Building Mono-Blue Group Hug Lady Octopus in Commander

Posted on October 7, 2025

Hello and happiest of days today! Today I wanted to give you my next deck around this next new Commander with a different Group Hug brew here:

Here she is. Costing just one mana, on a fun and strong 0/2 body with turning your drawing your first two cards on any turn into counters on her. You can tap her for no mana or other costs to cast, for free, an artifact at her counters total or less too and it doesn't pull them off either. Nice, right? My goal in this brew is to add in card drawing for all to trigger her and then pricier stuff for wins later.

Mana, Ramp, Lands

Alright, let's get started with my land choices. The Blue tapping land can arrive untapped and ready to be used, and then with a Blue to make my next spell castable with improvise which is like convoke for your artifacts. Great here! Then the colorless tapping with four-mana to proliferate also seems pretty useful here on our leader.

The one with a Blue-sounding name (Mikokoro, Center of the Sea) taps with two to have everyone draw one and then the one with a Black sounding name (Geier Reach Sanitarium) also taps for two as well, this time to have everyone loot one.

Next are my artifact synergy lands. The Mycosynth Gardens taps for colorless and with one for one of any color for mana smoothing. You can tap it with X to have this copy your nontoken artifact with its cost. That doesn't end. Then the colorless tapper Fomori Vault can tap with three to discard and then dig your artifact count and draw.

Now let's turn to card draw on other turns like War Room or Desert of the Mindful or Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital. The Desert ETBs tapped but it cycles and then I tossed all but Ash Barrens. Then the Town has a sorcery half at six for a great milling win-con of half of their library.

The uncommon Blue mana painland once we hit threshold can be sacked for one mana to draw and discard three. Then the Town can tap with two to maybe make a Treasure and then with three to sac two artifacts to draw a card. I also tossed in Phyrexia's Core for more artifact sacking.

Now let's finish up with some mana rocks! I tossed in many that can be sacked for cards like Mind Stone and then this Manalith with seven to draw equal to our land count with different names. Then the four-drop one taps for two and then with two to sac and exile opposing graveyards and then draw too. Then the six-drop arrives with three cards, taps for three and then folks can steal it and then get the same value over time in our Group Hug side.

Good Synergies and Win Conditions

And now let's turn to my win-cons here. The first obvious place is the five-drop artifact dork with a size equal to our hand! When we draw, we ting our foes a damage - that's pretty strong, then the three-drop rock above can Black Vise all foes and then the two-drop will shoot them for four damage with a full grip.

Next up are two great Future Sights for artifacts. The five-cost legendary dork Mm'menon, the Right Hand with a 3/4 flying body will also let your stuff tap for mana to cast them too, but not your hand. Then the four-drop artifact Mystic Forge will also let you cast colorless stuff too and then you can tap it with a life loss to exile and then get better goods.

Now let's turn to ways to keep you alive. Often Group Hug decks try to make friends and then send them elsewhere, but that may not work with her once you start dropping the stuff, so we need to keep us alive. The three-drop artifact Crawlspace will stop more than two attacking you, but not others. Then the dork Silent Arbiter only lets one attack and block each turn, but that's you too, so beware and have an out if you need to drop it to keep you alive. Maze of Ith also works.

Gate to the Aether costs six for the ability in people's upkeep to drop a permanent from the top of their library! Then the four-drop Braids, Conjurer Adept will let everyone-drop free non-enchantments in their upkeep. Both are great here with our higher stuff and then making friends too.

There is a four-drop artifact that gives all of your stuff flash - essential here with most of our permanents you can drop out or be the first one to draw from our Howling Mine. Then the win-con 11/11 trample and infecter on a 12 drop is here too to make that kill. I also tossed in the Darksteel version.

And now let's turn to this pair to protect our sweet investments! The four-drop dork gives our artifacts hexproof to stop targeted interaction and then also a bit of card draw if we have the priciest one. Then the nine-drop artifact gives them indestructible to shut down all removal too. Those are great to flash out too.

Next up are classic ways to keep you alive, with hexproof or indestructible that's hard to answer. The flying 4/4 Platinum Angel just stops all foes from winning and you from losing on the board, great! Then the eight-drop Golem Platinum Emperion is grounded but can shut down your life total from even moving! Great early to stop life drop, but worse since your foes can still win.

This deck could use an artifact tutor beyond the Fair in land form, so I tossed in the uncommon instant Scour for Scrap that can also Regrowth one too. The eight-drop artifact Darksteel Monolith will let us cast for free one colorless spell per turn.

The five-drop turns our artifacts that arrive into token copies for two mana. Then the seven-drop one gives our team all of the iconic Akroma stuff!

Answers

Now let's turn to answers, starting with counters. Every counter that has us and our foes draw is here. I prefer the three-cost since our foes only draw one. Then the spreeable one that counters, draws two and discards one and then makes a token copy of what we are buildingaround must be here too, right? You'll trigger our leader twice while making a token of our best stuff and countering.

The seven-drop Spine of Ish Sah arrives and destroys any permanent from lands to battles! Then when it dies you can recur it, nice for twice. Then the eight-drop trampling 8/8 Cityscape Leveler has both a cast and attack trigger to destroy one and they'll get a Powerstone, but cannot destroy lands.

Next, I wanted to punish folks for bringing the heat at me by mass-bouncing them to their hand with Aetherspouts or Aetherize. Or you can drop Portal to Phyrexia to make everyone else mass-sac three of their creatures as sorta mass removal and you get a free Reanimate each of your upkeeps too.

Card Draw and by Group Hug

And now? Card draw via Group Hug good stuff. I started with taps so you can trigger our leader on other folks turns. The two-drop artifact in Blue shuts down all discarding due to max hand size by everyone. It taps with XX for each player to draw X and then with three to have each foe mill their hand size. Then the three-drop colorless one taps for no mana and then taps with nothing to get each person to draw.

Font of Mythos has everyone draw two extra on their turn, a double Howling Mine! Then the three-drop Horn of Greed makes every player draw a card upon their landfall!

The legendary one-costs five and then doubles our life gain or card draw for our stuff after the first. Then the two-drop 1/2 dork taps for nothing to have everyone Loot!

Who is ready for the good stuff?