# Athena v2: a formation that recovers

Proposed text revision `athena-design-v2`. The commander remains fixed. Only Sthenelus changes among the ten custom cards; three existing-card swaps improve immediate deployment and recovery while reducing sweepers. The complete proposed cards are in [custom-cards.yaml](custom-cards.yaml), the exact 99 in [final.txt](final.txt), and the complete 100 in [commander-deck.txt](commander-deck.txt). The original ten custom-replacement mappings remain historical provenance; these three swaps are additional revisions to that finished list.

## Revised custom text

**A06 — Sthenelus, Son of Capaneus** — {1}{W}  
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier · Rare · 2/3

> Whenever one or more creatures you control die, draw a card. Then return up to one target creature card with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to your hand. This ability triggers only once each turn.

Removing “other” means killing the medic no longer avoids his assistance. A normal death lets Sthenelus recover himself. That is an intentional improvement: he replaces the lost card with a draw and gives you the option to spend two mana deploying him again. The remaining nine custom cards retain their complete v1 printed text, costs, types, and stats.

**Rules audit.** Sthenelus sees his own death using the battlefield immediately before the event. If he and five Soldiers die simultaneously, this produces one trigger, not six. By the time targets are chosen, his card is in the graveyard and is a legal target for his own ability. Token deaths count, but tokens cannot be returned to hand by this effect. If his ability already triggered earlier that turn, his later death does not trigger it again. If he returns and is cast again, he is a new object with a fresh trigger limit; the deck has no free sacrifice outlet for other creatures, and repeated deployments cost mana.

Finality counters replace going to the graveyard with exile. A creature exiled that way did not die and cannot be this ability's graveyard target. A finality-marked Sthenelus exiled alone does not trigger himself. If another creature actually dies in the same event, Sthenelus can still see that death even though he himself is exiled. These cases matter if Hades steals him. The ability belongs to the player who controlled him immediately before that event, while his card normally goes to its owner's graveyard: a stolen Sthenelus cannot simply retrieve himself from someone else's graveyard.

The target is optional. Choosing no target protects the draw against graveyard removal. If you choose a target and it becomes illegal, the entire ability fails to resolve, including the draw, and that object's once-per-turn opportunity is spent. See Comprehensive Rules 603.10a, 608.2b, 700.4, and 122.1h in the project's [cached official rules](../../../rules/MagicCompRules-20260925.txt), sourced from [Wizards](https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules).

## Existing-card swaps

| Remove | Add | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Dusk // Dawn | Cosmic Rebirth | Dusk kills Athena and her 4/4 tokens; Dawn cannot restore tokens. Rebirth is instant recovery, returning a small permanent directly or a larger one to hand. |
| Elspeth, Sun's Champion | Grand Crescendo | Elspeth's sweeper also kills the god and her army. Crescendo supplies an instant army or protects an existing one for {W}{W} with X=0. It replaces a six-mana commitment with a scalable use for open mana. |
| Leonin Warleader | Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon | Warleader requires a four-mana creature to survive until its own next attack. Anim Pakal costs three and produces an attacking token immediately when an existing non-Gnome attacks; she need not attack herself. |

All additions are Commander-legal and within Naya color identity. Current Oracle records and the original verification cache are combined in [verified-cards.json](verified-cards.json). Text is cross-checked against Wizards' [Aftermath release notes](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/march-of-the-machine-the-aftermath-release-notes), [Lost Caverns release notes](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/the-lost-caverns-of-ixalan-release-notes), and [New Capenna Commander gallery](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/card-image-gallery/streets-of-new-capenna-commander); the [current banned list](https://magic.wizards.com/en/banned-restricted-list) contains none of these three names. Verification date: September 25, 2026.

## Full-list audit

The deck remains **37 lands + 62 spells = 99**, with **89 existing cards + 10 customs**, plus Athena as commander. It retains the ten ramp slots and fixing. Nonland mana-value distribution is **1: 5 / 2: 25 / 3: 21 / 4: 6 / 5: 4 / 6: 1**; average **2.71**, excluding the commander. X counts as zero outside the stack, so this is a curve inventory rather than a forecast of actual casting costs. March of the Multitudes and Secure the Wastes still regularly consume much more mana; Wear // Tear's combined mana value is three outside the stack.

A disjoint slot accounting is 10 ramp, 10 primary resource/draw, 10 targeted answers, 2 graveyard-interaction cards, 1 sweeper, 5 protection cards, 2 additional recovery cards, and 22 army/anthem cards. These total the 62 nonlands. Functional overlap matters: Grand Crescendo also creates troops, Sthenelus also recovers creatures, Return of the Wildspeaker can end a game, and The Aegis improves attacks. There are 21 cards with an instant face, including the split Wear // Tear. The deck need not spend every turn tapping out for a creature.

