Commander Deck Tech: Amarant Coral

Recently, I got one of those Final Fantasy Scene Boxes, more specifically the Final Fantasy IX one, my favorite Final Fantasy game - the one with the Siege of Alexandria scene. Someday I want to frame it, all the cards, and hang it on my wall. Initially I bought it to use it as decoration, so I didn't really care about the cards that came in it. Only later I learned what each card did and felt I made a great choice because this product comes with three boosters.

So, as I read each card that forms the Siege of Alexandria scene, I was surprised to see Amarant Coral. This is my least favorite character in Zidane's group, and he also didn't show up in the main set in any card. In today's article, we'll explore this commander and show you how to play him!

Amarant Coral is quite straightforward. He has trample, attacks every chance he gets, and his main ability turns any combat damage he deals to a player into damage for the rest of the board. In Commander, this ability makes classic Voltron lists quite fast because with it you don't need to attack different opponents in different turns. All you need to do is attack the most vulnerable opponent, and all the others will get hurt as well. You'll often win because of this residual damage.

Attacking whenever possible might seem like the downside to this strategy because it's too predictable, and predictable attacks are heavily punished in Commander. But you'll gain something from this: you'll force everyone to keep up with your pace.

As a commander, Amarant Coral is as Gruul as he can be. When we play him, we'll need to accelerate mana, put him in play early on, buff him efficiently, and make the entire turn we spent setting him up worth it with a single blow to make the most out of him. Furthermore, his ability has one of those special Universes Beyond names: "No Mercy", which is his strongest ability in Final Fantasy IX, both as a Flair and as an Elan.

Unsurprisingly, this deck centers around direct combat, so it plays the most honest fistfight tools MTG can offer us. We want to attack as much as possible and deal damage to the entire board, as well as end the game with a lot of style.

That's why equipment cards were the best support we could use. They allow us to deal more damage consistently, attack every turn without worrying about any bad combats we get into, and also fit this character pretty well. After all, one of Amarant's mechanics in Final Fantasy IX is throwing equipment at the opponents. Try doing that with a Dark Matter.

This is our list:

Equipment

For this list, we need equipment cards that do a lot. Buster Sword is a great example of that because it buffs a creature and turns damage (both combat damage and damage from effects) into cards. Then, it turns that same damage into card advantage, as it lets you cast a spell from your hand that costs the same or less than the amount of damage you dealt for free. It's everything we want for a commander that wants to deal a lot of damage and has trample.

The Reaver Cleaver plays a similar role, but it turns damage into treasures. It creates treasure tokens when the creature equipped with it deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker.

Genji Glove is one of the best ways to create multiple combat phases even if the game state is a bit unfavorable. This equipment gives you double strike, and, when the creature equipped with it attacks on the first combat phase in your turn, you'll untap it and create an extra combat phase right afterward. So, Amarant will have more chances to deal damage and trigger his ability that turn. When you combine this with cards like Combat Celebrant, which also create extra combat phases, you'll start setting up more than just one great attack per turn. In a single turn, you'll multiply a good attack into two or three, and then the commander does the rest.

As your attacks need to be successful, you must consider evasion as well. I really like Brotherhood Regalia because it gives Ward 2 and also makes the creature it is attached to unblockable. You can also use less resources if you equip it on a legendary card. Trailblazer's Boots is similar, particularly in Commander pods, because in these matches, one nonbasic landwalk is almost the same as evasion. Rogue's Passage does that directly from your mana base.

As protection, this deck plays Swiftfoot Boots, Champion's Helm, and Mithril Coat. All of these cards are extremely relevant for Amarant because he is forced to attack, so he is always vulnerable. You'll need to use these tools to dodge removals and protect him from situations outside of combat, for instance.

Making Combat Unbalanced

Another strategy this list explores is cards that make the damage the commander deals difficult to predict. Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar does practically the same thing Amarant himself does, as it spreads the damage he deals to an opponent over the entire board. In practice, this means any combat damage Amarant deals will multiply onto other opponents.

Twinflame Tyrant is that classic red group slug card. It doubles any damage one of your sources would deal to an opponent or a permanent they control. Because your main goal is to turn combat damage into global damage, doubling it will also make your matches a lot shorter.

Grafted Exoskeleton, in turn, is a bit controversial. Depending on your board, this equipment might be incredibly tasteless or a surprising finisher. It gives Infect to the creature it is attached to, so it leads us down a different path. Instead of dealing a massive amount of damage, we'll use Infect to deal damage continuously.

This list also plays lots of permanent buffs, which goes with the ideas above. Power Fist gives us trample and +1/+1 counters equal to the combat damage the creature it is equipped to deals to a player. This is relevant because you can use it to "snowball" your commander. Because this equipment card will grow him as we do exactly what this deck is all about (dealing damage to players), Amarant will start scaling quite fast for very little investment.

Two-Handed Axe doubles the power of the creature it is equipped to when it attacks and also gives it double strike if you use it as an Adventure. In attacks, it turns a decent amount of damage into a lethal amount quite easily, particularly considering this deck already plays trample, evasion, and multiple combat phases.

This deck also has ways to make blocking difficult for your opponents. Alpha Authority gives the creature enchanted with it hexproof and prevents more than one creature from blocking it. Because Amarant has trample, this card is often a consistent way to make sure he deals damage. You'll prevent the opponent from blocking with multiple creatures to neutralize Amarant or even try to deal with him directly.

Support

These cards affect how the entire board behaves. Silent Arbiter prevents a player from attacking or blocking a creature, which, once again, is great when all you want to do is set up a gigantic attacker each turn. General Marhault Elsdragon punishes opponents for blocking by buffing each creature they block. This is also great when you consider that Amarant will always attack.

Neyith of the Dire Hunt also goes with this idea pretty well. It rewards you with cards when your creatures attack or are blocked. It also doubles a creature's power in combat and forces the opponent to block it - all you need to do to use this effect is spend some mana. Considering that this deck always attacks and that you'll get rewarded for that, this card is great. It turns blocked cards into card advantage, so you'll always have extra resources.

Even the less obvious ramp cards have a reason to be in this list. Spider Manifestation is a ramp piece that creates mana, obviously, and untaps when you cast spells that cost 4 mana or more. Considering you'll always play expensive equipment cards, support creatures, and relevant protection cards, this card will be a way to always have mana throughout the game.

As usual, here's another list with this commander. This time, we offer you a deck that centers around Monk creatures - it was built by Lhurgoyf, an iconic player.

I was glad when I realized I could write about another Final Fantasy card, particularly because this product was one of my best investments. The Siege of Alexandria scene is beautiful, and I'm really considering getting the Final Fantasy VIII scene as well.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!