(Alesha, Who Laughs at FateAlesha, Who Laughs at Fate || art by Dmitry Burmak)

Ready To Kick-Start Three Foundations Commander Decks? I Got You!

Hello friends, and welcome to another Start Me Up! In this column I will pick three legendary creatures from the most recent Magic expansion and provide you with ideas to help get you started brewing your own Commander deck around them.

Foundations is the new Magic hotness, and has a bunch of new legendary creatures you may want to build a new Commander deck around, so I'm here to help give you some ideas for brewing up your deck. Let's get it started!

Alesha, Who Laughs at FateAlesha, Who Laughs at Fate

The character of Alesha was first printed back in Fate Reforged as Alesha, Who Smiles at DeathAlesha, Who Smiles at Death, a really cool Mardu legend that heavily influenced the new design from Foundations. Alesha is now Rakdos, still has first strike, and still brings creatures back from your graveyard, only this time that triggers at your end step and doesn't require Alesha attacking for it, though attacking does grow Alesha with a +1/+1 counter. You'll definitely want to have a fair number of aggressive creatures that you can cast in the first few turns that might end up dying, and you can get them back with Alesha the turn you cast her.

EDHREC High Synergy Cards

Let's start by looking at the high-synergy cards noted in the EDHREC database for Alesha decks. Accursed MarauderAccursed Marauder and PlaguecrafterPlaguecrafter can be cast early, sacrificed to its effect, and then brought back with Alesha turn after turn, which can be a brutal opener for slower, creature-based Commander decks. Buried AliveBuried Alive, Stitcher's SupplierStitcher's Supplier and Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath help to stock your graveyard for good targets to bring back with Alesha. Faithless LootingFaithless Looting can get a creature you have in hand into the graveyard for Alesha recursion. Inti, Seneschal of the SunInti, Seneschal of the Sun can "loot" a creature into the graveyard and a little bit of card advantage if you can play the cards you exile.

Ravenous ChupacabraRavenous Chupacabra is a removal spell attached to a that can be brought back with Alesha once you've increased her power by two or more. Enduring CourageEnduring Courage and AngerAnger help ensure that Alesha can attack the same turn you play her, getting that +1/+1 counter trigger right away to help with the reanimation.

Haste Enablers

We might consider some additional haste enablers too, with Swiftfoot BootsSwiftfoot Boots, Lightning GreavesLightning Greaves, and Lavaspur BootsLavaspur Boots all being excellent Equipment you can move around to newly deployed creatures. I also really like Rising of the DayRising of the Day, with the power boost for legendary creatures you control helping with Alesha's first strike ability and raid trigger.

First Strike Synergies

Deathtouch is an excellent ability to pair with Alesha's first strike, so I'd strongly consider running Agent of the Shadow ThievesAgent of the Shadow Thieves, Archpriest of ShadowsArchpriest of Shadows, and Falthis, Shadowcat FamiliarFalthis, Shadowcat Familiar. Power boosting cards are great too, and I'd look into running cards like Demonic EmbraceDemonic Embrace.

Creatures with Enters Abilities

Creatures with enter-the-battlefield abilities are the bread and butter of Commander decks, so you'll want to run a bunch of those in your Alesha deck. One of the first cards I'd add is Solemn SimulacrumSolemn Simulacrum which is just chock full of value and is great to bring back over and over. Kardur, DoomscourgeKardur, Doomscourge has a really great impact on games with its enter-the-battlefield ability, so we'd love to bring it back over and over! So we'd need a way to get it into the graveyard reliably with cards like Woe StriderWoe Strider.

Saw in HalfSaw in Half is a super-fun way to destroy a creature you control to bring back with Alesha, while you get two smaller versions of it, perfect for cool enters triggers!

Reanimation

We could lean a little heavier on the reanimation theme by playing cards like VictimizeVictimize, Vile EntomberVile Entomber, and Doomed NecromancerDoomed Necromancer. Overlord of the BalemurkOverlord of the Balemurk has an awesome enters or attack ability, helping to fill your graveyard and bringing a creature or planeswalker to your hand.

Syr Konrad, the GrimSyr Konrad, the Grim loves it when creatures enter the graveyard or leave the graveyard, and it can even mill each player if you've got extra mana lying around.

