OrzhovLegendary Enchantment Creature — GodAthreos, Shroud-Veiled
Mana value6Rank#3,050
The Commander
Indestructible
As long as your devotion to white and black is less than seven, Athreos isn't a creature.
At the beginning of your end step, put a coin counter on another target creature.
Whenever a creature with a coin counter on it dies or is put into exile, return that card to the battlefield under your control.
Guide
Gameplan
Drop coin counters on the best creatures on the board, then kill or exile them so they return under your control. You build a high-devotion BW board, steal opponents' key creatures, and grind value while abusing death/exile triggers. Win by accruing overwhelming card and board advantage, or by chaining a sacrifice loop into a kill.
Strengths
- Indestructible commander that's nearly impossible to remove permanently and re-enters easily
- Repeatable, color-flexible theft of any creature in the format via coin counters
- Excellent synergy with sac outlets and removal you already run for value
- Rewards a heavy permanent base, naturally hitting devotion to turn Athreos on
Weaknesses
- The steal is slow—one coin counter per end step and you need to kill the creature to claim it
- Vulnerable to graveyard hate and exile-that-doesn't-trigger-return effects on its own pieces
- Relies on Athreos sticking; bounce, tuck, or counterspells slow the engine
- Can be a glass cannon if the board is wiped and your devotion drops below seven
Key Cards
- Ashnod's Altar — Free sac outlet that lets you immediately kill a coin-counter creature and reclaim it while ramping.
- Viscera Seer — Cheap repeatable sacrifice outlet to convert coin counters into permanent theft at instant speed.
- Bishop of Wings — Generates angel tokens and lifegain whenever your Gods/creatures enter, feeding devotion and value.
- Hex Parasite — Can remove or move coin counters and combos with self-recursion themes around Athreos.
- Karmic Guide — Reanimation and blink target that loves the constant death triggers and rebuilds your board.
- Sun Titan — Recurs Athreos-fueled permanents and cheap sac fodder for relentless grind.
Upgrade Path
Add efficient free or cheap sac outlets (Ashnod's Altar, Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder) so coin counters convert to permanent theft immediately rather than waiting on natural death. Layer in aristocrats payoffs (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance) and recursion (Sun Titan, Karmic Guide, Reanimate) to turn every death into value. Improve the mana with fast rocks and dual lands, and consider a compact combo like Mikaeus or sacrifice loops to close games before the slow engine gets answered.
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
- ▸Out-value the table by stealing every key creature and grinding to dominance
- ▸Drain opponents with aristocrats payoffs like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat
- ▸Beat down with an indestructible Athreos plus a board of stolen threats
- ▸Assemble a sacrifice loop for infinite drain or recursion
Archetypes
- Theft/Control — Athreos's coin counters plus removal let you permanently steal the best creatures from each opponent.
- Aristocrats — Sac outlets turn coin-counter creatures into reclaimed bodies while draining the table with death payoffs.
- Devotion Midrange — A dense BW permanent base flips Athreos into an indestructible attacker and powers devotion synergies.
- Reanimator — Constant deaths and self-recursion pair naturally with graveyard recursion and reanimation effects.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BW), by popularity.
