I've got some experience with playing Brago as a commander. I just want to to point out that, a planeswalker-heavy brago deck is the way to go. Jace Beleren, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Karn Liberated and Elspeth, Sun's Champion are all great in this kind of deck. The small jace gives you an insane amount of card advantage, the big jace is.. well incredible. Karn can become vey VERY hard to deal with if you can activate him every turn to exile a card in hand AND a permanent. Elspeth seems underwhelming maybe at first, but she helped me deal with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite-pumped boards, with a bunch of flying blockers, and then make some chumps after.

But, I have to say, the best way of abusing Brago, King Eternal is through Tezzeret the Seeker . Usually if I can get Tezzeret and a brago trigger, I win the game. This is usually what I do, get Tezzeret to -3 and get a Rings of Brighthearth, then flicker Tezzeret and -3 again, this time copying the activation with rings, tutoring for Basalt Monolith and Sensei's Divining Top. These artifacts get you infinite colorless mana and can get you to draw your enitre deck (by copying top's draw ability and casting top over and over with the infinite mana). OR you can get Strionic Resonator if your board allows you to win like this.

Another big thing Brago does, is something that a blue deck absolutely loves, you can play spells with artifact mana, and he untaps your manarocks after (so you have access to your mana to counter stuff). In my brago deck I usually run Mana Vault, Basalt Monolith, Grim Monolith, Mana Crypt, Azorius Signet, Gilded Lotus, Mind Stone, Sol Ring, Talisman of Progress, Mox Opal and Sculpting Steel. This way, you REALLY really don't need 39 lands, you can go as low as 32 lands if you get the really good artifact ramp. it makes your draws much more interesting and your starts way more explosive. But to be honest, I don't think most decks can even use such a high number of lands (maybe a deck that's land-themed). Another good thing about artifact mana is, that Strionic Resonator becomes a valid win-condition. If you can make at least 2 mana with artifacts, you can copy the Brago trigger, let the copy resolve with the original trigger on the stack, the copied ability blinks the artifact mana and the Strionic Resonator, which makes an infinite loop because you can copy the trigger again before the first trigger resolves. Add a Venser, Shaper Savant to bounce everything your opponents control, or a Spine of Ish Sah, Frost Titan, or Knight-Captain of Eos for infinite tokens.

That's also why Trinket Mage is so powerful in a good Brago deck. Kor Cartographer is cute, but not nearly as cool as Solemn Simulacrum, I suggest you move to more artifact mana than actual land ramping (azorius colors aren't good at this, so stick to better and faster alternatives I'd say).

Aven Riftwatcher doesn't really fit in a edh deck I think, it doesn't really do anything. Even if you're blinking it. Same goes for Auramancer most times. The coolest thing you can do with her is recurring Soul Snare, which is not really that amazing. You don't need 2 Duplicant effects I think, you can cut Phyrexian Ingester imo. I'm also not entirely sold on War Priest of Thune, you should probably cut him in favor of an Enlightened Tutor (grabbing you Act of Authority, which is way better, or anything you might need otherwise), The tutor is also VERY effective if you move to a manabase that is more artifact-based.

Some things you need to have for Brago's sake: Swiftfoot Boots, Thassa, God of the Sea, Rogue's Passage. I've also noticed that you use Sunblast Angel and your only equipments you run grant your Brago shroud, which doesn't allow you to target himself, so you're basically killing your Brago in the process.

Your focus of redundancy is kind of weird to me, you run Stonehorn Dignitary, Magus of the Moat and Knight-Captain of Eos all in the same deck, this seems overly defensive to me. Brago wants to swing in fast and get insane quantities of card advantage fast, not be a grindy control deck, I think. One of those should be fine, and if I'd have to choose, I'd go for the Knight-Captain (because I could sac Elspeth's soldiers if for some reason, Brago isn't swinging).

