When you hear the term 'graveyard-centric' in Magic, what color pairs come to mind?

Odds are, your brain goes to Golgari-land. Maybe Izzet if you've a penchant for spell-slinging. These pairings have multiple tools to both fill the graveyard and recycle cards within, essentially turning it into a second hand. While all colors have some form of recursion, building an entire deck around the strategy requires a surplus of synergistic cards.

So, let's build a graveyard-centric deck with Guild that has the fewest: Boros.

Other than a brief tenure at the Lorehold college, White/Red has little synergy with the graveyard. On their own, White is capable of creature (Resurrection) and artifact/enchantment (Brilliant Restoration) revival, while Red retrieves instants/sorceries (Shreds of Sanity) and the occasional artifact via recycling (Trash for Treasure). Combine these powers, and you end can feasibly grab anything out of the graveyard. The issue comes in how little connective tissue there is between these spells. We've few payoffs for paying close attention to the graveyard, which is where our Commander comes in.

Lightning Helix remains a great removal spell, even despite power creep. However, it's most effective in 60-card formats. Increase life totals to 40 and multiply our opponent by three, and it's far less potent. Sure, sniping an Esper Sentinel or Dark Confidant at the Commander table is fantastic, but it won't win us the game. Staple it onto a hard-hitting body with built-in recursion and a repeated trigger, and you're telling a different story. A single Helix may not have much impact, but when we get to 'cast' it each turn atop a 6/6 attacker, it provides a solid degree of board control. Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury's first foray onto the battlefield will be brief, often immediately sacrificing himself after picking off a smaller creature with his other ETB trigger. To get him attacking, we'll need a consistently-full graveyard. Manage that, and we can effectively dodge the Commander tax, utilizing Escape to put our Commander back into play each time he revisits the underworld. Yes, graveyard-destruction (Bojuka Bog, Farewell) is an issue, but at the least we'll be able to ship our general back to the Command Zone in the event our graveyard gets exiled. With enough rummage and wheel effects, it shouldn't take too long to refill the 'yard and get our Commander back online.

While we're stocking up our graveyard, we might as well take advantage of the other forms of recursion Boros brings to the table. Aim on exiling excess lands and whatnot to revive Phlage, as we have plenty of tools to recur fallen artifacts (Osgir, the Reconstructor), instants/sorceries (Pinnacle Monk), or a mix (Reconstruct History). Exercise caution in what you exile with Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury's Escape ability, as keeping our graveyard stocked with useful spells becomes the hidden backbone, and ultimate win condition, of our deck. Phlage will clear troublesome creatures and soften opposing life totals while we work our way up casting game-winning spells like Storm Herd and Approach of the Second Sun from the graveyard.

Within the lore, Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury serves as one of Theros's four Titans, the dominating force on the plane until the Pantheon of gods took over. In Greek myth, the Titans were in charge before Zues and co. ousted them, and much the same holds true on Theros. Klothys, God of Destiny was originally in charge of guarding the imprisoned titans, of whom we've met three of the four: Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger, and now Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury. Only Skotha, Titan of Eternal Darkness has yet to receive a card. And when they finally get it, my money's on Orzhov.

All was going well with the Titan's imprisonment until Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines came along. Flash forward to the present, and many of the gods have fallen to the Phyrexian Invasion (Ex. Heliod, the Radiant Dawn // Heliod, the Warped Eclipse). We don't know exactly which gods survived, though the Ephara side of Battle for Theros // Ephara, Ever-Sheltering implies all mono-color members of the Pantheon were either compleated or killed by Phyrexia. The ensuing power vacuum has yet to be explored, though we do know that Athreos, God of Passage tasked Kunoros, Hound of Athreos to watch over Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger a la Kroxa and Kunoros once the branches of Phyrexia's Realmbreaker penetrated Theros's underworld. Considering Kroxa's whole schtick is 'eat everything', I imagine the invaders and their glistening oil were consumed without issue. I have no idea what Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury was up to during the invasion, but seeing as oil is quite flammable, I imagine Athreos also put him to good use.

