Today I'm going to dip my toes into the surprisingly deep waters of Foundations to look at the second appearance of a popular character from Magic Lore. In 2015 Wizards of the Coast introduced us to Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. This Mardu Warrior was well-known as an excellent recursion commander, and was groundbreaking as the first transgender character in Magic. After nearly 10 years we are finally seeing a second card for this popular character.

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate is a 2/2 Human Warrior with First Strike and some great combat tricks. Whenever Alesha attacks you put a +1/+1 counter on it. Alesha also has a raid ability that triggers at the beginning of your end step. If you attacked this turn and Alesha is on the field, you'll get to return target creature with mana value less than or equal to Alesha's power from your graveyard to the battlefield!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert on building and playing recursion-based EDH decks, but it seems pretty clear that I'm going to want to reliably be able to attack, I'm going to want extra ways to increase Alesha's power, and I'm going to want to have good targets to pull back out of the graveyard. I don't think Alesha's got cEDH potential but this deck can probably be built as a high power deck. I'm going to be aiming a bit lower as my games have been skewing that way in the past year.

It's also worth noting that representation matters. I'm the parent of a trans kid and I'm worldly and wise enough to know that everyone likes to be able to see themselves in their hobbies and in their entertainment. Kudos to Wizards of the Coast for continuing to make it a priority to have characters that reflect the amazing diversity that we find across humanity. It is a challenging and even frightening time to be a member of an ethnic minority or to be in the LGBTQ community, so every little bit helps and is appreciated.

Good Recursion Targets

The first thing I thought of after ramp, draw and removal, was that I was going to want some good recursion targets for Alesha to bring back out of the graveyard. Alesha starts with a power of 2, and only gets one +1/+1 counter when she attacks, so I'm not likely to be looking for anything really huge. Eldrazi Titans probably aren't on the menu today, but I should be able to have some fun anyways.

I'll have a number of creatures that can bring me modest value. In the list Burnished Hart, Pilgrim's Eye, and Skittering Surveyor are all 3-drops and Solemn Simulacrum is a 4-drop. Moving beyond these fairly mundane artifact creatures, there are some interesting options that can really help me out.

For 2 mana, Accursed Marauder is a Zombie Warrior who will enter the battlefield and have each player sacrifice a nontoken creature. At the 3 mana slot I can recur a Plaguecrafter, Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner, or Demon's Disciple to again force my opponents to sacrifice something. Playing one of these, sacrificing it, attacking, bringing it back and sacrificing it again will go a long way towards keeping my tablemates from building up too quickly.

At the four-mana slot my best recursion target is probably Kardur, Doomscourge. If I can keep Alesha in play, attack every combat, and find a way to keep sacrificing Kardur, I can lock my tablemates into attacking each other until there are only two of us left. Kardur also has the extra ability that whenever an attacking creature dies, each opponent will lose 1 life and I'll gain 1 life.

If Looping Kardur didn't sound like enough fun, looping Gray Merchant of Asphodel could definitely turn into a win. When "Gary" enters play each opponent will lose X life where X is my devotion to Black and I'll gain life equal to the amount of life lost this way. Even if I'm only able to get a devotion of five, at a table of four players I'll be gaining 15 life. Doing that once is nice, but if I'm able to do that every turn I'll be pretty well off.

Easy Attacks

Whether I'm bringing back a lowly Iron or Leaden Myr, or I've managed to get Alesha up to 6 power and I'm bringing back a Massacre Wurm, this deck is going to want reliable ways to attack every turn. I don't want to rely on my commander, as she may have first strike, but Alesha doesn't have any other built-in protection. Fortunately there are lots of easy ways to get attack triggers in Red and Black.

Rite of the Raging Storm is an odd enchantment that came out in Commander 2015. At the beginning of each player's upkeep that player will create a 5/1 red Elemental creature token named Lightning Rager. It has trample, haste, and has to be sacrificed at the beginning of the next end step. Creatures named Lightning Rager can't attack me or planeswalkers I control. I'll be losing it anyways, so I lose nothing by throwing my Lightning Rager token into combat and that will let me get my Raid trigger at end of turn.

For five mana, Darksteel Juggernaut is an indestructible artifact creature that attacks each combat if able. It has a power and toughness equal to the number of artifacts I control. Having to attack each turn in this deck is a feature, not a bug. It can be chump-blocked and will reliably give me my attack trigger.

An easy way to get low-risk attacks is to play creatures that can't be blocked. Creatures with shadow can't block or be blocked except by other creatures with shadow, so it made sense to throw Dauthi Voidwalker into the mix. This Dauthi Rogue has shadow and will keep my tablemates from putting cards into their graveyards. Those cards will get exiled with void counters on them. I can tap and sacrifice Dauthi Voidwalker and play an exiled card an opponent owns with a void counter without paying its mana cost.

Dauthi Voidwalker is particularly strong in Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate, because she can bring it back to use again and again. Each instance of Dauthi Voidwalker will see the cards with void counters on them so they'll always be available. I'd even be able to play cards owned by my opponents, but exiled by someone else's Dauthi Voidwalker!

This is a creature-based deck, but if I were inclined to play fewer creatures I might throw in a bunch of equipment like Mithril Coat and Whispersilk Cloak to make a creature either indestructible or unblockable. The goal is to get easy attacks to trigger Alesha and since she can bring a creature back, it doesn't even matter that much if it dies in combat. I could send a Burnished Hart into battle, pay 3 mana to sacrifice it before combat damage if it's blocked, and then bring it back at the end of the turn so I can do it again the following turn.

Pumps for Alesha

I'm sure Alesha could rock a pair of pumps, but I'm more concerned with pumping up Alesha's power so can bring back larger creatures. My mana curve isn't super high, but I've got enough fours, fives and sixes that it would be nice to be able to get anything I want out of the graveyard.

The Liege cycle is a great place to look for any two-color deck that wants anthem effects, and this list is no exception. In Black and red I was able to find Ashenmoor Liege, which pumps my other Black creatures +1/+1 and my other red creatures +1/+1. Starting with Alesha's base power of 2, adding an additional +2/+2 from Ashenmoor Liege, and after a couple of attack triggers I'll be able to bring back any creature in my deck that happens to be in my graveyard.

Bloodsworn Steward is a 4/4 Vampire Knight with flying that gives my commander creatures +2/+2 and haste. It really shines in partner decks, but a flying blocker and an extra 2 power for my commander will help a lot.

I'm running a few pieces of equipment to help matters. Hero's Blade can be equipped for free to a legendary creature that enters the battlefield under my control. It gives +3/+2, but that free equip is why I usually choose it over other equipment. Relic Axe is also in the list. It gives +1/+1, or +2/+1 if equipped to a Warrior. It is the inverse of Hero's Blade, attaching for free when it enters the battlefield, rather than when the creature enters. I'm also running Demonspine Whip, which will let me pay X mana to give equipped creature +X/+0.

Raiding Party

Alesha has a Raid keyword ability so it made sense to me to look into what other creatures might also have Raid abilities worth including. A lot of them had benefits that lasted until end of turn, or that only benefited the creature with the keyword. I was still able to find a few options that were interesting enough to try out.

I'm running an old standby in Bloodsoaked Champion. This Human Warrior can't block, but it can be brought back from the graveyard to the battlefield for one and a Black mana if I attacked this turn. That's not super exciting, but I found some even better raid triggers.

Ruin Raider is a reliable source of cards. This Orc Pirate will have me reveal the top card of my library and put it into my hand if I attacked with a creature this turn. I'll lose life equal to the card's mana cost, but that's a small price to play for having extra cards in hand.

Brazen Cannonade is an enchantment that will deal 2 damage to each opponent whenever an attacking creature I control dies. Its raid trigger will have me exile the top card of my library and until end of combat on my next turn I may play that card. If it's a spell, I don't get to cast it for free, but if it's a land I can play it as my land for turn. The rest of my raid cards are all creatures. Perforating Artist is in the list. It's a Devil with deathtouch and a pretty nice raid trigger. At the beginning of my end step each opponent will lose 3 life, sacrifice a nonland permanent, or discard a card. That's an inconvenience at first, but it can pile up over multiple turns.

