Welcome back, lore seekers! Today is my first flavor build for Phyrexia: All Will be One. This is always a fun project for settings with multiple returns, and today is no exception. I'm going to be brewing Kemba, Kha Enduring using cards exclusively from Mirrodin sets! The design space for equipment cats has been consistent through our three visits to Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, so there should be plenty of room to build an entire commander deck in flavor! Let's dive in.

Who is Kemba?

Kemba, Kha Enduring by Zoltan Boros

Kemba, Kha Enduring is an important figure for the Mirran Leonin, although she doesn't actually appear in any stories. Years ago, the leonin were led by Raksha Golden Cub, but Raksha disappeared along with the rest of the elder generations of leonin during an event known as the Vanishing (in truth, Raksha was reincarnated on his soul's original plane... it's a whole thing). In the sudden leadership vacuum, the leonin turned to Kemba, who had been a hero during the Leveler War (the events of the end of the Mirrodin story directly preceding the Vanishing).

The Non-Human Cultures of Mirrodin has this to say about Kemba:

Fast forwarding to modern times, Kemba is given an update in The Legends of Phyrexia: All Will Be One:

The Deck

Given that this is another cat-themed deck, there's going to be a small amount of overlap with Jedit Ojanen, Meowcenaries, so if you'd rather make Jedit Cat Equipment, I'd say you could combine these decklists fairly easily. The Mirrodin flavor, however, gives us enough distinction to set these two decks apart. Kemba, Kha Enduring uses a go-wide equipment strategy to shift around the power and break down your opponent's defenses.

Kemba herself is relatively inexpensive and can be played early, although I would wait until you have at least a little bit of a board state, to avoid early removal making her more expensive. Kemba gives you a free equip on a cat entering the battlefield, and creates an anthem effect for any creature equipped.

Because we're looking at a go-wide strategy, most of the equipment in this deck is on the lower end of the mana value spectrum, mostly 3- and 4-cost equipment. There's very little in the way of instants and sorceries in this deck, and that's because the equipment is going to be providing that value, especially through the Swords of... cycle. The deck isn't incredibly powerful, but without much in the way of flashy equipment or creatures, you'll probably be overlooked in your pod. It's a fairly simple and straightforward deck.

Creatures

If you're wondering about the flavor of some of the names used on the leonin cards from Mirrodin, The Non-Human Cultures of Mirrodin breaks down some of the jargon:

Abuna. Leonin religious leaders known as abunas must spend a year in the wild zones of the Razor Fields before they can earn their clerical robes. Abunas lead other leonin

in the traditional Sunroar, a holy ceremony of sun worship.

Shikari. Leonin who specialize in hunting big game are known as shikari. Shikari use special magic to warp the razorgrass, using it to bind and trap their quarry. The hunt is almost a religion for most leonin, and the shikari are greatly honored.

Skyhunter. Skyhunters are daring leonin warriors who ride flying creatures called pterons. Skyhunters obey a creed of courage and loyalty, never failing to help a friend in need even in the face of grave danger.

Arbiter. Leonin judge-seers called arbiters practice a ritualized form of holy magic. The arbiters use their cataract-afflicted eyesight to read the positions of the suns for omens. Their advice is used to settle disputes and to determine punishments for enemies and lawbreakers. Some arbiters have scars from Whitesun vigils undertaken in the Cave of Light.

Balan, Wandering Knight is a flavor bend, but you'll want to activate her ability as a combat trick. Going from one equipment to EVERY equipment can change a combat scenario very quickly. Kemba's Legion and Kemba's Skyguard are mostly here for the name, although Kemba's Legion can be useful as a blocker. With some of the tricks in this deck, your opponent may find it blocking their entire attack out of nowhere. Finally, Leonin Shikari allows you to use equip abilities at instant speed. Combined with some of the cost reduction in this deck, and you can pull some tricky equipment shuffling to get the advantage on your opponent.

Equipment

Almost all the equipment in this deck is from various Mirrodin sets, or at least flavored as being set on Mirrodin. There are a couple of exceptions, but generally that holds true. While the strategy for most of these cards in obvious, let me point out one thing worth mentioning for Sword of Kaldra, Shield of Kaldra, and Helm of Kaldra. It's generally not going to be worthwhile to make the Kaldra avatar rather than simply powering up your own creatures, but it makes for a great combat trick or recovery after a board wipe.

Planeswalkers

The planeswalkers represented here all work within flavor, to an extent. Elspeth Tirel and The Eternal Wanderer were both on New Phyrexia helping the Mirran Resistance, and both cards are from a Mirrodin/New Phyrexia set. Nahiri, the Lithomancer isn't the version of her that comes to New Phyrexia to help, but since she was there I decided using this older card would fit okay. Ajani, Caller of the Pride is a bit more of a stretch, but I like to think he would have helped out had the opportunity presented itself.

The Flavor Breaks

Let's get these out of the way first. There are a number of cards that are simply too good to pass up in a deck like this. Brimaz, King of Oreskos synergizes too well with the cat theme of the deck. Same with Regal Caracal and Felidar Retreat. Hammer of Nazahn, meanwhile, is a must-include for equipment decks, although the fact that Nazahn is himself a leonin from Alara helps ease that flavor bend. Balan, Wandering Knight is here because she synergizes with both the cat and equipment themes. Sigarda's Aid is just a must-include in any White equipment deck, I'm willing to have a handful of flavor breaks if they make the deck significantly better. Nine Lives is cat themed, and is really only here to help you toward the late game.

Kemba's Catquipment | Commander | Jay Annelli

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kemba, Kha Enduring

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Armored Skyhunter
• 1 Auriok Survivors
• 1 Kemba's Legion
• 1 Kemba's Skyguard
• 1 Leonin Abunas
• 1 Leonin Arbiter
• 1 Leonin Den-Guard
• 1 Leonin Elder
• 1 Leonin Lightbringer
• 1 Leonin Relic-Warder
• 1 Leonin Shikari
• 1 Lion Sash
• 1 Puresteel Paladin
• 1 Regal Caracal
• 1 Skyhunter Cub
• 1 Skyhunter Strike Force
• 1 Steelshaper Apprentice
• 1 Sunspear Shikari
• 1 Taj-Nar Swordsmith
• 1 Myr Adapter
• 1 Balan, Wandering Knight
• 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
• 1 Kemba, Kha Regent
• 1 Raksha Golden Cub

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
• 1 Elspeth Tirel
• 1 Nahiri, the Lithomancer
• 1 The Eternal Wanderer

• Instants (3)
• 1 Armed Response
• 1 Resistance Reunited
• 1 White Sun's Zenith

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Open the Armory
• 1 Steelshaper's Gift

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Felidar Retreat
• 1 Nine Lives
• 1 Sigarda's Aid

• Artifacts (23)
• 1 Argentum Armor
• 1 Commander's Plate
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Glimmer Lens
• 1 Godsend
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Helm of Kaldra
• 1 Hexgold Hoverwings
• 1 Kemba's Banner
• 1 Leonin Bola
• 1 Leonin Scimitar
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 Nemesis Mask
• 1 Shield of Kaldra
• 1 Strata Scythe
• 1 Sword of Body and Mind
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Sword of Forge and Frontier
• 1 Sword of Kaldra
• 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1 Sword of War and Peace

• Lands (40)
• 40 Plains

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Next Time

That's it for our 'Mirrodin Leonin' deck. Next time I'm jumping over to goblins with Slobad, Iron Goblin!