Mirran Spy

Creature — Drone

Flying

Whenever you cast an artifact spell, you may untap target creature.

Discussion (45)

mlequesne on Competitive Jhoira Artifacts Deck (Under $100)

1 month ago

Quicksilver Dagger can be a great card with Battered Golem, and Mirran Spy does the same job as the golem.

I love your deck man! seems very fun to play

BruhYouFarted on Pauper Infinite Combo

2 months ago

Court Street Denizen only triggers on white creatures, so it wouldn't work for an artifact. Another combo starter for the combo is Mirran Spy, and with another combo piece (Battered Golem, Mirran Spy itself, etc.) it gives infinite untaps, which works well with Prodigal Sorcerer, Rootwater Hunter, Razorfin Hunter, and, if you are ahead on life, Spear Spewer and Fireslinger (Or with any other pinger)

Also Nettle Drone is probably the best creature in the Retraction Helix combo deck, since it is the payoff and a combo starter.

Mana_Mythic_Legendary on Pursuing Perfection, Part 2: Mono-Blue …

4 months ago

Let’s be clear and open this by admitting I’d never considered building a mono-blue deck before now. In fact, I can clearly remember only one in all my years on playing, and we didn’t finish the game (he left for a Killer Instinct tournament). That said, blue forms the backbone of several favorite decks. Those of you who have braved the mono-blue challenge, I salute. Or rather, I salute those of you who didn’t shuffle islands and counterspells together until you had ninety-nine and then threw Talrand, Sky Summoner on top as the world’s most unimaginative cherry.

That lone blue deck I saw? The first spell in the game gets played. Mr. Talrand peers at it, then nods and says “I’ll allow it.” You could see his name appearing in neon at the top of the table’s hit list, and he hadn’t introduced himself or even played a spell yet. This, I think, is what a lot of folk unjustly assume of mono-blue: that attitude, that play style. But at its best, blue is a beautiful game of dancing on the edge, bringing grace and guile to the table beyond anything the other colors can manage.

Or drop Cyclonic Rift and then swing in with Atemsis, All-Seeing . Sometimes clever doesn’t cut it.

Blue has enough mass in squelchy things from the deep to square off with anything but the swollest green, and the islandwalk to not bother. Curse of the Swine and Rite of Replication are only two of the many mean, mean things you can do to a board state. Just the knowledge that counters exist leaves blue players resigned to suspicious looks whenever opponents so much as breathe. And yet, for all this power, blue truly outshines the other colors in three areas: draw, artifact manipulation, and control. Let’s talk commanders for these archetypes, shall we? Again, please bear in mind the point isn’t to discuss the competitive but rather to celebrate the thematic. Happily, blue has a bounty of legends loaded with both!

Draw

Ah, Blue Sun's Zenith . Only blue can kill with this peculiar species of lunatic kindness. While there isn’t a mono-blue commander that has this exact effect… yet… it highlights the singular relationship blue has with drawing cards. Whether you want to draw or deck, if you like a full hand then look no further.

Tribal is an archetype available to all colors. While I’m trying to steer away from that as a theme, we must talk Azami if we talk draw engines. There are many, many good wizards, and her ladyship is an absolute powerhouse of card advantage. Arcanis the Omnipotent is omnijealous, bitterly sulking in the 99.

For the more political blue players we go once more to Kamigawa. He’s little, group-huggy, and a fantastic choice for those who appreciate the challenge of treating their commander as an afterthought. Besides, nobody resents an extra card until you drop the sphinx. You know the one.

Can’t be countered. No maximum hand size. Whenever your opponent goes noncreature, draw a card. Blink. I hope the Scots are pleased, because Nessie is quite the monster. Seven mana is a lot, but so, so worth it to play this unholy avatar of blue. Give thanks and happy chortles as she pours cards into your endless hand and flickers past everything that isn’t Molten Disaster .

Artifacts

Where Red abuses artifacts the way black abuses… well, everything, blue takes it to full symbiosis, protecting, enhancing, and eating the pancreas of anyone who offends their precious toys. Blue has the tutors, the synergies, the splendiferous Tezzeret the Seeker . If you like artifacts but aren’t quite crazy enough to go full colorless, blue is your in.

In a singleton game, tutors are king. Long live Arcum. Bonus points if you take out somebody’s combo piece with him while taking a break from digging for yours.

Here’s a pancreas eater for you: theft-by-tutor is unorthodox, but undeniably fun. Blue delights in theft and, as anyone who has siblings will tell you, stolen treats taste better. You’ll never appreciate using your own high-powered tin crap half so much as using your opponent’s high-powered tin crap. Stockpile extra turns and go shopping on the opposition’s dime.

You talk blue artifacts, this guy is in the conversation, if not THE conversation. Lord High Wombo Himself is not here because he makes a goon. Lord High Wombo Himself is not even here because he has mightily potent mana sink if you break infinite. Lord High Wombo Himself is here because of that middle line, turning things like Winter Orb from “our” problem to “your” problem, and that’s just the tip of this degenerate iceberg. Go nuts.

