Cotopaxi by Frederic Edwin Church (1862).Hellkite Igniter by Jason Chen.

Greetings dear readers!

Today I'd like to take you on a dive into a deck that aspires to bring new life to a tribe that has never really seen much play in EDH. Today's commander is the first of its kind, assuming you don't count Morophon, the Boundless (you shouldn't).

Wizards of the Coast has given us our very first Legendary Phoenix!

Meet Syrix, Carrier of the Flame. This 3/3 hasty, flying firebird cares about creatures leaving your graveyard, can be cast out of the graveyard, and even lets your other Phoenixes push out a little damage.

Before you get too bullish about Syrix, there are a few things to be aware of.

The Phoenix tribe isn't exactly as deep and varied as Elves, Goblins, Humans or Dragons. There are 30 other members of the tribe, including Worldheart Phoenix, which has a 5/c color identity and can't be run in a Syrix list. Of those 29 Phoenix cards, many of them care about very specific things and simply won't bring much to the party if they don't have adequate support. Aurora Phoenix only returns from the graveyard if you cast a spell with cascade. Everquill Phoenix wants you to mutate onto it. Chandra's Phoenix wants you to burn an opponent with a Red instant, sorcery of red planeswalker.

These aren't bad cards, but many of them seem more tuned for other Constructed play, not 100-card singleton.

The other limiting factor to consider is that Syrix only lets you push out Phoenix damage once per turn at the beginning of the end step if a creature left your graveyard this turn. If that damage trigger happened every time a creature left the yard, you might have some real combo potential, but at first glance I don't think Syrix lends itself to a combo build.

Stubborn? Me?

When I mentioned above that I didn't think the Phoenix tribe was well suited for a tribal Syrix deck, that didn't mean I wouldn't still want to build one. Sometimes the right thing to do when building an EDH deck is to lead with your heart, and my heart is telling me this deck has to have a reasonable number of Phoenixes in it. No, they aren't great. This list will never have the overwhelming airpower of a great Dragon tribal deck.

That doesn't mean I'm not going to try to see how many of these fiery fowl will fit into my list.

Ashcloud Phoenix is a great example of what I love and hate about Phoenix cards. I want these guys to not just come back to my hand, but directly to the battlefield. This does that, but it enters as a face down 2/2 colorless creature with no mana value and no subtypes. It has a morph ability, so I can turn it face up by paying its morph cost and it will deal 2 damage to each player. If I can give it lifelink, I'll come out ahead, gaining 8 (at a 4 player table) and losing 2 for a net gain of 6 life. I love that ability and I love that it comes back to the battlefield but I do not love the whopping six mana I have to pay to flip it face up.

Flamewake Phoenix may have to attack each turn (if able), and it may have haste, but if we have power 4 or greater creature, we can bring it back at the beginning of combat for a single Red mana. It's a pity that Syrix is only a 3/3, but this deck should still be able to occasionally set up the right boardstate to bring back this angry bird.

The most interesting Phoenix in this list might be Kuldotha Phoenix. For four mana I can return Kuldotha Phoenix from my graveyard to the battlefield. I can only use this ability during my upkeep and I can only do it if I control three or more artifacts. I can't tell you how tempted I was to load this deck up with another Nim Deathmantle / Ashnod's Altar combo to be able to infinitely loop Kuldotha Phoenix during my upkeep. All I'd need is those two artifacts (and one more, so I have Metalcraft), a way to make another token creature to sacrifice to help play for Nim Deathmantle's activation, and an ETB or LTB outlet to kill the table. If you're into combo or just love Nim Deathmantle shenanigans, you could pivot this list to that combo as a wincon, but I've chosen to leave it out of this first draft.

I'm doing Phoenix stuff today, not combo stuff.

An example of the kind of recursion I love is Rekindling Phoenix. It costs four mana and has a 4/3 body, which isn't bad. When it dies, I make a 0/1 Elemental creature token that I'll sacrifice on my next upkeep to bring him back to the battlefield. This might be the gold standard for recursive flying Phoenix creatures, though I suppose it doesn't really have that much competition.

With a slightly higher recursion cost, Skarrgan Firebird is a 3/3 Phoenix that has Bloodthirst 3. That means that if an opponent was dealt damage this turn, it enters with three +1/+1 counters. I'll have enough flyers to reliably be able to deal damage, and if Skarrgan Firebird is in the graveyard and I do damage to an opponent, I can pay three red mana to return him to my hand.

Warcry Phoenix is a 2/2 that can return to the battlefield tapped and attacking for three mana whenever I attack with three or more creatures. My biggest concern so far is that the tribal backbone of this deck has a lower impact and is more mana intensive than I would like. If I've got enough of them out, I can use a creature like Screeching Phoenix to pump them up but I just don't see this deck often getting the kind of overwhelming combat victories that I see when I play my Lathliss, Dragon Queen list. That Lathliss deck is a very good deck, so maybe it's not fair to compare the two, but at this point Syrix is feeling like a fairly mid-powered commander.

