The best upgrades for the MTG Rebellion Rising deck can really help you power up this Boros deck. Today we’ll be analyzing Rebellion Rising, one of the potent Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander decks, and the resistance’s deck of the pair. Read on to find out the deck’s strategy, which cards to cut, and which cards to keep, and of course, the best upgrades for the MTG Rebellion Rising deck.

Rebellion Rising Deck Box

The Game Plan

Neyali, Suns' Vanguard

Rebellion Rising is a deck focused on generating creature tokens and attacking with them. This is clear from the deck’s commander, Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard Attacking tokens you control have double strike.
Whenever one or more tokens you control attack a player, exile the top card of your library. During any turn you attacked with a token, you may play that card.
. For four mana, Neyali is a 3/3 who gives all of your tokens double strike when they attack. Neyali also allows you to exile a card from the top of your deck whenever a token you control attacks a player. The exiled card can be played on any future turn on which you attack with a token. This is very useful because both White and Red have problems with card draw which this effect gets around, allowing you to maintain momentum later in the game.

Otharri, Suns' Glory

The new card, Otharri, Suns’ Glory Otharri, Suns’ Glory Otharri, Suns’ Glory Flying, lifelink, haste
Whenever Otharri attacks, you get an experience counter. Then create a 2/2 red Rebel creature token that's tapped and attacking for each experience counter you have.
{2}{R}{W}, Tap an untapped Rebel you control: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped.
serves as the deck’s subcommander. Otharri is a 3/3 Pheonix for five mana with flying, lifelink, and haste. Otharri gives you an experience counter whenever it attacks and then generates an attacking 2/2 rebel token for each experience counter you have. The Pheonix can also be brought back from the graveyard for only four mana by tapping an untapped Rebel you control. This enables you to skirt around the Commander Tax if you decide to place Otharri at the head of the deck. Whether you put Otharri in the Command Zone, or keep them as one of the 99, they support the deck by giving you plenty of tokens to attack with.

Rebellion Rising is packed full of token-generating cards. Some like Finale of Glory Finale of Glory Finale of Glory Create X 2/2 white Soldier creature tokens with vigilance. If X is 10 or more, also create X 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying and vigilance. and White Sun’s Zenith White Sun’s Zenith White Sun’s Zenith Create X 2/2 white Cat creature tokens. Shuffle White Sun's Zenith into its owner's library. give you a large number of tokens in a single burst. Others like Legion Warboss Legion Warboss Legion Warboss Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. That token gains haste until end of turn and attacks this combat if able.
, Loyal Apprentice Loyal Apprentice Loyal Apprentice Haste
Lieutenant — At the beginning of combat on your turn, if you control your commander, create a 1/1 colorless Thopter artifact creature token with flying. That token gains haste until end of turn.
, and Assemble the Legion Assemble the Legion Assemble the Legion At the beginning of your upkeep, put a muster counter on this enchantment. Then create a 1/1 red and white Soldier creature token with haste for each muster counter on this enchantment. provide you with a recurring trickle of tokens every turn.

The deck also has an equipment subtheme. Cards like Goldwardens’ Gambit Goldwardens’ Gambit Goldwardens’ Gambit Affinity for Equipment (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each Equipment you control.)
Create five 2/2 red Rebel creature tokens. They gain haste until end of turn. For each of those tokens, you may attach an Equipment you control to it.
and Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer First strike
Metalcraft — Creatures you control get +3/+0 as long as you control three or more artifacts.
reward you for making use of the abundance of equipment cards in the deck. The deck features several “For Mirrodin” cards which are pieces of equipment that come into play attached to a 2/2 Rebel token, tying the equipment and creature token themes together. Depending on your preference, you may wish to enhance this subtheme or adapt it out of the deck entirely.

Whether you decide to keep the equipment focus in the deck or not, it’s important to keep some cards around to buff your creatures. Effects like those provided by Intangible Virtue Intangible Virtue Intangible Virtue Creature tokens you control get +1/+1 and have vigilance. and Felidar Retreat Felidar Retreat Felidar Retreat Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, choose one —
• Create a 2/2 white Cat Beast creature token.
• Put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. Those creatures gain vigilance until end of turn.
are essential for this deck to function. A 1/1 token attacking with double strike is nothing to write home about. A 2/2 double striker is a bit scarier. It’s once your tokens start getting up to 3/3 that you know you’re in a good place, with even the smallest of your tokens dealing 6+ damage per attack.

Budget Upgrades for MTG Rebellion Rising Commander Deck

Here are a few quick cards to upgrade the deck with which you can grab for less than a dollar…

Rabble Rousing

Rabble Rousing Rabble Rousing Rabble Rousing Hideaway 5 (When this enchantment enters, look at the top five cards of your library, exile one face down, then put the rest on the bottom in a random order.)
Whenever you attack with one or more creatures, create that many 1/1 green and white Citizen creature tokens. Then if you control ten or more creatures, you may play the exiled card without paying its mana cost.
is a great budget card that can generate a huge number of tokens in a deck like this. Rabble Rousing gives you a 1/1 Citizen token whenever you attack for each creature you are attacking with. What makes this effect so strong is that it feeds into itself. Each of the tokens it gives you means you will have more creatures to attack with on your next turn, which will then reward you with a higher number of tokens. You also get some incidental card draw from its hideaway effect, which is a nice little bonus.

Unbreakable Formation

Board wipes are the worst enemy of go-wide token decks like this. Unbreakable Formation Unbreakable Formation Unbreakable Formation Creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn.
Addendum — If you cast this spell during your main phase, put a +1/+1 counter on each of those creatures and they gain vigilance until end of turn.
gives you an answer to them. You can cast this card at instant speed, during an opponent’s turn, to protect your big board of tokens from being wiped out by a Wrath of God Wrath of God Wrath of God Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated. . If you’re feeling daring, you can also use this card offensively, casting it during your main phase to give all of your creatures +1/+1 counters and the ability to attack without needing to worry about getting destroyed in combat.

