Feldon of the Third Path - Loran's Smile (v1.4)

Commander / EDH Mono-Red Reanimator Tokens

KBK7101

Reanimation Targets (20)

• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Dualcaster Mage
• 1x Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
• 1x Emberwilde Captain
• 1x Cavalier of Flame
• 1x Malignus
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Combustible Gearhulk
• 1x Duplicant
• 1x Etali, Primal Storm
• 1x Ryusei, the Falling Star
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
• 1x Knollspine Dragon
• 1x Meteor Golem
• 1x Myr Battlesphere
• 1x Sandstone Oracle
• 1x Phyrexian Triniform
• 1x Triplicate Titan
• 1x Ancient Stone Idol

Ramp (11)

• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Prismatic Lens
• 1x Cursed Mirror
• 1x Hazoret's Monument
• 1x Jeska's Will
• 1x Unstable Obelisk
• 1x Worn Powerstone
• 1x Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
• 1x Alena, Kessig Trapper
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Jaya Ballard

Feldon Synergy (7)

• 1x Determined Iteration
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Magewright's Stone
• 1x Battlemage's Bracers
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Lithoform Engine

Damage (3)

• 1x Mechanized Warfare
• 1x Cavalier of Flame
• 1x Warstorm Surge

Protection (2)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

Artifact Copy (1)

• 1x Sculpting Steel

Cheat Out Creatures (1)

• 1x Sneak Attack

Card Draw (16)

• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x War Room
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Bitter Reunion
• 1x Cathartic Pyre
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Endless Atlas
• 1x Humble Defector
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Hazoret's Monument
• 1x Merchant of the Vale
• 1x Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
• 1x Daretti, Scrap Savant
• 1x Knollspine Dragon
• 1x Sandstone Oracle

Lands (35)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Castle Embereth
• 1x Darksteel Citadel
• 1x Demolition Field
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Great Furnace
• 1x Homeward Path
• 1x Kazuul's Cliffs  ^Flip
• 1x Sequestered Stash
• 22x Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1x Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1x Spinerock Knoll
• 1x Tocasia's Dig Site
• 1x War Room

Tokens (8)

• 1x Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1x Determined Iteration
• 1x Jaxis, the Troublemaker
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine
• 1x Myr Battlesphere
• 1x Phyrexian Triniform
• 1x Triplicate Titan
• 1x Ancient Stone Idol

Board Wipe (2)

• 1x Chain Reaction
• 1x Ryusei, the Falling Star

Buffs (2)

• 1x Castle Embereth
• 1x Gauntlet of Power

Cheat And Keep Tokens (1)

• 1x Sundial of the Infinite

Recovery (1)

• 1x Homeward Path

Commander (1)

Discard (14)

• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Bitter Reunion
• 1x Cathartic Pyre
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Hazoret's Monument
• 1x Merchant of the Vale
• 1x Daretti, Scrap Savant
• 1x Jaxis, the Troublemaker
• 1x Cavalier of Flame
• 1x Jaya Ballard
• 1x Knollspine Dragon

Removal (8)

• 1x Blast Zone
• 1x Vandalblast
• 1x Abrade
• 1x Fire Prophecy
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Unstable Obelisk
• 1x Terror of the Peaks
• 1x Meteor Golem

Graveyard Synergy (4)

• 1x Tocasia's Dig Site
• 1x Goblin Engineer
• 1x Daretti, Scrap Savant
• 1x Jaya Ballard

Haste (4)

• 1x Bitter Reunion
• 1x Crashing Drawbridge
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

ETB AND Death Triggers (2)

• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Hoarding Dragon

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Maybeboard

Ramp (5)

• 1x Impulsive Pilferer
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Cathodion
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Caged Sun

Card Advantage (1)

• 1x Furious Rise

Mill (1)

• 1x Altar of Dementia

NEO (1)

• 1x Scrap Welder

Tokens (1)

• 1x Ghired's Belligerence

CLB (3)

• 1x Patron of the Arts
• 1x Elturel Survivors
• 1x Balor

Damage (2)

• 1x Fling
• 1x Spawn of Thraxes

Graveyard Protection (1)

• 1x Feldon's Cane

Protection (1)

• 1x Deflecting Swat

Waiting for reprint (1)

• 1x Phyrexian Altar

BRO (2)

• 1x Farid, Enterprising Salvager
• 1x Cityscape Leveler

DMU (2)

• 1x Weatherlight Compleated
• 1x The Reaver Cleaver

All around all-star (1)

• 1x Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Lands (1)

• 1x Ancient Tomb

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Updated - 12/12/22

"I'm sorry. I went to so much trouble to bring you about, but I know that I cannot keep you."

