Welcome to another Precon Recon here at Pojo.com! This week as promised I am talking a look at a Commander deck, Heavenly Inferno. A quick note, I will not be messing with the mana base, just spells. I actually like the types and ratio of mana in most of the Commander decks. I hope everyone made it to your local release event for Commander. I know at my store we all had a great time playing this fun variant.

Main Deck

99 cards

1 Akoum Refuge
1 Barren Moor
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Boros Garrison
1 Command Tower
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Molten Slagheap
8 Mountain
1 Orzhov Basilica
8 Plains
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Rupture Spire
1 Secluded Steppe
8 Swamp
1 Vivid Meadow
1 Zoetic Cavern

1 Akroma, Angel of Fury
1 Angel of Despair
1 Angelic Arbiter
1 Anger
1 Archangel of Strife
1 Avatar of Slaughter
1 Basandra, Battle Seraph
1 Bladewing the Risen
1 Boros Guildmage
1 Dragon Whelp
1 Dread Cacodemon
1 Duergar Hedge-Mage
1 Fallen Angel
1 Furnace Whelp
1 Gwyllion Hedge-Mage
1 Lightkeeper of Emeria
1 Malfegor
1 Mana-Charged Dragon
1 Mother of Runes
1 Oni of Wild Places
1 Oros, the Avenger
1 Orzhov Guildmage
1 Razorjaw Oni
1 Reiver Demon
1 Serra Angel
1 Shattered Angel
1 Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
1 Voice of All

1 Akroma's Vengeance
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Bathe in Light
1 Boros Signet
1 Cleansing Beam
1 Comet Storm
1 Congregate
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Death by Dragons
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Earthquake
1 Evincar's Justice
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Master Warcraft
1 Mortify
1 Orim's Thunder
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Path to Exile
1 Pyrohemia
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Return to Dust
1 Righteous Cause
1 Sol Ring
1 Soul Snare
1 Stranglehold
1 Sulfurous Blast
1 Syphon Flesh
1 Syphon Mind
1 Terminate
1 Vow of Duty
1 Vow of Lightning
1 Vow of Malice
1 Wrecking Ball

     Now onward with the reconstruction! I would first like to mention that this deck is mainly designed to run around Kaalia of the Vast, but Tariel, Reckoner of Souls is a good second option. I do not recommend running Oros, the Avenger as the Commander, he serves much better in the deck itself.

    The main thing to focus on was what didn’t seem like it belonged? While this deck is really sound, there were more than a few spells that had my mind lost. For instance, you are running angels and dragons, yet they put in Reiver Demon, which will kill most of your own creatures. Or Dread Cacodemon, who taps everything. While they are some good cards, I feel they don’t really have a place. That and most of the time it would be with Kaalia that they would drop anyways, and then their abilities do not even activate. Another card that just didn’t make sense to me was Razorjaw Oni. It makes no sense to eliminate the ability to block, and a decent amount of creatures in this deck are black. So there’s the first three cards to pull. Another card that doesn’t fit very well into the overall scheme is Syphon Flesh, and for that matter, Syphon Mind. With some of the adjustments we will make, maybe the Syphon Flesh can be moved back in, but for now, I think we have some better options. All of these decks have extra mana, as well as a decent amount of mana acceleration, therefore, I see no purpose to using Armillary Sphere. Pyrohemia is a fun card, but a little on the risky and costly side. I would definitely remove it. Another card that for me is on the fences is Oni of the Wild places. It is a lot of fun in certain circumstances, but you could become bogged down with it. There are much better options.

      I would also like to point out some cards that just need to be directly swapped with other better cards. Avatar of Slaughter is a lot of fun, but it can be too risky. I would swap out this Avatar for the Avatar of Fury. Easier to potentially drop, and much more of an impact once on the board. Evincar’s Justice is fun, but easily countered if you are trying to buy it back. So replace it with Volcanic Fallout. One mana cheaper, cannot be countered, and does everything Evincar’s Justice does. So what if it cannot be bought back, chances are the one time you play it is when you really needed to play it. And then the Diabolic Tutor. Tutor’s are always nice, but Demonic Tutor is the way to go. If you can get your hands on one, swap, otherwise by all means leave Diabolic in. Finally, Lightkeeper of Emeria just seems weak for what this deck is designed to do. Replace her with an Admonition Angel, and see what kind of fun you can have, or even use a Baneslayer Angel, or the original BA angel, Akroma, Angel of Wrath!

     Ultimately we only removed eight cards, because we swapped four of them. These decks are really well thought out, just need some wrinkles fixed. The first card I would suggest to add is Xathrid Demon. He would be a great replacement to either Dread Cacodemon or Reiver Demon. And the flying trample, and the damage off of the sacrifice just suites this deck so well, especially if you use Tariel to pull things from your opponents graveyard just to keep hitting them with. The one thing about Commander is when something hit’s the graveyard, that is the one and only copy you had. So, just figure out ways of recycling. Elixir of Immortality is one of the best ways at doing that. Five life AND reshuffle your graveyard back into your library, yes please! While a little worn, I feel Platinum Angel should have been in this deck from the get go, it’s almost insulting that she wasn’t. I mean it is a MULTIPLAYER game, where you could drop her ridiculously early using Kaalia, and then protect her using the Lightning Greaves. Perhaps Wizards just didn’t want that to pop up often, but we will make it so! The obvious replacement for the other large demon removed. Another good card to add is Ob Nixilis, the Fallen. Landfall opponent loses three life, put three +1/+1 counters on him, very nice, and for five mana. A suitable replacement for Razorjaw Oni. Another demon worthy of adding, Defiler of Souls. The cost of each player sacrificing a mono-colored creature means that eventually all that will remain are the multi-colored spells you continue to drop using Kaalia! Could easily take the place of Oni of Wild Places. There are many other demons and angel you could fill those places with as well. Rakdos and Demon of Death’s Gate are certainly great options, just decide what you can get your hands on, and what fits your style. So there is five cards in, what closes out the deck? Well another no brainer is Commander Eesha. Protection from Creatures, flying, and a 2/4. That’s a deal at just four mana. The final two spells in my opinion should be fun, and ensure people want to keep away from you. You do this by having battle trickery. The first of the final two should no doubt be Mirror Strike. Four mana, but target unblocked creature deals damage to it’s controller instead of to you. They see an opening on you, and swing, but their biggest hits you back. The next option I view highly, especially for multiplayer, and definitely makes people think twice, Annex of Norn. If you are matched against players not running white mana, it costs them two life for each creature sent your way. And even if someone else is running white, how long before their mana is all tapped?

     There you have it! The modifications made make this deck amazing to run, and a whole lot of fun! As always, if there are cards you prefer over something else, feel free to edit as you choose, that’s what the game is all about. These are just my opinions, and things I feel make the deck run better.

     That’ll do it for this week! Next week I will be taking a look at the other event deck from New Phyrexia, Rot from Within, for reader Michael van Pul! I’m really looking forward to rotting opponents from within! And if there is a deck you’d like to see me recon, please feel free to send in an e-mail!

       So until next time, keep safe and keep gaming!