Making Lazav, Dimir Mastermind the commander for my Dimir deck didn’t come easy. There were many other viable choices in blue/black that had come before, and I had already considered what I’d do with a number of them when it came time to build a Dimir deck in my quest to build at least one deck of each color combination (and yes, Sevi Alvarez of the forums, I do plan to build a colorless one, but no, I’m not sketching out four-color decks in anticipation of eventual four-color Commanders because most of my decks are designed top-down). Before we get to Lazav, here are some thoughts on the other Dimir color choices.

Circu, Dimir Lobotomist: Awesome because he has Dimir in his name; doubly awesome because of the cool abilities to exile cards. Recursion is such a common Commander strategy that taking some of it away via exile is also very strong. The doubly effective ability to take away your other opponents’ ability to play what Circu has exiled is great, especially if you tend to see many similar decks in your local groups. Imagine exiling one person’s Sensei’s Divining Top, thereby not only preventing someone else from playing it but preventing someone who has one on the battlefield from making repeated use of its card draw ability.

What I had in mind for Circu was a simple control deck with multiple low cost spells to take advantage of his ability. Instead of using activated abilities for card draw (like Arcanis, the Omnipotent and Jayemdae Tome), I would have used spells (Jace’s Ingenuity, Divination) and then multiple methods of reshuffling my graveyard (Elixir of Immortality, at least on Eldrazi). Thinking about this deck is what originally got me on to the Isochron Scepter plan that you’ll see in the Lazav deck because you’re casting the copy, meaning you’ll get a Circu trigger.

Dralnu, Lich Lord: It didn’t take me long to figure out that this is way too dangerous to play around with in games that go longer. When Dralnu first came out, there weren’t that many mass damage spells getting played in the format (mostly just Earthquake and a little bit of Fault Line), but now we see plenty of Chain Reaction and Blasphemous Act. Playing Dralnu seems like you’re just waiting for the big blowout.

Grimgrin, Corpse Born: If I didn’t already have a Lord of Tresserhorn Zombie deck, Grimgrin would have been the obvious choice to play with the undead. He made it into the Lord of Tresserhorn deck as one of 99 because he’s really strong. If I were to build Grimgrin, I’d take my existing Zombie deck and start by (obviously) removing the red, which accounts for only six cards. Those six cards, however, are all crazy good: Deathbringer Thoctar, Anathemancer, Goblin Bombardment, Grab the Reins, Rakdos Charm, and one of my favorite drop-your-trousers cards, Red Elemental Blast.

I’d then replace them with more things (already having Grave Pact) that make sacrificing my stuff relevant, like Thornbite Staff, Dross Harvester (even though it’s not a Zombie), and Black Market or maybe try to get some mileage out of Faces of the Past. I’d definitely port over Dawn of the Dead from Thraximundar since I’d have a free sacrifice outlet to keep the regrown creature from getting exiled (plus it fits the Zombie theme).

Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker: The latest addition to the possible Dimir commanders, Mirko seems more like a role-player in a "what Lazav seems built for" mill deck than a commander in his own right. That said, if I were building with Mirko, I’d probably still build a mill deck and then wonder why I wasn’t using Lazav.

Nebuchadnezzar: Just janky enough to be an interesting commander, I’d build Nebuchadnezzar with lots of effects that make everyone play with their hands revealed, like Telepathy and Field of Dreams. He’d also be a commander that would tempt me to play a discard deck so that I’d be more likely to hit on his ability. The card that fits with him thematically and becomes a powerful political tool is Zur’s Weirding, although I’m not a fan of locking people out of the game.

Oona, Queen of the Fae: Oona is extremely dangerous. You can lay at her feet some of the blame for Painter’s Servant being on the banned list. I’ve seen many powerful builds with her in charge, but I honestly haven’t seen anything all that interesting. I’d try to go outside the box with her, maybe making the creatures matter—focusing on the Rogue side instead of the Faerie since I don’t think I’ve seen it done before. That puts all the prowl cards into consideration, most notably Notorious Throng. Maybe it’d be as simple playing Rogue Tribal and dropping down Coat of Arms.