You're a Phoenix, I'm a Phoenix...

Everyone's a Phoenix!

If I had a nickel for every time I've put a list together in the past year that somehow has a way to leverage Maskwood Nexus... I'd have a modest little pile of nickels. I might not put that artifact into every list, but Syrix, Carrier of the Flame does let me push damage out through having a powerful Phoenix and on average, Phoenixes aren't that powerful.

Both Maskwood Nexus and Conspiracy give all of my creatures the Phoenix creature type. Maskwood Nexus takes it a step further and gives them all creature types, but what matters is that they are Phoenixes.

This matters because one of the things I love to do with EDH decks is throw in cute, weird little curveballs to throw at my opponents. If I have Malignus on the field and have found a way to make it a Phoenix, and then if I also have Syrix on the field AND I am able to have a creature card leave my graveyard, I can have Malignus deal damage equal to its power to any target.

If I wanted to add another card to this silly interaction, I might throw in a Tainted Strike or Phyresis so that I could just knock someone out with infect damage, but dinging an opponent for half of the highest life total among my opponents (rounded up) isn't half bad. It might even kill someone.

I didn't go in heavily on this gameplan, but I love these kinds of shenanigans so much that I had to share it with you. Hamletback Goliath is another example of a creature that might be a little mana intensive, but which can get out of hand pretty quickly. It's not unreasonable to think it could grow by 10 or 15 power each turn cycle, and if I can dress it up in a Phoenix costume and make it push out some damage, it could become a real problem for my tablemates.

I think you could reasonably double down on this idea and have a Syrix deck built around a Conspiracy plan of attack. Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon isn't too hard to get up to 10 power if you throw in some pump (Hatred, Endless Scream) or equipment (Strata Scythe, Colossus Hammer) and then you'd be set up to just one-shot your tablemates with infect without even going to combat. I'm not saying you should do this, but I do seem to be drawn to finding ways to use Maskwood Nexus with commanders in interesting ways.

Carry That Flame

I'm running way more Phoenixes than I probably should, and I've got my Maskwood Nexus / Conspiracy plan mixed into the list. I nearly took the dive into a Nim Deathmantle / Kuldotha Phoenix combo plan but thought better of it. What I haven't yet dug into is that my air force has a small squadron of Dragons thrown into the mix, I'm running more boardwipes than usual, and I included both Sheoldred, Whispering One and Urabrask the Hidden. I'm generally not a big fan of the Praetors, but Sheoldred really only crushes decks that rely on only one or a very low number of creatures. The recursion is what I'm after and if they burn a Swords to Plowshares on her, maybe I'll be able to get my Malignus to stick around long enough to do my silly Maskwood Nexus thing.

Syrix Commander | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Syrix, Carrier of the Flame

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Akoum Firebird
• 1 Ashcloud Phoenix
• 1 Bloodghast
• 1 Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1 Dockside Extortionist
• 1 Drana, the Last Bloodchief
• 1 Firewing Phoenix
• 1 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix
• 1 Flamewake Phoenix
• 1 Garna, the Bloodflame
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Hamletback Goliath
• 1 Immortal Phoenix
• 1 Kuldotha Phoenix
• 1 Magma Phoenix
• 1 Malignus
• 1 Massacre Girl
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Rakdos, Lord of Riots
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Rekindling Phoenix
• 1 Screeching Phoenix
• 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1 Skarrgan Firebird
• 1 Skyfire Phoenix
• 1 Smog Elemental
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Sunstreak Phoenix
• 1 Thundermaw Hellkite
• 1 Tormod, the Desecrator
• 1 Urabrask the Hidden
• 1 Warcry Phoenix

• Instants (2)
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Tragic Slip

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Corpse Explosion
• 1 Damnation
• 1 Earthquake
• 1 Fatal Grudge
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Living End
• 1 Rogues' Gallery
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Vandalblast

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Conspiracy
• 1 Phyrexian Arena

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Desecrated Tomb
• 1 Hazoret's Monument
• 1 Herald's Horn
• 1 Maskwood Nexus
• 1 Nyx Lotus
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Ruby Medallion
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence
• 1 Urza's Incubator

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Ob Nixilis, the Adversary

• Lands (38)
• 13 Mountain
• 13 Swamp
• 1 Arcane Lighthouse
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Foreboding Ruins
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Rakdos Carnarium
• 1 Smoldering Marsh

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I think if you wanted to power this deck up you'd probably throw in a combo and move away from the Phoenix Tribal approach. Combo is fun, and I could have run that Kuldotha Phoenix / Nim Deathmantle combo, but it's not for everyone and it's not for every column I write. Sometimes you've just gotta let your jank, and your janky Phoenixes, fly. To power this list down I think you'd want to drop the Praetors and maybe the treasure generators - Dockside Extortionist and Goldspan Dragon. Having a few less in the way of wraths would also help if you're struggling with having your playgroup enjoy playing against a list like this.

