# Athena baseline: courage made collective

Status: phase-one existing-card baseline, ready for comparison. The complete list is [baseline.txt](baseline.txt); the commander is outside its 99 cards. This is a design check, not a claim of playtested balance.

## Frozen commander

**Athena, the Unwearied** — **{3}{R}{G}{W}**, Legendary Enchantment Creature — God, **4/6**.

> Creature tokens you control have base power and toughness 4/4 and have vigilance and trample.
>
> At the beginning of combat on your turn, create two 1/1 white Soldier creature tokens.
>
> Whenever one or more creatures you control attack a player, draw a card.

## Narrative brief

The central conflict is mortal vulnerability confronted by divine violence. Athena makes courage effective through instruction, protection, and intervention. The existing cards provide the functional vocabulary; their Magic characters are not claims about Greek myth.

The source is [Homer, *Iliad* 5](https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomerIliad5.html), read September 25, 2026 UTC. These five beats leave room for the ten-card custom package:

1. **A companion draws out the arrow** (95–121): Sthenelus treats Diomedes's wound before his prayer. Cheap troops, protection, and recovery make vulnerable companions worth preserving.
2. **The mist lifts** (121–132): Athena grants strength and discrimination between gods and mortals. Attack-earned cards and precise removal turn courage into informed action.
3. **Courage has limits** (431–444): Apollo repels Diomedes. Losing Athena or facing a stronger defense should produce a real retreat and rebuilding decision.
4. **The line gives ground** (699–824): Ares drives the Argives backward; Athena returns to Diomedes. Reserve troops and rebuilding engines allow a response without erasing the whole game.
5. **A mortal wounds Ares** (825–863): Athena joins the chariot, deflects Ares's spear, and guides the answering thrust. Protection followed by a coordinated attack is the climax; victory belongs to an army that survived a contest.

The deck's wider formation is a deliberate game adaptation of one champion's day of glory. Custom cards should make these specific relationships and reversals recognizable, rather than relabel ten generic military effects.

## Playing the baseline

**Early turns:** Keep lands, a two-mana accelerator, and either a cheap troop source or card engine. Develop two or three tokens and a durable source of replacements before casting Athena. Raise the Alarm and Resolute Reinforcements can wait until the preceding end step; Dragon Fodder, Emmara, and Clarion Spirit establish bodies earlier. Sylvan Library and Idol of Oblivion provide useful resource plans without the commander. Avoid dumping every token spell into the first army.

**Athena's arrival:** Her cast is the inflection point: existing tokens immediately become 4/4s, including flying Spirit tokens and lifelink Soldiers. Attack several players when it is profitable to earn separate draw triggers. Newly created beginning-of-combat Soldiers are defenders that turn, unless an outside effect grants haste; this baseline supplies no global haste. Adeline, Hero of Bladehold, Leonin Warleader, Brimaz, and Hanweir Garrison put their tokens directly into combat, so they can deliver immediate pressure. Those tokens do not themselves trigger Athena's attack ability; declare at least one actual attacker at each player from whom a card is desired.

**Contesting the other gods:** Ten targeted-interaction slots can remove every opposing enchantment creature god. Swords and Path permanently exile a battlefield object; Wear // Tear can spend one white mana on a god. Save Soul-Guide Lantern or green mana for Scavenging Ooze to interfere with Hades's end-step target. Creature removal aimed at Athena before damage can be especially painful: the army shrinks and can die to damage already marked on it. Flawless Maneuver protects against destruction, not that loss of base toughness. Heroic Intervention and Clever Concealment cover different threats; neither is an all-purpose guarantee.

**After removal:** The army retains +1/+1 bonuses and counters from Intangible Virtue, Angel of Invention, Wedding Festivity, Captain of the Watch, Felidar Retreat, and Gavony Township. Ordinary token makers and combat-damage draw creatures therefore remain credible. Skullclamp becomes a much better rebuilding engine when tokens return to 1/1; it does not automatically kill an Athena-enhanced 4/4. Recast the god if it unlocks pressure, or spend the same mana rebuilding bodies and holding interaction. Dawn returns small creature cards to hand, Eternal Witness returns one needed card, and Increasing Devotion can be flashed back. None of those effects returns dead tokens.

