I have been playing Magic for quite some time and have played many different styles of decks. I am more at “home” with playing control style builds but have adventured out and experimented with new modes of play. When I saw Alesha during Fate Reforged spoilers, I knew immediately that I wanted to build her as a commander. She was an interesting twist on aggressive reanimators that I felt she would be very unique.
Returning creatures with power 2 or less is a very limited scope of how to build the deck and therefore limits what cards can be played. Having this limitation is good however, since there are many low power creatures that have great effects that synergize well with attacking. She can literally be played in many different ways, and the direction I choose to take her is an aggressive control to clear the board for my “small” army. I decided to build her with the essence of the archetype back from Innistrad/Return to Ravnica standard, the Aristocrats. I have a subtle human synergy that helps the deck with quirky interactions. Alesha being human only adds to this convenience. Look into the different options to see what is best for you when looking at card options. I will go into detail about the choices I make for this particular build.
Alesha is a very aggressive creature. She can be used as a utility general to pull back fallen allies to control the opponent’s forces by exiling/destroying creatures, removing troublesome artifacts or enchantments, or even taking out utility lands that are putting us in a bind. Additionally, a token strategy can be used to push through the enemy lines as there are many great token generators with 2 or less power. She has good offensive capabilities in that she is 3/2 and can block reliably with her First Strike. Early game is a good time to get her down and she will generate advantage against smaller early game creatures. Finding when the best time to play her will take testing, but when she can come down turn 3-5, this will usually put us in a better position.
Alesha may be for you if:
You like an aggressive combat dependent playstyle
The graveyard is an extension of your hand
Having low “power” for great “effects”
You like synergy over cut and dry tactics
Alesha may NOT be for you if:
You like large splashy creatures
Infinite combos is the best way to play
Reaction over pro-action works best
Combat is overrated
Serra Ascendant- A very strong creature in the early game and sometimes frowned upon. It resets to a 1/1 in the graveyard so it is a perfect Alesha target. Having an option that can become a large threat and help stabilize our life total is a huge deal. Plus it is human which goes with my Aristocrat theme.
Viscera Seer- One of the best creature sac outlets available. His cost can't get much better and scry 1 is invaluable to set up our draws.
Blood Artist- With all the creatures dying, he is a good resource to have to stabilize and it will do some damage to our opponents.
Cartel Aristocrat- Fits to the original Aristocrat theme and is a good sac outlet for my army to reuse Alesha. Plus she can shy away from almost any removal option.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden- He surprises me with how well he performs. Don't have to pay into X to get our power 2 or less creatures and he hits them reliably enough. Pay just a few more mana and you can get Falkenrath Aristocrat or Sun Titan as our top of the line creatures.
Knight of the White Orchid- Mana ramp wrapped into an efficient body for attacking or blocking. Good target to get back to pull ahead when the opponent is putting pressure on.
Leonin Relic-Warder- Temporary artifact or enchantment removal or with a sac outlet online, permanent removal when the triggers are stacked properly. Sac in response to his enter the battlefield trigger, leave the battlefield triggers first and nothing re-enters, then enters the battlefield triggers second exiling its target.
Stoneforge Mystic- Plenty of targets to buff my army up. Mostly used for her enters trigger to find necessary equipment.
Aven Mindcensor- A strong control option to keep my opponents in check. Not being able to crack a fetch, mana ramp, or the deadly demonic tutor is worth keeping this guy in.
Bone Shredder- Seems like he may be too limited with targets when actually he hits a good number of creatures in practice. I have never had any problems having a good target for him. And his repeatable use is good for clearing the path for attacking.
Fiend Hunter- Same use as Bone Shredder and with a sac outlet he becomes better as permanent creature removal.
Markov Blademaster- When she comes down early she is a huge threat to our opponents. Even late game she can put some pressure on. She is on my watch list but for now she is performing pretty well.
Mentor of the Meek- Card advantage is a good thing and when each creature triggers him it's even better.
Mirror Entity- Combo potential aside, he is a great finisher with my small army. Pumping them to a finish and being recurable when he is inevitably removed is another boon.
Necrotic Sliver- Repeatable removal for any permanent is a auto include for me in this build.
Silverblade Paladin- Makes any of our creatures more of a threat and when paired with Alesha it's a strong move to deter blockers.
Brutal Hordechief- Punishes when creatures attack and I can control the combat how I choose. Not power 2 or less, but it is a good way to get my army through to finish off opponents or to kill off utility creatures.
Disciple of Bolas- A good sac outlet that I can recur and a source of draw to restock my hand. He has good potential to pull me out of a difficult situation.
Falkenrath Aristocrat- The second, more lethal sister to the Aristocrat archetype. She can get larger for sacing our general or other humans in the list and is a fantastic sac outlet in general for a very good boon of making herself indestructible.
Falkenrath Noble- Another Blood Artist effect that has flying. Creatures dying is a theme of this deck and this gets great mileage. Thumbs up to flying for big scary dragons.
Murderous Redcap- A recent addition that I feel will go a long way. He is almost always 3 damage to creatures or players before I can rinse and repeat with Alesha. Using him as spot removal or for strait damage he puts a faster time clock on my opponents while serving as a good chump blocker.
Ogre Battledriver- Haste is a necessity and while I do not have many haste outlets, his pump is almost more important. Any creature being brought back gets the +2/+0 buff and becomes that much worse when they are attacking.
Pia and Kiran Nalaar- The amount of value this card added to the list is exceptional. Two flying blockers when they enter is amazing, and then can be doubled over as damage. Very similar to Siege-Gang Commander in effect but the flying thopters makes this a shoe in.
Solemn Simulacrum- Already a stellar off color ramp card. Professional blocker and value engine. Even better when we can recur him every turn.
Karmic Guide- More recursion that can get back my larger creatures that Alesha can't hit. And she is easily brought back over and over again. Flying is just an upside and occasionally I have gotten use out of the pro black.
Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker- Having one ETB creature trigger with Alesha is fantastic but making it 2 just adds value to the already pending doom train.
Ponyback Brigade- May seem like an unusual choice, but it serves as another Siege-Gang Commander minus the Sac ability. Three tokens is a good thing when forming an army or needing some blockers.
Priest of the Blood Rite- Now this is a token producer. The 2 life loss is mitigated with our sac outlets. If it never survives to our upkeep no life loss. Recurring him is amazing value.
Siege-Gang Commander- Finally the one I have been talking about. He puts in a small army, and can use them to remove other threats in the way. He is almost always a good target if you have nothing else to hit.
Archetype of Finality- Attacking with Alesha, bringing her into play makes no one want to block Alesha anymore. Good as a deterrent for attackers and blockers alike.
Duplicant- An all star removal card in most decks and it is taken to the extreme here when he is always able to be brought back to hit any creature you want, shroud and hexproof aside.
Sun Titan- Staple in most white decks, he hits most of our creatures as they are in the mana range. Plus our equipment package falls into his pick-up as well. He falls into the beater roll nicely and holds a sword like a boss as well.
Instant
Enlightened Tutor- This gets us many of our key equipment or sac outlets/wincons. Cathar’s Crusade and True Conviction will drive us into a winning position.
Entomb- An auto include giving us any creature we want to throw into play with Alesha. This is almost a must for any build.
Path to Exile- Key removal spell. It stops anyone attacking us effectively with their general or other scary beast.
Vampiric Tutor- One of the strongest tutors to get what we need when we need it.
Return to Dust- Instant speed option if needed, but even better to get rid of two targets at sorcery speed. One of the strongest artifact and enchantment hate around.
Utter End- Vindicate number 2 but instant and nonland. Not much of a downside here to get rid of anything we want.
Sorcery
Demonic Tutor- The strongest tutor available to get anything straight to hand.
Buried Alive- This gives us options to pick from with Alesha’s ability. We can find exactly what we want and what we need in the particular situation we get into.
Retribution of the Meek- New to my list, it adds another strong wipe that leaves our creatures behind except for a few exceptions. This is a strong sweeper that works with this deck very well.
Vindicate- Any permanent gone. Not much to say on this one.
