The SeriemaThe Seriema | Art by Sergey Glushakov

A Spacecraft as your commander?!

During MagicCon Las Vegas, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) revealed details and cards from the upcoming Edge of Eternities Magic expansion. There was one particular bit that has immediate impact on the Commander format: legendary Vehicles and Spacecraft can be your commander once the set releases!

To whet our appetites, they revealed a new legendary Spacecraft we can build a Commander deck around: The SeriemaThe Seriema!

This artifact seems so cool to have in your command zone I immediately brewed up a list, so today I wanted to share with you the deck tech in case you'd like to build one, too.

What Does The Seriema Do?

Spacecraft have a new ability called station that functions similar to crew in that you have to tap creatures you control to turn it into a creature. With station, you tap a creature or creatures you control at sorcery speed to add charge counters on it equal to the power of the tapped creatures, so it might take a turn or two to get enough charge counters to fire up your Spacecraft and bring it fully online, which is pretty cool flavor!

What's nifty is that, once you've got seven or more charge counters, all the tapped legends you used to station The SeriemaThe Seriema have indestructible so long as the Spacecraft is on the battlefield.

When choosing The SeriemaThe Seriema as your commander, you're building a deck that cares about legendary creatures. When it enters the battlefield, you search your library for a legendary creature card and put it into your hand, and once you've put seven or more charge counters on it, it becomes a 5/5 artifact creature with flying and text that says "Other tapped legendary creatures you control have indestructible."

In a way, The SeriemaThe Seriema is like a toned-down Captain SisayCaptain Sisay or Sisay, Weatherlight CaptainSisay, Weatherlight Captain. Both of those commanders tend to put opponents on high alert because of the tutor reusability and how easy it is to assemble combos. The Seriema's enters ability can serve as a deterrent for opponents' removal spells since, if you're forced to cast it again from the command zone, you'll get that enters trigger again.

Playing The SeriemaThe Seriema will be a value grind. Once you've charged it up, you can break the symmetry of battlefield-sweepers, since all your other legends will have indestructible, and while your opponents rebuild you'll be ahead enough to start to close out the game.

Key Cards for The Seriema

The first thing I did when assembling this deck was look for silver bullet legends with abilities that can answer certain problems.

Is an opponent going crazy generating a ton of small token creatures? Elesh Norn, Grand CenobiteElesh Norn, Grand Cenobite can put the kibosh on that. Want some protection in case someone is eyeballing your Spacecraft and thinking evil thoughts? Go search up Samwise the StoutheartedSamwise the Stouthearted to help avert disaster. If you don't have a particular threat to answer, you can just go get Venat, Heart of HydaelynVenat, Heart of Hydaelyn, which will provide card draw until you ramp up to seven mana and can activate Hero's Sundering.

Traxos, Scourge of KroogTraxos, Scourge of Kroog notably can station The SeriemaThe Seriema all on its own, though you'll need to play a historic spell before Traxos will untap and be available for that. Of course, this deck is stuffed to the gills with historic spells, so it should be easy to do that!

Loran of the Third PathLoran of the Third Path makes an excellent silver bullet target when you need to destroy an artifact or enchantment. Once you have several creatures on the battlefield with keyword abilities, you can go get Odric, Lunarch MarshalOdric, Lunarch Marshal to effectively give all of your creatures those keyword abilities at the beginning of each combat!

It's really wild how perfect Masako the HumorlessMasako the Humorless is in this deck: not only do you want to have your legendary creatures tapped to gain indestructible from the Spacecraft, but Masako lets you block with them and they won't typically die from combat damage.

I already love Halo FountainHalo Fountain in Vehicle decks since it can be so detrimental to tap a creature to attack with a creature, and it will be quite good in this deck, too. I doubt you'll ever have fifteen tapped creatures to activate that last ability, but the first two abilities are going to be good enough!

If you know me, you know I love Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforged in any deck where the commander could potentially attack, but in a deck full of legends where you want high power to station The SeriemaThe Seriema, it's going to be amazing.

Phelia, Exuberant ShepherdPhelia, Exuberant Shepherd has a fun ability to blink another target nonland permanent by attacking, and since it will be tapped it's hopefully indestructible from The SeriemaThe Seriema. You can even blink The SeriemaThe Seriema so you can search up another legendary creature.

I'm including some ways to protect The SeriemaThe Seriema since it protects our other legends, so I've got Blacksmith's SkillBlacksmith's Skill as a cheap surprise instant. Zack FairZack Fair and Codsworth, Handy HelperCodsworth, Handy Helper are legends that also help protect The SeriemaThe Seriema.

