In my previous article, I wrote about the next step for my Damia, Sage of Stone Commander deck. The concept was that her superpower allows me to draw a bunch of extra cards, and it becomes more powerful the more cards I cast because then I can draw more cards. Thus, I’m incentivized to cast cheaper cards and play aggressively, taking advantage of Damia to recharge my gas tank.

Last time, the strategy I went with was Slivers, inspired by Magic 2014, but there’s another strategy in Magic that offers itself to card disadvantage and that I hope Damia can help in compensating for. In Commander, this strategy is known as Voltron. A commander like Uril, the Miststalker has “Aura” written right in the text box, making it blindingly obvious what his game plan is. However, one of the most popular complaints about Auras is the card disadvantage, and Damia makes up for that. It could be that, secretly, Damia has “Aura” written in her text box as well—proverbially speaking.

The One and the Many

Some of our Auras—and even other cards—will be to protect Damia, but she might sometimes leave the battlefield nonetheless due to such silliness as Evacuation, Final Judgment, or Hallowed Burial. When we can’t just dump our library of Auras onto the battlefield or draw a few new ones each turn with her superpower, we might want to buy back all of our lost investments. Creeping Renaissance is a great option here, but since I want to keep the deck sorceryless, I went with Crystal Chimes instead. This old card is great for enchantment decks, of which we don’t see many, meaning it isn’t often seen. That means we can enjoy the Johnny deck-building bonus of our opponents having to read it.

Mana-Ramp

Silverglade Pathfinder—and to a lesser extent Dreamscape Artist—is an all-star here, as we can use its Spellshaper power to cycle cards as Rampant Growths and replace them with extra draws with Damia. For 2 mana, we can even turn a land in our hand into a land on the battlefield, virtually offering us additional draw steps.

Extras

A card I really like from Avacyn Restored is Homicidal Seclusion, though I haven’t had nearly enough chances to play with it as I’d like. It does fit here, though; it grants my favorite keyword in the form of lifelink, and it brings Damia to the all-important-in-Commander power of 7.

Another non-Aura enchantment to help out Damia is Teferi's Veil. While it doesn’t combo well when she has vigilance (from Favor of the Overbeing or Auramancer's Guise), virtually removing her from the battlefield after a good attack can protect her from sorcery-speed removal in case she doesn’t have a totem armor Aura or a regeneration-granting Aura—or just if someone plays one of the aforementioned Evacuation, Final Judgment, Hallowed Burial, or the like. Phasing her out means her Auras will indirectly phase out, meaning they’ll also be protected from sorcery-speed spells such as Akroma's Vengeance or even Calming Verse. When she phases back in, she’ll bring with her all her Auras and +1/+1 counters (from Shape of the Wiitigo), ready to draw more cards and hit another opponent for a bunch of damage.

An adjunct to the Extras category are the Equipment. Champion's Helm, Darksteel Plate, Ring of Evos Isle, and Swiftfoot Boots are around to help protect Damia and sometimes even grant her haste or make her larger. These are some of the most important attachments other than those that enlarge her (for the kill!), so it’s nice that they stick around through catastrophe.

And Now for the Auras

Ancestral Mask and Auramancer's Guise are among the highest-powered Auras of the deck, as they can monstrify Damia to epic proportions. Exoskeletal Armor can do the same, though it will be fueled by others’ decks rather than our own, so if your playgroup doesn’t fill its ’yards with creatures, this Aura may not be a great choice.

Bear Umbra is around for casting even more spells. I considered Sword of Feast and Famine for a moment to do the same thing, as it’s a very powerful effect, but protection from black and green would prevent Damia from suiting up with a significant portion of her Auras. The only Sword I’d consider is Sword of War and Peace. Several other Umbras make appearances here as well for their totem armor, allowing Damia to live through both the Day of Judgment, the Decree of Pain, and even the Wrath of God.