Austere Command- Versatility is what makes this one shine. It can wipe a lot of large creatures out of our way and leave ours most of the time. Or it can take out artifacts and enchantments just as well.
Artifact
Skullclamp- With so many of our creatures going to the graveyard, this draws us a lot of advantage. Plus we have tokens, most are 1/1s so we get immediate value from equipping. It keeps us ahead of our opponent’s game.
Sol Ring- One of the strongest mana rocks in the format and allows us to hit a turn 2 Alesha.
Hero's Blade- An all around good buff to make all of our creatures stronger. Auto equips to Alesha making her more of a threat and a hefty body.
Swiftfoot Boots- Protects Alesha and other key creatures, haste is a bonus.
Phyrexian Altar- A strong free sac outlet adding colored mana for us to cast other creatures freely. This is an asset for us to have access to.
Sword of Fire and Ice- Has great protections but is the best utility of the swords that offers removal and card draw. One of our best options for card advantage.
Sword of Light and Shadow- Most relevant protections to removal. It also picks up the creatures that Alesha misses.
Enchantment
Goblin Bombardment- I like this sac outlet over most for this deck for the damage it can put out. It can turn creatures into removal while also getting them into the graveyard to reuse again.
Phyrexian Arena- One of Black’s best draw cards. The life loss is small when you get an extra card each turn.
Outpost Siege- This has worked in both of its modes for me. I used it for draw a few times when I really needed it, but most of the time it is dealing damage when my creatures leave the battlefield. This takes out many threats and helps to dwindle down life totals. Since we have so many creatures going to the graveyard it is always triggering.
Sneak Attack- One of my favorite sac outlets in the deck. It triggers ETB for one r, gives haste to attack, and triggers any die triggers as well. Plus it sets up for Alesha reanimation. It is a very strong card and worth consideration.
Cathars' Crusade- This buffs all my creatures to make sure I get a large swing in. Think about bringing back Siege-Gang Commander with this out. 4 Creatures enter the battlefield giving 4 +1/+1 counters to all my creatures. Alesha is now 7/6 and Siege Gang is 6/6. Not to mention any other creature on board. Any token centric build should consider this card.
True Conviction- A way to stabilize but more used for the Double Strike. This gets us to our end game with all the creatures we bring in
Strengths
Alesha has many strengths that help her get through and makes her a valid commander choice.
- Power and toughness being 3/2 is a nice aggressive standpoint.
- First Strike is a relevant ability to have for early game threats to take out most utility and low cost creatures.
- Her cost is aggressively costed bringing her down effectively early to mid-game
- Her ability triggers on attacking, not damage being dealt, and cannot be interrupted after we declare attackers. It is only to trigger and we get back our creature immediately tapped and attacking allowing ETB triggers to activate.
- She is able to recur many of our card options to get more mileage out of our plays.
Weaknesses
With power comes weakness as well. Here are some of the things that go against our strategy.
- Torpor Orb effects hinder our game plan since many of our creatures are enter that battlefield oriented. We have to watch out for this and take out the threat before it hinders our game plan.
- Graveyard hate is going to be an upward challenge for us, we have to know when to bait the removal to get back what we want. Stay alert against decks running these types of answers.
- Having two toughness makes her take non combat damage and die very easily. Against dedicated spellslingers, it will pose more of an issue to overcome the challenge they bring to the table.
- Dedicated combo decks will be an issue if we do not hold resources to stop them. However this is not always easy as we are a more proactive build than reactive.
When to Cast Alesha
Playing Alesha takes a lot of timing with our plays and coordination to other key aspects of the deck. Casting Alesha needs to be planned out ahead of time. However, this plan will change from matchup to matchup. It really depends on the other commanders at the table. If we are staring down some agro or voltron builds, casting her as soon as possible is probably our strongest move probably between turns 3-5. Her First Strike is relevant enough that it will help stave off attacks coming our way if there are no large creatures. Luckily, she only costs 3 and there are not many aggressive voltron commanders that are cheap to cast. Most have to be buffed with equipment in order to become a threat and that gives us time. Control Commanders are slower to play out and therefore we can cast Alesha more leisurely after we build up other utility on board, ramp, graveyard flow, etc. This is when she will want to come out between turns 5-7. Combo builds are an unsure tossup. Depending on the commander, this can bode well for us or be completely their game. Combo is probably what Alesha is weakest at facing due to her lack of interaction with key combo pieces. The best we can do in this scenario is to hold removal for something on board before the interactions start to happen.
Early Game: Turns 1-5
Our early game should consist of setting up our resources to start a chain of Alesha triggers as well as forming a strong board position. Many of our creatures are aggressively cost being < 5 CMC. 26 of the creatures in this build fall into this range. What we look to play at this stage is cards like Knight of the White Orchid to fix our mana and ramp, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, to cheat out other creatures, Stoneforege Mystic to set up one of our draw engines or other utility. All of these objectives should be high priority to ready ourselves for the Mid Game where we start putting pressure on our opponents. Setting up the mana will be the most important action to take in this stage.
Mid Game: Turns 5-10
This is a good time to get Alesha on board. We should have enough utility setup to have a good mana base, focus on our sac engines to ready for Alesha triggers. It is perfectly fine to play Alesha down in the early game as I mentioned before. If there are aggressive creatures to defend against then she is one of our best defenses with her abilities and power. This is when we can hit the cards that will really lay down some advantage and form our army. Siege-Gang Commander, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Priest of the Blood Rite, all of these will give us a field that will outnumber our opponents to get through and re-use our ETB and LTB triggers. We want to maximize the EFFECT of what we play and not necessarily put the most power on board. Sheer numbers will turn the game in our favor while we manage the board state. Our means to do this are numerous with cards such as Fiend Hunter, Bone Shredder, Fulminator Mage, and Duplicant. These all clear the path and stop opponents from playing devastating lands to push us back. Do not be afraid to lay down a board wipe if need be, we can recover much quicker than they can most of the time with Alesha bringing them back to fight. Not to mention Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Sun Titan for the same reasons.
Late Game: Turns 10+
We should focus our efforts to take out at least one player by this point to thin out the aggression towards us. By this point, we want to have a manageable army that is aggressively attacking when available and leaving optimal blockers behind. Cards at this stage should be Cathar’s Crusade and True Conviction to try and close out the game. If we get stopped early, it can cause some issues for us to get back up by this point due to the opponents having their board state optimized. Card advantage is key if we do fall behind. Getting back up will take time with Alesha alone but it is not impossible if we lose momentum. Key creatures should still be in our yard where we can start removing the largest threats to us. Holding our instant and sorcery removal for late game is a good idea as most of our creatures can control the early and mid-game. It will aid us with getting back up.
Sunforger did not have enough targets and instead of making more cuts to make it more relevant I decided cutting it would be the better option.
Reveillark was left off due to the combo potential but it really deserves a spot in a deck that focuses on 2 or less creatures so I reconsidered and felt it should be here
Terminate with all the other options already in the list for removal I feel this one is the weakest and not really needed over my recurable Duplicant and Necrotic Sliver. Plus I have 4 other instant/sorcery removal spells.
I will add more to the primer in progress as I get time to update. For now this is a start and I have been testing her out for a good while. I will continue to post what is working and what I have been testing, but for now, enjoy the list and follow her to Death's door. Any suggestions are welcome.
I chose to leave Master of Cruelties out of the list for personal reasons. I will definitely put that in my card options section once I get to update more. I like to win with her synergies and her aggressive might, but for the same reason I do not like him in a Kaalia build is why I did not include him here. I may reconsider at some point to put him back in but my playgroup has had unpleasant thoughts about him, so to keep the game more fun I left him on the sidelines. Thanks for looking over the list and any suggestions will help to improve it.
Reveillark is one of the few cards I would say is an auto-include in Alesha. Even if you dislike the combo-kill, it's amazing value. I'm not really a fan of Fulminator Mage or Avalanche Riders, but if your playgroup is fine with LD then more power to you. The other big cards you're missing are Buried Alive and Retribution of the Meek, both of which are excellent. Your Sunforger package seems to be lacking as well, 8 cards isn't very many. Have you considered Dawn Charm, Boros Charm, Crackling Doom, and Mortify? They're all pretty solid cards.
I agree with gxmiter about Reveillark, even if you don't want to use it to combo out, it gives you essentially a double shot at your generals effect with any sac outlet which is just great value. Block with it, sac it for value and then get even more value off of its trigger. I run it in my alesha deck and love it. Granted, I also occasionally use it to combo, but then again, no one has ever accused me of being a good person.
Reveillark is one of the few cards I would say is an auto-include in Alesha. Even if you dislike the combo-kill, it's amazing value. I'm not really a fan of Fulminator Mage or Avalanche Riders, but if your playgroup is fine with LD then more power to you. The other big cards you're missing are Buried Alive and Retribution of the Meek, both of which are excellent. Your Sunforger package seems to be lacking as well, 8 cards isn't very many. Have you considered Dawn Charm, Boros Charm, Crackling Doom, and Mortify? They're all pretty solid cards.
- I'll see about finding a place for Reveillark. There is no denying that he would be a perfect fit here.
- Fulminator Mage and Avalanche Riders has pulled a lot of weight for me. My playgroup doesn't mind using LD as a tool.
- You're right, Buried Alive should find a place here. I'll look at what to cut to add it in.
- I decided to keep the wraths at a minimum but Retribution of the Meek is one that works with this deck so it is a good consideration. Crackling Doom and Boros Charm are ones I want to consider adding for Sunforger. Or Sunforger could be a cut, I haven't decided which yet but will update OP when I add in some changes.
Thanks for looking it over, you have some great suggestions.
Updated the OP with creatures in the card options section. Also added a change log to record the changes I made today. Any other suggestions are welcome and thanks for taking a look.
I like your list. And the primer aspect is coming along nicely.
I have been loving Alesha since the DTK prerelease so it's always nice to see others working with her. My build has now gone through 3 very different and distinct builds so far. It started a little like yours but a bit less focused. It was a first draft just focusing on value. Then, it became a fun reanimator deck (with this build, I once killed myself for fun off of reanimating a Baleful Force T2 and then just losing massive life to it.) Now, it is kind of a Soul Sisters type build which has been kinda fun.
Regardless of which strategy though, there are a few key cards I have loved that I suggest to everyone who thinks about her.
First, Liliana's Specter mass opponent discard to control their hand size can be great. Especially if you get reveillark and/or karmic guide guide in on it.
Second, is a little card draw package with Grim Haruspex and Vulturous Aven. While the haruspex can't be recurred with alesha, sun titan gets it as does karmic guide and it is just a really solid card. Vulturous aven can just get reanimated and sac itself if you have nothing else giving you a Sign in Blood every turn.
Third, since a lot of your key cards like Disciple of Bolas and Falkenrath Aristocrat are at 4 CMC, Fleshwrither is a great utility searcher. While he sadly evades getting rezed by Alesha and Sun Titan, karmic guide can still get him.
Lastly, Burnished Hart is very solid ramp. While a little more mana intensive than sad robot, it is still great. Plus, Sun Titan.
I like your list. And the primer aspect is coming along nicely.
I have been loving Alesha since the DTK prerelease so it's always nice to see others working with her. My build has now gone through 3 very different and distinct builds so far. It started a little like yours but a bit less focused. It was a first draft just focusing on value. Then, it became a fun reanimator deck (with this build, I once killed myself for fun off of reanimating a Baleful Force T2 and then just losing massive life to it.) Now, it is kind of a Soul Sisters type build which has been kinda fun.
Regardless of which strategy though, there are a few key cards I have loved that I suggest to everyone who thinks about her.
First, Liliana's Specter mass opponent discard to control their hand size can be great. Especially if you get reveillark and/or karmic guide guide in on it.
Second, is a little card draw package with Grim Haruspex and Vulturous Aven. While the haruspex can't be recurred with alesha, sun titan gets it as does karmic guide and it is just a really solid card. Vulturous aven can just get reanimated and sac itself if you have nothing else giving you a Sign in Blood every turn.
Third, since a lot of your key cards like Disciple of Bolas and Falkenrath Aristocrat are at 4 CMC, Fleshwrither is a great utility searcher. While he sadly evades getting rezed by Alesha and Sun Titan, karmic guide can still get him.
Lastly, Burnished Hart is very solid ramp. While a little more mana intensive than sad robot, it is still great. Plus, Sun Titan.
Thanks for the kind words and the suggestions are really great considerations.
The ones that stand out to me most are Liliana's Specter, and Vulturous Aven. I like the ability to dwindle down my opponents hands with the specter and it would be a good consideration for making sure I am not disrupted. I like it and will consider testing it out. Vulturous Aven is really interesting and has a lot of potential. The draw it provides is definitely worth looking into. I like Grim Haruspex, although I do have reservations as it is harder to recur. Although there are other options to get him back, I feel comfortable having my general be the resource to get most of the value out of the creatures. But I may revisit him as he is a good value engine. Right now mana is working pretty good with fixing colors, so Burnished Hart will stay out for now. At least until I see that mana becomes an issue.
Thanks again, I really liked the ideas and they will help to influence the deck even more. I will continue play testing.
I was able to play 2 games tonight and while I did not win the matches, I was able to see what tweaks need to be made. One game was a blowout by a Marchesa, the Black Rosemodular deck with Purphoros, God of the Forge. Needless to say this ended pretty quickly. The second game stalled out between Alesha and Venser, Shaper Savant. I was staring down an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and was holding him off at 6 life but the card advantage he generated pulled him ahead and the Falkenrath Noble that was keeping me in the game got removed finally. It was close, but he got the upper hand on me.
I learned that I need to find a resource sooner to protect Falkenrath Noble and I could have possibly gotten one but it was just a little too late. I will test her out more and do a write up on strategy that I have experienced over the many months of play testing with her.
Personally, I prefer Faceless Butcher over Bone Shredder because I really don't like the nonblack, nonartifact clause.
As for token generators, Evangel of Heliod has proven a lot better in my deck than I first thought. He makes two tokens by default, which is worse than the Ponyback Brigade, but with Enchantments like Cathar's Crusade I often have quite a bit of white devotion. That depends on your deck though. Priest of the Blood Rite and Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder could also be good. Admittedly, my build is way more token-focussed than yours.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is absurdly good. Makes enough tokens with her +1 to be commander-relevant and can repeatedly cast Retribution of the Meek if you protect her a bit (which is easy, because she makes tokens).
Anger is a pretty good haste enabler, which may help your aggressive gameplan.
There's also a couple of really strong sacrifice deck staples you might use, like Gravepact, Ashnod's Altar and Black Market, but I'm not sure how far you want to go down that path and cut more aggressive cards for them.
Personally, I prefer Faceless Butcher over Bone Shredder because I really don't like the nonblack, nonartifact clause.
As for token generators, Evangel of Heliod has proven a lot better in my deck than I first thought. He makes two tokens by default, which is worse than the Ponyback Brigade, but with Enchantments like Cathar's Crusade I often have quite a bit of white devotion. That depends on your deck though. Priest of the Blood Rite and Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder could also be good. Admittedly, my build is way more token-focussed than yours.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is absurdly good. Makes enough tokens with her +1 to be commander-relevant and can repeatedly cast Retribution of the Meek if you protect her a bit (which is easy, because she makes tokens).
Anger is a pretty good haste enabler, which may help your aggressive gameplan.
There's also a couple of really strong sacrifice deck staples you might use, like Gravepact, Ashnod's Altar and Black Market, but I'm not sure how far you want to go down that path and cut more aggressive cards for them.
You have a good point but there are two things that bone shredder has over faceless butcher that I like. He has flying so he becomes a good blocker all around, and he can sac himself with echo on my turn if I don't use him for blocking. He sets me up for removing something else the next turn. The best thing about Butcher is he can be used like Fiend hunter with a sac outlet but I do need one online to permanently remove a creature.
Evangel of Heliod is a nice token generator. I will have to see how much white devotion I can get to make him really shine. Priest of the Blood Rite I am using, he puts in a big creature and has been doing very well, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder could be an option and I hadn't thought about him but he does only put them in when cast which I do not like necessarily.