Hello and welcome the red deck in my Legends of Dominaria cycle, {R}Feldon of the Third Path{R}! I've had this deck for a while now and have recently begun putting more of a focus on it. Feldon of the Third Path is, in my opinion, one of the greatest Magic cards ever created due to it's attention to lore and the mechanics it uses to convey that lore to the player. The main goal of this deck will be a typical reanimator deck where we discard big, scary threats and bring them back later for cheap. (This is a "typical" Feldon deck, so don't expect anything out of the ordinary)

Before we get into the deck itself, a little bit about me (feel free to skip this part if you want, I really don't mind!). I've been playing Magic since early 2019 and have been playing mostly Commander/EDH since around the release of Throne of Eldraine. My usual playgroup consists of my two brothers with the rare fourth player being my brother-in-law. When I first started playing Magic, the idea of going to a FNM/some sort of LGS event seemed crazy to me and I was content to just play at home. Once I started playing EDH, though, the urge to play and meet new people started to grow. I was about to dive into my LGS scene right around the time the covid-19 pandemic started. Because of that, I still haven't played with anyone outside of my own house, so please keep that in mind when commenting. I'm an avid deck-builder and I build decks around themes, lore and/or characters rather than broken/infinite combos. I have a LOT of decks but I've only posted a few of them on here publicly but am in the middle of restructuring my deck folders and making more of them public. Most of the decks I build are based around commanders that aren't as common or popular as, say Kenrith, the Returned King or Najeela, the Blade-Blossom. While the term "budget" has a wide meaning, my decks do have one, so please do not recommend insanely overpriced cards such as Wheel of Fortune or Mana Crypt. They're much too expensive for me to justify putting in this deck, no matter how good they'd be. With all that said, let's get into the deck!!

CUSTOM CATEGORIES FEATURE CARDS IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS. THEY ARE NOT DUPLICATES. DECK CONTAINS 100 CARDS.

(NOTE: Feldon doesn't actually "reanimate" anything since his ability only makes a copy of the creature, but for simplicity's sake, the term "reanimation" is used to describe this ability here. If this confuses anyone, let me know and I'll change it.)

LORE

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/arcana/lorans-smile-2014-10-27

The link above will take you to the story that Feldon of the Third Path is based on. It was originally printed in the 1999 anthology, The Colors of Magic and was reprinted online to coincide with the release of Commander 2014. It tells the story of Feldon and his wife Loran ten years after the end of the Brothers War (also sometimes called the Antiquities War). Due to her failing health, thanks in part being tortured by Ashnod during the Brothers War and to the post-apocalyptic changing weather patterns, Loran passes away at the beginning of the story and Feldon is struck by grief. He spends weeks on end creating automatons that resemble his wife, trying to find some sense of the happiness he had. Muttering "She will come back to me..." all the while. Sadly, he knows that these creations are not his wife and ends up destroying them before starting anew. The story is about Feldon facing all five colors of magic trying to find a method that can help him bring his wife back. In my opinion, it's one of the greatest stories in Magic and a definite must-read for fans of the game.

The lore of this story is reflected perfectly on Feldon's abilities. He works to bring something back from the dead and does so by making a construct of it, which is why the copy that Feldon makes doesn't leave the graveyard. Because he isn't actually bringing it back to life, he's merely recreating it. This is also why his copy is an artifact in addition to it's other types. He's not looking to change anything. He wants it just as it used to be. After a while (end of turn), he realizes that what he made isn't quite what he lost, so he smashes it (which is why the copy is sacrificed and not exiled) out of grief, only to try again next turn.

"She will come back to me."

Like I said at the beginning, I think that Feldon of the Third Path is one of the greatest Magic cards ever made due to it's flavor and mechanics. I hope that this brief summary helps people feel the same way!

COMMANDER

This deck features two copies of Feldon. One is a foil old border variant from Time Spiral Remastered (Feldon of the Third Path) and the other is a foil copy from Commander Anthology 2 (Feldon of the Third Path) with the alter sleeve listed at the beginning of the description. I switch between them depending on the mood I'm in.

