Commander Deck Tech - Will, Scion of Peace

I admit, I'm team Rowan, Scion of War, particularly. But that doesn't mean her brother, Will, Scion of Peace, doesn't stand out to me.

The duality in these two cards is a very beautiful thing, both lore-wise and card design-wise. With the opposition between White and Blue and Black and Red, respectively, both cards bring a cost reduction mechanic, as they are siblings, but they're different when it comes to how they reduce costs: their effects are based on the character's natures in Wilds of Eldraine.

That was enough to make me want to build a list based on at least one of them, and I've chosen Will!

Will, Scion of Peace paves the way for an Azorius deck with Life Gain as their main theme, with X cost spells or high-cost spells that will be cast for the lowest cost possible. There are countless possibilities, but we'll keep what would be common to find in a deck like this.

This deck needs several Life Gain sources to get Will going, and, thanks to this very mechanic, it is possible to draft various plays that don't depend entirely on the commander. This makes this deck versatile and capable of handling itself while Will doesn't come on the battlefield.

We'll use every Life Gain boost possible, particularly doubling effects. Doubling our life from 25 to 50, for instance, makes Will able to provide a 25 mana cost reduction, and, as our spells are X cost, depending on what is being cast, some crazy stuff can happen on the kitchen table.

Alongside this, we have defensive resources which will help us protect ourselves and keep a stable game rhythm.

Mana Rocks

We couldn't leave out Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Talisman of Progress and Thought Vessel, considering these cards are a standard in Commander nowadays. In this particular build, we'll also use Pristine Talisman because of its Life Gain.

Life Gain Sources

Creatures

We'll start with creatures: Archivist of Oghma is quite useful, because, besides Life Gain, it also provides card draw. Considering the current format and how green decks ramp relatively early, Archivist of Oghma, when played on the first few turns, can create a lot of value.

Speaking of early turns, the best early game 1 drops we have are, in order: Serra Ascendant, Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant. A Serra Ascendant on turn 1 is your best-case scenario, and your opponent's worst nightmares. Right behind them, we have Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant, and, not very far behind, with a similar role, there's Suture Priest.

Still regarding creatures, we also count on Drogskol Reaver, Shabraz, the Skyshark, Felidar Sovereign and Heliod, Sun-Crowned. The first two, when together, can create a card draw loop that will guide you through your deck and get that same amount of life back. We have a few win conditions based on that, so you don't need to worry if that happens, as long as the win conditions are on board, obviously. Drogskol Reaver and Shabraz, the Skyshark are independent of one another: even if they are great together, they are incredible in the deck and harmonize with Will individually.

Felidar Sovereign is one of the win conditions, and it is targeted a lot on the kitchen table when it comes on board. As there are other ways to win apart from it, you don't need to panic if it is removed or exhaust yourself to protect it. Heliod, Sun-Crowned works well granting your creatures Lifelink, but, besides that, it also works as a piece as a possible win condition with the famous Walking Ballista.

Artifacts and Other Spells

We'll start with most common Life Gain artifact, which also acts as a win condition in these types of decks - Aetherflux Reservoir. It is just as essential in our list. Alongside this famous reservoir, we also use Ivory Tower and Venser's Journal.

As it is relatively common to have a high number of cards in hand while playing this deck (which is why we use the aforementioned Thought Vessel), these two artifacts fulfill their role well.

The spells we use always draw cards alongside their Life Gain effect. It is important to stress this, as you need to keep your resources in hand in some way. In this case, we choose Revitalize, Union of the Third Path and Faithful Mending.

I'll highlight Union of the Third Path, which, when used at the right time, can be a gigantic discounter for Will, as your deck counts on several sources of card draw.

Finally, we have the strongest card in the deck's theme as it is the engine you'll start the Will spell fiesta with, and even kill one or more players with Aetherflux Reservoir: Beacon of Immortality - the life doubler.

We also have other permanents that provide Life Gain: Authority of the Consuls, Radiant Fountain and Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset. The least relevant here is the land, but just playing the land on its turn and having a 2-cost discount on all spells is already enough.

The highlight here is Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset: besides gaining 2 life, it can untap Will, increasing even more your spell cost discounts per turn. If it targets Pristine Talisman or Minamo, School at Water's Edge, this discount is further increased.

Authority of the Consuls has the same role as Soul Warden, with the subtle advantage it delays your opponent's plans a bit with its effect.

Increasing Life Gain and Other Resources

Before discussing the cards which boost Life Gain, it is important to highlight that Will needs, obviously, to get rid of his summoning sickness to be used. So, to accelerate the process to use him on the same turn he came onto the battlefield, we use Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots and Thousand-Year Elixir.

Besides the aforementioned Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset and Minamo, School at Water's Edge, Thousand-Year Elixir also performs the role of extracting more value out of Will, making him able to use his ability more than once per turn.