**Ending the game:** Build an attackable board over multiple turns, remove the critical blocker or god, and concentrate damage on one opponent while sending spare attackers elsewhere for cards. Athena plus six surviving tokens is 24 vigilant trampling token power before bonuses. Ohran Frostfang makes blocking those attackers difficult: deathtouch and trample let one damage assigned to an ordinary blocker count as lethal, but removal of Athena or Frostfang can change that combat. Without Athena, repeated token production plus visible anthem/counter engines can still win; Kessig Wolf Run forces one large creature through, and an eventual Elspeth emblem provides flying. Return of the Wildspeaker can be an additional combat boost but excludes Humans; check actual token subtypes. There is no hidden immediate table-kill package.

## Counts, curve, and overlap

Every card has exactly one primary role in [primary-roles.json](primary-roles.json), including each basic land quantity. Overlap below is descriptive and is not added to the total.

| Primary role | Count | Cards / coverage |
| --- | ---: | --- |
| Land | 37 | Nine basics, three fetches, six typed duals, Jetmir's Garden, three multiplayer duals, pain/flexible lands, three colorless utility lands. |
| Ramp | 10 | Sol Ring; Arcane Signet; three Talismans; Nature's Lore; Three Visits; Farseek; Rampant Growth; Sakura-Tribe Elder. |
| Draw / selection | 10 | Skullclamp; Sylvan Library; Idol of Oblivion; Toski; Bennie Bracks; Chivalric Alliance; Rumor Gatherer; Shamanic Revelation; Return of the Wildspeaker; Ohran Frostfang. |
| Targeted / graveyard interaction | 12 | Swords; Path; Beast Within; Generous Gift; Chaos Warp; Stroke of Midnight; Krosan Grip; Get Lost; Force of Vigor; Wear // Tear; Soul-Guide Lantern; Scavenging Ooze. |
| Sweepers / major reversals | 3 | Austere Command; Dusk // Dawn; Elspeth, Sun's Champion. |
| Protection / recovery | 5 | Flawless Maneuver; Heroic Intervention; Clever Concealment; Unbreakable Formation; Eternal Witness. |
| Token engines / threats / anthems | 22 | The remaining nonlands in the exact list. |
| **Total** | **99** | **62 nonlands; 18 creature cards in the 99.** |

All nine accelerators beyond Sol Ring cost two mana. There is no Ancient Tomb, Cradle, premium zero-mana artifact package, mana doubler, or untap engine. The mana base offers approximately **23 white, 23 green, and 19 red sources**, counting fetches as each obtainable color and Reflecting Pool as conditional fixing; these are access counts, not independent simultaneous mana. White and green are most important early. Nature's Lore and Three Visits have untapped Forest dual targets. Nine basics support the basic-search spells and opposing Path to Exile. Jetmir's Garden is the only unconditionally tapped land; multiplayer lands and Razorverge Thicket have their printed conditions. The three utility lands producing only colorless are Gavony Township, Kessig Wolf Run, and War Room.

Scryfall's aggregate mana-value mean is **3.02** across the 62 nonlands: 6 at one, 21 at two, 18 at three, 7 at four, 6 at five, 3 at six, and Dusk // Dawn at its combined value nine. That split card is normally cast for four or five, not nine; Wear // Tear is similarly flexible. X spells are recorded with X = 0, so actual late-game spending is higher than this mean. This is a low setup curve supporting a six-mana god and substantial mana sinks.

Relevant overlaps: Elspeth produces armies as well as sweeping; Dusk // Dawn is recovery; Chivalric Alliance creates tokens; Skullclamp and Rumor Gatherer reward troops; Ohran Frostfang and Return of the Wildspeaker help finish; Wedding Announcement can draw before transforming; Felidar Retreat and Captain of the Watch increase army strength; lands supply two channel answers, two card-sacrifice draws, War Room draw, and two combat mana sinks. These are not extra allocated answer or draw slots. Force of Vigor and Flawless Maneuver are the two printed alternate-cost free spells. Clever Concealment can consume four available creatures instead of mana and should be included when comparing the box's practical free protection.

Dusk and Elspeth's −3 are fallback resets: with Athena and four otherwise unmodified Soldiers, either destroys Athena and all four 4/4 tokens. They check current power, and there is no opportunity to remove Athena halfway through the resolution to spare the tokens. They become useful comeback tools after Athena has already been answered. Dawn can return small creature cards such as Eternal Witness and Sthenelus, but cannot return tokens or the four-power Athena. Austere Command's small-creature mode kills ordinary tokens regardless of their current power; select its modes carefully.

