Mairsil, the Pretender EDH

Commander / EDH* UBR (Grixis)

Crafty

Creature (40)

• 1x AEtherling
• 1x Anger
• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Avatar of Woe
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Crystalline Crawler
• 1x Deranged Assistant
• 1x Disciple of the Ring
• 1x Dralnu, Lich Lord
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Goblin Welder
• 1x Grand Architect
• 1x Grinning Ignus
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Heartless Hidetsugu
• 1x Jace's Archivist
• 1x Jalira, Master Polymorphist
• 1x Jaya Ballard, Task Mage
• 1x Kamahl, Pit Fighter
• 1x Magus of the Coffers
• 1x Master Transmuter
• 1x Memnarch
• 1x Mercurial Chemister
• 1x Metalworker
• 1x Morphling
• 1x Necrotic Ooze
• 1x Nivix Guildmage
• 1x Patron of the Moon
• 1x Phantasmal Image
• 1x Quicksilver Elemental
• 1x Sigil Tracer
• 1x Spellskite
• 1x Steel Hellkite
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Torchling
• 1x Tree of Perdition
• 1x Uyo, Silent Prophet
• 1x Viashino Heretic

Land (36)

• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cavern of Souls
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Flooded Strand
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 5x Island
• 4x Mountain
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x River of Tears
• 1x Scalding Tarn
• 1x Shivan Reef
• 1x Steam Vents
• 1x Sulfur Falls
• 1x Sulfurous Springs
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Sorcery (4)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Faithless Looting
• 1x Reanimate

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Training Grounds

Commander (1)

Artifact (15)

• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Conjurer's Closet
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Helm of Possession
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Immortal Coil
• 1x Izzet Signet
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Nevinyrral's Disk
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Staff of Domination
• 1x Thousand-Year Elixir
• 1x Trading Post

Instant (3)

• 1x Ancient Excavation *list*
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Izzet Charm

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Maybeboard

Creature (31)

• 1x Arcum Dagsson
• 1x Argent Sphinx
• 1x Carnifex Demon
• 1x Cavern Harpy
• 1x Cinderhaze Wretch
• 1x Demonic Hordes
• 1x Dreamscape Artist
• 1x Eater of the Dead
• 1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 1x Falkenrath Exterminator
• 1x Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born *oversized*
• 1x Hateflayer
• 1x Hell's Caretaker
• 1x Jhoira of the Ghitu
• 1x Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1x Kuro, Pitlord
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Magus of the Bazaar
• 1x Oona, Queen of the Fae
• 1x Pili-Pala
• 1x Priest of Yawgmoth
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Sage of Hours
• 1x Scarecrone
• 1x Shifty Doppelganger
• 1x Skirsdag High Priest
• 1x Spikeshot Goblin
• 1x Syndicate Trafficker
• 1x Volrath the Fallen
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Artifact (3)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Pyromancer's Goggles
• 1x Strionic Resonator

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Mairsil's Cage

To best take advantage of Mairsil, you wanna load his cage up full of goodies. The best ways to get more bodies in your cage are:

1. Flicker Mairsil (Conjurer's Closet, etc.)

2. Bounce Mairsil (Grinning Ignus, Riptide Laboratory, etc.)

3. Clone Mairsil, keeping your original around. You still get the ETB cage effect!

4. Just let Mairsil die!

Early Cage Targets

You've got 2 big options for your first cage targets: flicker cards or big mana generation. Grabbing an Aetherling or anything similar lets you start building up abilities quickly, which you can start abusing for massive value. Your other options include caging a Gilded Lotus or Patron of the Moon to ramp incredibly hard in colors that aren't particularly good at ramping. With loads of mana, you can begin your other nonsense early.

Which Types of Cards Go In This Deck?

Obviously, you want creatures or artifacts with activated abilities. Where Mairsil really shines, however, is in caging cards with big downsides but powerful activated abilities, such as Dralnu, Lich Lord. Look for cards with incredible abilities that you can negate the downsides of!

When it comes to draw and mill, cards in hand are worth just as much as cards in the 'yard when it comes to Mairsil's ability; finding the most mana efficient way to get a card into either zone is what you're looking for. Entomb throwing a card into the graveyard is just as good as putting it into your hand!

Win Conditions

You don't want to cage your big winners early on, or you risk painting a huge target on your face. When you're ready, however, you can start loading Mairsil up with abilities such as Helm of Possession, Memnarch, Heartless Hidetsugu, or Geth, Lord of the Vault. Each game plays out vastly differently from the last; make good use of what you've drawn into and create your own lines to victory!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 57 - 0 Rares 14 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.80
Tokens	Copy Clone, Goat 0/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B