Commander blueprint · Star Trek Commander · Preview

How to build Alexander, Ship's Fool

Every player draws when Alexander taps, and a random opponent takes damage equal to the biggest card anyone turned over. So this list keeps Draco in hand and puts it back on top of the library just before he taps, without ever casting it.

Art by Javier Charro

Draco stays in your hand and goes back on top every turn

The card you reveal is the card you then draw, so whatever you put on top of your library comes straight back to your hand. That turns a huge mana value into something you use over and over without ever paying for it. Draco costs sixteen and in two colours it can only come down to twelve, because its discount counts basic land types and this deck has two. That does not matter here. Draco sits in your hand, goes on top just before Alexander taps, and comes back with the draw.

Penance is the card that makes the loop free. Its cost is the move itself: put a card from your hand on top of your library, as many times as you like, whenever you have priority. The effect it buys (preventing the next damage from a black or red source you name) is a bonus against somebody else's burn. Scroll Rack swaps any number of cards in your hand for the same number off the top and then lets you stack the swapped cards in any order, so one activation puts Draco back and hands you whatever card it replaced. Sensei's Divining Top works the other way round. For one mana it rearranges the top three cards, which can lift the biggest of them into first place. Do not use its tap ability first, though, because that leaves the Top itself, mana value 1, as the card Alexander reveals.

Draco is not the only big card. Emrakul, the Promised End is a 13, Greater Gargadon a 10, Blasphemous Act and Void Winnower are 9s, Vanquish the Horde and City on Fire are 8s, and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight is a 7. That is eight cards at seven or more, and unlike Draco most of them are worth casting too, Blasphemous Act and Vanquish the Horde for far less than their printed cost once the board is full. Greater Gargadon can be suspended for one red mana, but a suspended Gargadon is in exile, out of reach of Penance. Suspend it only once another big card is already in your hand. Enlightened Tutor finds Draco, Penance or Scroll Rack, all three being artifacts or enchantments, and leaves the card on top, which in this deck is where you wanted Draco anyway.

Nobody picks who gets hit, including you

The damage goes to a random opponent and the ability never targets, so a player with hexproof from Leyline of Sanctity takes it like anyone else. The choice is made as the ability resolves, among the opponents still in the game. At a paper table, number them and roll a die. Every copy of the ability rolls separately, so a doubled activation can hit two players or the same one twice.

That randomness is what the card costs you. Alexander cannot be aimed at the player about to win, and he cannot finish the one sitting on 5 life on purpose. The list deals with that by not asking him for the last few points. Razorkin Needlehead, Scrawling Crawler and Psychosis Crawler hit every opponent on every activation, so the random shot does the heavy lifting while the whole table bleeds evenly behind it, and Boros Charm is 4 damage to a player you do choose. There is an upside as well. Nobody can call the damage a grudge, and the players who were not hit this turn just drew a free card.

Every card Alexander gives away comes back as damage, Treasure or a card

Each activation hands every opponent a card, which at a four player table is three cards for them and one for you. The list does not try to make that even. It charges for it. Smothering Tithe makes a Treasure for each card an opponent draws unless they pay 2 for it, so that is up to three Treasures a tap from players who mostly will not pay. Razorkin Needlehead deals 1 damage to an opponent every time they draw. Scrawling Crawler makes each opponent lose 1 life per card drawn, and it gives every player a card at each of your upkeeps to keep the count running. Psychosis Crawler takes 1 life from each opponent whenever you draw. Mind's Eye lets you pay 1 to draw whenever an opponent draws, so one activation can become four cards for you, and every one of those sets off Psychosis Crawler again.

Two white cards collect on what opponents do with the extra cards. Monologue Tax makes a Treasure and Mangara, the Diplomat draws you a card whenever an opponent casts their second spell in a turn, which gets likelier the fuller their hands are. Esper Sentinel taxes or draws off each opponent's first noncreature spell.

The group draw does not have to wait for Alexander. Temple Bell and Mikokoro, Center of the Sea make every player draw at a moment you choose, which with Razorkin Needlehead out means your own turn. Ambassador K'Ehleyr, Alexander's mother on The Next Generation, has the same reveal and draw as a parley trigger at the start of combat on your turn, and takes a +1/+1 counter for every nonland card it turns over. Rousing of Souls does it once as a sorcery and makes a flying Spirit for each nonland card. Penance works before either of them too, so Draco can be the card you reveal for K'Ehleyr's counter and still come back to your hand.

Copy him or untap him, and Draco goes back on top in between

One activation a turn is only the start. Illusionist's Bracers copies every ability Alexander activates, and Rings of Brighthearth copies any activated ability for . Thousand-Year Elixir and Magewright's Stone each untap him for . Merciful Mandate untaps every creature you control at instant speed, and cast during an opponent's combat it can end that combat as well. DOT-7 Repair Squad untaps him once a turn at sorcery speed for .

A copy is the more interesting of the two because of the order things resolve in. The copy is created after the original was activated, so it sits higher on the stack and resolves first. It reveals Draco, you draw Draco, and 16 damage goes to a random opponent. The original is still waiting, and you get priority before it resolves, so Penance puts Draco back on top right there and the original reveals it again for another 16 and another roll. Scroll Rack can do the same in that gap once a turn. With the Bracers on Alexander and Penance on the battlefield, a single tap is at least 32 damage split between two dice.

An untap is simpler. Each one is a fresh activation, so Penance goes before it in the ordinary way, and Thousand-Year Elixir together with Magewright's Stone makes three activations for .

The player taking the damage puts the multipliers in order

Alexander is a red source as well as a white one, his damage is noncombat, and you control him, so everything in the list that makes damage bigger applies to him. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell adds 2. Solphim, Mayhem Dominus doubles noncombat damage to opponents. Gisela, Blade of Goldnight doubles damage to opponents from any source and halves whatever reaches you. Fiery Emancipation and City on Fire triple all damage your sources deal.

When more than one of them applies, the player being dealt the damage chooses the order, and they will choose the smallest total. Draco revealed with Torbran and Solphim out is 16 doubled and then plus 2, which is 34 rather than 36. Fiery Emancipation alone makes it 48, more than a full Commander life total. Razorkin Needlehead is red as well, so under Torbran each card an opponent draws costs them 3.

Two limits are worth knowing before you count. Scrawling Crawler and Psychosis Crawler cause life loss, not damage, so none of these cards makes them any bigger. And Fiery Emancipation and City on Fire triple damage your own sources deal to you, which turns the 1 from Battlefield Forge into 3. Gisela prevents half of it, rounded up.

Three opponents just drew a card, so give them a reason to leave you alone

A deck that hands out three cards a turn and fires damage at random makes enemies, and it has to last until the shots add up. Ghostly Prison charges 2 for each creature attacking you. Peace in Our Time offers every player a card at the start of combat on their turn, on condition that they do not attack that turn, and once it holds twelve peace counters, one for each card taken that way, it wins you the game at your upkeep. Alexander has no need to attack, so on your own turn that card is free. Basilisk Collar gives him lifelink, which means every shot gains you as much life as it costs someone else.

Mother of Runes, Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots keep removal off Alexander, and Flawless Maneuver and Deflecting Swat are free to cast while he is on the battlefield. Merciful Mandate doubles as a fog, because it can end an opponent's combat once attackers have been declared.

The core list

Eighteen creatures, thirty-six lands and Alexander at the top. Every price is the cheapest paper copy on sale, and hovering over a name shows its card.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

Buy this deck on TCGplayer Buy this deck on Card Kingdom

Both open all 100 cards in the store’s own deck tool, where you choose the printings. TCGplayer links are affiliate links, so we may earn a commission on purchases.

Thirty red sources, because the damage cards want two or three red each

The list makes 30 red sources and 28 white. One pip of either by turn two is easy, at 95.1 percent for red and 93.8 for white on the play. Two red by turn three is where it runs short, at 82.2 percent. Razorkin Needlehead asks for that at two mana, Seasoned Pyromancer at three and Unexpected Windfall at four, while Torbran, Fiery Emancipation and City on Fire each want three red. That is why the basics lean nine Mountains to seven Plains. White only needs a second pip for Austere Command, Vanquish the Horde and Gisela, six mana or more each, and 28 sources find it by turn six 90.9 percent of the time.

