Haste (This creature can attack and as soon as it comes under your control.)
Whenever Ruby attacks while you control a creature with power 4 or greater, Ruby gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
: Add or .
Drop Ruby on turn two as a hasty mana dork, ramping you a turn ahead while threatening early damage. Build a midrange board of fatties; once any creature has power 4+, Ruby swings as a 4/4 with haste and you snowball into bigger threats. You grind incremental advantage and close with oversized creatures or trample-based aggression.
Two-mana ramp in the command zone that's always available and hard to keep down
Doubles as an evasion-light beater that scales with a fatty-heavy board
Cheap commander frees up your curve for big payoffs and reanimation targets
Gruul colors give the best ramp and biggest creatures in the format
Ruby is fragile—any removal or chump block stalls both your ramp and your beats
No card advantage engine built in; the deck can run out of gas
Lacks evasion, so the +2/+2 trigger means little against bigger blockers
Vulnerable to board wipes that erase your invested mana and creatures
A massive payoff for Ruby's ramp that generates explosive value when it attacks.
Add fast mana (Mana Crypt, Birds of Paradise, Cultivate) and protection (Heroic Intervention, Lightning Greaves) so Ruby reliably accelerates and survives. Lean into high-impact payoffs—Craterhoof Behemoth, Etali, Apex Devastator—and tutors like Green Sun's Zenith to find your enablers. Trim cute synergy cards for raw efficiency and a couple of board-wipe insurance pieces to rebuild quickly.
Legendary Creature — Human Scout
as soon as it comes under your control.)