If I go more of a token focused build I will look at Elspeth. She has always been a good planeswalker in other decks and the same would go for this one. Her -3 would be a great asset.
Grave pact and Black Market are cards that I don't want to focus on too heavily. I want it to be an aggressive deck as you said and the control elements already in are enough to do both of what I need. The mana isn't an issue so the market would go unused quite a bit. Ashnod's Altar is a good sac outlet. I have Phyrexian Altar for the colored mana and it is doing well. Maybe I'll add one more in.
Thanks for the suggestions. I plan to reevaluate some of the options to see which ones you suggested would fit what I'm looking for.
Updated OP with a strategy section as well as filled in other card options. I will do a write up of some of the changes I'm considering as I get more time to add them in and playtest them out. I look forward to testing Evangel of Heliod, Anger admittedly should already be in here, and Vulturous Aven. Thanks for the continued support to make this a great resource for others interested in Alesha.
I like a lot of the card options you went with. Admittedly we have a few different themes and I like how you presented yours. Reconnaissance is a great choice that I have been looking into and I feel it fits very well into what you have going to take out certain attackers you want to survive. Flameshadow Conjuring feels to me like it won't pull its weight. If you have a lot of ETB triggers than I can see its usefulness, however most of the time Alesha is bringing them back and therefor the haste will be irrelevant for the token you make off of it only for it to exile EoT. In a dedicated token build I can see it being very useful. I had forgotten about Nekrataal as another bone shredder effect. You may consider bone shredder as well. The self sac is a huge upside. How is mindclaw shaman working out? I could never hit much off of him to warrant keeping him in over other options.
I am wondering, why no entomb? It can be played right before Alesha attacks to get exactly what you want unless it's for budget concerns then I can understand. Or at EoT on your opponents turn. It has proven a necessity for me in certain situations. I recommend it.
Thanks for posting your ideas, and let me know how the deck is working out if you feel like any changes need to be made to your list. It looks solid.
Ankle Shanker is a really good option to stave off blockers. It is an unfavorable trade that will be avoided. High Priest of Penance may prove useful but if he isn't blocked than he is mostly dead weight. I feel other options are stronger choices, such as Fiend Hunter, Bone Shredder, etc. For one more mana they take out a threat albeit removing creatures which will pose the largest problem for us and still can get damage in.
Thanks for the input it helps to round out the weaknesses of the deck and I'll keep Ankle Shanker in mind as well.
Updating with Battle for Zendikar just around the corner. Here are some of the cards I feel could make an impact with Alesha. There are pros and cons with the set, but overall, I feel BFZ brings a few great choices to her.
Kor Bladewhirl- She is an interesting option if we need to kill off a few creatures or protect our board state a little more. The problem with her is we run small creatures and not always will they be getting a buff from anything. So she doesn’t quite reach the bar in my book.
Makindi Patrol- He is an interesting addition, although when he becomes relevant with Alesha, we will be in the middle of combat already so his effect will be irrelevant most of the time after the initial play of him. If you are running other ways to recur creatures, then give him a consideration.
Drana, Liberator of Malakir- Drana I believe will be an excellent addition to Alesha’s army. Send her at an open opponent; reap her benefit of hitting first, then buffing our entire board before they deal damage. Sounds like a pretty easy buff and makes her army even stronger. Of course Alesha will not get buffed before the counters, but she will be ready next turn with them.
Smothering Abomination- He will be pretty amazing I think. If you are running a decent number of sac outlets he gets much more mileage, but his sac ability is great on its own. He can set up for reusing any creature with Alesha and has a good body plus flying. I think he deserves a good consideration and I plan to test him out on release.
Zulaport Cutthroat- Not as good as Blood Artist in some ways. I feel if we use a lot of sac outlets this can get much better hitting all opponents. I wouldn’t swap him out for Blood Artist, but he is a good consideration and I want to see just how useful he can be.
Firemantle Mage- Now this reentering more than once is insane. Makes it a nightmare to block any of our creatures and when there are swarms of them, they will most definitely be getting through. I’m highly considering him.
Resolute Blademaster- I like him for the fact that our army gets double damage in. How relevant he will be is unknown at this point. Of course if you run ways to buff your creatures, he will be much more useful.
Quarantine Field- I like it but it’s hefty and I don’t think we need something like this. It will clear a large path for us, but it just feels a little slow and mana intensive to prove too useful to us. I think I will pass on this one.
Retreat to Emeria- Retreat to Emeria has two great modes on it. A token producer wrapped into a buff for our creatures. Popping a fetch in combat will make our creatures insanely better. But that is limiting us to buffing the ones Alesha gets back to combat only. But if we have a mass token swarm, go for it with the fetch’s/ Solemn Simulacrum/Kor Cartographer/ Knight of the White Orchid. The list goes on and on.
Grip of Desolation- Too costly for my taste but it gives an extra exile effect and gets a land and creature. It is nice to have that utility, but is 6 mana too much? Will have to wait and see.
Vampiric Rites- I like this as a cheap additional sac outlet. 2 mana for each activation could make this hard to activate sometimes, but I feel the card advantage will outweigh the mana activation. Getting a creature into our graveyard for Alesha to use plus drawing us a card is just a lot of value to have. Plus it pings our life total up which is never a bad thing.
Ob Nixilis Reignited- He has a lot of upsides to him especially with his removal. I don't know if he is what Alesha is looking for, we have other options for this, but he could be a good value engine if that is what you are looking for. I feel we have better options to look at.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar- An overall powerful walker. I'd more than likely only use him for his 0 ability to pump a token out or immediately ult off for the everlasting Glorious Anthem. He is well costed to be a good threat.
Overall, I think these are the cards that can play a pivotal role. There may be a few other gems, but I feel I covered a good portion of what will be good for Alesha here. Any opinions on these can help improvement.
I was heavily considering changing up my Alesha deck as well to a more Ally based deck. I am still struggling to find the deck's identity and I feel that allys have enough push to them that it might be interesting, either way. As you said, even if you don't go full Ally, there are some great R or R/W creatures that are great includes in Alesha.
The only cards from this set I was considering were Drana, Liberator of Malakir, Zulaport Cutthroat (because a foil one will be cheaper than a foil Blood Artist), and Smothering Abomination. I already run Grim Haruspex and in theory the Abomination is better, but I rarely sacrifice tokens so that clause doesn't affect me much, and I like that Haruspex makes it hard to wrath me. The fact that Abomination is a built-in sac outlet may give it the edge, we'll see. I hadn't considered Vampiric Rites, but it seems pretty good and it's probably worth testing. The Allies all look undrwhelming, but Resolute Blademaster is likely better than Silverblade Paladin (which I personally don't play).
I just did a little updating on the thread. I went into the main post and added a new Human Ally Tribal build after the Battle for Zendikar spoilers are out now. I will be collecting the new allies I plan to try out and see how this build works out. I still have the current build as my main list, but will be testing the waters with the allies to see exactly how fun it will be to play. I feel they have a lot of synergies with Alesha, most of them have 2 or less power and many of them buff themselves or the whole army so it can get aggressive and lethal quick. I of course included other creatures for utility purposes. Please let me know what you think of the new list. I plan to keep it as an alternate build if it works out well.
I wanted to give an update on how well the deck is performing. I transitioned it fully to the ally version currently and it is a blast to play. This past weekend I played with it against a nicol bolas control and wrexial, the Risen Deep mill. She came out ahead looping into buried alive targeting Karmic guide, Sun Titan, and Firemantle Mage to make my already sizable army nearly unblockable and getting them all into play that turn. All my other allies triggered when firemantle mage entered buffing with first strike, lifelink, and menace. The wrexial player finished off the nicol bolas player and the menace was too hard for him to block afterward. I plan to keep testing it like this but I feel she is doing well and if there are any suggestions just let me know what you think.
I am back to brewing new ideas for Alesha, the holidays were a little hectic but I plan to restructure her. After seeing the new 5c legend General Tazri, I plan to integrate the ally idea into that deck and convert Alesha back to what she was and just focus on the value creatures. I like her a little better after playing through so many games over the last few months that she is better suited to any aggressive strategy that is not limited like the allies do. General Tazri will do a much better job with that idea. I will be making changes soon to the list and changing the OP. Any suggestions from battle for zendikar or oath of the gatewatch (so far) is welcome and I am interested to hear what everyone is doing with her with the new cards.
Alesha has gone through quite a few changes. I have changed the OP to remove the ally option and may put it in as an alternate build but it was not as enjoyable as the current build. I will take some time to update her list with new options, Anguished Unmaking being one that is being added. Alesha still proves to be very enjoyable to pull out, although I switch around to not get too stagnant playing her. I will go back in and update her list with any changes that have come out since Shadows over Innistrad's release.
Currently after reviewing the cards in Shadows over Innistrad, I only find a few cards that I feel are really worth putting in. I set a pretty high bar for what the cards have to have to be considered, mostly are they 2 power creatures and what effects contribute to the game plan. If they have more power than 2, it must be useful enough such as cards like Sun Titan for example.
Avacyn is a little iffy as most of my creatures will be small creatures, but she is a decent wipe and a large beater that can swing the pendulum drastically. Olivia is a discard outlet for Alesha to bring my creatures back in and she gives haste and a boost to attack. Pretty powerful for her cost. Anguished unmaking is a third vindicate effect and is definitely on the top of the add list. If anyone has other suggestions or comments on these additions please let me know. Or if better cuts are suited. The cuts I listed have not really been that useful in play testing and ponyback brigade isn't really needed with Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Siege-Gang Commander performing similar roles.
I think Key to the City would be great for you. It's card draw, graveyard selection and protection by making Alesha unblockable.
Also, wouldn't Aurelia, the Warleader be a great card for Alesha? Sure, she isn't 2 power but she gives an extra combat phase. This also means creatures with 'when attacking' triggers get a go with the next combat phase. Plus the synergy of extra triggers for Alesha and more Commander Damage.
-Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
1. Deck History
2. Why Play Alesha
3. The Deck
4. Card Options
5. Change Log
6. Strategy
Returning creatures with power 2 or less is a very limited scope of how to build the deck and therefore limits what cards can be played. Having this limitation is good however, since there are many low power creatures that have great effects that synergize well with attacking. She can literally be played in many different ways, and the direction I choose to take her is an aggressive control to clear the board for my “small” army. I decided to build her with the essence of the archetype back from Innistrad/Return to Ravnica standard, the Aristocrats. I have a subtle human synergy that helps the deck with quirky interactions. Alesha being human only adds to this convenience. Look into the different options to see what is best for you when looking at card options. I will go into detail about the choices I make for this particular build.
You like an aggressive combat dependent playstyle
The graveyard is an extension of your hand
Having low “power” for great “effects”
You like synergy over cut and dry tactics
Alesha may NOT be for you if:
You like large splashy creatures
Infinite combos is the best way to play
Reaction over pro-action works best
Combat is overrated
3 Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Creature- 34
1 Serra Ascendant
1 Viscera Seer
2 Blood Artist
2 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
2 Knight of the White Orchid
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Stoneforge Mystic
3 Aven Mindcensor
3 Bone Shredder
3 Fiend Hunter
3 Fulminator Mage
3 Goblin Matron
3 Markov Blademaster
3 Mentor of the Meek
3 Mirror Entity
3 Necrotic Sliver
3 Olivia, Mobilized for War
3 Silverblade Paladin
4 Avalanche Riders
4 Brutal Hordechief
4 Disciple of Bolas
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Falkenrath Noble
4 Murderous Redcap
4 Ogre Battledriver
4 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Solemn Simulacrum
5 Archangel Avacyn
5 Karmic Guide
5 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
5 Reveillark
5 Siege-Gang Commander
6 Archetype of Finality
6 Duplicant
6 Sun Titan
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Entomb
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Vampiric Tutor
3 Anguished Unmaking
4 Return to Dust
4 Utter End
Sorcery- 5
2 Demonic Tutor
3 Buried Alive
3 Retribution of the Meek
3 Vindicate
6 Austere Command
Artifact- 7
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
2 Hero's Blade
2 Swiftfoot Boots
3 Phyrexian Altar
3 Sword of Fire and Ice
3 Sword of Light and Shadow
Enchantment- 6
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
2 Goblin Bombardment
3 Phyrexian Arena
4 Sneak Attack
5 Cathars' Crusade
6 True Conviction
Land
1 Ancient Tomb
1 Arid Mesa
1 Badlands
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blood Crypt
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Godless Shrine
1 Graven Cairns
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Marsh Flats
3 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Plateau
1 Polluted Delta
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Scrubland
1 Strip Mine
4 Swamp
1 Tainted Field
1 Temple of the False God
1 Temple of Triumph
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Vault of the Archangel
Viscera Seer- One of the best creature sac outlets available. His cost can't get much better and scry 1 is invaluable to set up our draws.
Blood Artist- With all the creatures dying, he is a good resource to have to stabilize and it will do some damage to our opponents.
Cartel Aristocrat- Fits to the original Aristocrat theme and is a good sac outlet for my army to reuse Alesha. Plus she can shy away from almost any removal option.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden- He surprises me with how well he performs. Don't have to pay into X to get our power 2 or less creatures and he hits them reliably enough. Pay just a few more mana and you can get Falkenrath Aristocrat or Sun Titan as our top of the line creatures.
Knight of the White Orchid- Mana ramp wrapped into an efficient body for attacking or blocking. Good target to get back to pull ahead when the opponent is putting pressure on.
Leonin Relic-Warder- Temporary artifact or enchantment removal or with a sac outlet online, permanent removal when the triggers are stacked properly. Sac in response to his enter the battlefield trigger, leave the battlefield triggers first and nothing re-enters, then enters the battlefield triggers second exiling its target.
Stoneforge Mystic- Plenty of targets to buff my army up. Mostly used for her enters trigger to find necessary equipment.
Aven Mindcensor- A strong control option to keep my opponents in check. Not being able to crack a fetch, mana ramp, or the deadly demonic tutor is worth keeping this guy in.
Bone Shredder- Seems like he may be too limited with targets when actually he hits a good number of creatures in practice. I have never had any problems having a good target for him. And his repeatable use is good for clearing the path for attacking.
Fiend Hunter- Same use as Bone Shredder and with a sac outlet he becomes better as permanent creature removal.
Fulminator Mage- Controlling our opponents lands is sometimes crucial to knock out Gaea's Cradle, Maze of Ith, Academy Ruins, and Reliquary Tower. All of which can put us into a bad spot if left unchecked.
Goblin Matron- I have enough goblins in here to make use of her and all of them are powerful with their effects. Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker, Siege-Gang Commander, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, all of these are worth the tutor.
Markov Blademaster- When she comes down early she is a huge threat to our opponents. Even late game she can put some pressure on. She is on my watch list but for now she is performing pretty well.
Mentor of the Meek- Card advantage is a good thing and when each creature triggers him it's even better.
Mirror Entity- Combo potential aside, he is a great finisher with my small army. Pumping them to a finish and being recurable when he is inevitably removed is another boon.
Necrotic Sliver- Repeatable removal for any permanent is a auto include for me in this build.
Avalanche Riders- Same as Fulminator Mage for getting rid of problematic lands.
Brutal Hordechief- Punishes when creatures attack and I can control the combat how I choose. Not power 2 or less, but it is a good way to get my army through to finish off opponents or to kill off utility creatures.
Disciple of Bolas- A good sac outlet that I can recur and a source of draw to restock my hand. He has good potential to pull me out of a difficult situation.
Falkenrath Aristocrat- The second, more lethal sister to the Aristocrat archetype. She can get larger for sacing our general or other humans in the list and is a fantastic sac outlet in general for a very good boon of making herself indestructible.
Falkenrath Noble- Another Blood Artist effect that has flying. Creatures dying is a theme of this deck and this gets great mileage. Thumbs up to flying for big scary dragons.
Murderous Redcap- A recent addition that I feel will go a long way. He is almost always 3 damage to creatures or players before I can rinse and repeat with Alesha. Using him as spot removal or for strait damage he puts a faster time clock on my opponents while serving as a good chump blocker.
