We may not always want to jam Breya immediately, but building our ramp package this way helps to keep our options open. If we can hit a two-drop mana rock, we'll be set to cast Breya or any of our other four-drops on turn three. These numbers have a few important implications, the first of which is that we should be skewing our ramp to drop on turn two. My version of this deck sits at a lean 3.05 average converted mana cost, with our most populated CMCs being two-drops and four-drops at 14 apiece. You can take an interactive look at my deck here.īuy this decklist from Card Kingdom Buy this decklist from TCGplayer The Breakdown Without further ado, let's dive into this deck, and figure out what makes it tick. As we go, we'll talk about each of these cards in some detail, but given our focus on artifact tokens, the value these cards offer should be fairly obvious. Those of you who are up-to-date on the new set probably know the cards I'm referring to: Urza, Lord High Artificer, Goblin Engineer, and Mirrodin Besieged. Have you ever been building a new deck, and then a new card gets spoiled that's absolutely perfect for your build? Has this ever happened to you three times during the same spoiler season? As I was building around Breya, Etherium Shaper I found myself blessed with three new home-run cards in Modern Horizons.
But we will certainly have a series of unique options to keep our opponents on notice. Will we often trigger these win conditions? Maybe not. A handful of cards exist with the text "you win the game" on them, and it turns out many of these exist in Breya's colors and benefit from an artifact token strategy. However there's one card archetype I'm particularly excited to try: alternate win conditions. There are also cards that will ping our opponents whenever our artifacts hit the bin, or whenever an artifact enters play, giving us a pseudo- Aristocrats flavor. We won't have to look far for cards that synergize with our strategy: tons of cards thrive with expendable artifact fodder, so we have a plethora of outlets for our stockpiles of trash and treasure. Thopters, Servos, and Treasure are our best friends, and Treasure in particular represents a powerful and versatile permanent that we can use to fuel our game plan. If we need two artifacts to sacrifice to Breya, why not sacrifice tokens? Luckily, there are many great artifact token creators that can generate tokens consistently and in great quantities. My deck was inspired by the linked primer, and aims to make use of the value aspects of Breya's ability.
We won't be eschewing combos, but I want to embrace a few of the other characteristics that make Breya appealing. The combo build is the version of the deck most players are probably aware of, but today I want to look at something a little different. First, there are seemingly endless archetypes around which we can focus a Breya deck, and unlike many of her four-color counterparts, her penchant for artifacts means we'll always have a through-line to keep our builds focused without the inevitable drift towards "goodstuff." That being said, artifacts are a historically powerful card type in Magic, and we can easily build a "goodstuff" Breya deck, if we so desire.īreya also naturally slants towards combo-centric strategies: in my research into Breya decks, I've found builds that tout the ability to combo out in 65 ways, which is a testament to the power of both artifacts and the commander herself. Now, three years following her release, I've revisitied Breya without the overwhelming hype that previously curbed my interest. Upon release, I knew at least three people in my local meta brewing Breya decks, and I quickly grew sick and tired of hearing about her. Generally, I have a personal distaste for four- and five-color commander decks, and Breya's staggering popularity won her none of my favor. Breya represented the perfect home for artifact cards in all of these color combinations, offering a powerful and open-ended ability with artifact synergy.
The Magic community's collective infatuation with Breya was understandable, as there weren't many thematic options for an artifact-focused blue-red, Grixis, or Jeskai deck.
As many of you know, Breya, Etherium Shaper from Commander 2016 quickly became one of the most popular commanders in the entire format.