Control

When my wife tells me not to break my toys, this is NOT what she means. No other color manages the sheer mind-bogglery of bouncing, tapping, stealing, and otherwise screwing with other people’s toys without breaking them. No other color boasts this heinous plurality of extra turns, to say nothing of counterspells. Control is the glory and the terror of blue: Laboratory Maniac might take the game for you, but it’s control that will get him there.

Blue is the heavyweight champion of yoink, and Memnarch holds the belt. Just be ready for everyone to treat you like a male dog with a full bladder whenever he takes the field, especially if you had your Mycosynth Lattice in the morning.

Honestly, the pay X bit of this is only tangential for me. Blue is all about minimal force, and tapping something whenever you Opt has very interesting applications. After all, the phrase “doesn’t untap during their untap step” is patented in blue ink. I’m not even sure building around this is a good idea, but you have to admit that Ol’ Gadwick is frightening to any command damage chaser who left their Lightning Greaves at home, especially when Dismiss into Dream is lurking.

We all have strong feelings about counterspells, one way or the other. Forbid is a personal favorite. While Baral’s not that special in a vacuum, he offers hellacious support if you really are all about counterspam. He won’t break the game on his own, but the play-style he encourages certainly has potential for other broken things. Like friendships. Or noses.

And, for my personal favorite... I love perpetually affordable commanders. Rock a few token generators and you might go a whole game paying a single blue mana for this marvel. Sacrifice artifacts are suddenly scary, Sacrificing them suddenly isn’t, and your opponents are suddenly scrabbling for exile effects and that wretched bog. Please remember to bring your self-milling kit, a Mirran Spy , a Mycosynth Golem , and a jar for the tears of your enemies (no sense wasting all that blue mana). First prize if you win with the Phyrexian half of Mirrodin Besieged .

That's it for this round. Thoughts and questions are welcome. I hope you enjoyed it, and will come back next week for Black!

Prior Articles: Mono-White

Fjallen on Emry // Mono-Blue Artifact Combos [cEDH]

6 months ago

eprovince My first list had Thornbite Staff . It also included all of the 0 drop artifact creatures necessary to enable that game plan. In the long run, I found self-sacrficing 0 drop artifacts to be more consistent and to cut the staff and Intruder Alarm . I still think those two untappers are definitely good, but they are usually a nonbo with the noncreature artifact strategy. My untappers are limited to Isochron Scepter + Dramatic Reversal , Mirran Spy , and Chakram Retriever . The biggest downsides of Thornbite Staff are its high equip cost and the fact that it requires a sacrifice outlet to be effective. Hope this comment helps!

king-saproling on No Land for Old Men

8 months ago

Oh and some finishers to consider:

Dramatic Reversal + Isochron Scepter + any mana rocks/dorks that together make 3 mana = infinite mana and infinite storm count

Blisterspit Gremlin or Mirran Spy or Dwarven Patrol or Nettle Drone or Zephyr Scribe or Chakram Retriever + Retraction Helix or Banishing Knack = draw your deck. this works by playing the helix or knack on one of the untappers, then using that untapper's new bounce ability to bounce a 0 cmc artifact to hand, replay the artifact and repeat. Jhoira will draw the cards.

firrlo on Emry, Lurker of the Loch cEDH

11 months ago

Bandalorin

Thanks a lot :) And yes, I realize it must be very confusing reading an outdated primer, sorry about that! Im going to make a few updates after im done writing this comment.

Metalworker and Power Artifact served as alternate options for making infinite mana. The current version of the decklist is more fine-tuned towards cosistently winning through either Mesmeric Orb and Basalt Monolith or some Mirran Spy / Chakram Retriever loop (example: Mirran Spy + Urza's Bauble drawing your library at the beginning of next turn, then, in response to their draw trigger, following up with Shimmer Myr, looping Lotus Petal, and casting Brain Freeze for the win). I have simply found these lines to be the most effective in terms of speed, consistency and versatility. Because of this, slower win cons has been replaced by either protection or cards that promote consistency (card draw for example). Hope this makes sense!

0rc on Infinite combos with Emry (cEDH)

1 year ago

Since you’ll be filling the graveyard you may want to consider Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise for card draw. Both equate to powerful cantrips in the correct build.

It would be nice to have a backup plan in case someone disrupts your Mirran Spy + Walking Ballista combo ( Thada Adel, Acquisitor and Praetor's Grasp will ruin your day). Laboratory Maniac will work for backup upkeep win con, and is easily tutorable via Drift of Phantasms (but avoid Thassa's Oracle for this build).

Some bounce aside from Cyclonic Rift will stop you from losing to Pithing Needle-type effects or Linvala, Keeper of Silence as well as graveyard hate such as Rest in Peace or Grafdigger's Cage. Collector Ouphe and Kataki, War's Wage will be big problems without adequate removal.

I hope this helps.

Snips500 on Pauper Infinite Combo

1 year ago

Battered Golem/Nettle Drone+Banishing Knack/Retraction Helix/Mirran Spy+any 0 mana artifact = infinite creature ETBs. Pay off comes in the form of Impact Tremors/Reckless Fireweaver/Soul Warden/Soul's Attendant/Court Street Denizen/Golem Foundry (and possibly more)