Mr. Brightside [REWORKING]

Commander / EDH Combo Infinite Combo UBR (Grixis)

ZannisXeo

Land (36)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x City of Brass
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Flamekin Village
• 1x Forbidden Orchard
• 1x Great Furnace
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Homeward Path
• 5x Island
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 2x Mountain
• 1x Seat of the Synod
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of Whispers
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Gamble
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Vandalblast

Artifact (20)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Coveted Jewel
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Vault
• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Prismatic Geoscope
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir

Instant (11)

• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Capsize
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Forbidden Alchemy
• 1x Long-Term Plans
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Shattering Pulse
• 1x Slaughter
• 1x Thirst for Knowledge
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study

Commander (1)

Creature (20)

• 1x AEtherling
• 1x Anger
• 1x Anthroplasm
• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Argent Sphinx
• 1x Carnifex Demon
• 1x Cinderhaze Wretch
• 1x Civilized Scholar  ^Flip
• 1x Galecaster Colossus
• 1x Grim Poppet
• 1x Knacksaw Clique
• 1x Morphling
• 1x Naban, Dean of Iteration
• 1x Pili-Pala
• 1x Quicksilver Elemental
• 1x Sage of Hours
• 1x Soliton
• 1x Spikeshot Elder
• 1x Torchling
• 1x Walking Ballista

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Dack Fayden

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Maybeboard

Land (12)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Volcanic Island

Sorcery (3)

• 1x Portent
• 1x Wheel of Fortune
• 1x Windfall

Instant (1)

• 1x Intuition

Artifact (2)

• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mox Opal

Creature (1)

• 1x Silver Wyvern

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REVAMPING THE DECK TO BE CONTROLLING WITH SOME COMBOS

Welcome to Mr. Brightside's Wonder Emporium

Coming out of my cage

And I've been doing just fine

Gotta gotta be down

Because I can do it all

It started out with a tap

How did it end up like this?

It was only a tap, it was only a tap

About the Main Man Himself

Mairsil is a swiss army knife. If you've ever wanted to be in control of a one-man army, this is the kind of deck that is capable of doing so. Yes, he does have some weaknesses, naming the fact that he combos using ACTIVATED abilities, which have a reasonable amount of hate cards (I'm looking at you Pithing Needle hiss, and Phyrexian Revoker , and Linvala, Keeper of Silence , and Cursed Totem , and etc.). Thankfully, a 4 mana 4/4 is quite good in the commander stat economy, dodging Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Lightning Bolt .

Card Choices

Artifacts

• Coalition Relic , Commander's Sphere , Dimir Signet , Izzet Signet , Rakdos Signet , Mana Vault , Sol Ring - Our fast mana and color fixing. Life would be harder without these.

• Basalt Monolith - Infinite mana with Rings of Brighthearth . Also can be used to give Mairsil a mana ability and an untap ability. Great rock too.

• Coveted Jewel - 1 of 3 rocks that can tap for 3 colored mana. This enables our infinite combos. Can also be played if the board is empty (we never want this stolen) to draw 3 cards but that's only for very very very bad situations.

• Crawlspace - We die to beats, fast. This stops that.

• Gilded Lotus - Rock 2 of 3 that can tap for 3 colored mana. Same as Coveted Jewel except this is actually playable and not just Mairsil lunch.

• Lightning Greaves - Haste enablers are good.

• Mirage Mirror - This card, if exiled by Mairsil, lets him copy himself, becoming a new instance of himself and giving him all his abilities again. Yes, it goes infinite in a few ways, but 2 mana is a lot to ask for from one dude on top of untap effects.

• Nevinyrral's Disk - Can be used to wipe the board, get exiled by Mairsil, then he can wipe the board over and over. Fun times.

• Prismatic Geoscope - The last of our 3 rocks that taps for 3 colored mana. This one, however, takes a little work to get going, but with the BFZ lands and shock lands, it shouldn't be too hard to get it to the sweet 3.

• Rings of Brighthearth - Now this is a card. It doubles Mairsil activations. It goes infinite with Basalt Monolith . It attracts a lot of hate. Beware when you play this.

• Sensei's Divining Top - What's a commander deck without this card? Very good at fixing draws and getting to combo pieces faster. Don't use it every turn. Think of it as something to do if you happen to have extra mana at the end of a turn cycle or if you really really need to hit your land drops (can also be exiled to Mairsil to have some very funny moments with your Living Top).

• Staff of Domination - That's a lot of abilities. It's an untapper, it gains us life, it draws cards, it taps down threats. Perfect card to play just because you can. Also very good to feed to Mairsil.

• Swiftfoot Boots - Haste enabler 2: Electric Boogaloo

• Thousand-Year Elixir - Pseudo haste enabler that also untaps Mairsil.

Creatures

• AEtherling - Mairsil fodder. First off, I love these kinds of creatures. They're so versatile that they can be whatever you need them to be in the moment. This particular guy lets Marisil blink to dodge removal and to exile more cards. It can change his stats to help him survive combat or board wipes. Lastly, he can give unblockable, providing some very janky beatdown strategies.

• Anger - Literally meant to sit in the yard and give Mairsil haste. DO NOT EXILE. He's just here to get things going faster.

• Anthroplasm - Mairsil fodder. One half of an infinite turn combo. Also supports the Mairsil beatdown plan and helps Mairsil survive combat and block favorably.

• Arcanis the Omnipotent - Mairsil fodder. Hooray for card draw! You can play him just for the body and to draw cards, or you can exile him to Mairsil and give protection with the bounce effect and draw cards. Either way, it's a great card.

• Argent Sphinx - Mairsil fodder. More blink is more good. This one, however, requires metalcraft to start working but you should have enough rocks to keep this active.

• Carnifex Demon - Mairsil fodder. This guy helps us go infinite and removes threats on the board. Pretty useful.

• Cinderhaze Wretch - Mairsil fodder. Can also be played and killed at anytime to exile under Mairsil. This guy (girl? I don't really know) helps fight against control decks, forcing them to discard interaction, and to stop combo decks, forcing them to discard pieces. Also allows Mairsil to untap but at the cost of a -1/-1 counter, however that does enable an infinite mana and infinite discard route.

• Civilized Scholar   - Mairsil fodder. As one of my buddies once said "LOOT LOOT LOOT." And that's exactly what this guy enables, but with upside. If you discard a creature, Mairsil untaps, and based on rulings, he won't transform since Mairsil doesn't have a flip side.

• Galecaster Colossus - Mairsil fodder. Can also be played if you need extra "removal," but 7 mana is a lot to muster. We have more important things to do, like winning the game, that requires mana, so really just exile this guy under Mairsil to deal with problem permanents that aren't Pithing Needle s, as those don't cause a trigger to go on the stack, meaning they can't be responded to.

• Grim Poppet - Mairsil fodder. First, very cool name and design. Good job WotC. Second, this guy is great removal and helps us go infinite.

• Knacksaw Clique - Mairsil fodder. This card is great. It's a win condition and gets around pesky Eldrazi titan shuffles. Also lets you untap the man to use other tap abilities.

• Morphling - Mairsil fodder. What's that? A creature with 4 abilities? Sign me up! One of them is even an untap, and another gives shroud. Now that's some value.

• Naban, Dean of Iteration - Wow, a creature that we DON'T want to cage with Mairsil. He gives double the ETB triggers from Mairsil, and can be a nice blocker if needed.

• Pili-Pala - Mairsil fodder. Yet another untap effect, but this one can also filter mana if you need that sorta thing. The untap also can't be responded to since the untap is part of the cost and because it's a mana ability.

• Quicksilver Elemental - Mairsil fodder. This is the biggest card that needs to be under Mairsil. It breaks the "only activate each ability once per turn" clause on Mairsil. Be careful with this guy. If he's gone, he's gone, and a lot of combos are gone with him. NEVER LET THIS GO TO YARD. If this is in your hand, and your meta has discard, exile it immediately. This is the most important piece. All the other pieces have counter parts. This is entirely unique. I hope I've made my point. This goes infinite by targeting Mairsil himself with the ability, giving you a new instance of all the abilities Mairsil has, including this one. Mairsil can't have shroud ( Lightning Greaves and Morphling ) in order for this card to work.

• Sage of Hours - Mairsil fodder. This is the one combo piece that actually doesn't need Quicksilver Elemental to break the "once a turn" clause, because you just take infinite turns! Yay! Combos with Anthroplasm .

• Soliton - Mairsil fodder. Yep, another untapper and another chump blocker.

• Spikeshot Elder - Mairsil fodder. This guy lets Mairsil start smacking people around and getting the damage to wrack up.

• Torchling - Mairsil fodder. Wooh, more abilities! Almost the same as Morphling except it redirects instead of giving shroud. This can create some funny moments.

• Walking Ballista - Mairsil fodder. This is "spot removal" for creatures and a win condition for the deck. It's also just an amazing card.

Instants

• Brainstorm - 1 mana, draw three cards, put two useless cards from your hand back onto your library. Yeah, it's good.

• Capsize - Bounce problems before we go infinite, and essentially win the game when we do go infinite. Very versatile and very good.

• Cyclonic Rift - The deck has blue, so this is an auto include. Bounce literally everything your opponents have been trying to do all game, at instant speed. Wow.

• Entomb - This is essentially a tutor to hand in this deck. Since no card type is specified, grabbing any of the 3 rocks that produce 3 mana is the best use of this, followed by grabbing an untap effect or Anger . NEVER GET QUICKSILVER ELEMENTAL. Wait to grab that card with other tutors unless you're about to die, you know your opponents don't have interaction, or your opponents can't interact.

• Forbidden Alchemy - Dig 4 cards deep, put food for Mairsil in the yard while putting a good card to hand, then do it again for 7 mana.

• Long-Term Plans - This is mainly a personal include. I like the card a lot. Instant speed tutor and a lot of times, people forget about it until it's too late. It can be replaced with any other tutor really.

• Mystical Tutor - More tutors is more good. This tutors for removal/answers, more card draw, more tutors, really whatever you may need, at instant speed.

• Shattering Pulse - When the cards that hate on Mairsil the most are artifacts, you gotta include artifact hate. Get those things out of here.

• Slaughter - Mainly in to kill Linvala, Keeper of Silence , but having buyback means you can use it on anything really. Just be careful using it too much or you may find yourself dead.

• Thirst for Knowledge - Draw cards, draw cards, draw cards. 3 cards at instant speed, and it basically has no downside since we want some artifacts in the yard anyway. Yummy for Mairsil.

• Vampiric Tutor - Instant speed tutor anything to top. Don't be afraid to grab a land to ensure you can cast Mairsil. Quicksilver Elemental is the main card to tutor for.

Sorceries

• Buried Alive - Tutor up to 3 creatures with abilities to the yard. Very good and cheap. Don't put a full combo in the yard. Mainly grab an untapper like Soliton and Anger . Never think of it as bad to only put 1 or 2 creatures in the yard. It's better to have it in exile with a cage counter on it than to have it in exile with nothing on it.

• Careful Study - Faithless Looting 's younger blue brother. Draw cards, put 2 cards to feed to Mairsil in yard. Done and easy.

• Demonic Tutor - Yep, it's here, just like in every black deck, ever.

• Fabricate - We like artifacts? Check. We're in blue? Check. Tinker is still banned? Check. Bam, it's in. Big targets to grab are Staff of Domination , any of the 3 rocks that produce 3 colored mana, and Crawlspace .

• Faithless Looting - Draw 2 cards, discard 2 cards to feed Mairsil, do it again for 3 mana. I like.

• Gamble - Sometimes it's an Entomb , other times it's a cheap Demonic Tutor . The great part about this card is we don't care if we discard a creature or artifact. We can just feed it to Mairsil.

• Ponder - Best cantrip ever printed. Fixes our draws or shuffles away irrelevant cards, and replaces itself.

• Preordain - Nearly the same as Ponder but has the added benefit or knowing you won't see the cards scryed to the bottom until you shuffle.

• Vandalblast - Artifacts? What artifacts? I don't see any.

Enchantments

• Mystic Remora and Rhystic Study - This deck is hungry in the card department, so naturally these cards can help satisfy that hunger. Even if Mystic Remora is around for 1-2 turns, it's still very good. Don't pay more than about 2-3 mana to keep it around. Rhystic Study is, well, it's Rhystic Study . Lots and lots of cards.

Planewalker

• Dack Fayden - He can nab a mana rock or loot. Either way, he's great. His emblem doesn't do much for us since the only cards that will trigger it also destroy or bounce the card that's targeted, so don't shoot for that.

Lands

A lot of the lands just produce mana or help fix our colors, so I'll talk about the ones with abilities.

• Great Furnace , Seat of the Synod , and Vault of Whispers - Can be exiled to Mairsil to turn him into a mana dork, if you need that for some reason (they're in so you can tutor for fixing with Fabricate and because the look cool. Also metalcraft for Argent Sphinx 's ability).

• Cavern of Souls - Mairsil can't be countered (and Naban). Yay!

• Cephalid Coliseum - Super Careful Study on a land. Neat.

• Desolate Lighthouse - Desolate LOOThouse. That's what it does.

• Flamekin Village - Gotta go fast like Sanic (haste enabler).

• Hall of the Bandit Lord - ^ What he said.

• Homeward Path - We kinda need Mairsil to do anything. I mean, ANYTHING AT ALL.

• Minamo, School at Water's Edge - Untap the boy with this over glorified island.

• Unclaimed Territory - Color fixing for Mairsil.

Infinite Mairsil Combos

- All combos are performed with the cards listed in each combo in exile with a cage counter on them.

1. Infinite COLORED mana (way 1): Tap Mairsil for 3 mana using Gilded Lotus / Coveted Jewel / Prismatic Geoscope . Use Morphling / Torchling / Pili-Pala / Soliton / Staff of Domination to untap Mairsil (two floating). Use Quicksilver Elemental 's ability targeting Mairsil to refresh all his abilities (one left floating). Rinse and repeat as many times as you'd like for all the colors using floating .

2. Infinite COLORED mana (way 2): Tap Mairsil for 3 using Gilded Lotus / Coveted Jewel / Prismatic Geoscope (3 floating) . Untap Mairsil using the second ability of Cinderhaze Wretch . Remove the -1/-1 counter by activating the ability of Carnifex Demon (2 floating). Spend a from lands/rocks to use Quicksilver Elemental 's ability targeting Mairsil (2 still floating). Repeat again but tapping for . Alternate between the two. This combo can also be done using the ability of Grim Poppet , but there has to be at least one other creature out. You can remove the counter from Mairsil, put the ability on the stack, then pay for Quicksilver Elemental and generate infinite mana while the Grim Poppet abilities are still on the stack. Initially tap for in that case since you don't need .

3. Infinite mana: Tap Mairsil for 3 mana of any color (this combo even works with Basalt Monolith ). Untap him using Cinderhaze Wretch 's untap ability. Use Grim Poppet to remove the counter. Use Mairsil's Mirage Mirror ability targeting himself, creating a new instance of himself, letting him use all his abilities again (one mana left floating). Repeat and have fun.

4. Infinite turns: Spending 5 mana, activate the ability of Anthroplasm to put 5 +1/+1 counters on Mairsil. Activate Sage of Hours ' ability to take an extra turn. Any amount of mana can be dumped into this ability. The more mana spent, the more turns taken.

5. Infinitely exile all opponents' libraries: Tap Mairsil for 3 mana using Gilded Lotus / Coveted Jewel / Prismatic Geoscope (familiar?). Untap him using the ability of Knacksaw Clique , exiling a card from an opponent's library (one floating). Use the remaining mana to activate the ability of Quicksilver Elemental . Repeat and repeat and repeat until everything is gone.

6. Infinite damage (way 1): Generate infinite mana. In between each activation of Quicksilver Elemental , use both abilities of Walking Ballista to add a +1/+1 counter, remove it, and deal a damage.

7. Infinite damage (way 2): Using the infinite extra turns method, spend at least 6 mana with the Anthroplasm ability. Before removing ALL counters to Sage of Hours , remove a counter to deal a damage using Walking Ballista . Since you're taking a number of turns equal to the number of cards left in your library, I suggest you be careful and don't use this often. You will draw into one of the other methods if you take infinite turns, so this can just help you get started.

8. Infinite damage (way 3): Using the one of the infinite mana methods, start sinking red mana into Spikeshot Elder 's ability to have Mairsil deal 4 damage. This can also be done using the infinite turns method, activating the Elder's ability once a turn.

Haters Gonna Hate

Being a creature with activated abilities is dangerous in a format full of hate and removal. To fight this, we gotta train queue Rocky training montage, err I mean prepare. The deck is loaded with removal and psuedo-removal for the hate. Most of the hate cards that you'll have to fight are artifacts, and thankfully, we're in red, the best color for removing problems (RIP enchantment removal). Vandalblast , Shattering Pulse , Capsize , and other cards are in place to remove cards specifically named Pithing Needle , Phyrexian Revoker , and Linvala, Keeper of Silence . We're screwed once these cards hit the field, and the #1 goal should be to find a way (or even barter a way) to remove them. BEWARE THESE CARDS

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 48 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 19 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.95
Tokens	Emblem Dack Fayden, Spirit 1/1 C