Hello and welcome to Weekly Commander!

Today we are going to be talking about Marvo, Deep Operative!

Marvo is a five mana 1/8 that whenever they attack you clash with defending player and whenever you win a clash you draw a card, and then you may cast a spell from your hand with mana value eight or less without paying its mana cost.

Marvo is a neat Commander that makes a mechanic that wasn’t very well received at the time in clash and makes a neat gimmick Commander that allows you to cast some big spells for free, and not just whenever you clash with Marvo, but anytime you clash.

The goal of the deck is to make use of as much clashing as we can, manipulate the top of our library as much as we can while also having some form of control in the tops of our opponent’s decks as well, just so we have as much of an advantage as possible.

Clashing Heads

The first thing we need to look at is the suite of clash cards we have access t, which isn’t too many but enough to make an impact.

Scattering Stroke is a counter spell that let’s us clash with an opponent and if we win then at the beginning of our next main phase then we may add X colorless mana where X is that spells mana value. While not as efficient as Mana Drain, for a deck that cares about a niche mechanic it is pretty decent. Not only that, but it is a higher mana value spell that can potentially win us some clashes.

For a more reliable counter spell there is also Broken Ambitions, which has us counter target spell unless it’s controller pays X, then we clash with an opponent and if we win, then that spell’s controller mills four cards. This is especially devious because we don’t need to clash with the opponent whose spell we are countering, which means ideally we can give ourselves better odds to winning a clash.

Pulling Teeth is also nice because it has us clash with an opponent and if we win then they discard two cards, but if we lose then that player discards only one card. They still discard a card, but with the chance that they can discard two cards is pretty good to consider.

There are also some recursive clash cards like Research the Deep, which draws us a card and then we clash with an opponent, and if we win then we return it back to our hand. Clean and potentially has us gain a decently recursive draw spell that at the very least enables Marvo.

Revive the Fallen let’s us return a creature card from a graveyard to its owners hand, with us then clashing to see if Revive the Fallen comes back to our hand. This one is interesting because it can potentially be used as a form of removal from a potentially problematic reanimator deck or as a tool for bargaining to help a player who is a behind come to our side and help us out.

Then there are two spells that have us potentially get a lot of clashes in, with Hoarder’s Greed being one of the best ways to get a ton of spells off because we lose 2 life and then draw two cards, then we clash with an opponent and if we win then we repeat this process. It’s a massive gamble, but once all the clashes resolve then Marvo will trigger for each time we won which will let us draw more cards and cast a ton of free spells.

Captivating Glance is the other repeatable clash card, though this one can potentially be a bit riskier since it enchants a creature and at the end of the turn the creature’s controller clashes with an opponent, with the winner of the clash gaining control of the creature. This is potentially risky because there is the chance that we lose a clash and lose a repeatable clash card because our opponents will not want us to get value from clashing.

I Spy

The next thing we need is to have ways to manipulate the top of not only our library, but also our opponent’s library.

Ideally we should have access to some flexible way to keep on eye on whose library we take a peek at, with Bamboozle being a great card for this because it let’s us look at the top 4 cards of target player’s library and then we put two of the cards into the graveyard and then the other two on top of the library in any order.

Portent is also a flexible way for us to look at any player’s library since for one mana it let’s us put the top three cards of target player’s library and put them back in any order, and it even allows us the option to have us shuffle that player’s library and on top of that let’s us draw a card at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep.

Spy Network is also a way for us to get a ton of information because it let’s us look at target player’s hand, the top card of that player’s library, any face-down creature that they control, and then we can look at the top four cards of our library and then put them back in any order.

We actually have a lot of ways to manipulate the top of our own library, and I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t mention them. Index let’s us look at the top five cards of our library and put them back in any order, Soothsaying let’s us look at the top X cards of our library and let’s us put them in any order and for five mana let’s us shuffle our library, and Ponder let’s us look at the top three cards of our library and then puts them on top of our library in any order and after choosing whether to shuffle or not we draw a card.

There are also cards that let us manipulate the top of our opponent’s library that have a little more flexibility like Dimir Machinations, which let’s us look at the top three cards of target player’s library and then exile any number of them, putting the rest on top of the library in any order. We also get some flexibility in that it also has Transmute, which means we can pay three mana and discard it to tutor for a three mana value card, if we need it.

Thoughtpicker Witch is pretty neat since for one mana and sacrifice a creature we can look at the top two cards of an opponent’s library and then exile one of those cards. This means we can remove a potentially problematic card early, or remove a card that can potentially help them win a clash against us so we have better odds at winning.

Psychic Surgery is pretty wild for as cheap as it is because whenever an opponent shuffles their library, we may look at the top two cards of their library (after they finish shuffling) and then we may exile one of those cards and then put the rest on top of the library in any order. With as much as people tutor or fetch something from their library, then we can have access to a massive amount of information for our clashes.

There is of course Jace, the Mind Sculptor, whose +2 to look at the top card of a player’s library and then keep it on top or put it on the bottom of that player’s library is one of the more effective ways to have a consistent way to get some information. We also have access to a Brainstorm effect, a bounce effect, and a win con in exiling a player’s library and then shuffles their hand into their library and then mill them out.

Plans Contingent

The next thing we need are cards that help us recoup any potential losses or help us defensively.

Gravepurge is a card I had no idea existed but it is really great because it let’s us put any number of target creature cards from our graveyard and then let’s us put them on top of our library, in any order according to the Oracle text, and then let’s us draw a card. This can be really good in helping us set up a big creature that we want to cast to help us win a clash or a roundabout way to recur Marvo without having to pay Commander Tax.

Protection Racket is a risky way for us to potentially gain some card advantage because at the beginning of our upkeep we repeat the following process for each opponent in turn order: reveal the top card of our library and our opponent can pay life equal to that card’s mana value to exile it or let’s us put it into our hand. A big risk to potentially draw three cards, or lose three cards and have our opponents potentially lose a bit of life.

Dimir Charm is a solid modal spell for us because it can either counter target sorcery spell, destroy target creature with power 2 or less, or let us look at the top three cards of target player’s library, putting one back and the other two in the graveyard. Decently flexible removal tied with something that can help our game plan is very nice to have.

Among our options for counter spells, Counterpoint is very solid because while it is a five mana counter spell, it does let us cast a creature, instant, sorcery, or Planeswalker spell from our graveyard with mana value less than or equal to that spell’s mana value and cast it for free, which can be fairly helpful for us to get some more recursion for Marvo if he dies or for a decent sized spell that can help us win the game.

Sudden Setback is a neat way to deal with cards that that can’t be countered since it has the owner of target spell or nonland permanent put that card either on the top or bottom of their library. Being able to deal with hard to deal spells while also potentially setting up a way for us to win a clash can be great.

Swat Away plays in similar space because it also has the ability to have the owner of target spell or creature put it on the top or bottom of their library, but what is also solid is that it costs two mana less to cast if a creature is attacking us.

We have a decent number of Game Changer options for us that make us a bit more consistent with Mystical Tutor being a great one because at one mana at instant speed, we can tutor an instant or sorcery from our library, shuffle our library, and then put the tutored card on top of our library. It does telegraph our next move a bit, but it is definitely something we can make use of when we need to, and for cheap too.

What also could help us would be Bolas’s Citadel, which let’s us look at the top card of our library at any time and let’s us cast the top card of our library at any time, but if we were to cast a spell this way then we would pay life rather than pay that spells mana cost. This can help us get cheap cantrips or utility creatures into play while we set up for a big clash turn.

Lastly, I wanted to highlight Consecrated Sphinx because it is a spell that we could potentially cast for free from Marvo and it is excellent because whenever an opponent would draw a card we may draw two, which is great for getting more cards into our hand, but even better we get more options for spells to cast with Marvo since Marvo let’s us cast any spell from our hand when we win a clash.

Plans Coming Together

The last thing we need to do is win, and win our ability to cast a bunch of big spells for potentially free, we have a lot of options available to us.

Going down the control route, we can use Hullbreaker Horror as a way to make even more use of the spells that we are casting because whenever we cast a spell we can either return target spell we don’t control to its owner’s hand or return a target nonland permanent to it’s owner’s hand, while also being a 7/8 that can’t be countered and happens to also have flash.

Wrexial, the Risen Depp is pretty interesting because whenever it deals combat damage to a player then we may cast an instant or sorcery from their graveyard for free, exiling it if it would go to the graveyard. What also helps Wrexial is that it has Islandwalk and Swampwalk, which is extremely easy to set up because all we need is an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and we have a way to cast a good number of free spells.

Myojin of Cryptic Dreams is interesting because it enters with an indestructible counter if we cast it from our hand, which we do whenever we use Marvo, and if we remove that counter from Myojin, then we can copy target permanent spell we control three times, which we can definitely set up for something in the future.

For example, say we copy something like Storm of Saruman, which copies our second spell each turn except the copy isn’t legendary and we can choose new target for it, meaning that we get four copies of it, and then we cast Marvo, then we have five versions of Marvo in play, meaning we can cast a lot more free spells.

We can cast Breach the Multiverse to have each player mill ten cards and then we choose a creature or Planeswalker from each player’s graveyard and then put them onto the battlefield under our control, then all of our creatures become Phyrexian in addition to their other types.

If we want to continue focusing on casting big spells, there is also the option of Baneful Omen, which at the beginning of our end step we may reveal the top card of our library and have each opponent lose life equal to the mana value of that card, which if we do play Bolas’s Citadel can mean that if there is a really big spell on top that we can’t risk casting, we can still make use of it by draining our opponents for some life.

Then of course we have some extra turns shenanigans, with Beacon of Tomorrows being one of the most efficient ways for us to get a good number of extra turns because while it does give target player an extra turn, it also happens to shuffle itself back into our deck once it finishes resolving.

Nexus of Fate is potentially better because it automatically gives us an extra turn without needing to target and if it would be put into the graveyard from anywhere, then it is shuffled back into our library instead, which is all sorts of useful for a consistent way for us to get even more extra turns.

In Conclusion

Marvo is a Commander that has a gimmick and can make multiple uses of that gimmick to a number of interesting ways to win.

Marvo is fairly flexible in their play style that we can shift the deck into a different play style at any point if we get bored of playing it in one particular way, provided we have the core engine to get it going, which is the problem of the deck.

While Marvo is an interesting build around, having it built around a gimmick mechanic that doesn’t have a lot of support in general, and is not likely to get more support in the future means that there are some cards that we need to have in the deck, whether they are good or not.

We also run the risk of losing more clashes then we win because of needing these cards since a good number of them are low mana value, not to say anything about how we deal with a chance land on the top of our library.

It is still a very interesting Commander to build around, as well as a puzzle that can provide a good number of deckbuilding options to play around with.

Thank you for reading, see you all next time!

Peace,

From, J.M. Casual

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