Extra Attacks

While getting extra attacks won't bring an extra opportunity to bring back creatures from the graveyard like the original Alesha, we might still want some creatures that provide extra attacks to build up Alesha's +1/+1 counters like Fear of Missing OutFear of Missing Out, Karlach, Fury of AvernusKarlach, Fury of Avernus, and Port RazerPort Razer.

Zimone, Paradox SculptorZimone, Paradox Sculptor

It's wild that this is the fifth version of Zimone considering she was just introduced as Zimone, Quandrix ProdigyZimone, Quandrix Prodigy in Strixhaven: School of Mages in 2021, and the new version is quite different from the original. Zimone has an ability that triggers at the beginning of combat on your turn, putting a +1/+1 counter on each of up to two target creatures you control so hopefully you have at least one other creature out there when you cast Zimone. But the juice is in Zimone's activated ability, doubling the number of each kind of counter on up to two target creatures and/or artifacts you control. If discovering obscure types of counters you want to double sounds awesome to you, Zimone gives you an excellent deck to stuff them into.

EDHREC High Synergy Cards

Kami of Whispered HopesKami of Whispered Hopes is an excellent card for any deck that's throwing around +1/+1 counters, and can quickly and easily more than pay for Zimone's activated ability. Fathom MageFathom Mage and Gyre SageGyre Sage are also great in these sorts of decks. Kalonian HydraKalonian Hydra, Forgotten AncientForgotten Ancient, and Managorger HydraManagorger Hydra are some more creatures that play great with these synergies, while Hardened ScalesHardened Scales and Branching EvolutionBranching Evolution are enchantments that support it.

Vorel of the Hull CladeVorel of the Hull Clade provides backup for Zimone's activated ability, and if you can get them both going at the same time, doubling and then doubling can really hasten the accumulation of counters.

The Millennium CalendarThe Millennium Calendar offers a wild quest to include in this deck; how quickly can you ramp up to 1,000 time counters?

+1/+1 Counter Synergies

I love Evolution WitnessEvolution Witness and Incubation DruidIncubation Druid in this deck, providing card advantage from your graveyard or a big mana boost. Herald of Secret StreamsHerald of Secret Streams and Kodama of the West TreeKodama of the West Tree provide sweet extra abilities to your creatures with +1/+1 counters.

Inspiring CallInspiring Call and of course Doubling SeasonDoubling Season are sweet cards to have in your +1/+1 counter deck, but what really stands out is Danny PinkDanny Pink, which turns out to be a potent card drawing engine with Zimone's abilities.

Artifacts With Counters

Outside of +1/+1 counters, it's fun to search up artifacts with counters you might want to double. The charge counters of Everflowing ChaliceEverflowing Chalice and Astral CornucopiaAstral Cornucopia give you more and more mana, while the charge counters on Lux CannonLux Cannon can pick off the most problematic permanent once you've got three charge counters on it.

Twitching DollTwitching Doll can get +1/+1 counters and nest counters that can be doubled, and eventually sacrifice it to make a bunch of 2/2 Spider tokens with reach if you want to go wide.

Zimone's activated ability can ramp up Midnight ClockMidnight Clock's hour counters if you need a fresh hand of cards. I don't think I've ever seen Replicating RingReplicating Ring go off with the night counters but if it's ever going to happen this seems like the deck for it. Palantír of OrthancPalantír of Orthanc accumulates influence counters, and if you can ramp those up no opponent is going to want you to mill and have them lose life, turning this into a sweet card drawing engine.

I've always been a little leery about playing Grimoire of the DeadGrimoire of the Dead since it requires you discarding a card to add those study counters, but once you do it once then Zimone can get you up to three without having to discard any more cards unless you want to pitch more creatures to bring back from the graveyard. Reanimation is Simic? Sure!

Untap Zimone

Kiora's FollowerKiora's Follower, Ioreth of the Healing HouseIoreth of the Healing House and Thousand-Year ElixirThousand-Year Elixir are excellent ways to let you activate Zimone multiple times in turn, while Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse and Murkfiend LiegeMurkfiend Liege will let you activate Zimone on your turn and your opponents' turns-- now that will be some serious doubling!