## Ten prospective custom-replacement functions

These are candidate outgoing cards and benchmarks, **not approved replacements or new designs**. Preserve the complete baseline until phase two.

| Candidate | Function to carry forward |
| --- | --- |
| Krosan Grip | Reliable intervention against a dangerous divine engine. |
| Force of Vigor | Efficient multi-permanent answer and a way to act after committing mana. |
| Austere Command | Spectacular reversal of an unfavorable battlefield. |
| Clever Concealment | A decisive rescue with meaningful timing and a finite cost. |
| Sylvan Library | Resource independence and informed choices before Athena arrives. |
| Skullclamp | Recovery / cards from a vulnerable mortal army. |
| Shamanic Revelation | Large finite resource reward for having built a formation. |
| Ohran Frostfang | Combat-earned replenishment and the courage to attack larger defenders. |
| Rabble Rousing | An extraordinary army engine that requires attacking. |
| Angel of Invention | A second route to making ordinary bodies dangerous without Athena. |

This four-answer, four-resource, two-pressure starting allocation targets powerful staples and role equivalents; it does not imply every candidate is formally on the current Game Changers list. At least two incoming designs must greatly exceed these ordinary benchmarks in their intended situations, while drawing their identity from the story beats above. Keep the two explicit graveyard-interaction cards and the 37-land / 10-ramp foundation.

## Constraints and phase-one verification

Oracle card objects were retrieved through [Scryfall's collection endpoint](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/collection) and preserved in [verified-cards.json](verified-cards.json), including face data, color identities, legalities, and source links. All **93 distinct existing-card names** match the API's names, all have Commander legality `legal`, and every color identity is a subset of red/green/white. Chivalric Alliance's Knight token may be white and blue; a written color word does not add blue to the enchantment's color identity. The [official Wizards Commander banned list](https://magic.wizards.com/en/banned-restricted-list) was also checked on September 25, 2026 UTC; none of the selected names appears there. This legality statement covers existing cards; Athena is the agreed custom exception.

No extra turn/combat, mass land destruction, free sacrifice outlet for other creatures, token-doubling replacement effect, damage-per-token finisher, recursive blink, or deterministic win package is present. Eternal Witness has no repeatable blink/copy/bounce partner. Aura Shards was deliberately excluded: repeated cheap token production would turn all four enchantment gods into routine destruction targets and threaten the desired contested play pattern. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker was excluded to avoid a repeatable Witness/protection recursion package. Those choices enforce the brief rather than reserve power for the customs.

Watch points for the orchestrator: the army is unusually explosive when an attack-triggered token maker survives until Athena resolves; that is the frozen commander's intended spectacle. Convoke protection is stronger than its printed mana value suggests. Repeated Rabble Rousing attacks and large Call the Coppercoats casts can create overwhelming but visible armies; neither immediately gives their new tokens haste. The final package still needs cold combo and matchup review, especially any custom effect that grants haste, doubles power repeatedly, recurs protection, or makes counters ineffective.

## Phase-two package and design walkthroughs

The accepted baseline above is preserved as its own design record. The ten substitutions in [replacements.md](replacements.md) and [custom-cards.yaml](custom-cards.yaml) now produce [final.txt](final.txt). They preserve 37 lands, 10 ramp spells, and both graveyard-interaction cards. The baseline roles remain useful as slots: ten draw/resource slots are replaced in kind, the commander-independent engine package remains broad, and four finite answer/protection functions take over powerful staple roles. The practical free spells fall from Force of Vigor plus Flawless Maneuver to **Flawless Maneuver alone**; the former convoke phasing protection is replaced by attack-only protection of one companion.

These are illustrative design walkthroughs using legal card sequences and stated draws. They are not sampled games or actual playtest results.

**Opening hand and ordinary development.** Take Wooded Foothills, Temple Garden, Plains, Nature's Lore, Raise the Alarm, Counsel Before the Charge, and Swords to Plowshares. Turn one, fetch Savannah. Turn two, play Temple Garden untapped and cast Nature's Lore for Taiga; the fetched untapped land leaves one mana available. Turn three, play Plains and cast Counsel. With a Forest drawn for turn four, leave Raise the Alarm until the preceding opponent's end step, retaining Swords as needed. The opener has fixing, development, two eventual attackers, selection, and a cheap answer. It spends real life to establish its early mana and draws no cards from Counsel until an attack is possible.