Princess Lucrezia: Pretty close to unplayable for her ability, I’d try to capture the "Evil Queen" theme that the card’s art suggests, maybe even trying to craft the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves with her. Unfortunately, there are only three Dwarves in blue/black: Balthor the Defiled; Irini Sengir; and Reveka, Wizard Savant.

Ramirez DePietro: Pirates, yo.

Ramses Overdark: Director of R&D Aaron Forsythe has long had a Ramses deck featuring recurring Auras like Despondency and Casting of Bones to put onto opponents’ creatures and then murder them. In fact, I like the deck so much that I’m going to do an "Other People’s Decks" feature on it next week.

Riven Turnbull: In the Princess Lucrezia category with less inspiring art.

Sivitri Scarzam: *sigh*

Skeleton Ship: What’s the coolest thing you can do with -1/-1 counters? Put them on persist creatures that are about to die. Take that, Woodfall Primus. I’d be tempted to go with some form of Skeleton tribal theme, but there are only 36 Skeletons in Magic (as opposed to 291 Zombies).

Sygg, River Cutthroat: A card drawing machine, Sygg would lead my army of dark Merfolk featuring Merrow Reejerey. Also check out Merrow Bonegnawer for a Hidden Gem. I’d also have a few passive life drain things going on, like Forsaken Wastes; Urborg Stalker; Seizan, Perverter of Truth; and Copper Tablet to help make sure I’d draw on everyone’s turn no matter what.

Szadek, Lord of Secrets: Conceding that he’s probably a little expensive to be effective as a commander that you cast multiple times, I’d probably go all-in on Szadek control, using more than my normal suite of counterspells to try to keep him alive. Whispersilk Cloak, Swiftfoot Boots, and/or Lightning Greaves would be requirements. Because there are Eldrazi running around the format, graveyard hate that can be used as instants, like Scrabbling Claws and Cremate, would be necessary. There’s also the Leyline of the Void plan.

Ur-Drago: The only way to build Ur-Drago is to figure out a way to give everything Swampwalk so that you can block it.

Vela the Night-Clad: She suggests Ninjas, but I think I’d take her along the line of creature rushes (Sygg, River Cutthroat making a nice companion) and some bounce things like Umbilicus to clear the path, get reuse out of your enters-the-battlefield creatures, and get some Vela action as well. I’d still play a Ninja or two, like Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni and Ninja of the Deep Hours, but that’s because they’re simply solid.

Wrexial, the Risen Deep: You know someone is playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, so Wrexial becomes effectively unblockable. I’d once again go all-in on a commander damage strategy, using Wrexial’s triggered ability to support the damage effort and keep the other players in check. I’d do something to get Wrexial’s power up to seven, whether that’s Glen Elendra Liege or Sword of Fire and Ice, in order to put someone on the three-turn clock. A little discard would be interesting, especially if you suspect your opponents are playing Time Walk effects.

Wydwen, the Biting Gale: Wydwen having flash suggests keeping up mana for control strategies. I would build her with a heavy Wizard Tribal theme complete with Azami, Lady of Scrolls and fifteen-to-twenty other Wizards (of which you have 324 choices in blue/black, so salt and pepper to taste).

With all those great choices (okay, and some not so great ones), why was I happy that I waited for Lazav? Because each of the four times I’ve played it so far, it’s been a great deal of fun. It’s required some serious thought and difficult choices and has always had a significant impact on the game. Even in the ones I lost, I felt like I was a major factor, which is really what I want out of a Commander deck. I’d much rather have interesting and epic losses than boring wins. Here’s the list:

Lazav, Dimir Mastermind

Sheldon Menery

0th Place at Test deck on 04-16-2015

Commander

Creatures (27)

Planeswalkers (4)

Lands (37)

Why Play It?

It’s enjoyable and interactive. It requires constant attention to the board state and some difficult choices. Because it relies on what the other players cast, it always plays differently. The most interesting to me is that since you’re copying stuff from everyone else, you can end up seeing interactions between cards that aren’t normally in the same deck.

