Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed | Art by Wayne Reynolds

Friendly greetings and welcome to a rebuild of Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed. I'm John Sherwood, aggro advocate. Once upon a time, I was an avid Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed player. The recent release of Secrets of Strixhaven gave Feather fans a new toys with the Silverquill () set mechanic repartee. This new ability word rewards casting instants and sorceries, and it came supported with a shiny new batch of targeted spells for Feather to use and re-use.

Now I'm brewing a fresh Feather, the Redeemed list with the latest combat tricks and payoffs.

Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed

Every instant and sorcery you point at one of your own creatures is reusable when Feather is in play. Many of those spells are also cantrips - cheap spells that replace themselves with another card. Feather's ability means you get to have have your cake and draw a card too. Magically, she transforms draft commons into a hyper-efficient card advantage engine.

Picture this: You just declared attacks, you have open mana, and a full grip of cheap instants. Across the table, your opponents are sweating blockers, or desperately hoping their removal sticks. If they survive this turn, they'll need answers next turn. That's a typical game with the queen of combat tricks, and for the first few years of my Commander career, she was my queen of hearts.

I played three main iterations of my Feather, the Redeemed deck before I retired it. The original version focused on heroic from Theros block. The second revision featured a premium mana base, tutors to find SunforgerSunforger, and the best payoffs available.

My third take on Feather excluded all other creatures. It was the fastest, most aggressive version of the deck, aiming to deliver lethal commander damage on turns four, five, or six. In case of strong opposition, it retained defensive spells to survive a protracted battle of interaction and attrition.

Over the years with Feather in my lineup, I fell into the habit of quickly combing new sets for new Feather tech. I'm relapsing that old habit to evaluate new cards from Secrets of Strixhaven for an updated Feather, the Redeemed Commander deck. Along the way, I'll also highlight some cards to cut from existing Feather lists to make room for the new hotness.

Repartee

Permanents with repartee reward you for targeting a creature with an instant or sorcery spell. It falls perfectly in step with proven Feather-favorite mechanics like prowess, heroic, and magecraft. A few of the mono-white repartee cards are clear upgrades over existing Feather tech.

Up first we have an owl that will make your your pod scowl. You'll be singing when every one of your cantrips puts counters on your entire board. Stirring HopesingerStirring Hopesinger swooped into 553 Feather, the Redeemed decks in the two weeks following its release. Meanwhile, Leonin LightscribeLeonin Lightscribe is in over 4,000 Feather decks. Bird is the word here. Stirring Hopesinger has the same casting cost with the added benefit of flying, and permanently increases power on board.

Next, you can go over and around your opponents' defenses with a swarm of Inklings, courtesy of this star pupil's penmanship. Informed InkwrightInformed Inkwright jumps into very tight competition as a token generator. Monastery MentorMonastery Mentor has long been the top of that class for good reason. I'm not sure Informed Inkwright has what it takes to surpass Monastery Mentor's 59% inclusion rate, but the new kid is doing their best by fielding a flight of tokens with flying.

If Informed Inkwright isn't the best token creator for a Feather deck, then it's a close second-best. It definitely deserves consideration over Rite of the DragoncallerRite of the Dragoncaller. Out of scores of games with Feather, the Redeemed, I can't recall a single situation where I would have cast a beefy, win-more enchantment. Typically, I was already winning or already dead before I had six mana to spare.

Third, Graduation DayGraduation Day is a perfect support piece; it can crank up Feather's damage output without hindering the rest of the game plan. Favored HopliteFavored Hoplite was once my favorite one-drop for Feather. It served me well in the heroic version of the deck, but now it's a dropout. Heroic is really fun to build around, and less fun to play around as every heroic creatures compete for target time.

Graduation Day and Favored Hoplite both yield one +1/+1 counter per trigger, but the enchantment lets you choose where it goes and asks for nothing in return.

Ephemera

In the words of The VisionThe Vision, "A thing isn't beautiful because it lasts."

