Commander Deck Tech: Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant

Are you tired of stereotypical Boros decks that only work with tokens or equipment? Then you're in the right place. In this article, we'll expand your horizons and show you how to mesmerize your Commander friends with a very fun Boros list commanded by a Phoenix (and we're not talking about Otharri, Suns' Glory!).

Our list is commanded by Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant, another legendary creature from Final Fantasy that will certainly leave a mark on your Commander pods.

Are you ready?

Joshua Rosfield is a character from Final Fantasy XVI, Clive's younger brother (in MTG, that's Clive, Ifrit's Dominant). Joshua might be the younger brother, but he is the one who inherited the Eikon of Fire, the Phoenix, and can take on Eikon's form in battle.

In Magic: The Gathering, Joshua is a legendary creature that definitely makes a difference in the game, either as your commander or as one of the 99 cards in your Commander deck.

He costs three mana and, as soon as he enters play, triggers an ability: you'll discard up to two cards and draw that same number of cards.

To activate his other ability, you'll need five mana. This ability turns him into Phoenix, Warden of Fire, the form Joshua takes when he channels Eikon of Fire.

The first two chapters of his Saga form deal 2 damage to each opponent. The third chapter returns to your board any number of target creatures from your graveyard with a mana value of 6 or lower.

After this chapter resolves, it turns him back into Joshua.

Before we go into our list, I need to thank my friend, Netto, who let me use his Joshua list as inspiration for this article. Thank you for the list and the laughs, particularly when your commander got a ride in the Mysterious Limousine!

Now, let's go into our deck.

Our strategy involves discarding creatures so we can reanimate them with Joshua's Saga form. This list also Proliferates Lore counters and plays some Burn.

Let's start with Proliferating.

Proliferating Counters

We'll discard important pieces to bring them back with Joshua later. To do this quickly, we need cards that Proliferate, such as:

Let's go over a few of them.

Staff of Compleation does more than just Proliferate counters. It lets us add mana to our pool, draw a card, or even destroy a permanent under our control.

As for Contagion Engine, we'll use it to Proliferate one of our Lore counters while we clean a target opponent's board by also Proliferating -1/-1 counters.

Card Draw and Discarding

If you've read our article on the best red card draw for Commander, then you're already familiar with the concept of "looting", that is, when you discard cards to draw cards.

Here are some fun options that will keep your hand full at all times and let you filter it however you like. As you do this, you'll also put creatures directly in your graveyard so you can reanimate them later on.

Considering Joshua's story in Final Fantasy, we couldn't forget his brother, Clive, Ifrit's Dominant, and this card actually does fit this deck rather well.

As this list plays many spells that discard cards, Monument to Endurance is great. It brings us resources and drains our opponents' lives at the same time. And, considering this list was created for casual games, which usually include 4 players, it is great. After all, it very effortlessly drains all opponents at once by itself.

Alhammarret's Archive was also critical in this list as a card draw/lifegain booster. Imagine how beautiful it will be to cast a Will of the Jeskai with this artifact in play and draw 10 cards at once. Isn't it to die for?

Mana Rocks and Ramp

Boros isn't known for playing several lands on the board. However, there is some ramp we can use to not stay behind in mana even if we can't play that many lands.

We must also highlight one of the coolest commanders for Mono Red : Neheb, the Eternal!

Remember how, in his Saga form, Joshua deals 2 damage to each opponent?

With Neheb in play, this damage turns into mana at the beginning of your postcombat main phase. Yes, that's right. You don't need to deal damage in combat for this card to turn it into mana.

By the way, if you'd like to see a deck tech for this Zombie Minotaur, comment down below!

Another interesting creature is Rose Room Treasurer, which, besides creating treasures, also deals damage to any target. It is incredibly versatile, so it's great for us. With just one card, we can create treasure and deal enough damage to even, potentially, remove creatures or opponents.

Recursion

Besides our commander, this list plays a few more cards that return spells (particularly creatures) from the graveyard.

There's the classic Sun Titan and a recent Mono White favorite, Sevinne's Reclamation.

Guardian Scalelord also deserves a shoutout because its Backup ability gives a +1/+1 counter to a target creature. Furthermore, its other ability returns valuable pieces to our board, so it's another form of recursion.

When I saw Joshua turns into a Phoenix, the first thing I thought was this song by Fall Out Boy. The second thing I thought was, "Okay, we have a commander for a Phoenix list".

This list takes advantage of the support in the main list above but plays less recursion, and the reason is simple: these Phoenixes have abilities that let you return them from your graveyard without much issue.

So, you can draw and discard cards stress-free. After all, you won't be losing anything too important.

Here are a few of them:

With Goblin Bombardment and Fling, you can also take advantage of the cards above to deal damage to the opponents.

Joshua is a very fun legendary creature, both as the commander and as one of your 99 cards. With him as your commander, your deck can go from classic burn to reanimate with just a few changes.

Furthermore, he was also born to see play with the most iconic wheel cards, drawing lots and discarding just as much without a care in the world.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!