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Smile at Death

Ha! Fear is not in her vocabulary. Death is not an end. Its a tool. It's a weapon. And she wields it with the merciless precision of a butcher. So smile, for warriors never sleep for long.

Smile at Death uses Alesha to bring creatures back from the graveyard, plus each of the creatures has an ability when it comes back.

Overview

Control

A White-Black-Red control deck that uses removal, and card advantage to answer every threat, grinding down opponents before deploying powerful finishers.

Signature Cards
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Sandsteppe Outcast
Vulturous Aven
Keywords
First StrikeRaidExploitDetainFlying

Game Plan

Early Game

Turns 1-2
Prioritize hitting land drops and hold up interaction. Answer the most threatening plays rather than developing proactively.
Annihilating Glare
Elspeth's Smite
Scorn-Blade Berserker

Mid Game

Turns 3-4
Start transitioning from pure reaction to building card advantage. Identify your path to a win condition while keeping answers open.
Haradrim Spearmaster
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Denethor, Ruling Steward

Late Game

Turn 5+
Deploy Elite Scaleguard and Fell the Mighty when the opponent's resources are exhausted. Keep interaction mana open even when winning — never tap out unnecessarily.
Elite Scaleguard
Hero of the Dunes
Fell the Mighty

Deck Play Profile

Derived from automated card-by-card analysis across all known versions. The Capability Profile shows how the deck measures up across six functional dimensions — pressure, interaction, card advantage, and more. The Play Style hexagon uses the same data to place the deck on the aggro–control–combo–midrange spectrum.

Capability Profile
Play Style
MidrangeAggroControlCombo
Deck average (all versions)

Strengths & Weaknesses

  • Answer-heavy gameplan that adapts to any threat type
  • Late-game card advantage overwhelms opponents who run out of threats
  • Slow to establish a win condition against very aggressive starts
  • Tight sequencing requirements mean misplays are punishing