Atarka Red was one of the scariest decks when it was legal in Standard, and there have been a number of Burn decks in Modern over the years that went a little more creature heavy with Wild Nactal. The unifying force between them was the most aggressive of the command cycle: Atarka's Command.

Now Atarka's Command has a new format to battle in, as it has been included in the most recent Historic Anthology 5 release on MTG Arena. One of the most enjoyable parts of Historic being a curated format is getting to see cards in a whole new context, but Atarka's Command isn't that complicated...

Just get aggressive and attack!

Time Stamps:

00:05:13 - Match 1

00:25:17 - Match 2

00:51:14 - Match 3

01:04:04 - Match 4

01:12:53 - Match 5

Atarka Red | Historic | Jim Davis

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Gallia of the Endless Dance
• 2 Grim Lavamancer
• 2 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
• 4 Bomat Courier
• 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
• 4 Ghitu Lavarunner
• 4 Soul-Scar Mage
• 4 Viashino Pyromancer

• Instants (12)
• 4 Atarka's Command
• 4 Shock
• 4 Wizard's Lightning

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Pillar of Flame

• Lands (20)
• 8 Mountain
• 4 Cragcrown Pathway
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Stomping Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Relic of Progenitus
• 2 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
• 2 Bonecrusher Giant
• 3 Rampaging Ferocidon
• 2 Goblin Chainwhirler
• 3 Masked Vandal

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Atarka's Command doesn't fit super well in the more stock Gruul decks because they are more interested in going big and closing on Embercleave, while Atarka's Command wants to go wider and care more about the burn half of the card. As such, it works much better as a light splash into a mostly Mono-Red Aggro deck.

We see a lot of old favorites here, with a plethora of cheap one and two-mana spells being turbocharged by Burning-Tree Emissary and a slight wizard theme for Wizard's Lightning. Cards like Shock and Grim Lavamancer can help out against other creature decks, while Bomat Courier can help draw cards in the midgame against more controlling decks.

As we saw in the video the deck hits extremely hard and fast, while also having reach with the plethora of burn spells not usually seen in Historic decks. Lightning Bolt may be banned, but Wizard's Lightning is very close.

If you like being aggressive, Atarka's Command is the place to be!