Back to card mechanics, and we can see where Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury gets his hot temper. He simply wants to watch the world burn, but in stark contrast to a more nihilistic general, also gains us life along the way. I guess we'll call it "selective scorched earth". Unlike Kroxa, Phlage's wrath seems intentionally directed at key targets. It's a damn shame Phlage ended up on Theros, as if he'd made his first appearance on Ravnica, the Boros Legion would've welcomed him with an immediate job offer and dental plan. Fate can be cruel.

Phalge, Titan of Fire's Fury by Alex Dos Dias

Dental plans cover tusks, right?

Now that we've covered the character, let's delve into the cardboard:

Keep our Graveyard Full

Getting Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury into the 'yard is easy. We'll simply cast him as a sorcery-speed removal spell, then he'll sacrifice himself. Well, unless we deploy Strict Proctor, but we can't rely on her showing up every game. Once Phlage is buried, we'll need plenty of cards alongside him for the escape. Red has ample rummage-style outlets to let us simultaneously draw into relevant spells while pitching unneeded cardboard (Demand Answers, Big Score, Faithless Looting, Into the Fire, etc.). Wheel effects like Magus of the Wheel and Brass's Tunnel Grinder // Tecutlan, the Searing Rift provide even more bang for our buck, able to trade our entire hand for a new bundle of resources. Self-mill is often the domain of Blue/Black, so we'll turn to artifact sources like Mesmeric Orb and Altar of Dementia, the latter of which can immediately sacrifice a freshly-cast Phlage before his sacrifice trigger kicks in, netting us six 'free' cards for the crypt.

The Graveyard as a Resource

Be mindful of what cards you exile to recur Phlage, as many of our spells can be played directly from the grave. Flashback (Faithless Looting, Sevinne's Reclamation), Retrace (Decaying Time Loop, Embrace the Unknown), and even Dredge (Shenanigans) turn our graveyard into a second hand. We also run a variety of recursion (Reconstruct History, Shreds of Sanity, Pinnacle Monk, Osgir, the Reconstuctor) to get back spells at the key moment. Ironically, for all this recursion, we can't effectively point it at our Commander because...

Recurring and Protecting our Commander

...of that less-desirable ETB-trigger. Everyone loves a Lightning Helix, but Phlage also sacrifices himself unless he enters play via Escape. This means direct recursion (Helping Hand) will nets another 'Helix, but also retriggers the sacrifice. In the case of repeated recursion (Sun Titan), this is still useful, as we get a free removal spell each turn, but one-shot recursion is rendered inefficient. Fortunately for us, because we're already looking to keep the graveyard full, Phlage's built-in recursive ability will ensure external forms of revival aren't necessary.

However, even after Escaping our general back into play, we'll still need to protect him. Lightning Greaves is a useful choice, providing a free Equip and letting Phlage to attack immediately. Another Helix! Blink effects, however, bring us back to that unfortunate sacrifice ETB trigger. Aiming Emphemerate at Phlage will put him right back into the graveyard, as he didn't enter play via his Escape. Phasing, however, gets around this, as it essentially means Phlage doesn't exist. So no leaving and reentering the battlefield. This does more than simply protect our commander from removal. With the right mana and timing, we can also use Phasing to negate Phlage's ETB-abilities. Respond to his sacrifice-trigger by stuffing him into a Haystack, and Phlage will dodge the graveyard and start attacking next turn. You'll miss out on the first Helix, but your general will stick around.

How Phlage manages to avoid incinerating said Haystack, I have no idea.

Damage Multipliers

All these 'free' Lightning Helix triggers are nice, but life totals run far higher in Commander than they do other formats. To give Phlage a bit more spice, we'll bring in our first round of finishers: Damage-doubling (and tripling). City on Fire and Fiery Emancipation are the best of these, sending 9 damage directly at an opponent each time our general attacks, and that's before he even deals combat damage, which gets elevated to a massive 18.

Fiendish Duo, Solphim, Mayhem Dominus, and Calamity Bearer aren't as explosive, but bring other bonuses to the table. Fiendish Duo doubles the damage to an opponent from any source, meaning your opponents are now far more lethal to each other than they are you. Solphim, Mayhem Dominus only triggers off noncombat damage, so she'll mainly be working to double Helix triggers. However, she can give herself Indestructible by discarding cards, something our deck already wants to be doing. Finally, while Calamity Bearer only doubles Giant-based sources of damage, our deck runs a mild Giant-sub presence (Brion Stoutarm, Realm-Cloaked Giant), giving him more synergy than you'd expect.

