(Sythis, Harvest's HandSythis, Harvest's Hand | Art by Ryan Yee)

The Anthem for the Fluffle

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Recross the Paths, the series that gives commanders a typal twist. Today, we're going to give SythisSythis some fluffy company.

A lot of fluffy company.

The plan of the deck is pretty simple and it revolves around two complementary halves. On one hand, we want to take advantage of Hare ApparentHare Apparent, the newest card that allows us to play as many copies of it as we like. But, what's a very large board if it is composed of mere 1/1 creatures?

That's where the second part of our deck comes into play: anthems. This term indicates those effects that give stat bonuses (usually +1/+1) to all of our creatures.

In this particular case, we want to make use of enchantments with this text, to take advantage of our commander: Sythis, Harvest's HandSythis, Harvest's Hand.

Through its ability, we will be able to keep our hand full while deploying increasingly bigger Rabbits.

Stage One: The Deck

Part One: You Get a Rabbit, and You Get a Rabbit, And You Get a Rabbit!

As mentioned before, the whole deck revolves around Hare ApparentHare Apparent and the possibility of playing as many copies of this card as we'd like.

I decided to run 27 of them and I'm pretty happy with this choice. I think the perfect number is somewhere in between 25 and 30, with 27 being a pretty good middle ground.

I initially tried to make 30 copies fit, but I would have ended up cutting important cards for other aspects of the deck, like ramp.

Nonetheless, we run two non-Hare ApparentHare Apparent creatures. One is Finneas, Ace ArcherFinneas, Ace Archer, the Rabbit commander that can go insane even starting with a pretty average board.

In this deck in particular, it'll always be able to pump at least 3 creatures and draw us a card, which is a pretty good deal for just two mana if you ask me.

We also run Valley QuestcallerValley Questcaller. This anthem-on-a-stick can smooth our draws letting us scry whenever we play a creature, so that we can draw what we want when we need it.

I really would have liked to play many more diverse Rabbits, but there simply isn't all that much in terms of kindred support.

I looked through the cards and none particularly stood out to me, which is a bit of a shame, considering we've just been to a plane that should care about this creature type and we don't know when we'll visit another similar one.

I also tried to include some of these cards, but, in the end, none of them felt better than running an additional Hare ApparentHare Apparent copy and improving the consistency of our deck.

Part Two: A Song for the Ages

Our commander wants us to play as many enchantments as possible to keep our deck flowing. While this can be a bit difficult after we've devoted so many slots to creatures, we still have plenty of room to slot in some cards of this other type.

We are running some utility enchantments, like Utopia SprawlUtopia Sprawl and Wild GrowthWild Growth for ramp, but our focus is all in on anthems.

Although it might not seem like it in the first place, there actually plenty of different types of anthems. We start with some very simple ones, like Honor of the PureHonor of the Pure pumping our white creatures (spoiler: all of them are white).

Additionally Rally the RanksRally the Ranks and Shared TriumphShared Triumph will both be supporting our Rabbits in particular. But even remaining within the 2-mana-cost enchantments, we can already see some differences, with Case of the Gateway ExpressCase of the Gateway Express functioning as a removal before giving additional stats once it's solved.

Considering how many tokens we want to create, cards like Intangible VirtueIntangible Virtue can easily fit in. On the same note, Inspiring LeaderInspiring Leader will function just as well, keeping in mind we want our commander on the battlefield as much as possible to keep our hand full.

Lastly, Renewed SolidarityRenewed Solidarity is a new card from the Aetherdrift commander decks and it synergizes so well with our plan. It cares about a specific creature type, grants some stats and also doubles up on tokens.

Lastly, we can count on multiple enchantments with added bonuses. In the TrenchesIn the Trenches can be a one-time removal spell, although a bit expensive to activate.

Spear of HeliodSpear of Heliod functions as a political tool to keep big creatures away from us.

Lastly, Force of VirtueForce of Virtue is basically free and it having flash means it we can surprise our opponents with added unexpected stats.

Part Three: The Fluffle

We've already encountered some kindred-matters cards, but we run some more to better equip our rabbits. And They Shall Know No FearAnd They Shall Know No Fear has quickly become a favorite of mine, making sure our big boards remain safe from board wipes.

Sword of the SqueakSword of the Squeak is an interesting one, synergizing both with our 1/1 tokens and with our Rabbits, allowing us to transform one of our small creatures into a huge threat.

Herald's HornHerald's Horn also is particularly good in this deck, considering how discounting Hare Apparent down to just 1 mana makes it way easier for us to chain multiple of them in one single turn.

Clever ConcealmentClever Concealment isn't a typal card per se, but it having convoke and its ability to perfectly protect all of our creatures just make it seem as if it was designed with this deck in mind.

Staying on the convoke train, Obelisk of UrdObelisk of Urd is a card I usually keep away from, considering how difficult it can be to cast if the game doesn't go as planned.

Nonetheless, considering how quickly we can build a board with this list, I more than gladly accept a free +2/+2 to our board. Last but not least, Door of DestiniesDoor of Destinies is another card that usually reads better than it plays.

Yet, its ability to keep charge counter, thus making sure our board is still huge even after mass removals, makes it shine brighter in this deck.

