Token Expression

Commander / EDH* Aggro Counters RBW (Mardu) Reanimator Theme/Gimmick Tokens

avaerya

Creature (20)

• 1x Angel of Invention
• 1x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Eldrazi Displacer
• 1x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1x Hanweir Garrison  ^Meld
• 1x Imperial Recruiter
• 1x Iroas, God of Victory *list*
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Regna, the Redeemer
• 1x Stoneforge Mystic
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Twilight Drover
• 1x Tymna the Weaver
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Cleansing Nova
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Wrath of God

Artifact (19)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Animation Module
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Chromatic Lantern
• 1x Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Retrofitter Foundry
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of the Animist
• 1x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Nahiri, the Harbinger
• 1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Commander (1)

Land (5)

• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Hanweir Battlements  ^{Flip  Meld}
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Enchantment (5)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Luminarch Ascension
• 1x Reconnaissance

Instant (2)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Utter End

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Not so much of a deck, more of a highly in-depth exploration of a token-themed Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.

I like tokens, and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is one of my favorite commanders ever. Thus, I've looked long and hard to find some way to blend the two. I haven't found something perfect yet, but this is essentially a "scratchpad" area to get closer to something more ideal.

Introduction

Alesha is a very different and interesting commander to build around. Her unique reanimation ability coupled with her relatively free-form restriction means she can be interpreted in many ways. Indeed, EDHREC consistently features her as one of the all-time top commanders, and viewing her archetypes, she can be built as tribal, combo, reanimator, stax/hatebears, and several others. Her power lies in her flexibility: she doesn't lend herself exclusively to any one theme, but she can easily flip between different styles when needed.

For this exploration, we're focusing on a token theme. The reason being... well, tokens are cool, basically.

The Problem(s)

Alesha has several unfortunate issues plaguing her:

• Card Draw - Mardu is severely lacking in card draw. While not as bad as Boros, having Black as the only real source of card draw means that effectively 2/3s of the deck is not helping us dig for answers. While tutors can help alleviate the issue, they can be somewhat painful and even downright dangerous depending on how much damage you've taken so far.

• Ramp - Mardu also has issues with ramp in the format. While it has access to all the normal mana rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, etc.), it has no specific ways to help ramp. Green decks have access to Rampant Growth and the like, along with Seedborn Muse to get back mana each turn. Obviously Mardu can't compete with that, but the next best option in Unwinding Clock isn't particularly helpful either. Since Mardu isn't the current focus of colors for artifacts, Unwinding Clock allows us to untap some mana rocks, but we can't particularly make use of it's ability for further untapping. This can be a big issue when it comes to combat.

• Combat - Mardu isn't actually particularly weak in combat, the main issue is that the combat step itself is actually really underpowered in Commander. Unless you are using it for an all-out alpha strike, you only get one combat step for every three or however many opponents you have. Since combat can't be done as an instant, you have to commit all your combat resources during that step. For instance, since Alesha needs to attack in order to activate her ability, she and the creature that is brought back not only have to survive the combat, but you and her have to survive everyone else's turn without being able to easily use her for protection. This can leave you (or anyone else in a similar situation) at a disadvantage since you no longer have a primary way of protecting yourself in a multiplayer game.

• Politics - A common issue I've found while playing this deck is that politics can be a real issue with this deck. Since Alesha wants to attack, people may feel targeted. Even though her damage may be small, it's still commander damage, and she can easily find a target on her back.

Alleviating the Issues

Going off the problems from the previous section, there are some ways to alleviate them, obviously with some deficiencies.

Card Draw - Tutors are the primary way we can sidestep this situation. For being a deck partial to small creatures, Imperial Recruiter and Recruiter of the Guard are be all-stars for finding such things. Since Alesha can easily reanimate things, Entomb, Buried Alive, and the like can be useful as well. We also have access to the strong, unconditional Black tutors such as Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor to find silver bullets.

Ramp - The primary way Mardu can ramp is through mana rocks, unfortunately. Land Tax-effects can be helpful, but I've found they're better as color-fixing and ensuring you hit your land drops rather than ramp per-se. In my time playing with Alesha, I've found some of the best ramp for the deck to be from equipments. Sword of Feast and Famine is a classic, and is particularly useful since we can protect our creatures from some of the most common colors for opposing creatures. Sword of the Animist is nice as well, since not only does it ramp us, but it can help fix our colors, especially under enemy Blood Moons. Dowsing Dagger   is more recent addition, but if we can connect, we get a Lotus Vale. The downside of the Dagger itself is relatively small, since we can give the tokens to one opponent and then attack another.

Combat - Combat is more difficult, and the best tools I've been able to find so far have been Reconnaissance, along with Iroas, God of Victory and Heliod, God of the Sun. Iroas gives our attacking creatures menace and prevents all combat damage done to them, useful when potential attacks are not ideal, while Heliod allows us to keep our creatures available for blocking on other peoples' turns. Reconnaissance is something of a swiss-army tool in this deck, as this gives us the ability to fine-tune the combat step. With it, we can attack, and then depending upon blocks, decide to immediately untap Alesha, only do first-strike damage, or go all the way through combat while still getting attack triggers. It's also fun to remind people that end of combat is a combat step!

Politics - Probably the key problem facing this deck, people don't like being targeted. If you attack someone in a game, there's a decent chance our Alesha will find a target on her back. If you get her out on turn three or earlier, that's more time to build up animosity at the table. If you wait until later, you risk not being able to fully capitalize on her ability. For my situation, considering how often I play this deck, and how often I want to play this deck, I've unfortunately found that the best Alesha may be the one unplayed, which raises fundamental questions about her as a commander.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.22
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Construct 4/4 C, Eldrazi Horror 3/2 C, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Human 1/1 R, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Plant 0/2 G, Servo 1/1 C, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Thopter 1/1 C, Vampire 1/1 W, Vampire 2/2 B, Warrior 1/1 W