Hello and welcome to Commander Bites!

Today we are going to be looking at Mica, Reader of Ruins!

Mica is a four mana 4/4 with a Ward of pay 3 life and whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, you may sacrifice an artifact and if you do then you copy that spell and you may choose new targets for the copy.

Game Plan

While relegated to being part of an uncommon legendary creature cycle in Secrets of Strixhaven to help with the draft environment, there is a lot more potential in what Mica can do.

There are plenty of ways to get artifacts into play that you would want to sacrifice, as well as instants and sorceries that you would want to copy that can help you get into an advantageous position.

Plus Mica has an in built form of protection that, while not that much of a cost in Commander based on the life totals, can be something that we can leverage to our advantage.

Support

Obviously the first thing that we need are the artifacts that we want to sacrifice that provide value when they go to the graveyard and potentially leave another artifact that we can use for later.

Ichor Wellspring was the first artifact that cam to mind because it is an artifact that draws us a card when it enters and when it goes to the graveyard from the battlefield, but we can also use Mycosynth Wellspring which let’s us look for a basic land and puts it into our hand when it enters or goes to the graveyard from the battlefield.

Nimblewright Schematic is also an excellent card for us because it becomes a three for one in that when it enters or is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, then we get a 1/1 Construct artifact token. Same goes for Servo Schematic which makes a 1/1 Servo instead and for Prized Stature which makes a Treasure token.

We can also make use of all of these cheap artifacts with, funny enough, an enchantment in Weapons Manufacturing, which whenever a nontoken artifact we control enters the battlefield, we make a Munitions token which deals 2 damage to any target whenever it leaves the battlefield.

As for which instants and sorceries we can copy, well there are a variety draw two cards spells that have us discard a card as an additional cost like Thrill of Possibility and Demand Answers or we can use it for generating a ton of mana with Big Score and Unexpected Windfall both of which draw us two cards and make two Treasure tokens.

Mana Geyser works really well as a spell to copy in the later game since it makes a red mana for each tapped land our opponents control, which can actually make this deck be built as a spellslinger type of deck or even potentially a Storm build.

You can even do really well by using Jeska’s Will as a Game Changer to add a ton of mana and exiling six cards that you can play this turn if you have Mica in play. If you are looking into the Storm plan and want to copy more rituals to feed those spells, then you can also make great use of Underworld Breach since Mica doesn’t have the limit of needing the spells to be cast from your hand to potentially copy them.

You can Storm off with Grapeshot or use a bunch of mana for a huge Crackle with Power that you can copy to win the game, there are a variety of lanes you can occupy with MIca.

Struggles

Where this deck will falter is with interaction from your opponents, as with most Commanders, but Mica can especially feel it.

While Mica does have some form of protection in the Ward, with a starting life total of 40 life, that doesn’t mean that much in the grand scheme of things with a cheap removal spell like a Path to Exile or a Go for the Throat.

This is compounded by the fact that Mica is four mana, and while they can provided a lot of value when they are in play, if you are unable to get to your next turn because they get removed as soon as they enter, then you have to rebuild which can be pretty tough in red.

You do have access to some early ramp like Strike it Rich to make a Treasure token or a Pyretic Ritual and Desperate Ritual to get three red mana for two mana which can help you get Mica into play early, you ideally don’t want to use all of your rituals before Mica gets into play, because otherwise we hit the wall that a lot of spellslinger and Storm decks face which is running out of gas.

There are some form of protection spells like Deflecting Swat which can change the targets of a spell or ability that we can cast for free if we have Mica in play, or Bolt Bend as a way to redirect a spell or ability with a single target that becomes cheaper to cast if we have a creature with power 4 or greater which Mica thankfully is.

There is also the fact that a lot of the artifacts that we play require them to get into the graveyard for us to get value from them, which means any way that prevents cards from going into the graveyard like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void are not ideal, and a Farewell can exile our board of artifacts and our graveyard as well without us getting value from a majority of them.

At least Munitions token trigger when they leave the battlefield.

Bracket Rating: 3

I think that in the shuffle of a lot of flashy and interesting Commanders that have come out in recent sets, Mica unfortunately got lost in the shuffle.

Mica isn’t going to be breaking tables or anything, but having a spellslinger Commander that can make use of artifact sacrificing strategies is a neat mix and can allow for a lot of creativity and avenues of play.

It can use Game Changers as a way to strengthen it’s game plan effectively, and even without Game Changers can potentially find ways to combo in a consistent enough way that is too strong for Bracket 2, but fits right at home in Bracket 3.

Thank you very much for reading, see you all tomorrow!

Peace,

J.M. Casual