DimirLegendary Creature — Human ClericAlpharael, Dreaming Acolyte
Mana value3Rank#19,704
The Commander
When Alpharael enters, draw two cards. Then discard two cards unless you discard an artifact card.
During your turn, Alpharael has deathtouch.
Guide
Gameplan
Alpharael is a cheap Dimir value engine: the ETB digs two cards deep and turns excess artifacts into card advantage, and you weaponize the discard for graveyard strategies. You play a controlling, attrition-oriented game—fill the yard, reanimate or recur threats, and grind opponents out while a deathtouch attacker keeps the board honest on your turn. Win by abusing the ETB with flicker/recursion or by reanimating big payoffs.
Strengths
- Cheap three-mana body that immediately replaces itself with card advantage
- ETB discard is a free, repeatable enabler for reanimator and graveyard payoffs
- Artifact clause lets you draw two with no downside in artifact-heavy builds
- Deathtouch on your turn makes a small body a reliable attacker and removal threat
- Easy to recast and abuse with blink/bounce for repeated card draw
Weaknesses
- Body is small and fragile to spot removal and board wipes
- Card filtering only—the raw ETB is symmetric draw-then-discard, not pure advantage
- Deathtouch only on your turn, so it blocks poorly into aggressive opponents
- Wants a built-around shell (artifacts or graveyard) to feel powerful
- Color pair lacks efficient creature removal and life recovery
Key Cards
- Mishra's Bauble — Free artifact to pitch to Alpharael, keeping the ETB pure card advantage with zero opportunity cost.
- Ephemerate — Reuses the draw-two ETB twice and protects Alpharael from removal.
- Reanimate — Turns the forced discard into a payoff by cheating a huge creature back from the yard.
- Entomb — Sets up the graveyard directly when Alpharael's discard isn't enough.
- Conjurer's Closet — Repeatable end-step flicker to draw cards and refill every turn.
- Urza, Lord High Artificer — Rewards the artifact-heavy build and provides mana plus a backup win engine.
Upgrade Path
Commit fully to either artifacts or reanimator rather than splitting—add free artifacts (Mishra's Bauble, Ornithopter) so the ETB is always pure advantage, or load up on cheap reanimation (Reanimate, Animate Dead, Necromancy) plus Entomb to weaponize the discard. Add flicker (Ephemerate, Conjurer's Closet) and bounce to loop the draw, and tighten the mana with fast rocks and dual lands. Top-end bombs like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Razaketh push the deck from value grind to genuinely explosive.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Reanimate a haymaker (Razaketh, Archon of Cruelty, Sheoldred) and beat down or chain its triggers
- ▸Grind out the table on card advantage and finish with a value creature or commander beats
- ▸Assemble an artifact/Urza engine into a combo or overwhelming board
- ▸Mill/attrition finish backed by recursion that outlasts every opponent
Archetypes
- Reanimator — The forced discard pitches bombs you then reanimate cheaply with Reanimate, Animate Dead, and Persist.
- Artifacts — Artifact cards convert the discard clause into a pure draw-two while fueling affinity and cost-reducers.
- Blink — Flicker and bounce effects loop the ETB for relentless card advantage and graveyard fuel.
- Control — Dimir counters and removal grind opponents out while Alpharael refills your hand.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
