Hello Everyone! Happiest of Tuesdays to you and yours!

Today I want to do something really fun! Last week I finished my epic 5 week Building Your First Commander series! Now I have time to knockoff my favorite new Commander that debuted in March of the Machine! This fun Simic colored leader is on my first week of my Top Ten from that set (which you can find here) are Inga and Esika!

Let's look at this brand-new Simic archetype:

This four-drop on curve 4/4 is my leader! We have two abilities. Firstly, all of your creatures gain vigilance. So, you can swing at open players and keep your defenses open, great in multiplayer. Then all of your creatures can tap for any color of mana, but just to cast creatures. Ideally you'll swing, and then tap in your post-combat main phase for a creature. Then when you spend three or more mana for a creature spell from creatures, you'll draw a card! Note that there is no "once per turn" brake on this card flow. That's cards drawn and ramp in your Command Zone on an already on curve body!

Clearly this is going to want a creature heavy deck so we can draw all of those cards and then make that mana for more cards. Since they give vigilance to all of my stuff, why not add in tappers for things other than mana? Since mana dorks matter here, I'll run them over traditional Simic land ramp like Rampant Growth unless it's a creature. I'll also want to lean into mostly support stuff that costs three mana, so I can draw a card off its arrival, save for Mana Dorks.

Make sure you are tapping the creatures from your Commander first, prior to tapping your mana dorks that can tap for anything. That way you can keep your extra mana from your Birds of Paradise for other things, like land-based mana sinks or instant answers.

Ready for my deck?

Let's start with the Mana Dorks and Lands and Maybe a Rock

The Sage costs three and taps for three for any color that can only be used for dorks! That means that this alone will trigger Inga and Esika. Then the Druid is a very hard to cast but a better tapper of mana. It taps equal to your creature count, which can be quite high here! This is a powerful Gaea's Cradle on legs.

Check out another pair of three-drops in Green: Farhaven Elf and Topiary Stomper. The Elf arrives and is just on a 1/1 body. Then when it enters the battlefield you ramp out a basic land tapped, so it's a Rampant Growth on a 3-drop that can be card flow with three creature mana. I also tossed in Wood Elves. The Dinosaur is a larger 4/4 body with vigilance that also ramps out a basic land tapped, but it cannot attack or block until you have at least 7 lands. They'll both tap for mana with Inga and Esika!

Check out this pair of colorless mana tapping lands that enter untapped! The first gives you no hand size so your mass card flow won't be forced to be dropped or discarded. I also tossed in Thought Vessel as my only mana rock. Then the second taps with Simic mana and you can cast your stuff with flash this turn! Thats very strong here as an EOT mana sink that will let you cast a few things and net triggers of your Commander too and then untap and swing with them. Or you can cast them as surprise blockers if someone comes your way. Love it loads!

Castle Garenbrig typically arrives tapped, but you can tap it and turn five mana into six mana that can only be spent on dorks. It's very strong here since you can make mana for dorks that we already have a bunch of here. Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea is a three-drop 2/3 that taps for two mana of any color but just for dorks or their abilities. Then when you cast a five power or greater dork? Untap and put a counter on her! She can tap for more and more mana and get bigger as well, with the vigilance you get that's very strong here!

Argoth will ETB tapped if you don't control your leader or randomly things like Gwenna above. This Standard-legal land is here to tap with four mana to make a 2/2 Bear and then mill three at sorcery speed only. Adding dorks to the battlefield from my land base is very strong here, and also serves as a mana sink. Milling is meaningless here. I am also running Urza's Factory to tap with 7 and make a 2/2 dork as well. The Depths is a land that doesn't tap for anything. Then it arrives with 10 Ice Counters, and you can pull off one for 3 mana anytime. When the last one is pulled off you get a 20/20 indestructible, flying dork that can win in two hits. Mana sink and win-con.