Paths Not Taken

Whenever I finish a column or a decklist I always think about what I call the "paths not taken". I already mentioned the Kuldotha Phoenix combo a few times, and it definitely qualifies. There are other things I think I could have done with this list.

One of them is Mortal Combat. This old enchantment wins you the game on your upkeep if you have 20 or more creatures in your graveyard. This decklist has 34 creatures and a decent number of boardwipes, but I ended up taking Mortal Combat out in favor of more ramp. Nyx Lotus took its slot, and in a deck with so many permanents sporting so many red mana symbols, I figured it was a sensible replacement. Many of my most mana-intensive costs are going to need red mana, so that artifact along with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, both seemed to make sense.

The other thing I thought about while I was already committed to the list shown above is artifacts. A member of my online Tabletop Simulator playgroup, Mike (aka Rockon101000) consistently impresses me with his deckbuilding and play, and he suggested I throw in Loxodon Warhammer. I didn't, but he got me thinking about equipment and I realized that the ability to push out damage made both lifelink and deathtouch extremely valuable abilities to be able to put on a Phoenix. Basilisk Collar found its way into the mix and I could see adding even more lifelink and deathtouch enablers.

Mike may well have both of those artifacts in the list he was thinking about when he suggested I run Loxodon Warhammer. I love the idea of using Phoenix damage as spot creature removal. Being able to use a lowly 2/2 Phoenix to pick off a big threat seems decent, and loading up Syrix with a bunch of equipment would allow me to both push out Phoenix damage through my commander (it can choose itself as the target Phoenix) and present an evasive voltron threat!

I expect if I were to build this in paper and pilot it enough times, I'd both load up that Phoenix combo and pivot to an equipment / voltron approach. I know my habits and the way my decks tend to evolve, but every player is different and there's no "right" way to build and play in this amazing format. So long as you have fun and continue to challenge yourself, you're doing it right.

Final Thoughts

Today's column was a bit of a struggle. I got my previous week's work done early, but didn't jump into this build very quickly. I've been keeping you updated on my EDH League adventures, and truth be told - I had extended my lead on the rest of the pack after our fourth Saturday of play, but on Sunday I didn't have much energy to do more than open my set booster box of Streets of New Capenna. It was fun and all, but I wasn't really feeling it.

By the time Tuesday rolled around and I was due to play an evening of casual EDH at the LGS I go to, I was feeling like allergies were just killing me. Seasonal allergies are the worst, and I can never keep track of what's up, what's down and what I am most sensitive to, but I decided to stay home. I was too tired to write, but after a night of barely any sleep I decided to be safe and in the era of the great pandemic, I took my first ever COVID test.

I was positive.

Well, that explained a lot. Fortunately, I was vaccinated and boosted. Fast forward four days and I'm very happy to tell you my fever only lasted a day. As of this writing, I'm still feeling crummy but my isolation period will be over soon. My wife and kid so far seem to have dodged it, I didn't have any significant interaction with anyone after my Saturday EDH League games, and I'll be able to work from home for my job for the next week so I am pretty sure I didn't get anyone else sick.

My pursuit of the top point total in our EDH League has been successfully thwarted. All it took was the greatest health scare of the century (so far). The guys in second and third place were playing today as I was penning this column and I'll be happy for whichever of them manages to overtake me. My lead was decent enough that if I had played, I very likely would have won the month, and knowing that is enough for me.

It is sobering to know that the pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of people over the past few years took the time to reach out and give me a love tap. If you somehow aren't vaccinated, or you haven't bothered to get boosted - please do so. If you are reading this years from now, please listen to medical experts and scientists because they are genuinely doing their best to save lives. Those little shots I got might have saved mine.

I might not have died, but I am ready to rise up again like a Phoenix! I have no idea what I'll be writing about for the weeks ahead beyond the fact that it'll be from Streets of New Capenna. I know I eventually want to pivot my Thantis, the Warweaver deck into a weird Beamtown Bullies Fog / Hug deck, but that may need to wait for a few weeks while we get through all the cards we need to tackle in this exciting new set.

If all this "oversharing" isn't to your taste, please understand that I owe you my best work and my best decklists, but also my candor. We all have things to learn and things we can teach, and if my occasional tangents into what is going on in my life benefit anyone, it will have been worth it. If nothing else, the next time I screw something up in a list or in a column, I'll be able to blame it on COVID-brain.

All kidding aside, it's been quite a week. Thank you for reading. Be well, take care of yourself and those in your life, and I'll see you next week!