You’ll Like This Deck If…

You like non-obvious builds for build-around commanders.

You like copying stuff in general.

You like letting other players spend piles of mana to cast stuff that you copy for less.

You like themes.

You like to draw cards.

You like stuff that you haven’t thought of before happening.

You hate people messing with your commander.

You Won’t Like This Deck If…

You like ramping into fatties.

You don’t want to spend a great deal of time thinking about what the best play might be given a large number of choices.

You enjoy the possibility of a god hand and quick wins.

You want a deck that plays the same every time.

You don’t care to learn rule 613 (layers, specifically the copy one) inside and out.

What Does It Do?

The deck has a Clone theme with a Shapeshifter subtheme, so it copies other creatures. I hate to overuse the term "value," but it’s here. Clone and copy is a good strategy because you’re simply paying less mana for things than the people who originally cast them. That means you can watch two players before you cast large things and are able to copy both of them on the same turn.

One of main features of the deck is Isochron Scepter. There are ten different things that can be imprinted on it (Brainstorm, Darkness, Dimir Charm, Go For the Throat, Interdict, Pongify, Rapid Hybridization, Shadow of Doubt, Trickbind, and Twincast), all of which can lead to awesomeness and none of which are too overpowered. There’s no way to untap it and go infinite, although I suppose you don’t need to Twincast someone else’s Time Stretch too many times.

There is a little bit of mill, a little bit of discard, and a little bit of creature kill, all designed to have multiple different ways to make Lazav into something cool. This gives the deck a great flexibility, but it also leads to having to do a great deal of thought about what to use your tools on. Sometimes, like when someone mills Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, the choice whether or not to copy it with Lazav is obvious. Other times, you have to read the board state and your hand. If you want or need to use Lazav defensively, you might have to copy a smaller creature with flying or less power and more toughness.

When I built the deck, I thought that the card draw might be a little light, but play (although admittedly a small data sample size) has proven otherwise. Early Rhystic Study is always going to yield a fistful of cards, and Arcanis the Omnipotent staying online for a few turns fills up the hand quite nicely. What I hadn’t considered during building is there are creatures to copy that will also draw cards. Solemn Simulacrum is the best example of value cloning. Remember, however, that copying Solemn Simulacrum with Lazav isn’t going to do much unless you let him go to the graveyard instead of being returned to the command zone.

Once Lazav is on board, only tuck and mass destruction effects are likely to get rid of him since he keeps hexproof, although you always have to be wary of combat tricks. Especially with evasion and trample, he can deal commander damage fairly quickly.

What Doesn’t It Do?

The obvious build for Lazav is a mill deck, which is exactly why I didn’t go for it, choosing instead the Shapeshifter theme. There’s a small amount of mill in Geth, Lord of the Vault; Jace, Memory Adept; and possibly Consult the Necrosages. Sure, Traumatizing someone and getting the choice of half of their deck is cool, but I’d prefer to let people cast cool creatures, copy them, kill them, and have Lazav become another copy of them.

It doesn’t ramp very well. It has a few mana rocks (Dimir Cluestone, Dimir Signet, Sol Ring), but it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever lead the race for most lands in play. The good news is that the curve is pretty tight, so you can operate without needing ten lands on the battlefield.

The deck doesn’t do so well recovering from a Living Death, even if there are many Shapeshifters in the graveyard. You have to copy stuff that’s already in play (you can’t get something that’s coming in at the same time), so Living Death will blank a fair number of your creatures.

How Does It Lose?

It doesn’t have too much defense against fast creature swarms. Aetherize; Evacuation; Jace, Architect of Thought; and Cyclonic Rift can provide some help and Darkness is a Black Fog, but other than that the deck struggles a little against the hyperaggressive G/R and G/R/x strategies. That said, if they’re creating a bunch of tokens or have a tribal strategy, Tsabo’s Web can be a huge blowout (and is a bona fide Hidden Gem).

