For Great Revelry

By Adam Styborski

Stybs has played Magic the world over, writing and drafting as part of the event coverage team and slinging Commander everywhere his decks will fit.

It's all the rage these days to kill a God.

Deicide | Art by Jason Chan

Who needs an indestructible enchantment that can turn into an opponent-slaying personification of a mortal attribute?"

I do.

From the first taste I saw of the pantheon of Theros—Erebos, God of the Dead—to the mana machinations of Karametra, God of Harvests and Kruphix, God of Horizons, I've been in love with the power of the gods of Theros in Commander.

They've been exciting for you, too.

The pantheon is in on full display now, and these are the decks you created to contain them.

God is in the TV

One of my favorite new Gods is Pharika, God of Affliction, and her handy ability to transform creatures in graveyards into annoying little Snakes with deathtouch.

Andrew felt the same way:

Players can't seem to decide if Pharika, God of Affliction is good or not. I'm not answering that question at all, because this is a flavor-packed Pharika deck that features Gorgons and Snakes. I looked for all the cards representative of Pharika, Vraska, and the venomous side of the Golgari.

Andrew's Pharika

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

COMMANDER: Pharika, God of Affliction

Planeswalker (1)

1 Vraska the Unseen

Creature (26)

1 Ambush Viper 1 Archetype of Finality 1 Death-Hood Cobra 1 Gorgon Recluse 1 Hythonia the Cruel 1 Infernal Medusa 1 Keepsake Gorgon 1 Korozda Gorgon 1 Nemesis of Mortals 1 Nessian Asp 1 Nighthowler 1 Nyx Weaver 1 Ohran Viper 1 Ophiomancer 1 Pharika's Chosen 1 Pharika's Mender 1 Reaper of the Wilds 1 Serpent Assassin 1 Sisters of Stone Death 1 Snake of the Golden Grove 1 Squelching Leeches 1 Tangle Asp 1 Visara the Dreadful 1 Wall of Vipers 1 Wasteland Viper 1 Xathrid Gorgon

Sorcery (10)

1 Asphyxiate 1 Assassin's Strike 1 Destroy the Evidence 1 Down // Dirty 1 Gaze of Granite 1 Night's Whisper 1 Read the Bones 1 Reviving Melody 1 Sip of Hemlock 1 Treasured Find

Instant (10)

1 Cobra Trap 1 Cruel Feeding 1 Gaze of the Gorgon 1 Golgari Charm 1 Grisly Salvage 1 Grisly Spectacle 1 Killing Glare 1 Necrobite 1 Pharika's Cure 1 Putrefy

Artifact (4)

1 Golgari Cluestone 1 Golgari Keyrune 1 Golgari Signet 1 Snake Basket

Enchantment (10)

1 Aspect of Gorgon 1 Deadbridge Chant 1 Death's Presence 1 Grave Betrayal 1 Nyx Infusion 1 Serpent Skin 1 Snake Pit 1 Snake Umbra 1 Strength from the Fallen 1 Viper's Kiss

Land (38)

1 Barren Moor 1 Dakmor Salvage 1 Evolving Wilds 8 Forest 1 Golgari Guildgate 1 Golgari Rot Farm 1 Grim Backwoods 1 Leechridden Swamp 1 Llanowar Wastes 1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood 1 Overgrown Tomb 1 Pendelhaven 1 Pine Barrens 1 Polluted Mire 1 Sapseep Forest 1 Slippery Karst 1 Svogthos, the Restless Tomb 8 Swamp 1 Tainted Wood 1 Temple of Malady 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Tranquil Thicket 1 Twilight Mire 1 Woodland Cemetery

99 Cards

Deal Another Hand

Some familiar faces are here: Deadbridge Chant, Grave Betrayal, Gaze of Granite, Reaper of the Wilds. Some not so familiar faces, like Snake Pit (super-fun in the right matchups). I like that this deck can sort of play a Group Hug role; Pharika can give other players instant-speed deathtouchy blockers, and there are plenty of other, "Hey, you, have some deathtouch!" cards. Otherwise, it's a pretty standard "kill everything until you win" style of deck.

Notice the lack of Gorgon Flail and Gorgon's Head. This may be a BG "kill things" deck, but that's just in bad taste. You don't feed chickens barbeque wings, and you don't make Gorgons fight with the decapitated heads of their kin.

—Andrew

Mike, too, decided to follow the flavor of the God of Affliction:

I've been playing off-and-on since Antiquities. My first well-tuned deck featured Verduran Enchantress, Fastbond, and Contract from Below. I could churn through over half of my (forty-card) deck in a single turn! I've loved green-black ever since.

My favorite commander is Sliver Queen, not because I build a Sliver deck, but because I use her super-cheap creature generation as an engine for all kinds of combos.

That means that Pharika, God of Affliction is an absolute must for me. She's easier to cast, indestructible, and her children have deathtouch! Her drawbacks compared to Sliver Queen are two-fold: fewer colors means fewer/weaker combos for which to act as an engine (i.e., no Purphoros, Rage Thrower, Stalking Vengeance); and she's much less likely to score a win with commander damage.

Fewer combos doesn't mean none, though. I believe that Pharika and Savra will be good friends, for example. Probably the most complicated combo in the submitted deck is Pharika + Life Chisel + Dark Prophecy + Cadaverous Bloom + Grim Guardian + one colored mana = win the game.

The other notable thing about Pharika is her hug factor. She'll happily share the deathtouch pain with anyone being attacked by ground-pounders, thereby giving you more time to pull together your combos.

My first build will probably feature a lot of Journey into Nyx cards, just to try them out, but there's a lot of potential!

—Mike

Mike's Pharika

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

COMMANDER: Pharika, God of Affliction

Planeswalker (2)

1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts 1 Vraska the Unseen