For many Magic players, yesterday was a bombshell. For some, it was the myriad of awesome new sets announced. For others, it was all the sweet new cards and mechanics shown off for Dominaria United. But for many, it was the story that had the biggest impact. The planeswalker Ajani was compleated by Phyrexia and longtime favorite Jaya Ballard was murdered by his hand. It was truly a dark moment in Magic's lore as we effectively lost two of the game's most iconic characters in one fell swoop. Phyrexia emerged somewhat triumphant for the time being and Teferi has set himself up to go back in time to try finding the answers in The Brothers' War.

For many, this would represent a profound loss. Tamiyo was another major loss earlier in this year, and her compleation stung for many who came to know her as this knowledgeable and caring individual who looked after her family and friends. Now Ajani plays into similar feelings, having been turned against friends and loved ones who he used to support and fight for with all his being. And then there was Jaya, the quippy oldwalker we've known and loved since the days of Ice Age. Now we'll be without the famed pyro mage's humor forever, and the planeswalkers we've come to love will be fighting against those who still remain.

This is what Phyrexia does, and it's what makes them such a fierce and harrowing adversary. In Magic's early days, we didn't see nearly as much of this because the original version of Phyrexia was so cut off, though there were some casualties. Gerrard was adopted by Sidar Kondo whose son, Vuel, was compleated and turned into Volrath. Eladamri's daughter Avila was turned into Belbe, the Eye of Yawgmoth. Crovax and Ertai were two others that fell to their hands. Still, this was far and few between compared to the many familiar faces that New Phyrexia has begun to set upon us now.

Everyone now knows the pain of loss with Tamiyo, Ajani, and Jaya at their ruthless hands. Today, I'd like to take a small trip back in time and look at the first character I remember them tearing away from me: Glissa Sunseeker.

In the early 2000s, my interest in Magic had hit a fever pitch. Once I got into the Odyssey block, I was hooked hard. By the time Onslaught block rolled around, I was jumping onto Magic Online and attending my first ever Friday Night Magic events with friends. At the same time, though, I was picking up and reading Magic books and exploring the lore behind the game. I've talked a lot about how the stories on Otaria and the cards and characters of the Weatherlight saga shaped my Vorthos side of the game. That would continue into Mirrodin where I came to meet Glissa.

Glissa, an elf of the Tangle, the major forest of Mirrodin. She distrusted the trolls who ruled the forest and frequently rebelled against them, and one night they stole her away... but for her own protection. For the levelers were coming into the Tangle to kill her. In the end, they failed, but they killed her family instead. In revenge, she began a quest to find who masterminded this attack. Throughout the block's books I got to know Glissa and the people she met. Her befriending of the goblin Slobad and the golem Bosh, her misadventures through the Razorfield, the Mephidross, and the Quicksilver Sea, and her eventual confrontation with the monstrous Memnarch.

Was it the greatest story ever told? No, far from it. In fact, if I'm being honest, the books are a little hard to go back to now. As a teenager growing up in the suburbs of Buffalo, though, they captured my imagination and made me fall in love with the places and people I got to know through them. Over the next few years, I played a bit, though much less once I moved to Florida. Soon, I found myself taking a hiatus for a few years and returned just in time to find us returning to Mirrodin once more with Scars of Mirrodin. Not only that, but the Phyrexians - one of the first villains I got to know in my earliest years with the game. But as the set came out, I found myself wondering where Glissa was and what happened to her. All we knew was that when she, Slobad, and Geth escaped from Mirrodin's core, they were attacked and then... nothing.

Then Mirrodin Besieged began to come out and we saw... her.

Glissa, the amazing character and hero of Mirrodin that I had come to know and love, was compleated and turned into a Phyrexian. She had become Glissa, the Traitor - the monstrous champion of the praetor Vorinclex. The loss of this once-great warrior hurt deeply. I felt betrayed, like I just wanted her back as she was - as I remembered her. But as many feel now with the likes of Tamiyo, Ajani, and Jaya, there was no going back. Glissa Sunseeker was no more, and all that remained was a dark shadow in her stead.

It's been over a decade now since Mirrodin Besieged was first released. In that time, I've always wanted to try and put together a deck around Glissa, the Traitor. Now, though, the time seems right to do so, and to do another sweet Classic Commander list in the process.

