How do you update a suite of 76 Commander decks with ragingly saucy new cards? The same way you eat an elephant, I suppose. Phyrexia: All Will Be One has been with us for a few weeks now, and it’s time to delve into the painstaking yet rewarding process of getting all those cool new cards into decks. It’s a labor of love defined.
Even trying to reserve a few of the cards for building new decks, there are quite a few which deserve to find homes in those 81 decks (although a few of those are the preconstructed ones in their original form, so let’s call it 75). I start to wonder if in the long run I’m better off updating fewer decks and building more, intentionally making them new-set-heavy (without replicating the preconstructed ones).
For now, we’ll stick with the old model of finding which cards make sense to go into existing decks. Although in many instances the cards are upgrades as far as the deck is concerned, they’re not necessarily just one card making another obsolete. More often, it’s just the case of finding that one of the new cards makes the deck function better holistically. And sometimes, it’s just me wanting to take a shot at playing some of the new cards.
In addition to cards from the Phyrexia: All Will Be One main set, this update will include new cards from All Will Be One Commander. There are twenty new ones in the preconstructed decks, plus eight more “assigned” to All Will Be One Commander that can only be found in Set and Collector Boosters.
The Rules
For those of you who haven’t followed this process before, my commitment (restriction?) has long been that I’d only put one copy of any new card into the whole suite. I’m free to put those same cards into new builds; the restriction is only for the existing ones. Otherwise, Norn’s Decree might make it into every deck that I have with white in it. I can be glib about it, but the exercise leads me to a rounder understanding of more cards and maybe makes me do a little more thought work when it comes to finding homes for some cards—which can only be positives as far as I’m concerned.
I’ll break things down by color since there are cards from everywhere making it in. I’ll tell you what deck they’re going into, but unless I already have a strong suspicion of what’s coming out, I will likely wait to make that decision at the moment I’m physically putting the cards into the deck. Also, I’m behind the curve a little and haven’t physically updated the decks with The Brothers’ War cards yet. I first need to see what I’m taking out so that I don’t try to take it out twice.
White
Into: Lavinia Blinks
I’m not completely sold on Against All Odds’s flexibility being a reason that it’s a sorcery instead of an instant, but it’s worth giving a whirl. My favorite thing in the deck to blink is Karmic Guide with the echo trigger on the stack, but we’ll have to do that some other way.
Into: Rith’s Soldiers
One of the All Will Be One Commander choices on my list, it’ll likely replace Faith’s Reward in the deck. Because Clever Concealment phases things out instead of bringing them back from the graveyard, it can save the host of tokens that the deck makes as well.
Into: Halloween with Karador
I’m giving this card a chance, just to see what all the fuss is about.
Into: Jenara Proliferate
All in all, there will be six changes in this update for the Jenara, Asura of War deck. It started, three years ago, as a Chulane, Teller of Tales deck, but the card is kind of boring to me as a commander (not to mention hate-worthy from other players). The deck already had a proliferate theme, which I’m leaning further into now. While it won’t be a toxic/poison deck, there will be the opportunity for that to happen.
Into: Equipped Arabho
This is a deck that I started designing when my dear friend and fellow Commander Rules Committee (RC) member Scott Larabee (also a fellow cat-lover) sent me the Cats Secret Lair. It’s been sitting there, half-built, and I keep slipping appropriate cards into the box. I really need to get it done. It’s on my “Deck Stuff To Do” list, right below “Turn Karador Version 3 Into a Budget Deck (and reclaim all the good cards)?”
Into: Hofri’s Spirit Forge
If I’m creating token copies of every one of my creatures that dies, there has to be some kind of tomfoolery that I can do with Mondrak. And if those tokens are going away at some point, they can just serve to put more indestructible counters on Mondrak.
Into: Marchesa, Long May She Reign
When I picked up a copy of Norn’s Decree to put into this deck, I also picked up two more copies to put into decks that I build in the future, because I know I’m going to want to play it. It could certainly go into my Breena Will Do It to You deck as well. The long-range plan for Queen Marchesa is to become the monarch and stay there; Norn’s Decree will definitely help point players in other directions.
