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  3. Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire

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Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire

Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire

Legendary Creature — Human Noble Wizard // Legendary Enchantment Creature — Saga Phoenix

Joshua wants a deck that deals damage straight to its opponents. It also suits a deck that hurts every player at once and outlasts the pain.

  • Mana cost1 genericredwhite
  • White, Red ()
  • Power / toughness3 / 4
  • RarityRare

When Joshua enters, discard up to two cards, then draw that many cards.

3 genericredwhite, tap: Exile Joshua, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.

//

(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)

I, II — Rising Flames — Phoenix deals 2 damage to each opponent.

III — Flames of Rebirth — Return any number of target creature cards with total mana value 6 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. Exile Phoenix, then return it to the battlefield (front face up).

Flying, lifelink

Build a deck with Joshua Find it in the app

Themes

Cards That Fit Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant

Picked for what they do in Joshua's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Joshua's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

Rulings for Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant

explain how Joshua works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

A nonmodal double-faced card enters with its front face up by default, unless a spell or ability instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed or allows you to cast it transformed, in which case it enters with its back face up.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

A token that is created as a copy of a double-faced permanent or a double-faced card in another zone is a double-faced token. It will have both the front face and back face of whatever object it's copying. If it's copying a double-faced permanent whose back face is up, the token will enter with its back face up. It can transform if instructed to do so.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

Each face of a nonmodal double-faced card has its own set of characteristics: name, types, subtypes, abilities, and so on. While a nonmodal double-faced permanent is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's currently up. The other set of characteristics is ignored.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

Each nonmodal double-faced card in this release is cast face up. In every zone other than the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of its front face. If it is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's up; the other face's characteristics are ignored.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

If a card in your graveyard has {X} in its mana cost, X is 0 for the purpose of determining its mana value.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

If you are instructed to put a card that isn't a double-faced card onto the battlefield transformed, it will not enter at all. In that case, it stays in the zone it was previously in. For example, if a single-faced card is a copy of Crystal Fragments, it will be exiled during the resolution of its second ability and remain in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

In the Commander variant, a double-faced card's color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered. For example, Cecil, Dark Knight's color identity is black and white, since its front face is black and its back face has a white color indicator.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

The back face of a nonmodal double-faced card usually has a color indicator that defines its color.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

The mana value of a nonmodal double-faced card is the mana value of its front face, no matter which face is up.

Wizards of the Coast 6 Jun 2025

You can choose to discard no cards when Joshua's first ability resolves. If you do, you won't draw any cards.

10 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Joshua, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWRPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, R for red.BurnBurn decks win by dealing damage straight to opponents with spells and abilities, rather than by attacking with creatures. Damage that hits every opponent at once counts three times over at a four-player table.Open the Burn pageMass BurnDeals damage to everything, or to every opponent at once, rather than to a single target. In a four player game the same card hits three people, so small repeated amounts add up quickly. Blasphemous Act, Impact TremorsOpen the Mass Burn pageBurnDeals damage directly, to creatures or to players. Because it can hit a player as easily as a creature, the same card can remove a blocker or finish off an opponent. Lightning Bolt, Blasphemous ActOpen the Burn pageGroup SlugGroup Slug decks hurt every player at the table at once, then make sure they can survive the pain better than anyone else. Typical cards make each player take damage or lose life whenever they draw, cast a spell or tap a land for mana.Open the Group Slug pageReanimatorReanimator decks put big creatures into their own graveyard early, then bring them back onto the battlefield without paying their cost. It gets a huge creature into play far sooner than you could afford to cast it.Open the Reanimator pageReanimationReturns a creature card from a graveyard straight to the battlefield, skipping its mana cost. That is why decks built around it put their biggest creatures into the graveyard on purpose. Named for Reanimate. Animate DeadOpen the Reanimation pageRecursionBrings cards back from the graveyard: to your hand, to the battlefield, or letting them be cast again from where they lie. Eternal Witness, Reanimate, VictimizeOpen the Recursion pagePhoenixesFire birds returning from the grave.Open the Phoenixes pageEvasionAn ability that makes a creature hard to block, so its attacks reach the player. Flying, menace, landwalk and plain 'can't be blocked' are the common kinds.Open the Evasion page