Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant
FIN · rare · Released 2025-06-13
Power
Tier shown as baseline → best-case (in its ideal shell). The score (-8 to 19) is a rank signal derived from tier + kind + atoms; browse by it on the cards page.
Derived from the 7 atoms below.
above rate
minor value alone
wants support
can take over a game
multiple modes
broadly useful
hard to remove
Commander Bracket
Archetypes
Roles
Risks
Mechanics
Typal
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Structural
Rationale
Joshua front-face is a 3/4 looter (discard up to 2, draw that many) who can self-transform for {3}{R}{W} at sorcery speed; Phoenix back-face is a Saga enchantment creature that pings each opponent for 2 damage on chapters I and II, then on chapter III mass-reanimates creatures with total MV 6 or less and flips back to Joshua — creating a repeatable engine. Signature in reanimator and graveyard-matters shells where the recurring mass recursion plus face-damage pings generate overwhelming value; the looting on the front face also enables the graveyard fills needed to maximize chapter III.
Learnings (3)
The Phoenix back-face's chapter III reanimates any number of creatures with TOTAL mana value 6 or less, not per creature — so stacking two 3-MV creatures or one 5-MV creature are the practical ceilings, making the payoff strongest with cheap, high-impact ETB creatures.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
Joshua's transform activation costs {3}{R}{W} and is sorcery-speed only, meaning it is a significant mana investment; the back-face Saga's chapter III then automatically resets the card to Joshua (front face up), creating an every-three-turns engine loop without additional activation costs.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
Because Phoenix is both a Saga and a creature/enchantment, it is resilient to creature removal but can be answered by enchantment removal or bounce — players should be aware that bounce (e.g. Cyclonic Rift) resets the saga counters entirely.
tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6
Popularity
- EDHREC rank: #3,942