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[EDH][Primer] Adeline Anthem Beatdown

Commander / EDH Aggro Aristocrats Bracket 3 Equip Humans Mono-White Primer Tokens Weenie

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Lands (32)

Removal (10)

Recursion (2)

Anthems (15)

Mana Advantage (10)

Token-Generators (4)

Tutors (4)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Adeline, Resplendent Cathar

Card Advantage (13)

Protection (7)

Win-Cons (2)

Maybeboard

Protection (5)

Removal (3)

Anthems (4)

Prison/Stax/Hate Effects (2)

Win-Cons (2)

Card Advantage (4)

Token Generators (2)

This is a rather not-so-quick brew around Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. She's very similar to another general, Brimaz, King of Oreskos, who is one of my favorite legendary creatures in all of Magic. However, I think Adeline is a better general than Brimaz due to her explosiveness, and as such, this decklist could be considered an evolution of my Brimaz deck.

Adeline is a very powerful and incredibly explosive combat-based weenie commander, with the potential to do insane damage rather quickly due to her essentially making three tokens every time a creature you control swings. Despite being 1/1 tokens, with anthem effects these tokens can quickly grow out of control.

The deck is designed with zero infinite combos. It wins through beating the ever-loving shit out of our opponents by punching them in the face. Despite not having any infinite combos, the deck is still incredibly powerful and as I said can get out of control very quickly.

The deck primarily wins through spamming multiple anthem effects to do large amounts of damage very quickly, or through commander damage.

Anthem Wins:

  • Cathars' Crusade - The creatures made from Adeline, Resplendent Cathar all enter at once, and as such they each get three +1/+1 counters. Just one attack from Adeline with Cathars' Crusade out has the potential to deal 19 points of damage in an instant (Adeline would be a 7/7, the three tokens would all be 4/4s).
  • Goldnight Commander - Basically identical to Cathars' Crusade, except the anthem effect disappears at the end of turn. Still very ridiculous though, as you can easily deal 19 points of damage off of just one swing (Adeline would be a 7/7, the three tokens would all be 4/4s).
  • Mirror Entity - Let's just casually make all of our tokens 4/4s instead of 1/1s. The anthem effects still happen, so you could easily make your army of 4/4s into an army of 7/7s at instant speed. Adeline still gets her bonus power from the number of creatures in play, so you could easily go from swinging for 7 damage (4/4 Adeline, three 1/1 tokens) to swinging for 20 damage (8/4 Adeline, three 4/4 tokens) at instant speed for seven mana, if you include the casting cost of Mirror Entity. You could swing for way more if you pair Mirror Entity with either of the two above, or any anthem effect for that matter.

These are cards I've cut from the deck before. Some cards might be added back in depending on further testing and if I desire to change the direction of the deck eventually.

I redid the deck in September 2024. I ended up cutting around 20~30 cards, but the list is too long to fit here.

  • Akroma's Memorial - This card is great in token go-wide strategies like what I'm trying to do here with this deck, however, this is a very fast deck that wants to be aggressive early. I view it more of a "win-more" card in Adeline. Cut in favor of Court Street Denizen because it kind of allows us to do what Akroma's Memorial does in the first place - get around other people's creatures.
  • Avacyn, Angel of Hope - I love Avacyn. She's one of my favorite cards in Magic. However, her CMC is a little much for what this deck wants to do, despite her phenomenal ability. Cut in favor of Mangara, the Diplomat because you can never have enough methods of card draw.
  • Expedition Mapfoil - This literally did absolutely nothing for me, as I find myself fine on lands and I'd rather use the mana I do have to cast other things. Cut in favor of Disenchant for artifact and enchantment removal.
  • Gilded Lotusfoil - I really like Gilded Lotusfoil, but as I'm continuously trying to lower the average CMC of the deck, I don't need as many sources of mana. Cut in favor of Rumor Gatherer for more card advantage.
  • Guardian of Faith - I initially had this in the deck to offer protection to Adeline, but it honestly hasn't done much beyond take up a card slot as I haven't found it very useful. Cut in favor of Metallic Mimic, as we run 18 humans in the deck, and the tokens Adeline creates are humans, allowing us to quickly build our board's power and toughness.
  • Helm of the Host - While I am a Helm of the Host believer, Elspeth, Storm Slayer has shaken my beliefs. Helm of the Host requires nine mana to properly utilize, while Elspeth, Storm Slayer is five mana and has an immediate impact on the game. She offers two anthem effects, token generation and removal, while Helm of the Host just offers additional tokens. Cut in favor of Elspeth, Storm Slayer.
  • Odric, Lunarch Marshal - I do still like Odric, but I think Myrel, Shield of Argive's effect is much more powerful than Odric's. Cut in favor of Myrel, Shield of Argive because a method of protection and an additional token maker is always good.
  • Oketra's Monument - In the grand scheme of things, this hardly does anything. Yes, it does reduce the CMC of our creatures by one generic and makes a token upon casting a white creature, but in the end it provides no real benefit. Cut in favor of Infiltration Lens, as I want to lower the CMC of the deck and add more methods of card draw.
  • Soul Warden - I already cut all the lifegain synergistic cards out of the deck, so really no point in keeping Soul Warden in the deck. Cut in favor of Demystify for additional enchantment removal.
  • Soul's Attendant - I initially had wanted a sub-theme of lifegain, however, I opted not to go too deep and include basically only Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant with little-to-no reward or payoff as Cosmos Elixir and Dawn of Hope didn't make the list. I still might put the sub-theme back in if I ever get my hands on an Archangel of Thune, but for now, there are better options. Cut in favor of Swiftfoot Boots because I'm stupid and forgot to put it in the initial decklist.
  • Sword of Sinew and Steel - I have cut this due to the lack of red in my playgroup. Cut in favor of Honor of the Pure to add an additional anthem effect.
  • Sword of Truth and Justice - I initially had this in the deck because most of the removal used by my playgroup is white and blue. It still might be added back in, but for now, the effect itself is kind of negligible and slow. Cut in favor of Anointed Procession, which can easily cause the game to spiral out of control in our favor the turn it comes down.

Currently I am looking for a way to include these two cards in the deck. If you have any suggestions about cuts, please feel free to comment.

This is my watch list, or where I put cards I'm considering on cutting/changing - most likely for cards up above in the "Cards Testing/Considering" section.

Deck last updated 3/25/2025.

Description last updated 3/25/2025.

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Update #4 - Tarkir: Dragonstorm — March 24, 2025
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Greetings Folks of the TappedOut,

I haven't been this excited for a set in a while. It's been a hot minute since I've looked at spoilers for a new set and have seen cards where my first reaction is "Yeah, that's immediately going into my deck." In addition, this didn't just happen for one card, or for two cards - but for three cards! Lets take a gander and see what I'm so excited about.

  • Ainok Strike Leader - This is essentially another copy of Adeline, Resplendent Cathar. Two mana for a 2/2 is decent, but it's ability is ridiculous. Whenever we swing with this creature OR our commander, we create a 1/1 token for each opponent. If we have three opponents and if we have Ainok Strike Leader plus Adeline, Resplendent Cathar out, that is five mana for six 1/1 tokens, a 2/2, and a 8/4. However, Ainok Strike Leader also has the added benefit of being a method to protect our tokens. By sacrificing it, we can make all of our tokens indestructible. Now, it needs to be noted that its for tokens only - meaning other creatures like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar are still vulnerable. However, being able to protect the 1/1 tokens through a boardwipe or something is absolutely fantastic.
  • Elspeth, Storm Slayer - The main card I'm super excited about, and I have a lot to say about it. Elspeth, Storm Slayer is everything this deck wants to do and more. It's a token doubler, a token generator, an anthem plus evasion effect, and removal all on one card. We already have a token doubler in the deck in the form of Anointed Procession, but having another version of the same effect is great. Then, her +1 is that she creates a 1/1 token. However, due to her passive, she actually creates two 1/1 tokens. Next, her '0' ability puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and gives them flying until your NEXT turn, meaning you can use them to block fliers. Unfortunately, since most of our token generators make tokens during the combat step (Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Hero of Bladehold and Myrel, Shield of Argive), we need to bank on tokens surviving for at least a turn to truly make use of her '0' ability as you can only activate Planeswalker abilities during the mainphases of your turn. Finally, her '-3' ability is targeted removal on a creature with CMC 3 or greater. This is absolutely fantastic as it is interaction with the board and interaction wins games. The only thing I don't like about the card is that she is five mana, which in an aggressive white weenie deck like this needs to have an immediate impact on the game. Right now, I run six cards that are CMC five or above - Cathars' Crusade, Memory Jar, Cleansing Nova, Austere Command, Sun Titan, and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Of these, Cathars' Crusade and Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite can win us the game the turn they come in. Cleansing Nova is a boardwipe that allows me to target things other than creatures. Memory Jar is mass-card draw, which is a rarity in white, and Sun Titan is incredible recursion because a majority of our creatures are CMC-3 or less. Meanwhile, Elspeth, Sun's Champion is a really nice card as it makes three 1/1 tokens, offers a boardwipe that hits big massive creatures and leaves our creatures alone for the most part, and provides a permanent anthem effect if we ever ultimate her. I think Elspeth, Storm Slayer, while not an immediate game-winner in the form of Cathars' Crusade or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, has more than enough utility to justify her being in the deck. All-in-all, Elspeth, Storm Slayer is an absolutely incredible card for this deck and I am super excited for it. It is absolutely going in - just need to figure out what to cut for it.
  • Voice of Victory - Grand Abolisher is a card that was in this deck once upon a time. However, I ended up removing it because it didn't really contribute anything towards our gameplan. Well, now we have a slightly-worse Grand Abolisher effect, but with the upside that it makes tokens! Now, we do have to sacrifice the Voice of Victory tokens at the end of combat, but putting tokens tapped and attacking is all about what this deck wants to do. They boost Adeline, Resplendent Cathar's power, they trigger Goldnight Commander and Cathars' Crusade, and if we have Leonin Shikari out we could use them as Skullclamp fodder provided we don't have any anthems out. It's all-around a great card as it makes tokens and provides us with a little bit of protection during our turns.

In conclusion, I'm super excited for Tarkir: Dragonstorm due to these three cards. I think all of them would fit nicely into the theme of the deck and perform well. The two creatures fit perfectly into the curve at 2-CMC each, and while in my opinion five mana is just about the maximum I'd like to spend on a spell in this deck, Elspeth, Storm Slayer is an incredibly powerful card that does everything this deck wants to do - make tokens, buff tokens, and remove threats.

Update #3 - An Update — Oct. 17, 2024
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Update #2 - It's been a while — July 26, 2023
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Update #1 - First Round of Playing — Sept. 9, 2021
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Revision 38 See all

(3 weeks ago)

-1 Chrome Mox main
-1 Elspeth, Storm Slayer acquire
-1 Enlightened Tutor main
-1 Flooded Strand acquire
+2 Plains main
+1 Springleaf Drum main
-1 Teferi's Protection main