Otharri, Suns' GloryOtharri, Suns' Glory | Art by Marta Nael

Scars of Mirrodin is my favorite block in Magic's history. The tale of the Mirrans fighting for their freedom from the Phyrexian invasion was what drew me to the game all those years ago. I loved that WOTC could tell a story about the righteous underdogs giving their all for the freedom of their world.

Magic gave me the ability to live through that fight in Commander with Otharri, Suns' GloryOtharri, Suns' Glory, the most aggressive Boros deck in my arsenal that's got me screaming "For Mirrodin" every time I attack.

With the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I'm now able to add the story of another invasion to this deck and continue to live out my fantasy of sticking it to "the man." So join me as I break down one of the decks that speaks to me the most and talk about the fantastic upgrades from the newest set!

What Does Otharri, Suns' GloryOtharri, Suns' Glory Do?

Now I'm all for building typal decks, and believe me, if there was a good call to just fill the deck to the brim with a ton of Rebel typal cards, I would have done it in a heartbeat. Yet it turns out, this deck isn't your run-of-the-mill typal deck; it's an aggro Voltron deck that actually floods your board with enough Rebel tokens to block out Mirrodin's five suns.

How do we get these tokens, you ask? By constantly stacking up experience counters, of course! That's right, on top of everything else, we want to make sure we're constantly getting more and more experience counters which will leave us with more and more free creatures.

So let's break down the different parts of this deck and see which spots can use some extra reinforcements from The Last Airbender.

Voltron

Otharri is a Voltron deck that doesn't actually want to spend that much time on getting stronger. In fact, the less conspicuous this 3/3 flier is, the better we slip under the radar of our opponents. However, we want to make sure that we keep Otharri alive and well to carry on the fight, as their ability to attack every turn is the game plan.

Other than being blocked by other fliers, Otharri is a hard sell to use removal on, seeing as how they might come back to the battlefield at the cost of just four mana and a tapped Rebel. They have haste as well so your opponent only did so much with their single-target removal.

That being said, we will have ways to make sure Otharri is able to attack every turn, slowly amassing this gaggle of Rebels that would make JetJet jealous. Speaking of...

Surprising Power

The fact that we get a cubic butt ton of Rebels on each of our turns we attack means that we should make sure we make use of them. These creatures can kind of come in as a surprise for our opponents as we start our turn with just a Snow VilliersSnow Villiers and a Freedom Fighter RecruitFreedom Fighter Recruit on the table, and suddenly these */3s get a bunch of new Rebel friends tapped and attacking. Freedom Fighter RecruitFreedom Fighter Recruit is especially good for this, being a two-drop.

Card Draw

A deck like this, again with its constant token making, is unsurprisingly using the common white draw enchantments to give us some extra options every turn. Caretaker's TalentCaretaker's Talent, Enduring InnocenceEnduring Innocence, and Rumor GathererRumor Gatherer are all patiently awaiting a swing from Otharri to trigger their hand-expanding abilities.

Yet we'll sometimes run into issues if our commander gets removed a bit too often for our liking, and also, none of those options are Rebels, making it a bit harder for Otharri to resurrect. So in comes the brand new Smellerbee, Rebel FighterSmellerbee, Rebel Fighter, giving us the very red option to dump our rapidly draining hand for some new options. Even better that she gives all of our board haste on top of it all, which goes hand in hand with our commander's token making.

Experience Counters

Now the real unique portion of this deck is its use of experience counters, a mechanic that was a lot rarer in previous years but made a huge comeback in TLE and the new Playstation Secret Lair.

We get more experience counters when Otharri attacks, which is all the time from about turn four and after. It's nice to have some guaranteed upward momentum on the number of creatures from our main card, but there are multiple ways to get them nowadays.

Kratos, Stoic FatherKratos, Stoic Father lets us start gaining those experience counters a turn early as well as a brand new use for them too. The best new use is Aang, Airbending MasterAang, Airbending Master though, and it's really cool that we can add some Allies every upkeep on top of all the Rebel tokens we're getting too.

Proliferate?

We don't do that in this deck, no matter how tempting. Why? Because it's the tool of the enemy, of the Phyrexians that we are rebelling against in the first place. However, I have a trade for you - a strategically better option that also keeps us on the flavorful path: extra attack triggers.

For every proliferate spell you're thinking of - Norn's ChoirmasterNorn's Choirmaster, Metastatic EvangelMetastatic Evangel, Contagion ClaspContagion Clasp - replace them with double attack trigger cards. Windcrag SiegeWindcrag Siege from Tarkir: Dragonstorm will net us both two experience counter triggers as well as two token producing creatures. Creatures that come into play tapped and attacking mind you.

The Siege, Strionic ResonatorStrionic Resonator and Peter Parker's CameraPeter Parker's Camera will all double trigger your other cards as well, not just counters. Firebender AscensionFirebender Ascension goes on to make its debut here and hyper-charge this deck to new heights with Arabella, Abandoned DollArabella, Abandoned Doll and Voice of VictoryVoice of Victory becoming even better for us.

Extra Combat

Now how do we win this game? Sure we can make some free battalions of Rebels. We could make deals with Gods and get a lot of free damage with Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge, but that's not how we'll win, especially once our opponents get a whiff if what we're doing.

We need to push forward with our plan until we win, and we're doing it by, well, simply attacking more. Shocking, I know, but extra combat is the play! Every single attack is a whole horde of new bodies and triggers that few else could contend with.

Look towards Waves of AggressionWaves of Aggression, Overpowering AttackOverpowering Attack, and Karlach, Fury of AvernusKarlach, Fury of Avernus for some sick options to close out the game.

FOR MIRRODIN! is the Rebel Yell of my Commander decks and is honestly one of my favorite. I'm also happy that it's something that wins games while being on flavor too. We throw in the most courageous leaders and warriors from across and beyond the multiverse into a deck and crush control decks everywhere.

When new Rebel creatures come out in Magic they tend to be be very on-brand for how they've been represented in the game. Plucky underdogs that just need the space to strike at the oppressive system around them in order to win the day.

Otharri, Suns' Glory Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Avatar: The Last Airbender gave us more than a couple new pieces to fill in some weaknesses of the deck, like Smellerbee, Rebel FighterSmellerbee, Rebel Fighter. Did Avatar give you any new upgrades for your decks? Tell us down below about some of your upgrades and stay tuned for even more changes to your favorite decks in the future!