Ogre Battledriver- Haste is a necessity and while I do not have many haste outlets, his pump is almost more important. Any creature being brought back gets the +2/+0 buff and becomes that much worse when they are attacking.
Pia and Kiran Nalaar- The amount of value this card added to the list is exceptional. Two flying blockers when they enter is amazing, and then can be doubled over as damage. Very similar to Siege-Gang Commander in effect but the flying thopters makes this a shoe in.
Solemn Simulacrum- Already a stellar off color ramp card. Professional blocker and value engine. Even better when we can recur him every turn.
Karmic Guide- More recursion that can get back my larger creatures that Alesha can't hit. And she is easily brought back over and over again. Flying is just an upside and occasionally I have gotten use out of the pro black.
Kiki-Jiki Mirror Breaker- Having one ETB creature trigger with Alesha is fantastic but making it 2 just adds value to the already pending doom train.
Ponyback Brigade- May seem like an unusual choice, but it serves as another Siege-Gang Commander minus the Sac ability. Three tokens is a good thing when forming an army or needing some blockers.
Priest of the Blood Rite- Now this is a token producer. The 2 life loss is mitigated with our sac outlets. If it never survives to our upkeep no life loss. Recurring him is amazing value.
Siege-Gang Commander- Finally the one I have been talking about. He puts in a small army, and can use them to remove other threats in the way. He is almost always a good target if you have nothing else to hit.
Archetype of Finality- Attacking with Alesha, bringing her into play makes no one want to block Alesha anymore. Good as a deterrent for attackers and blockers alike.
Duplicant- An all star removal card in most decks and it is taken to the extreme here when he is always able to be brought back to hit any creature you want, shroud and hexproof aside.
Sun Titan- Staple in most white decks, he hits most of our creatures as they are in the mana range. Plus our equipment package falls into his pick-up as well. He falls into the beater roll nicely and holds a sword like a boss as well.
Entomb- An auto include giving us any creature we want to throw into play with Alesha. This is almost a must for any build.
Path to Exile- Key removal spell. It stops anyone attacking us effectively with their general or other scary beast.
Swords to Plowshares- Same as Path to Exile
Vampiric Tutor- One of the strongest tutors to get what we need when we need it.
Return to Dust- Instant speed option if needed, but even better to get rid of two targets at sorcery speed. One of the strongest artifact and enchantment hate around.
Utter End- Vindicate number 2 but instant and nonland. Not much of a downside here to get rid of anything we want.
Demonic Tutor- The strongest tutor available to get anything straight to hand.
Buried Alive- This gives us options to pick from with Alesha’s ability. We can find exactly what we want and what we need in the particular situation we get into.
Retribution of the Meek- New to my list, it adds another strong wipe that leaves our creatures behind except for a few exceptions. This is a strong sweeper that works with this deck very well.
Vindicate- Any permanent gone. Not much to say on this one.
Austere Command- Versatility is what makes this one shine. It can wipe a lot of large creatures out of our way and leave ours most of the time. Or it can take out artifacts and enchantments just as well.
Skullclamp- With so many of our creatures going to the graveyard, this draws us a lot of advantage. Plus we have tokens, most are 1/1s so we get immediate value from equipping. It keeps us ahead of our opponent’s game.
Sol Ring- One of the strongest mana rocks in the format and allows us to hit a turn 2 Alesha.
Hero's Blade- An all around good buff to make all of our creatures stronger. Auto equips to Alesha making her more of a threat and a hefty body.
Swiftfoot Boots- Protects Alesha and other key creatures, haste is a bonus.
Phyrexian Altar- A strong free sac outlet adding colored mana for us to cast other creatures freely. This is an asset for us to have access to.
Sword of Fire and Ice- Has great protections but is the best utility of the swords that offers removal and card draw. One of our best options for card advantage.
Sword of Light and Shadow- Most relevant protections to removal. It also picks up the creatures that Alesha misses.
Phyrexian Arena- One of Black’s best draw cards. The life loss is small when you get an extra card each turn.
Outpost Siege- This has worked in both of its modes for me. I used it for draw a few times when I really needed it, but most of the time it is dealing damage when my creatures leave the battlefield. This takes out many threats and helps to dwindle down life totals. Since we have so many creatures going to the graveyard it is always triggering.
Sneak Attack- One of my favorite sac outlets in the deck. It triggers ETB for one r, gives haste to attack, and triggers any die triggers as well. Plus it sets up for Alesha reanimation. It is a very strong card and worth consideration.
Cathars' Crusade- This buffs all my creatures to make sure I get a large swing in. Think about bringing back Siege-Gang Commander with this out. 4 Creatures enter the battlefield giving 4 +1/+1 counters to all my creatures. Alesha is now 7/6 and Siege Gang is 6/6. Not to mention any other creature on board. Any token centric build should consider this card.
True Conviction- A way to stabilize but more used for the Double Strike. This gets us to our end game with all the creatures we bring in
Strengths
Alesha has many strengths that help her get through and makes her a valid commander choice.
- Power and toughness being 3/2 is a nice aggressive standpoint.
- First Strike is a relevant ability to have for early game threats to take out most utility and low cost creatures.
- Her cost is aggressively costed bringing her down effectively early to mid-game
- Her ability triggers on attacking, not damage being dealt, and cannot be interrupted after we declare attackers. It is only
- She is able to recur many of our card options to get more mileage out of our plays.
Weaknesses
With power comes weakness as well. Here are some of the things that go against our strategy.
- Torpor Orb effects hinder our game plan since many of our creatures are enter that battlefield oriented. We have to watch out for this and take out the threat before it hinders our game plan.
- Graveyard hate is going to be an upward challenge for us, we have to know when to bait the removal to get back what we want. Stay alert against decks running these types of answers.
- Having two toughness makes her take non combat damage and die very easily. Against dedicated spellslingers, it will pose more of an issue to overcome the challenge they bring to the table.
- Dedicated combo decks will be an issue if we do not hold resources to stop them. However this is not always easy as we are a more proactive build than reactive.
When to Cast Alesha
Playing Alesha takes a lot of timing with our plays and coordination to other key aspects of the deck. Casting Alesha needs to be planned out ahead of time. However, this plan will change from matchup to matchup. It really depends on the other commanders at the table. If we are staring down some agro or voltron builds, casting her as soon as possible is probably our strongest move probably between turns 3-5. Her First Strike is relevant enough that it will help stave off attacks coming our way if there are no large creatures. Luckily, she only costs 3 and there are not many aggressive voltron commanders that are cheap to cast. Most have to be buffed with equipment in order to become a threat and that gives us time. Control Commanders are slower to play out and therefore we can cast Alesha more leisurely after we build up other utility on board, ramp, graveyard flow, etc. This is when she will want to come out between turns 5-7. Combo builds are an unsure tossup. Depending on the commander, this can bode well for us or be completely their game. Combo is probably what Alesha is weakest at facing due to her lack of interaction with key combo pieces. The best we can do in this scenario is to hold removal for something on board before the interactions start to happen.
Early Game: Turns 1-5
Our early game should consist of setting up our resources to start a chain of Alesha triggers as well as forming a strong board position. Many of our creatures are aggressively cost being < 5 CMC. 26 of the creatures in this build fall into this range. What we look to play at this stage is cards like Knight of the White Orchid to fix our mana and ramp, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, to cheat out other creatures, Stoneforege Mystic to set up one of our draw engines or other utility. All of these objectives should be high priority to ready ourselves for the Mid Game where we start putting pressure on our opponents. Setting up the mana will be the most important action to take in this stage.
Mid Game: Turns 5-10
This is a good time to get Alesha on board. We should have enough utility setup to have a good mana base, focus on our sac engines to ready for Alesha triggers. It is perfectly fine to play Alesha down in the early game as I mentioned before. If there are aggressive creatures to defend against then she is one of our best defenses with her abilities and power. This is when we can hit the cards that will really lay down some advantage and form our army. Siege-Gang Commander, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Priest of the Blood Rite, all of these will give us a field that will outnumber our opponents to get through and re-use our ETB and LTB triggers. We want to maximize the EFFECT of what we play and not necessarily put the most power on board. Sheer numbers will turn the game in our favor while we manage the board state. Our means to do this are numerous with cards such as Fiend Hunter, Bone Shredder, Fulminator Mage, and Duplicant. These all clear the path and stop opponents from playing devastating lands to push us back. Do not be afraid to lay down a board wipe if need be, we can recover much quicker than they can most of the time with Alesha bringing them back to fight. Not to mention Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Sun Titan for the same reasons.
Late Game: Turns 10+
We should focus our efforts to take out at least one player by this point to thin out the aggression towards us. By this point, we want to have a manageable army that is aggressively attacking when available and leaving optimal blockers behind. Cards at this stage should be Cathar’s Crusade and True Conviction to try and close out the game. If we get stopped early, it can cause some issues for us to get back up by this point due to the opponents having their board state optimized. Card advantage is key if we do fall behind. Getting back up will take time with Alesha alone but it is not impossible if we lose momentum. Key creatures should still be in our yard where we can start removing the largest threats to us. Holding our instant and sorcery removal for late game is a good idea as most of our creatures can control the early and mid-game. It will aid us with getting back up.
8/21/15
- Sunforger
- Sword of Feast and Famine
- Terminate
+ Retribution of the Meek
+ Reveillark
+ Buried Alive
I will add more to the primer in progress as I get time to update. For now this is a start and I have been testing her out for a good while. I will continue to post what is working and what I have been testing, but for now, enjoy the list and follow her to Death's door. Any suggestions are welcome.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
I chose to leave Master of Cruelties out of the list for personal reasons. I will definitely put that in my card options section once I get to update more. I like to win with her synergies and her aggressive might, but for the same reason I do not like him in a Kaalia build is why I did not include him here. I may reconsider at some point to put him back in but my playgroup has had unpleasant thoughts about him, so to keep the game more fun I left him on the sidelines. Thanks for looking over the list and any suggestions will help to improve it.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
Modern
- I'll see about finding a place for Reveillark. There is no denying that he would be a perfect fit here.
- Fulminator Mage and Avalanche Riders has pulled a lot of weight for me. My playgroup doesn't mind using LD as a tool.
- You're right, Buried Alive should find a place here. I'll look at what to cut to add it in.
- I decided to keep the wraths at a minimum but Retribution of the Meek is one that works with this deck so it is a good consideration. Crackling Doom and Boros Charm are ones I want to consider adding for Sunforger. Or Sunforger could be a cut, I haven't decided which yet but will update OP when I add in some changes.
Thanks for looking it over, you have some great suggestions.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
I have been loving Alesha since the DTK prerelease so it's always nice to see others working with her. My build has now gone through 3 very different and distinct builds so far. It started a little like yours but a bit less focused. It was a first draft just focusing on value. Then, it became a fun reanimator deck (with this build, I once killed myself for fun off of reanimating a Baleful Force T2 and then just losing massive life to it.) Now, it is kind of a Soul Sisters type build which has been kinda fun.
Regardless of which strategy though, there are a few key cards I have loved that I suggest to everyone who thinks about her.
First, Liliana's Specter mass opponent discard to control their hand size can be great. Especially if you get reveillark and/or karmic guide guide in on it.
Second, is a little card draw package with Grim Haruspex and Vulturous Aven. While the haruspex can't be recurred with alesha, sun titan gets it as does karmic guide and it is just a really solid card. Vulturous aven can just get reanimated and sac itself if you have nothing else giving you a Sign in Blood every turn.
Third, since a lot of your key cards like Disciple of Bolas and Falkenrath Aristocrat are at 4 CMC, Fleshwrither is a great utility searcher. While he sadly evades getting rezed by Alesha and Sun Titan, karmic guide can still get him.
Lastly, Burnished Hart is very solid ramp. While a little more mana intensive than sad robot, it is still great. Plus, Sun Titan.
Modern
Thanks for the kind words and the suggestions are really great considerations.
The ones that stand out to me most are Liliana's Specter, and Vulturous Aven. I like the ability to dwindle down my opponents hands with the specter and it would be a good consideration for making sure I am not disrupted. I like it and will consider testing it out. Vulturous Aven is really interesting and has a lot of potential. The draw it provides is definitely worth looking into. I like Grim Haruspex, although I do have reservations as it is harder to recur. Although there are other options to get him back, I feel comfortable having my general be the resource to get most of the value out of the creatures. But I may revisit him as he is a good value engine. Right now mana is working pretty good with fixing colors, so Burnished Hart will stay out for now. At least until I see that mana becomes an issue.
Thanks again, I really liked the ideas and they will help to influence the deck even more. I will continue play testing.
I was able to play 2 games tonight and while I did not win the matches, I was able to see what tweaks need to be made. One game was a blowout by a Marchesa, the Black Rosemodular deck with Purphoros, God of the Forge. Needless to say this ended pretty quickly. The second game stalled out between Alesha and Venser, Shaper Savant. I was staring down an Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and was holding him off at 6 life but the card advantage he generated pulled him ahead and the Falkenrath Noble that was keeping me in the game got removed finally. It was close, but he got the upper hand on me.
I learned that I need to find a resource sooner to protect Falkenrath Noble and I could have possibly gotten one but it was just a little too late. I will test her out more and do a write up on strategy that I have experienced over the many months of play testing with her.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
As for token generators, Evangel of Heliod has proven a lot better in my deck than I first thought. He makes two tokens by default, which is worse than the Ponyback Brigade, but with Enchantments like Cathar's Crusade I often have quite a bit of white devotion. That depends on your deck though. Priest of the Blood Rite and Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder could also be good. Admittedly, my build is way more token-focussed than yours.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is absurdly good. Makes enough tokens with her +1 to be commander-relevant and can repeatedly cast Retribution of the Meek if you protect her a bit (which is easy, because she makes tokens).
Anger is a pretty good haste enabler, which may help your aggressive gameplan.
There's also a couple of really strong sacrifice deck staples you might use, like Gravepact, Ashnod's Altar and Black Market, but I'm not sure how far you want to go down that path and cut more aggressive cards for them.
You have a good point but there are two things that bone shredder has over faceless butcher that I like. He has flying so he becomes a good blocker all around, and he can sac himself with echo on my turn if I don't use him for blocking. He sets me up for removing something else the next turn. The best thing about Butcher is he can be used like Fiend hunter with a sac outlet but I do need one online to permanently remove a creature.
Evangel of Heliod is a nice token generator. I will have to see how much white devotion I can get to make him really shine. Priest of the Blood Rite I am using, he puts in a big creature and has been doing very well, Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder could be an option and I hadn't thought about him but he does only put them in when cast which I do not like necessarily.
If I go more of a token focused build I will look at Elspeth. She has always been a good planeswalker in other decks and the same would go for this one. Her -3 would be a great asset.
Anger I have been looking to add in.
Grave pact and Black Market are cards that I don't want to focus on too heavily. I want it to be an aggressive deck as you said and the control elements already in are enough to do both of what I need. The mana isn't an issue so the market would go unused quite a bit. Ashnod's Altar is a good sac outlet. I have Phyrexian Altar for the colored mana and it is doing well. Maybe I'll add one more in.
Thanks for the suggestions. I plan to reevaluate some of the options to see which ones you suggested would fit what I'm looking for.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1x Anger
1x Ankle Shanker
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Blood Artist
1x Bloodghast
1x Brutal Hordechief
1x Dimir House Guard
1x Disciple of Bolas
1x Duergar Hedge-Mage
1x Duplicant
1x Falkenrath Noble
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Flesh Carver
1x Grand Abolisher
1x Graveblade Marauder
1x Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
1x Grim Haruspex
1x Hushwing Gryff
1x Iroas, God of Victory
1x Karmic Guide
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
1x Liliana, Heretical Healer Flip
1x Master of Cruelties
1x Mentor of the Meek
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Mindclaw Shaman
1x Mirror Entity
1x Murderous Redcap
1x Necrotic Sliver
1x Nekrataal
1x Pain Seer
1x Priest of the Blood Rite
1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
1x Raving Dead
1x Reveillark
1x Siege-Gang Commander
1x Silverblade Paladin
1x Solemn Simulacrum
1x Stoneforge Mystic
1x Sun Titan
1x Viscera Seer
1x Vulturous Aven
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Skullclamp
1x Sol Ring
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
Planeswalker (1)
1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Enchantment (7)
1x Cathars' Crusade
1x Dictate of Erebos
1x Flameshadow Conjuring
1x Goblin Bombardment
1x Mardu Ascendancy
1x Outpost Siege
1x Reconnaissance
Instant (4)
1x Crackling Doom
1x Path to Exile
1x Return to Dust
1x Swords to Plowshares
Sorcery (3)
1x Buried Alive
1x Faithless Looting
1x Unburial Rites
Land (36)
1x Blood Crypt
1x Command Tower
1x Clifftop Retreat
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Fetid Heath
1x Godless Shrine
1x Graven Cairns
1x Isolated Chapel
7x Mountain
7x Plains
1x Reflecting Pool
1x Rugged Prairie
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Slayers' Stronghold
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
7x Swamp
1x Temple of the False God
1x Vault of the Archangel
Much credit to Jr's build which gave me the idea. You may also find some inspiration from his build.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/multiplayer-commander-decklists/597132-alesha-the-domino-of-war
also, consider Ankle Shanker/High Priest of Penance? they make your army a lot more lethal when swinging.
[EDH In Development] Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Queen Marchesa | Ruhan of the Fomori | Yahenni, Undying Partisan
[EDH Retired] Ertai, The Corrupted | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Tariel, Reckoner of Souls | Korlash, Heir to Blackblade
[Modern] Stuffy Doll Combo Burn | Demigod of Revenge
I like a lot of the card options you went with. Admittedly we have a few different themes and I like how you presented yours. Reconnaissance is a great choice that I have been looking into and I feel it fits very well into what you have going to take out certain attackers you want to survive. Flameshadow Conjuring feels to me like it won't pull its weight. If you have a lot of ETB triggers than I can see its usefulness, however most of the time Alesha is bringing them back and therefor the haste will be irrelevant for the token you make off of it only for it to exile EoT. In a dedicated token build I can see it being very useful. I had forgotten about Nekrataal as another bone shredder effect. You may consider bone shredder as well. The self sac is a huge upside. How is mindclaw shaman working out? I could never hit much off of him to warrant keeping him in over other options.
I am wondering, why no entomb? It can be played right before Alesha attacks to get exactly what you want unless it's for budget concerns then I can understand. Or at EoT on your opponents turn. It has proven a necessity for me in certain situations. I recommend it.
Thanks for posting your ideas, and let me know how the deck is working out if you feel like any changes need to be made to your list. It looks solid.
Ankle Shanker is a really good option to stave off blockers. It is an unfavorable trade that will be avoided. High Priest of Penance may prove useful but if he isn't blocked than he is mostly dead weight. I feel other options are stronger choices, such as Fiend Hunter, Bone Shredder, etc. For one more mana they take out a threat albeit removing creatures which will pose the largest problem for us and still can get damage in.
Thanks for the input it helps to round out the weaknesses of the deck and I'll keep Ankle Shanker in mind as well.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
Updating with Battle for Zendikar just around the corner. Here are some of the cards I feel could make an impact with Alesha. There are pros and cons with the set, but overall, I feel BFZ brings a few great choices to her.
Kor Bladewhirl- She is an interesting option if we need to kill off a few creatures or protect our board state a little more. The problem with her is we run small creatures and not always will they be getting a buff from anything. So she doesn’t quite reach the bar in my book.
Makindi Patrol- He is an interesting addition, although when he becomes relevant with Alesha, we will be in the middle of combat already so his effect will be irrelevant most of the time after the initial play of him. If you are running other ways to recur creatures, then give him a consideration.
Drana, Liberator of Malakir- Drana I believe will be an excellent addition to Alesha’s army. Send her at an open opponent; reap her benefit of hitting first, then buffing our entire board before they deal damage. Sounds like a pretty easy buff and makes her army even stronger. Of course Alesha will not get buffed before the counters, but she will be ready next turn with them.
Smothering Abomination- He will be pretty amazing I think. If you are running a decent number of sac outlets he gets much more mileage, but his sac ability is great on its own. He can set up for reusing any creature with Alesha and has a good body plus flying. I think he deserves a good consideration and I plan to test him out on release.
Zulaport Cutthroat- Not as good as Blood Artist in some ways. I feel if we use a lot of sac outlets this can get much better hitting all opponents. I wouldn’t swap him out for Blood Artist, but he is a good consideration and I want to see just how useful he can be.
Firemantle Mage- Now this reentering more than once is insane. Makes it a nightmare to block any of our creatures and when there are swarms of them, they will most definitely be getting through. I’m highly considering him.
Resolute Blademaster- I like him for the fact that our army gets double damage in. How relevant he will be is unknown at this point. Of course if you run ways to buff your creatures, he will be much more useful.
Quarantine Field- I like it but it’s hefty and I don’t think we need something like this. It will clear a large path for us, but it just feels a little slow and mana intensive to prove too useful to us. I think I will pass on this one.
Retreat to Emeria- Retreat to Emeria has two great modes on it. A token producer wrapped into a buff for our creatures. Popping a fetch in combat will make our creatures insanely better. But that is limiting us to buffing the ones Alesha gets back to combat only. But if we have a mass token swarm, go for it with the fetch’s/ Solemn Simulacrum/Kor Cartographer/ Knight of the White Orchid. The list goes on and on.
Grip of Desolation- Too costly for my taste but it gives an extra exile effect and gets a land and creature. It is nice to have that utility, but is 6 mana too much? Will have to wait and see.
Vampiric Rites- I like this as a cheap additional sac outlet. 2 mana for each activation could make this hard to activate sometimes, but I feel the card advantage will outweigh the mana activation. Getting a creature into our graveyard for Alesha to use plus drawing us a card is just a lot of value to have. Plus it pings our life total up which is never a bad thing.
Ob Nixilis Reignited- He has a lot of upsides to him especially with his removal. I don't know if he is what Alesha is looking for, we have other options for this, but he could be a good value engine if that is what you are looking for. I feel we have better options to look at.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar- An overall powerful walker. I'd more than likely only use him for his 0 ability to pump a token out or immediately ult off for the everlasting Glorious Anthem. He is well costed to be a good threat.
Overall, I think these are the cards that can play a pivotal role. There may be a few other gems, but I feel I covered a good portion of what will be good for Alesha here. Any opinions on these can help improvement.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
| Omnath | Zada | Alesha | Scion |
| Mazirek | Animar |
Modern
UR Storm RU
UBRG Dredge GRBU
Standard
UR Thermo-Thing RU
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
My considerations for the deck are:
Anguished Unmaking
Olivia, Mobilized for War
Archangel Avacyn / Avacyn, the Purifier
I am looking to cut:
Ponyback Brigade
Priest of the Blood Rite
Outpost Siege
Avacyn is a little iffy as most of my creatures will be small creatures, but she is a decent wipe and a large beater that can swing the pendulum drastically. Olivia is a discard outlet for Alesha to bring my creatures back in and she gives haste and a boost to attack. Pretty powerful for her cost. Anguished unmaking is a third vindicate effect and is definitely on the top of the add list. If anyone has other suggestions or comments on these additions please let me know. Or if better cuts are suited. The cuts I listed have not really been that useful in play testing and ponyback brigade isn't really needed with Pia and Kiran Nalaar and Siege-Gang Commander performing similar roles.
WBR Alesha's Death Brigade WBR
WWW Brigid the Battlefield Saboteur WWW
UB Wydwen, the Biting Gale UB
Also, wouldn't Aurelia, the Warleader be a great card for Alesha? Sure, she isn't 2 power but she gives an extra combat phase. This also means creatures with 'when attacking' triggers get a go with the next combat phase. Plus the synergy of extra triggers for Alesha and more Commander Damage.
Mid-Tier:
Filthy Casual: WUBRG Jodah WUBRG WUBRG Fatties WUBRG