One of my favorite things about Dominaria United is all of the returning legends. The familiar faces of the set kept drawing me in throughout the entire preview season and continue to keep me on cloud nine. If you've been following my Commander articles for the last few weeks now, you probably think this is all thanks to how many old school classic characters have made their returns. While yes, my longtime paper boomer heart can hardly take the return of so many golden oldies, it's been a delight to see so many of the fresher faces come back as well.

One of the things that made the last trip to Dominaria so cool, after all, was the various legends. It wasn't just the returning ones, either, but the new ones as well. Seeing the new crew of the Weatherlight, the fresh faces of Yavimaya, the new Serra angels, Tolarian professors, and even a new Cabal were tremendously refreshing. It was just so awesome seeing this sort of take on classic Magic icons and turning it into something for the modern day - both in terms of story and the game. Many have become icons in their own right, too, so it was great to see several of them return once again in Dominaria United.

Of these, I was particularly drawn to Danitha, Benalia's Hope. I really loved playing with Danitha Capashen, Paragon in the last Dominaria. She was an outstanding card in Limited, had a dash of Constructed playability, and of course would become a mainstay in Commander. On top of that, her character and overall aesthetic just ruled and I quickly fell in love with her. Thankfully, she was one of the characters who made a return in Dominaria United, flaunting an extremely powerful card with her. After all, nothing ever could go wrong with cheating stuff into play on top of having a decent body as a creature to boot!

Naturally, I was inspired to build a sweet new Commander list around her. Let's pull up a list and see how it looks!

Danitha, Benalia's Hope | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Danitha, Benalia's Hope

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Acclaimed Contender
• 1 Armored Skyhunter
• 1 Auriok Windwalker
• 1 Cloudsteel Kirin
• 1 Danitha Capashen, Paragon
• 1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
• 1 Halvar, God of Battle // Sword of the Realms
• 1 Heavenly Blademaster
• 1 Heliod's Pilgrim
• 1 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• 1 Keeper of the Accord
• 1 Kemba, Kha Regent
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Lion Sash
• 1 Nomad Mythmaker
• 1 Norika Yamazaki, the Poet
• 1 Puresteel Paladin
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Spirited Companion
• 1 Sram, Senior Edificer
• 1 Starnheim Courser
• 1 Stoneforge Mystic
• 1 Stonehewer Giant
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Umbra Mystic
• 1 Weathered Wayfarer

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 1 Nahiri, the Lithomancer

• Instants (5)
• 1 Ephemerate
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Open the Armory

• Enchantments (9)
• 1 All That Glitters
• 1 Angelic Destiny
• 1 Armored Ascension
• 1 Eldrazi Conscription
• 1 Flickerform
• 1 Prison Term
• 1 Sigarda's Aid
• 1 Spirit Mantle
• 1 Timely Ward

• Artifacts (18)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Argentum Armor
• 1 Batterskull
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Hammer of Nazahn
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 1 Holy Avenger
• 1 Kaldra Compleat
• 1 Marble Diamond
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Robe of Stars
• 1 Strata Scythe
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 Sword of Light and Shadow
• 1 Sword of Sinew and Steel
• 1 Sword of the Animist

• Lands (37)
• 20 Plains
• 1 Arch of Orazca
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Crystal Vein
• 1 Drifting Meadow
• 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Flagstones of Trokair
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Hall of Heliod's Generosity
• 1 Kjeldoran Outpost
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Mistveil Plains
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Secluded Steppe
• 1 War Room

Buy This Deck Export text format

When it came to building this deck, I was admittedly inspired by one simple interaction that would come up in early discussions involving Danitha. That was, simply put, the combo of putting a copy of Eldrazi Conscription into play and creating this absolute monstrosity for only five mana. That got me wondering what other cool things you could do with her cheating ability and the kinds of cards you could put into play with her so I set off to work.

What surprised me the most, I think, was actually how few options there actually were that seemed worth running. Eldrazi Conscription is the obvious one and Kaldra Compleat also quickly came to mind, but beyond there it was a little tougher. The options became basically Argentum Armor, Celestial Mantle, Batterskull, and Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang. There's some stuff in the four and 5-drop slot, sure, and it's great to get that free value, but there's nothing quite as bombastic as you might think. Basically, you can stick the landing pretty well, but there's less options than I think you might find in, say, a reanimator deck.

I do think a big reason for this lack of variety is quite simply the fact that Danitha is limited to being a Mono-White deck. If you add Green into the mix, for example, you also gain access to Colossification, Mythic Proportions, Pollenbright Wings, Indrik Umbra, Wurmweaver Coil, and more. Adding other colors adds options like Embercleave, Elder Mastery, Righteous Authority, Burning Anger, and Elbrus, the Binding Blade. The problem with equipment is that most of it is cheap to use so it lacks the bombastic feel that you'd like while the auras are often less focused on pumping your creature. With Danitha's ability, you can't put into play curses, anything else enchanting non-creatures, and a lot of the Blue options are for stealing things, which is irrelevant since you already control Danitha.

So, what I got left with felt a little more akin to your typical equipment Commander deck. A lot of the same familiar faces are here that you'd expect. Stoneforge Mystic, Stonehewer Giant, and Nahiri, the Lithomancer all provide additional ways to cheat stuff in. Puresteel Paladin, Sram, Senior Edificer, Kemba, Kha Regent, and Halvar, God of Battle // Sword of the Realms all provide additionally exceptional ways to utilize your equipment. Even the equipment package is pretty standard with your Swords, Batterskull, Kaldra Compleat, Helm of the Host, etc.

What separates this deck a bit more from a lot of the other equipment strategies, however, is the fact that it also leans on auras quite a bit as well. Most equipment strategies lack this sort of focus, but given how Danitha utilizes auras as well, it felt correct to stick some of those into the mix as well. A lot of the equipment-relevant cards already influence these, but it's great to add in more options to the mix. Umbra Mystic turns your auras into death shields, while the likes of Nomad Mythmaker, Hall of Heliod's Generosity, and Norika Yamazaki, the Poet all enable you to get your auras back if you lose them. Not a lot of ways to do this with artifacts in a Mono-White deck!

There're also some surprisingly interesting options when it comes to the auras you can get into play. I know I mentioned Celestial Mantle above, but I felt like it was too medium so I ended up dumping it in favor of smaller auras that seemed to do more. If you want the top end, after all, just tutor up your Eldrazi Conscription and go to town. Armored Ascension was a really sweet choice to pull out of the mix, though. With so many Plains in your deck, it's not hard to make your Danitha a flying (and first strike, lifelink, and vigilance) monster! Angelic Destiny also works similarly and can keep coming back to your hand as well. I originally put Faith's Fetters in here at one point, but quickly realized Prison Term is just a bit better. By putting it onto Danitha, you won't be able to attack right away, but you'll easily be able to pass it onto an opponent's creature within the turn cycle that follows.

There were a few cards I was especially thrilled to add to a list like this as well. Conjurer's Closet was a really easy one right off the bat as I was working on this list. Most equipment and aura-based decks don't exactly like when you flicker the creature you're putting them onto, but in Danitha's case it works out pretty well. It's quite solid with the likes of Solemn Simulacrum and Stoneforge Mystic as well, allowing you to find more gas. Ephemerate can also fill this role albeit on a much smaller level. The other thing I loved with this was how much more mileage you can get out of cards like Armored Skyhunter, Acclaimed Contender, and Starnheim Courser by being able to impact both auras and equipment instead of just one or the other.

So, while yes, this is another Equipment-style Commander deck that checks the boxes for what you might expect of your typical Equipment deck, I feel like it does enough that's different to make it stand out. Danitha is unique in what she does. She easily lets you get tons of value from all the various equipment and auras alike and there's tons of ways to play around with the different packages in this list. Best of all, several of the included options are newer pieces - a clear sign that there's only going to be more sweet things you'll be able to include down the line to soup up the deck. No matter how you play, though, you're almost certainly going to have an awesome time whenever you break out Danitha at your local Commander nights.

Paige Smith

Twitter: @TheMaverickGal

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal