(Pattern of Rebirth | Art by Terese Nielsen)

Reborn Again

Welcome back to The Toolbox! Here we take a look at underplayed cards and evaluate where they ought to see more play. Today we’re taking a look at a really interesting tutor: Pattern of Rebirth!

Auras get a bit of a bad rap in Magic, because if the creature they're enchanting gets removed, then you're down an additional card. This can be mitigated with cards like Sigarda, Host of Herons, which helps prevent the enchanted creature form being removed, or Sage's Reverie, which provides immediate value. Sometimes, though, you can just lean into the loss of the creature, because Pattern of Rebirth gives you a payoff for your creature dying by just finding another creature!

Let's take a look at Pattern's most common commanders to date:

This is a bit of an interesting EDHREC page overall, but then again, any page starting with Saffi Eriksdotter is bound to be interesting. Saffi is a pretty obvious choice, because of the infamous Boonweaver Giant combo with Pattern of Rebirth; you can enchant her, sacrifice her to go find Boonweaver Giant, and continue the chain with a sacrifice outlet such as Altar of Dementia to go infinite. Karador, Ghost Chieftain is known to use this combo as well, hence his high popularity with this card. There's also Melira, Sylvok Outcast, which is a little less clear to me, but I have to assume it's there to help find a Persist creature such as Woodfall Primus to, once again, combo out.

There's more room for just combo with Pattern of Rebirth, though. This is a really great toolbox enchantment, which means it's perfect for us here on The Toolbox! Let's find some other places in Commander where this enchantment shines!

Return From the Grave

When you want to get value from the graveyard, there are a lot of options in Commander, but few do it better than Muldrotha, the Gravetide. This commander created some massive waves when she was spoiled, and she's continued to be the most built commander of the past 2 years ever since. What does Pattern of Rebirth have to offer her?

As evidenced by the commanders we saw above, having ways to sacrifice the enchanted creature drastically improves the value that you can get from this enchantment, as you don't have to rely on combat or your opponents for the creature to die. You can enchant a Spore Frog, sacrifice it to Fog for the turn, then go find another creature, like The Gitrog Monster or Gravebreaker Lamia, which will put something else into the bin. Maybe a sacrifice outlet like Ashnod's Altar, for instance.

...Whereupon Muldrotha can cast all of those pieces again. Cast the Altar, recast Pattern, sacrifice the enchanted creature for mana, find a new creature, use Muldrotha to recast the creature you sacrificed, this value train just never ends. This deck has so many repeatable outlets for Pattern, like Caustic Caterpillar, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Glen Elendra Archmage, which create such a great engine that I'm just shocked that it only sees play in 7% of Muldrotha decks! A recursive way to tutor creatures right into play seems like a perfect fit for Muldrotha.

In Dire Straits

At least, your opponents will be in dire straits with Vaevictis Asmadi, the Dire as your commander!

I actually think that Vaevictis is one of the most underrated commanders from the last couple of years, and I hope his usefulness with Pattern of Rebirth will help demonstrate this a little. Vaevictus his a permanent from each player, not just your opponents, which means you can sacrifice your own Wood Elves and flip it into an Etali, Primal Storm! Why should a deck like this run Pattern of Rebirth, though?

I think that there's a lot of utility for Pattern, honestly. First, Pattern of Rebirth can enchant an creature you no longer need, such as the aforementioned Wood Elves, which Vaevictus can blow up for you to tutor for another creature in addition to the regular Vaevictus ability. Second, it offers a shuffle effect, a strangely much-needed thing for Vaevictus's playstyle. Vaevictus has to play a lot of permanents to get a good enough success rate off his ability. This is why some Vaevictus decks choose mana dorks over ramp effects like Cultivate, since they'd whiff off of the commander's ability. If Vaevictus knows the top card of the deck won't be a permanent (for example, if they've revealed the top card with an Oracle of Mul Daya) then Pattern provides another ability to get a great permanent and shuffle that library to take another chance at finding a permanent for Vaevictus to put into play.

I know this may seem like a 'win-more' card in this kind of deck, but I do genuinely think that it's worth the slot; it's a permanent that can be flipped into play by Vaevictus, the creature it's enchanting can be sacrificed to Vaevictis, it offers a shuffle when you need it, and it gives the deck a permanent-based way to tutor for a needed creature, such as Terastodon or Avenger of Zendikar. There is also a pretty obvious sacrifice theme with Butcher of Malakir, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest to get even more value out of this tutor. With all of this, it honestly feels just like a permanent-based Natural Order that can find anything you need.

Take a look at the decklist and see all you can do with Pattern to put your opponents in dire straits.

Aye Aye, Captain!

It's time for Siona, Captain of the Pyleas to shine! Siona is more than just a cantrip that digs through the top seven cards of your deck, more than just an Aura payoff commander, and even more than just a token-generator - she's also the commander of a deck that should be running Pattern of Rebirth.

Any Aura does get some value with Siona, even if that value is just a 1/1 token. I know, paying four mana for an enchantment to make a 1/1 feels a lot worse than paying one mana for an enchantment that makes a 1/1. The thing is, this deck is running Transcendent Envoy, Herald of the Pantheon, and heck, even Danitha Capashen, Paragon to reduce the casting costs of Auras. Of course, even with cost reduction, it can be a tough sell to play an enchantment in an Aura-based deck that doesn't provide a single stat boost to the enchanted creature. Where do we go from here?

Truth be told, you can just let it sit there. Stick it on a Soldier, and if it dies, it becomes the best creature in your deck. You use it as a scare tactic - blow up Siona's board, and this Soldier becomes an Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite! If someone uses a Krosan Grip on Pattern of Rebirth instead of your Ancestral Mask, you're probably pretty happy with that exchange. If the Soldier does bite it just in natural battle, you can find any creature, from Heavenly Blademaster to Archon of Sun's Grace to go wide or tall!

You could also choose the more aggressive line and suit a Patterned-up Soldier up with Rancor, All That Glitters, Ethereal Armor, and more to force your opponents to block or kill it, and if they do then you can just tutor up Sun Titan to get your Auras back! The downside of this line of play is that it's vulnerable to Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile, but if you pay attention to the other colors at the table, you can work around it.

I'm excited to see what people think of this card for Siona. Check out the list and let me know what you think of this pairing!

The Toolbox of Reincarnation

Thank you all for your continued support of the series! I hope that you all enjoyed reading this installment, and I hope that you’ve found a new home for Pattern of Rebirth. Do you think that these commanders pair well with Pattern of Rebirth? Do you think I’m over-estimating this card, or do you agree it’s highly underrated? What other cards are you hoping to see get their place in the limelight? Let's talk about it in the comments below!

Elijah Klein

Elijah is a mildly obsessive EDH player from Georgia. He started playing during Battle for Zendikar with Green/Black Eldrazi Aristocrats and still pays tribute to the plane with his Omnath, Locus of Rage storm brew. He is always excited to innovate and try new things in Magic and Life. Elijah is currently a full time student looking to go into Computer Engineering but also has a bit of an artistic streak.