This deck is like basically any other Feldon deck. It seeks to dump specific creatures into the graveyard and then use Feldon's activated ability to "reanimate" copies of them for cheap. Those tokens are then sacrificed during your end step. Giant threats like Drakuseth, Maw of Flames and cards with enter the battlefield and/or death triggers such as Solemn Simulacrum or Hoarding Dragon are the main focus of our creaturebase here. One of the things that makes Feldon so great is that his ability doesn't actually "reanimate" anything or remove anything from your graveyard. His ability says that you "Create a token that's a copy of a creature in your graveyard". This means that you can continue to "reanimate" the same targets over and over again as long as they're in your graveyard. (For more on this ability and why it's so great, see the LORE section down below.)

Cards that copy activated abilities are also very valuable for Feldon. We want to activate his ability as soon as possible and as many times as possible. Sadly, because this deck is very commander focused, Feldon will probably be targeted for removal quite often, so a suite of protection cards is another must-have for Feldon. (Which I know I'm light on)

Because we're looking to dump specific creatures into the graveyard, this deck doesn't run much in the way of wheel effects such as Magus of the Wheel. Random discard effects such as Burning Inquiry are also something I'm not too interested in adding in because, again, we're looking for specific cards to dump. We're not interested in having a full graveyard that's begging to be exiled by a Bojuka Bog here.

As I said at the beginning, this is a "typical" Feldon deck. Feldon is a pretty straightforward commander, so most of his decks tend to look fairly similar. That doesn't mean he isn't a fun commander, though!

PLANESWALKERS

Daretti, Scrap Savant is mainly here for his first two loyalty abilities. His +2 lets us discard and draw, both of which are always good. His -2 lets us sacrifice an artifact to bring back another one from the graveyard. This is a great ability to let us get more use out of our reanimation targets since the reanimated targets are also artifacts in addition to their other types. His -10 is great but I don't think he'll stick around long enough to get there.

Jaya Ballard is another planeswalker who is mainly here for their first two abilities. Her +1 gives us a red Dark Ritual that can only be used to cast instants/sorceries. Her other +1 lets us discard up to three to draw up to three, which is a perfect fit for Feldon. Her -8, like Daretti's ultimate, is great but I doubt she'll stick around long enough to let us use it.

CREATURES

Most of the creatures in this deck fall into two different categories. Reanimation targets and support.

• Support

Anything that isn't big or meant to be reanimated constantly falls into this category. Merchant of the Vale is a discard outlet and a one time impulse draw spell on the same card. Crashing Drawbridge can give creatures haste. Goblin Engineer is a tutor that tosses an artifact in the graveyard, prime for reanimating (like Phyrexian Triniform or Triplicate Titan). Alena, Kessig Trapper can be tapped to make big chunks of mana, preferably after reanimating something huge. The new Jaxis, the Troublemaker from Streets of New Capenna is a massive win for this deck. Not only does she fill the graveyard with her {T} ability, but she also makes a copy of another creature at the same time and when that creature dies, we get to draw a card! That's three effects just for tapping her and paying one red mana. Talk about value! Streets of New Capenna was a pretty big miss for me for the most part (still not quite sure why) but this is one of the few cards that had me pretty excited to get my hands on!

• Reanimation targets

There are plenty of reanimation targets in this deck. They all serve different purposes as well. The new Atsushi, the Blazing Sky from NEO can either offer ramp or card advantage upon death and is GREAT to make multiple copies of with something like Illusionist's Bracers because the copies will die instantly due to the legendary rule. Ryusei, the Falling Star is essentially a boardwipe on a death trigger. Emberwilde Captain brings the Monarch mechanic into the game and can reclaim it from anyone as soon as he's brought back. Etali, Primal Storm and Drakuseth, Maw of Flames are big and splashy and can change the course of a game (and both look super cool!). Meteor Golem and Duplicant are both great for removal. Myr Battlesphere, Phyrexian Triniform, Wurmcoil Engine, Ancient Stone Idol and Triplicate Titan are all incredible token generators. Combustible Gearhulk either lets you draw or does damage to opponents equal to the milled cards' mana value (which, in this deck, is usually gonna be pretty high!). Sandstone Oracle refills your hand. Knollspine Dragon does something similar and could even be triggered by damage that you didn't deal yourself! Malignus has potential to be huge, especially if someone is playing a lifegain deck. Terror of the Peaks is just all around ridiculous and pairs wonderfully with the aforemnetioned Malignus. Cavalier of Flame has a great discard/draw ETB effect and a potential board wipe death trigger. Oh, and he can also pump your board with any extra mana you may have! Insane value. Dualcaster Mage was one I wasn't ever really aware of until someone mentioned it in the comments. Since Feldon's ability can be activated at instant speed, if we keep mana open with this in the graveyard, we can get up to all kinds of shenanigans. Humble Defector is a fun political piece but also a fantastic card draw engine once it hits the graveyard.

The last of the reanimation targets deserves a special mention. Solemn Simulacrum and Hoarding Dragon are both all-stars in any Feldon deck. These creatures all have ETB AND death triggers. The value we get off of these creatures being repeatedly reanimated is insane and cannot be understated.

ENCHANTMENTS

This deck only runs five enchantments, but they are well worth it.

The new Determined Iteration from the New Capenna commander decks is another card like Jaxis that actually had me excited for a set that generally offered me very little. It's a card that's simple, yet extremely effective. Populate at the beginning of combat. That's it. Yeah, the token dies at the end of the turn but who cares about that when the token it copied was a big, scary threat that Feldon reanimated and was gonna dismantle anyway? This card is literally a Feldon staple for basically any deck.

A new card from The Brothers' War, Bitter Reunion is another discard/draw effect, but also has the added bonus of being able to grant all of our creatures haste.

Another new card from BRO, Mechanized Warfare is the damage amplifier that this deck has been waiting for!

Warstorm Surge synergizes really well with any deck with big creatures. Since we do have big creatures and we'll be playing them for cheap, this works great here.

Finally, we have Sneak Attack. A fantastic card in this deck. It lets us "sneak" out a creature for cheap and then sacrifices it at the end of turn, making it ready and waiting for Feldon.

INSTANTS/SORCERIES

Chain Reaction is the deck's only board wipe not tied to a creature. Blasphemous Act might be a better choice here. Not sure, though. Jeska's Will is an insane card from Commander Legends that ramps us like crazy or provides card advantage... or both if Feldon is out! Abrade, Vandalblast, Chaos Warp and Fire Prophecy are for removal. Cathartic Reunion, Faithless Looting and Thrill of Possibility are some great discard/draw spells. They all let us discard specific cards to draw more cards, which is exactly what this deck wants. Cathartic Pyre is a hybrid discard/draw spell that can also be removal.

ARTIFACTS

A chunk of these are for ramp. The most noteworthy of these being Gauntlet of Power as it doubles your basic land mana output and also buffs creatures of the chosen color (in this case, red). Nothing to say about those ones other than "Use whichever ones you prefer". Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots are essential for keeping Feldon alive. Hazoret's Monument helps to reduce the cost of red creatures and lets us discard/draw whenever we cast one. Endless Atlas is fantastic card draw for any deck with lots of basics (so... most, if not all, mono-colored decks). Key to the City is a great discard outlet, with the additional upside of being able to make things unblockable and possibly drawing us cards, too! Skullclamp is a must have for a Feldon deck because the copies that Feldon makes die anyway. Attach the Clamp to them and draw lots of cards! Speaking of Feldon copies, if there's some specific ones you want to keep around, Sundial of the Infinite does just that! Simply tap it during your second main phase and your turn ends. No "end of turn" effects trigger and whatever copies you made get to stay!

Lithoform Engine, Thousand-Year Elixir, Rings of Brighthearth, Magewright's Stone, Illusionist's Bracers and Battlemage's Bracers are some ways to trigger Feldon multiple times in a turn, whether that be by copying his ability or untapping him and using it again. Finally, we have Sculpting Steel which can enter the battlefield as ANY of the above cards or even a reanimated creature since they're artifacts once they get reanimated.

LANDS

Mostly snow basics and some random other ones for utility. War Room and Geier Reach Sanitarium deserve some special shout-outs, though. Homeward Path is the perfect counter to any players who prone to using Insurrection or Rise of the Dark Realms effects. The new Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance from Kamigawa Neon Dynasty has the additional benefit of being able to make us some creature tokens to use as blockers in a pinch. The snow basics tie into Feldon's lore.

KEY CARDS

A brief list of some cards that are, in my opinion, Feldon staples :

• Skullclamp, for lots of card draw since your "reanimated" tokens are going to die anyway
• Sneak Attack to cheat out a big creature and then have it ready and waiting in the graveyard for Feldon
• Protection for Feldon in the form of Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots etc
• Big scary threats such as Drakuseth, Maw of Flames or Etali, Primal Storm
• Selected discard effects such as Key to the City and some form of Cathartic Reunion or Faithless Looting effects
• Cards with great ETB/death triggers (or both!) such as Duplicant, Triplicate Titan, Phyrexian Triniform, Solemn Simulacrum and Hoarding Dragon

GAMES PLAYED

vs. Tormod the Desecrator/Esior, Wardwing Familiar vs. Sengir, the Dark Baron/Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar

L

My brother ran this deck for this recent game. Sadly, he wasn't a factor as he never drew into any lands. Awkward. :(

vs. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician vs. Urza, Lord High Artificer

W

My brother piloted this one. He ran into too many lands early and started out slow. Took some early infect damage early from Yawgmoth as well. Once I (Urza) dealt with Yawgmoth, Feldon had accumulated a pretty nice selection of things in the graveyard to choose from. Etali, Primal Storm ended up being the MVP as he was able to play a Sakashima's Will off the top of my library to change his handful of creatures into a Shimmer Dragon he had stolen from me at some point to get over my blockers and win the game!

This deck has been played before this, but those results were not recorded. Any future games will be recorded here.

SUPPLIES

• All decks in my Legends of Dominaria cycle have two versions of their commander, one normal/modern version and one old-school border version. The modern border ones have alter sleeves. One of the two may be a proxy depending on the deck.

Proxies - 0

Alter Sleeves - https://www.altersleeves.com/product/a5babrfkeb6dxwe?printing_id=45949

Sleeves - Dragon Shield Matte (Crimson)

Deck Box - Ultimate Guard Boulder 100 (Ruby) + Ultra Pro 100 - Black Lotus (for tokens)

Playmat - Ultra Pro - Black Lotus

OTHER DECKS IN THE CYCLE

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(RULE 0) Serra the Benevolent - Song of All (v1.4)

Commander: Rule 0 KBK7101

SCORE: 39 | 10 COMMENTS | 1543 VIEWS | IN 15 FOLDERS

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Urza, Lord High Artificer - Critical Mass (v1.3)

Commander / EDH KBK7101

SCORE: 18 | 4 COMMENTS | 1695 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS

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Yawgmoth, Thran Physician - Gate to Phyrexia v1.2

Commander / EDH KBK7101

SCORE: 26 | 3 COMMENTS | 1304 VIEWS | IN 8 FOLDERS

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Multani, Maro-Sorcerer - Growth Spiral (v1.6)

Commander / EDH KBK7101

SCORE: 35 | 8 COMMENTS | 1629 VIEWS | IN 13 FOLDERS

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That's everything I've got. I'm looking for feedback to make this deck a bit more powerful, but want to do so WITHOUT adding any Eldrazi or "fast mana" such as Mana Vault or Mana Crypt. Any feedback on the ratio of discard effects to reanimation targets would also be helpful. I'd also love to find more creatures like Solemn Simulacrum and Hoarding Dragon, cards with ETB AND death triggers as well.

Thanks!!

Top Ranked	Achieved #65 position overall 2 years ago Achieved #52 position in Commander / EDH 2 years ago Achieved #2 position in Commander / EDH Mono-Red 2 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.82
Tokens	Construct 6/12 C, Copy Clone, Emblem Daretti, Scrap Savant, Emblem Jaya Ballard, Golem 3/3 C w/ Flying, Golem 3/3 C w/ Trample, Golem 3/3 C w/ Vigilance, Myr 1/1 C, On an Adventure, Phyrexian Golem 3/3 C, Spirit 1/1 C, Monarch Emblem, Treasure, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink
Folders	All Decks, Legends of Dominaria, Lovely Fuckery, cool decks, Commander/EDH, Cool Decks, EDH INFLUENCES, Edh Ideas, Deck Ideas, Tapped Out - User Decks