I'm also running Searslicer Goblin, which makes goblin tokens with its raid trigger, but the most interesting creature might be Rose, Cutthroat Raider. This 3/2 Robot artifact creature will have me create a Junk token for each opponent I attacked at the end of combat. Junk tokens can be sacrificed to exile the top card of your library and you get to play that card this turn. Whenever you sacrifice a Junk you add one red mana. This card comes out of the Fallout set, and if that makes it feel a little out of place, you could easily swap in something else for it without dramatically impacting the deck.

Laughing At Fate

It's worth mentioning that my decision to include all of those cards with the raid keyword probably doesn't make the deck stronger. I enjoy when I get the chance to lean into a weird old keyword or an odd and underappreciated creature type. I like building decks with solid game plans and loads of staples, but I also like having a little fun with my lower powered decks. A lower-powered game generally gives you more time to develop a suboptimal game plan.

I'm running a few ways to entomb creatures and I like this deck's chances in lower powered play. The focus on forced-sacrifice might make it a bit much for some playgroups, but I think it's a solid plan and your recursion should help to break the symmetry on using creatures that force everyone to make a sacrifice.

Alesha EDH | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

• Creatures (35)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Archetype of Finality
• 1 Ashenmoor Liege
• 1 Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1 Bloodsworn Steward
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Chaos Dragon
• 1 Darksteel Juggernaut
• 1 Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1 Demon's Disciple
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Fulminator Mage
• 1 Goldspan Dragon
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Iron Myrfoil
• 1 Kardur, Doomscourge
• 1 Leaden Myr
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Merciless Executioner
• 1 Midnight Reaper
• 1 Perforating Artist
• 1 Pilgrim's Eye
• 1 Plaguecrafter
• 1 Rakshasa Debaser
• 1 Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1 Raving Dead
• 1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider
• 1 Ruin Raider
• 1 Searslicer Goblin
• 1 Skittering Surveyor
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 The Infamous Cruelclaw
• 1 Vampire Gourmand
• 1 Vile Entomber
• 1 Viscera Seer

• Instants (7)
• 1 Altar's Reap
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Corrupted Conviction
• 1 Costly Plunder
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Entomb
• 1 Withering Torment

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Diabolic Intent
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Unmarked Grave

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Attritionfoil
• 1 Brazen Cannonade
• 1 Rite of the Raging Storm

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Demonspine Whip
• 1 Hero's Blade
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Lithoform Engine
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Relic Axe
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Symmetry Matrix
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence

• Lands (37)
• 13 Mountain
• 13 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Cabal Stronghold
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Foreboding Ruins
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Luxury Suite
• 1 Raucous Theater
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Buy This Deck Export text

To tune this list up in power, I think the best course of action would be to increase the power level of the recursion targets, and to add in more ways to pump Alesha up. Bringing back Eldrazi or even big threats like Sheoldred or Dragons could work nicely but you'll need to get Alesha's power reliably up to seven, eight, or higher to make that work.

Dropping this list down in power would probably start with dropping out the creatures that force your opponents to sacrifice creatures. Those with a commander that brings recursion to the game can be pretty oppressive. I'm looking at you, Meren of Clan Nel Toth.

Final Thoughts

If you're wondering who came and replaced me with a person who would trot out a decklist with so many variants of Fleshbag Marauder, never fear dear reader - I'm still me. I have the chance to play this list online and I'm still unsure on whether or not I want to. I just don't like playing decks that can feel oppressive to my tablemates and looping one of those guys isn't exactly playing nice.

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to write about for next week but I've been messing around with a Krakens deck built around a Lord of the Rings card that I may need to share with you. I'm happy to report that my Radagast the Brown deck has been a lot of fun, although it tends to have pretty explosive turns. Land a Nyxbloom Ancient and either Karametra's Acolyte or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and it's easy to wind up with a dozen more creatures on the battlefield on your next turn.

I did pick up a Foundations prerelease kit but didn't open anything exciting that hadn't already been nabbed by one of my fellow writers. I often use my pulls to guide what I'm going to write about, but that may not end up working out for this set. I should have another Foundations column or two in me before all is said and done, but we'll see.

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