Conditions Allow - Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate EDH

(Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

| Art by Ekaterina Burmak)

A Deck Full of Vampires

The Magic Core Set returns with Foundations, and with it several fan-favorite characters from across the multiverse. Among them, the mighty khan of the Mardu, Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

This ability doesn't require Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

There are a lot of ways to build around this ability. You can lean into Fleshbag Marauder

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

A Sacrifice I'm Willing to Make

The core of this deck will be creatures that make a sacrifice to become harder to block or otherwise grow more powerful. Each of these allows you to trigger Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

Unfortunately, there aren't enough Vampires with that style of effect to reliably have one by turn three or four. I'm including a few more traditional sacrifice outlets to pad those numbers. Viscera Seer

You'll also need a few more good attackers. I'm prioritizing cheaper creatures to make rebuilding with Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

Playing With Your Food

Of course, any sacrifice deck needs plenty of fodder to sacrifice. There are plenty of Vampires with effects that trigger when they die, but I'm mixing in a few Humans in this category as well. Falkenrath Torturer and Falkenrath Aristocrat both get extra benefits if they happen to sacrifice a Human, and these creatures won't be attacking so you're not losing out on any value from the lords and anthems in the deck.

Most of the cheap Vampires in this deck actually have enter the battlefield abilities, making full use of Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate's ability to bring them back. Bloodtithe Harvester is a repeatable removal spell, especially in combination with Anje, Maid of Dishonor and Voldaren Bloodcaster. Vampire Socialite is perhaps the best sacrifice fodder in this deck, steadily growing your team of attackers every time it's revived. 

This deck isn't a true aristocrats deck, preferring to sacrifice one or two creatures a turn throughout the game than many all at once. Blood Artist isn't at its best here, but you do make excellent use of more limited effects, like Vraan, Executioner Thane and Kalastria Highborn. And even though Blood Artist and Vein Ripper aren't reach their full potential, they'll deal an extra couple damage every turn and provide insurance against board wipes.

Vampire Lords

To round out the deck, I'm including a number of anthem effects to help your team of Vampires pack as much punch as possible. Cordial Vampire will grow your team surprisingly quickly, while Eldrazi Monument is the perfect effect for an Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate deck. These both supplement the more traditional Stromkirk Captain and Shared Animosity effects perfectly. 

I've also built a small Blood subtheme into this deck. Blood tokens are perfect for a reanimator-esque deck to discard and draw cards, digging towards key cards like Vein Ripper, Malakir Bloodwitch, and Arterial Alchemy. Arterial Alchemy is incredibly powerful for this deck, and a key part of how Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate rebuilds from a board wipe. Equipping Blood tokens either lets Alesha immediately bring back your biggest threats or turns your smaller attackers, like Vampire Gourmand, into real heavy hitters. 

Back all that up with plenty of draw and a little interaction, and here's the final deck list.

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate is a surprisingly open-ended commander that you can take in a lot of different directions. I'm a fan of aggressive creature decks, but you could lean in many other directions. How would you build around Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate? Are there any cards or synergies I overlooked? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading!