Alesha, Who is Sick of These Puns

Commander / EDH Aggro Combo Control Infinite Combo Reanimator Tokens

Flagellum

Instant (4)

• 1x Crackling Doom
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Unmake
• 1x Utter End

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Reforge the Soul
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Wrath of God

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Cathars' Crusade
• 1x Goblin Bombardment
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Nahiri's Machinations
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Reconnaissance
• 1x Tortured Existence

Artifact (13)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Boros Signet
• 1x Dolmen Gate
• 1x Key to the City
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Panharmonicon
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Creature (32)

• 1x Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
• 1x Anger
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bone Shredder
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cartel Aristocrat
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Feldon of the Third Path
• 1x Fiend Hunter
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Leonin Relic-Warder
• 1x Manic Vandal
• 1x Master of Cruelties
• 1x Mentor of the Meek
• 1x Mesmeric Fiend
• 1x Mogg War Marshal
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Murderous Redcap
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Siege-Gang Commander
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Thought Gorger
• 1x Tidehollow Sculler
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x War Priest of Thune
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (36)

• 1x Boros Garrison
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 5x Mountain
• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 7x Plains
• 1x Rakdos Carnarium
• 1x Rogue's Passage
• 9x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Tainted Peak
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Instant (2)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Mortify

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Dread Return

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Creature (6)

• 1x Beetleback Chief
• 1x Grand Abolisher
• 1x Maw of the Obzedat
• 1x Mother of Runes
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Selfless Spirit

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"Greet death with sword in hand."

Alesha, Who Seriously Wants To Stop With These Puns

Tired of seeing the various "Alesha, Who [Insert catchy phrase here]" deck titles like I was? Have no fear, the puns stop here! They were funny at first, but now it's all there is.

Anywho, after brewing this deck for a while and finding what it's groove was I am now confident in writing a deck description.

Why Play Alesha? How is She Best Used?

What I've discovered about Alesha is that she is a combination of things, and I'm not talking about all that gender identity, PC, Princess Mulan, Ninja Turtle stuff. I'm talking about the various ways to play her i.e. aggro, combo, reanimator, control, tokens, ect.

After researching many decks I have observed several things. No matter what deck strategy is used, some themes are universal to all Alesha decks:

1. Creatures with ETB effects. These can be anything from token producers, Shatter/ Murder type effects, or reanimation effects such as that from Karmic Guide.

2. She likes to have a graveyard filled with creatures to reanimate. Having a general that reanimates, it kind of makes sense that a GY filled with creatures might be needed. Having the right set of creatures in the GY could mean game, in fact Buried Alive is our main win condition.

3. Sacrifice outlets are a must. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes nowadays! Sac outlets are great, and are needed for several win conditions or to maximize ETB/LTB effects. They also allow us to reanimate creatures to reuse their effects.

One thing to keep in mind with Alesha, is to not always rely on her. She will not always be available and I tried to build the deck around that fact.

Strategy

Develop A Boardstate

In this step we want to setup a sac outlet and perhaps a few draw spells. Throw in a few ETB critters or some Alesha protection and we are set.

The many token producers allows us to not only create an army but gives us chump blockers. Aside from Alesha herself, we don't necessarily care if our critters hit the bin and, often enough, it is a good thing if they do.

Having removal on a body provides us with great value. We can remove threats while at the same time develop our boardstate. Combined with a sac outlet and Alesha we can then piece together an engine.

Aggro or Combo Out

More often then not, the likely scenario is a combo win (listed below). However, with the right evasion and/or buffs (I.e. Cathars' Crusade) it is possible to knock opponents out via commander damage OR create a token army. What to do depends on the situation. That is why I like Alesha, she has several viable ways to win.

Oh and let's not forget about Buried Alive!

Stacking the Stack

This section deals with the specifics of certain cards which might not seem obvious to those who aren't in the know of stack manipulation or general rulings.

Fiend Hunter + a sac outlet: Permanently exiles a creature.