**Wraths: three down to one.** Athena Turns the Spear remains the deliberate signature reversal. It requires an army to scale and can be contested by shrinking that army before resolution. Removing the two self-defeating sweepers gives the box fewer resets and makes Athena commit to pressure and selective answers. This also means she has fewer recovery buttons against a superior board when her own battlefield is empty; that is the intended tradeoff.

**Immediate impact and delayed threats.** Captain of the Watch is the only six-mana nonland remaining; it produces three Soldiers on entry and an immediate Soldier anthem, so its cost is justified by four bodies without an attack. Hero of Bladehold, Brimaz, Hanweir Garrison, Krenko, and Diomedes remain deliberate creatures that must survive before attacking. They are supported by cheap deployment and protection rather than granted blanket haste. Anim Pakal reduces the density of those delayed payoffs. Counsel can reward an existing attack the turn it is cast. The Argives Hold normally rebuilds at the next end step. The Chariot still cannot attack on its first turn without haste: it remains a four-mana, potentially high-output engine whose survival is a real cost.

**Sthenelus's practical triggers.** Cheap tokens attack and block; Sakura-Tribe Elder can sacrifice itself; opponents remove important creatures; and Sthenelus now covers his own death. You do not need a dedicated sacrifice engine. His ordinary recovery targets are himself, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Scavenging Ooze, Emmara, Clarion Spirit, and Resolute Reinforcements. Eternal Witness is intentionally outside his mana-value limit. Clarion Spirit remains a small optional payoff for the deck's many one- and two-mana spells, not a card the list depends on triggering every turn.

**Recovery sequence.** Suppose an opposing destroy effect kills Athena, Sthenelus, and several tokens before Sthenelus has triggered that turn. He triggers once and can return himself while drawing a card. If Cosmic Rebirth is available, use it on the preceding opponent's end step to put Adeline or Counsel directly back onto the battlefield. A later turn can deploy Sthenelus for two and preserve mana for tokens or protection instead of immediately paying commander tax. Rebirth can recover Eternal Witness, which can retrieve Rebirth again; this requires three mana and a new death of Witness for each iteration, with no free sacrifice or untap engine here. It is resilient finite recovery, not a self-sustaining loop. Rebirth does not return tokens, and exile removal still matters.

**A live attack.** With Athena and four old Soldier tokens, cast Anim Pakal before combat. Athena makes two fresh defensive Soldiers. Declare the old Soldiers across three opponents: Athena draws three. Anim Pakal receives one counter and creates one tapped-and-attacking Gnome, which Athena makes a 4/4 with trample. The old troops plus Gnome represent 20 attacking power; the new Soldiers and Athena remain available. The Gnome does not cause an additional Athena attack trigger because it was never declared as an attacker. Killing Athena shrinks the army normally; no table kill is guaranteed.

**Signatures remain extraordinary.** Athena Turns the Spear with Athena and four Soldiers deals 20 damage to each opposing creature while preventing damage to your creatures. Athena Among the Argives with Athena, a token maker, and five tokens creates seven Soldiers and draws twelve cards. Neither needs redesign to satisfy the requested spectacle. The second requires survivors and makes no hasty army; the first leaves noncreature engines and lands standing. Both remain vulnerable to well-timed opposing interaction.

**Narrative.** The custom package follows the wounded formation in Iliad 5: Sthenelus tends Diomedes, Athena grants clarity and courage, mortal and immortal share the chariot, and the army recovers the initiative. Sthenelus's return-to-hand is a game abstraction of comrades sustaining one another; it does not claim he dies and resurrects in this episode. Removing the deck's own destructive sweeps lets that throughline appear in play: hold the line, recover companions, and advance with informed force. Source: [Homer, Iliad 5, especially 105–132 and 814–863](https://www.theoi.com/Text/HomerIliad5.html). Existing Magic cards provide mechanical support, not additional claims about Greek myth.

## Remaining review points

No infinite line, deterministic table kill, repeatable lock, extra-turn spell, extra-combat spell, or mass land destruction was added. Sthenelus can profit from a death and paid redeployment more than once in one turn because a new object has a new limit; reviewers should preserve that truthful qualification. His optional target creates a meaningful graveyard-interaction risk. Grand Crescendo adds a fifth protection slot, so actual games should check whether combat armies survive too reliably; exile, bounce, -X/-X, and counterplay remain effective. This is a design audit, not a claim of multiplayer playtesting.