Octavia or: how I learned to cut lands

Commander / EDH* Mono-Blue

gippo

Instant (32)

• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Behold the Multiverse
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Careful Consideration
• 1x Consider
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Curate
• 1x Defy Gravity
• 1x Fact or Fiction
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Gigadrowse
• 1x High Tide
• 1x Leap
• 1x March of Swirling Mist
• 1x Narset's Reversal
• 1x Negate
• 1x Obsessive Search
• 1x Occult Epiphany
• 1x Opt
• 1x Otherworldly Gaze
• 1x Polymorphist's Jest
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Pulse of the Grid
• 1x Reality Shift
• 1x Sapphire Charm
• 1x Shadow Rift
• 1x Suspend
• 1x Think Twice
• 1x Thirst for Discovery
• 1x Visions of Beyond
• 1x Winds of Rebuke
• 1x You Come to a River

Sorcery (20)

• 1x Artful Dodge
• 1x Bond of Insight
• 1x Candlekeep Inspiration
• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Chart a Course
• 1x Deep Analysis
• 1x Distortion Strike
• 1x Flood of Recollection
• 1x Flood of Tears
• 1x Flux
• 1x Gitaxian Probe
• 1x Manifold Insights
• 1x Ponder
• 1x Preordain
• 1x Quiet Speculation
• 1x River's Rebuke
• 1x Serum Visions
• 1x Slip Through Space
• 1x Solve the Equation
• 1x Spectral Deluge

Land (25)

• 1x Access Tunnel
• 1x Faerie Conclave
• 21x Island
• 1x Mishra's Factory
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Founding the Third Path
• 1x Search for Azcanta  ^Flip

Artifact (2)

• 1x Runechanter's Pike
• 1x The Magic Mirror

Commander (1)

Creature (18)

• 1x Academy Elite
• 1x Archmage Emeritus
• 1x Blighted Agent
• 1x Cephalid Constable
• 1x Chasm Skulker
• 1x Curious Homunculus  ^Flip
• 1x Docent of Perfection  ^Flip
• 1x Elusive Spellfist
• 1x Ghostly Pilferer
• 1x Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip
• 1x Looter il-Kor
• 1x Mischievous Catgeist  ^Flip
• 1x Murmuring Mystic
• 1x Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1x Pteramander
• 1x Talrand, Sky Summoner
• 1x Wavebreak Hippocamp
• 1x Windrider Wizard

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I've had this deck for the good part of two years now, and I've tweaked with it more times that I can remember.

All my friends keep asking me "how do you always make your landdrops with such few lands??" to which I respond with "I don't really know". Jokes aside, I think I made a good balance between scrying/surveilling and lands, with which I can assure myself to make landdrops or to secure them for the next turn.

If you build this commander, don't expect infinite combos, turn 3 victories, or fast games. The slowness to build a field is I think the biggest flaw with this deck (coupled with its weakness for boardwipes), and yet it isn't. Because there is no better feeling than seeing your opponents send their respective armies at each other, while you're on the other side of the table chilling, scrying to the bottom, surveilling to the graveyard, and waiting to cast an 8/8 with a flavorful "hexproof". I love this deck.

Some all-stars of my list:

• Blighted Agent: it usually doesn't even get rid of summoning sickness because it's already in the graveyard or in exile, but when it does and it becomes an 8/8 you better be scared
• Cephalid Constable: those are some nice 8 lands you got there in your hand
• Academy Elite: usually this "only" becomes a 20/20
• Windrider Wizard: the amount of cycling this card allows is so good for the deck, one of my favorites for sure
• Runechanter's Pike: Octavia or Blighted Agent usually oneshot
• The Magic Mirror: great source of card draw, been really impressed with how easy it is to cast
• Gigadrowse: Octavia reads "cast or COPY"
• Occult Epiphany: card draw, discards, makes tokens. What more do you want?
• Sapphire Charm: does everything that the deck needs
• Visions of Beyond: surprisingly becomes ancestral recall more times than you think
• Quiet Speculation: ok so I am a +4 in graveyard for Octavia purposes while also giving flashback options. wtf
• Candlekeep Inspiration: make your whole board 15/15? Yes thanks

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	1 - 0 Mythic Rares 23 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 36 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.51
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird Illusion 1/1 U, Drake 2/2 U, Human Wizard 1/1 U, Manifest 2/2 C, Spirit 1/1 W, Squid 1/1 U