Glissa, the Traitor | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Glissa, the Traitor

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Arcbound Ravager
• 1 Arcbound Reclaimer
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Copper Myr
• 1 Disciple of the Vault
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Grave Titan
• 1 Joraga Treespeaker
• 1 Junk Diver
• 1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
• 1 Leaden Myr
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Lodestone Golem
• 1 Moriok Replica
• 1 Mycosynth Golem
• 1 Myr Retriever
• 1 Perilous Myr
• 1 Phyrexian Revoker
• 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1 Shimmer Myr
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Steel Hellkite
• 1 Sylvok Replica
• 1 Wurmcoil Engine

• Instants (2)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Krosan Grip

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Harmonize
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 1 Night's Whisper

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Grave Pact
• 1 Phyrexian Arena

• Artifacts (28)
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Cloud Key
• 1 Coalition Relic
• 1 Conjurer's Bauble
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Cranial Plating
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Executioner's Capsule
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Horizon Spellbomb
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Krark-Clan Ironworks
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Mind's Eye
• 1 Mindslaver
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Sculpting Steel
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spine of Ish Sah
• 1 Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1 Thornbite Staff
• 1 Umbral Mantle
• 1 Viridian Longbow
• 1 Worn Powerstone

• Lands (36)
• 10 Forest
• 10 Swamp
• 1 Barren Moor
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Forbidden Orchard
• 1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
• 1 High Market
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Tranquil Thicket
• 1 Tree of Tales
• 1 Twilight Mire
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Vault of Whispers

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As much as I hate what happened to Glissa as a character, there's no denying that the commander card we were treated to as a result is an absolute delight. Well, maybe for the person piloting the deck at least. Your opponents will no doubt be finding themselves struggling quite a bit, as Glissa, the Traitor loves picking off one creature after another and helping you churn through an endless slew of artifacts. Glissa herself is good at getting attacks and blocks through, thereby ensuring that stuff is going to die. The problem, though, is that while her stats and abilities are outstanding, they're far less impactful in the context of Commander.

As such, we have to go a little further and do things a little more out of the box. How about throwing in cards like Thornbite Staff and Viridian Longbow? With these cards, you can easily pick off tons of creatures without ever having to enter into the combat phase. Thornbite Staff is particularly useful in that it allows you to continuously mow down creature after creature. Viridian Longbow isn't nearly as good at this, but you can do this at a more expensive and slower rate with the help of Umbral Mantle, thereby allowing you to repeatedly untap as much as you want. Even without making Glissa do all the work, you can easily use a good old Executioner's Capsule to keep taking out opponents' boards.

Past that, it's all about finding the good and fun artifacts that you want to play. Horizon Spellbomb and Nihil Spellbomb were both favorites of mine in Commander around this time period and they easily find a home here. So too do cards like Conjurer's Bauble and Mind Stone that you repeatedly sacrifice to themselves to get incremental value. You can utilize creatures such as Moriok Replica and Sylvok Replica to attack, block, or use their abilities as well and draw tons of cards or blow up artifacts and enchantments. You can even loop through activations of the granddaddy of sacrificial artifacts: Mindslaver.

Some artifacts take a little more work to get the real value out of though. Solemn Simulacrum is a value powerhouse, getting you a land when it enters the battlefield, and drawing you a card when it leaves. Spine of Ish Sah blows things up when it enters play and then can get itself back once it hits your graveyard. You get similar situations as well with Myr Retriever, Junk Diver, and Perilous Myr. All of these are great in their own right but require a touch more work out of you to really bring them to life.

What we need here are some good sacrifice outlets - ones that will allow you to keep chaining them over and over again. Thankfully, this deck has a couple really good ones. Arcbound Ravager is a real easy classic option, allowing you to sacrifice artifacts and make it bigger and bigger so as to overwhelm your opponents. Even if it dies, it can pump other creatures instead. Then there's Ashnod's Altar which lets you sacrifice creatures for mana or Krark-Clan Ironworks, which is basically the same thing but you sacrifice artifacts instead of creatures. With the right set of cards - including the likes of Cloud Key and/or Mycosynth Golem, you can loop through Myr Retriever and Junk Diver for tons of value. This could be numerous triggers from Disciple of the Vault, infinite colorless mana, or just a good way to get back other critical cards.

What you end up with is a deck that can just overwhelm your opponents with great value. It might even be able to combo away if you get the right setup for it! At the end of the day, though, what you're left with is a deeply corrupted being and playing through her savage new existence. Glissa - like Tamiyo and Ajani today - has become a tool of Phyrexia. Even if a deck like this might make for a great time at Commander nights, I'll still continue to mourn one of my all-time favorite characters. It may have been a decade, but the loss of Glissa still stings, and all the more so with the fresh losses and wounds of the past few days. I hope they may be saved, or that we see few others turned to the vile monstrosities of Phyrexia.

Paige Smith

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