Inkshape DemonstratorInkshape Demonstrator and Rehearsed DebaterRehearsed Debater have something in common: their benefits are temporary. Unlike the other repartee cards mentioned above, these two don't produce game objects. As a side note, that makes them prime candidates if you're trying to make Feather as a bar deck. Feather, the Redeemed is a great candidate for it, so tell the editor (Hi Andy!) in the comments if that's a deck tech you would want to read.

The question remains whether these cards deserve a slot in an updated and upgraded Feather, the Redeemed deck. I haven't forgotten I already cut Leonin LightscribeLeonin Lightscribe for having a temporary payoff instead of a permanent one. On one hand, it wouldn't be very consistent of me to add two different creatures with temporary effects. And yet, I'm going for different kind of consistency: including as many repartee abilities as possible. It's also worth noting that Inkshape Demonstrator and Rehearsed Debater both have bigger bodies and keywords.

Inkshape DemonstratorInkshape Demonstrator has base power and toughness 3/4, ward and gains lifelink. Ward is relevant because the creature is less likely to need help from a protection spell, saving resources for Feather.

Rehearsed DebaterRehearsed Debater is a 3/3 with my second-favorite keyword: vigilance. Versatility is invaluable. Such as the freedom to attack and remain available to block, especially in a deck that will inevitably turn its commander sideways.

Instants and Sorceries

Moving on from repartee to the spells that trigger it, Secrets of Strixhaven produced a neat package of new instants and sorceries for Feather, the Redeemed.

Many desperate white players have used Path to ExilePath to Exile as ramp. I first tested that option in the second version of my Feather deck, targeting an Elemental token with Young PyromancerYoung Pyromancer in play. I got my land, and I got my Path back, but I felt dirty. ErodeErode is a little cleaner, because there's over a dozen white spells that grant a target indestructible.

By targeting our own indestructible creature, we can use Erode, paired with a one-mana instant like Blacksmith's SkillBlacksmith's Skill, to assemble a repeatable Rampant GrowthRampant Growth.

Along the same line as Erode, Harsh AnnotationHarsh Annotation can be abused in a Feather deck. Flexing the rules for indestructible, this instant can net Feather another 1/1 flyer every turn.

InterjectionInterjection might be a new card, but it isn't really a new effect. There are other instants that grant first strike, and other pump spells available to Feather. My personal favorite is Storm StrikeStorm Strike because I like red and scrying.

Still, Interjection is worth including for redundancy. First strike can make or break a combat trick, and often it breaks an opponent's will to keep fighting back.

I despise the illustration on Practiced OffensePracticed Offense, but I love the spell's flexibility. Pump the whole team and give a key creature a clutch keyword? Oh, by the way, it has flashback too.

A well-built Feather, the Redeemed deck is often discarding to hand size. Consequently, instants and sorceries with flashback make that prospect favorable for you and dangerous for everyone else. As if your full hand weren't enough of a problem, now the table has to worry about your graveyard too.

A Feather, the Redeemed deck thrives or dies on its cantrips. Rapier WitRapier Wit is a cantrip, although it's one of the more questionable cantrip choices. You could re-use it with Feather's ability to draw a card every turn if you're willing to repeatedly tap down your own creatures. We already established I would exile my own token to fetch a land. I'm not above stunning my own creature to draw a card.

Still, that's not the reason I'm including Rapier Wit. This effect is sharper than it looks. In my experience, Commander players undervalue soft removal like tapping an opponent's creature. Feather, the Redeemed will quickly correct that folly when you tap their only flying blocker.

The Updated Feather, the Redeemed Deck

Rep Party

Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed has a reputation to uphold. She's a bright beacon of hope for aggro players in a format bloated with midrange value piles. I hope this list will inspire a new generation of Feather players to go lean and mean. I'd like to think this list might inspire another Feather veteran to update their deck. I think it's more likely those players already picked up their Secrets of Strixhaven singles, or at least added them to their Wants on Cardsphere.

I might not have a Feather deck in paper and sleeves anymore, but I really enjoyed brewing her again. What do you think of repartee, and this deck list? What's your favorite spin on Feather, the RedeemedFeather, the Redeemed. Tell us in the comments below.