"But how!?" you ask? Simple, Fiend Hunter has two separate triggers: one for when it ETB and another when it LTB. When Fiend Hunter ETB, sac it in response to the ETB trigger. This means that FH's ETB effect is on the bottom of the stack- nothing is exiled yet. The LTB trigger goes on top of the stack, and since the ETB effect has not resolved yet, the LTB trigger resolves returning nothing to the battlefield. THEN the ETB trigger resolves permanently exiling it's target.

This applies to several cards that I did not include in the deck like Tidehollow Sculler or Mesmeric Fiend and other similar cards.

An attacking Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and her trigger ability + a Master of Cruelties in the gy + an opponent with no blockers or if given evasion: Dead opponent

Master of Cruelties can only attack by itself, so how does this combo work? Well during the declare attackers step we select Alesha. She attacks triggering her ability which we pay to put MoC into play tapped and attacking. It gets around the restriction because his ability only checks during the declare attackers step which has already passed. Anything past that doesn't get checked.

So how does it kill an opponent since damage is dealt at the same time? MoC does not deal damage, his ability will trigger if he is not blocked, reducing the opponent's life to 1. If Alesha is not blocked then her damage is applied afterwards killing the opponent.

Toolbox Cards

• Creature Removal: Fiend Hunter, Bone Shredder, Murderous Redcap, Grave Pact, Crackling Doom, Swords to Plowshares, Unmake, Utter End
• Artifact Removal: Manic Vandal , Leonin Relic-Warder, Utter End
• Enchantment Removal: War Priest of Thune, Leonin Relic-Warder, Utter End
• Wrath: Wrath of God
• Ramp: Solemn Simulacrum, Ashnod's Altar, Sol Ring, Boros Signet, Orzhov Signet, Rakdos Signet , Talisman of Indulgence
• Token Generators: Mogg War Marshal, Siege-Gang Commander , Priest of the Blood Rite , Pia and Kiran Nalaar, Feldon of the Third Path
• Card Draw: Grim Haruspex, Phyrexian Arena, Thought Gorger, Disciple of Bolas, Mentor of the Meek, Skullclamp, Solemn Simulacrum
• Alesha Protection: Dolmen Gate, Reconnaissance , Nahiri's Machinations , Break Through the Line, Swiftfoot Boots, Whispersilk Cloak
• Sac Outlets: Carrion Feeder, Cartel Aristocrat, Sadistic Hypnotist, Viscera Seer, Altar of Dementia, Ashnod's Altar, Goblin Bombardment

Combos/Wincons

Buried Alive: It's that good. Have Demonic Tutor in hand? Tutor for this card. What to fetch depends on the situation/board state.

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + Master of Cruelties + either an opponent with no blockers or if made evasive: Dead opponent

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + token producer + Cathars' Crusade/ Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit : Creates an army of little dudes that can be pumped to epic proportions.

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + token producer + Blood Artist/ Falkenrath Noble/ Zulaport Cutthroat + sac outlet: Massive damage to opponents.

Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit / Cathars' Crusade + Murderous Redcap + sac outlet: Infinite damage. When you sacrifice Murderous Redcap his undying will trigger bringing him back to play. Thus triggering Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit / Cathars' Crusade. The bolster ability will put a counter on the Redcap, allowing you to repeat the process.

Fiend Hunter + Sun Titan + Blood Artist/ Falkenrath Noble/ Zulaport Cutthroat + sac outlet: Infinite damage. With one of the mentioned drainers and Sun Titan on board, cast Fiend Hunter targeting the Sun Titan exiling him. Sac the Fiend Hunter bringing back Sun Titan into play reanimating Fiend Hunter repeating the process.

Fiend Hunter + sac outlet: permanently exile a creature.

Leonin Relic-Warder + sac outlet: permanently exile an enchantment or artifact.

Karmic Guide + Reveillark + sac outlet + Blood Artist/ Falkenrath Noble/ Zulaport Cutthroat: infinite damage and recursion of creatures with 2 or less power.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Key combos	Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + Master of Cruelties Karmic Guide + Reveillark
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 27 - 0 Rares 33 - 0 Uncommons 14 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.81
Tokens	Copy Clone, Goblin 1/1 R, Morph 2/2 C
Folders	fun decks