Imodane, the Pyrohammer Commander Deck Guide

Last updated on March 14, 2024

Imodane, the Pyrohammer | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Some commanders have very intricate effects that can create very complicated interactions. Imodane, the Pyrohammer is very much not one of those commanders. In fact, it’s as blunt and simple as the warhammer, and that’s by no means a bad thing.

We have been somewhat spoiled with great burn commanders recently, especially with Solphim, Mayhem Dominus. However, Imodane still manages to stand out thanks to its unique ability. There are a lot of spells you can add to an Imodane deck that wouldn’t make as much sense in other decks, allowing this deck to still have a unique identity.

This deck is great for quicker games. Not quite cEDH, turn 2 or 3 combo quick, but definitely faster than your average casual deck. It’s also a pretty great deck if you’re looking to avoid having to think too hard or to introduce someone to the game without them needing to understand a lot of complex interactions.

Let’s check out how the deck is built and the basic strategy you’ll want to employ while playing it.

The Deck

Torbran, Thane of Red Fell | Illustration by Grzegorz Rutkowski

This deck is largely built around Imodane’s ability to deal damage to all of your opponents at once. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw Imodane, the Pyrohammer was cards like Lightning Axe and Rending Flame that could deal a good amount of damage for a relatively low mana value. Typically these spells have lower mana values specifically because they can’t hit players directly, so Imodane’s ability to make them hit all players makes them a lot more valuable.

Because Imodane is so important for your strategy, I also included a few ways to protect it. This can be equipment like Mithril Coat or with a Tibalt's Trickery which opponents likely won’t see coming.

Damage doublers like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus or cards like Torbran, Thane of Red Fell that increase damage by a certain amount are always great additions to burn decks. They do even more work here because they’ll increase the damage you do with your first spell, and again increase the amount Imodane’s effect does.

The Commander

Imodane, the Pyrohammer’s best quality is that it allows you to significantly increase the amount of damage specific burn spells do and expands the number of targets hit by a single spell. This allows you to use spells like Fireball as both a source of targeted removal while also still getting to deal damage to your opponents with it.

Imodane also has a decent power and toughness, making it slightly more difficult to remove it with damage spells or fight/bite effects. That said, you’ll still want to try and keep it safe in other ways since it has no built in protection like hexproof or ward.

Burn Spells

There are a lot of burn spells to choose from in Magic. For this deck I looked for ones like Lightning Axe and Flame Slash that deal the most damage to a creature for the least mana. While these would usually have limited utility, Imodane’s ability makes them much more powerful.

Burn spells like Abrade are good to have since they can stick to your main strategy but also have the versatility to deal with other threats. Turn to Slag is nice because it doesn’t make you choose between doing damage and destroying other permanents. While it won’t always be as impactful, it still deals a solid amount of damage so it synergizes well with Imodane.

I wouldn’t normally run cards like Into the Maw of Hell and Shivan Meteor, but when they’re doing that much damage to each opponent as well as a creature, they become much more worth their casting cost.

Spells with X in the casting cost like Fireball or Red Sun's Zenith are great in this deck because they can act as finishers or just be used earlier on for removal. Having access to a lot of bombs which can also be early plays makes this deck a lot more consistent.

One of the best X spells on this list is Stonesplitter Bolt. Being able to double up its own damage through bargain makes it a lot easier to play this spell as a finisher, especially if you have other damage doublers on the field already.

Damage Doublers and Extra Damage

While a lot of the burn spells in this deck already deal a fair bit of damage, they’re even more effective when paired with cards that increase their output for no additional cost like Torbran, Thane of Redfell and Mechanized Warfare.

The most effective of these are damage doublers like Solphim, Mayhem Dominus or triplers like Fiery Emancipation. While some of these come with stipulations, they usually don’t matter too much in this deck.

For example, Dictate of the Twin Gods won’t just double the damage you’re doing, but also the damage your opponents do. However, since your entire strategy is built around doing damage to permanents and players, you’ll likely get the most out of this card. Since it has flash, you can also play it right before your turn, ensuring that you get to use it before your opponents.

Quest for Pure Flame only doubles your damage for a single turn, but this can be all you need in some circumstances. Since this card only costs 1 mana and you’ll be doing consistent damage to your opponents, it can likely double up your damage earlier than some of your other options.

Bitter Feud can be risky, but there are a lot of times you’ll know there’s another player who will be doing far less damage than you. For example, I used this card against a Persistent Petitioners mill deck because I knew they weren’t planning on doing a lot of damage to me. I was able to safely double up my damage against them while not really feeling the negative effects of the spell.

Spell Support

Because you’ll be casting a lot of instants and sorceries, it makes sense to have some cards like Ruby Medallion that make them easier to cast or Birgi, God of Storytelling which can give you benefits for casting them.

Neheb, the Eternal can help you generate some extra mana to allow you to cast more or bigger spells each turn. Braid of Fire can also help you with casting more spells, but you’ll be restricted to spending this mana on instant speed spells since your mana base empties after your upkeep step.

Young Pyromancer is a good payoff from the spells you cast, as it gives you some bodies to help block with. It also gives you additional targets for your damage spells, in case your opponents don’t have creatures but you still want to trigger Imodane’s ability. Guttersnipe deals a little extra damage to each of your opponents with each spell you cast. While it isn’t significant on its own, it adds up over time in a spell-heavy deck.

Toralf, God of Fury is a unique bit of support for your damage spells because it makes sure none of your damage is going to waste. This works really well if you use a Shivan Meteor on a weaker creature because you can then remove another creature or just deal the excess damage to a player. This card also synergizes very well with Blasphemous Act if the board is pretty full.

The Mana Base

The mana base for this deck is relatively simple, which is always a huge plus when it comes to your budget. Most of your lands are basic Mountains, with a few utility lands. In terms of red mana sources, you also have Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle, which works well with the number of mountains you have, and a few modal double-faced lands in the form of Valakut Awakening / Valakut Stoneforge and Kazuul's Fury / Kazuul's Cliffs.

When it comes to utility lands, there were a few that I thought fit well with the deck’s strategy. Arcane Lighthouse can make it easier for you to remove creatures that would usually be safe from your direct damage spells, which also makes it easier to do damage to your opponents. Boseiju, Who Shelters All is a good way to ensure your spells don’t get countered, allowing you to put all your mana into an X spell like Banefire without the risk of wasting it.

Since mono red doesn’t have the best ramp, I included a Myriad Landscape in this deck to help you find some extra lands. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx can also help with mana production, especially because there are a decent amount of red pips between your creatures and enchantments in this deck.

Iron Myr is the only outright mana dork in this deck, but it’s far from the only creature that can produce mana. Runaway Steam-Kin gives you a nice little mana boost every now and then, and Neheb, the Eternal has the chance to gain you extra mana each turn as long as you can keep it on the battlefield.

Urabrask and Birgi, God of Storytelling both give you mana as you cast spells. While this won’t help you cast bigger spells, it can help you cast multiple smaller spells on your turn.

Leyline Tyrant can allow you to store up mana each turn, which can serve as a form of ramp as long as it doesn’t get destroyed.

Apart from a Sol Ring, you only have one mana rock, Throne of Eldraine. This is a great new mana rock for mono-color decks, especially colors that need a little extra help with card draw.

The Strategy

This deck is all about consistently doing damage to your opponents using Imodane’s ability. You’ll want to get Imodane out early, so make sure you’ve got enough lands in your opening hand or some early mana rocks like your Sol Ring or Iron Myr.

Once Imodane is out, you can play a bit of offense and defense at the same time. You don’t have to worry about doing combat damage, since your burn spells are the best way to hurt your opponents. Focus on removing the creatures on the board that will be the biggest threat to you but also the table at large. Players might not mind taking a bit of damage if you’re also removing scary permanents for them, and they might not focus on you until it’s too late.