**Commander turn with stated follow-up draw.** Draw and play Mountain on turn five, reaching six lands after Nature's Lore, and cast Athena. The two old Soldiers become 4/4s; beginning of combat makes two more, which cannot attack. Attack two different opponents with the old Soldiers: Athena draws two cards and Counsel selects two of the top four. This makes a strong first turn without pretending the commander or her newest tokens have haste. Removal of Athena before attackers are declared shrinks the Soldiers and prevents her draw triggers; Counsel still offers an independent reason to make a safe attack. With all six mana spent, only an actually held Flawless Maneuver can supply a free spell, and it does not stop exile or bounce.

**Signature resource turn.** On a later turn, Athena, Adeline, and five tokens represent seven creatures. Athena Among the Argives makes seven Soldiers and then draws twelve cards, after which it exiles itself. The new Soldiers cannot attack immediately. The twelve tokens present just after resolution represent 48 base power with Athena, putting the table on notice. The defending players can remove the god, bounce the tokens, or sweep before that new strength attacks. Countering the sorcery trades one answer for the entire surge; no defensive spell is built into it.

**Sweeper and rebuild.** Suppose Zeus casts Blasphemous Act, dealing 13 damage to each creature and killing Athena and the ordinary creatures while The Argives Hold and lands survive. Assume no protection spell is available; indestructible or prevention would change that result. On your next turn, cast Eternal Witness for Adeline and, with six available mana, cast Adeline. Your end step begins with two creatures, so The Argives Hold creates three Soldiers, which are 2/2s because of its anthem. Five bodies exist again without paying eight mana to recast the god. Conversely, if your hand is only creatures and the opponent also removes the enchantment, rebuilding is slower; this deck has not made every reset irrelevant. Dawn can recover small creature cards but returns neither the dead tokens nor Athena.

**A late attack that can eliminate a player.** Begin combat with Athena, Diomedes wearing The Aegis, six old Soldiers, and The Argives Hold. Athena creates two new 5/5 Soldiers for defense. Declare Diomedes and four old Soldiers at the player on 30 life, and one old Soldier at each other player. Athena draws three cards. Diomedes makes two tapped-and-attacking 5/5 Soldiers and gains double strike because a God is present; choose the pressured player for the new Soldiers. The five-power Diomedes can deal ten, the four old Soldiers twenty, and the two new Soldiers ten: a visible 40-power damage plan before blockers and answers, while the other players face five each. The Aegis shelters one other attacker but not its bearer or the full army. Killing Athena before Diomedes's trigger resolves both denies double strike and leaves the tokens as ordinary 2/2s under the surviving anthem, reducing that principal attack to 17 before blockers. A player can be eliminated by the prepared army; the sequence does not automatically kill the table.

**Functioning without the god.** The Argives Hold, Wedding Festivity, Captain of the Watch, Intangible Virtue, Gavony Township, and Felidar Retreat still improve small bodies. Diomedes still creates two attacking Soldiers. The Chariot remains a printed 6/6 with trample, and attacking it can refill the hand even when combat damage is blocked. Counsel, Idol of Oblivion, Bennie Bracks, Rumor Gatherer, and Toski continue to draw. Athena is the major transformation, not the sole way to play Magic after removal.

The primary remaining uncertainty is comparative performance after all four packages are complete. In particular, a 20-damage opposing-army wipe followed by a token refill is intentionally spectacular; repeated access, interaction with other decks' copies/recursion, and whether opposing engines can restore credible threats need cold review and eventual actual multiplayer testing.

**Sthenelus and the choice to recover.** If Sakura-Tribe Elder dies while Sthenelus is present, you may choose the Elder as the ability's recovery target. If an opponent then exiles the Elder with Scavenging Ooze, the sole target is illegal and the entire trigger fails to resolve: you also lose the draw. Choosing zero targets when putting the trigger on the stack preserves the draw against that graveyard intervention. In either case the once-per-turn trigger has been used, so a later death does not provide another attempt. This is a deliberate choice between secure information and recovering a companion.