Gilded Drake is amazing and a must in every blue deck. Yeah you're giving them a blocker, but Venser, the Sojourner is so SO juicy in this scenario (first, you -1 making everyone unblockable, then blink venser and your other stuff, then use venser's +2 to blink Drake and steal something every turn). Also Jace, the Mind Sculptor bounces Drake to your hand and does this to an amazing degree with Brago as your commander.

Palinchron is amazing with Brago, it grants you great flexibility with your mana thanks to the blinking. And he's an infinite combo with Deadeye Navigator, which in turn grants you access to a lot of infinite combos. And this will most likely result in you winning the game.

Spell Crumple is outclassed by Hinder, especially because you're running both Mnemonic Wall and Snapcaster Mage, which don't interact with Spell Crumple at all. I also recommend trying Pact of Negation, Force of Will and Cryptic Command. At some point I even put in Decree of Silence (because of the insane amount of fast artifact mana I was getting) It was a lot of fun watching people reading the Decree they've never seen before, looking at Brago and then scooping up their cards. If you would change to Archaeomancer from Mnemonic Wall, you could include Time Warp. The wall also works with Brago, but Archaeomancer can also work with Riptide Laboratory for infinite turns.

I recommend also cutting some blink spells like Otherworldly Journey in favor of some good and cheap removal like Unexpectedly Absent and Swords to Plowshares.

I haven't gotten the chance to test this guy in Brago, but Clever Impersonator seems like he could do some insane stuff. Consecrated Sphinx is kind of amazing in every blue deck. Stoneforge Mystic is also very good in this kind of deck. You can grab Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, Sword of Feast and Famine and if you have the space for it, Sword of Fire and Ice (fire and ice also protects you from Chaos Warp, Gilded Drake, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, and any blue flying blockers like a Swan Song token)

Wow, a very detailed analysis, thanks! I'll give my thoughts point-by-point, since you were kind enough to type all that out.

I've been looking for another direction for this deck, and I think the Planeswalker theme is a great suggestion. As soon as I am able, I'll definitely be leaning in that direction. Even without the Planeswalker theme, Strionic Resonator has definitely been putting in work with Venser and the other cards you mentioned that are already in the deck.

Artifact mana base would definitely be the right call for a more streamlined deck - it is unquestionably better, but I don't think my meta is cutthroat enough to where I would need the extra efficiency. Also, I simply don't have enough copies of those cards to run them in multiple decks, and Brago got the short end of the stick. Still, good suggestion.

Auramancer and War Priest of Thune are easy cuts. Coolest thing Auramancer has done was allowed me to recur Parallax Wave multiple times for the win... but honestly that probably isn't consistent enough to warrant Auramancer's inclusion. Aven Riftwatcher, has saved my bacon in a couple games. It's jank, but it's cute jank; could be another good cut regardless. One card that I just enjoy too much to cut, however, has gotta be Stonehorn Dignitary. I see your point, but after playing a few games with it, it's definitely become a pet card for me (for this deck at least).

Your point about Shroud and my lack of additional unblockability has been dully noted.

Gilded Drake - I wish! Been looking for one of those suckers forever, and I really don't want to shell over the $15 for one, honestly. As for Palichron x Deadeye, already have the combo in another deck, and I hate repeating infinite combos between decks. Personal call, really.

Otherworldly Journey has been trash in testing. Momentary Blink has been the bomb, though.

Thanks again for the feedback! Once I get some cash in my pocket, I think a Planeswalker heavy theme is a given. I'll be sure to update this list when that happens.

Dude, i just sent ATREYUty a pizza. You should do the same. nothing but the worst for a rotten scammer like him.

Altar of the Brood and Cloudform/Lightform.

+1 check out mine?

Blinking Contest

Commander / EDH SorinDankov

SCORE: 72 | 147 COMMENTS | 10013 VIEWS

I suggest adding Custodi Soulbinders, it gives you more and more tokens each time Brago attacks, and each time it enters the battlefield, it gets stronger.

Cards like Slip Through Space are also a good choice to add, because it makes Brago unblockable and for a measly 1 blue mana.