Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vintage Legal

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

Legendary Creature — Human Warrior

First strike

Whenever Alesha, Who Smiles at Death attacks, you may pay . If you do, return target creature card with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped and attacking.

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Barbarian_Sun_Pope on Saskia: The Human Element

1 month ago

Nice deck (+1), do you think Alesha, Who Smiles at Death would work here? I've had some success pairing her up with Isshin, Two Heavens as One, but I'm not sure if there's enough targets to make her worth it in this build.

montanaflash23 on Saskia, the Amazon

1 month ago

Swaps:

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death --> Nalia de'Arnise
Caldaia Guardian --> Karlach, Fury of Avernus
Neyith of the Dire Hunt --> Black Market Connections
Oketra the True --> Mother of Runes
Shanna, Sisay's Legacy --> Seasoned Dungeoneer

golgarigirl on What makes a deck-worthy commander?

2 months ago

Sometimes it's a mechanic, sometimes it's a theme, sometimes the card just makes an impression. Alesha, Who Smiles at Death introduced herself by giving me a papercut. And as a foil at a time when foils were something special, she kind of stuck in my subconscious. The mechanic was interesting in and of itself as well!

I've always had an enchantment deck because it's my favorite card type (and maybe to stick it to all those artifact mages), and the deck got pared down from 5-color to Tuvasa the Sunlit after the last Theros set.

I have a tendency to like playing modern/legacy deck strategies in commander, so a few of my decks have taken that angle almost subconsciously (Omnath, Otrimi, and Oloro...omg, they all start with the same letter...are Legacy Lands, Modern Boggles, and Modern Soul Sisters respectively).

And Kresh the Bloodbraided was me sticking it to the one dude in my game store that had all the bikini Liliana alters. I wanted a beefcake that I could parrot his lewd comments toward and make him likewise uncomfortable to prove a point. But the deck is fun and I'm currently re-building it with New Capenna goodies. It's like welcoming back an old friend.

~~~

Either way, I like making it so my commander, though not always necessary for a successful game, makes an impact. To me, I might as well play a different format if the commander doesn't matter. Power level makes no difference if I'm having fun. I tend toward midrange-toolbox playstyles...and my commanders are either engine pieces or wincons in most cases.

Crow-Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

3 months ago

Thank you for the suggestion knightofzero21. It's kind of funny that I forgot about Corpse Knight, since I used to run it in my Alesha, Who Smiles at Death deck as a combo piece.

I do like Corpse Knight and don't mind the 2 color intensity. In my experience a 2 color 2 drop is about the same level of on-curve play as a 1 color 3 drop. Having played this deck numerous times already, I don't think I've ever felt mana screwed by color balance/fixing.

My current issue is figuring out what slots I want to change up. I haven't played with my friends in about a month. As much as I want to change 1-3 slots to test stuff out, I also kind of want to wait knowing that Commander Legends 2 is somehow already around the corner.

koylucumert on level up cards outside of …

3 months ago

how does level up cards work when outside of the battlefield? which stats do they use? for example, can Alesha, Who Smiles at Death bring back Guul Draz Assassin?

IHATENAMES on Isshin - Army of Darkness

4 months ago

Combat Celebrant cheaper Xtra combat.

Some more reanimation might be good. Perhaps Primevals' Glorious Rebirth or Alesha, Who Smiles at Death

Paladin Class go wide and go big support.

Some aristocrat style cards will help finish games.

I'd suggest looking more card draw and interaction slots as well. It's not that it isn't there but looks a tad light to get you creatures through.

Crow-Umbra on Musashi's Mosh Pit [Primer]

4 months ago

Thank you for the suggestions Last_Laugh, I appreciate them. I have considered most of the cards you suggested here. At the very least, I may need one more repeatable draw effect, but I am still determining what feels best as a I play the deck. Here are my thoughts on your suggestions:

  • Esper Sentinel - I currently own one copy, which I'm utilizing in my Osgir, the Reconstructor deck. I think Osgir and the artifact synergies there can make a bit more use out of Esper Sentinel. Even in the games I've played Sentinel in that deck, it hasn't felt like much of a deterrent beyond Turn 3, and my play group usually pays the , unless I have multiple Sentinel copies out, thanks to Osgir.

  • Strionic Resonator - I can definitely see the utility for it, but to me it feels a bit "win more". In the games I've played so far, I haven't really felt like I was lacking for attack triggers. I could see it being like a "backup" Isshin in some cases, but haven't had much issue with Isshin being a removal target yet. I'm also not a fan of paying into activated abilities if I don't have to. I prefer to leave at least 1-3 mana up for instant speed interaction/removal once I can afford to do so.

  • Tilonalli's Summoner - Similarly to Strionic Resonator, I left this out of initial drafts of my deck because I didn't want to pay mana into an activated ability, when I could be leaving that mana open for removal/interaction. Pacing wise, it also feels awkward to me: Turn 2 Tilonalli's Summoner, Turn 3 cast Isshin but won't have mana for summoner, Turn 4 swing with the Summoner and pump it but not have mana for any of the cool options in the 4 mana spots. I think most of the Token producers already in the deck can produce 2-6 tokens when Isshin is on board, and 1-3 without.

  • Mardu Ascendancy - It's a fun card that I have considered as another token generator, and as a one time defensive buff. I have excluded it so far because I generally like the other token producers I have a bit better. I also have a weird personal rule for 3 color decks, where the commander is the only spell with all 3 colors. Even with a well-balanced manabase, I don't want many other multi-color spells ever falling risk to not being able to cast them.

  • Twilight Prophet - I have a copy and used to run it in a Token/Artistocrats Alesha, Who Smiles at Death build. So I recently removed Phyrexian Arena and Mangara, the Diplomat from this deck. Mangara wasn't much of a deterrent, and my friends either attacked me with 1 creature, or only played 1 spell per turn to get around his clauses. I removed Arena because its pacing felt too clunky for the deck, and didn't feel great to play beyond turn 4-5, when I'd have to wait an entire turn rotation to get 1 extra card. During turns 2-3, Arena felt like it competed with ramp, early 2 drop creatures, or getting Isshin online Turn 3. To me, Twilight Prophet feels somewhere in between Phyrexian Arena and Mangara in terms of pacing and effect. Twilight Prophet has a decent ceiling for extra draw and hurting my opponents, but is dependent on having a sizeable board state for Ascend, and protecting that board state. Knowing my play group's tendency to boardwipe and whittle down growing boards and having played Twilight Prophet before, I don't think it will be super viable, but I'll keep it in mind.

I'm generally a fan of the draw effects I currently have like Night's Whisper, Plumb the Forbidden, and deadly Deadly Dispute because they are reliable and can scale in some cases. I'm not super worried about draw because my play group has a house rule where the person going last in turn order becomes The Monarch at the end of their 3rd turn.

TypicalTimmy on New EDH mechanic - Treachery

5 months ago

So, my understanding is that color identity refers to mana symbols present anywhere on a card. This is why a Commander such as Alesha, Who Smiles at Death is Mardu and not mono-red, because she has on the card, even if it is within her text box. Similarly, this is why Jorn, God of Winter  Flip is actually Sultai, because Kaldring, the Rimestaff is Dimir and still part of the MDFC card.

The reason Extort is unique is because it is within the reminder text, not an activation cost or benefit or anything. Because it is in rules clarification, it was agreed upon that Extort can bend the rules of color identity, slightly.

Now, going on topic of this design, if there is no present, then he isn't Black. He would be mono-white and thus only viable as a mono-white Commander, with rules stipulating that you may include extra cards.

Not unlike how the rules of Relentless Rats work, shifting the singleton into any number. Similarly, how the rules of Grist, the Hunger Tide work to allow him to be your Commander because he is a creature outside of the Battlefield - E.G. your Command Zone.

I suspect that if WOTC printed 5 mono-color Treachery cards, one for each primary color, there'd be a ton of backlash and questioning and then a slurry of videos on Youtube would be released and everyone would suddenly accept it for what it is. Then you'd have the community split in twain, half saying it's mechanically fine and a non-issue and the other half saying how broken and dumb it is and why not just make this guy Orzhov and call it what it is.

At the end of the day, people will always find a reason to argue.

I was just looking for potential, untapped design space. That's all.

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