Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos | Art by Uriah Voth

Where the Elite Meet to Compleat

What up? This is Lenny from the Scrap Trawlers with another Precon Primer. This time I'm covering Growing Threat, a preconstructed Commander deck from March of the Machine. Leading the invasion is Brimaz, Blight of Oreskos.

Brimaz showcases the new Incubate mechanic from March of the Machine. To Incubate, you create an artifact token with a number of +1/+1 counters on it, which can be transformed into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature for two generic mana. Brimaz Incubates whenever you cast a Phyrexian or artifact creature spell, and he puts a number of counters on the token equal to that spell's mana value. In addition to incubation, Brimaz also lets you Proliferate at the beginning of each end step if a Phyrexian died under your control that turn. This means you can quickly build up the counters on those tokens you made.

This commander gives off serious Edgar Markov vibes by giving you tokens for casting a specific type of creatures, but with the added potential for artifact synergies. With the ability to Proliferate each turn, the similarity to Atraxa, Praetors' Voice can't be denied either. The comparison to two powerful commanders makes it clear that Brimaz is quite strong himself. He'll work very well with whatever mix of artifacts and aristocrats you want to use as there's plenty of token production and sacrifice outlets among the Phyrexian creature type.

Another mechanical link among Phyrexians that I think will be strong for Brimaz is Poison. With so many ways to apply Poison counters and the potential to Proliferate them four times each turn cycle, Brimaz is going to be able to end games this way much faster than Atraxa could. Of course Brimaz isn't the only commander available in this precon, which brings us to Moira and Teshar.

Brimaz is pretty strong, but this one is something else. They get back any nonland permanent from your graveyard whenever you cast a historic spell. This isn't limited by mana value or card type like Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle, so you could get back a Triplicate Titan by casting an Ornithopter. The card has to be exiled at the end of turn or if it would leave the battlefield, but you can do a ton of damage. Of course, if losing your stuff doesn't sit well with you, you can use the many blink effects in white to exile the cards and bring them back as new objects which stick around past the end step. Combine this with the cards black has to get cards into your graveyard from anywhere, tutoring them out of your library, and it's easy to see how this can be a powerful and efficient reanimator commander. I'd expect them to head up some incredibly powerful decks as well as being a great alternate commander for the precon they come in.

 

Compleationist

This deck is focused on casting Phyrexian and artifact creatures, and while decks that focus on a specific creature type tend to lean toward aggro, I think this looks more like a control deck. I counted sixteen different pieces of removal in the deck, so it's clear you're going to be answering problems. This deck wants to deal with the biggest threats while making and growing the Incubate tokens, wrathing the board, and transforming them to swing in on your defenseless opponents. Much of the removal of this deck is on creatures, so the sacrifice and reanimation subtheme helps you maintain control of the game by getting repeated use from cards like Bone Shredder and Meteor Golem. Moira and Teshar obviously help with this, but we also got some new ways to get back creatures with Path of the Schemer, and artifacts with Vulpine Harvester. We also got a new sacrifice outlet for artifacts with Filigree Vector. While it's a slower, more expensive Throne of Geth, I like that it gives you counters to Proliferate if you didn't already have them. It's also notably one of the few effects in the game that can freely put charge counters on something.

As long as you're casting Phyrexians, Brimaz brings his own win condition in the form of Incubator tokens, but the deck has a few other ways to end games outside the commander. Evasive heavy hitters like Ancient Stone Idol, Soul of New Phyrexia, or Angel of the Ruins can get in and finish the job started by your Incubators. Those same creatures can also be pumped up by attaching a Scytheclaw, or a Nettlecyst. Opponents can also be damaged directly with Myr Battlesphere or Psychosis Crawler, though this deck isn't going to be able to make a ton of Myr for the sphere, and the card draw is smaller than I'd like for the crawler. If our opponents make enough creatures, Massacre Wurm might be able to take them out with a board wipe. Finally, there is a bit of a Golem subtheme, so it's possible to swarm an opponent with Golem tokens from the splicers or Phyrexian Triniform.