Coming back to the Life Gain resources, we count on Boon Reflection, Cleric Class, Rhox Faithmender and Alhammarret's Archive in our build. Any one of these Life Gain doubling effects is clearly extremely advantageous to us, particularly if there's something like Aetherflux Reservoir on board.

Alhammarret's Archive is also an engine that improves even more our number of card draw effects, and stands out a bit. Cleric Class intensifies our Life Gain in a subtle but efficient way; after all, each 1 life extra is advantageous here.

X Cost Spells

As cards we haven't mentioned before in the Life Gain cards section, we have Heliod's Intervention, Sanguine Sacrament and Sphinx's Revelation. The first 2 are good enough to guarantee a victorious turn, as they get double what's cast. Sphinx's Revelation stands out due to its card draw, alongside Pull From Tomorrow and Finale of Revelation.

As board removal and to arrange an already reasonable board to deal lethal damage to one or all your opponents, we have White Sun's Twilight, which, when resolved, creates 1/1 Mites with Toxic 1. If you gained enough life on that turn, and your opponents haven't played enough blockers, someone might become the target of these charismatic creatures.

Unfortunately, Walking Ballista doesn't work with Will's effect, as it is a colorless spell, and not blue and/or white. So, it is important to stress that Walking Ballista can only finish games alongside Heliod, Sun-Crowned.

Just like White Sun's Twilight, Curse of the Swine is a good call as removal, even more so as it exiles the creatures it targets, making it impossible for your opponents to Reanimate them as if they had only died.

Finally, we have another possible win condition: Finale of Glory. After all, with a big enough X value, an army of 2/2 Soldiers and 4/4 Flying Angels with Vigilance can run down or one more opponents.

Answers and Interactions

Removals and Counters

We'll start with mass removals. Surprising an opponent that is playing a swarm Aggro deck with Settle the Wreckage will always be a relief, and might even be fun for the rest of the table as well. Alongside that, we use Supreme Verdict and Fumigate.

A curious fact about Fumigate in this deck in particular is that, if Will ability is used and then Fumigate is used, Will's discount is applied to your next cast from the command zone, enabling an extra commander cast when clearing the board with this card in particular.

The punctual removals we've chosen were the most popular ones: Path to Exile and Swords to Plowshares to deal with creatures and Stroke of Midnight and Generous Gift for non-creature permanents that become issues in the game.

If you don't even want to let your opponent resolve their spells, we have Arcane Denial, Dovin's Veto, Counterspell and An Offer You Can't Refuse. Finally, to really guarantee your safety, we have Cyclonic Rift and Teferi's Protection, just in case.

Drawing Cards and Other Resources

Rhystic Study couldn't be left out of a blue deck build that cares a lot about the cards in hand. To help harmonize the theme, The Gaffer shows up. Sea Gate Restoration comes in because of its famous spell-land versatility, and obviously because of the number of cards it can draw.

Smothering Tithe is in this list more as a second thing for your opponents to worry about than an actual engine for anything, but it is always good to have it on board, regardless of anything.

Finally, we have a few shenanigans: Nexus of Fate and Time Stretch. It would be possible to bring extra turns to the surface, but I decided to limit it to only 2: one will give you 2 extra turns and the other will eventually come back. Considering the deck's build, I'd say this is enough to try finishing some games.

Win Conditions

As shown, this deck can draw so many cards it can even deck out. However, this isn't bad, considering we use Laboratory Maniac and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries to transform this defeat into a victory.

In the same reasoning as Felidar Sovereign, we use Test of Endurance, even though it isn't a Lifelink body as the Cat is.

Approach of the Second Sun couldn't be ignored in this list; after all, with the number of cards you can draw, it isn't hard to cast it twice on the same turn, besides the 7 life we gain from it.

Finally, we have the slowest win condition: Storm Herd. I say that because you'd have to famously wait for the summoning sickness to pass, but, considering cases in which a Soul Warden is on the board, this practically doubles our Life, therefore messing with Will's discounts, or even finishing the game with Aetherflux Reservoir.

In this Budget Will list, the differences are quite subtle. High-cost cards were removed to add others which have a similar effect, and others were replaced by pieces that untap creatures, so you can take even more advantage of the commander's effect.

Again, even though Azorius is beyond my comfort zone, I was surprised to see how versatile this deck is, and, even without the commander on board, there are many ways to win. Life Gain guarantees solid support, gaining you time so that you can develop your board and come back into the game.

A downside I found would be decks based on Poison counters, but as they aren't that popular, it isn't something that will end up ruining your fun and the experience of piloting this deck.

Would you build this in another theme? With extra turns? More Angels? Merfolk? Tell us your opinion in the comment section!