Alright, so we’re moving on to what is widely considered the weakest of the precons in the Secrets of Strixhaven bundle. Rootha is all about casting big spells and smacking your opponents with gigantic elementals.
Rootha is probably one of the more simple commanders from this cycle. There’s really not that much to say about Rootha, and this isn’t to mock her by any measure. Rootha is just quite simple at her core. The basic message is to cast very big spells and then smack your opponent with the elemental with flying and haste that she makes at the beginning of combat. Keep in mind that she exclusively cares not about “how many” spells you cast but the highest mana cost spell that you cast.
What I very much like about the precon is the high costed mana spells that fulfill Rootha’s high cost requirements, letting you spawn that large hitting elemental. The smaller spells feel not as good, and with Rootha, you really want to be just casting the big powerful spells.
The creatures, although carrying either discounts or having some payoff for spellslinging, require you to take a turn off from doing Rootha’s core design. Frankly, some of them are rather random or weak such as the case of Harmonic Prodigy (Rootha is neither a shaman or a wizard).
Luckily, and at first, I thought Rootha cared about mana spent on a spell, but thankfully, that is not the case. She only cares about MV (mana value), the combined number of pips on the top right corner of any instant or sorcery (x spells count the amount of mana spent for x). As such, we can find many cheeky ways like the above to play expensive spells while not having to actually pay their full costs and still get that gigantic elemental to smack people over with.
I don’t recommend running creatures in general. They don’t really push forward Rootha’s game plan, but I do have some exceptions. You see, both the new Prepared mechanic and the old Adventure mechanic technically cast “instants” or “sorceries”, which does trigger Rootha’s check. In that sense, you can cheat a little bit with these cards, giving you both bodies while also keeping on theme. Of course, you still want to play higher costed instants and sorceries. Dirgur Focusmage can be a bit slow, and, unlike Adventure, Prepared requires the creature side first and then the instant or sorcery. However, Dirgur Focusmage makes up for this by discounting instants and sorceries and giving a permanent way to constantly trigger Rootha’s ability by preparing itself constantly as we cast our big spells.
Some other nice cards to consider are both Sanar, Unfinished Business and Naktamun Lorespinner above. Sanar is a way to ramp by making treasures during each of our turns. Sanar’s Wild Idea is excellent as an expensive tutor ability to grab our best instant or sorcery (this will miss on all Prepared and Adventure cards since they are creatures first and foremost). Naktamun Lorespinner will fill our graveyard while refilling our hand as well as potentially disrupting our opponents.
If it isn’t obvious, the biggest drawback for Rootha is the need for mana. Izzet/Prismari isn’t exactly the best colour combination to make mana. The best way to do so is to make treasures. Cards like the above are great ways to give us that temporary mana while keeping the mana value high for Rootha.
The other way we can play our spells for cheaper is with heavy discount mechanics like Delve or something like the Improvisation Capstone. This card lets you continually cast high costed spells without cost, but since you cast them, they still count for Rootha. Furthermore, Paradigm lets you recast this every turn, providing you with a free 7/7 body at worst. As long as you are casting a high mana instant or sorcery (not that you have to pay its actual costs), you will trigger Rootha.
I’m going to be completely open with you. Rootha’s general requirement for high mana costs in a colour that does not generally produce mana is a tough one to build around. And for that reason, you’re going to have to get quite creative. We’ll have to heavily look around for discounts and ways to cheapen our costs overall. Assist is a very fun keyword that helps mitigate parts of the costs if you can negotiate with a friend to help you out. You’ll also more than likely be running many sorceries considering Rootha only triggers during your turn.
If we play our cards right, we can definitely get around that huge mana sink normally required to cast our spells by fulfilling certain conditions.
With Rootha’s conditions, we can get quite creative. Costs are always something in Magic that we can manipulate to some extent. By looking and really diving deep into the cards, we’re bound to find some new imaginative ways to both mess with our opponents while maintaining and pushing our advantage. As a reminder, Rowdy Research does not state that it’s your creatures that have to attack. Do with that information what you will.
As a reminder, don’t play fair. Cheat on your costs. Make those big elementals and smack your opponents around while confusing your opponents as they struggle to predict your next moves.
Finally, a couple more lands to help you fill out your deck. The adventure lands are great since they are instants and sorceries that obviously double as lands. Mistrise Village and its older cousin, Boseiju, are excellent to protect your spells and make sure they resolve.
Rootha’s message is fairly simple and clear. Cast big spells, make big bodies, and hit really really hard. Best of luck!