If you're a regular reader, you are familiar with the struggles I've had over the past year with building and keeping a mono-blue deck together. I play primarily in a low to mid powered meta and I've been trying to avoid game changers. Finding a deck that's both fun, entertaining, and capable of winning games has been a challenge, but I might be in a position to have not one but two sleeved up and ready to play.

One I've mentioned before is my "Scrying and Flying" mono-Blue partners deck but I'm going to save writing about that for a break between sets. Today I'm going to share with you my other mono-Blue deck, built around a legendary Dragon from Final Fantasy. While I didn't buy any boxes of Final Fantasy product, I have been opening packs here and there and I have come across a legendary creature that checks a whole bunch of boxes I care about in a commander.

This mono-Blue Elder Dragon is a 5/5 for 5 mana with flying, vigilance and ward 2. It also has Shiva's Aid, a themed ability that will let me give target creature +1/+0 until end of turn and unblockable this turn. Flying is a great form of evasion, but being unblockable is even better. Vigilance lets me attack and still have my commander available to use as a blocker. Ward 2 might not be as good as hexproof, but it will help keep some interaction at bay.

A lower bracket Hraesvelgr deck feels like it will probably try to win through commander damage, though other creatures can be pumped and made unblockable with his ability. My mind naturally thinks of the Dramatic Reversal / Isochron Scepter combo, as I'd be able to pump all of my creatures, make them unblockable, and even protect my winning turn with counterspells. I'm not building a bracket 4 deck but if I did, that's what I'd be doing.

Brewing for a lower power level means exercising some restraint, but also building with lots of less powerful but more interesting cards that play into my commander's abilities. It's not about winning as quickly as possible. It's about being able to interact and create a threat in a reasonable amount of time for the tables I'm playing at. Sometimes I'll end up being too slow or too fast, but the most important thing is that I'm trying to find that sweet spot where I'm in roughly the same range of power as the decks I'm up against.

The Right Equipment

The first thing to throw into this deck is equipment. Just casting an equipment spell will trigger Hraesvelgr's ability to pump a creature +1/+0 and make it unblockable. I'm running some staples like Swiftfoot Boots and Sword of the Animist but there are a few cards that are worth calling out.

For some serious pump, I've got Blackblade Reforged and Strata Scythe in the list. The former gives +1/+1 for each land I control. The latter will have me exile a land from my library and will give equipped creature +1/+1 for each land on the battlefield with the same name as the exiled card. I'm running 33 Islands and there will usually be someone else in blue, so I could get a lot of pump from that old Commander 2014 card.

Hraesvelgr has vigilance after attacking so I'll still have him available as a blocker. Equipment that gives that blocker deathtouch can make my tablemates look elsewhere when they go to attack. I'll probably be attacking with an unblockable commander, so it's not like I need to worry about getting through their defenses. For deathtouch equipment I've got both Basilisk Collar and Quietus Spike. Collar gives deathtouch and lifelink, so I should be able to push my life total up a bit. The Spike gives deathtouch and when equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, that player takes the damage and then loses half of their life, rounded up.

The best equipment in this deck might be the most expensive. At 5 mana, Genji Glove gives double strike and whenever equipped creature attacks, if it's the first combat phase of the turn I'll untap it and get an additional combat phase. My commander is 5 power and can get +1/+0 if I cast a single noncreature spell I can give it +1/+0 and make it unblockable. I can equip Genji Glove, cast almost anything, and swing my commander as a 6/5 with double strike and get an extra combat step to then kill someone with a total of 24 commander damage. If they want to target Hraesvelgr they'll have to have that extra 2 mana to pay the ward cost and they'll need to hope I don't have extra mana and a counterspell in hand.

To round out my equipment I'm also running Goggles of Night, partly because I love the artwork. It gives equipped creature a combat damage trigger that lets me scry 1 and then draw a card. There are a lot of other equipment cards you might run in this list, but I was building this list in paper with the cards I had on hand. I think this is a decent assortment but you might have your own favorites.

You should definitely pay attention to cards that require you to deal combat damage, as you should reliably be able to make creatures unblockable. While it's not equipment, I'm running Feywild Visitor, a background enchantment that lets me create a 1/1 blue Faerie Dragon creature token when one or more nontoken creatures I control deal combat damage to a player. I could envision a turn where I need blockers, have three nontoken creatures, and can cast three spells. I'd be able to make three creatures unblockable, and send one at each of my three tablemates to get three Faerie Dragon tokens.

Matters of Magecraft

This deck is missing some key cards that reward me for casting instants, sorceries, or just noncreature spells. As I play the list, I might swap in a few more, like Talrand, Sky Summoner, which makes 2/2 Drake tokens, and Archmage Emeritus, which draws me cards. I am running the following support cards.

Archmage of Runes reduces the cost of my instant and sorcery spells by 1 mana. I'm also running Mocking Sprite and Baral, Chief of Compliance, which offer similar cost reduction but without the card draw. My cost reduction extends to Sapphire Medallion and The Water Crystal, both of which reduce the cost of my blue spells by 1 mana.

Murmuring Mystic and Whispering Wizard serve as two of my token generators in this deck. Mystic will have me create a 1/1 blue Bird Illusion creature token with flying whenever I cast an instant or sorcery spell. Wizard will have me create a 1/1 white Spirit creature token with flying whenever I cast a noncreature spell, but it is limited to once each turn.

