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So, I thought about this today and I think it's interesting that both Will and Rowan have cards that can cause massive life swings for them that are flickerable/resurrectable but leave you with the same original life total. Will has Illusions of Grandeur and Rowan has Soulgorger Orgg. Illusions causes you to gain 20 life and lose it when it leaves the battlefield. The Orgg takes you down to 1 but puts you back up to your original life total when it leaves the battlefield. It's definitely an easy way to get higher than a 39 point lifeloss with Rowan.

Ad Nauseum would probably feel pretty good with Rowan

Celestial Dawn also lets you cheese Will's discount with colorless cards (turns them white). I think the best angle with Will is to start a turn with some version of low-pip lifegain cantrip. Sprinkle in some evasive lifelink creatures and Will untappers and you should be good without the small, repetitive lifegain. I started off with that plan but i just dont think the small, repetitive lifegain effects are worth the space in the deck when 1 pip should get you about 4 life on average. 4 life in the first main can easily turn into 40 with 1 pip in the 2nd main with some of the bigger life manipulation cards (double lifetotal, set life = to # of cards in library, illusions of grandeur, etc.) Some other fun cards would be Children of Korlis, Evra, and a repeatable "pay X life"-card..Children can let you regain any life loss at instant speed, and if you time it right you can get insane amounts of life gained in the first main step for very little investment. Both of these commanders are the engine of the deck so they need tons of protection..blue/white is the best at providing that, so I think Will is gonna be able to stay on the board MUCH easier, which may ultimately lead to him being the stronger of the two. Rowan is better on paper but it won't mean a whole lot if she's relegated to the command zone.

I'm already in love with Rowan and thinking about brewing her, I'd probably add Ifnir Deadlands and Ramunap Ruins into my mana base for even more painland discounting!

2 cards that i feel could be potentially really good in either deck are thousand year elixir to let you not only use there abilities the turn they enter but untap them to use it a second time as well as painters servant to give even your colourless spells a massive discount

"No free artifacts" -Painter's Servant has entered the chat-

One "combo" for Will is Delusions of Mediocrity and Estrid's Invocation, so every upkeep you "gain" 10 life (your life total stays the same but it counts 10 life toward Wills ability). An other thing i'm not sure about do the abilities stack, like if you somehow untap them and tap them again (or sacrifice them and playing them again, with haste ofc, ignoring commander tax in the process)?

Fire Covenant, my favorite wrath, down to 1 life into an Exsanguinate seems right up my alley. Explosive, all in, risky, but doable. I love collecting cards that heavily pay life as a resource so I'm probably going to replace Greven with Rowan in my "life is a resource" deck. All in on pain.

Life gain in general works especially well with this deck whether is be vampires, angels, or even humans.

I think mana barbs would be funny in Rowan

I wonder if Celestine the Living Saint would be any good in a Will deck. You could play her for 1 white mana and she'd help your strategy and recovery.

Rowan is going into my Grevan deck day 1!

With Painter's Servant?

On the surface, I see Rowan being more powerful than Will. Only because the ability to lose life passively is easier than gaining it actively. I think my build for Rowan is a pinger deck. But every ping is at me. Lose a bunch of life one at a time to trigger Ob Nixilis, exile cards, and cast giant spells from exile. Throw a couple burn spells on myself (Lightning Bolt is now a ritual!) and use the burn "mana" to cast some big beater like Razaketh.

If you untap and tap will again, do you get the discount twice?

Does exquisite blood and sanguine bond colbo together?😮

I think one aspect people are overlooking is that both commanders are great with untap effects, like cozier of remedies in blue and claim the firstborn in red. Plus, lifeswap effects in black are just great finishers for rowan.

Rakdos one is more abusable for sure

Man, rowan is so risky, with your big spell being countered. If only there existed some form of land that shelters all, and that made your spell uncounterabe. Possibly at the cost of life to synergize with rowan. Ya, enough playing dumb. Try playing bouseiju who shelters all to make the spell uncounterable. Also, hall of the bandit lord is pretty solid

Painter's Servant and Ancestral Statue is infinite storm with Will or Rowan if you gained or lost 4+ life. Just saying

Eldrazi smash!

Imo, Will is a strong contender for being the cost reduction king in UW, against the new Heliod, considering Heliod costs 7 mana total to flip, whereas Will can just tap the turn he came in on a curve with a pair of Greaves for example. However, when we add R to the equation, we are getting closer to the og spellslinger cost reduction king, Vadrik. Hence why I am going to be suggesting similar combo pieces he has with Buyback for Rowan, alongside the likes of Birgi, SKA, etc.

Will is better because their is an infinite amount of life you can gain where Rowan has a ceiling to the mana.reduction

after a lot of playtesting i have come to the conclusion that rowan is incredibly boring to play optimally. like you either get fully shut down by ppl not wanting you to get your huge life loss pieces on the board or win with a huge spell. i don’t think it’s consistent enough for cedh either bc the color combo is kinda unfortunate + you need a haste enabler and i also don’t think it’s dynamic enough for long term casual/mid power success. meanwhile will is basically the only blue white lifegain commander and there are a lot of combos that it can set up and it fits into more playstyles (big spells, stax, lifegain synergy, approach of the second sun, control, etc.)

I think Will is gonna be better just because blue has access to extra turn and counter spells. I mean, imagine casting a Time Stretch for 2 mana? Also, there are tons of enchantments that gain you life on your upkeep. Its going to be extremely easy and efficient to reduce huge costs. Rowan will definitely be one of the best decks in edh, but Will will probably be better imo

As much as I love Rowan’s theme and story arc I think Will makes the stronger Commander. The high-risk-high-reward life loss plan in Rakdos doesn’t seem as consistent as lifegain in Azorius, and with Will having vigilance if feels like you can get more out of him as a Commander than Rowan. Rowan has cooler art though.

Rowan is cedh worthy. Will isn't. You tell me which is better