Ceaseless Watcher [Raffine]

Commander / EDH Connive Counters Flying WUB (Esper)

DayjobDracula

Creature (33)

• 1x Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 1x Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Big Game Hunter
• 1x Bone Miser
• 1x Containment Construct
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Dream Trawler
• 1x Elenda and Azor
• 1x Esper Sentinel
• 1x Faerie Mastermind
• 1x Ghostly Pilferer
• 1x Gold-Forged Thopteryx
• 1x Gregor, Shrewd Magistrate
• 1x Hopeful Initiate
• 1x Inquisitor Greyfax
• 1x Kamiz, Obscura Oculus
• 1x Ledger Shredder
• 1x Likeness Looter
• 1x Looter il-Kor
• 1x Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff
• 1x Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel
• 1x Mausoleum Wanderer
• 1x Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer
• 1x Priest of Fell Rites
• 1x Queza, Augur of Agonies
• 1x Ruin-Lurker Bat
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Serra Paragon
• 1x Shadowgrange Archfiend
• 1x Shadowstorm Vizier
• 1x Thrummingbird
• 1x Tymna the Weaver

Land (36)

• 1x Adarkar Wastes
• 1x Arcane Sanctum
• 1x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Deserted Beach
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hallowed Fountain
• 1x Hengegate Pathway  ^Flip
• 3x Island
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Meticulous Archive
• 1x Otawara, Soaring City
• 4x Plains
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Raffine's Tower
• 1x Shattered Sanctum
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 3x Swamp
• 1x Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Drake Haven
• 1x Knowledge is Power
• 1x Retribution of the Ancients
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1x Wizard Class

Commander (1)

Artifact (10)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Currency Converter
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Talisman of Progress
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Instant (9)

• 1x An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Delay
• 1x Dig Through Time
• 1x Otherworldly Gaze
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Void Rend

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Supreme Verdict

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Maybeboard

Instant (2)

• 1x Dovin's Veto
• 1x Memory Deluge

Creature (2)

• 1x Concealing Curtains  ^Flip
• 1x Doorkeeper Thrull

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Call to the Netherworld
• 1x Psychotic Episode

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Kaito Shizuki

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Eyes Everywhere
• 1x Feast of Sanity

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Ceaseless Watcher, Turn your gaze upon this wretched thing...

Welcome to the next Magnus Archives Deck Tech. Obviously I had a lot of fun with this deck, inspired by the Beholding and the Magnus Institute. Raffine, Scheming Seer is our Jonah Magnus for this here game.

Raffine is a powerful enough commander with a reliable mechanic so I was able to give myself a bit more leeway in terms of flavor. This deck is designed to win mainly through combat damage (i.e. turning your little flyers and archival assistants into big and terrifying monsters), commander damage (the true Beholding), or pingers (slowly wearing down your opponents health and mental fortitude).

Archival Assistants

These are our low-CMC creatures who provide card advantage and are (for one reason or another) difficult to block. The biggest ones to look out for are Ledger Shredder who connives himself, unblockables like Looter il-Kor, and defensive but hard-to-block flyers like Selfless Spirit. There are many, and they have faced a myriad of awful fates. The idea is to flood the board with as many of them as possible.

Token generators like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and Currency Converter are designed to synergize with this strategy and make more bodies to get as many connive triggers off Raffine as possible.

Discard Synergy and Recursion

Some of our warm bodies are designed to be discarded and played. The most important are Big Game Hunter and Shadowgrange Archfiend, both of which have a convenient Madness cost. We also have some card draw that can be discarded and played for flashback cost. Deep Analysis is both flavorful and re-usable.

Payoffs for discard include Bone Miser, Queza, Augur of Agonies, and Archfiend of Ifnir, all of whom will reward you for your conniving and punish your opponents. Discard Insurance includes recursive spellslike Reanimate and Serra Paragon with a couple of cards that allow you to play your discarded spells as your go. Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer is the most notable.

Flavor Wins

Featuring

1. Likeness Looter as our resident Not-Sasha.
2. Inquisitor Greyfax as our neurotic, paranoid Archivist.
3. Gitaxian Probe and Otherworldly Gaze as the touch of our voyeuristic patron.
4. Revealing Eye   as the prickle of surveillance.
5. Knowledge is Power as our maxim and win-con.
6. Supreme Verdict as the unstoppable Apocalypse
7. and Meticulous Archive as my favorite thing to come out of Karlov Manor.

Date added	1 month
Last updated	1 month
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 0 Mythic Rares 55 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 7 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.59
Tokens	Clue, Drake 2/2 U, Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Human 1/1 W, Rogue 2/2 B, Treasure, Vampire Knight 1/1 B, Zombie 2/2 B