Because it mostly copies creatures, spell-based combo strategies are likely to be effective against it. There aren’t any counterspells, but Trickbind and Shadow of Doubt might do some solid anti-combo work. Otherwise, you don’t have much defense against raw combo.

As I’ve already experienced, the deck can also lose when you make the wrong choices. In one of the games, I had the choice of making Lazav into Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts or Angelic Arbiter. I thought that Teysa would be enough of a rattlesnake for the Teneb player who had a fair number of mid-power creatures in play. His Craterhoof Behemoth disagreed to the ruin of us all. It turns out that Teysa’s trigger doesn’t matter when you’re dead.

Cards That Aren’t There

Obviously we don’t have the space to discuss the 14,000 cards that aren’t in this deck. I’ll mention some notable omissions.

Brine Elemental: Even with Vesuvan Shapeshifter in the deck, I’m not a Pickles Lock kind of guy.

Damnation: I didn’t have an extra copy (remember this is deck #22), and in this build I’d prefer select one-for-ones to mass sweepers. Go for the Throat lets me take advantage of Lazav, whereas Damnation doesn’t.

Grave Pact: I don’t really have enough sacrifice effects to make it worthwhile. Grave Pact simply as a "don’t kill my creatures" rattlesnake is giving up the major power of the card.

Jace’s Erasure: I wanted a little bit of mill, and this got some consideration. It ended up cut for space.

Kokusho, the Evening Star: Without recursion, Koko Puffs loses a great deal of its strength. I also figured that if I really wanted one someone else would be playing it.

Nezumi Graverobber: While killing great creatures and then being able to reanimate them is attractive, the mana intensity of the Graverobber seemed prohibitive.

Oblivion Stone: Probably the card which I’ve regretted most not putting in, having the occasional complete reset button is probably a good idea. I’ll look for anything that’s underperforming to possibly swap out for it.

Phyrexian Arena: The card draw ended up being good enough, and I’m playing it in several other decks.

Puppeteer Clique: One of my favorite cards ever, it didn’t make the cut because I’m simply playing it in too many other decks.

Rogue’s Passage: Making Lazav unblockable can be quite solid, but I passed on Rogue’s Passage for two reasons. One, it makes colorless mana, and the deck is kind of color hungry. Two, it effectively costs five mana (the four in the activation cost plus Rogue’s Passage itself). The deck is a little tight on mana, so it’s unlikely to be able to do something really cool AND activate Rogue’s Passage on the same turn.

Szadek, Lord of Secrets: While it certainly merited consideration, Szadek is on the heavy mill plan, and that’s not the direction I wanted to go.

Vesuvan Doppelganger: I’ll admit to forgetting this in the initial build. In honor of the late, great Quinton Hoover, I’m going to have to add one.

Wrexial, the Risen Deep: It was either Wrexial or Mindleech Mass. I ultimately decided to go with the older favorite that can also cast a creature.

Summary

The deck is unintentionally nearly completely Modern-legal. Take out four lands (Command Tower, Darkwater Catacombs, Tainted Isle, and Volrath’s Stronghold) and six other cards (Brainstorm, Interdict, Rhystic Study, Sakashima’s Student, Syphon Mind, and Tsabo’s Decree)—all of which are strong and none of which are critical—and you’re legal. I think that says a great deal about the quality of cards being produced these days by our friends in R&D.

By its very nature of waiting to see what opponents do and then copying it, this deck doesn’t really play the same twice, which I see as a strength, not a weakness. Instead of the simple decision of what to cast, you have to make the complex decision of what to cast and then what to do with what you cast, which is quite dependent on the board state. Having a deeper decision tree makes you think more, and that can only make you a better player—which is the second most important thing after being fun that you want a deck to do.

Remember to tune in Friday at 9 AM local San Diego time as we start coverage of Pro Tour Dragon’s Maze. Join Brian David-Marshall, Marshall Sutcliffe, Rich Hagon, Rashad Miller, Zac Hill, and yours truly for all the exciting action!

Continuing The Chromatic: Lazav, Dimir Mastermind