Let's finish my lands with this pair! The former taps for colorless, arrives untapped, but it will tap for colored mana on the turn it arrives, so you can drop it turn 1 and then cast a Birds of Paradise. Then you can tap it with three generic mana for making a 1/1 Mite with toxic 1 that cannot block. With vigilance with your leader and can tap for mana. This is here to serve as a mana sink and to make more dorks. The latter arrives tapped so you take a turn off, and then at sorcery speed can be sacrificed for 5 mana to make a copy token of any dork you control but with a +1/+1 counter. A Clone in a land slot is pretty useful, and adding a token is pretty cool and on queue here as well. You'll want to look at cards like Circle of Dreams Druid. Nasty! I also tossed in Khalni Garden that makes an 0/1 dork on arrival to the battlefield.

Card Flow

Since we have it in my Commander, we won't have as much here in this section, just 7 cards dedicated to card draw, but all will net me many cards.

Check out the Elf here! This fun four-drop will draw you a card when you cast a spell of the creature persuasion. That's a lot here! The legendary artifact is a nine-drop that can be cast on the fifth turn after dropping Inga and Esika with their 4 power on turn 4 with five lands since you can reduce its cost by your biggest dork's power. That can be cheap here, see my synergy section below for more. Then it taps for two mana and you gain a pair of life, don't sleep on that. Then as nontoken dorks arrive, you can draw a card and put a +1/+1 counter on them. I also am running Primordial Sage that does this thing and a certain Bestiary too.

Skullclamp is a classic equipment that costs one and equips for one and then when the equipped critter dies, you can draw 2 cards. It'll pump up power by one and reduce toughness by one, so with a bunch of 1 toughness things as well as tokens you can draw two with each of the equips. Shamanic Revelation costs five, but you draw cards equal to your creature count! That could be a fast hand refill here, and you could gain some life too. I also tossed in the first card to do this called Collective Unconscious.

Answers

Now let's turn to answers. Most of these are creature based save for the obvious Heroic Intervention. I tossed in the Sage here. This three-drop ETBs and destroys any artifact or enchantment so it's a Naturalize on a three mana stick. I also tossed in Indrik Stomphowler and Acidic Slime in this venue. Then I added every counter creature, like the Snake above. It can be cast for at least 3 mana and counters things on arrival to the battlefield. Then I also tossed in Frilled Mystic, Draining Whelk and Voracious Greatshark and an emergency Counterspell. Nice!

Let's finish answers with the classic Cyclonic Rift and Duplicant. We are not in Black for creature removal like Shriekmaw, so I tossed in Duplicant as a one-of. It'll exile an opposing dork on arrival to the battlefield, and then gets its types and size. That could be a winner in size. Then the Rift is another emergency escape valve. I don't normally run this in my decks, since I can lean on things like counters and removal but here with mostly dorks, I wanted an emergency escape answer for things too big to deal with directly! In a going wide brew, I cannot easily run sweepers, so this will act as a pseudo-sweeper of my foes' stuff only.

Synergies and Winning Conditions

Now let's finish with our final section, synergies and winning conditions. The Leyline is a four-drop (maybe) in Green. When you tap your dorks for mana? You'll make a free mana! That's very strong here! We also have Mana Reflection and Nyxbloom Ancient to increase my mana production. Then you can spend 8 to toss a +1/+1 counter on your things, so that's a mana sink and winning condition too. The Liege is an easy to cast 5 drop that increases the size of your going wide team, already worth playing. Then you can untap your blue and green stuff in each player's upkeep. Nasty mana making and synergy there! Then we are also running mass untapper Seedborn Muse too.

Then I added in a bunch of the Hydras like Hydroid Krasis and Voracious Hydra since they were mana sinks of the creature variety to tap your Commander-made mana dorks into. The Simic one is an X, two to start, with double evasion in trample and flying. Then when you cast it, you gain half the X in life and draw it in cards! Then the mono-Green one also starts with 2 and then X, and then it rocks just trample. On ETB, you can either fight to kill an opponent's creature or double X, so that's a very strong mana sink.

Let's turn to another pair o' Hydra! The Turtle one comes with the ability to pull off counters for three mana to destroy an artifact or enchantment, so it's a repeatable Naturalize on your beater. The Lifeblood is a trampler. Then when it dies you draw cards (and gain life) equal to its power, so that could be pretty strong. Don't forget the life gain there either! And then you can make a big trampler beater that will refill your hand quite ably post-death.

Now let's turn to some tappers and synergy here! The best tap ability ever printed in these two colors is Arcanis the Omnipotent. This six-drop might be hard to drop, but he's worth it. You can just tap him to draw three cards - no other costs like mana or discarding, just three cards to draw every tap. And with vigilance you can swing and then tap later. Also note you can spend four to bounce him when removal both mass and targeted comes your way to save him and recast him. Thousand-Year Elixir is a three-cost artifact that will let your taps happen as if they had haste. So, it's a mass haste enabler in colorless, but just for abilities. Then you can spend 1 and untap a dork with a tap for this!

Let's finish with this Wizard pair! Jace costs two, and then taps for looting, so you'll draw and then discard. You can also drop him and then tap for mana too. Then you can exile and transform him when you tap him for looting and you have 5 or more cards. Jace is my only planeswalker here.

Azami is tough to cast, but worth it. You can tap your Wizards for cards and they can do it on arrival to the battlefield without haste. From Jace to Arcanis without the haste granting of Thousand-Year Elixir this is pretty solid, so you'll draw here and there cards. Nice combo to end things with!

Ready for the deck list?

Inga and Esika | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Inga and Esika

• Creatures (46)
• 1 Acidic Slime
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Archivist
• 1 Azami, Lady of Scrolls
• 1 Beast Whisperer
• 1 Birds of Paradise
• 1 Circle of Dreams Druid
• 1 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 1 Draining Whelk
• 1 Drumbellower
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Elvish Mystic
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Farhaven Elf
• 1 Frilled Mystic
• 1 Fyndhorn Elves
• 1 Genesis Hydra
• 1 Gwenna, Eyes of Gaea
• 1 Gyre Engineer
• 1 Hungering Hydra
• 1 Hydroid Krasis
• 1 Ilysian Caryatid
• 1 Indrik Stomphowler
• 1 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
• 1 Jacob Hauken, Inspector
• 1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
• 1 Kiora's Follower
• 1 Lifeblood Hydra
• 1 Llanowar Elves
• 1 Mistcutter Hydra
• 1 Murkfiend Liege
• 1 Mystic Snake
• 1 Nyxborn Ancient
• 1 Primordial Hydra
• 1 Primordial Sage
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Seedborn Muse
• 1 Shaman of Forgotten Ways
• 1 Somberwald Sage
• 1 Steelbane Hydra
• 1 Timeless Witness
• 1 Topiary Stomper
• 1 Vastwood Hydra
• 1 Voracious Greatshark
• 1 Voracious Hydra
• 1 Wood Elves

• Instants (4)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Cyclonic Rift
• 1 Heroic Intervention

• Sorceries (2)
• 1 Collective Unconsciousness
• 1 Shamanic Revelation

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Leyline of Abundance
• 1 Mana Reflection

• Artifacts (6)
• 1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 The Great Henge
• 1 Thought Vessel
• 1 Thousand-Year Elixir

• Lands (39)
• 1 Alchemist's Refuge
• 1 Argoth, Sanctum of Nature
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Castle Garenbrig
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dark Depths
• 1 Khalni Garden
• 1 Littjara Mirrorlake
• 1 Mirrex
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Rejuvenating Springs
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rimewood Falls
• 1 Tangled Inlet
• 1 Temple of Mystery
• 1 Urza's Factory
• 1 Yavimaya Coast
• 10 Forest
• 9 Island

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And there we go! I hope you enjoyed my first deck built around a March of the Machine Commander! I hope you are ready for next week when I combine one of my favorite formats with Commander. It's called New York Format and it was featured in a MTG Invitational decades ago!