(Betor, Ancestor's VoiceBetor, Ancestor's Voice || art by Lius Lasahido)

Life Is A Resource, Get Paid Both Ways!

Hello, my friends, and welcome to another Commander Spotlight! This regular column will feature one legendary creature, usually from the most recent Commander precons or Jumpstart products, and provide you with a deep dive into ideas that should help get you started brewing your own Commander deck.

This week I'm shining a spotlight on a commander from the Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander deck Abzan Armor. Betor, Kin to AllBetor, Kin to All from the main set costs a fair amount more to buy as a single, but for my money the version from the Commander deck is much cooler to build around!

Remarkably, Betor, Ancestor's VoiceBetor, Ancestor's Voice has even more text in its text box than the base set version. It's a bit smaller in base stats, but it has lifelink in addition to flying. Additionally, Ancestor's Voice can build up the size of a creature with its end step trigger, putting a number of +1/+1 counters on another creature you control equal to the amount of life you gained this turn.

Gaining life is something each of the colors in Abzan can do well, and there are plenty of +1/+1 counter synergies in those colors you can tap into as well.

But wait, there's more! Betor's trigger also cares about any life you lost this turn, returning up to one target creature card with mana value less than or equal to the amount of life you lost this turn from your graveyard to the battlefield, which is a pretty potent ability if you build in ways to lose life during your own turn.

So Betor wants your life total to yo-yo, rising and falling each turn to maximize the payoff from your commander, which I think is a really cool play pattern to build your deck around. Let's dig in!

EDHREC High Synergy Cards

The Betor decks in EDHREC's database show some really powerful ways to lose life for profit. Doom WhispererDoom Whisperer can easily make you lose as much life as you want with a powerful surveil ability that can even mill a creature into the graveyard you might be interested in reanimating with Betor.

Then there's Beledros WitherbloomBeledros Witherbloom, which has a powerful activated ability to untap all lands you control -- once per turn -- for the cost of ten life, which should let Betor's ability reanimate pretty much any creature you could possibly want from your graveyard.

If Black Market ConnectionsBlack Market Connections sticks around to your next precombat main phase, you can lose some combination of one to six life for a variety of beneficial effects, depending on what you need from the enchantment and what the mana cost of the creature in your graveyard you'd like Betor to bring back.

Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath's milling ability is probably best if your deck does a lot more with your graveyard than just occasionally reanimating a creature. Darkstar AugurDarkstar Augur is a cool inclusion, losing you life when you draw the card with a mana value above zero, and as a creature it's something that can easily be brought back with Betor. Plus, if someone kills Betor on your turn before you move to your end step, you could even cast ReanimateReanimate to bring it back to the battlefield, and then bring another creature back with Betor's trigger since Reanimate will force you to lose life.

On the life gain side of the equation, Lathiel, the Bounteous DawnLathiel, the Bounteous Dawn plays right into the theme of adding +1/+1 counters, and this time you could buff up Betor into a threat if you needed to eventually kill with commander damage, but since Betor makes such a good engine it's probably better to make another one of your creatures more threatening.

Children of KorlisChildren of Korlis is a nice way to gain life back when you've lost it, and since it sacrifices and only costs one mana it's an easy retrieve from the graveyard with Betor to do it all over again.

Soul WardenSoul Warden is a staple for life gain strategies, and since it's such a low cost creature it's often hard to justify burning off targeted removal on it, which means it will keep buffing your life total turn after turn. Celestine, the Living SaintCelestine, the Living Saint has a really cool triggered ability very similar to Betor, but it returns a creature from your graveyard based on how much life you gain. If you already have one, slam it in the deck, but otherwise it's rather pricey to buy!

Losing Life For Fun & Profit

Toxic DelugeToxic Deluge and Anguished UnmakingAnguished Unmaking are excellent removal options in these colors, and the life loss obviously synergizes well with Betor. Phyrexian ArenaPhyrexian Arena is a little slow for card draw, but since it is so slow it will often dodge targeted removal and let you draw a fair number of extra cards over the course of the game while also edging up the life you lose on your turn by one.

Vona, Butcher of MaganVona, Butcher of Magan plays perfectly in the plan: with its lifelink you're gaining life, and its activated ability has you lose life while destroying whatever whichever nonland permanent is the most problematic. Its "drawback" of not being able to be activated except during your turn is actually perfect with Betor's ability.

Keen DuelistKeen Duelist is already a super-fun Commander card, giving you a fun little mini-game at the beginning of your upkeep that can sometimes blow up in your face in spectacular fashion, but that's what makes Commander so wild! Drawing an extra card is always handy, and the potential life loss can help bring back bigger creatures from your graveyard from Betor. I don't usually play Stinging StudyStinging Study unless my commander has a higher mana value than Betor, but five cards for five mana at instant speed is still a solid rate, and if you cast it on your turn with Betor on the battlefield that life loss could add up to a big creature brought back from your graveyard.

Losing Life Matters

Vilis, Broker of BloodVilis, Broker of Blood is both a life loss engine and provides a healthy benefit of losing life by drawing cards. I'd be a little careful about deploying Vilis, though, since you can lose a lot of life on your own turn, and then potentially lose a bunch of life on your opponents' turns, so decking yourself is a real possibility. If you play Vilis I'd likely also want to play some ways to shuffle my graveyard back into my library, like Kozilek, Butcher of TruthKozilek, Butcher of Truth.

Bloodthirsty ConquerorBloodthirsty Conqueror is a large, evasive body that makes for an excellent receptacle for Betor's +1/+1 counters, and it helps you gain life both from your own attackers on your turn, but also by opponents' creatures attacking each other during their turns. Willowdusk, Essence SeerWillowdusk, Essence Seer also plays quite well with the plan, throwing around +1/+1 counters depending on how much life you gained or lost during your turn.

