“The land belongs to the wild. Today, we reclaim it with tooth and claw.”
Art:Duskana, the Rage Mother
by Samuel Perin
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Duskana, The Rage Mother, is the bear commander that I think I and many other players have been waiting for a very long time. While most of our bears are in green, we get a ton of support and utility from both red and white. Naya, in my opinion, is an amazing color combination for bears and adds so much more than just Mono-Green. We combine all of the best elements of being in Naya with all of the best bears in the game and combine that with the crazy card draw and big damage from Duskana and you have a recipe for a ton of fun. If you are looking for a ramp-filled and aggressive deck filled to the brim with 2/2’s, I think this one might be for you! Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Duskana, the Rage Mother Bears!
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Why Duskana, The Rage Mother?
Duskana, The Rage Mother, is a real-deal, extremely strong commander. Since we are heavy on-ramp, we can get them out quite early, and they immediately hit and draw a decent amount of cards, even with only two or three 2/2’s out. The value is off the charts, not to mention the buff ability, which only cares about printed power/toughness, so we can buff up with Door of Destinies
and Metallic Mimic
with ease. Duskana is a huge card for the deck and, truthfully, the card that makes the deck “work.” Now, it can certainly function without Duskana, but they provide a large amount of supplemental card draw as well as making our bears impactful in combat.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
A good majority of our deck is 2/2’s with no abilities in true bear fashion, so I am going to focus on some of our more impactful and interesting creatures in the deck, like Adaptive Automaton
and Metallic Mimic which produce very strong buffs for nearly the whole creature base and still allow us to get Duskana’s buff. Now, since most of our creatures are quite vanilla, we have Ruxa, Patient Professor
, which is the only way to recur in the deck and buffs up all of our simple bears who don’t do much. We also have some strong creature ramp in Elvish Mystic
, Llanowar Elves
, and Druid of the Anima
, all of which help us speed up the gameplan. Ayula, Queen Among Bears
is one of our most impactful 2/2’s and is a great card to buff additional bears, and once they get big enough, it can help us get rid of opponents/commanders. If we do fall victim to a board wipe or even just a bad combat Caller of the Claw
is a great for us to recover and keep that army of 2/2’s coming. Quirion Beastcaller
can get huge with ease and provides a huge buff to a creature when it dies, perfect for Duskana. Xenagos, God of Revels
, can be crazy in this deck, especially when we use his trigger on one of our bigger creatures or one of our buffed-up bears. Now they don’t get the Xenagos buff after the Duskana buff, but it still is a strong source of damage for the deck.
Instants:
Since we almost always have our commander or cast them as soon as possible Flawless Maneuver
is a great way to protect our board from board destruction or any removal. The same is true for Heroic Intervention
, another great protection spell for our board. I also love Justiciar's Portal
and Ephemerate
, which are not only a great way to dodge single-target removal, but I love saving them and using them to blink Duskana and getting a ton of extra card draw. Beyond that, we have some strong creature/artifact/enchantment removal in Abrade
, Krosan Grip
, and Return to Dust
.
Sorceries:
Since we are in Naya, we have a decent amount of ramp like Cultivate
and Kodama's Reach
, as well as some ramp that lets us grab nonbasics like Three Visits
and Farseek
all of these are great cheap ways to get all of our colors established. Fade from History
can help us produce a decent amount of 2/2’s, but against any strategy focused on artifacts or enchantments, it can do a ton of work. Speaking of board wipes, we also have Blasphemous Act
, which is perfect if we fall behind and almost never costs more than one mana. Kamahl's Summons
is one of the best 2/2 producers in our deck. With a ton of creatures in the deck, we can routinely get four or five additional 2/2’s off of it, and in our deck, they will be 5/5’s when attacking. I also really like Grizzly Fate
, which makes more 2/2’s and furthers our beatdown gameplan, now for what it’s worth, we typically don’t have threshold, but if we do, it can be strong in the mid-late-game.
Artifacts:
To start off, we have every on-color talisman, which does cost life, but establishing our colors is the main goal of the early game, and these help us do that with ease. We also have Sol Ring
and Arcane Signet
, which are also very strong mana rocks for the deck. Now for the fun part. To start off our non-mana rock artifacts, we have Door of Destinies, which allows our bears to get huge and lets us still get the buff from Duskana. I also love Vanquisher's Banner
, which only provides a small buff but provides a ton of supplemental card draw for the deck. Since our creatures are already decently threatening because of Duskana’s ability, I think that Bow of Nylea
is perfect for the deck since it puts our opponents in a pretty terrible situation: take five or lose your creature perfect for us.
Enchantments:
To start off, we have a duo that is extremely powerful and, in my opinion, format staples in Mirari's Wake
and Growing Rites of Itlimoc // Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun
. Mirari’s Wake not only buffs all of our creatures and effectively doubles our mana, but it does it for only five mana. In this deck, we can cast one or two turns early, which makes a huge difference. Growing Rites is a bomb because we get some creature selection, it is criminally easy to flip, and we get what is essentially a Gaea's Cradle
out of the deal. Since we have a deck filled to the brim with 2/2, I thought that Assemble the Players
would be the perfect card that not only lets us see upcoming draws but can often cast them off the top and get additional card advantage. We have almost no ways to recur creatures in this deck so why not turn them into bears?! Bearscape
is a little pricy but furthers the game plan by helping us make more 2/2s. Words of Wilding
is a very interesting card that I rarely use on my actual draw step but love to activate when I am about to blink or cast Duskana.
Land Base:
We have a pretty nice three-color landbase coming hot off Ravnica Remastered. The shocks prices are lower than ever and even easier to throw into commander decks. Additionally, I have really liked the surveil lands from MKM not only cause they are strong dual lands but they can be a great way to sift through the deck or clear out a bad draw. We have the on-color fetches and shocks, which help us establish our colors early. We don’t have any interesting non-basics, and our land base is all about establishing our colors as early as possible. I think that goal is achieved and, of course, assisted by some creatures/artifacts.
Strengths of the Deck:
- We have a ton of ramp that let us get out of Duskana early, cast a ton of creatures, and build our board quite early.
- If we do fall behind, we do have a couple of options to reset the game, like Blasphemous Act
, which is almost always only one red mana. Fade from History is another great way that can hurt artifact or enchantment-focused decks a ton. - Since the strength in our deck is 2/2 creatures, we have a ton of 2/2 creatures as well as a bunch of great ways to make more like Kamahl's Summons and Grizzly Fate
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We are generally weak to creature hate and don’t have any way to recur creatures.
- We are quite high on removal for artifacts/enchantments but are a little low on creature hate, and outside of combat, it can be tough to deal with creatures/commanders.
- We do have a few ways to protect our commander, and they are important; since Duskana is such a huge part of our deck, they typically draw a ton of hate/removal.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We mostly have a deck comprised of some pretty sweet 2/2’s. These are actually our primary source of damage, but they are greatly aided by Duskana’s ability, which makes our 2/2s into 5/5s, which can make them quite threatening. Since we are in Naya, we are also able to ramp out our commander quite quickly and have that ability for a good part of the game. We also have some strong buffs like Overrun
, which can help us to easily one-shot an opponent and, if not, at least do a ton of damage. World at War
is another great card that gives us an additional combat and combine that with Duskana’s buff, and we can hit our opponents for quite a lot.
Conclusion:
Duskana is a commander I have been excited about since spoiler season, and I honestly love this deck; it fits perfectly right into the sweet spot of casual but strong; while this deck certainly isn’t competitive, it is a blast and shines at a table with some other creature decks. I am also very happy to see wizards give some love to one of the game’s oldest and most classic creature types. What an amazing commander. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!