(Juri, Master of the RevueJuri, Master of the Revue | Art by Dmitry Burmak)

Rising from the Ashes

Good day, friends! Welcome back to Commander Fusion, the series where we scratch that ol’ Simic BiomancerSimic Biomancer itch and see if we can combine two random commanders into one (semi)coherent deck, using EDHREC data! Today, we’re looking at fusing two commanders that like the heat.

Mythical creatures that burn bright and quickly, only to be reborn in the ashes…yes, our commanders today are none other than…wait, a spirit and a demigod?

Sorry for the mislead, SyrixSyrix fans, but yes, we’re looking at two decidedly non-Phoenix commanders that, nevertheless, seem to care a lot about dying in fire and being reborn.

Can we fuse the strategies of Akuta, Born of AshAkuta, Born of Ash and Anax, Hardened in the ForgeAnax, Hardened in the Forge? Let’s find out!

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

Our first commander up on the fusion block today, Akuta is one of the legendary Kami that gives the plane of Kamigawa its name. Add on to that that it is the kami of ashes and ruin, and congratulations! You now know everything there is to know about Akuta.

Making its first appearance in 2005’s Saviors of Kamigawa, Akuta highlights the set’s hand-size-matters emphasis in a unique way.

Akuta likes to hang out in the graveyard (or maybe it’s the crematory if we’re talking ashes,) and as long as you have more cards than anyone else at the table, you can sacrifice a swamp to bring Akuta back to the battlefield, which can then immediately swing in for damage since it has haste. Ignoring the graveyard, is the command zone a good spot for Akuta?

According to EDHREC, 35 players answer “yes, absolutely” to this question- let’s see what cards they are using for their strategies, taken straight from Akuta’s EDHREC page:

1. Syphon MindSyphon Mind
2. Hero's BladeHero's Blade
3. Crucible of WorldsCrucible of Worlds
4. Gnat MiserGnat Miser
5. Words of WasteWords of Waste
6. Locust MiserLocust Miser
7. LashwritheLashwrithe
8. Decree of PainDecree of Pain
9. GreedGreed
10. Painful QuandaryPainful Quandary

Turns out, in black, the best way to make sure you have more cards in hand than everyone else is to make everyone discard! Gnat MiserGnat Miser and Locust MiserLocust Miser, both also debuting in Saviors of Kamigawa, force your opponents to discard by reducing their maximum hand size.

What many Magic players don’t know is that there was a third Miser, “Murder Hornet Miser,” planning to be printed in 2020 that was a 7-mana 4/4 that reduced your opponent’s hand sizes by four, but Wizards decided 7-mana was too much and printed WinterWinter last year instead.

I will admit most players don’t know this because I just made it up, but that’s not important right now.

Words of WasteWords of Waste lets you pay mana to turn your draws into opponent discards, while Painful QuandaryPainful Quandary punishes your opponents with a discard for each spell they cast unless they pay the steep price of five life.

We do see some more traditional card draw here as well to keep your hand the biggest aroundbiggest around, such as Syphon MindSyphon Mind, which definitely helps to ensure you’ll have the most cards at the table, and GreedGreed.

Hero's BladeHero's Blade and LashwritheLashwrithe can also help Akuta become more of a threat when it comes back swinging from the graveyard, as very few opponents these day will be intimidated by a 3/2 with no evasion.

I think that is part of the issue with how little play Akuta sees in EDH. Typically, if you are going to the trouble to recur something out of the graveyard, in 2025, you want it to be considerably more impactful than a 3/2.

Akuta outlines a pretty clear strategy, but the reward just isn’t there.

Akuta struggles to find a place in the 99 with these drawbacks as well, with its top commanders being other Kamigawa legends with low deck counts and Spirit kindred synergies. Let’s move on and see if our second commander fares any better.

Great Men are Forged in FireGreat Men are Forged in Fire

Current demigod and former human king from Theros, Anax brings his tactical prowess and warrior skills to the battlefield under the service of the Theros god PurphorosPurphoros.

This version of Anax debuted wife-lesswife-less in 2020’s Theros Beyond Death, where he was part of a cycle of mono-colored demigods that synergize well with the focus on enchantment creatures and the Devotion mechanic present in the set.

Anax becomes more powerful the more red pips there are among the mana costs of permanents you control, meaning since he has two himself, he was always be at least a 2/3.

The main thing Anax cares about is powerful creatures dying. As long as you control the creature and it’s not a token, Anax will reward its death by putting a Satyr token onto the battlefield, with the reward doubling to two Satyrs if the dying creature had at least 4 power.

Taking a look at his EDHREC page, here are how most players are building around his abilities in the command zone:

1. Dark-Dweller OracleDark-Dweller Oracle
2. Rekindling PhoenixRekindling Phoenix
3. ThermopodThermopod
4. FlingFling
5. Hissing IguanarHissing Iguanar
6. Stalking VengeanceStalking Vengeance
7. Fanatic of MogisFanatic of Mogis
8. Blood AspirantBlood Aspirant
9. Culling DaisCulling Dais
10. Witty RoastmasterWitty Roastmaster

We’re in mono-red here, so it’s no surprise that a big part of the strategy here is burn, baby, burn!

