Commandeer

Instant

You may exile two blue cards in your hand rather than pay Commandeer's mana cost.

Gain control of target noncreature spell. You may choose new targets for it. (If that spell is an artifact, enchantment or planeswalker, the permanent enters the battlefield under your control.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

fluffyeel on Urza Lord High Combomaster

2 days ago

Some small thoughts for fun things and stuff:

• In addition to Echo of Eons, I'm quite a fan of Time Spiral. It's not as abusable, sure, but untapping your lands is quite nifty. Given you have Narset, Parter of Veils in the deck, maybe you could also go for the Teferi's Puzzle Box lock with it...
• A "given" for me, in any monocolor deck, is going for the Extraplanar Lens strategy with snow-covered lands. You could also think now about Winter Moon, which seems like a lot of fun (for you).
• Mystical Tutor might be something I would prefer over Merchant Scroll, primarily because you can imprint it with Isochron Scepter and get lots of instants and sorceries. (On the other hand, you do have a lot of targets for Scepter...)
• In terms of zero-mana disruption, perhaps Commandeer and/or Misdirection are worthwhile. In a deck like yours, maybe Counterbalance could also be worth consideration, given how competitive decks have lower/more consistent mana curves (and you have Sensei's Divining Top...).
• Hurkyl's Recall seems also like a "fun" toy, especially in conjunction with Mycosynth Lattice, and given how artifact-heavy a lot of strategies/decks are...

TheSurgeon on Bruvac's Millibuster

2 days ago

fluffyeel I appreciate all of your feedback!

Commandeer and Misdirection both fit the (rather unintentional) "free" theme I have in the deck, but exiling two blue cards in my deck seems a bit steep for my play style. I would simply use something like Redirect, or counter it altogether.

Teferi's Tutelage was in here, but i felt i was concentrating too much on the draw/mill mechanic, not to mention it's another 3 drop (I'm wierd about mana costs) that, as you stated, does less than its Sphinxy big brother. And Puzzlebox just doesn't feel like it has the impact it should for a 4 drop.

Capsize's cost and buyback is too expensive; especially with all of the other 1-2 cost bounces available; and Sunder would only hurt me as well.

Mystical Tutor will find a home in here. Of course I need more ways to find combo pieces! Not sure why I never picked this one up.. I guess I assumed it was beyond my budget without ever checking. LOL

I was't aware that Clever Impersonator existed. The versatility makes the extra cost almost bearable to my mana-frugal brain. This will need further study.

I only have one Oboro, Palace in the Clouds and it's in my Modern deck. I may have to pick this and Boseiju next pay.

Academy Ruins is awesome! I believe I never picked it up because it was expensive; and when I got the means to get it, forgot all about it. Buried Ruin was one I had, and didn't cost anything to activate at the time. Thanks for reminding me!!

Memory Jar's a bit expensive for my taste. I don't have a lot of luck with wheel-ish effects, as the cards I need to further my goals are often in the hand I'm discarding/phasing leaving me in a logistical pickle that robs me of the win, and where words cannot express my frustration.

Overall, I think you've helped quite a bit! A bit more visceral than "yOu nEeD gRaVeYaRd hate" that I always get!!

-TheSurgeon

fluffyeel on Bruvac's Millibuster

2 days ago

I just thought of a few other useful tools:

• Commandeer is another good zero-mana... not counter, but disruptor. It's become more popular, I've noticed, but it's still not something a lot of people see coming. Similarly, Misdirection is another handy tool for disruption, but it's more limited than Commandeer (though it's one less card to exile...).
• Teferi's Tutelage is another fun mill toy. It's a bit more limited than Sphinx's Tutelage, but why not double up the fun! Similarly, you can use Teferi's Puzzle Box to mill your opponents even faster while also disrupting their game play.
• Capsize is another all-purpose bounce, and reusable as well. Sunder is another great way to lose friends at instant speed. You could also consider Mystical Tutor to help dig for things you need.
• Clever Impersonator is more versatile than Copy Enchantment for one more mana, but it may not be extremely necessary.
• There are some lands that might be handy for your strategy. Oboro, Palace in the Clouds gives you reusable landfall; Boseiju, Who Shelters All makes sure your essential Instant and Sorcery spells don't get countered (e.g. Cyclonic Rift); Field of Ruin kills troublesome lands and gives mandatory search (and landfall), which is relevant for Archive Trap; and Academy Ruins is a more reusable Buried Ruin.
• Cyclonic Rift pairs very well with Memory Jar. Just saying. :P

WorldEater_42 on What do you have that I cannot obtain?

2 weeks ago

Thanks for taking a look fluffyeel !

• You are spot on regarding mana. I've added a Reflecting Pool and a Scalding Tarn which should help. The new fetchable surveil lands look great for this deck given the graveyard synergies with caging.
• Mana Crypt and Mana Vault are long term goals for the deck. With some luck we will have some reprints!
• Commandeer looks like a ball of fun! I am a little worried about my blue card count here but there are several other decks it'll do very well in.
• I'll have to give Displacer Kitten a try. It would go quite nuts with a haste source and a caged Gilded Lotus for instance. A cage off of Deflecting Swat and/or Fierce Guardianship would also be crazy.
• Thanks also for the other recommendations. I've had great times with Fact or Fiction in the past, probably time to bust it out again. Force spiking everything with Patron Wizard would also be useful.

fluffyeel on What do you have that I cannot obtain?

3 weeks ago

Stealing things and caging is fun: I've seen a lot of degenerate things with Mairsil. That said, I have a few small suggestions:

• You mention lands are an issue and color-correcting early. Indeed, while this seems to be the case, I can suggest more multi-lands such as Reflecting Pool, Mana Confluence, City of Brass, and the new fetchable surveil lands from MKM (Thundering Falls, Raucous Theater, and Undercity Sewers), or the route of ultimate color-correcting with Chromatic Lantern. There are, of course, also some of the super-fast artifacts like Chrome Mox, Mox Diamond, Mox Amber, Mana Vault, and the like, but not sure what your budget is.
• A theft option I always run in every blue deck is Commandeer. Nobody sees it coming (or maybe they now do, especially when I sit at the table).
• I'm surprised that you don't have the cutest and cuddliest blink card in there: Displacer Kitten. I see it in your maybe list, but I highly recommend it in the main deck: it's incredibly easy to trigger and it enables so many fun shenanigans.
• Other assorted recommendations: Fact or Fiction, Storm the Vault  ^Flip (you have enough artifacts to make it work), Goldspan Dragon (cute and cuddly treasure accelerant), Memory Jar, Lim-Dul's Vault, Patron Wizard...

fluffyeel on Bruvac's Millibuster

3 weeks ago

Mill is fun. Mill was one of my first loves (and still is!) for any sort of MTG deck. However, I see some options to further Traumatize your opponents:

• Fractured Sanity is fun for all opponents. Or more fun for you. Brain Freeze is another fun instant mill that I highly recommend.
• A big concern I have seeing this is that people use graveyards as much as other resources, so being prepared for that may help you out in the long run. You mention graveyard hate is meta-dependent... but, in my experience, graveyard shenanigans are everywhere. My recommendations are Grafdigger's Cage, Tale's End, Stifle, Trickbind, Time Stop, and Discontinuity as stops to things like, for example, Eldrazi graveyard triggers.
• If you want a classic monocolor strategy and if you have enough of them, it's not uncommon to replace all the basics with snow-covered basics and use Extraplanar Lens as an acceleration engine. For you, I think that may not be a bad idea.
• Other fun toys that synergize with one or more of your toys: Windfall, Memory Jar, Isochron Scepter, Forbid, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy  ^Flip, Commandeer, Sunder, Teferi's Puzzle Box...

capwner on Snowbrawling ((MODERN // Competitive Sultai Snow))

5 months ago

legendofa The manabase generally feels pretty good, sometimes I am unhappy to see a tap land as it can effectively mean losing a turn, but the main concerns I've found are color fixing and maintaining snow perm count, where falling short could mean losing out on several plays or interactions. I cut a Scrying Sheets because of this, might cut Mouth of Ronom too but I like being able to toolbox with Into the North a bit. It was hard for me to add the Breeding Pool+Watery Grave because of snow count but I think it's necessary to be able to find untapped colors with Lorien. It would be nice to run 4 Lorien but the list was getting tight and I wanted to keep at least 3 ofs for some key sideboard cards. The deck does have a lot of 4 drops but 4 of those are Subtlety which is a flexible card and I think a real necessity in this meta. The deck feels like it curves pretty well, you are likely to have at least a couple 1 and 2 drops and the ability to either Blizzard Brawl or Dead of Winter or Subtlety or flash Ice-Fang Coatl to stall the board until your big 4 drops can hit. Or Force of Negation/Subtlety/Commandeer vs THOSE decks. Turn 2 Into the North feels really good, curves into 5/5 Treefolk or Coatl/Brawl with no land drop. I wish it was snow then I would run more. I think in a lot of matchups it ultimately comes down to who can out attrition the other, and the snow scry mechanic REALLY helps with that. Vs Yawgmoth I can aggro/tempo them out with Treefolk and Subtlety, vs Murktide I'm running them out of removal, clearing with Dead of Winter and when the game is stalled Avalanche Caller or a 7/7 Treefolk ends it. I haven't had a Rhinos match come up yet but the plan is to simply outmatch and outcontrol their board with Treefolk + killing/commandeering the rhinos. I'll likely update the description with some more specific matchup and card selection info over the next couple weeks! Thanks for the feed

Azoth2099 on The Lonely Loner (Seems to free his mind at night)

9 months ago

DatShepTho

Wuddup! Vadrik, Astral Archmage is so busted, man. Probably the best {U}{R} Commander p4p imo. I've been brewing him for a while now.

I see you're already running Seething Song, which is great. I'd highly recommend adding Desperate Ritual & Pyretic Ritual as well. Functionally having 2 copies of Dark Ritual in a {U}{R} deck is insane. Mana Geyser is pretty decent, but at Sorcery speed and at a minimum cost of {R}{R}, it's really not worth it compared to the others.

I would also recommend Mystic Retrieval & Mizzix's Mastery over Call to Mind & Finale of Promise respectively. As well as adding Past in Flames.

2 pieces of Equipment that I noticed shone very brightly with this Commander are Conqueror's Flail & Commander's Plate. The added bonus of cost reduction makes their power here difficult to overstate.

Buyback is a popular mechanic in typical Vadrik decks, but the only ones that are truly worth consideration are Capsize, Reiterate & Clockspinning. Haze of Rage & Seething Anger are obviously great, but they don't facilitate wins with the same frequency as those other ones. Sorcery speed sucks.

Never doubt that you need those Tutors, son! Solve the Equation, Reckless Handling, Merchant Scroll, Fabricate, Bribery & Acquire are all pretty much too good to pass up here. Reshape can also be great, depending on your Artifact list.

Free spells like Misdirection, Blazing Shoal & Commandeer can be pretty great here, given that they are likely still cheap to cast if you can't cast them for free.

Lastly, try to get yourself copies of Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip, Shatterskull Smashing  ^Flip & Jeska's Will for this one if you can. Amazing!

Peace!