Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Aphelia, Viper Whisperer!

Aphelia is a two mana 1/3 with deathtouch and whenever she attacks you may pay one and a black or green to create a 1/1 black Snake creature token with deathtouch and for four and a black until the end of turn, whenever one or more Gorgons and/or Snakes you control deal combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up.

A double typal matters Commander is always interesting, especially since it allows us to broaden our horizons in what a deck can do because we have more access to unique creatures.

While Snakes are fairly decently supported, especially with the creature type change turning Naga’s into Snakes, Gorgons add an interesting dimension to the deck that adds something different to what would amount to just Snake good stuff.

The first thing we do need to look out for are the Snake cards because they are a much more supported creature type as opposed to Gorgons.

Vizier of the Menagerie is a great card for many creature decks because we can look at the top card of our library at any time, cast creature spells from the top of our library, and can spend mana of any color to cast creature spells, which even for a two color deck can be very useful if we are light on a necessary color.

Thieving Amalgam is a bit pricey mana wise, but it does allow us at the beginning of each opponents upkeep to manifest the top card of that opponents library and whenever a creature we control but don’t own dies, its owner loses 2 life and we gain two life while being on a 6/7 body.

Since we are also running a decently combat heavy strategy, Sakiko, Mother of Summer can also be useful for us because whenever a creature we control deals combat damage we add that much green mana that doesn’t go away until the end of the turn.

Sidisi, Undead Vizier allows us to Exploit a creature to tutor for a card to our hand, Prowling Serpopard can’t be countered and prevents our creature spells from being countered, and Ohran Frostfang gives attacking creatures we control deathtouch and whenever a creature we control deals combat damage we draw a card.

Rottenmouth Viper also happens to be a great Snake for us to use because we can sacrifice permanents to make it cheaper to cast and whenever it enters or attacks we put a blight counter on it and for each blight counter on it each opponent loses 4 life unless they sacrifice a nonland permanent or discard a card.

The next thing we need to look at are the Gorgons and what they offer for the deck.

Hythonia the Cruel can be a great start for us because it has deathtouch and can become monstrous for eight mana to get three +1/+1 counters and then destroy all non-Gorgon creatures, which does destroy some of our things but will more importantly destroy more of our opponents things since Gorgons aren’t seen all too often.

There some interesting Gorgon utility cards like Pharika’s Mender which when it enters we return a creature or an enchantment from our graveyard to our hand, Undercity Eliminator who when they enter we can sacrifice an artifact or creature to exile a creature, and Archetype of Finality which gives creatures we control deathtouch and has our opponents creatures lose deathtouch and unable to gain deathtouch.

Xathrid Gorgon is an interesting Gorgon because for two and a black and tap we put a petrification counter on a creature and that creature becomes a colorless artifact in addition to its other types with defender and can’t use its activated abilities.

Vraska, the Silencer is a solid Gorgon to have as a way to act as both creature removal and ramp since if a nontoken creature an opponent controls dies, we can pay one mana to return that creature to the battlefield under our control as a tapped Treasure token that loses all other types.

Gorgons tend to be pretty expensive mana wise so any way to ramp could be very helpful, big shout out to Shizuko, Caller of Autumn who at the beginning of each players upkeep makes three green mana that isn’t gone as steps and phases end until the end of the turn.

One of the most expensive to cast Gorgons is also one that can serve as a massive piece of utility if played correctly and that is Sisters of Stone Death, which for a green mana forces a creature to block them, a black and a green to exile a creature that is blocking them or blocked by them, and for two and a black can put a creature that was exiled by them onto the battlefield under our control.

When considering how we win the game, we can go for a bit of a sudden win or something a bit more attrition based.

In terms of a sudden win, Wound Reflection works really well since at the beginning of each end step each opponent loses life equal to the amount of life they lost this turn, which means that if an opponent lost half of their life because of a Snake and/or Gorgon dealing damage, then they would lose the rest of their life if they didn’t have a way to heal it back up in time.

Grievous Wound also happens to be a way to have a single opponent lose a dramatic amount of life since it prevents life gain for the enchanted player and whenever that player is dealt damage, they lose half of their life, which when combined with Aphelia’s effect can be a devastating amount of life loss.

We can also guarantee a Snake and/or Gorgon able to get some damage in by using something like Dauthi Embrace, which gives a creature shadow until the end of turn, which for those that don’t know means that only other creatures with shadow can block them, and since it is a keyword ability that has lost favor over the years, means we can almost always guarantee some damage.

Going for the slowly more attrition based win, we can use something like Hooded Blightfang, which whenever a creature we control with deathtouch attacks, each opponent loses 1 life and we gain 1 life, and if a creature we control with deathtouch deals damage to a Planeswalker, that Planeswalker is destroyed serves as an additional bit of utility.

Beastmaster Ascension can be a way to give our creatures a boost since whenever a creature we control attacks we put a quest counter on it and when it has seven or more quest counters on it, creatures we control gain a +5/+5 to help us get more damage through.

Vraska the Unseen can be an extremely effective Planeswalker because we can have it that any creature that deals combat damage to her is destroyed until our next turn, destroy a nonland permanent, or if we manage to keep her around to ultimate, have her create three 1/1 Assassin creature tokens who when they deal combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.

Aphelia is an interesting blend of two creature types, one with a lot of support and one that provides some interesting niche support, but the way that the deck errs on being more of a midrange deck does allow for some more flexibility than one expects.

The downside is that a lot of Gorgons cost a lot to cast because of how high their mana value is, so a lot of the time we are going to be relying on the plethora of Snakes that are available, of which do have a cohesive game plan.

I do wish that there was some more Gorgon support since I do think that it is an underrepresented creature type and one that could be pretty interesting to play around with in adding some more removal on a creature type or having some control aspects in black and green which would help diversify the deck.

As it stands currently, the deck functions well being a bit more skewed towards Snakes than it is towards Gorgons, but something that I do hope gets adjusted in the future.

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

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual