Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian | Art by Crystal Fae

Magic's Secret Lair is preparing a bunch of drops based on iconic Playstation video games, and each of them include at least one mechanically unique legendary creature you can build a Commander deck around. Today, I'm featuring a Commander deck tech built around the legend from the Horizon: Into the Forbidden West Secret Lair, Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian!

If, like me, you have no exposure to the Horizon video game series, I did a little research to catch us up. Aloy is the main protagonist of the futuristic Horizon series, and is the genetic clone of a 21st century roboticist and engineer.

In the future world of Horizon, animalistic machines dominate the land, and from the screen captures I looked at it appears that Aloy rides and otherwise fights alongside some of these machine animals, which inspired the mechanics of the card.

What Does Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian Do?

Aloy is the slightly awkward non-artifact creature that cares about artifact creatures, and the slightly awkward Simic color combination, since green doesn't typically have artifact synergies as a primary thing it does. But that's all okay - restrictions breed creativity, which makes Aloy stand out a bit from other legends that care about artifacts!

Aloy has a named ability called In You, All Things Are Possible which says "Whenever one or more artifact creatures you control attack, discover X, where X is the greatest power among them."

Discover is a powerful ability that lets you exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with that mana value or less. Cast it without paying its mana cost or put it into your hand. Put the rest of the cards on the bottom in a random order.

So if you reveal a card you don't want to cast yet, you can choose to put it in your hand for later.

Having a commander with the discover ability attached is very powerful, and if you've ever played against a Pantlaza, Sun-FavoredPantlaza, Sun-Favored deck you've seen that power in action.

In Simic specifically we've got Kellan, Inquisitive ProdigyKellan, Inquisitive Prodigy and The Goose MotherThe Goose Mother that are mostly interested in sacrificing artifacts for card draw, which is quite different from what Aloy's doing.

The two faces of Lonis are zeroed in on a specific kind of artifact: Clues. This is fun to build around but a lot more narrow that what you can build with Aloy.

I built Aloy to be slightly on the aggressive side, stuffed to the gills with artifact creatures, some of whom get bigger the more artifacts you control. And the bigger an attacking artifact creature is, the bigger the discover!

Key Cards for Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian

Steel OverseerSteel Overseer and Iron Spider, Stark UpgradeIron Spider, Stark Upgrade are made for this kind of deck: They're artifact creatures that hit the battlefield early, tap to pump up the size of all your artifact creatures, and by the time Aloy hits the battlefield you'll be ready to rumble with at least one good-sized attacker.

Lady Octopus, Inspired InventorLady Octopus, Inspired Inventor is a non-artifact creature that helps you cast an artifact spell for no mana, and gets more powerful as the game goes on.

Thought MonitorThought Monitor, Canoptek SpyderCanoptek Spyder, and Research ThiefResearch Thief are all awesome artifact creatures that draw you cards, attack to discover, and keep your hand full of action.

When building a heavy artifact deck, you always have to worry about mass artifact removal, such as VandalblastVandalblast, so a card like Scrap TrawlerScrap Trawler is immensely valuable; if you've got more than two artifacts on the battlefield, run ol' Scrappy out there!

Cyberman PatrolCyberman Patrol is an aggressive little fellow that makes your artifact creatures painful to block. Chief of the FoundryChief of the Foundry buffs the size of your other artifact creatures.

Kappa CannoneerKappa Cannoneer is flat-out one of the best artifact creatures ever printed: you can discount the mana cost with improvise, it's got a ridiculously powerful ward ability, and it grows in size each time it or another artifact you control enters. And oh yeah, it can't be blocked that turn!

Etherium SculptorEtherium Sculptor and Foundry InspectorFoundry Inspector are artifact creatures that discount your artifact spells.

Reality HeistReality Heist, Thirst for KnowledgeThirst for Knowledge, and ThoughtcastThoughtcast are all excellent ways to refuel your hand that get better in artifact-heavy decks.

I'm excited about getting Uthros Research CraftUthros Research Craft station to its 3+ level quickly, which turns each of your artifact spells into more card draw. You don't even need to worry about stationing after that since playing artifacts will just naturally get you to it's 12+ level.

Shimmer DragonShimmer Dragon and Forensic GadgeteerForensic Gadgeteer are excellent non-artifact creatures that synergize well with all the other artifacts and provide more card draw.

We need more artifact creatures! Auton SoldierAuton Soldier is an excellent choice since it can copy the best creature on the battlefield (and if it's legendary the copy is non-legendary) and has myriad for more attacking fun!

Master TransmuterMaster Transmuter is a potent way to return a cheap artifact to your hand to deploy a more expensive artifact to the battlefield. Or, you can exchange a tapped attacker for an untapped blocker after combat.

Haywire MiteHaywire Mite and Phyrexian MetamorphPhyrexian Metamorph provide excellent utility in the form of an artifact creature. If you can, copy Scrap TrawlerScrap Trawler to give you extra recovery options from mass artifact removal!

SpellskiteSpellskite is always helpful in eating a targeted removal spell that's aimed at something more important. And if you happen to be playing against an Aura deck, it becomes incredibly disruptive until it's dealt with.

Simic isn't known for extra attack steps, but thankfully we have access to Genji GloveGenji Glove so that we can get two triggers from Aloy.

Crystal Skull, Isu SpyglassCrystal Skull, Isu Spyglass gives you mana, but also provides some card selection by letting you play artifacts from the top of your library.

Liquimetal TorqueLiquimetal Torque also gives mana, but can make a nonland permanent into an artifact, which combines with artifact destroy effects to take down a creature. Or, in a pinch, you can make Aloy an artifact creature before attacking with her!

Master of EtheriumMaster of Etherium, Emissary EscortEmissary Escort, and Karn, Legacy ReforgedKarn, Legacy Reforged are artifact creatures that I hope to get bigger and bigger to make Alloy's discover X ability as large as possible. Karn even gives you some extra mana each of your upkeeps!

While Darksteel JuggernautDarksteel Juggernaut is an artifact creature, NettlecystNettlecyst is not - technically it's equipped to a Germ token, but since it's an Equipment you can provide an artifact creature with a huge boost.

Metalwork ColossusMetalwork Colossus is really big, can often be cast at a discount, and can even come back from the graveyard if it dies.

Adaptive OmnitoolAdaptive Omnitool, Bloodforged Battle-AxeBloodforged Battle-Axe, and Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforgedare a few more Equipment cards that boost the size of the equipped creature to get Aloy's discover X ability large; or you can just equip Aloy and beat down with commander damage!

The Simic combination provides a lot of ways to manipulate the top of your library, making discover a lot less random. You can use discover to reset the top of your library, or ensure you're hitting something sweet.

Mystic ForgeMystic Forge can help you do that turn after turn, while BrainstormBrainstorm and PonderPonder are one-shot spell effects.

The Reality ChipThe Reality Chip, Elven ChorusElven Chorus, and Case of the Locked HothouseCase of the Locked Hothouse are some more ways to manage the top of your library, with The Reality Chip being an artifact for more synergy.

How Does This Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian Commander Deck Win?

This deck looks to win through combat, by either attacking with one or two exceptionally large creatures, or going wide with a bunch of smaller but still threatening artifact creatures.

A handful of counterspells can protect from an unexpected spell that would otherwise snatch your victory away.

Cyberdrive AwakenerCyberdrive Awakener is here to turbo-charge the go-wide strategy since a bunch of extra 4/4 flying creatures out of nowhere can overwhelm defenses.

I've also got DesynchronizationDesynchronization, which will typically bounce all of your opponents' non-legendary blockers to their hands, hopefully clearing the way for a large alpha-strike.

Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian Commander Deck List

Conclusion

I built this to be a Core (Bracket 2) deck, where the games are chill, take a bit longer, and let everyone's strategy breathe. But if you're interested in powering up the deck to play in higher brackets, here are a couple Game Changers I'd recommend.

Urza, Lord High ArtificerUrza, Lord High Artificer is an obvious power up; it makes an artifact creature that gets bigger for each artifact in play, taps any artifact you control to make a blue mana, and has a built-in mana-sink that can dig for more cards. Of note, that last ability combines nicely with all the cards that let you look at the top card of the library if you want to reset the top of your deck.

Since Aloy does cost five mana and you're playing in a faster game, Fierce GuardianshipFierce Guardianship is an excellent additional way to help protect Aloy from removal. And then of course is Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift, which is another way to clear blockers for a big attack.

What sort of other artifact synergies would you put in a Simic deck built around Aloy, Savior of MeridianAloy, Savior of Meridian?

Read More: