Hello and welcome to Daily Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel!

Malcolm is a two mana 2/1 with flash, flying, and whenever he deals combat damage to a player you put a chorus counter on him, then you draw a card then discard a card and if there are four or more chorus counters on Malcolm, you may cast the discarded card without paying its mana cost.

Malcolm can hit the ground running very quickly, maybe as soon as turn two with the best opening draw. The goal of Malcolm is to get as many chorus counters as quick as possible so we can start discarding cards to cast big spells for free.

We also have to be considerate of protecting Malcolm since he will be a prime target for early removal as soon as we play him and start accumulating counters.

The first thing we need to do is find ways to get as many chorus counters on Malcolm as soon as possible.

Proliferate cards are going to be our answer for that so something like Serum Snare is going to be great because it can double as a form of protection for bigger things later in the game, but early in the game can bounce a mana rock to slow an opponent down and allow us to proliferate.

Then there are the proliferate cards that allow us to gain card advantage like Contentious Plan, Tezzeret’s Gambit, and Emperimental Augury, all allowing us to get cards in our hand and allow us to proliferate at the same time.

Ripples of Potential is an interesting card because not only does it proliferate at instant speed, but the permanents that we had counters put on then phase out, which can be a great way to avoid a board wipe and still maintain the counters that we need for Malcolm to be online.

Probably one of the best ways to also quickly proliferate is Flux Channeler, which proliferates us whenever we cast a noncreature spell, which most proliferate cards in blue tend to be.

Now comes in with the spells that protect Malcolm to make sure that we are able to cast the big spells we want to cast.

Slip Out the Back is excellent in this case because not only does it put a +1/+1 counter to help get a bit of extra Commander damage as a potential win, it also phases out Malcolm to help maintain the counters on him and does so for one mana.

When going up against bigger creatures, the standbys of Pongify and Rapid Hybridization are always good, and if you go up against go wide strategy then Aetherize is a great card to have to bounce all attacking creatures, regardless of if they are attacking you or not to help gain favor from other players.

March of Swirling Mists is interesting because it can be used offensively or defensively depending on the situation. If there is a board wipe incoming then you can spend two mana to phase out Malcolm or if there is a creature an opponent has is being targeted by a game winning spell, you can cast it to prevent that from happening.

We also have plenty of counter spells to go around, with Strix Serenade and Swan’s Song being ones I would prefer because they cover the major card types and only cost one mana.

Now that we have Malcolm in a solid state and with the chorus counters he needs, next come the big spells that we can cast.

Going against the obvious answers of extra turn spells, big spells like Hunted by The Family are what I’m thinking of. Being able to shut off or create copies of our opponents Commanders for effectively free is amazing.

If we want to gain even more effectiveness then we can use Swarm Intelligence which allows us to copy our instants and sorceries, The Magic Mirror to get a ton of card draw, Mnemonic Deluge to copy instants and sorceries three times, and Artisan of Kozilek to reanimate a creature and having a massive body with annihilator 2.

This is really where we can get creative in what big spells we can cast, but if you really want to go over the top, then you can cast an Omniscience, then cast Enter the Infinite so you can draw your whole deck and then cast everything that your deck has to offer and use a card like Clear the Mind to shuffle your graveyard into your library so you don’t deck out or you include a card like Thassa’s Oracle or Laboratory Maniac to win if you do deck out.

It is not likely that you will be able to get this combo off, but it is still within the realm of possibility of what can be done.

Malcolm is an engine Commander that can very quickly become a value Commander, with the hardest thing to do is make sure that he stays on the battlefield long enough to get it to work.

Thank you for reading, see you tomorrow for the next Daily Commander!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual