Lightning
1 mana for 5 damage to any target.
Fuels Pyromancer.

Cabal Therapy
Disruption twice usable. No pain like Thoughtseize.
Fuels Pyromancer.
Can use Pyromancer token to flashback.

Kolaghan's Command
Phenomenal utility.
Get Torbran, Pyromancer back from the GY.
Deal not 2 but 4 damage to ANY target.
Destroy an Artifact : useful.
Discard : useful.

Grim Lavamancer
Dealing 4 damage to any target instead of 2 makes him a super board controller.

Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
A 3/3 attacker/blocker with a 4/1 monkey when attacking for just 2 mana.
The monkey can be used to flashback the Therapy.

Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh // Chandra, Roaring Flame
Great synergy here as Chandra the creature needs to activate only once to deal 3 damage, rotate and let the PW deal another 4 damage

Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
All three abilities are very useful.
Creating two 1/1 ( 3/1 ) red tokens with haste is strong effect.
Tokens can be used by Therapy after attacking.
-2 ability allows you to recast the 5 damage Bolts and Kolaghan's Command.

Dark Confidant
More cards = good

Other useful cards ( likely 1-offs ) include

Red Sun's Zenith
You have to spend at least two mana for the +2 damage to kick in
but it goes back into your deck,
can exile creatures
and can possibly finish a game with a blast, the +2 giving you just enough reach.

Chandra's Regulator
Use PW's increased damage dealing abilities twice per turn.
Dump dead cards to draw others.

Goblin Bombardment
3 damage per token, this is a potential game ender.

Harsh Mentor
A situational Hate card.
4 damage per non-mana activation of any creature artifact and land will make the opponent sweat imo.


Decklist :

CC1
4 Rite of Flame
4 Cabal Therapy
4 Lightning Bolt
2 Chain Lightning
1 Grim Lavamancer

CC2
4 Young Pyromancer
4 Dark Confidant
1 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
1 Chandra's Regulator
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Harsh Mentor

CC3
2 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
2 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh
4 Kolaghan's Command

CC4
4 Torbran, Thane of red Fell

CCx
1 Red Sun's Zenith

Land : 20
9 Mountain
2 Swamp
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Prismatic Vista
1 Volrath's stronghold

I just put the deck together today and is thus untested.
I'd love to hear your input and suggestions on it though.
Thanks in advance.

[kinda]

Don’t forget grapeshot!

[rufus]

I think you're going to be better off with Chandra Torch of Defiance or something else in the same slot.

You could do funny things like combining Torban with Mana Clash but I don't think Torban does enough to justify a 4cc cost in competitive legacy.

That said...

Rite of Flame is mostly a card for combo decks.

I'm not sure how well it fits, but the extra damage ability is good with double strikers and token producers.

It's pretty good with tap damage dealers like Thermo-Alchemist or Grim Lavamancer.

Its also pretty strong in combination of damage tax effects like Eidolon of the Great Revel.

[Weapon X]

I think he would be fine in a storm build since he limits the number of spells you need to play while also adding combat as an alternate path. That said even there he’s probably still not worth 4 slots.

[Glass House]

Torbran is indeed such a sweet card, and I would too like to see him show up in Legacy :smile:
Though I have the feeling that the initial list you posted ends up being rather mediocre while Torbran isn't in play, or when he gets removed.
I think one route is going RG with Orcish Lumberjack so you can easily drop him T2. And, as rufus pointed out, he works well with damage taxers, and overall repeated damage effects. I think you can do a sort of RG hate build with Cindervines, Klothys, God of Destiny, and the like. Dunno, it doesn't sound like the worst thing ever :tongue: will give this some thought.

[Fox]

One of the hurtles you can’t overcome is that Soul-Scar Mage + deal 3 dmg spell = dead Goyf/Gurmag. This dwarf is :r::r::r: costed for the benefit of dying to Goyf reliably. Soul-Scar also combos with permanent-based damage (Lavamancer etc...), so at all points you’re addressing the dies to Goyf problem red has, and freeing up creative space (away from triple red) to deal with other issues.

Once we mention Soul-Scar, we’re immediately talking about UR Delver and need to compare it directly to “just play Dreadhorde.” So given that Oko is a thing (gain life maindeck, don’t need to play creatures), do you want a :1::r: pseudo-PW or a 4cmc, heavily-red, loses to Goyf and Oko.

On the high end, Chandra ToD is fine by herself in a slower shell with >17-18 land, and does kinda the same thing (add 2 dmg) for the same cost while also generating value (much more of a 1-card combo).

While the dwarf sounds cool, they’ve already printed his passive as a keyword (prowess) and put value on basically the same effects (PWs). You can do the same thing cheaper, or you can do something better (more 1-card combo’y) at the same [less restrictive] cost.

As far as Lumberjack stuff goes, you’d be much happier with the :1::g::r: god that exiles cards from yard to either deal 2/gain2 or make a mana (like from that land Lumberjack put in the yard), in a color set that lets you play Veil of Summer.