Sram's Expertise

Sram’s Expertise Sram’s Expertise Sram’s Expertise Create three 1/1 colorless Servo artifact creature tokens.
You may cast a spell with mana value 3 or less from your hand without paying its mana cost.
provides a great way of developing your board in the early and mid game. For four mana, Sram’s Expertise generates three 1/1 Thopter tokens and then allows you to cast a spell with a mana value of three or less from your hand for free. You can bring in a Legion Warboss Legion Warboss Legion Warboss Mentor (Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on target attacking creature with lesser power.)
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. That token gains haste until end of turn and attacks this combat if able.
to generate even more tokens alongside your Thopters or a Maul of the Skyclaves Maul of the Skyclaves Maul of the Skyclaves When this Equipment enters, attach it to target creature you control.
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has flying and first strike.(It deals combat damage before creatures without first strike.)
Equip {2}{W}{W}
to turn one of those Thopters into a 3/3 flyer with first strike. Whatever you choose to bring out alongside Sram’s Expertise you’re bound to get a bargain for only four mana

Gnoll War Band

This deck really wants cheap ways of generating large tokens and Gnoll War Band Gnoll War Band Gnoll War Band This spell costs {1} less to cast for each opponent who was dealt damage this turn.
Menace
Myriad (Whenever this creature attacks, for each opponent other than defending player, you may create a token copy that's tapped and attacking that player or a planeswalker they control. Exile the tokens at end of combat.)
can provide that. The War Band costs six mana, at base rate, but can be discounted by one mana per opponent damaged in any given turn. Assuming you’re in a four-player game, if you spread your attacks out, you can get Gnoll War Band out for three or four mana consistently. Gnoll Warband’s myriad effect makes it work beautifully with Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard Attacking tokens you control have double strike.
Whenever one or more tokens you control attack a player, exile the top card of your library. During any turn you attacked with a token, you may play that card.
. This card gives you three double striking, 5/5 tokens with menace during each of your combat phases.

Upgrades

For some pricier upgrades, here are some options to consider…

Secure the Wastes

Secure the Wastes Secure the Wastes Secure the Wastes Create X 1/1 white Warrior creature tokens. is an iconic token generating card. This card allows you to pay one white mana and X to generate X 1/1 White Warrior tokens. Although Finale of Glory may make stronger tokens, at a slightly increased cost, the ability to cast Secure the Wastes Secure the Wastes Secure the Wastes Create X 1/1 white Warrior creature tokens. at instant speed should not be underestimated. You can surprise opponents by flashing in blockers they didn’t see coming, or trigger effects that reward you for creatures entering play, like Goldnight Commander Goldnight Commander Goldnight Commander Whenever another creature you control enters, creatures you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. , during their turns.

Divine Visitation

Divine Visitation Divine Visitation Divine Visitation If one or more creature tokens would be created under your control, that many 4/4 white Angel creature tokens with flying and vigilance are created instead. is another staple card that should be included in any creature token based deck. Whenever you would create a creature token, Divine Visitation gives you a 4/4 flying, vigilant Angel creature token instead. Most token effects only generate 1/1s or 2/2s, so this card provides a significant upgrade. Divine Visitation turns cards like Increasing Devotion Increasing Devotion Increasing Devotion Create five 1/1 white Human creature tokens. If this spell was cast from a graveyard, create ten of those tokens instead.
Flashback {7}{W}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
into major powerhouses.

Anointed Procession

Anointed Procession Anointed Procession Anointed Procession If an effect would create one or more tokens under your control, it creates twice that many of those tokens instead. is a reasonably pricy card, but it’s very powerful. Anointed Procession doubles the number of tokens generated by any of your token making effects. This gives those effects incredible value and allows you to flood the board with ease.

Cathars' Crusade

Cathars’ Crusade is also a great inclusion in any deck hoping to go wide. Whenever a creature enters play under your control, Cathars’ Crusade gives all of your creatures +1/+1 counters. Since this deck will often play many creatures in a turn, Cathars’ Crusade can pump out a huge number of +1/+1 counters.

Cards To Cut to upgrade MTG Rebellion Rising Commander Deck

Now that we’ve gone over some powerful cards to add, what should you be cutting to make room for them?

Hordeling Outburst

Hordeling Outburst should be first on the line to go. For three mana you can do a lot better than generating three 1/1 tokens.

Battle Screech

Battle Screech gives you only two 1/1 tokens for four mana. Even though those tokens have flying, and this spell can be flashed back from the graveyard, this is still a horrible rate.

Phantom General

While Phantom General certainly provides a useful effect for this deck, at 4 mana you’re not getting great value, especially considering only your tokens get this buff. Replace the general with a better alternative like Balefire Liege or Interpid Adversary.

Midnight Haunting, like Hordeling Outburst above, simply doesn’t have enough impact to warrant including it in your deck. There are significantly better token makers than this.

Hate Mirage

Finally, Hate Mirage just doesn’t provide enough impact to be worth a slot. It allows you to create a token copy of one or two creatures that you don’t control. The copies this card makes have haste, but are sacrificed during your end step. While it is nice that these copies will have double strike, if your commander is in play, this deck doesn’t have anything to make their sacrifice matter. Ultimately this card requires your opponent to have a powerful evasive threat in play to be worth it, and even then it’s unspectacular. The copies often get chump blocked, or only get a bit of damage through.

Read more: MTG 10 Best Humans in Commander

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