Legends Legends - Gabriel Angelfire
Welcome once again to Legends Legends! For our forty-third Legend, we're covering Gabriel Angelfire. Formerly the only male Angel in Magic: The Gathering, Gabe's new claim to fame is as the only Angel with rampage in his text box.
In this Commander deck, we're looking to give Gabriel every possible keyword besides rampage so that we can choose that effect each turn during our upkeep. With our souped-up Selesnya Angel on the field, we'll have a single powerful creature ready to annihilate our foes with commander damage at the drop of a hat. Ready to fly? Let's check it out!
General Thoughts
Gabriel Angelfire is a seven-mana 4/4, costing . He has no abilities when he initially hits the field, but during our upkeep we can choose one keyword from among flying, first strike, trample, or rampage 3 for Gabe to gain until our next upkeep. The way I see it, if we're going to pay the Legends premium on our commander's mana cost, we ought to see a full seven damage on the board in return. Thus, we'll do everything we can to give Gabriel as many other keywords as possible, freeing up our upkeep choice to choose rampage 3.
Green and white are probably the two best colors to pull off this gimmick. Green gets us access to the ramp we need to cast Equipment and Auras to beef up Gabriel, and white has a lot of synergy with those permanent types. What's the quickest way to fill up Gabriel Angelfire's text box with abilities? Prepare to find out!
Rampage III: Revenge of the Sith
We'll start by clearing out all the non-rampage 3 keywords from Gabriel's text. There are literal tons of Equipment and Auras that grant trample, first strike, or flying, so all we have to do is choose the best (or our favorites, given that the margins of effectiveness on many of these permanents is negligible).
Loxodon Warhammer is one of EDH's staples, appearing in Equipment decks and Voltron builds for over a decade at this point. Bladed Pinions gets us two keywords for fairly cheap, too, while cards like Moonsilver Spear and Shadowspear give us a little extra effect for our trouble. Sword of Vengeance is one of the best all-around ways to hit every keyword Gabriel mentions and then some, but it does run the risk of doubling (or tripling, or quadrupling) up on the same mechanic multiple times.
Moving on to Auras, Commanding Presence is one of the best bangs for your buck when it comes to Auras that grant first strike and also do something else (that's a surprisingly large category of cards).
Epic Proportions gives us trample and enough power to make use of it, and at instant speed, no less! Gaea's Embrace grants trample and a power buff, and, while it doesn't technically add "regenerate" to our commander's text box, I think it counts as giving him regenerate for our purposes. Eldrazi Conscription kicks it up a notch by adding annihilator 2 on top of a huge power boost.
Just in case 100 trample sources wasn't enough, we can give Gabriel Angelfire "super trample" with Indomitable Might (at instant speed!), which plays well with his rampage ability, buffing him up from blockers and then slipping all of that damage right past them.
Shield of the Oversoul gives Gabriel Angelfire some extra protection in the form of Indestructibility (another Aura perfect for our deck), and grants us another source of flying for our commander.
Rampage III: The Search for Spock
That's more than enough spells to cover flying, first strike and trample; now it's time to really fill that text box with as many other abilities as we can fit.
No Equipment deck should leave home without the utility that is Basilisk Collar, or Champion's Helm for that matter. Thran Power Suit covers our bases as far as ward goes.
Grafted Exoskeleton is the only way we can give Gabriel Angelfire infect (since we don't have access to Phyresis), and Nazgûl Battle-Mace is our only source of menace. Skeleton Key is the only way we'll be able to give Gabriel Angelfire skulk, which is more for the gimmick of the deck rather than the actual evasion it provides. Infiltration Lens will perform better for us in most cases, drawing two cards rather than looting one. Besides, we want to trigger Gabe's rampage effect, and we'll be making his power huge, so making him unblockable is a bit counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, we'll commit to the bit.
Leyline Axe and Grappling Hook are our two double strike sources, which really come in handy when combined with other effects that trigger when Gabriel deals damage, like Commanding Presence or Sixth Sense, or the infect damage from Grafted Exoskeleton.
Note that while Spirit Link grants an unkeyworded lifelink effect to its target, that effect doesn't actually count as lifelink. This is just about the only way to get double-lifelink on a creature, since the two effects stack.
Oh, and I almost forgot: Cooperation gives Gabriel banding, which can be useful when we need to bring one other creature into combat with him, but mostly is just here for our bit.
Finally, we'll use All That Glitters, Strength of the Harvest, Thran Power Suit, Ancestral Mask, and Ethereal Armor as the cherry on top of our stack of modifications for Gabriel Angelfire.
Rampage III: Return of the King
Once Gabriel Angelfire has been sufficiently buffed and we've no need for the rest of his keywords, we can start wailing on our opponents with this mighty 10/10+ flying-trampling-first striking-double-striking-Annihilator-menace-deathtouch-lifelink-infect-intimidate-rampager!
With any of the Ancestral Mask-adjacent effects attached to Gabriel, we can use Noble Quarry or Indrik Umbra to force our opponents to block Gabriel with everything they've got, bulldozing through everything in our path as he gets +3/+3 for each creature blocking blocking him beyond the first.
With all those Umbra armor and indestructibility effects, it's unlikely Gabriel Angelfire will die in combat. However, there're always a few punishing opponents running Feed the Swarm to blast away at our important Auras. Should our expensive seven-mana commander perish, we can use Nim Deathmantle to return him to the field, and spells like Mantle of the Ancients to get all of our destroyed Auras back as well.
A handful of creatures act as supporting cast to the Gabriel show: Pearl-Ear, Imperial Advisor cheapens the cost of our Aura spells, while Golden-Tail Trainer makes Gabriel (and any other modified creatures we might end up with) a sizable power boost when they attack. Golden-Tail Trainer is also an excellent choice for banding up with Gabe.
Danitha, New Benalia's Light acts as some simple recursion on a body, and Sram, Senior Edificer is our enchantress effect on a body.
Odric, Lunarch Marshal is what this deck really wants to run out, though. An army of 4/4 Angels from Sigil of the Empty Throne and 1/1 Soldiers from Commanding Presence ain't bad on their own, but what if they all gain trample, double strike, flying, vigilance, deathtouch, menace and lifelink? You're one combat step away from victory!
Mana Base
We're cutting it a little close for a seven-mana commander with just 35 lands including our dual-faced Strength of the Harvest. However, we're running three mana dorks, three land tutors, a Sol Ring, plus Wild Growth and Fertile Ground. We should be fine! Right?
Budget
Woo-ee! This deck is on the cheaper end for Legends Legends, clocking in at just under $130. Really, the only cards to break $10 are Enlightened Tutor and Shadowspear, both of which can be replaced easily for a Three Dreams and Detection Tower, respectively.
Gabriel Angelfire Decklist
Wrap Up
There you have it folks! The original keyword soup legend can finally acquire every keyword he's missing via Equipment and Auras, and it won't even break the bank!
What would you add to this Gabriel Angelfire Commander deck? Is rampage 3 worth focusing on, or should we instead double-down on making him huge and unblockable? Let me know what you think in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