Into: You Did This to Yourself
The deck already has the other creatures that reflect damage back, like Boros Reckoner and Truefire Captain, so Phyrexian Vindicator is a natural fit. It’s also another thing to attach Sunforger to, which the deck wants occasionally. Where Phyrexian Vindicator will shine is obviously in the prevention of the damage to itself. In this deck in particular, that means we can swing it into combat when Lightmine Field or Powerstone Minefield are out, giving us the chance to pick off some lower-toughness targets while we’re at it. Then the clouds parted and I realized that we can choose Phyrexian Vindicator when we resolve Gideon’s Sacrifice.
The more aggressive version of the same commander that will make you do it to yourself, Skrelv seems like it’s never a wasted one-drop. Its activated ability can protect the other creature defensively as well as getting it through on the attack (which it will be doing more of here).
Into: Lavinia Blinks
Part of the blink engine with a battlefield sweeper attached makes The Eternal Wanderer a desirable card for quite a few decks. Here, it’ll be part of setting up a Yorion, Sky Nomad blink chain. The battlefield sweeping is more of an emergency contingency.
Into: Aminatou’s Demons
One of the win conditions for this deck is having four Demons and Liliana’s Contract. Since it also has Arcane Adaptation, which always names Demons, White Sun’s Twilight could trigger that win condition with Mites. It could also rather easily set up a poison counters kill.
Blue
Into: The Threat of Yasova
I initially wanted to put Blade of Shared Souls (which was bonkers in my ONE draft as SCG CON Indy) into Dreaming of Intet because it has some Clones and other cool stuff to copy. I just couldn’t find the card I wanted to take out for it. I kept looking for a deck that had creatures I definitely want to copy. Is it too greedy to want more than one Consecrated Sphinx? Harvester of Souls? Serra Avatar? I agonized over where to find a spot for it, to the point of setting it aside and sleeping on the choice. I eventually settled on the Yasova Dragonclaw deck because it also gives me the choice of borrowing a creature and then using Blade of Shared Souls to copy that.
Into: The Threat of Yasova
The Yasova deck gets another upgrade, this one a little mana-intensive, but more permanent than the commander herself performs. I suspect this will often end up as an eight-plus-mana spell, but getting a copy of Kokusho, the Evening Star is good beats; who cares if the token goes away? Maybe we also find room for Mirror Box so that’s not the case. In that scenario, I dream of stealing Eldrazi.
Into: Jenara Proliferate
It’s nice when a common makes it into the update (and it’s not the only one from this set). This is a little hand-sculpting with proliferate tacked onto it. It fits the theme of the deck and helps out the next card on the list, too. In this one instance, I’m going to break my normal rule of putting only one copy of a card into the update and put all the same cards going into Jenara into my Roalesk Proliferate deck as well, assuming they go with the color identity (so no Indoctrination Attendant, for instance).
Into: Jenara Proliferate
It’s just a little something (and another common, by the way) that does a little thing and replaces itself. It’s an instant, so it’s never going to be a waste. Love it.
Into: Muldrotha, Gravely Speaking
Quicksilver Fisher is perfect for a deck that wants cards in the graveyard, like Muldrotha. That we can craft what we’ll discard (in order to reanimate) hits all the right spots for me. I really do have to play this deck more.
Into: Jenara Proliferate
I hope you won’t hold it against me that Tekuthal is an obvious card for any blue deck that proliferates. The cost to make it indestructible is negligible—and those counters can be proliferated. In this deck, they’ll mostly come from +1/+1 counters, although you never know when folks are going to want to put bad counters on our stuff.
Black
Into: Oldest Stickfingers
This card is so spicy! Instants that bring creatures back from the graveyard are pure sauce in my cookbook. That we can also kill a creature does something that would really strain the metaphor.
Into: Glissa the Grinder
When I drafted the article a few weeks back about putting together the decks that I didn’t build last year, Drivnod was on the Maarika list. Then I realized that the card hadn’t yet been officially previewed and I didn’t know what date it was scheduled for. I replaced it with Marionette Master, which led to an epic game-ender the first time I played the deck (which is pretty involved, but I’ll write it up someday). My only concern about putting it in Glissa is that I might run out of stuff to put back into my hand (or I don’t have Reliquary Tower yet).
Into: Maarika the Most Brutal
Cut from the same cloth Minion’s Return and Unholy Indenture, Necrogen Communion is the kind of card that I easily fall for. This Maarika deck secretly a Saw in Half deck, full of creatures that we’d definitely like an extra copy of. With Necrogen Communion, we get a third copy. Here’s what’s in the deck so that it can be sawn in half. You’ll see that some of them just get absurd:
Into: Rakdos, Lord of Vampires
I’m not sad that the card is gated so that triggers only once per turn. While I know some games need to finish and I’m good with playing Blood Artist to that end, it’s also okay to have something a little less threatening. We’re still going to dish out some life loss and gain some, too.
Red
Into: Swarmlord of Hydras
The card that has me considering playing Orbs of Warding or Witchbane Orb. I’m dreaming up scenarios in which I can animate All Will Be One and give it lifelink. That silliness aside, in the deck that has mostly creatures with counters on them, faces are going to get roasted. In fact, this card alone was enough to get me to move Body of Research out of Zegana and a Dice Bag and into The Swarmlord. I swapped out Glen Elendra Archmage because I realize that the Zegana deck is better at putting individual +1/+1 counters on creatures, thereby wiping out -1/-1 from the persist trigger.
Into: The Threat of Yasova
It’s funny that the deck is named after a class of cards based on the original version, Threaten, but doesn’t actually contain the card. Awaken the Sleeper does what the deck does and then offers a little extra as well. Perfect.
Into: Budget Ardenn and Ludovic
I’m still getting into the mindset that the budget deck which I built to go on Shuffle Up and Play is part of the collection now and merits upgrading (so long as we stay in the $50 range). The original build was only $32, so I have some room to spare. I’m trying to convince my friends on the RC to build them as well so that we can play on stream sometime. Anyway, it’s a deck that likes Equipment, and a second combat phase is all kinds of good when we have buffed-up creatures.
Into: Budget Ardenn and Ludovic
This one is definitely going to live life in the bargain bin (it’s no Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh, which is only $0.34, leading me to consider putting it in the deck). Still, it has trample and haste; with Equipment like Blackblade Reforged stapled to it, damage could get pretty serious.
Into: Hofri’s Spirit Forge
Roar of Resistance is there secondarily for what it does in giving haste to the tokens we create. It’s there primarily for the power boost of creatures attacking my opponents. There was some consideration of putting it into Queen Marchesa as further incentive to attack elsewhere, but in the end it didn’t seem like enough of a deterrent.
Into: Ruric Thar’s Beastly Fight Club
Because Shrapnel Slinger is already on the battlefield when its trigger goes on the stack, we can sacrifice it to its own triggered ability. It’s a Beast, which is why it found its way into this particular deck.
Into: You Did This to Yourself
The three cards in the deck that immediately came to mind were Lightmine Field, Powerstone Minefield, and Acidic Soil, which we can now cast a little earlier than we might have. There’s the card that inspired the deck, Parallectric Feedback.
Then I realized that Repercussion, Deflecting Palm, Honorable Passage, Boros Reckoner, and Truefire Captain also deal noncombat damage. The other card from this set making it into this deck, Phyrexian Vindicator, also deals noncombat damage for its trigger. Note that replacement effects, like Mirror Strike and Reflect Damage, are still combat (and commander) damage. This card is going to roast people. I may need to put Cerebral Vortex back into the deck.
Green
Into: Kros Alt Wincon
I think it’s easy to get tied up on the triggered ability, but I’m staring right at the 4/4 for three mana with trample and toxic 1.
Into: Karador Do-Over
Karador decks love a creature that can sacrifice itself and be recast for very little mana. What earns Cankerbloom the spot in this deck is that it can also proliferate, a nice addition to a deck based on +1/+1 counters.
Into: Trostani’s Angels
As with the other Twilights, I’m pretty sure we’re always playing them for X to be five or more. In this deck, we’ll easily hit at least one big Angel and a land. Love it.
Into: Swarmlord of Hydras
The deck already has twelve basic Forests, all three shocklands, and the Triome, so it was the natural fit for the new Nissa, a lovely finisher. From The Brothers’ War, I had already added Staff of Titania, which can create even more Forests. I ordered a Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth (nice etched foil for only $14.99) just to be sure we really went over the top. I’m playing Ashaya, Soul of the Wild in my Muldrotha deck, too, so that was an option.
Into: Maarika the Most Brutal
Because Paladin of Predation costs seven, I looked for a deck that plays Lurking Predators. I’ll take the chance to occasionally drop it onto the battlefield for free. It only takes two hits from this one to be lethal, and it can’t be chump blocked. We could just give it trample, too. Where’s my Kessig Wolf Run?
Into: Karador, Version 3
It doesn’t matter how much we paid to cast him (commonly just WBG), Karador’s mana value is eight. Eight. That’s a two-shot commander damage kill. I like these cards that reward high-mana-value commanders. I might want to consider putting this in the main Karador deck instead, because that one sometimes struggles to finish (after being quite durdly).
Into: Boxing League Illuna
One of my projects will be to take the basic structure of my Illuna, Apex of Wishes deck and turn it into something spicier than a Boxing League deck. For a basic restriction, maybe I can only use cards that are in the box of cards that have recently come out of deck and haven’t been returned yet to their regular boxes (and it would save me on the filing!). It’s the kind of card that’s quite fun and unusual, so the exercise should be entertaining.
Into: Angry, Angry Dinos
I’m not sure there’s much scarier than a Phyrexian Dinosaur, and the card reflects that. An uncounterable seven-mana 8/8 with trample, haste, and ward 4 is pretty frightening.
Into: Swarmlord of Hydras
What I looked for when deciding where to put Zopandrel was a deck that has Xenagos, God of Revels. I thought that twice doubling something’s power and toughness would be cool. Something that’s just entered the battlefield would be a nice target, as Xenagos also grants it haste. If Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is on the battlefield with two or more other creatures, it’ll survive most battlefield sweepers. Each pair we sacrifice puts another indestructible counter on it, depending on our tolerance for paying life with green Phyrexian mana.
Multicolored
Into: Jenara Proliferate
New Ezuri almost takes the Chulane spot, but it’s not quite generically good. We still have to proliferate in order to draw the card. Paying three extra mana when it enters the battlefield isn’t going to happen early, but that’s not when we want it to happen anyway. We need to wait until there are enough permanents with counters on them first.
Into: Kresh Into the Red Zone
The card that the RC previewed fits right into a Kresh deck, giving us a sacrifice outlet to buff up Kresh along with adding something else to the team. The perfect sacrifices here would be either Flayer of the Hatebound because it has undying or Woodfall Primus because it has persist.
Into: Ruhan Do-Over
Just a little experience counter tomfoolery going on here. Is there room for Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas in the deck? Time and battles will tell.
Artifact
Into: Oldest Stickfingers
Sometimes, cards that I want in the graveyard end up in our hands. Argentum Masticore gives us some battlefield control while we’re putting that big thing into the graveyard, only to be reanimated in short order. I think that’s what the kids today call synergy.
Into: Jenara Proliferate
Since this is the only deck in which we’re trying to actively corrupt anyone, it’s the deck into which our three-mana rock that does something else gets stuffed. I’ll note that if it comes out at the early acceleration point, nothing is getting proliferated. Its value, however, is about the extra mana at that point. Having it proliferate means that it’s not just a dead card later.
Into: Zegana and a Dice Bag
Pretty simple and pretty easy to accomplish in this deck, especially if Forgotten Ancient gets rolling (even easier with Doubling Season backup). Nice that it triggers on the end step, so we get value out of it right away.
Lands
Into: Karn Evil No. 9
In a deck that’s only artifacts, The Mycosynth Gardens will have plenty to copy once it mana production isn’t needed.
Going to the well 48 times tells me what I already suspected about Phyrexia: All Will Be One: the practical is just as strong as the theoretical. It’s one thing to evaluate the cards on a list; it’s another to trust them enough to slot them into a deck. The only downside is saying so long to some cards whose only wrong might be simply not being in the most recent set. Such is the life of a Magic card, I suppose.
Remember to swing by and visit us on the Commander RC Discord Server. There’s a dedicated channel for discussing my articles. Beyond that, we have channels dedicated to all of Magic’s relevant topics—and some well beyond it. Come join more than 9,000 friends in a well-moderated safe space discussing the game’s most popular and most social format.
Visit my Decklist Database to see my Signature Decks, the Chromatic Project, and more!
