Joshua, Phoenix's DominantJoshua, Phoenix's Dominant | Art by Lius Lasahido

Magic: The Gathering is a game that truly contains multitudes. For every color, there's some means to gain card advantage, to summon enormous creatures, to exert control over the battlefield, and so on. Such is also the case with card recursion. It may be obvious, but black is the best color to resurrect creatures on the whole. However, that won't stop Magic's most iconic reviving creature, the Phoenix, from doing it the most self-sufficiently. Interestingly, Final Fantasy, the upcoming Universes Beyond set, has given us a fantastic commander to lead a bunch of Phoenixes. As such, today's deck tech features Joshua, Phoenix's DominantJoshua, Phoenix's Dominant of Final Fantasy XVI fame, with a Bracket 2 Phoenix kindred theme!

What Does Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant Do?

On its front face, this commander from Final Fantasy XVI is a card advantage generator. Joshua is a white-red legendary Human Noble Wizard for . On entry, the Phoenix's Dominant allows you to discard up to two cards and draw that many back. He also has an activated ability for and tapping Joshua at sorcery-speed to transform him (via exile) into Phoenix, Warden of Fire.

Phoenix, Warden of Fire is where this commander gets really interesting. It's a Saga enchantment in addition to being a Phoenix creature. When each of the first two lore counters are put onto the Warden of Fire, it deals two damage to each opponent. Then, at its final lore addition, it reverts back into Joshua, but not before recurring up to six mana worth of creatures from your graveyard. When Joshua returns, his on-entry triggered ability will trigger once more. And so the cycle begins anew.

Similar Commanders to Joshua

As far as I can tell, only a handful of other commanders do anything remotely similar to Joshua. For one, Daretti, Scrap SavantDaretti, Scrap Savant does a neat imitation, albeit stymied by being a planeswalker card rather than a creature. Most other Boros commanders are even further from doing what Joshua can do. However, some, like Hofri GhostforgeHofri Ghostforge, for instance, can play the recursion game relatively well.

The closest we're going to get with a Boros commander to this build is Otharri, Suns' Glory, which we'll cover later on, as it is in this deck list. It makes for a decent Phoenix kindred commander, but Joshua very possibly has Otharri beat.

Joshua's Strategy

Design-wise, Boros is a very conflicted color identity right now. The color pair wants either to innovate with recursive measures, which many players seem potentially wary of on a power-level basis, or it wants to be pure combat, which many players seem fairly tired of overall. Therefore, this deck will take hints from both ends of the Boros spectrum and add in a little extra flair.

This deck is a Phoenix kindred build, where we want to be attacking as often as possible with creatures that can recur themselves easily. We have the necessary means to make them cost much less than they normally would, as well as ways to buff them on the battlefield. Those who've played either with or against any kindred build know the typical gist of this.

Additionally, this deck boasts a sizeable SunforgerSunforger package, which we'll get into when discussing specific card choices. Overall, we want this deck to play well at a Bracket 2, or "Core," table.

Card Choices For This Joshua Deck

This is a Phoenix kindred-themed build. As such, Phoenixes are core to our gameplay strategy. There is one other major concept we need to discuss as well, but let's start with the firebirds in question:

Phoenixes - Magic's "Kenny McCormick"

Some Phoenixes I want to bring into this discussion are Skyfire PhoenixSkyfire Phoenix, Everquill PhoenixEverquill Phoenix, and Otharri, Suns' GloryOtharri, Suns' Glory. They all have certain nuances about them and make for excellent cards to add to the deck.

Skyfire Phoenix is a great card to simply discard as soon as Joshua hits the battlefield. Unfortunately, it won't trigger off of Joshua's entry trigger. But whenever you cast Joshua during later plays, you can recur this Phoenix, giving you an additional flying, hasty body to smash into things.

Everquill Phoenix, like Joshua, is an excellent support card. When you get a chance to mutate it onto another creature, you'll be able to create a Feather token. You can sacrifice a Feather token to recur a Phoenix for just one mana. This recursion doesn't just apply to Everquill Phoenix! You can bring back any Phoenix from your graveyard with a Feather. In this way, Everquill is a fantastic choice to bring something back with a minimal amount of effort.

Otharri, Suns' Glory probably boasts the superlative for "most likely to be converted into a Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant deck." At the time of writing, Otharri and Joshua are probably the only real Boros Phoenix kindred commanders to hold any weight in the conversation. However, Otharri can only bring itself back, whereas Joshua can bring back any creature you want.

The commonality between these cards is their durability, tenacity, and ability to just resurrect for little effort. They are the "Kenny McCormick" (of South Park fame) of Magic: The Gathering, and I mean that in the most endearing way possible.

Sunforger Package

Now, let's look at some cards that form a strong SunforgerSunforger package. Sunforger often needs a ton of build-around to make it work optimally. You can only cast instants with a mana value of four or less with the card, so we've added in a whopping sixteen cards that fit the bill in here.

Sunforger counts towards our Bracket 2 limit of three tutors. The other two, Steelshaper's GiftSteelshaper's Gift and Open the ArmoryOpen the Armory, are in this deck almost exclusively to tutor up Sunforger itself. Efficiency is key, especially in a lower bracket.

Some of the stronger instants to cast with Sunforger are:

• Akroma's WillAkroma's Will: This is an extremely versatile combat trick. You can safely use it to protect your creatures in all manner of ways. Alternatively, it can provide your creatures with additional offensive capabilities.
• Master WarcraftMaster Warcraft: Another combat trick in Boros, Master Warcraft is one of my favorite combat manipulation spells. Being able to force players to attack and/or block how you wish them to can turn the tides of entire games very quickly. Sadly, on another player's turn, you can't choose how creatures attack. However, you can manipulate the flow of battle with cards like Island SanctuaryIsland Sanctuary for an easier time on an opposing player's turn.
• Clever ConcealmentClever Concealment: Sometimes your Phoenixes can't withstand a board wipe without a ton of necessary rebuilding afterwards. A strictly defensive option, Clever Concealment allows you to protect your creatures from so much removal in this game. Being able to skirt around mass-exile effects, or even board wipes that remove defenses like indestructible, can be massive. To that end, it's a fantastic card to cast via Sunforger.

Now that we've discussed the cards that should further our game plan, let's talk about how Joshua plans to win!

Winning With Joshua

The plan is remarkably simple for any Bracket over 2. This is a Bracket 2 deck, though, so let's keep this in mind as we discuss our plan for victory. Put plainly, we want to use this deck to overrun our opponents with an army of giant, flying, flaming birds. We want to protect them whenever we need to, but we also want to swing for the fences with reckless abandon. If one Phoenix falls, there is a means to bring it back safely. If many Phoenixes could fall, you have the methods to prevent that occurrence. Eventually, you'll be remarkably ahead on damage output, while your opponents will have exhausted their many resources trying to quell the firestorm.

Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant Commander Deck List

Conclusion

When this commander got previewed, I was floored. I knew nothing about Final Fantasy XVI, but I knew there was a Joshua somewhere in the series canon. Joshua, being a Phoenix summoner, was kind of a big deal to me for very personal reasons. So, I decided that, for this deck tech of a character who shared my name, I'd lean into it in just as big a way.

If you're a fan of atypical kindred decks that you'd seldom see on a battlefield, this is a deck for you. Likewise, if you like the idea of a recursion strategy but can't fathom playing black, this deck is also a great potential fit. It's not the most powerful deck at your local game store's Commander night, to be frank, but it may be the most fun Bracket 2 deck you'll see there.