Big Spells from the Graveyard

If damage-multipliers don't get the job done, we'll call on big spells directly out of the graveyard to seal the win. Storm Herd and Approach of the Second Sun can be pitched early, then recurred via bypassing their hefty mana costs with Quintorius, Loremaster or Efreet Flamepainter. Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury will be gaining us life with each Helix-trigger, helping generate a lethal swarm of pegasi off Storm Herd. Approach of the Second Sun also has the useful clause of putting itself back into our library. This lets it bypass the exile effect Quintorius and Efreet would otherwise banish the spell with. Once Approach of the Second Sun is back in our deck, all our deck-thinning and card-draw (Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge, Thrilling Discovery, etc.), accelerates us towards the second, game-winning cast.

For a gigantic skeletal being of flame, Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury has some tricky tactics up his sleeve. Let's venture even deeper into the crypt.

Mr. Lightning Helix | Commander | Matthew Lotti

• Commander (1)
• 1 Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Bedlam Reveler
• 1 Brion Stoutarm
• 1 Calamity Bearer
• 1 Dismissive Pyromancer
• 1 Efreet Flamepainter
• 1 Fiendish Duo
• 1 Magus of the Wheel
• 1 Osgir, the Reconstructor
• 1 Pinnacle Monk
• 1 Plargg, Dean of Chaos // Augusta, Dean of Order
• 1 Quintorius, Loremaster
• 1 Realm-Cloaked Giant
• 1 Seasoned Pyromancer
• 1 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
• 1 Strict Proctor
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Witch Enchanter

• Instants (11)
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Clever Concealment
• 1 Decaying Time Loop
• 1 Demand Answers
• 1 Electric Revelation
• 1 Gallifrey Falls // No More
• 1 Olórin's Searing Light
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Thrill of Possibility
• 1 Unexpected Windfall
• 1 Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge

• Sorceries (19)
• 1 Approach of the Second Sun
• 1 Cathartic Reunion
• 1 Embrace the Unknown
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Gamble
• 1 Into the Fire
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Mizzix's Mastery
• 1 Ondu Inversion
• 1 Past in Flames
• 1 Pirate's Pillage
• 1 Reconstruct History
• 1 Seize the Spoils
• 1 Sevinne's Reclamation
• 1 Shattered Perception
• 1 Shenanigans
• 1 Shreds of Sanity
• 1 Storm Herd
• 1 Thrilling Discovery

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 City on Fire
• 1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
• 1 Fiery Emancipation
• 1 Land Tax

• Artifacts (17)
• 1 Altar of Dementia
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Archaeomancer's Map
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Brass's Tunnel-Grinder // Tecutlan, the Searing Rift
• 1 Collector's Vault
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Haystack
• 1 Hourglass of the Lost
• 1 Laser Screwdriver
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Matzalantli, the Great Door // The Core
• 1 Mesmeric Orb
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Palantír of Orthanc
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Conviction

• Lands (32)
• 4 Mountains
• 4 Plains
• 1 Arid Mesa
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Drownyard Temple
• 1 Elegant Parlor
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Flooded Strand
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Mistveil Plains
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Prismatic Vista
• 1 Rugged Prairie
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Sanctum of Eternity
• 1 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Spectator Seating
• 1 Spinerock Knoll
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 Talon Gates of Madara
• 1 Verdant Catacomb
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Foothills

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Underworld Army

Our Commander may be our only creature to defy death, but the rest of his army supports keeping the graveyard fully stocked. Solphim, Mayhem Dominus, Seasoned Pyromancer, Magus of the Wheel, Plargg, Dean of Chaos // Augusta, Dean of Order, and Dismissive Pyromancer rummage their way through cards for enablers like Osgir, the Reconstructor, Efreet Flamepainter, Quintorius, Loremaster, Pinnacle Monk, and Sun Titan to work with later. All the while, these rummaging effects help us hit land drops and additional enablers.

