Maybeboard

Cage (104)

Mana (31)

Tutors (13)

Removed (8)

Haste (7)

Clones (5)

NowThereAreTwoOfThem (4)

Ramp (3)

Tricky (2)

WinCons (1)

CantripsLooting (22)

Blink (13)

InteractionProtection (11)

Control (7)

Out (6)

Draw (4)

Mill (4)

Untap (4)

Filter (1)


My take on Mairsil, the Pretender. My interest in Mairsil stemmed from the resiliency surrounding cage counters: once an ability has been 'unlocked', it is effectively impossible to be taken away (bar Imprisoned in the Moon etc.). As the game evolves, Mairsil grows ever more powerful and inevitable. Mairsil's complexity and variety of victory lines make this my facourite deck to pilot. Victories are immensely rewarding when they come together.

I desire each game to be different and memorable. Hence, simple AB combos have been largely neglected, including milling one's entire library with Mirror-Mad Phantasm or taking infinite turns with Sage of Hours. As a result, this is a grindy, interactive, controlling build. Most tutors (i.e. Demonic Tutor) have also been deliberately neglected to facilitate a varied and enjoyable gameplay experience.

Wins can arise from:

Tree of Perdition

Hateflayer plus Gilded Lotus, Coveted Jewel or Prismatic Geoscope (upwards of 16 damage per turn cycle)

Phyrexian Devourer pumping for commander damage

Eldrazi overrun via Ulamog's Dreadsire (Shadowspear notably provides trample and lifelink).

Theft via Empress Galina, Chainer, Dementia Master or Auton Soldier.

Orcish Bowmasters plus a wheel effect (Windfall or Jace's Archivist).

Mairsil, the Pretender wants four different effects in the 99: haste, protection, cage targets and cage facilitators.

Haste

Haste is great for Mairsil, enabling activated abilities without delay. Equipment sources of haste are somewhat awkward with Mairsil, as Mairsil will often be blinking in and out with effects such as AEtherling's activated ability. For this reason, enchantments such as Rising of the Day are preferable. Ashling's Prerogative is a favourite of mine, as it can randomly disrupt (or aid!) our opponents while benefitting Mairsil.

Protection

Mairsil is a removal magnet and the lynchpin of the deck. For this reason, deploying Mairsil under instant-speed protection where possible (Fierce Guardianship, Deflecting Swat and Slip Out the Back) is preferred.

Cage targets

Everything under the 'Cage' section. There is a tap/untap 'economy' at play also: Eater of the Dead plus any tap ability is usually much much stronger than multiple tap abilities. Chart a varied path to victory!

Cage Facilitators

Cards which facilitate further caging. These include blink effects such as Essence Flux and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling. Non-legendary clones such as Spark Double, Sakashima the Impostor and Sakashima of a Thousand Faces each add another ability when copying Mairsil. Reanimating four copies of one's commander thanks to a caged Chainer, Dementia Master is truly Magic as Garfield intended.

Fetches and surveil lands: over a quarter of this deck is beneficial in the graveyard, so the likes of Thundering Falls, Undercity Sewers and Raucous Theatre are all excellent. The fetches also ensure that many mountain-type lands are available for activating Anger.

Arena of Glory: a very handy haste source.

Minamo, School at Water's Edge: a great untapper.

Rush of Inspiration  : great for unclogging clunky hands filled with cage targets. Don't fear the randomness!

Geier Reach Sanitarium: fantastic for looting away cage targets. Also combos with Orcish Bowmasters.

Pinnacle Monk  : recursion is simply very powerful in commander. This can be blinked and renimated for considerable value.

Urza's Saga: ramping with Sol Ring is an obvious option but lifegain with Shadowspear and construct tokens is certainly viable.

Malakir Rebirth  : surviving a board wipe while getting another ability is living the dream.

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth: Useful for meeting the activation costs of Chainer, Dementia Master and Asmodeus the Archfiend.

Fellwar Stone is a must for Mairsil's quote in the flavour text! This goes all the way back to the Dark.

Cheap loots such as Faithless Looting, Demand Answers and Anvil of Bogardan enable clunky hands to be 'unclogged', i.e. cage targets dumped in the graveyard and lands, interaction etc. successfully drawn. These effects really are the glue of the deck.

Some effects double as looters/wheels and cage targets, including Jace's Archivist. Dack Fayden is also a ramp card with moderate consistency (via stealing Sol Ring) when looting is not required.

Quicksilver Elemental is somewhat of a win-more option outside of combo-oriented builds of Mairsil.

Spot removal stables (Terminate, Chaos Warp etc.). Mairsil often facilitates interaction with troublesome permanents and going 1-for-1 is very bad when a quarter or more of the deck is occupied via cage effects.

Reliquary Tower: Mairsil does really fear discarding a few cards as cage targets are quite good in the graveyard. Colourless land slots are really at a premium in contrast. Many activated abilities are colour-intensive which further isolates this card.

Riptide Laboratory. Three mana for an unsummon followed by another four to deploy is simply very costly.

Sometimes an Imprisoned in the Moon or similar will happen. Several cards can take the helm if Mairsil is compromised:

Agatha's Soul Cauldron: This card is simply a house! Graveyard hate, protection against opposing graveyard hate, a cage facilitator, activated ability mana fixer and more.

Necrotic Ooze: Still under testing but very promising.

Clones (Sakashima the Impostor, Auton Soldier). What you can't beat, join!

Sakashima the Impostor functions as a non-legendary clone of Mairsil. It allows another cage-on-ETB and itself can use all of Mairsil's abilities as advised by Bennie Smith in http://www.starcitygames.com/article/35671_Commander-2017-Cage-Set-Match.html .

Good ruling on Shifty Doppelganger: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-rulings/782066-mairsil-and-shifty-doppelganger

Hateflayer, Spikeshot Goblin and Kamahl, Pit Fighter can target players and planeswalkers as per: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=152155 and https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=442141 https://gatherer.wizards.com/pages/card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=106398

Feedback and suggestions are welcome, and if you liked the deck please consider an upvote :)

Suggestions

Updates Add

Land count has been increased to 39 (including MDFCs).

The number of looting/wheel card advantage spells has been increased to 12. These are simply very powerful with Mairsil given that every fourth or fifth card is a cage target that actively wants to be discarded. The focus is on 'sculpting' the correct hand with Mairsil, so I am not considering Burning Inquiry, Goblin Lore and the like just yet.

Shadowspear has been added together with Demonic Tutor. One tutorable source of lifegain and trample was perceived as useful: the inclusion of Phyrexian Devourer makes voltron kills a real possibility. The ability to remove hexproof and indestructible is also situational but potentially game-winning.

The overall gameplan is quite simple: Turn 2 resolve a ramp spell or haste source, T3 loot/wheel, followed by T4/5 Mairsil. After resolving my commander, protection, nonlegendary clones and/or blinks (for more caged abilities) aim to seal the game from there.

Comments

Date added 5 years
Last updated 1 month
Legality

This deck is not Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

9 - 0 Mythic Rares

64 - 0 Rares

17 - 0 Uncommons

7 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.52
Tokens Construct 0/0 C, Copy Clone, Eldrazi 10/10 C, Emblem Dack Fayden, Energy Reserve, Orc Army, Treasure
Folders EDH, EDH/Commander ideas
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