Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate Illustrated by Ekaterina Burmak

White | Blue | Black | Red | Green | Artifacts/Lands | Allied Colors/Shards | Enemy Colors/Wedges | cEDH | Reprints | Pauper/Budget

FIVE YEARS OF NICE!!!

Foundations looks solid! Thrilled to see a set chock full of great reprints and a lot of interesting new cards. Allied pairings and shards, it's time to dig in. 

Mythics

Hurska Sweet-Tooth

Selesnya life gain gets a new face that can spell death for your opponents. Another Bear legend for those whose itch wasn't scratched by Kudo, King Among Bears.

Hurska is a Bear that finds honey on attack and tells your opponent that at any moment, for three mana, a creature could get buffed +3/+3. The most obvious route is going to be gaining a bunch of life and having Hurska Hulk out and slam as a Voltron commander, but I think there's something tricksy about this ursine sweetie pie. 

Hurska reminds me a little of Trostani, Three Whispers in that any creature can be targeted, which means that combat isn't safe for anybody. However, Hurska goes hand in hand with Sam, Loyal Attendant more so than Trostani.

Hurska really wants you to gain a ton of life at one time and more than likely at instant speed. The trigger doesn't say "life you gained this turn", like Accomplished Alchemist. A Soul Warden strategy will basically translate to gain one life, pay one mana, get +1/+1 to send somewhere for the turn. It's not great. Pack a War Report and Beacon of Immortality or... dear god, is this an Archangel's Light deck?!

Ultimately, this card will resonate with those who like it right away or not at all, in my opinion. This card doesn't move the needle for me, and with Trostani, Three Whispers being right there, I'd probably recommend them over the new Bear. If you love this lil guy, then awesome! But these aren't my colors, and the play pattern inspires more annoyance than excitement. There are "big bursts of life gain" decks out there who will find this interesting, and I think I nailed it with my Sam, Loyal Attendant suggestion. Maybe a Bilbo, Birthday Celebrant deck wants a big beefy Bear to help get to the party or that will benefit from the way there. 

Taeko, the Patient Avalanche

Do you think they weren't allowed to put Ninja Turtle in the type line or...?

The art looks like a clumsy, giant Turtle is sneaking around with his thief buddy and knocked something over; I feel seen. 

That's about where the fun stops for me, I'm afraid. Four mana for a creature entering tapped better be game-warping. It's a 4/5 in blue which is probably why they nerfed it by entering tapped, but other than that I don't see it. Taeko gets bigger and lets you scry when you bounce or blink one of your creatures. Bit of a nothing-burger if that's all you get. Turn four, play this, I bet your opponents are shaking in their boots. I'm really disappointed so far. 

The attack trigger is the most interesting part of Taeko. It requires him to attack, and it requires a mana, but what you get is either an unblockable base 4/5 slamming for damage or you're getting something more important through without having to worry much about their Turtle escort. 

So what commanders want this? In Dimir, I'm afraid only The Master, Formed Anew are all that keen on self-bounce. A case can be made for blink decks with Satoru, the Infiltrator and Gyruda, Doom of Depths. Maybe Kamiz, Obscura Oculus needs a little redundancy. 

Ultimately, it feels like Taeko is a leader, spawning a bounce/blink hybrid of his own. Play stuff like Eligeth, Crossroads Augur and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling alongside Shadowmage Infiltrator and Virtus the Veiled. Has Shrieking Drake and a bunch of blue mana ever been so scary? (Besides in a Chulane, Teller of Tales deck.)

Another Voltron commander with strange utility, it seems! I'm eager to run into a Taeko deck in the wild, but this won't be one I brew online, let alone sleeve up. 

Rares

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate

Is it any surprise to those of you who know me that I am excited about this new Alesha?

Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate is a fantastic iteration of a longtime favorite Alesha, Who Smiles at Death. One thing to note: Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate does not need to attack for the Raid trigger to go off! That's right, you can kind of have a Meren of Clan Nel Toth in Rakdos!

Alesha gets bigger with each attack and with a buff and first strike, she quickly gets out of hand. Once Alesha is a 5/5 in the early game, you'll probably be satisfied with what she can return from the graveyard and you'll have a great defender. Send a Corpse Augur in for some damage, sacrifice it before end step and bring it right back. Lots of incredible cards in Rakdos! I could talk about Rakdos sacrifice and reanimator for a very long time. There is no shortage of ways to build this deck.

You could play anthems. You could play pump spells. Tutor to your graveyard with Cynical Loner or Vile Entomber. Use Blood tokens. Play self-mill. The Ozolith.

Alesha is going to be a popular commander, much like her first card. In the 99, Alesha is going to be an excellent backup commander to Chainer, Nightmare Adept or Garna, Bloodfist of Keld. Not to mention, she's an absolute shoo-in for my prized Lyzolda, the Blood Witch deck. Get ready to see Alesha a bunch!

Anthem of Champions

I was wracking my brain for what makes this card special. Why would they make this card? Is it that impressive? We have Glorious Anthem at three mana, so changing a pip from white to green makes sense to remove the other mana. Have we really not had an unconditional anthem for two mana? 

The answer is yes. Flowering of the White Tree is an unconditional +1/+1 anthem to all your creatures with a bonus for legendary creatures just for . But it's legendary. We've had Bad Moon and Sylvan Anthem, but nothing quite exactly like Anthem of Champions. 

It's nothing to write home about, but if you want a cheap anthem in your colors, bon appetit!

I'm bored! Moving on!

Ashroot Animist

It seems like there's a lot of combat-focused cards this set and I'm realizing just how little that does for me. 

Ashroot Animist reminds me a little of Xenagos, God of Revels and a scaled-down version of Wild Beastmaster. It's like if Tuya Bearclaw wasn't so selfish. Speaking of Tuya, the Animist is at home in that 99 for sure.

Wulfgar of Icewind Dale decks will love to double the triggers on the Animist. It's spicy and fiery. Halana and Alena, Partners are already very speedy at a Commander table, and Ashroot Animist is angling for a spot in the 99 to put the pressure on even more. Alena, Kessig Trapper and Bighorner Rancher don't mind having the Animist target a creature that entered this turn for an extra four mana. I think my favorite application of this effect is in a Fling deck like Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes. Gruul stompy lovers, enjoy a new tool in your box!

Evereth, Viceroy of Plunder

Speaking of Fling decks, how about a Fling and Rite of Consumption! 

A free sacrifice outlet for creatures AND artifacts is pretty great. "Free sacrifice outlet" happens to be one of my favorite phrases in Magic. The effect is just making Evereth bigger, but in the end, Evereth is a time bomb for your opponents. Sacrifice a Treasure along the way and your gain a ton of life. Cards like Abhorrent Overlord, Underworld Hermit, Clown Car, and even Krenko, Mob Boss will flood the board with disposable creatures that make Evereth huge. 

Not to mention you can use cards like Boomer Scrapper, Juri, Master of the Revue, and Orca, Siege Demon that get big and play an Essence Harvest, the OG Fling, or Fling on a stick with Bloodshot Cyclops.

Evereth slots in nicely in a Juri, Master of the Revue deck, a Vampire-themed deck like Edgar Markov, an artifact deck like Imskir Iron-Eater; lots of great spots for Evereth. 

I just wish there was a non-anime art of these cards! It's really not for me at all! I hope we get non-anime versions of these someday!

Kykar, Zephyr Awakener

Kykar got absolutely STUNNING artwork in this set. 

Kykar, Zephyr Awakener is the fixed Displacer Kitten or rather "Displacer Kitten at home".

When Kykar, Wind's Fury and Brago, King Eternal exist, picking Kykar, Zephyr Awakener to lead a deck is absolutely a choice made out of love for this version. Moreover, new Kykar fits so well in the 99 of old Kykar and other blink decks, like Ephara, God of the Polis

Zephyr Awakener brings creatures back at the next end step, so if you've got a particularly juicy ETB creature, you can protect it from spot removal by playing a Path to Exile. Is there a flash-speed enchantress deck waiting to be brewed here ready to Flicker a Cavalier of Dawn, Reflector Mage, or Peregrine Drake? Heliod, the Radiant Dawn might be a great spot for Kykar and a great inclusion in the Kykar list. 

Maybe a noncreature-heavy Millicent, Restless Revenant deck can appreciate all the extra 1/1 Spirits kicking around!

Plagon, Lord of the Beach

On va à la plage! (Plage is French for beach. Everybody's learning today!)

A quick Scryfall search shows that there are nearly 2000 creatures with toughness higher than power.

Plagon, Lord of the Beach enters seeing itself to draw at least one card. Pack Ornithopter, Phyrexian Walker, and Shield Sphere for an easy three more cards. Don't forget to pack a High Alert if you're leaning heavily into Walls strategy. Pack some blink pieces, like Eldrazi Displacer, Thassa, Deep-Dwelling, Teleportation Circle, and Conjurer's Closet, to keep your hand filled. 

Big butts can slam for a single blue or white mana in this deck, so Charix, the Raging Isle, Essence of Antiquity, Indomitable Ancients, Inversion Behemoth, and oh my god, The Council of Four, are all great inclusions in a Plagon deck that wants to smack.

This is an absolute champ in an Arcades, the Strategist deck, of course. That said, I'd be shocked if Plagon wasn't just always in the command zone. 

Slinza, the Spiked Stampede

A Beast kindred commander that turns the two-mana discount on Beasts into a potential fight. Slinza seems like he'd be a strong commander for Beasts, but nowhere else. 

A little over 300 Beasts in these colors, and while there are some great Beasts, like Elder Gargaroth and Questing Beast, it's just uninspiring. Kindred decks aren't my thing to begin with, but I guess a kindred kindred deck might appreciate the cost reduction and removal utility. I don't know, I don't know, I don't know.

I don't know who this is really for. I mean, there have been Beast kindred commanders, like Tawnos, the Toymaker and Radagast, Wizard of Wilds, in Simic, but never one proper for Gruul so I guess that's who this is for

If you're hyped on this, good for you. If you're not, we agree. I don't care for Slinza. It's whatever. 

Uncommons & Commons

Dreadwing Scavenger

Three-mana 2/2 flying creature that loots on entering and attacking is great value and with the Threshold bonus of +1/+1 and deathtouch makes this brutal to block. I just took apart mine, but this would have been perfect for Araumi of the Dead Tide.

Perforating Artist

At your end step, as long as you attacked, each opponent gets punished by their choice of three damage, discarding a card, or sacrificing a nonland permanent. Pretty sweet card! Just swinging with a 1/1 at someone who is open will turn the end step into a bloodbath. I dig it!

FOUNDATIONS CELEBRATION!

I was not ready to be bowled over by this set. In Standard for the next five years, lots of great reprints, incredible new cards; what a GIFT!

What do you like from the set? Obviously, my fave is Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate.