Ashling Rekindled // Ashling, Rimebound Deck Tech

Ashling's Command | Art by Iris Compiet

Sneak peeks into Lorwyn Eclipsed have begun! Are you freaking out? I'm freaking out. Original Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are among my favorite Magic sets, so I'm extremely excited about all of the new cards we've seen so far.

Today we're looking at one of the commanders that's been shown to us from the upcoming set: Ashling, Rekindled! It seems that double-faced transforming cards are a key theme of this upcoming set, and this Izzet commander is a super interesting take on that mechanic.

Let's see what we can do with this Elemental!

What Does Ashling, Rekindled Do? What About Ashling, Rimebound?

Let's talk about Ashling's front side, Ashling, Rekindled, first. For , we get a 1/3 Elemental Sorcerer that lets us rummage when she enters the battlefield or when she transforms into this side of the card. That's not the most enticing line of rules text, but we're going to take advantage of that discard + draw effect with some cool synergies in the 99.

And, if we pay at the beginning of our first main phase, we can transform our commander into Ashling, Rimebound. The back side of this card is a 1/3 Elemental Wizard that gives us two mana to spend on spells with a mana value of four or greater at the beginning of our first main phase and whenever she transforms into this side of the card.

This is a pretty sweet source of mana, and it'll usually enable us to play a four-drop the same turn we transform her, then continue gaining mana advantage from there. Additionally, much like her Rekindled half, we can pay at the beginning of our first main phase to transform Ashling back to her front side.

There aren't a ton of other commanders like Ashling. She combines a discard-focused strategy, led by creatures like Rielle, the Everwise, with a ramp-focused strategy, led by creatures like The Emperor of Palamecia. Notably, both of these cards are seeing play in this deck's 99, and are pretty emblematic of what it's trying to do.

We'll take advantage of the card selection that Ashling's front side provides and the mana that her flip side provides. We'll lean into spellsplinging synergies, wheels, and effects that care about our graveyard to get the most out of this unique commander.

Key Cards for Ashling, Rekindled

First up, let's talk about how we're bridging the gap between Ashling's two halves. We're going to try to cast a four-mana spell on turn three as often as possible. If we cast Ashling on turn two and flip her on our precombat main phase on turn three, we'll have four mana in basically any combination of colors available to us (assuming we're hitting our land drops).

We want to cast permanents that take advantage of our graveyard, like Seifer Almasy, and cast spells that fill the graveyard up, like Unexpected Windfall. Over the first few turns of the game we can flip Ashling frequently for more card selection if needed, or keep her flipped side on the board for more consistent mana advantage.

That flexibility is quite strong, and makes the card even more exciting for potential pilots.

But we can't just rely on our commander to fill our graveyard. We've got a full seven wheel effects here, from Wheel of Fortune all the way down to Pyretic Charge. Most of the wheels in this deck cost 4+ mana, meaning we can use our commander to help cast them, and all of them are noncreature spells (meaning they'll trigger Archmage Emeritus and co.).

With permanents that help us dump cards into the 'yard, like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Diviner of Mist, we'll have a full graveyard in no time. That means Underworld Breach, Melek, Reforged Researcher, and Eris, Roar of the Storm will be operating at maximum power before long. Eris can even serve as a win condition in longer, grindier games.

A board full of big, flying beaters is hard for most opponents to overcome.

Onto some pet cards, like Jin-Gitaxias. We've got a full 22 spells that'll trigger his card draw ability, and our interaction package should afford us enough time to flip him and make use of his super powerful Saga.

I'm also a big fan of Invoke Calamity, largely because its restrictive casting cost is made much easier with Ashling's ability to make us . This card also works very well with our focus on wheeling our hand away, letting us pick the best available combination of cards from either the graveyard or our hand.

Finally, there's Throes of Chaos. This is an infinitely reusable cascade trigger that lets us trigger our discard synergies, spellslinging synergies, and gets a free spell to boot.

How Does This Ashling, Rekindled Deck Win?

We've got a good few win-cons here, and most of them are centered around discarding cards. Given how many wheels we're running, and how many times we'll be triggering the first side of our commander, we'll be dumping a lot of cards into the graveyard.

That means cards like Rise from the Tides and the back half of The Emperor of Palamecia will be potent, game-ending threats. The Emperor also provides some nice ramp in the early game, letting us accelerate into big spells even faster.

We've also got four creatures that'll ping down our opponents' life totals as we take our typical game actions. The trio of Magmakin Artillerist, Brallin, Skyshark Rider, and Glint-Horn Buccaneer will provide a steady stream of damage to the table as we wheel our hand away time and time again.

Exalted Flamer of Tzeentch is a nice pinger that'll also regrow an instant or sorcery for us every turn. This is the only on-cast damage effect I've included in the list, because I think it outclasses all other options in an Ashling deck. We can use the mana from our commander's flip side to cast it, and we can ensure that our discarded spells don't stay in the yard for long.

Plus, as a 2/4, it's far from a bad blocker.

Ashling, Rekindled Commander Deck List

Conclusion

This deck sits pretty firmly in Bracket 3. It's certainly not the strongest Izzet deck out there, but it combines some different themes while providing a unique gameplay loop. I think that Ashling, and any other transforming commanders that release in our return to Lorwyn, are sure to capture the hearts of many EDH players.

Before you go, though, I wanted to take a moment to shout out one more cool thing to do with Ashling. It's no surprise that Displacer Kitten is a strong card, but it works unbelievably well with our commander. First off, it costs , meaning we can use the extra mana that Ashling provides to cast it. Then, once its on the board, it turns every single noncreature spell we cast into an additional ETB trigger for Ashling's front side.

Combined with other enters effects like Brass's Tunnel-Grinder and All-Seeing Arbiter, this kitten is the cat's pajamas (sorry).

What characters are you hoping to see get the flip-card treatment in Lorwyn Eclipsed? Personally, I hope we get to see a new version of Wort, Boggart Auntie. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

For now, I'll see you all next week!

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