Compleat the Square

When playing this deck, be prepared to play the long game. You can afford to make some trades in combat since you have tools like Scrap Trawler and Phyrexian Delver to get creatures back, and if your Phyrexians die, they'll just power up the rest of your army. There aren't many sacrifice outlets, so you want to protect them as best you can, especially Phyrexian Ghoul as that's the only one in the deck that lets you sacrifice freely on each opponent's turn. Once you've built an army of Incubators, you want to wipe the board so you can start transforming them and attack your defenseless opponents. You want to shoot for a starting hand with some early ramp to get Brimaz out early so you can get this game plan online. There are a lot of high mana value creatures, so make sure you aren't letting those clog up your opener as well.

This deck has a lot of hurdles to overcome out of the box. First of all, it's got a whopping 4.1 average mana value, so you won't be winning any land speed records with it. I'd be more forgiving of this in a deck with a reanimator package if there were any discard outlets in the deck. As it is, you're stuck having to cast these cards and have them die before you can get them back.

The deck is also lacking in card draw. I counted about seven pieces without including the likes of Orzhov Locket and Hedron Archive, which I'm loathe to count because of all the high cost cards. Brimaz does provide a kind of card advantage in tokens, but I think you're often going to find yourself empty-handed in the late game. I'd also count the amount of removal and the way this deck interacts with it as a weakness. Decks should run removal, but too much can bog the game down, especially at the precon power level, and the table might come after you if you keep breaking their toys.

Compleat Set

All may be one in Phyrexia, but in this deck there are some clear standouts. Excise the Imperfect has all the makings of a new staple. It compares well to Anguished Unmaking, which shows up in 134,038 decks on EDHREC, as well as Generous Gift, which appears in nearly twice as many. While this does give a potentially dangerous token, depending on the mana value of the permanent, your opponent will have to spend mana to access it and most players aren't going to take time off their game plan to get a vanilla creature.

Sword of the Animist is a fantastic ramp option for decks without access to green, and quite a few people agree since it's in 135,290 decks. Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus is a new take on the sword that comes with its own creature! I'd expect this one to be very popular in the near future. Vulpine Harvester is the last new card I want to bring up. I mentioned it earlier, but I think it has applications outside this deck. Even if you aren't running other Phyexians, you can still get back staples like Mind Stone or Wayfarer's Bauble, and artifact heavy decks are going to have plenty of things to get back at three mana. Decks with Equipment that can increase its power are where I think this is really going to shine.

I nearly skipped over Darksteel Splicer, thinking it just made a 3/3 Golem for each opponent when it enters the battlefield. It turns out reading the card explains the card, and this thing gives you those tokens whenever it or another nontoken Phyrexian comes in. That's a lot of bodies for any Phyrexian deck, let alone a blink deck, and the fact that it makes them all indestructible puts this over the top.

I would have liked to see better offerings from the reprints in this deck, but there are still a few worth discussing. Sometimes, you just need a big dumb creature, and Ancient Stone Idol is one we haven't seen since Commander 2018. Since this deck makes so many creatures it's possible to cast the idol for very little mana, and flashing in a 12/12 just feels good.

Even with two recent reprints, I'm happy to see more of Karn's Bastion. It can go in any deck and it's useful in a variety of popular and niche strategies. Massacre Wurm did get reprinted in Core Set 2021, but prior to that it managed to get up there in price. I don't think it really warrants a price tag over $10, so I'm glad to see more copies out there, especially since this puts the squeeze on decks that like to abuse death triggers.

Compleat Disregard

Brimaz is an interesting commander with a lot of potential, but I think it's just not realized in this deck. Swapping the commander might lead to better gameplay, but that won't make up for the lack of draw or that clunky average mana value. I'm not saying the deck should be a lean, efficient killing machine like the Phyrexians it features, but I think it could stand to run a bit more smoothly. The exorbitant amount of removal is also likely to drag out games as well, especially with the recursion package. Just imagine seeing the same Cataclysmic Gearhulk three times in a game.

By taking out some of the high cost removal pieces, adding some card draw, and throwing in some mass evasion for those tokens, the deck could be much better. As it is, I think you're better off buying the singles you want. Many of the cards in the deck have seen recent reprints, so you're likely to have them already if you've been buying cards for a couple years. Even if you don't have them, I counted about 12 cards in the deck that are worth more than $2. All that said, it should be noted that this Commander release comes with both new and reprinted plane cards for Planechase. We haven't seen these cards since 2012 so it might be worth it to pick up this and the other decks if you're looking to get into that. I can say from experience it's a fun way to spice up your Commander games.

That's all I have to say for now on the Growing Threat deck. Be sure to check out the upgrade guide I have for this one and remember to budget before you buy it.