What do you do as a content creator when a set like Phyrexia: All Will Be One drops but you're not that into poison counters as a mechanic, you suspect oil counters are just a flash in the pan, and you're REALLY not into Praetors?

Don't get me wrong - I don't have any problem with folks playing decks that use infect or the new toxic keyword, but I've gone down those roads in the past. Unless I'm playing it as a clear wincon, like Triumph of the Hordes or a big creature hit with Tainted Strike and Chandra's Ignition, it just doesn't get me that excited. I'm also not convinced (yet) that toxic (or oil counters) will have much staying power in EDH beyond the next few months. I would rather lose casual games that start throwing around Praetors and giving my friends a more miserable experience when I play Commander.

Fortunately, there's more than just the toxic mechanic, oil counters, and Praetors in Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

Today, I'm going to grab one of the less obnoxious legendary creatures from that set and see what I can build. I ended up choosing Glissa Sunslayer - a Phyrexian Zombie Elf with a pretty neat party trick.

Glissa Sunslayer, has first strike, deathtouch and a modal combat damage trigger. When she deals combat damage to a player you get to draw a card (and lose 1 life), destroy target enchantment, or remove up to 3 counters from target permanent.

Glissa's Pu Pu Platter of abilities isn't game breaking, but you can bet I'll be drawing cards and losing life a lot when she does combat damage to a player. Destroying an enchantment might come in handy occasionally, and I also might be happy to pull some loyalty counters off a planeswalker, but card draw is hard to resist.

What I'm probably most excited about is Glissa's combination of first strike and deathtouch. If you were looking for a Legendary creature with first strike and deathtouch to put at the center of a Commander deck, you'd have exactly two choices out of all of the cards Wizards of the Coast ever printed and they'd both be named Glissa. Glissa, the Traitor was printed over a decade ago in Mirrodin Besieged and gives you some artifact recursion along with those fancy keywords. Digging a little deeper, there is only one nonlegendary creature with first strike and deathtouch - the oft-reviled Master of Cruelties.

Those two keywords make her a fantastic blocker, but what I'm keen to do is make her big and give her trample. When an attacker has first strike, deathtouch and trample, all you must do is assign one point of damage to each blocker and not only do those blockers die, but trample lets the rest of the damage carry through to hit the defending player. It's not quite as good as being unblockable, but it's close.

This isn't going to be some fancy combo build and it may not even be super powerful, but it should be fun to play at mid-powered and casual tables. I've loaded up the list with a respectable amount of interaction, protection and card draw. I even threw in a boardwipe for good measure, though I tend to go a little light on wraths - especially when I'm not in White.

Trample

My first step is to have a decent number of ways to give Glissa trample. Fortunately, there are lots of cards that can do that in her colors. My trample enablers are spread around between artifacts, creatures and enchantments.

Haunted Cloak gives vigilance, trample and haste. Also in the list is Loxodon Warhammer, Ring of Kalonia, and Shadowspear. The Warhammer will give +3/+0, trample and lifelink. Ring of Kalonia will put a +1/+1 counter on the equipped creature on my upkeep if it's Green, along with giving trample. The best of my equipment might be Shadowspear, which gives +1/+1, trample and lifelink and can let me pay mana to have my opponents' creatures lose hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.

Thunderfoot Baloth costs six mana, and will give my creatures +2/+2 and trample so long as I control my commander. For two mana more, Stonehoof Chieftain is an 8/8 centaur warrior who will give my creatures trample and indestructible when they attack. Nylea, God of the Hunt is also in the list. She is a God and is only a creature when my devotion to Green is five or more. She's indestructible, she'll give my creatures trample, and for four mana she'll let me pump a creature by +2/+2 until the end of turn.

I've also got a pair of trample enchantments in the list. Rancor is an aura that will give the enchanted creature +2/+0 and trample and when it's put into a graveyard Rancor is returned to its owner's hand. Rancor only costs one mana, so it should be a reliable way to keep giving Glissa trample even if she gets removed. Garruk's Uprising rounds out this section. It's an enchantment that gives my creatures trample and might even draw me a card or two if I have a creature with power 4 or greater enter the battlefield.

Trample may be a piece of today's puzzle, but my commander is just a 3/3 so I'm definitely going to want to find ways to make her a bigger combat threat.

Pump

You may have noticed that many of my trample enablers grant a minor power boost. That's good but I don't want to spend ten turns slowly chipping away at each opponent. Ideally, I want Glissa to hit like a Mack truck. Again, I have an assortment of pump options in the list.

Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is a new creature from All Will Be One who will have me double the power and toughness of each creature I control until the end of the turn. Another way to make Glissa bigger is Forgotten Ancient, an Elemental who gets +1/+1 counters whenever a player casts a spell. At the beginning of my upkeep I can move any number of those counters onto another creature I control. It might not seem like much, but that kind of incremental value can add up over time.

Unnatural Growth is an enchantment that will do what Zopandrel does - double the power and toughness of each creature I control at the beginning of each combat. I may never get both of those on the field at once, but if I do and I've got any other pump effect, things could get out of hand quickly. Also in the list is Raised by Giants, a background enchantment that gives my commander(s) base power and toughness of 10/10.

Equipment that pumps a creature's power is one of the oldest tricks in the Voltron book and I've included a few of those for Glissa Sunslayer to play with. Blackblade Reforged will give an equipped creature +1/+1 for each land I control. Strata Scythe will have me exile a land from my library and will give an equipped creature +1/+1 for each land on the battlefield with the same name. Fireshrieker is also in the list. That old favorite of Voltron builds will give the equipped creature double strike, which works really nicely to let me double up Glissa's combat damage triggers.

A few of these pump options combined with a trample enabler and Glissa's native keywords, and I will probably have my tablemates at least a little concerned for their safety.

Glissa Voltron

This deck has a few backup threats in Hydra Omnivore and Managorger Hydra, but the real thrust of the deck is to try to win through commander damage. The inclusion of at least a few alternate threats is good, but what they are isn't as important. There's a Tainted Strike in the list along with Triumph of the Hordes for those rare times where I can sneak in a kill or a win with a little infect, but this isn't a dedicated infect deck. As a starting point for a Golgari Voltron deck to play at casual tables, I think this list is in a pretty good place.

Glissa Sunslayer | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Glissa Sunslayer

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Caustic Caterpillar
• 1 Elves of Deep Shadow
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Guardian Augmenter
• 1 Heartwood Storyteller
• 1 Hydra Omnivore
• 1 Leyline Prowler
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Managorger Hydra
• 1 Nylea, God of the Hunt
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Skull Prophet
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stonehoof Chieftain
• 1 Thunderfoot Baloth
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

• Instants (13)
• 1 Assassin's Trophy
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Constant Mists
• 1 Darkness
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Fog
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Moment's Peace
• 1 Putrefy
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Return to Nature
• 1 Tainted Strike
• 1 Windgrace's Judgment

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Sign in Blood
• 1 Skyshroud Claim
• 1 Triumph of the Hordes

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Garruk's Uprising
• 1 Guardian Project
• 1 Lignify
• 1 Phyrexian Arena
• 1 Raised by Giants
• 1 Rancor
• 1 Sylvan Library
• 1 Unnatural Growth

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Fireshrieker
• 1 Golgari Signet
• 1 Haunted Cloak
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Loxodon Warhammer
• 1 Ring of Kalonia
• 1 Shadowspear
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strata Scythe
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 The Great Henge

• Lands (35)
• 13 Forest
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Deathcap Glade
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Secluded Courtyard
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Woodland Cemetery

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If you wanted to tune this deck up, you might add in fast mana or a few of those nasty Black and Green Praetors that I generally try to avoid. A Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger or Sheoldred, Whispering One can really put pressure on your tablemates, but it can also turn everyone against you in ways that this deck might not be able to deal with. Golgari has lots of combo options, but Glissa Sunslayer doesn't naturally lead you toward building a combo deck so I'm not sure that's a natural fit for this commander.

If you wanted to make this deck more casual, you might drop out some of the more expensive lands and cards and maybe lean toward a tribal deck. You could build with Elves or Zombies and have a fun deck with a potential Voltron threat in the command zone, but don't drop out too many of her toys. She isn't going to scare anyone if she's just swinging for 3 damage even with first strike, deathtouch and trample.

Final Thoughts

I may not personally be interested in toxic, oil counters, and Praetors, and ONE might not be the kind of set that I'm going to get excited about, but 2023 looks like it's going to have a lot of interesting new sets that are more up my alley. If you are psyched to put together a parade of Praetors to put pressure on your favorite tablemates, more power to you! I love that Wizards gives us such an incredible range of cards to play with, and even if ONE isn't my jam, I'm glad for you if it's the kind of set you really enjoy.

I may still take a crack at building a toxic/infect/proliferate deck in the coming weeks, but I promise it will be something a little out of the ordinary. Just because I don't think of infect as being all that fun doesn't mean it isn't fun to try to figure out a way to make it work in Commander. Just don't try to tell me the poison count should be raised above 10, because I have little interest in house rules to make things harder on one of the hardest strategies to play in a multiplayer format.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!