Gaining Life For Fun & Profit

Essence WardenEssence Warden is a great companion to run alongside Soul WardenSoul Warden for more incremental lifegain. Beacon of ImmortalityBeacon of Immortality with Betor on the battlefield is a way to potentially put a ton of +1/+1 counters on something.

I love Disciple of FreyaliseDisciple of Freyalise; it's so good as a dual-faced card, but I've often found when I play it as the Elf Druid side I only have one creature worth sacrificing for the cards and life, but then that would leave me without a good creature on the battlefield. I think this is the perfect deck for it since all the extra +1/+1 counters that get thrown around means that smaller or mid-sized creatures can get quite large and make excellent creatures to cash in with Disciple's trigger, then Betor can often bring even naturally big creatures back from the graveyard, potentially in the same turn you sacrifice it.

Nykthos ParagonNykthos Paragon is going to be eye-popping good, deploying on a turn when you're gaining a bunch of life and distributing all those +1/+1 counters to all of your creatures. Opponents will want to destroy this creature as soon as they can, so it's awesome that Betor can just bring it right back. Blossoming BogbeastBlossoming Bogbeast is a mini-Craterhoof Behemoth; it will only trigger when it attacks, but giving a boost to all your creatures equal to the life you gain during your turn and -- importantly -- trample can be game-winning. Ikra Shidiqi, the UsurperIkra Shidiqi, the Usurper can potentially gain a bunch of life when you deal combat damage to an opponent with a hopefully huge creature or creatures.

Gain Life Matters

Aetherflux ReservoirAetherflux Reservoir is a dream card for this deck, providing you with incremental life gain as you cast your spells, then that finishing ability of paying 50 life means Betor can retrieve whatever creature you want from your graveyard, kicking any effect that cares about losing life into explosive territory. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk RoseVito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose does an excellent job turning your life gain into player removal, and its activated ability giving all your creatures lifelink combines perfectly with growing your creatures with those +1/+1 counters.

Exemplar of LightExemplar of Light plays nice with your life gain and +1/+1 counter synergies, with some incremental card draw along the way; you can even scarf up some extra cards during your opponents' turns with something like Soul WardenSoul Warden.

Rodolf DuskbringerRodolf Duskbringer occasionally becoming indestructible makes him an excellent recipient for Betor's +1/+1 counters, and its reanimation ability provides nice redundancy to your commander. Tivash, Gloom SummonerTivash, Gloom Summoner is a wild card: it triggers off your lifegain, then you can lose that amount of life to create a potentially huge flying Demon token and set off your life loss triggers.

The GafferThe Gaffer is a small creature that should draw you an extra card on most of your turns, and it's got a low enough mana value to easily retrieve from the graveyard with Betor.

+1/+1 Counter Synergies

While the deck isn't primarily a +1/+1 counter deck, there are enough cards that we'd want to strongly consider playing for those synergies. Yathan TombguardYathan Tombguard provides some extra card draw, especially if you're able to deal that damage to each of your opponents. Kami of Whispered HopesKami of Whispered Hopes gives you an extra +1/+1 counter whenever you add one or more to a creature you control, and is an excellent target for adding Betor's +1/+1 counters. Similarly there's WorkhorseWorkhorse, which let's you remove counters from it to give you mana of any color you want each time you remove a counter, which can crucial in a three color deck when you're setting up your big turn.

If you drop enough +1/+1 counters on Champion of LambholtChampion of Lambholt it provides the ultimate evasion since once it's big enough your opponents won't be able to block any of your attackers, and if your opponents move to kill it -- which they will -- you can snag it back with Betor and start the party up again. Envoy of the AncestorsEnvoy of the Ancestors gives all of your modified creatures lifelink, which will further feed the +1/+1 counters from Betor. Kutzil, Malamet ExemplarKutzil, Malamet Exemplar provides a bit more card drawing, while also shutting down spells from your opponents during your turn, which always feels good.

Unspeakable SymbolUnspeakable Symbol is a wild, old-school engine for converting life into +1/+1 counters and is an easy way to ensure you've lost enough life to bring back the creature you want from the graveyard with Betor.

Sacrificing Creatures

Mindless AutomatonMindless Automaton and Spike FeederSpike Feeder are excellent cards that you can load up with +1/+1 counters from Betor, remove them for benefits -- either extra cards or life -- and then bring them back from the graveyard with Betor. If you're on a turn where you gain a ton of life with Betor on the battlefield, you can load them on a creature and then sacrifice it to Jarad, Golgari Lich LordJarad, Golgari Lich Lord to drain all of your opponents for a bunch.

Boromir, Warden of the TowerBoromir, Warden of the Tower and Selfless SpiritSelfless Spirit are excellent creatures that can be sacrificed to protect the rest of your team from mass destroy effects and brought back by Betor to do it all again, and Boromir bestowing The Ring's temptation can add up to some advantage over time.

Priest of Fell RitesPriest of Fell Rites is a way to lose life for its sacrifice effect, and you can use it to reanimate a higher mana value creature from your graveyard; then Betor can bring the Priest back to do it again.

We definitely want to pepper in a bunch of self-sacrificing utility creatures to leverage Betor's reanimation ability, even if you life loss is minimal, like Sakura-Tribe ElderSakura-Tribe Elder for more land ramp and color fixing and Haywire MiteHaywire Mite for exiling noncreature artifacts or enchantments (like The One RingThe One Ring). CankerbloomCankerbloom can destroy an artifact or enchantment, but occasionally you may want to proliferate if you've distributed +1/+1 counters among enough different creatures.

What other sorts of cards are you going to play in your Betor, Ancestor's Voice deck? Which creatures are you looking forward to recur from the graveyard with Betor? What new legends from Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander are you most excited to build decks around?

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