The best upgrades for the MTG Rebellion Rising deck can really help you power up this Boros deck. Today we’ll be analyzing Rebellion Rising, one of the potent Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander decks, and the resistance’s deck of the pair. Read on to find out the deck’s strategy, which cards to cut, and which cards to keep, and of course, the best upgrades for the MTG Rebellion Rising deck.
The Game Plan
Rebellion Rising is a deck focused on generating creature tokens and attacking with them. This is clear from the deck’s commander, Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard. For four mana, Neyali is a 3/3 who gives all of your tokens double strike when they attack. Neyali also allows you to exile a card from the top of your deck whenever a token you control attacks a player. The exiled card can be played on any future turn on which you attack with a token. This is very useful because both White and Red have problems with card draw which this effect gets around, allowing you to maintain momentum later in the game.
The new card, Otharri, Suns’ Glory serves as the deck’s subcommander. Otharri is a 3/3 Pheonix for five mana with flying, lifelink, and haste. Otharri gives you an experience counter whenever it attacks and then generates an attacking 2/2 rebel token for each experience counter you have. The Pheonix can also be brought back from the graveyard for only four mana by tapping an untapped Rebel you control. This enables you to skirt around the Commander Tax if you decide to place Otharri at the head of the deck. Whether you put Otharri in the Command Zone, or keep them as one of the 99, they support the deck by giving you plenty of tokens to attack with.
Rebellion Rising is packed full of token-generating cards. Some like Finale of Glory and White Sun’s Zenith give you a large number of tokens in a single burst. Others like Legion Warboss, Loyal Apprentice, and Assemble the Legion provide you with a recurring trickle of tokens every turn.
The deck also has an equipment subtheme. Cards like Goldwardens’ Gambit and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer reward you for making use of the abundance of equipment cards in the deck. The deck features several “For Mirrodin” cards which are pieces of equipment that come into play attached to a 2/2 Rebel token, tying the equipment and creature token themes together. Depending on your preference, you may wish to enhance this subtheme or adapt it out of the deck entirely.
Whether you decide to keep the equipment focus in the deck or not, it’s important to keep some cards around to buff your creatures. Effects like those provided by Intangible Virtue and Felidar Retreat are essential for this deck to function. A 1/1 token attacking with double strike is nothing to write home about. A 2/2 double striker is a bit scarier. It’s once your tokens start getting up to 3/3 that you know you’re in a good place, with even the smallest of your tokens dealing 6+ damage per attack.
Budget Upgrades for MTG Rebellion Rising Commander Deck
Here are a few quick cards to upgrade the deck with which you can grab for less than a dollar…
Board wipes are the worst enemy of go-wide token decks like this. Unbreakable Formation gives you an answer to them. You can cast this card at instant speed, during an opponent’s turn, to protect your big board of tokens from being wiped out by a Wrath of God. If you’re feeling daring, you can also use this card offensively, casting it during your main phase to give all of your creatures +1/+1 counters and the ability to attack without needing to worry about getting destroyed in combat.
This deck really wants cheap ways of generating large tokens and Gnoll War Band can provide that. The War Band costs six mana, at base rate, but can be discounted by one mana per opponent damaged in any given turn. Assuming you’re in a four-player game, if you spread your attacks out, you can get Gnoll War Band out for three or four mana consistently. Gnoll Warband’s myriad effect makes it work beautifully with Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard. This card gives you three double striking, 5/5 tokens with menace during each of your combat phases.
Upgrades
For some pricier upgrades, here are some options to consider…
Cards To Cut to upgrade MTG Rebellion Rising Commander Deck
Now that we’ve gone over some powerful cards to add, what should you be cutting to make room for them?
While Phantom General certainly provides a useful effect for this deck, at 4 mana you’re not getting great value, especially considering only your tokens get this buff. Replace the general with a better alternative like Balefire Liege or Interpid Adversary.
Finally, Hate Mirage just doesn’t provide enough impact to be worth a slot. It allows you to create a token copy of one or two creatures that you don’t control. The copies this card makes have haste, but are sacrificed during your end step. While it is nice that these copies will have double strike, if your commander is in play, this deck doesn’t have anything to make their sacrifice matter. Ultimately this card requires your opponent to have a powerful evasive threat in play to be worth it, and even then it’s unspectacular. The copies often get chump blocked, or only get a bit of damage through.
Read more: MTG 10 Best Humans in Commander