Four lands look at the top of the library as they arrive. Temple of Triumph scries 1, Elegant Parlor surveils 1, and Quark's Bar and Federation Outpost offer a surveil when they enter untapped. Path of Ancestry scries whenever its mana pays for a creature that shares a type with Alexander, and seven of the eighteen creatures are Human. With no big card in hand, each of those is a chance to keep a land from being the card Alexander shows.

The budget list keeps Penance and Draco, and the bracket 4 list gets there sooner

The budget rung costs at least $211 against the core list's $633, with no bracket floor, because the three Game Changers (Smothering Tithe, Enlightened Tutor and Jeska's Will) all leave. The engine survives the move. Penance and Draco cost a few dollars each and both stay. What goes is the second and third way of putting a card on top: Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top leave, and Brainstone and Crystal Ball each do part of their job, Brainstone by putting two cards back on top once and Crystal Ball by scrying 2 for . Emrakul, the Promised End and Void Winnower become Pathrazer of Ulamog and Artisan of Kozilek, at 11 and 9 nearly as good to stack. Solphim becomes Dictate of the Twin Gods, which doubles the damage you take as well as the damage you deal. Thousand-Year Elixir becomes Puppet Strings, an untap that costs a time instead of . Esper Sentinel becomes Howling Mine, an extra card for every player in their own draw step, so Razorkin Needlehead and Scrawling Crawler fire on every turn of the round. The cheaper list loses speed and Treasure, and it still deals 16 a turn once Penance and Draco meet.

The top rung climbs to at least $1,185 and carries nine Game Changers. Mana Vault, Chrome Mox and Ancient Tomb bring Alexander down a turn or two sooner. Gamble finds Draco or Penance for one red mana, and its random discard matters less with a full hand. Teferi's Protection and The One Ring keep you alive through the turns after a big shot, and every card The One Ring draws is one more trigger of Psychosis Crawler. Trouble in Pairs draws you a card whenever an opponent draws their second card in a turn, which a copied Alexander activation hands to all three of them in one tap. Imperial Recruiter fetches any creature with power 2 or less, which here means Razorkin Needlehead, Torbran or Mother of Runes. What leaves is the slow mana, Rousing of Souls, Ghostly Prison and Basilisk Collar.

FAQ

When does Alexander, Ship's Fool become legal in Commander?

He can lead a Commander deck from 13 November 2026, when Star Trek Commander goes on sale. A deck checker that turns him down before then is going by the release date, not by anything on the card.

Which Star Trek Commander deck is Alexander in?

Klingon Fury, the red, white and black deck that Worf, Defiant Commander leads. Alexander is a red and white card inside it, so he can lead a Boros deck of his own like this one, or stay in Worf's hundred.

Can I choose which opponent Alexander damages?

No. The opponent is picked at random as the ability resolves, and because the ability does not target, hexproof does not protect a player from it either. In paper, number the opponents and roll a die.

Do my opponents' cards count toward Alexander's damage?

Yes. X is the highest mana value among every revealed card, so an opponent with an expensive card on top raises the damage too. This list does not count on that and sets up its own top card instead.

Why does this Alexander deck run Draco if it never casts it?

Because Draco's mana value is 16. Put back on top with Penance or Scroll Rack just before Alexander taps, it is 16 damage every activation, and the draw returns it to your hand for the next one.

How much does this Alexander deck cost?

Buying every card at its lowest paper price puts the core list at $633 or more, the budget version at $211 or more and the bracket 4 version at $1,185 or more. Four cards, Alexander among them, have no price until release, so none of those is the final figure.

What bracket is this Alexander deck?

At least bracket 3, set by three Game Changers: Smothering Tithe, Enlightened Tutor and Jeska's Will. The budget version takes all three out and has no floor, and the bracket 4 version runs nine. Alexander is not a Game Changer now, and that list changes at bracket updates rather than with new sets, so these floors can rise but cannot fall.