Your X spells are versatile, so you can probably spare one early on to take out an early threat. That said, they’re best used later in the game to take out all your opponents at once. Your instant speed X spells like Stonesplitter Bolt and Electrodominance can be especially powerful because you can use mana produced by Braid of Fire. If your opponents don’t have any valid targets, don’t be afraid to target one of your own creatures with a spell if it’s going to take out one or more of your opponents.

Combos and Interactions

There are no infinite combos in this deck, but there are some interactions that can help make your game more effective. For example, it’s important to remember how your damage doublers work with Imodane’s ability.

For example, if you have Imodane, the Pyrohammer and Dictate of the Twin Gods on the field, and you cast Rending Flame that will first do 10 damage, thanks to your enchantment. This means Imodane’s trigger would do 10 damage, but Dictate of the Twin Gods doubles that as well, allowing you to do 20 damage to each opponent. This is important to keep in mind while calculating how much mana you need to win the game with your X spells.

Descent into Avernus also synergizes well with your damage doublers. Even though you’ll be taking the damage as well, your opponents will be taking twice as much. This combined with the damage you’ll be doing with Imodane and it’s pretty safe to say your opponents will be in much more danger than you are from playing this spell.

Another interaction to remember is that Imodane’s ability triggers if you deal damage to one of your own creatures. This means you can hit Feldon of the Third Path with a damage spell to get some impulsive draw and still do damage to your opponents. Brash Taunter is another good target for your own spells, because you’ll deal damage with Imodane and Brash Taunter’s abilities.

Rule 0 Violations Check

I don’t see this deck creating any conflicts at the table. There are no infinite combos here and no cards that players should bristle at. That said, sometimes players say they have a problem with specific cards or combos, but what they really mean is they don’t want the game to end too quickly. It might be worth just mentioning that your deck can be pretty aggressive, so if everyone is playing a slow clunky deck and you don’t want to steamroll them, it might be worth just having that discussion.

Budget Options

The great thing about this deck is that it’s on the cheaper end. That said, there are still a few pretty expensive cards in here that you could cut to make it even more affordable.

By far the most expensive card in this deck is Dockside Extortionist. Even after a somewhat recent reprint, it’s still around $60 and will likely just creep back up the farther we get from Double Masters 2022. If you’re looking for another way to produce Treasure tokens, Goldspan Dragon and Cavern-Hoard Dragon can be alternatives. While they aren’t early game plays, they can still help you get a lot of Treasures stored up to crack and cast a massive X spell later on.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is also pretty expensive and won’t always be that useful early in the game anyway. You can easily just swap this out for another Mountain and save yourself about $25.

Other Builds

With Imodane, the Pyrohammer, no matter how you build you’ll want to keep the basic idea the same. If you’re not using targeted burn spells on creatures, you aren’t taking full advantage of its ability and might as well be using a better burn commander at that point. If you want to mix things up a bit, you can try to focus more on copy spells.

Spells like Doublecast and Reverberate work very well with Imodane because the copy will also just be a spell that targets a single creature. This means two Imodane triggers off your one spell, and the potential to remove two different threats or just do more damage to one creature you might not take out with a single spell.

Double Vision is one of the best ways to copy a spell, as you won’t have to pay an additional cost when you cast. Just make sure you’re choosing the first spell you cast each turn carefully.

Even when you do have to pay for a card like Fork, it won’t be that big a deal because many of these spells are cheap for how much damage they do. Adding a few extra mana to double cast a Rending Flame or Lightning Axe is definitely worth it when Imodane is on the field.

Commanding Conclusion

Doublecast | Illustration by Even Amundsen

There are a lot of aspects to this deck that I really enjoy. It’s both budget and beginner-friendly, but at the same time it hits hard and can still compete even though it lacks some complexity of other builds. If you’re just getting into Magic or Commander, then Imodane, the Pyrohammer is a great option for you.

Do you have another way you would build Imodane? Are there any good damage spells I missed? Let me know in the comments or on Draftsim’s Twitter/X.

Thank you for reading and see you next time!