Proliferate

With having a bunch of counters on creatures and artifacts being a big part of what this deck is all about, we might want to add in some cards that proliferate, like Evolution SageEvolution Sage and ThrummingbirdThrummingbird. Dreamtide WhaleDreamtide Whale is a wild new card from Modern Horizons 3 that is a beatdown machine for just three mana, and it should be easy to keep it around for most of the game.

Mutational AdvantageMutational Advantage offers a nice instant speed way to both proliferate and protect your permanents from being targeted and destroyed.

Kellan, Planar TrailblazerKellan, Planar Trailblazer

Kellan is another card that's seen a lot of versions over a short period of time since his introduction in Wilds of Eldraine with Kellan, the Fae-BloodedKellan, the Fae-Blooded. This Kellan is pure monored, and requires investing mana to "level up" Kellan from his occupation being a Scout, to being a Detective, to finally being a Rogue. The mana curve is on point: you can play Kellan on Turn 1, activate his first ability on Turn 2, and activate the final ability on Turn 3 if you feel confident all your work won't be immediately undone by a removal spell. Luckily, you can wait until an opponent's end step before activating the abilities and hold up something like Deflecting SwatDeflecting Swat or RerouteReroute to protect Kellan.

EDHREC High Synergy Cards

The high synergy cards on EDHREC have a lot of "play from exile" synergy thanks to Kellan's first ability, featuring Laelia, the Blade ReforgedLaelia, the Blade Reforged, Wild-Magic SorcererWild-Magic Sorcerer, Party ThrasherParty Thrasher and NalfeshneeNalfeshnee. The Background enchantments Tavern BrawlerTavern Brawler and Passionate ArchaeologistPassionate Archaeologist provide Kellan with some pretty cool abilities too.

Professional Face-BreakerProfessional Face-Breaker and Light Up the StageLight Up the Stage are some other ways to play cards from exile, while Delayed Blast FireballDelayed Blast Fireball makes an excellent card to cast from exile.

Tenza, Godo's MaulTenza, Godo's Maul is here to significantly boost your commander which helps both of Kellan's levels, especially when he's double-striking.

Protect Kellan

Kellan is mana-hungry and you don't want that mana investment undone by removal spells, so you'll want to run some ways to help protect Kellan. Lightning GreavesLightning Greaves provides shroud, while Swiftfoot BootsSwiftfoot Boots and Champion's HelmChampion's Helm provides hexproof. Commander's PlateCommander's Plate gives a big size boost and provides Kellan with protection from any color except red spells. And then there's Mithril CoatMithril Coat for indestructible, and it can be cast with flash to fizzle someone's removal spell.

Cast From Exile Synergies

Keeper of SecretsKeeper of Secrets, Iraxxa, Empress of MarsIraxxa, Empress of Mars and Memory WormMemory Worm offer some cool synergies when you cast cards from exile. And Squee, the ImmortalSquee, the Immortal dodges one of the worst things about that impulsive draw, where you lose the card if you don't play it in the allotted time-- just leave Squee in exile until you want to cast him!

Mana Boost

Between Kellan's activated abilities, and wanting to be able to cast cards you exile, your deck is going to be very mana hungry, so we'll want to have lots of mana available. The cumulative upkeep of Braid of FireBraid of Fire is awesome for leveling up Kellan or casting instant-speed spells during your upkeep.

Discounting your red spells with something like Ruby MedallionRuby Medallion can be helpful, and you can also run some temporary mana boost cards like Seething SongSeething Song, Mana GeyserMana Geyser, or Rousing RefrainRousing Refrain.

And if you want your game to be shorter and more explosive, Descent into AvernusDescent into Avernus is an awesome choice!

Double Strike Synergies

Once Kellan gets double strike, you want to equip him with Basilisk CollarBasilisk Collar for that awesome combination with deathtouch and lifelink. You can double-dip on damage triggers from Equipment like Lost JitteLost Jitte, and the big power boost (and lifelink) from Loxodon WarhammerLoxodon Warhammer could swing games.

Never Stop Brewing!

Which of these three commanders do you think you might build a deck around? What other cards do you think you'll add to your deck list?

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Bennie Smith

Bennie's played Magic since 1994 and has been writing about it nearly as long. Commander is his favorite format, but he's been known to put on his competitive hat to play Standard and Pioneer. Recently he's dabbled in Oathbreaker and Pendragon.