I included some non-Auras in this section despite their questionable card types, but fret not! They are Licids, and they have the superpowers to transform themselves into Auras. Corrupting Licid transforms into Fear, Gliding Licid transforms into Flight, Nurturing Licid transforms into Regeneration, and Tempting Licid transforms into Lure. On their own, those are probably not Auras I’d run in the deck, but each provides a useful effect, and the versatility the Licids offer—in that they can change between enchantments and creatures—is quite potent. If Damia is somehow targeted for removal, a Licid can revert to a creature and stick around. If someone targets us with a Chainer's Edict or we’re being affected by a Grave Pact, reverting an Aura Licid to its creature form means we can sacrifice that instead of Damia. A Licid can also serve as a tiny beater in a pinch.

Oblivion Crown is an odd choice, but it allows us to cycle cards with Damia’s power, as I described earlier with Silverglade Pathfinder.

My original Damia list with Zombies included Viridian Longbow as part of a Trinket Mage package. It’s great with Damia because of her natural deathtouch. Thus, Psionic Gift and Hermetic Study make appearances here, allowing Damia to do her impersonation of another Gorgon, Visara, the Dreadful. With Pemmin's Aura, she gets to do her impersonation of Goblin Sharpshooter against an army of Elves.

Finally, Vanishing is another of my phasing favorites for Commander; with this, unlike with Teferi's Veil, we can even keep Damia available for blocks, perhaps with vigilance, and then phase out at instant speed.

"Voltron Gorgon"

• Commander (0)

• Extras (10)
• 1 Crystal Chimes
• 1 Dowsing Shaman
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Fierce Empath
• 1 Homicidal Seclusion
• 1 Primal Surge
• 1 Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1 Teferi's Veil
• 1 Vraska the Unseen
• 1 Ward of Bones

• Mana-Ramp (15)
• 1 Dawntreader Elk
• 1 Diligent Farmhand
• 1 Dreamscape Artist
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Frontier Guide
• 1 Khalni Heart Expedition
• 1 Ondu Giant
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Silkwing Scout
• 1 Silverglade Pathfinder
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Viridian Emissary
• 1 Yavimaya Granger
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble

• Equipment (4)
• 1 Champion's Helm
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Ring of Evos Isle
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots

• Auras (36)
• 1 Alpha Authority
• 1 Ancestral Mask
• 1 Auramancer's Guise
• 1 Bear Umbra
• 1 Blessing of Leeches
• 1 Boar Umbra
• 1 Coils of the Medusa
• 1 Corrupting Licid
• 1 Drake Umbra
• 1 Elephant Guide
• 1 Eel Umbra
• 1 Exoskeletal Armor
• 1 Favor of the Overbeing
• 1 Fool's Demise
• 1 Gaea's Embrace
• 1 Gliding Licid
• 1 Ghostly Wings
• 1 Hermetic Study
• 1 Mark of the Vampire
• 1 Nurturing Licid
• 1 Oblivion Crown
• 1 Pemmin's Aura
• 1 Psionic Gift
• 1 Rancor
• 1 Shade's Form
• 1 Shielding Plax
• 1 Shape of the Wiitigo
• 1 Sleeper's Robe
• 1 Snake Umbra
• 1 Spider Umbra
• 1 Tempting Licid
• 1 Traveler's Cloak
• 1 Vampiric Embrace
• 1 Vanishing
• 1 Verdant Embrace
• 1 Vow of Wildness

• Lands (34)
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Faerie Conclave
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Simic Guildgate
• 1 Spawning Pool
• 1 Treetop Village
• 1 Watery Grave
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 7 Forest
• 7 Island
• 7 Swamp

Buy This Deck

With Theros looming, we’ve already seen a few preview cards, and I’m sure the deific bequeath mechanic will provide a few great options for this deck. (Though if the previewed Celestial Archon is to be the precedent, they might be too expensive to cast as Auras and thus fit in here.) Part of me wants to hold off on this article until I’ve seen more of Theros’s enchantment-themed options, but with a large expert set coming down the pipeline, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of comborific options to keep me busy writing about in future weeks.

Thanks for reading, and remember to draw up to seven in your upkeep!

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com