Under Lock and Key

Commander / EDH* Control Multiplayer Theme/Gimmick UBR (Grixis)

Lhurgyof

Mana (47)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crumbling Necropolis
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 7x Island
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Magus of the Coffers
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 3x Mountain
• 1x Nephalia Drownyard
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Worn Powerstone

Double (6)

• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Heartstone
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Training Grounds

Imprisoned (22)

• 1x AEtherling
• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Argent Sphinx
• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Cao Cao, Lord of Wei
• 1x Captivating Crew
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Infernal Denizen
• 1x Kamahl, Pit Fighter
• 1x Magus of the Coffers
• 1x Mercurial Chemister
• 1x Mindmelter
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Patron of the Moon
• 1x Pili-Pala
• 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1x Soul of New Phyrexia
• 1x Sphinx of Magosi
• 1x Trading Post
• 1x Tree of Perdition

Research (12)

• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Desolate Lighthouse
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Mercurial Chemister
• 1x Nephalia Drownyard
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Sphinx of Magosi
• 1x Windfall

Commander (1)

Control (12)

• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Blasphemous Act
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Deadly Tempest
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Incite Rebellion
• 1x Necromantic Selection
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Psychic Strike

Untapper (10)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Paradox Engine
• 1x Pemmin's Aura
• 1x Pili-Pala
• 1x Ral Zarek
• 1x Sword of the Paruns
• 1x Thornbite Staff
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Torchling

Evasion (9)

• 1x AEtherling
• 1x Argent Sphinx
• 1x Conjurer's Closet
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mirage Mirror
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots

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Maybeboard

Other (1)

• 1x Intruder Alarm

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Out of the Commander 17 set the most interesting card to me was definitely Marisil. Both from a lore perspective (I loved the coldsnap novel) and from a gameplay perspective. He plays like a combination Experiment Kraj and Necrotic Ooze , with a lot more tricks up his sleeve because he can also use the activated abilities of artifacts.

There are so many possibilities when it comes to creatures to cage up with Mairsil that it can be hard to try and narrow down what you want. I went with general utility over combo or aggressive strategies. Some of the stronger options in the deck include Tree of Perdition which can set up an easy kill, Arcanis the Omnipotent which lets Mairsil generate huge card advantage, and Magus of the Coffers which when combined with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth will be getting us a whole lot of mana. Infernal Denizen is a card that normally is really crummy only because of its high casting cost and huge drawback. However, Mairsil doesn't have any of those problems making it probably the single best card to cage up.

Grixis is a great color combo when it comes to tutoring and card advantage. Thankfully with Mairsil, cards in the graveyard can be just as valuable as cards in the hand. This makes cards like Buried Alive and Entomb just as strong as cards like Demonic Tutor. The aforementioned Arcanis the Omnipotent can be used for strong card draw on his own or give Mairsil his ability. Rhystic Study is a classic card and pretty much an auto-include in any blue EDH deck. Frantic Search is a strong digging card that is essentially free.

I decided to combine two important things under this header. Evasion here refers to both ways to protect my commander and ways to blink/bounce him, thus giving me the chance to cage up something else. Riptide Laboratory is very strong as it's "free" being a land drop and can bounce Mairsil back for 3 at instant speed. A caged AEtherling or Argent Sphinx give me a way to repeatedly flicker Mairsil both for protection from removal or to cage up even more cards. Lightning Greaves and its older brother Swiftfoot Boots are great for giving Shroud/Hexproof to Mairsil and allowing him to start using tap abilities the turn he hits.

With so many juicy abilities available, it's nice to be able to double down. Cards such as Rings of Brighthearth and Illusionist's Bracers copy activated abilities, which can mean pinging for six with Kamahl or drawing SIX cards per tap with a caged Arcanis. Also included here are ways to reduce the cost of these activated abilities and creatures that can be a stand-in for Mairsil.

Grixis is also a quintessential control shard. Mairsil has access to removal in the form of a caged Avatar of Woe or Nevinyrral's Disk. Counter Magic is important to any control deck as well. I run the classic Counterspell and the easily splashable Psychic Strike. Board wipes are also important in a deck that can have trouble defending itself. Blasphemous Act and Incite Rebellion are strong red wipes, while Cyclonic Rift can set up a win. Necromantic Selection is cool because it can also return Mairsil and allow him to cage another card.

With so many activated abilities require a tap cost, being able to untap Mairsil can lead to some fun shenanigans. Cards like Pemmin's Aura and Sword of the Paruns can be used to constantly untap Mairsil meaning the more abilities he has the more useful they are (unfortunately, Mairsil can only use an ability of a caged card once each turn). Some cards that can be caged allow Mairsil to untap, most notably Torchling and Pili-Pala.

Mana is the backbone of any magic deck. I made sure to throw in many mana rocks as they can also be copied by Mairsil.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	6 years
Exclude colors	WG
Legality	This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	11 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 21 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.88
Tokens	Goat 0/1 W