“Die for me, angel,Like I would die for you, bloody angel”
Art:Zamriel, Seraph of Steel
by Chris Rallis
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
In my infinite quest to find commanders that get almost no love, that are actually pretty sweet, I found Azmriel; while Azmriel is not the most impressive commander in the world, they are decently strong and work perfectly for an angel-focused deck with an equipment subtheme. This deck has a criminally low amount of decks out there, with only 84 on EDHREC, and I think this card deserves a lot better as it is currently sitting down with commanders that straight-up just barely work in commander. I am very excited to showcase this one today, without further adieu lets get it!
The Deck:
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Zamriel, Seraph of Steel Angels!
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Why Zamriel, Seraph of Steel?
Zamriel is a big part of our deck and a card we always try to cast on curve, we always try to give Zamriel at least one piece of equipment so they can get the indestructible benefit as well, being able to swing pretty freely in combat is always nice. While we certainly don’t go for a commander damage kill Zamriel is certainly capable of getting that done. Zamriel is a huge part of our deck and a card that should be cast as soon as we can.
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:
Two of my personal favorites in arguably can be the biggest creature in the deck are Bruna, the Fading Light
, and Gisela, the Broken Blade
. Both of these cards are great on their own and provide a lot of utility, and of course, we cannot forget about Brisela, Voice of Nightmares
. When this meld happens, we are pretty much unstoppable. While the less than 3 costs unable to be cast doesn’t really matter, the huge creature with a ton of keywords really matters and can help us do a ton of damage. We do have a couple of non-angels, and I love Codsworth, Handy Helper
. a free attach and mana towards equipment is always nice; while we don’t take advantage of auras in this deck, this card is still extremely strong. Halvar, God of Battle // Sword of the Realms
is another extremely strong card; because of how much we spread our equipment around, this gives most of the creatures on our board a double strike, which can be great and helps us output an absolute ton of damage. We can’t forget about Starnheim Aspirant
which is an Urza's Incubator
on a creature and helps us speed out our board. Last but certainly not least, we also have Puresteel Paladin
. We absolutely had to run this one, and free equips is extremely strong for the deck, and the metalcraft ability is super easy to turn on within our deck. Angelic Field Marshal
is also pretty great since we are focused on keeping our commander out as much as we possibly can. Being able to get a buff for something we almost always do is amazing. One of the few mana dorks for the deck is Giada, Font of Hope
; while on the surface she is a mana dork she is a lot more, providing big buffs to our angels and helping snowball the damage we have on board, this is a card that can come down very early and be a workhorse the entire game.
Instants:
Throughout this article, we have been talking about keyword soup from our equipment, but since we almost always control our commander, one of my favorite ways to give our creatures keyword soup is Akroma's Will
, which is a real-deal finisher in this deck and can easily one-shot every opponent at the table, I had this experience three separate times during testing. Most of the instants we have are in the form of removal, like Swords to Plowshares
, but we do have some more general removal, which can be used on pretty much anything in Stroke of Midnight
and Generous Gift
both of these cards are amazing and being able to remove anything, even a problematic non-basic land is a great option to have.
Sorceries:
Ravnica at War
can be weak against other mono-color decks but is extremely strong against nearly any multicolor deck; while it may not remove anything, even removing a couple of key permanents/commanders, and not affect us at all, is great. If we fall really far behind, we can get quite a bit of value out of Austere Command
; while this does affect us, if we choose to cast it, we are quite far behind, and this can be a great way to reset the board fully. If I cast Austere Command and the board is blown up one of my favorite ways to recover is Unfinished Business
which can bring everything back and allow us to hit like an absolute truck when our opponents have nothing out, this is a great way to Lay Down Arms
is a card that only gets better and better as the game goes on, and in the late-game can remove the biggest and baddest in the format, I am honestly a little surprised this card doesn’t see more love in other mono-white decks as it is quite strong.
Artifacts:
We have a ton of equipment, and the most important thing we can do within the deck is spread the love; I mean, there typically is no reason to buff up one creature entirely and it is considerably better to trigger our commander and give our entire board indestructible allowing us to attack freely in combat and be much less susceptible to removal. Let’s go over some of the bets of the best equipment within the deck. Bladed Bracers
is a piece of nice and cheap equipment, and since we have mostly angels, we get the extra buff for very cheap here. Basilisk Collar
is a similar card in that it is a cheap source of indestructible, and this is one of the equipment that helps our creatures turn into keyword soup. Bloodforged Battle-Axe
is arguably one of the best pieces of equipment we have, since we have a ton of evasive angels, it is very easy to create copies, and in testing, I had quite a few games where I had twenty copies of the axe lying around, this card snowballs hard. It is certainly no secret that Commander's Plate
is a very strong card; this is one that gives our commander indestructible buff and protection from every color that isn’t white; if I draw this one early, I typically go for a commander damage kill on an opponent but even if that is not in the card it protects our commander from removal which can always be great! Moonsilver Spear
is not only a strong piece of equipment for the deck but a huge flavor win as well; after just a few turns and creating a few tokens, it can get quite out of hand, and this can help us out damage our opponents and hit hard. We also have a pair of sweet swords that are quite strong in Sword of Sinew and Steel
and Sword of Hearth and Home
, which are both cheap and provide amazing effects, Sinew and Steel gives us some strong removal, while not always relevant having this option is always great, and we also have Hearth and Home which gives us a re-ETB on any creature and some mana ramp. While all of these effects aren’t the most powerful thing in the world, it is certainly nice to have, especially in mono-white.
Enchantments:
A good majority of our enchantments focus on the equipment subtheme like Sigarda's Aid
, which can be very strong for equipments that have high-equip costs and just overall is extremely strong, being able to flash protection on a creature when they are targeted or even a buff within combat is awesome and for only one mana this card is a true slam dunk. It is no secret that we are weak to artifact hate and Forge Anew
helps to provide that recursion, but that is not all it does, it also gives us free equips once per turn, and most importantly since we can equip at instant speed, we can move around equipment to key creatures when they get targetted. Last but certainly not least for our enchantments, we have Folk Hero
while it sadly only triggers once per turn it is a source of supplemental card draw, which is something that mono-white desperately needs, and we are happy to have, with a deck full of angels this is a consistent source of card draw.
Land Base:
We have a pretty sweet landbase with some very strong non-basics. Since we are in mono-white, we have mostly plains within our landbase, but the non-basics can have a very strong impact in the game. Emeria, the Sky Ruin
does take a little while to turn on but is a strong source of recursion, and because we are in mono-white, it is only a matter of time before we get to use its ability on every upkeep. Another benefit of being mono-color is we get a ton of mana and value out of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
, which is a huge source of mana for the deck and because of some awesome creatures like Sephara, Sky's Blade
we can get a ton of devotion and cast pretty much anything. Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
is pretty sweet in this deck and while we can play it early, we get way more value out of using it for its channel ability and because of the high density of legendary angels within the deck we almost never pay full price for this effect. Seraph Sanctuary
is the gift that keeps on giving as we can continuously gain one life throughout the game, which can help us against aggressive strategies or really any combat deck; it also works well with a large majority of creatures in our deck that care about life. Cavern of Souls
is one of the few ways we have to fight back against decks that run counterspells and at the right table this card is extremely important for us, an additional source of colored mana for the most prevalent creature type is great as well.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Almost all of our creatures are naturally evasive, which allows us to be quite strong in combat.
- We have a ton of ways, mostly through our equipment, to turn our creatures into keyword soup.
- With our commander out and an equipped board we can easily swing into combat with no fear because our commander gives indestructible to a large majority of our creatures.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Being in mono-white certainly slows down our overall game plan, as we don’t have many supplemental card draw sources or ways to accelerate our mana.
- Generally pretty weak to artifact hate.
- Specifically, it can be weak to mono-green. Some mono-green decks run a lot of flyer hate, and we can certainly struggle a ton against that.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We are a combat deck focused on loading up the board with our angels and equipping them to make combat much easier for us on our turn, we tend to spread the love with a good majority of our equipment so we can get the indestructible from our commander which allows us to attack without a lot of fear, its great to have this especially with a deck that is filled to the brim with evasive creatures.
Conclusion:
Zamriel is just a ton of fun. At the same time, I certainly understand why this commander gets overlooked compared to many other angels and equipment commanders within the format; I still think this card is an absolute blast and something I would bring out at the right table. At the same time, this deck can be strong. It certainly falls into the casual pool, but either way, it’s fun, and that, in my opinion, is the point of regular EDH. Just have some fun! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!