Paladin Danse, Steel MaverickPaladin Danse, Steel Maverick has an excellent activated ability that will be used primarily to protect The SeriemaThe Seriema from destroy effects or combat damage. Rebbec, Architect of AscensionRebbec, Architect of Ascension is a nifty legend that can give artifacts you control protection based on the converted mana cost among artifacts you control; if you've got a Sol RingSol Ring and Arcane SignetArcane Signet, you've already got protection from most played targeted removal, and it might even mean that The Seriema can attack past blockers.

Thancred WatersThancred Waters can target The SeriemaThe Seriema and if it's tapped both will have indestructible while also being best friends forever.

It's wild that there are a few white legends that either have convoke or provide convoke, between Peri BrownPeri Brown, Bennie Bracks, ZoologistBennie Bracks, Zoologist, and The Wandering RescuerThe Wandering Rescuer.

Aradesh, the FounderAradesh, the Founder's enlist ability helps you tap an extra legend, giving itself double strike, and if that creature's power is four or greater, you get to draw a card, too!

Teshar, Ancestor's ApostleTeshar, Ancestor's Apostle is an excellent engine to bring back cheaper creatures that may have ended up in your graveyard. Relic of LegendsRelic of Legends and Honor-Worn ShakuHonor-Worn Shaku are mana rocks that let you tap untapped legends to squeeze out more mana; if The SeriemaThe Seriema is fully stationed, this is a way you can tap a legend to gain indestructible at instant speed.

How Does This The SeriemaThe Seriema Commander Deck Win?

Outside of having fifteen creatures to untap with Halo FountainHalo Fountain, the deck is built for Bracket 2 (Core) Commander pods where combat damage finishes players off and games are longer and interactive. I did, however, include a nifty mini-combo in the deck since both parts are legendary creatures!

Get Gisela, the Broken BladeGisela, the Broken Blade first since, if it dies, you can later get Bruna, the Fading LightBruna, the Fading Light, which will bring back Gisela with its cast trigger, and at the beginning of your end step you'll then meld them into Brisela, Voice of NightmaresBrisela, Voice of Nightmares! This Eldrazi Angel will dominate the battlefield and prevent your opponents from casting their cheapest and most efficient spells. Plus, if you can tap it while The SeriemaThe Seriema is fully stationed it's even harder to deal with.

Blackblade ReforgedBlackblade Reforged will be quite a threat given how many legendary creatures are in the deck, and as the game progresses and your land drops continue, it hits even harder.

When there's a way to protect The SeriemaThe Seriema from destroy effects, use one of the battlefield-sweepers, like Vanquish the HordeVanquish the Horde, and since all the tapped legends will have indestructible the game should tip favorably. However, remember that each time The SeriemaThe Seriema is destroyed is another opportunity to play it again and search the library for the perfect legend for the moment at hand.

Unlocking the recursive power of Emeria, the Sky RuinEmeria, the Sky Ruin is another way to close out long games.

The Seriema Commander Decklist

Conclusion

If you like playing Bracket 2 (Core) Commander games where there's time to breathe and everyone had the opportunity to have their deck do their thing before the game comes to a conclusion, this deck could be right up your alley.

If you're looking to play at Bracket 3 (Upgraded), you can easily pepper in up to three Game Changers to spice things up.

Smothering TitheSmothering Tithe is excellent in higher powered games since players are much more likely to draw extra cards and be tight on their mana each turn.

Speaking of drawing extra cards, if you have a copy of The One RingThe One Ring, this deck can certainly make good use of them. Phelia, Exuberant ShepherdPhelia, Exuberant Shepherd can even blink it to reset the burden counters if the damage gets too worrisome.

Teferi's ProtectionTeferi's Protection is an excellent way to protect your battlefield from a sweeper such as FarewellFarewell that gets around the indestructible protection, and if you need a bit more legendary creature tutor redundancy you can slot in an Enlightened TutorEnlightened Tutor.

Long Range Scanners On!

I brewed up this deck list before we knew very many cards from Edge of Eternities, so I expect this list to shift a bit once other new cards from the set are revealed. In particular I'm going to be looking out for other Spacecraft and cards that care about Spacecraft, in much the same way that Outlaws of Thunder Junction had a bunch of Mounts and cards that care about Mounts.

With the new rules about legendary Vehicles and Spacecraft being able to be your commander, what legendary Vehicles are you brewing around? How many legendary Spacecraft do you think will be in Edge of Eternities?

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