Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge | art by Eric Deschamps

Hello, everyone, my name's Jonathan and today I'm going to revisit an iconic commander with the help of the new cards from the upcoming Marvel Super Heroes set. The general I'll be talking about is one of the most beloved and hated at the same time: it's Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge. So, let's see what new direction I decided to follow to build such an (in)famous commander.

The Twist: Living LaserLiving Laser

Personally, one of the most interesting cards coming with the new sets is Living LaserLiving Laser. It's a bit clunky to get going, but once you do, it dishes out a ton of damage. And that's exactly what I sit down at Commander tables to do. But, rather than building a deck around it, I thought it would be interesting to slot it as a secret commander in a Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge deck.

Just to be clear, with "secret commander" I refer to a creature that isn't officially the commander in a deck, but that is a core piece of its strategy, to the point that it might as well be considered as a second commander.

The synergy between our two legends is pretty clear: discard a bunch of cards, get a bunch of attacking Living LaserLiving Laser copies and a bunch of Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge triggers. All of this will result in a ton of direct damage to our opponents' faces and a horde of 4/4s coming their way.

This is also the perfect chance to build Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge in a new way. Rather than piling up on token generators, we want to include a lot of discard effects and creatures that synergize with those effects. In this way, we will churn through our deck to set up the perfect winning board state.

Discarding Our Way to Victory

Our main engine revolves around continuously drawing and discarding cards. And if we can pair this effect up with some token generation, it'll be even better. For this reason, we gladly include some old goodies like Faithless LootingFaithless Looting, but we also love to play Quarrel's EndQuarrel's End, which is way more expensive, but we can use the creature it comes with to ShockShock our opponents. Founding of OmashuFounding of Omashu is another good inclusion, as it does everything I've just mentioned and it pumps our board.

But how about cards that only discard and create tokens? Well, we do have those as well. SliversmithSliversmith is cheap and reliable: it can get going in the very first turns of the game and it'll always be there to trigger all of our payoffs. SparkspitterSparkspitter is more aggressive, creating 3/1s that are eager to attack and deal damage themselves, in addition to triggering Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge. Finally, Jaxis, the TroublemakerJaxis, the Troublemaker can truly live up to its name: it can create tokens that are copies of creatures that create tokens, creating a very long chain of damage.

Discard Synergies: Phoenixes, Madness and Cycling

Of course, we want to run a few additional payoffs other than our commander(s). First off, Cool but RudeCool but Rude comes from another Universe but it synergizes very well with this one. Right off the bat it is a repeatable looting effect, which can easily become a source of consistent damage. We're not immediately interested in unlocking the third level, but it might prove crucial for a topic I'll develop later.

Then, Monument to EnduranceMonument to Endurance is a Jack-of-all-trades that fits perfectly with our strategy: it can get us mana and/or cards if we run low on either of these resources, but it can propel us towards the finish line with some extra damage.

Finally, Bag of HoldingBag of Holding is our safety net. It sits on the board and slowly stashes cards; then, whenever we run out of gas in the tank, we can crack it and start all over again.

While building the deck, I noticed that Phoenixes make for incredible discard fodder. First off, you always want them in the graveyard, so that you can recur them; additionally, this triggers Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge, which is always good. Then, expanding on the damage theme, they can be brought back again and again, giving us a ton of possibilities to deal damage to our opponents.

Among the most notable ones, Flamewake PhoenixFlamewake Phoenix is very easy to reanimate, considering it can trigger off of our commander. Then, both Warcry PhoenixWarcry Phoenix and Nemesis PhoenixNemesis Phoenix interact very well with our all-out aggressive plan.

An honorable mention also goes to the mechanics that interact positively with our plan, such as Madness and Cycling. Anje's RavagerAnje's Ravager is always a bit of a risky play, but it can also be a saving grace if we run out of gas. Blazing RootwallaBlazing Rootwalla is a free Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge trigger (as well as the mascot of the deck). Lastly, Magmakin ArtilleristMagmakin Artillerist can truly get out of hand if it manages to stick on the board for a few turns.

The Quest for Consistency

Sadly, we're not playing black and/or green, two colors that would have helped a lot in terms of consistency. Those two colors give access to a lot of tutors, which are crucial in a secret commander deck. Nonetheless, we can make up for it with the huge amounts of cards we draw every turn.

But this is also where Cool but RudeCool but Rude's third level comes into play.

In fact, we also run some tutors in a mono-red style. Obviously, we are including GambleGamble, the closest this color can get to an actual tutor. On the same line, we are also playing Fervent MasteryFervent Mastery, which is way more expensive, but it might also grant us a way bigger reward in terms of tutoring. The glaring drawback for both of these spells is the random discard effect: at the very least, we could get something useful out of it.

We actually do have one unconditional tutor: Flamekin HarbingerFlamekin Harbinger. This card is one of the best in the deck, because it can tutor any Elemental creature to the top of our deck. And guess what creature type Living LaserLiving Laser just so happens to be? Exactly.

Lastly, we also have some kind of recursion with Desecrate RealityDesecrate Reality, which also doubles as a removal spell.

The New Cards

There are actually quite a few cards coming from the Marvel Super Heroes main and commander sets that fit very well in this build.

We can start with some simple rummaging effects, like Fogwell's GymFogwell's Gym, which makes for a good utility land, K'un-Lun WarriorK'un-Lun Warrior and Vision of LoveVision of Love, both of which are rebrandings of some already-known cards.

But we also get access to Hawkeye, Master MarksmanHawkeye, Master Marksman, which can also count on two additional modes that can be useful at pushing more damage. Even more interesting, Misty Knight, Hero for HireMisty Knight, Hero for Hire can be an excellent payoff at the end of a long turn of discarding cards. And how about Spider-Man, New ChampionSpider-Man, New Champion? Just make sure you have it on the battlefield before discarding a bunch of cards and the game might be over in the blink of an eye.

We also get some nice complementary pieces to our strategy. Molten LavamancerMolten Lavamancer is a homerun of a card, since it'll instantly become a token-producing, damage-dealing machine in combination with Purphoros, God of the ForgePurphoros, God of the Forge. Doom's Time PlatformDoom's Time Platform and Heart-Shaped HerbHeart-Shaped Herb are both somewhat of a protection/recursion tool, which are always welcome in this color. Finally, Iron Man, Tony StarkIron Man, Tony Stark simply goes crazy with our commander, basically saying that every spell we cast has three ShockShocks stapled onto it.

The Complete Decklist

So, what do you think? Will you give this deck a try? Let me know in the comments below and I'll see you next time!