Magic: The Gathering’sCommander format has a wealth of options to choose from when trying to decide who will lead your army– among even the highest tier commanders available, Breya, Etherium Shaper is one many players flock to with regularity. It’s no great surprise when you consider her abilities, which are so versatile and potent that you can build her almost any way you want.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – The Best Preconstructed Commander Decks
Breya’s inherent flexibility leaves anyone trying to build around her spoiled for choice– thankfully, there are quite a few regularly used decks that can be built on safely while familiarizing yourself with her many playstyles.
7Vanilla Artifact Deck
The artifact deck is essentially the de-facto type when building for Breya, as you can pretty comfortably includewhichever artifacts you wantwhile still being able to regularly use her effect. The main goal of a deck like this is to set up for Breya’s damage effect by sacrificing two artifacts when opponents have their guard up, and attacking directly when their guards are down.
The types of Artifacts you can stock are pretty standard, with obvious options like Krark-Clan Ironworks and Marionette Master keeping a healthy balance between artifact creation and varied offensive pushes. This deck is especially good because it can be based primarily on the official Breya precon.
6Treasure Deck
Considering that Treasure tokens are a type of artifact, it’s only natural that Treasure farming would work so well when paired with Breya, Etherium Shaper’s gameplan. Suddenly, you can choose at any time to either grab mana or use one of Breya’s effects– the overabundance of Treasure tokens you cook up in a single turn can overwhelm opponents in terms of both mana ramping and damage output.
Related:Magic The Gathering: The Best Treasure Token Commanders
With strong Treasure production cards, you’re able to become your enemies' worst nightmare, always making them consider whether you’re about to hit with another direct commander attack or the multitude of creatures spawned from your mana pool.
5Vehicle Deck
A Breya Vehicle deck is good for the same reason a Treasure deck works: each card from the archetype is itself an artifact, meaning you have even greater choice in your decision-making on a moment-to-moment basis. Not only can you attack with individual units, butyou can choose to tap them for vehicle attacksor sacrifice artifacts for direct commander damage.
Granted, it’s a bit harder to swing a Vehicle deck with Breya, because your decisions are more deliberate– if you end up selling your ace Vehicle for a bit of commander damage, you’re just asking to lose a carefully stacked advantage.
4Thopter Token Deck
Thopter token decks are similar to Treasure decks in that they focus on producing a single type of artifact token, the core difference being that Thopter tokens take up space as a creature rather than as a source of mana.
Its playstyle is a bit less complex than the decision-making seen in a Breya Vehicle Deck, but Breya Thopter’s simpler execution makes it easier to use when keeping track of two other players– just by sending Breya to the field, you get a few Thopter Tokens to help you earn the advantage as fast as possible.
3Artifact Combo Deck
Like an Artifact deck, the Artifact Combo deck is very much focused on a standard selection of artifacts– instead of relying on Breya’s effect, though, it works with the individual synergies between cards to create advanced combos.
Related:Magic: The Gathering – The Best Combos In Commander Masters
Though a Combo deck loses the versatility of the standard artifact deck, it makes up for it by being far more potent in terms of raw damage. You’re much more likely to win through normal combat rather than commander damage, with Breya’s powerful effect becoming a pressure tool when enemies focus too much on your combos.
2Artificer Deck
The Artificer deck looks at a different side of artifacts to reach its win condition: instead of focusing on the artifacts themselves, it uses cards that enhance and manipulate artifacts to gain the advantage every turn. These effects can range anywhere from creating extra Thopters, boosting artifact creature damage, and even dealing direct life damage to opponents when you lose artifacts.
Though generally less favored in the competitive scene, this decktype has the potential to be just as overwhelming as a Breya Treasure or Combo deck; with cards like Sai, Master Thopterist and Jan Jansen, Chaos Crafter, you can carefully switch between gimmicks and have fluid priorities at any stage of the game.
1Sacrifice Deck
A normal Breya Commander deck tends to ask for a lot of sacrifice, but making artifact destruction the focal point of the deck changes its style and feel dramatically. Where before you would generally only be sacrificing to get at Breya’s central effect, sacrifice now causes chain reactions that put opponents on the back foot and give you momentum.
Additionally, there is a greater level of control thanks to the Sacrifice archetype’s focus on bringing cards back from the graveyard. Luck becomes even less of a factor thanks to this, making resource management a breeze.