Fanatic of MogisFanatic of Mogis can deal some impressive damage on entering if your Devotion is high enough, while Stalking VengeanceStalking Vengeance burns a target for each creature you control that dies; partnered with Witty RoastmasterWitty Roastmaster, who will then burn everyone for each Satyr token that enters from Anax, your opponents will quickly need a fire extinguisher on hand.

Sacrifice outlets such as ThermopodThermopod and Blood AspirantBlood Aspirant are especially valuable in this deck; they make it as easy as possible to ensure your creatures will die when you want them to.

Speaking of especially valuable, we have creatures such as Rekindling PhoenixRekindling Phoenix, which meet Anax’s 4-power criteria to get two Satyr tokens, but can also bring itself out of the graveyard so you can do it all over again.

Feeding on Ashes

So, we have a mono-black deck that cares about making your opponents discard and pumping up your commander so it can hit hard when it comes out of the graveyard.

Can we find a commander that keeps some elements of this strategy, in addition to taking elements of a mono-red deck that cares about burning your opponents and sacrificing creatures for profit?

Let’s take a look at the data. Combining the color identifies of Akuta and Anax gives us Rakdos, or black-red (). Taking a look at the synergistic cards above, here are the top five Rakdos commanders that utilize these cards according to EDHREC:

1. Juri, Master of the RevueJuri, Master of the Revue
2. Kroxa, Titan of Death's HungerKroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
3. Mogis, God of SlaughterMogis, God of Slaughter
4. Totentanz, Swarm PiperTotentanz, Swarm Piper
5. Valgavoth, Harrower of SoulsValgavoth, Harrower of Souls

We seem to have a clear frontrunner here. Juri wants to sacrifice as many permanents as possible so he can have a massive amount of +1/+1 counters.

Then, once he’s lethally large, he wants to die and deal a massive amount of damage to one unlucky target, whoever or whatever it may be.

We’ve got the sacrifice, burn, and pump elements from Akuta and Anax already here. Can we add in some fun discard synergies on top of the chaos? Let’s find out!

The Juri-Wood Revue

If we are going to have our opponents discarding their hands, with Juri in the command zone, we want to make sure we’re also sacrificing permanents at the same time.

One things that makes Juri unique is ANY permanent will trigger his ability- creatures, artifacts, enchantments, lands, and token permanents are all fair game here.

With that in mind, one of the neatest little cards in this deck is Hopeless NightmareHopeless Nightmare. For a total of 4 mana, each opponent discards a card, loses 2 life, you get a +1/+1 counter on Juri, and you get to scry 2.

At the average table, that’s 3 cards discarded and 6 damage dealt, and that’s just for one mana when it enters! The additional 3 mana to put a +1/+1 counter on Juri and scry 2 is just icing on the cake.

When your deck is all about sacrifice, and especially when your commander doesn’t actually sacrifice things on its own, like Juri, having as many sacrifice outlets in your deck as is feasible is important.

Luckily we have a few that also force opponents to discard! Nezumi Bone-ReaderNezumi Bone-Reader is a low-cost creature that allows you to pay just one black mana to sacrifice a creature, thus putting a counter on Juri, and having an opponent discard.

You can also sacrifice Juri to the Bone-Reader as well, whenever you are ready to deal some big damage with Juri’s death trigger. Additionally, for just one more black mana you can play Mind SlashMind Slash, which offers the same ability for the same cost as the Bone-Reader, except you get to pick what your opponent discards!

Plus, as an enchantment, this card will typically be more difficult for your opponents to remove, meaning you’ll likely get more value out of it than your average creature.

Speaking of enchantments, let’s talk a bit about Sagas. Now, we don’t have a ton of Sagas in this deck, but they work really well with Juri, seeing as they are permanents that sacrifice themselves for no cost once their effects are complete.

Braids's Frightful ReturnBraids's Frightful Return and Kardur's Vicious ReturnKardur's Vicious Return are two useful Sagas here that not only help to further our sacrifice and discard strategy, but can also bring one of our creatures back from the graveyard to help us keep our engine going.

Proper planning could even allow you to send Juri to the graveyard instead of the command zone, and use on these cards to bring him back either to hand or the battlefield and avoid the commander tax.

Let’s talk now about how to finish out a game. If everything goes to plan, your opponents will have very few resources to utilize to stop you due to all the discarding, and you will be free to sacrifice to your heart’s content and burn them for massive damage as you sacrifice Juri over and over again.

If you need a different way to close up the game, you have a few options. Souls of the LostSouls of the Lost is a great low-cost, creature based finisher for this deck.

Since we’re mostly sacrificing non-token permanents with this deck, there is a high likelihood our graveyard will be full of permanent cards that will cause the Souls to be a pretty intimidating threat.

If a creature-based strategy isn’t going to cut it, try Torment of HailfireTorment of Hailfire. Throw as much mana as you can into that X cost and watch your opponents’ life totals, hands, and board states wither away.

A Positive Performance Revue

With that, the show is complete! What do you think about our fusion today? Let me know down in the comments below! See you next time, and remember, the splash zone at a Rakdos carnival is NOT the same as at SeaWorld.

Quinn Lambert

Quinn has been playing Magic since Kaladesh. A Bant player at heart, his number-one goal in any game is always to have more cards in hand than anyone else at the table. Outside of Magic, he is a licensed mental health counselor, non-professional but eager Jesus-imitator, and totally unlicensed toddler-wrangler.