Commander Deck Tech: Bre of Clan Stoutarm

Another legendary creature from Lorwyn Eclipsed is the main star of today's deck tech! This time, we'll explore Bre of Clan Stoutarm, a Boros Giant that lets you play spells for free in your end step according to how much life you gained that turn.

Our first list is a classic Boros deck centered around lifegain, card draw, and cards that let you manipulate your deck so that you always know what you'll draw. Our second list is a bit more fun and plays a lot more Giants.

Let's start with our commander!

Bre is Brion Stoutarm's daughter. She is also known for spending her days in fields, feeding her beloved sheep and taking long naps. Unlike other Giants, Bre is a friend to all creatures in Lorwyn, except for Elves, who killed her father.

Bre would like to keep a safe distance from all Elves. So, naturally, when she meets one, she throws them as far away from her as possible.

In MTG, Bre is a legendary creature with two abilities. Her activated ability gives flying and lifelink to another target creature under your control. Her triggered ability triggers in your end step and lets you exile cards from the top of your deck until you exile a nonland card. You may cast that card for free if its mana value is equal to or less than the amount of life you gained that turn. Otherwise, you may put it in your hand.

Please keep two things in mind when you use Bre's triggered ability:

- Any lands you reveal will be exiled.

- This ability doesn't only take into account the life you gained from the creature you gave lifelink and flying to with Bre's first ability. If you control a Soul's Attendant, for instance, Bre will consider any life you gained from it as well.

Our main list plays lots of cheap cards so that you can gain more life each turn, as well as some cards that are essential in strategies like this. We also reunited Bre with her father, Brion Stoutarm.

Let's start with lifegain.

Gaining Life with Bree

Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant are classic units for token/lifegain decks, while Authority of the Consuls is a very respected staple in Commander. These pieces are valuable because they give you life passively.

To gain even more life, we also added The Wind Crystal to this list. Besides doubling any life you gain, this card also discounts the cost of your white spells and its activated ability gives lifelink and flying to all your creatures until the end of the turn.

Food like Lembas, Carrot Cake, and Candy Trail are also valuable in this list, as their abilities trigger when they enter play and/or when they leave it. They also give you 3 extra life, of course.

Akroma's Will is more than just lifegain? Certainly!

If Bre is in play, you can activate this spell's two abilities to end the game or protect your creatures. As a bonus, you'll gain a lot of life when your creatures deal damage.

Besides giving you more life points, these spells are also great with cards like Evra, Halcyon Witness. This gigantic Avatar is one of the most expensive cards in our list (mana-wise), but it has a very funny effect: you may swap your life points with its power.

Just imagine it: you attack with a simple 4/4, your opponent doesn't declare any blockers, and WHAM! For four mana, it is a 20/4 that will also give you life. This card is a bit risky, but it is still a lot of fun.

Buffs

Other effects in this list also interact with lifegain. Some creatures grow when you gain life, such as:

Besides these creatures, this list plays:

Legion's Initiative is a very welcome enchantment in any Boros list because, besides buffing your creatures, you can use it as protection. It'll exile your creatures and return them into play with haste at the beginning of your next combat.

Controlling Your Top Cards

You'll need to do more than just gain life with this list. In fact, you'll need to take advantage of Bree and cast spells for free, and try not to exile all lands in your way.

To control the top cards in your deck, we added several spells that Scry:

With Sensei's Divining Top, the idea is to look at the top three cards in your deck and organize them however you like. You'll usually do this before the beginning of your end step, when Bre's ability triggers.

As for Scroll Rack, it can do the same and become quite impactful in the turns after you use it. Because, unlike Sensei's Divining Top, it can exile any number of cards in your hand and, like so, allow you to organize them however you like among the top cards in your deck. With this artifact in play, even mana-flooded hands will be useful.

Flinging Creatures

What is a deck commanded by a Giant if not an opportunity to use the coolest Fling spells in your 99 cards? If you're not familiar with this term, Fling is an iconic MTG spell that lets you sacrifice one of your creatures at instant speed and deal damage equal to its power to a target. It's like literally flinging a creature at your opponent!

This card is so popular that we often use it to refer to spells with this effect. And they really fit Giants that love throwing things (or Elves) like Bre!

Modal cards like Kazuul's Fury area great with Bre because they usually don't cost a lot of mana, and you can cast them with her ability.

Her father is also here! Notice Brion Stoutarm already has lifelink, and he also deals damage equal to his power when you throw a creature at an opponent. So, you'll deal damage and gain life, all at the same time.

Lorwyn Giants might be a bit more territorial, but in this list they all share the same spotlight.

Some notable Giants are:

We also added some flavorful spells like Giantfall, Crush Underfoot, Giant's Ire, and Fire Giant's Fury.

Besides incredibly beautiful, Bre of Clan Stoutarm is quite pleasant to build around.

This Giant has access to the best lifegain support in Commander, and, thanks to red , she is a bit more aggressive and proactive.

If you're tired of lifegain decks that don't interact much, she is a great choice.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!