Minn, infinite Illusions

Commander / EDH* Mono-Blue

DreadedEvil

Creature (24)

• 1x Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1x Archivist
• 1x Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Enclave Cryptologist
• 1x Glasspool Mimic  ^Flip
• 1x Hullbreaker Horror
• 1x Jace's Projection
• 1x Kefnet the Mindful
• 1x Krovikan Mist
• 1x Maeve, Insidious Singer
• 1x Meloku the Clouded Mirror
• 1x Merfolk Looter
• 1x Murmuring Mystic
• 1x Nezahal, Primal Tide
• 1x Oneirophage
• 1x Phantom Steed
• 1x Scourge of Fleets
• 1x Spark Double
• 1x Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive
• 1x Thought Courier
• 1x Toothy, Imaginary Friend
• 1x Wavebreak Hippocamp
• 1x Wonder

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Anchor to Reality
• 1x Clear the Mind
• 1x Irenicus's Vile Duplication
• 1x Ravenform
• 1x Rooftop Nuisance
• 1x Sea Gate Restoration  ^Flip
• 1x Spectral Deluge

Instant (13)

• 1x Abjure
• 1x Arcane Denial
• 1x Archmage's Charm
• 1x Behold the Multiverse
• 1x Brainstorm
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Hieroglyphic Illumination
• 1x Leadership Vacuum
• 1x Mystic Confluence
• 1x Perilous Research
• 1x Read the Runes
• 1x Tragic Lesson

Artifact (11)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Endless Atlas
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Mirror Shield
• 1x Mnemonic Sphere
• 1x Neurok Stealthsuit
• 1x Nyx Lotus
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Venser's Journal

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Mordenkainen
• 1x Teferi, Master of Time

Commander (1)

Land (33)

• 1x Desert of the Mindful
• 1x High Market
• 23x Island
• 1x Lonely Sandbar
• 1x Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
• 1x Mystic Sanctuary
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Remote Isle
• 1x Riptide Laboratory
• 1x War Room

Enchantment (9)

• 1x Grafted Identity
• 1x Hard Cover
• 1x Imprisoned in the Moon
• 1x Mystic Remora
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Teferi's Ageless Insight
• 1x The Phasing of Zhalfir
• 1x Witness Protection
• 1x Wizard Class

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Minn, Wily Illusionist is a really interesting commander for a mono-blue deck. The death trigger allows easy access to ramp that mono-blue would usually struggle with, and if the illusion is powerful enough it even gets to cheat mana costs entirely for large impactful card.

There were two main options for how to build this deck. Either focus on Illusion tribal creatures, or card draw "tribal".

I figured the potential downside of focusing mostly on draw is that it means that it's a little bit harder to establish a board because it takes a while to have enough illusions on the board to make your tokens big enough to matter. It also might mean a slightly slower rebuild after a board wipe, because you're less likely to have illusions in hand to replace illusions that die during a board wipe.

On the other hand, the potential downside to focusing mostly on illusion tribal creatures is that you might run out of cards in hand and not be able to even take advantage of illusion creatures dying, and if you can't draw extra cards on each turn, then the commander won't even make many tokens to really pop off.

I decided to mainly focus on card draw "tribal", because it seemed like it would make the deck flow much more reliably.

To make Minn really work, you need to be able to draw at least one extra card during your turn and two cards during opponents turns. This can be done casting instant spells on opponents turns, but it's better to try to get as many permanents as possible on the board that can draw cards at instant speed. If you can manage to draw one extra card on your turn and two cards on each opponent's turn, you can have four X/1 illusions each time the turn order completes.

If your illusion creatures die weak, the worst case is usually going to be that you get a free land ramp to be able to cast more spells later. Once there are enough illusions on the board, you will be mostly immune to the effects of a board wipe and they will pose a serious threat just with potential combat damage or act as effective blockers.

It's important with this deck to try and get the effect that you have no maximum hand size, because with the ridiculous amount of card draw you want to be doing, you want to keep those cards so that you have lots of options. The goal is to get to a point where you can actually draw 8 cards per turn cycle.

Many of the draw effects also require discarding a card, and that's intentional. There are multiple cards in the deck that shuffle the graveyard back into the deck so as to prevent possibly decking out from drawing so many cards, but if you are making four X/1 illusions each cycle, it's really not even likely that the game would last that long anyways.

If you manage to build a solid board presence that can sustain itself and draw cards without needing to spend much mana on each turn cycle, it will probably be best to leave most of your mana unused on your own turn, so you can respond threats with targeted removal or one sided instant speed board wipes.

I think the main weakness to this deck will be that it really needs the commander alive to function. If two board wipes come through, or if the equipment cards that can protect the commander don't come out quickly, then a targeted removal followed by a board wipe could be devastating.

Date added	1 year
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.36
Tokens	Bird 1/1 U, Bird Illusion 1/1 U, Copy Clone, Dog Illusion */* U, Emblem Mordenkainen, Foretell, Illusion 1/1 U w/ Flying, Illusion 1/1 U w/ Illusion Tribal, Phyrexian 2/2 B