I'm also running Homunculus Horde, a goofy little 2/2 that makes a copy of itself whenever I draw my second card each turn. I've been itching to see it do a blue impersonation of Scute Swarm in a game since I picked up a few copies last year, though I don't know if this is the deck that will make that happen.

One last thing worth calling out is that I've added a few Adventure cards and an Omen card that all happen to be Dragons. Young Blue Dragon can be cast as Sand Augury, a sorcery that will have me scry 1 and draw a card for 2 mana. Then I can cast young Dragon from exile, or just cast it from my hand if I don't want to use the sorcery option. Sword Coast Serpent has an Adventure mode that is a 2 mana bounce spell called Captivating Wave. I can later on cast this Serpent Dragon for 7 mana and have a 6 power threat that will be unblockable if I've cast a noncreature spell earlier in the turn.

My one Omen creature is Dirgur Island Dragon. It can be cast as Skimming Strike, a 2 mana instant that will tap up to one target creature and will draw me a card. Unlike cards with an Adventure mode this will get shuffled back into my library if I cast it as Skimming Strike.

My Broody Boy

The core of this deck isn't equipment or cards that benefit from casting noncreature spells, it's those instant, sorcery, and artifact spells that will help me swing my commander without worrying about getting blocked. To take care of that I'm running a healthy assortment of mana rocks, removal, and card draw spells. The card draw spells are especially important as I'm not getting any card advantage out of my commander.

I'm running a few spells that may not be game changers, but that could definitely raise some eyebrows. Commandeer is a 7 mana instant that can be cast for free by exiling two blue cards from my hand. It will let me gain control of target noncreature spell and I may choose new targets for it. It's playable in mono-blue but that's pretty much it unless you know you're drawing a ton of cards. Corrupted Conscience is a mind control aura that gives the enchanted creature infect. Play it on a 9+ power creature and on my next turn I should be able to play a spell, give it +1/+0, make it unblockable, and kill someone.

Hraesvelger EDH | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Hraesvelgr of the First Brood

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Archmage of Runes
• 1 Baral, Chief of Compliance
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Dirgur Island Dragon
• 1 Displacer Kitten
• 1 Dragonologist
• 1 Homunculus Horde
• 1 Mocking Sprite
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Murmuring Mystic
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Sword Coast Serpent
• 1 Walking Atlas
• 1 Whispering Wizard
• 1 Young Blue Dragon

• Spells (24)
• 1 AEtherize
• 1 Anticipate
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Brainstorm
• 1 Commandeer
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Draconic Lore
• 1 Fact or Fiction
• 1 Opt
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Reality Shift
• 1 Strix Serenade
• 1 Swan Song
• 1 Think Twice
• 1 Thought Scour
• 1 Weave Fate
• 1 Aether Gale
• 1 Borrowing 100,000 Arrows
• 1 Deep Analysis
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Preordain
• 1 Unexplained Vision
• 1 Windfall

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Corrupted Conscience
• 1 Feywild Visitor
• 1 Frogify
• 1 Roiling Dragonstorm
• 1 Sleep Magic
• 1 Stuck in Summoner's Sanctum

• Artifacts (17)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Coveted Jewel
• 1 Gauntlet of Power
• 1 Genji Glove
• 1 Goggles of Night
• 1 Hulldrifter
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Sapphire Medallion
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strata Scythe
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of the Animist
• 1 The Water Crystal
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (37)
• 33 Island
• 1 Homeward Path
• 1 Inventors' Fair
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Reliquary Tower

Buy This Deck Export text

If you like what I'm doing with this deck but want to push the power up, your first step would probably be to throw in Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and at least one free counterspell. Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant would be a nice addition, and running Scepter / Reversal combo and other combos that give you cast triggers would also make a lot of sense.

To drop the power down, you might consider building on an extreme budget. You could drop out a bunch of the cards in the $10-$20 range and still have a perfectly playable deck. Displacer Kitten is in here as I had a spare copy available, but the deck isn't relying on it for a combo line. Three lands - Homeward Path, Inventors' Fair, and Otawara, Soaring City, combine to over $50 so there is definitely room to drop the total cost of the de/ck. If you're worried about killing opponents too quickly, just replace some of the more powerful equipment with weaker equipment.

Final Thoughts

Mono-blue is always an interesting color space to build in when you're aiming for lower powered games. In higher power it's easy to toss in Rhystic Study, Force of Will, and all of the blue staples we've grown to know and love, and you are much freer to aim for some kind of combo wincon, whether or not it ends in a Lab Man / Thassa's Oracle type finish.

In lower powered games you tend to see games resolved through combat without going infinite. As such, I have struggled to build blue decks that feel good but that are "playing fair" and often end up leaning on sea monsters, Sphinxes, and other more combat-ready creature types. Blue Dragons is a thing I've built in the past, but I have a good feeling about this deck. It looks like it will be able to present a reliable threat, and if I ever want to kick it up a few notches I already know exactly what to do. Mana rocks, tutors, and Dramatic Scepter combo and I'll be reliably presenting a threat to win games even at higher powered tables.

I don't think this deck has what it needs to compete at the cEDH level, but I do think there are more combos I could build into Hraesvelgr to give me infinite noncreature cast triggers. Tidespout Tyrant, Ancestral Statue, and Hullbreaker Horror can combo nicely with mana rocks that tap for more than they cost to also allow for the same kind of wincon as you get with Dramatic Scepter. I don't want to do that to the more casual pods I often play in, but it might be just what you need for your playgroup.

That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!