Grixis Clones

Commander / EDH Partner UBR (Grixis)

aalogancheney

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 3x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Watery Grave

Clone (13)

• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Cryptoplasm
• 1x Dack's Duplicate
• 1x Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip
• 1x Mirror Image
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Sakashima the Impostor
• 1x Sakashima's Protege
• 1x Sakashima's Student
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Stunt Double
• 1x Vesuvan Shapeshifter
• 1x Vizier of Many Faces

Ramp (9)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

Clone Target (4)

• 1x Dockside Extortionist
• 1x Kaervek the Merciless
• 1x Mogis, God of Slaughter
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One

Counter Spell (3)

• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Spell Swindle
• 1x Sublime Epiphany

Flash Enabler (3)

• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1x Vedalken Orrery

Utility (2)

• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Sublime Epiphany

Cloner Temp (1)

• 1x Mirage Mirror

Vilesmasher Utility (1)

• 1x Mind's Dilation

Mana Source U (33)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Castle Vantress
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 3x Island
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Watery Grave

Mana Source R (23)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Cascade Bluffs
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Fiery Islet
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Riverglide Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Talisman of Creativity
• 1x Training Center
• 1x Vesuva

Clone Token (5)

• 1x Cackling Counterpart
• 1x Quasiduplicate
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Sublime Epiphany
• 1x Supplant Form

Removal (4)

• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Curtains' Call
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Reality Shift

Mana Source C (3)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Mana Crypt

Board Wipe (1)

• 1x Toxic Deluge

Legend Utility (1)

• 1x Mirror Gallery

Commanders (2)

Mana Source B (24)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vesuva
• 1x Watery Grave

Card Draw (9)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Rhystic Study

Flash (7)

• 1x Hullbreacher
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Opposition Agent
• 1x Sakashima's Protege
• 1x Stunt Double
• 1x Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
• 1x Torrential Gearhulk

Damage Enhancer (3)

• 1x Fiery Emancipation
• 1x Obosh, the Preypiercer
• 1x Wound Reflection

Cloner (2)

• 1x Helm of the Host
• 1x Lithoform Engine

Protection (2)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Supplant Form

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This deck pairs Vial Smasher the Fierce and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces to make as many copies of Vial Smasher the Fierce and then play spells to burn out our opponents.

Mana Sources

For this deck it's important to cast Vial Smasher the Fierce as soon as possible, followed up immediately by Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. Using Frank Karsten's How Many Colored Mana Sources Do You Need to Consistently Cast Your Spells? article, the mana base is built to support consistently casting {1}{B}{R} followed by {3}{U}.

Casting Vial Smasher the Fierce

To cast {1}{B}{R} consistently, the deck needs 20 {R} and 20 {B} sources, with 30 {B} and/or {R} sources.

Casting Sakashima of a Thousand Faces

To cast {3}{U} consistently, the deck needs 17 {U} sources.

Comments on the Mana Base

The categories "Mana Source U" / "Mana Source R" / "Mana Source B" show there are more than enough sources of each color to reliably cast the commanders.

Regarding the rest of the deck, it skews mostly blue, so most of the dual sources are either {R}{U} or {U}{B}, and there are very few {B}{R} sources.

Clones

Cloning Vial Smasher the Fierce

To make the most of Sakashima of a Thousand Faces's "legend rule" ability, there are:

• 13 clone creatures
• 5 token spells that create copies of other creatures
• 2 repeatable cloners

While there are many types of "Clones" throughout Magic's history, these ones are specifically chosen because of their versatility. They have something to offer that the OG Clone doesn't: Flash, Cascade, Haste, reuse by returning to hand; these are the best clones for the deck.

And many of the clones (Cryptoplasm, Sakashima the Impostor, Vesuvan Shapeshifter) can be reused to clone new targets as the game state changes.

Cloning Other Targets

Most of the clones included in this deck can clone opponent's creatures, which means that we can often make a copy of the best thing on the board in the case Vial Smasher the Fierce isn't the optimal target, or if it's not on the battlefield because our opponents removed it.

There's a small category of cards that can be used as clone targets in the case that Vial Smasher the Fierce isn't on the board. Cards like Sheoldred, Whispering One, Kaervek the Merciless, and Mogis, God of Slaughter can help bring us back into the game and apply pressure to our opponents. Each of these are Legendary, so Sakashima of a Thousand Faces or Mirror Gallery will need to be in play to effectively clone them.

Making the Most of Vial Smasher the Fierce's Triggers

Vial Smasher the Fierce triggers for the first spell we cast on each turn, meaning that if we can cast spells on our opponent's turns, we'll maximize the triggers. It doesn't do much good to double-spell in a single turn, so spreading out spells in a single round of the table is best.

Flash Speed and Flash Enablers

Leyline of Anticipation, Vedalken Orrery, and Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir all enable playing at flash speed.

In addition to these enablers, several spells have flash or can be played at instant speed, including most of the removal in the deck. Torrential Gearhulk and Sakashima's Protege are particularly good cards to play on opponents turns because they have high CMC and let us cast another spell.

Mind's Dilation is an especially good combo with Vial Smasher the Fierce because it reliably lets us cast one spell on each opponent's turn. If it whiffs, then the backup flash spells on our side will help get additional triggers on the stack.

CMC Considerations

While Vial Smasher the Fierce seems to indicate the best move is to play cards with high CMC, I've opted to include more medium cost spells (with a few exceptions) that can be used on multiple opponent's turns.

Cards like Dig Through Time are especially good because it counts as 8 CMC even though we'll never cast it for that much.

Damage Enhancers

Although Vial Smasher the Fierce will be dealing lots of damage to opponents, wouldn't it be better to deal even more damage? Fiery Emancipation, Obosh, the Preypiercer, and Wound Reflection all double or triple the damage from a single Vial Smasher the Fierce trigger, and they wreak absolute havoc if there are multiple copies on the board.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 61 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.75
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Copy Clone, Manifest 2/2 C, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure, Vizier of Many Faces 0/0 W