Alesha's Recursive Beating Machine

Commander / EDH* Aggro Midrange Multiplayer RBW (Mardu) Reanimator

golgarigirl

Land (34)

• 1x Arid Mesa
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1x Elegant Parlor
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Mistveil Plains
• 2x Mountain
• 6x Plains
• 1x Plateau
• 1x Raucous Theater
• 1x Rugged Prairie
• 1x Sacred Foundry
• 1x Savai Triome
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Shadowy Backstreet
• 1x Spectator Seating
• 2x Swamp
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Vault of Champions

Ramp (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1x Talisman of Conviction
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy

Removal (19)

• 1x Abstruse Appropriation
• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Blinding Angel
• 1x Damn
• 1x Dawn's Truce
• 1x Deflecting Swat
• 1x Despark
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Jirina, Dauntless General
• 1x Leonin Relic-Warder
• 1x Lion Sash
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Plague Engineer
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Ruinous Ultimatum
• 1x Skyclave Apparition
• 1x Slaughter the Strong
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Zone (10)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Felidar Guardian
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Pinnacle Monk  ^Flip
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Ruthless Technomancer

Other (5)

• 1x Snarling Gorehound
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Vile Entomber
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Commander (1)

Advantage (13)

• 1x Bitter Reunion
• 1x Cathartic Reunion
• 1x Charming Prince
• 1x Demand Answers
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Sazacap's Brew
• 1x Seasoned Pyromancer
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sword of Once and Future
• 1x Thrill of Possibility
• 1x Thrilling Discovery

Combat (9)

• 1x Conqueror's Flail
• 1x Delney, Streetwise Lookout *f-pre*
• 1x Dihada, Binder of Wills
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Reconnaissance
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

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This is my baby, probably my favorite of my EDH/Commander stable, and likely one of the most powerful. This Alesha build is a very toolbox/midrange build, as I end up having to pivot between roles in many of the games I play, and I honestly prefer it that way! If I'm to give the deck a Command Zone power rating, I would say it's a solid 8 (with lucky draws giving 9) on their scale.

Comments and questions are welcome!

Alesha as Commander

Why Alesha?

Alesha gives access to a strong color combination for reanimation (red/black likes to discard and mill for effect, white/black reanimates), and backs it up with speed and the game's strongest removal and disruption suite.

Is this commander for you?

Alesha likes small, efficient creatures with additional effects that she can re-use. She likes playing in her graveyard. This build likes finding answers for problems or building a resilient board state in a problem's absence.

This deck is not for you if you like big creatures, you don't like having to manage a second resource pile (dividing attention between what's in play/in hand AND your graveyard), you prefer being the threat instead of being the answer, or you are uncomfortable with self- discard/mill.

What Alesha wants:

Alesha requires some set-up to be effective. She wants speed...haste-enabling and {R}, {WB}, {WB} as soon as possible in the deck. She often needs some form of combat-enabling, since she's a small creature in the realm of commander. And she needs graveyard set-up to really be worth it.

My Build

My choices are also catered to my preferred playstyle- a midrange toolbox deck that can easily pivot between control and aggro depending on the opposing decks. Even though this deck is easily one of the most powerful and competitive I have, it sees a lot of play simply because it can play the role of balancing a table- enabling a new deck being tested or a precon or such to be played more by slowing down the more competitive monster decks others may be playing. This is an important feature in our playgroup.

Deck in Action

Early Game (turns 1-4): Dropping mana rocks, trying to set up at least one good reanimation target (either something that answers an immediate problem or to find fuel for later turns such as Seasoned Pyromancer or Recruiter of the Guard) with cards like Entomb, running out defenses like Lightning Greaves, and getting Alesha out and attacking.

Mid Game (turns 5-8): Try to recur fuel into either a more stacked graveyard or answers in-hand. We are usually not 'the threat' at this point, and you can usually engineer an attack by answering a problem, knowing the Fiend Hunter you use now to get damage in will come back to your benefit later when you need it most. Hold your non-creature answers until you absolutely need them. I also tend to be protective of sacrifice outlets, holding them until I need them as well, as my playgroup has grown wise to their importance. My playgroup plays a healthy amount of board clear, so there is often a lot of time spent re-building, something Alesha is very good at with a haste enabler in play.

Late Game (turn 9+): At this point we should be at or near a 1 vs 1. If not at that point, we decide which opponent is best for us to be at that point with and do our best to aid them (usually it's not a deck that is flat struggling, but not the strongest deck either...someone who can help us and perhaps draw the ire of the top deck, but one we can find the weakness of easily and utilize to cripple them at the right time). From there, the deck switches gears into aggro. Sometimes it's just whatever the deck has on-board at the moment, but Alesha can do a good Voltron impression with the right package, or even go full-on stompy with Mirror Entity.

The wincons I usually see are thus:

Most of the time the deck is going to win the long game through attrition. It's best not to become too early a threat unless you can really back it up. It is efficient at dealing with threats and re-using answers. Opponents are usually hesitant to kill the 'answers deck' (which is why I emphasize versatile and varied removal, especially if we can tutor or draw for it) too early in case someone has something they can't deal with. One thing I aim for is to get into a 1 vs 1 situation...this deck, like any 'answers' deck, will be stronger the fewer opponents it has to worry about dealing with.

See the Card Choice section when it comes to the inclusion (or lack thereof) of the number of infinite combos Alesha has access to.

This deck can either combo out for victory or end the game with a beatdown victory. Again, combos are addressed below. Beatdowns usually are a result of Alesha or an evasive threat voltron-ing up with swords or Mirror Entity activations if it's not just a swarm of whatever I have available.

Card Choices

Please see my budget deck list linked at the bottom of this description for a much more detailed primer/ analysis of the Custom sort categories (what I consider essential parts of an Alesha build).

Combos:

I have taken out/sideboarded a few combos in this deck, either because they seem a bit trite, or my playgroup doesn't really warrant their inclusion (yet, who knows, we may get there). In addition, one of my biggest problems with most of these combos is one part of the combo just feels BAD when it's dead. Sure, Kiki + Bell Ringer feels great when it happens, but Bell Ringer on it's own is just a waste of a slot. The play pattern is to always fetch Kiki or feel like you're down a card that could be literally anything else in the deck and you'd be happier. And I hate that feeling.

Master of Cruelties is out for now...he's fun if you get him in off the turn-3 reanimation combo, but otherwise he's not terribly useful. He's awkward at almost any other point in the game unless you get a perfect storm scenario.

Karmic Guide + Reveillark + sac outlet + Gray Merchant of Asphodel The Gray Merchant of Asphodel part of this is out for now. Definitely trite and unnecessary for the group's power level. Plus absurdly easy to assemble and hard to disrupt. I DO, however, run Goblin Bombardment and Altar of Dementia as outlets which, on their own, can win with Guide + Lark. Who needs the extra bit?

Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit + Murderous Redcap + sac outlet I cannot make good use of these outside the combo. Redcap's damage is too small to matter in many cases (especially for the CMC if I have to cast him), and Anafenza's pump is just not something this deck is looking for. Especially since I can't really just put the counters on Alesha to make her better in combat (really the only creature where combat matters).

Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Felidar Guardian A little worn, but this is our one in-house I WIN button independent of sac outlets. Both halves of this combo stand on their own merits, and the group is getting to the point where sometimes the games drag a bit, and we want a way to end them in deck. 4-hour games do happen, but we want as good a chance as possible to make them not happen. Wins thru combat, direct damage with Goblin Bombardment or mill with Altar of Dementia.

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is hanging out with Savra for now. He's a sac outlet to pair with Guide/Lark and Charming Prince, since you can draw your whole deck and clear boards at instant speed. Is it infinite? No. Obnoxious? Oh yes.

Living Death help

Land notes: Mistveil Plains, Prismatic Vista, Winding Canyons (Weak links that enter tapped or make colorless)

Want a $30 version? Take a peek at my budget build and primer!

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Alesha (BUDGET Commander & Primer)

Commander / EDH golgarigirl

SCORE: 20 | 4 COMMENTS | 1846 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS

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Date added	10 years
Last updated	5 months
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 49 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.71
Tokens	Copy Clone, Elemental 1/1 R, Fish 1/1 U, Illusion */* U, Treasure
Folders	Alesha, Mardu