Part Four: The Complete Decklist

Stage Two: The Data Room

We're onto the last part of this deck tech: the data room. Was this deck idea actually unique?

Let's compare this list against both the average SythisSythis and the average Rabbit deck to see what we gained (and lost) in the process.

The Average SythisSythis Deck

There aren't really many reasons to compare this deck to any other SythisSythis list out there.

In fact, this commander is extremely popular, being the most built Selesnya commander (73^rd overall) with 11401 decks registered on EDHREC, so its average building directions has been precisely delineated.

Looking at its page on EDHREC, we can see how the average decklist for this general just wants to play as many enchantments as possible (31 on average) to draw huge bursts of cards every turn.

Instead, we completely shifted the SythisSythis's focus as a commander. This lists really wants to play a lot of creatures and use enchantments (thus, our commander) as the glue of the deck.

This means they won't function as our wincon any longer, rather, they will be fundamental for other cards to perform better.

As an example, if the kind of enchantments played in the average SythisSythis looks like Enchantress's PresenceEnchantress's Presence or Sterling GroveSterling Grove, in this list we are running Beastmaster AscensionBeastmaster Ascension.

This card is present in 231 decks with this same general (2% of them) because it doesn't do anything in an all-enchantment deck.

Instead, we want our enchantments to be supporting the main creature-focused plan; hence, an enchantment that cares about creatures is our bread and butter.

In conclusion, I don't think it makes sense to conduct a 1-on-1 comparison between today's deck and other SythisSythis decks.

Rather, we should look at both at the same time and acknowledge the macro-changes made and the new possibilities unlocked for this commander.

The Average Rabbit Deck

The already mentioned Finneas, Ace ArcherFinneas, Ace Archer is the most popular rabbit commander, with 2895 decks registered on EDHREC.

In this case, the comparison with today's deck is prevented by a structural problem I encountered as well: the sheer lack of typal support for Rabbits.

In fact, Finneas, Ace ArcherFinneas, Ace Archer's page on EDHREC, we can see that players are simply slotting in any card with this creature type regardless of its effect.

While this isn't a problem for certain creature types, in this case it is an enormous one. For instance, just consider that, out of the 1043 decks tagged as "Rabbits" on EDHREC, 74% of them play Warren ElderWarren Elder, 72% of them Druid of the SpadeDruid of the Spade and 60% Brave-Kin DuoBrave-Kin Duo.

Now, I am all for players playing whatever they like in their deck (and, personally, that's everything EDH is about), but I wouldn't blame anyone for considering these cards as nothing more than Bloomburrow draft chaff.

With this in mind, having 3/4 of the decks including a 2-mana 2/2 creature with a borderline inexistent ability isn't a good sign.

With these premises, at the current state, Hare ApparentHare Apparent seems the only viable option for Rabbit typal decks. It isn't game-breaking by any mean but, at the very list, it creates an internal synergy within the deck.

And while I don't particularly like limiting myself to such strict building paths, I accept it if the alternative is inserting in my deck functionally-blank pieces of cardboard.

In conclusion, this deck is trying to address the problem of a lack of powerful Rabbits that would make this creature type viable highlighting what seems as the only possible alternative.

So I really suggest anyone who wants to play this typal strategy to focus on optimizing their Hare ApparentHare Apparent build, rather than trying to make some filler draft commons work.

A Not-So-Soft Conclusion

I would have really liked to end this article with high hopes for Rabbits in commander, but the situation looks bleak.

In all honesty, this same problem (i.e. the lack of playable options within a allegedly supported creature type) expands to all kindred strategies introduced with Bloomburrow.

I am craving for a viable Lizard build but, even if my play experience is everything but competitive, I don't think playing basically useless cards just because of their creature type is a good starting point.

Yet, I want to hope in a brighter future for these under-represented creatures, as many of them already have a powerful commander to lead them, and they're only missing some core pieces to structure their gameplan around.

On the brighter side, I think we found a possible alternative for enchantress decks. One problem I've always had with this strategy is that it always seems the decks are running in circles.

They play a bunch of draw engines and keep on drawing cards, but they lack a true way of winning games. They play functionally the same card over and over again and, while I love drawing cards, I would also like to make something impactful with them.

In this sense, building an enchantress deck that uses enchantments as an engine, but also has a clear aggro plan to win games, is something I was aching to build for a long time.

In conclusion, we can say we gave space to a different approach to enchantment decks. While I'm far from saying that this strategy is clearly better than the other, I'm convinced it is a successful experiment within an extremely popular and explored building path.

That’s all from me for the moment. I hope you enjoyed this deck tech, but now it’s onto you: What do you think of it? Would you have changed anything?

Or there’s something you particularly liked? Most importantly, do you believe this was a true innovation? Let me know in the comments below!

Also, if you're thinking of any kindred strategy and/or commander you'd like to see featured, just write it in the comments as well! I'll try my best to build a deck around them!

Jonathan Zucchetti

Jonathan is an Italy-based Magic enjoyer that has been playing, although with some pauses, ever since Mirrodin released. His passion for EDH bloomed in 2018 and, with it, the love for exotic and underrepresented builds. When he is not complaining about an “unfair” removal, you can find him fiercely defending his Delver of Secrets at a pauper table.