The March of the Machine Commander decks have a bunch of cool new commander options, and one that jumps out at me is Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener, the face commander for the Call for Backup precon. I really love the backup mechanic and am thrilled that the Commander cards fill out our options with more cards to support the theme.
If you don’t want to buy the precon and would rather build the deck from scratch, or are looking for ideas to upgrade the precon, this article is for you!
The Backup Mechanic
Let’s take a look at the Release Notes for the backup mechanic, just to keep in mind exactly how it works:
If a backup ability causes another creature to gain abilities, the creature with backup will still have those abilities.
If a permanent enters the battlefield as a copy of a card with a backup ability or a token is created that is a copy of that card, the order of the printed abilities is maintained.
Backup confers only abilities that are actually printed below it. Any abilities that are gained by the permanent are ignored, including abilities gained due to a resolving spell or ability or copy effects.
The abilities that backup grants to the target creature are determined only once, at the time the ability triggers. They won’t change if the permanent with backup loses any abilities before the backup ability resolves.
What I love about backup is you get to use the ability of the cards “with haste,” assuming you have a creature you can target with the backup creature enters the battlefield. I love creatures in Commander, so this is seriously my jam. Let’s dive in!
Backup
Conclave Sledge-Captain leans hard into the backup theme, having the ability three times, which means you can spread them out among three different creatures, two on one and one on another one, or three on one creature. If you target one creature with all three backups, it will get +3/+3 and trample, and if it deals combat damage to a player, you will double the counters three times!
Assuming no other counters, that would three to six, six to twelve, and then twelve to 24, which is huge and makes me want to do this for a creature that has double strike, like God-Eternal Oketra, Samut, Voice of Dissent, or even cooler: Bruse Tarl, Boorish Herder! Death-Greeter’s Champion is a backup creature with double strike, so that’s definitely a great candidate for it.
Guardian Scalelord is another sweet card here, letting you create your own Sun Titan effect. Then there’s Emergent Woodwurm, which has backup 3 for three +1/+1 counters on a creature, which plays perfectly into the attack trigger ability that Woodwurm grants.
I can’t wait to see what Mirror-Style Master brings to the battlefield. Notably, if you use the backup ability to give some other creature the +1/+1 counter, the card itself won’t be modified, but there will be plenty of ways to add +1/+1 counters to backup creatures that gave away their +1/+1 counters.
I’ve been able to play with Doomskar Warrior on Arena quite a bit, and the card is very impressive as a value engine, especially in a deck like this one that’s going to run a bunch of creatures.
I’ll also keep an eye out for ways to copy that backup ability. Mirror-Shield Hoplite is obviously perfect in this role, but I might also run Panharmonicon or other cards like it.
+1/+1 Counters Matter
The backup ability is tied to +1/+1 counters, and there are literally more cards that support that theme than you could put in one Commander deck, but I picked some here that stood out to me the most. In particular, I like the ones that are creatures since you want to keep a high density of creatures, like Kami of Whispered Hopes; Lae’zel, Vlaakith’s Champion; and Conclave Mentor.
Many creatures with the outlast mechanic grant extra abilities to creatures with +1/+1 counters, and certainly make great recipients of the backup ability, like Abzan Falconer and Ainok Bond-Kin. Rishkar, Peema Renegade is a great way to add +1/+1 counters to backup creatures that gave their counters away, and it grants all the creatures with +1/+1 counters the ability to tap for a green mana, which can lead to a big, explosive turn.
The backup commander from Call for Backup is Shalai and Hallar, and it can provide a steady stream of damage to your opponents, especially if you lean harder on the +1/+1 counter theme.
Modified Matters
Since backup adds +1/+1 counters to creatures, that counts as modified, and there are some sweet cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty and Neon Dynasty Commander worth considering for the deck. Kodama of the West Tree allows ramp and color-fixing, while Akki Battle Squad provides an extra combat step, which can snowball some of the backup abilities. Thundering Raiju can add +1/+1 counters and push more incidental damage to your opponents.
Add Counters
We might want to add a few creatures that can add +1/+1 counters to one or more of our creatures to juice up our modified and other effects, like Mikaeus, the Lunarch and Halana and Alena, Partners. Agrus Kos, Eternal Soldier from Jumpstart 2022 is perfect for the deck if you’ve got an extra two mana when you cast the backup creature; target Agrus Kos and pay for the triggered ability to copy the backup for all of your creatures! I cannot wait to pull this off and see the wild swing it’ll provide.
Rhythm of the Wild isn’t a creature, but is probably worth a slot since riot is a flexible ability that synergizes nicely with our gameplan. Since so much of the deck’s plan focuses on creatures, making them uncounterable will occasionally be clutch.
Blink Effects
Since the backup ability rests on a creature entering the battlefield, effects that blink the creature can be helpful. It’s actually pretty cool that your normal go-to cards for that, such as Teleportation Circle and Conjurer’s Closet, don’t really work, since you want your blink effect to happen before or during combat.
Instead, I’d look to creatures for that like Restoration Angel and Emiel the Blessed. Emiel is superb here, since you can occasionally add a +1/+1 counter to the backup creature if you have the extra mana. I’d probably add one or two instant-speed effects as combat tricks, like Ephemerate or Cloudshift.
Copy Effects
Cards that can copy our backup creatures for more backup goodness can round out the deck well. Delina, Wild Mage is super-fun if you don’t mind dice rolling (and I do love rolling a d20). Jaxis, the Troublemaker does nice work too.
Giving a backup creature myriad will do nutty things if you’ve got a few opponents, so I’d definitely slot Duke Ulder Ravengard into the deck, and might slide in Blade of Selves (equipped creature will count as modified) and maybe even Legion Loyalty.
Elturel Survivors has myriad itself, but it’s got trample and hits hard, so I think it would make an excellent target for a lot of backup creatures.
Mirrorpool is one of my all-time favorite cards – ask me to do the Mirrorpool dance if you see me at a Magic event – and being able to copy a backup creature in the middle of combat from your land sounds like living my best life.
If your backup creature has died, that’s just where Feldon of the Third Path likes it, tapping to make a copy at instant speed.
Extra Combat Phase
Akki Battle Squad got me thinking that having extra attack steps is another good way to leverage the backup ability, since the borrowed abilities go away at the end of the turn. Again, I’m leaning towards creatures that do this, like Moraug, Fury of Akoum and Aurelia, the Warleader. Aurelia even got a sweet new card treatment from the Multiverse Legends cards in March of the Machine!
Port Razer is a sweet target for evasion like Boon-Bringer Valkyrie. Bloodthirster makes a formidable recipient for backup abilities since it’s huge and has both flying and trample, and potentially gives you three attacks with it and dish out a ton of damage. I’m giddy thinking about targeting it with Doomskar Warrior!
Hexplate Wallbreaker isn’t a creature (though it plays one on TV), but since it’s Equipment, it plays nicely with our cards that care about modified creatures, so I think it might be worth a slot if the mana curve allows for it.
What are you planning on doing with Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener? Did I overlook any awesome cards that you think are slam-dunk inclusions? Do you think there might be any cool new backup cards in March of the Machine: The Aftermath?
Talk to Me
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And lastly, I just want to say: let us love each other and stay healthy and happy.
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