Among our utility creatures, damage multipliers like the aforementioned Dominus, Fiendish Duo, and Calamity Bearer ensure our Commander burns even brighter. The latter also powers up our other Giants into potential finishers. Brion Stoutarm can already fling an about-to-be-sacrificed Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury at opponents for a big life swing, but the Calamity Bearer amps the damage into double-digits. Or, if we've already gone through the work to escape Phlage back into play, we can drop the adventure side of Realm-Cloaked Giant to clear the board of blockers while ignoring our general (along with our other giants).

Of course, if we're lucky enough to draw (or Gamble for) Strict Proctor, we can bring Phlage to the party on turn three. His initial Helix will get nixed unless we pay the extra 2 mana, but so will his sacrifice ability.

The Rummage Pile

Card advantage is king in Commander, but it gets even better when we get to use cardboard both in grip and grave alike. Rummaging spells like Pirate's Pillage, Seize the Spoils, Thrilling Discovery, Cathartic Reunion, Tormenting Voice, Big Score, Demand Answers, Into the Fire, Thrill of Possibility, Fable of the Mirror Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, and Collector's Vault all ensure we hit resources in both zones. Faithless Looting and Electric Revelation go a step further in that they can be played directly from the graveyard. And this is before we even consider hand-replacement effects like Decaying Time Loop, Valakut Awakening // Valakut Stoneforge, and Embrace the Unknown.

With all this discard, we might as well throw in Past in Flames to get the most recycling bang for our buck. If the game goes on long enough, we may even have enough mana to flashback our finishers like Storm Herd or Approach of the Second Sun. Yes, it's a ton of mana, but with a crypt this full, cards like Matzalanti, the Great Door // The Core or a bunch of bonus treasure tokens (Collector's Vault, Unexpected Windfall, etc.) can do a lot of work.

Rocks, Ramp, & Lands

We can draw/discard for days, but we'll still need good old fashioned ramp for mana development. We run the usual staples (Sol Ring, Boros Signet, Talisman of Conviction, etc.), but a few other rocks come with a bonus. Wizards has been doing a lot to power up of 3-mana rocks, evident by two recent examples: Laser Screwdriver and Hourglass of the Lost. The Screwdriver not only provides mana, but can smooth out draws and feed the graveyard via Surveil. We can also use Goad to point threatening creatures in the opposite direction. Hourglass of the Lost gains a time counter with every tap for mana, but once we're ready to sacrifice it, we get to pick how many counters to remove. This ensures we bring the ideal quality or quantity of permanents back from the graveyard.

Lands comprise the majority of the deck's price tag, as all ten fetches (Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, etc.), in addition to Prismatic Vista, are included to fill the graveyard. Fortunately, the allied-color members of the cycle were recently reprinted in Modern Horizons 3, making them cheaper than they've been in a very long time. In addition, much of the enemy-color fetches from Modern Horizons 2 can still be found for under $20. For those on a budget, lands like Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Promising Vein, and Warped Landscape will suffice.

For utility, Sanctum of Eternity lets us essentially cast Lightning Helix with Buyback, as we can return Phlage to our hand before his sacrifice trigger. Talon Gates of Madara can also be used to negate the sacrifice, provided we've enough mana available, but can also act a combat trick to save Phlage after we've escaped him into play. Finally, Drownyard Temple is the perfect land to pitch for Tormenting Voice, then bring back later as a '3-mana ramp spell', as returning itself from your graveyard to play doesn't count as your turn's land drop.

Haystack by Xabi Gaztelua

"Nope, no titanic fire giants hiding in here."

Escaping from the underworld is no easy feat. Heck, it took all of Theros Beyond Death for Elspeth to figure it out. So you gotta hand it to Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury. All he asks are a bunch of cards to exile. We'll be recycling plenty, and whatever doesn't get used to revive our commander can either be recast or recurred later. That kind of flexibility allows our game plan to pivot. Even if opponents can handle the torrent of flame, they'll be caught off guard by our graveyard based value-engines.

Thanks for reading, any may you always avoid Bojuka Bog!

-Matt-

@Intrepid_Tautog