Commander has certainly matured as a format over the past couple of years. It’s gone from a being a tradition of the judge community to a form of gameplay embraced by huge chunks of the player base, official products from Wizards of the Coast have allowed new players to jump into what had been one of the game’s most daunting formats, and articles such as this one have cropped up all over the Internet.

Azorius Through and Through

Nowadays, we see cards such as Worldspine Wurm and Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur that were once deemed too slow even for casual play, and every non-core-set contains at least a couple of legends designed to be in the commander’s chair. I love the way that things have turned out, but a huge part of the format’s appeal is the opportunity to play with weird, old cards that aren’t strong enough to break into Legacy, and when you’re looking for a weird, old legend, there’s no better place to look than Legends.

The original bearers of what is now the legendary supertype were mostly based on Dungeons & Dragons characters, but I guess somebody must have been sleeping on the job because we ended up with this:

Of course, in Oracle text, these two abilities have morphed into five.

• Rasputin Dreamweaver enters the battlefield with seven dream counters on it.
• Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Add to your mana pool.
• Remove a dream counter from Rasputin: Prevent the next 1 damage that would be dealt to Rasputin this turn.
• At the beginning of your upkeep, if Rasputin started the turn untapped, put a dream counter on it.
• Rasputin can't have more than seven dream counters on it.

Even in a format as crazy as Commander, it’s pretty hard to make the damage-prevention clause into the basis for a deck. Luckily, despite his color identity, Rasputin is no Azorius bureaucrat; he gets things done.

Dream Big

With nothing besides lands and Rasputin, you’ll have access to 13 mana on the seventh turn, outstripping all but the fastest of green decks. That sort of ramp means you can easily plop down an Eldrazi or cast Storm Herd, but there just aren’t enough awesome 10-plus-mana spells to always have something sweet. We could play a bunch of Idyllic Tutors and Fabricates to up the odds, but that’s bound to become repetitive. Why not build our huge spells?

Like some sort of wonderful X-mas gift, we suddenly have plenty of big plays, but between the X spells and the card-drawing, I have to wonder: Is there a way to get more mana out of Rasputin?

In the Blink of an Eye

W/U isn’t exactly where most people would go looking for ritual effects, but if we can take Rasputin off the board and put him back, that’s 7 more mana at our disposal. Then again, given that he costs 6 mana, neither bouncing nor sacrificing the Dreamweaver is going to take us too far. Cue flickering.

There are a whole lot of similar cards that return the exiled permanent at end of turn, and while using Rasputin for a few turns in a row is good, Vanish into Memory is never going to let you cast Mind Spring with X equal to 20 as Momentary Blink will.

But that evaluation has to change when something can blink Rasputin every turn.

Or can remove your entire squad.

Speaking of which, with all of this flickering, it’s probably worth having something else to blink if mana’s not the issue.

187 Options

There are a ton of creatures with good enters-the-battlefield triggers, and your average Commander game’s chock full of them, but when they’re blinking in and out of existence, the actual trigger becomes a lot more significant than the creature’s size.

Duplicant and Solemn Simulacrum are already staples of Commander decks everywhere, but there’s a newcomer who’s name should definitely be on that list.

Back when Devon Rule previewed the card, he stuck her into his Isperia the Inscrutable deck, but let me assure you that Rasputin is just as happy to have an Angel aboard. The card can obviously do awesome things, but it also backfires far less severely than Oblivion Ring or the like, not to mention how insanely versatile it is. The only thing we can really complain about is the fact that Angel of Serenity only costs 7 mana, meaning Standard players want copies and the price tag goes up for us. But despite all of that, Angel of Serenity isn’t the white creature I’m most anxious to cast in this deck. That honor belongs to a certain white core set 6-drop.

Sun Titan? No, not quite. I’m talking about Captain of the Watch.

“But I thought you didn’t like tokens!”

I don’t, but given that this deck was bound to end up with a million White Sun's Zeniths anyway . . . 

“But this card isn’t even cool!”

Not on its own, no, but hold on for a second, and I’ll tell you a story.

Weaving Dreams

Back when Lorwyn was released, I was trying to play white weenie in Standard, and States had just erupted in mono-white Kithkin. The deck usually covered the board in a swarm of creatures, and then the enterprising pilot could use Amrou Scout to search up a Mirror Entity as a sort of Overrun. The deck dropped off the map until Eventide brought it roaring back with Figure of Destiny, but by the time I picked it back up, Shards of Alara had already forced Amrou Scout out of the format. What was a young boy to do?

Why, Mirrorweave a Wizened Cenn of course!

Five creatures later, 30 damage would be charging across the board. Now imagine casting Storm Herd before Mirrorweaving Captain of the Watch. Yes, I’ll take my 2,000 damage, thank you very much.

Other things to do with token armies involve the less exciting Eldrazi Monument and Akroma's Memorial. Oh yeah, and Mass Polymorphing all of the creature cards out of your library. I guess that’s cool, too.

Rasputin offers a rare overlap between piles of tokens and enormous creatures, and I for one intend to take full advantage. So, how does this all shake out?

"Lucid Dreaming"

• Commander (0)

• Blinking (10)
• 1 Cloudshift
• 1 Deadeye Navigator
• 1 Flicker
• 1 Ghostly Flicker
• 1 Momentary Blink
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Galepowder Mage
• 1 Venser, the Sojourner
• 1 Ghostway
• 1 Sudden Disappearance

• Inspiration (7)
• 1 Blue Sun's Zenith
• 1 Braingeyser
• 1 Mind Spring
• 1 Sphinx's Revelation
• 1 Stroke of Genius
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Treasure Mage

• Resolution (12)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Hallowed Burial
• 1 Terminus
• 1 Sunblast Angel
• 1 Grim Poppet
• 1 Angel of Serenity
• 1 Phyrexian Ingester
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Oblation
• 1 Hoverguard Sweepers
• 1 Venser, Shaper Savant
• 1 Draining Whelk

• Big Ideas (11)
• 1 It That Betrays
• 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1 Pathrazer of Ulamog
• 1 Darksteel Colossus
• 1 Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
• 1 Eternal Dominion
• 1 Artisan of Kozilek
• 1 Trench Gorger
• 1 Omniscience
• 1 Sigil of Distinction
• 1 Rite of Replication

• Horde of Notions (8)
• 1 Decree of Justice
• 1 Entreat the Angels
• 1 Martial Coup
• 1 Orochi Hatchery
• 1 Riptide Replicator
• 1 White Sun's Zenith
• 1 Storm Herd
• 1 Captain of the Watch

• Inflated Ego (4)
• 1 Mirrorweave
• 1 Eldrazi Monument
• 1 Akroma's Memorial
• 1 Mass Polymorph

• Reoccurring Dreams (4)
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Reveillark
• 1 Marshal's Anthem
• 1 Reya Dawnbringer

• The Sky Is the Limit (8)
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Worn Powerstone
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Thran Dynamo
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Kor Cartographer
• 1 Caged Sun

• Land of Opportunity (35)
• 1 Skycloud Expanse
• 1 Calciform Pools
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Mystic Gate
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Riptide Laboratory
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Thawing Glaciers
• 1 Celestial Colonnade
• 1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• 1 Azorius Chancery
• 1 Seachrome Coast
• 1 Sejiri Refuge
• 1 Azorius Guildgate
• 1 Boreal Shelf
• 1 Windbrisk Heights
• 1 Tolaria West
• 8 Plains
• 6 Island

Buy This Deck

Dreams Play Out in Front of You

I’m sorry to say that I’ve once again failed to take notes on any games with the deck in question, but I promise next week will have some gameplay coverage for those of you begging for it. I already have copious notes on the games and everything! In the absence of a complete story, allow me to share a couple of snapshots with you:

• Deadeye Navigator enters the battlefield and pairs with Rasputin. Four activations later, and Riptide Replicator has made its first 22/22 white Soldier token.
• An end-step Sphinx's Revelation for 14 is followed immediately by untapping into Flicker and Omniscience. Hilarity ensues.
• Attack with ten 2/2 Cats from White Sun's Zenith only to have eight of them double-blocked by Saprolings from the Ghave deck. Activate Windbrisk Heights for Marshal's Anthem kicked thrice.

That’s all for Azorius week, but join me next Monday when we find out exactly what it means to exist as the antithesis of black mana. Until then, sweet dreams.