Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Dyadrine, Synthesis Amalgam!

Dyadrine is an X and two mana 0/1 with trample, it enters with a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it and whenever you attack you may remove a +1/+1 counter from each of two creature you control and if you do you draw a card and create a 2/2 colorless Robot artifact creature token.

With Edge of Eternities being fully spoiled I wanted to take a look at a couple of Commanders from the set, which doesn’t have too many as compared with some other recent sets (Final Fantasy being a massive outlier, as with the other Universes Beyond sets).

Dyadrine is a fun looking Commander that wants us to play around with +1/+1 counters in a way that isn’t just making creatures stronger for dealing damage. This implements a draw engine and a way to go wide, which is what we are going to be doing.

Since this is a +1/+1 counters based deck, we need ways to get +1/+1 counters on our creatures.

Forgotten Ancient is a great card in that whenever a player cast a spell we put +1/+1 counter on it and at the beginning of our upkeep we can move any number of +1/+1 counters from it onto other creatures, meaning that even if each player only plays one or two spells each turn, then we can distribute a ton of +1/+1 counters onto our other creatures.

If we combine that with other cards that add additional +1/+1 counters like Hardened Scales, then moving even one counter on a creature means we are adding two +1/+1 counters onto that creature, meaning that we can use one for Dyadrine’s effect on the current turn and the other to do it later.

Kami of Whispered Hopes gets even better in this deck because the it acts like a Hardened Scales in adding an additional +1/+1 counter when one or more would be added, but also taps to add X mana equal to its power, meaning that if we move a +1/+1 counter from Forgotten Ancient onto the Kami, then we get more and more mana we can use, which we can use to make a massive Dyadrine as well since it looks for total amount of mana spent to cast when adding its own +1/+1 counters.

If we manage to make a wide enough board, then something like Requisition Raid becomes more and more useful because not only is it a modal artifact or enchantment removal spell, we can also pay one additional mana in order to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature we control.

In a similar vein we also have Felidar Retreat, which has a Landfall trigger in either making a 2/2 Cat Beast creature token or more relevantly we put a +1/+1 counter on each creature we control and then those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn, which is great because we can defend ourselves after we attack to trigger Dyadrine.

Since we are playing around with a bunch of +1/+1 counters, we should probably find ways to make use of them.

Hopeful Initiate is a great way to not only have a reliable way to get +1/+1 counters on a creature in the early game, but we can remove two +1/+1 counters from among creatures we control to destroy an artifact or enchantment, and having that around a bunch of creatures with +1/+1 counters with some mana open means that there is always access to some form of removal.

Custodi Soulbinders enters with a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the number of creatures that on the battlefield and we can pay three mana and remove a +1/+1 counter from it to make a 1/1 Spirit with flying, and since we have going wide being a secondary objective for the deck, we can have a huge Soulbinders to start getting even more evasive attackers.

Arcbound Javelineer is an interesting creature to consider because it has Modular 1, which means it enters with one +1/+1 counter and when it dies we can move any counters on it to another artifact creature like Dyadrine, but if we can get a ton of counters on it then we can tap and remove any number of +1/+1 counters to deal that much damage to an attacking or blocking creature, which can help us clear a problematic creature.

Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant is a card I have never seen in my life, but it gets a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the amount of mana spent to cast it and we can remove a +1/+1 counter from it to prevent damage that would be dealt to another target creature with a +1/+1 counter for the turn, which can be very helpful in combat trades.

There is also of course Fertilid, which enters with two +1/+1 counters and we can pay two mana and remove a counter from it in order to have a player (us, usually) search their library for a basic land and put it into play tapped. We are in green so we should normally have some good ramp, but this puts us over the top in some cases because there is the chance that we get a ton of +1/+1 counters on it to look for basically all the basics in our deck.

Lastly, we need ways to go wider and taller in order to have the best chance at winning.

Primal Vigor is a bit of a risky include in the deck because it functions as a Doubling Season in that you make double the amount of tokens and add double the amount of +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, however with Primal Vigor it is symmetrical so your opponents get that benefit as well. We just need to take advantage of it before our opponents do.

If we just want a burst of token doubling then we can use Second Harvest to make copies of each token we control, Parallel Evolution to have everyone double the number of tokens they control while also having Flashback, or Rhys, the Redeemed who can normally make a 1/1 Elf Warrior creature token for three mana or pay six mana to create a copy of each creature token we control.

As far as going tall, we have things like Unnatural Growth to double the power and toughness of creatures we control during all combats, Silkguard to put a +1/+1 counter on X creatures we control and it gives Auras, Equipment, and modified creatures we control hexproof until end of turn, and Duty Beyond Death which we need to sacrifice a creature in order to give creatures we control indestructible and put a +1/+1 counter on each creature we control.

There is also other cards that care about modified creatures, one of the secretly helpful ones being Envoy of the Ancestors, which we can pay one mana for its Outlast ability to put a +1/+1 counter on it, but also happens to give modified creatures we control lifelink.

Damning Verdict is a great card for us because it is a board wipe that destroys all creatures that have no counters on them, which for a deck like ours should have minimal losses on our side and use having a decently open board to win.

Dyadrine is a solid value Commander in giving us an additional avenue to use our +1/+1 counters into drawing cards and developing our board more. It’s also helpful that they get bigger equal to the amount of mana we spent so if it does die and we have to pay the Commander Tax, then it gets bigger and better.

As with any deck that relies on board presence being the major factor, board wipes are going to be our downfall, especially if we manage to have a massive board set. Dyadrine helps us keep cards in our hand which is helpful, but we can only survive so many blow outs that it would be prudent to make sure we can win on the turn we dedicate a lot of resources.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual