Hello everyone. I'm Levi from The Thought Vessel, and I typically write the Commander Kryptonite series here at CoolStuffInc, among other things. This series allows me to thoroughly examine some of the strongest commanders the format has to offer, identifying both their capabilities and weaknesses.

Admittedly, I am biased toward my beloved Azorius (Blue/White), but I was surprised at the lack of excitement around Leo & Don, Problem Solvers when it was spoiled. Admittedly, it looks like just another Azorius blink deck, and the results so far have shown this.

At the time of writing, there have only been 43 decks in the EDHREC database for Leo & Don, and none of them have really explored what the commander is capable of. Of course, to truly understand why I am so excited for this commander, we have to look at what this card actually does and how it compares to its peers.

The Commander

Don & Leo, Problem Solvers is a 4/6 Mutant Ninja Turtle with Vigilance for five total mana. More importantly, on our end step, we can exile up to one target artifact and up to one target creature we control and return them to play.

It should be noted that it doesn't say "non creature artifact," so we could exile two creatures as long as at least one of them was an artifact creature. This type of mechanic is called "blinking" or "flickering." These types of effects are typically used on creatures or permanents that have some type of enter the battlefield effect or leave the battlefield effect to produce a value engine that can be repeated.

These commanders tend to lean into the economic side of game play, which wants to win a long game by having the most resources. Of course, with creatures that spot removal effects, we also see a lot of blink decks acting as control decks too.

Typically, these decks will win with either token generation or a combo. Don & Leo have the potential to play either economically or controlling since their effect is open-ended. But have we seen this effect before? Let's take a look.

Similar Commanders

When we think about commanders that can do similar things to Leo & Don, two commanders come to mind - Brago, King Eternal, and Thassa, Deep-Dwelling.

The most popular commander in the Blink archetype is Brago, by a wide margin and rightfully so. With its ability to blink an entire board every time it connects for combat damage, there is a reason "King" is in the name. The main issue here is that everyone is aware of how powerful Brago is since it has been so dominant in this space for over a decade.

This means that in a pod for the commander, the table is going to be on high alert for this guy, making it very difficult to push through opposition. Don & Leo, and Brago have a lot in common as far as what they are capable of, but we'll get into that later.

Mechanically, the most similar commander we have to Don & Leo is Thassa, Deep-Dwelling. On our end step, Thassa allows us to exile one creature we control and return it into play under our control.

That is an important specification because if we were to steal a card with an enchantment like Mind Control, we could blink the creature to lock that theft in. Thassa also has the added bonus of being indestructible, making it difficult to remove.

Don & Leo bring two things to the table that Thassa does not: First is the color white, which significantly opens up our card quality; second, we can also exile an artifact with our creature, doubling the value, which is integral to our game plan.

Don & Leo's Game Plan

The objective of this deck is to use our value and removal pieces simultaneously to take the lead of resources from the rest of the board while keeping our opponents off balance. While we keep our opponents off balance and we accrue value, we are going to be searching for one of our several combo lines to close out the game.

The main focal point of this deck, where it differs from both Brago and Thassa, is that we're not required to go to combat, and we can generate combos with our one artifact and enchantment.

Since this deck wants to use two-card combos to win, the expectation is that we play this deck in Bracket 4, but to drive the point home further, this is a Bracket 4 commander without a single Game Changer. We will have the same pool of cards as a Bracket 2 deck, but the inevitability and interaction of this archetype make it simply not matter.

Important Cards

Before we get to the win conditions of the deck, we should look at some of the important cards that keep our engines running smoothly.

I love Riptide Gearhulk in this deck. Being able to tuck one non-land permanent from each opponent, third from the top of the library, is a great ability. What makes this card so good for Don & Leo is that it is an artifact creature, so we can use our blink effect on Gearhulk for either the artifact or creature each turn.

If our opponents don't draw into an answer in the next two cards of their deck, they simply won't draw into anything new, as we can consistently put everything they have already played back on top of their deck.

Aether Channeler is another card I refuse to shut up about. For 3 mana, as an enter the battlefield effect, we can choose between bouncing a permanent, making a 1/1 flying token, or drawing a card. All three of these effects are relevant, and it's really nice having the choices all on one card.

Glen Elendra Archmage isn't a typical blink creature but exiling it to bring it back to play has a very interesting effect. Once in play, we can pay to sacrifice this creature to counter a non-creature spell. Typically, Glen Elendra Archmage would come back into play with a -1/-1 counter and could only be used one more time before being removed, but by blinking it, we can remove the counter and reset the card entirely.

Agent of Treachery helps out a lot in those long, grindy games where things simply aren't going according to plan. As Agent of Treachery enters play, we can steal a permanent from our opponent, and if we control three cards we don't own, we can draw three cards on our end step. Combining this card with Don and Leo, we get a repeatable theft machine so we can use our opponents' resources instead of removing them.

Dour Port-Mage is a quiet hero of this deck, providing us with card advantage every time we blink one of our creatures. In a pinch, we can even tap Port-Mage for to return a creature we control to our hand to spare them from removal, or to recast it for an extra enter the battlefield effect.

But enough about the value pieces, let's look at how we are going to win.

The Combos

The first combo should be no stranger to any Brago players out there. We are going to copy Don & Leo's triggered ability while it is on the stack. For our copy, we are going to target Strionic Resonator and a creature that can give us mana like Peregrine Drake or Cloud of Faeries.

Cloud of Faeries would require at least one land that can produce one or more mana to be able to gain mana, so we have added Azorius Chancery, Temple of the False God, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and Uthros, Titanic Godcore, to help facilitate that. If we don't have Strionic Resonator in play, we can also use Peter Parker's Camera for the same effect, since when we blink the camera, the film counters will reset.

As I mentioned earlier, we can also use Brago's win conditions in our deck since he is in our 99. When Brago deals combat damage, we can blink any number of nonland permanents. If we have Strionic Resonator or Peter Parker's Camera with 2 mana from mana sources, we can copy this effect over and over to win the game in a similar fashion, but it's a little cleaner to pull off, and it's less restrictive than using Don & Leo, even if it's more telegraphed.

Speaking of Peregrine Drake, we also have Deadeye Navigator in the deck to pair up. With two total mana, we can blink our Drake to untap five lands, netting us 3 mana with each activation. Once we repeat this enough times to generate infinite mana, we can blink Deadeye Navigator to repair with a different creature to make infinite tokens, draw our entire deck, or do whatever else we want to do to win the game.

On the more abstract side of our combos, we have Archaeomancer and Time Warp. We cast Time Warp to get an extra turn. On our end, we blink Archaeomancer to get our Time Warp back. On our next turn, we recast our Warp and repeat. For the rest of the game, it's our turn, and we can win with something as simple as an evasive creature.

Preston, the Vanisher is a great value piece, making 0/1 white Illusion tokens whenever a creature comes into play under our control after being blinked. With Felidar Guardian, however, this creates an infinite army. When Felidar is blinked, the 0/1 Illusion token can target the original Felidar Guardian while the original blinks a land to untap it. With this loop, we have infinite 0/1 creatures, infinite mana, and infinite blink triggers of whatever is in play.

Finally, we have a combo built up of organically powerful cards for this deck in Displacer Kitten, Teferi, Time Raveler, and either Sol Ring or another mana rock that can produce more than it costs to cast.

When we cast a non-creature spell, the Displacer Kitten will blink Teferi. Teferi then activates its -3 ability to put our tapped Sol Ring back into our hand. We use one of the 2 mana to recast the Sol Ring and reset the loop to be used again.

Looking at the Deck List

This deck contains six unique combos that all work organically, without needing a single Game Changer. With the clones in the deck, there are even more possibilities beyond the six combos that I spoke about today.

Let's take a look at the full list.

Problem Solved | Commander | Levi Perry

• Commander (1)
• 1 Don & Leo, Problem Solvers

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Aether Channeler
• 1 Agent of Treachery
• 1 Archaeomancer
• 1 Brago, King Eternal
• 1 Cloud of Faeries
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Delivery Moogle
• 1 Displacer Kitten
• 1 Dour Port-Mage
• 1 Felidar Guardian
• 1 Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore
• 1 Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Peregrine Drake
• 1 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1 Preston, the Vanisher
• 1 Riptide Gearhulk
• 1 Sea Gate Oracle
• 1 Skyclave Apparition
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Soulherder
• 1 Starfield Vocalist
• 1 Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
• 1 Trophy Mage
• 1 Urza, Lord High Artificer
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow
• 1 Yorion, Sky Nomad

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Teferi, Time Raveler
• 1 Tezzeret the Seeker

• Instants (12)
• 1 Borne Upon a Wind
• 1 Eerie Interlude
• 1 Ephemerate
• 1 Ghostway
• 1 Mana Drain
• 1 Muddle the Mixture
• 1 Parting Gust
• 1 Permission Denied
• 1 Razorgrass Ambush // Razorgrass Field
• 1 Scour for Scrap
• 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Fabricate
• 1 Lorien Revealed
• 1 Ondu Inversion // Ondu Skyruins
• 1 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Time Warp

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Mystic Remora

• Artifacts (17)
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Cryogen Relic
• 1 Hierophant's Chalice
• 1 Ichor Wellspring
• 1 Lembas
• 1 Liquimetal Torque
• 1 Mox Amber
• 1 Mox Opal
• 1 Panharmonicon
• 1 Peter Parker's Camera
• 1 Scroll of Fate
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Talisman of Progress
• 1 The Mightstone and Weakstone
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Thran Dynamo

• Lands (34)
• 5 Island
• 5 Plains
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Ancient Den
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Darksteel Citadel
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Emergence Zone
• 1 Floodfarm Verge
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Seat of the Synod
• 1 Skycloud Expanse
• 1 Temple of the False God
• 1 Urza's Cave
• 1 Urza's Saga
• 1 Uthros, Titanic Godcore

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Conclusion

Don & Leo, Problem Solvers, are proving to be versatile, relentless, and worthy of far more Commander decks to their name than the 43 they currently have.

As always with my decks, feel free to copy this idea for yourself, use it as a blueprint for your own brew, or simply scrap it for parts. At the end of the day, this deck is for you.

Until next time, happy gaming!