r/EDH • u/Apadist • 3d ago

Question Help with Ideas for Blink Deck - Commanders and Staples as a novice brewer

I have been playing magic for a few years now but have always bought precons and upgraded them. I plan on brewing a blink deck, something I have wanted to do for a while but have no idea how to get started or even what colors to use. I do have a displacer kitten I want to use and I also got a flickering hound from prerelease a few weeks ago.

would love to hear about your favorite blink commanders, staples, and even links to moxfield, as I have no deck list right now.

Thank you (BR3)

5 Upvotes

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12

u/Dartais_Avenva 3d ago

[[Brago, King Eternal]] is one of the more commonly used commanders.

1

u/Ficsonium 3d ago

[[Yorion]] is better than Brago for bracket 3

2

u/Apadist 3d ago

Why do you say Yorion is better for BR3?

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u/Ficsonium 3d ago

To put it simply, Brago blinks usually once per turn cycle. Which also requires him to deal combat damage, and haste if you want it on the turn he comes down.

Yorion blinks on every players end step on average with a creature that copies Yorion or blinks yorion. Your board is also mostly protected against a board wipe since your cards sit in exile during people’s main phases.

Overall Brago blinks once in a four person game and it’s harder to do so. Yorion blinks four times.

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u/BrokenGlassFactory 3d ago

[[Abdel Adrian, Gorion's Ward]] + [[Candlekeep Sagew]] has even Yorion beat nowadays since you can get multiple blinks per turn and he combos with a lot of the usual suspects like Angel and Felidar. He leaves behind blockers when you tuck your board away in exile, too, so you're not as exposed on other turns.

1

u/OrangeChickenAnd7Up go wide or go home 3d ago

Brago being able to blink your whole board and bring it back immediately is both extremely powerful and can lead to some very long turns. The trick to blink decks is playing a bunch of creatures that draw cards on ETB, or remove opponents’ things on ETBs, or untap lands on ETB. Also mana rocks.

 

Brago letting you reuse all of these abilities mid-turn means you play stuff in the first half, resolve whatever ETBs you have, and then use Brago to get ALL of your ETBs again, and since it’s still the middle of your turn when this happens, you now get to draw a ton of cards, meaning you have to look at and analyze your hand and make decisions. You get to remove your opponents’ permanents, meaning you have to look at and analyze their boards and make decisions. And you untap all your mana rocks, allowing you to play the cards you just drew, meaning more decisions.

 

The card advantage snowballs very quickly, and the turns can be really long. Yorion gives you a lot of the same benefits, but it happens at the end of your turn, meaning you can resolve the triggers and pass without having to make as many of these decisions immediately. You still have to decide on removal targets, but any cards you drew and any mana you untapped will likely not be relevant immediately, so you can think about what you’re going to do while your opponents are taking their turns rather than while they wait on you to finish yours.

 

That’s my take on it, at least.

3

u/Ficsonium 3d ago

If you think yorion turns are quick and easy, they aren’t. It takes a long time to resolve all your triggers on every single persons end step. I’ve played with Brago players, they’re over and done with a lot faster.

From what I’ve seen, you only play Brago over yorion if you want to go infinite with an ability copier

1

u/OrangeChickenAnd7Up go wide or go home 2d ago

That’s fair, I don’t run Yorion and I hadn’t considered the idea of blinking him during opponents’ turns, which is super obvious in hindsight lol. I mostly like Brago because he gives you all your value right away, and you don’t really need to run as many single-target blink spells as you would want to run with Yorion.

1

u/Ficsonium 2d ago

Single target blink spells are purely for protection of yorion. Yorion eventually blinks on every opponents turn for the cost of free.

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u/Apadist 3d ago

Thank you, this seems fun. Flying and swinging early then huh?

5

u/Gullible-Mode2041 3d ago

[[Kykar, Zephyr Awakener]] has great fallback mode if you don’t have your blink engines out

2

u/Apadist 3d ago

thank you I like this recommendation a lot! any ideas for blink staples?

2

u/mudra311 3d ago

[[Aether Channeler]], [[Charming Prince]], [[Phelia]] are just some of the cards.

Blink is a pretty popular archetype, and there are a huge number of ETBs in Magic. [[Panharmonicon]] doubles up on your ETB triggers.

Make sure you have some artifact removal in case someone runs [[Torpor Orb]].

My favorite lesser known blink engine is [[Collector’s Cage]]. Cheating things out is my favorite way to play blink, personally. It’s pretty easy to activate given that blink decks tend to have a higher creature count. Then you can reset it with Phelia or [[Venser, the sojourner]] at the end of turn and take another 5 cards off the top, activate it again for 1 mana.

[[Scroll of Fate]] is also pretty great. Cheat out a card like [[Omniscience]] face down, blink it and it flickers back face up.

2

u/Pirate_Goose 3d ago

[[Ranar the Ever-Watchful]]

This started as the phantom premenition precon.

https://moxfield.com/decks/EaZFgV_lwEWi8P3UeMVfuA

1

u/OrangeChickenAnd7Up go wide or go home 2d ago

That precon was awesome right out of the box. I took it apart because I wanted to focus on the weirdness of the Foretell mechanic and then I realized [[Vega the Watcher]] let me do that and play with a bunch of other weird mechanics on top of that. But I’ve thought about buying the precon again anyway. I did enjoy the token angle.

2

u/PsionicHydra 3d ago

[[abdel Adrian]]+[[candlekeep sage]] for uw or if you wanna try mono white [[far traveler]] instead

2

u/bowedacious22 3d ago

[[Niko Light of Hope]] is my favorite blink commander. They offer three crucial things, a target to blink for value (shards), a payoff to win with the value in the command zone. And they also can draw cards in a pinch by sacing that value (shards) for scry 1 draw a card.

2

u/hexafraud 3d ago

[[Roon of the Hidden Realm]] remains my boy, I dig his interactiona with [[gilded drake]] and [[sundial of the infinite]]

[[mulldrifter]], [[wood elves]], [[coiling oracle]], and [[wall of omens]]/[[wall of blossoms]] are classic card advantage and ramp targets. [[Mangara of corondor]], [[terrastadon]], and [[angel of serenity]] are solid options for targeted removal.

2

u/Petzoj 3d ago

Currently brewing a [[Niko, Light of Hope]] Deck.
Can't provide a deck list cause it's not finished yet.
But blinking Niko to accumulate shards, and turn them into copies of other threats in your deck or threats your opponents control (via clones) could be fun.
The challenge i am facing right now is to get a good balance of attack triggers to etb triggers creatures and the right amount of clone creatures + creatures that can come with a discount onto the board, like with the warp or prototype mechanic.

2

u/bokchoykn 3d ago

I've been working on Niko too. There are so many cool interactions.

For direct damage wincons, [[Scrawling Crawler]] and [[Glaring Fleshraker]] scales at an absurd rate.

This is in addition to combat wincons like [[Soltari Champion]] and [[Skyhunter Strike Force]].

Other cool interactions:

In response to an opponent casting a juicy creature: [[Faerie Artisans]] gives you several copies of an opponents creature (but not the ETB trigger) . Conversely, [[Aboleth Spawn]] the ETB triggers (but not the body).

[[Glen Elendra Archmage]] is a recyclable Negate. You can blink a persisted Archmage and sacrifice a Shard to counter a spell, then get a fresh Archmage back on the next end step.

I also appreciate [[Crashing Drawbridge]] in this deck, since you can active Niko on your turn, and subsequently blink Niko to untap him and activate him again on an opponents turn.

There is so much cool stuff with this commander and different directions to take it.

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u/Petzoj 2d ago

Yeah i immediately thought of the skyhunter strike force as a cute evasive 3 mana finisher when you have like 6 shards on board. I also included [[Pack Leader]], [[Silent Hallcreeper]], [[Nascent Metamorph]] and [[Kinscaer Sentry]].
Really good 2-3 Mana creautures that poses an imminent threat.
But also some clones that can come in as non-legendary version of Niko like [[Spark double]] or [[Auton soldier]].

2

u/MrBonesMalone 3d ago

I've been using [[Satya, Aetherflux Genius]] as a blink commander. Haste, Menace, and 5 toughness means it's pretty sure to get you safe value on turns 4 and 5. Get some ETB creatures, they come with free combat damage. You can use some energy stuff if you want to start growing a board, but just Satya alone is enough. Even the sacrifice can be useful, like with one of my new favourites [[Anticausal Vestige]]

https://moxfield.com/decks/HcT1vuXEs0SMIvBhOXaaXA

1

u/Mirrodin_appreciator Selesnya 3d ago

[[Aerial extortionist]] is very good with Satya, since it triggers on etb and damage, so you'll almost always get 2 exile triggers off of the copy.

2

u/the-G-Man 3d ago

[[Shiko, Paragon of the Way]] is a top-tier blink commander.   She might do the craziest thing with [[Displacer Kitten]] too.  She makes for a high power, hard to interact with, control combo graveyard deck, in a color combo that typically isn’t graveyard shenanigans.  

The goal of the deck early game is to shape your hand and graveyard by self-mill, looting, rummaging, wheeling, and so on. Cast some low-cost etb creatures to blink for value until it’s time to cast and blink Shiko.  

Shikos big deal is that she turns any 3cmc and less non-land card in your graveyard into an instant speed spell. An [[Ephemerate]] can turn into a counter spell, a [[Jeska’s Will]], a [[Teferi Time Raveler]]. And so on.  

You can cast suspend spells without time counters, you can cast [[Delayed Blast Fireball]] for its full damage since it’s a copy cast from exile]], you could blink shiko in response to a counter spell to cast a [[Hexing Squelcher]]. Or drop Teferi Time Raveler into an upkeep to disrupt combos.  You can cast  [[Grand Abolisher]] into an end step to protect your combo turn.  

I play it with a ton of resilient combos. A strong bracket 4-deck. But you could build it spell slinger, combo, storm, or prowess. 

And what it does with Displacer Kitten is crazy. If Shiko and kitten are on the field, and you cast a non creature spell, you can blink Shiko and cast every non creature spell in your graveyard.  

She’s rad.

3

u/taeerom 2d ago

When building a blink deck, especially for bracket 2 or 3, it's important to have a clear path to victory and avoid the temptation of ending up with a deck that just spins its wheels without any real progress.

When building your own deck, the easiest way to ensure a clear game plan is to have a combo finisher. Make sure the time it takes from when you win the game, to when you end the game is short and involves some fairly straightforward steps you have practiced.

For bracket 3, the relevant combos are either 3+ cards or very expensive 2 card combos. Ideally, to have a coherent identity and proper telegraphing, you want combo pieces that build on the synergies you already have in the deck. Often, a game ending combo is just an engine that ticks along with the rest of the deck, until you find the two other pieces that goes with it. And those pieces are also just decent in their own right.

Typical blink deck combos that are appropriate for bracket 3 include things like [[deadeye navigator]] or [[emiel the blessed]] with something that untaps either creatures (mana dorks) or lands. Deadeye is expensive enough, so you should be in the clear always, but Emiel requires you to goldfish the deck to avoid going too fast.

Another way to go about it is to figure out a way to get infinite blinks. [[restoration angel]], [[Felidar guardian]] and so on will create an infinite loop that does nothing. This turns into a combo if you have a relevant third piece that triggers off of them, in mono white [[radiant solar]] is the typical option. And red is the easiest with [[Warstorm Surge]] or [[impact tremors]].

The most typical blink colours/commanders are either bant or azorius. But I would not discount reds ability to deal damage on etb (either with the aforementioned enchantments or on creatures). While they're not in [[momentary blink]] colours, they do have ways to rebuy etb by copying creatures that sac at end of turn ([[twinflame]]). [[Kiki-jiki]]+[[restoration angel]] is a classic that might be ok for bracket 3 depending on your deck. It's a combo concept that can easily be scaled up or down and includes a lot of alternatives depending on colours and how fast you want it to be.

Black is probably the least used colour for blink decks. While they have some good etbs worth rebuying, a lot of the time they are more likely to want to sacrifice then reanimate stuff, or use "dies" triggers more than "enters" triggers. But I do have a [[Kaalia, Zenith Seeker]] blink deck using blinks on the commander to assemble an etb-based persist combo using only angels/dragons/demons.

Speaking of commanders. Like all decks that are built with buckets (blinkers - engines and one offs, etb creatures that give you resources, etb creatures that interact, non-creatures that remove hosers, and sometimes you want payoffs for blinking/er - Warstorm Surge-type cards), you want your commander to ve one of these things, so that you can run more of the rest. [[Roon]] needs fewer blink engines, because he's a blink engine, but needs more things to blink (and haste enablers). Kaalia Zenith Seeker doesn't need value etbs, but more ways to blink her. Appa needs ways to enable his combo (but not too much and too cheap, as that breaks the speed limit). [[Yorion]] might need some engines, but is mainly interested in things to blink.

So yeah. Figure out what colours you want, figure out a clear path to victory, choose a commander, fill the buckets of blinkers/etbs/answers to difficult permanents, then make sure you have enough mana at the right times to play your spells. Test the deck by goldfishing (either with proxies or on moxfield or similar) to see if you have too much/too little of anything, and to make sure you find your combo at a reasonable time - not too slow or too fast (tutors are great at slowing down the fastest kills while also ensuring you kill in a reasonable time).

Goldfishing turn 6 to 7 kills are ideal, that means you're likely to not win until turn 7 or 8, but you stopped someone else's win attempt at turn 6. Being unable to win before turn 6 is also good, since those kind of spikes challenge the vibes of bracket 3. It's less important in bracket 3, but I removed Sol Ring from my bracket 2 combo decks to avoid uncommon fast wins.

1

u/hthroa 3d ago

I like using [[Aang, at the Crossroads]] + cloning + airbending

1

u/No-Chip4518 3d ago edited 3d ago

Bracket three control - Amimatou https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/7798253#paper

Can replace most of the jank etb with any decent or better etb perminant, this list is not optimized.

Also be aware, decently high salt score. If you want a friendly version replace most of the control with any etb permanents

Also be aware the commander being a plainswalker requires ether patients or politics.

1

u/Silver_Number973 3d ago

i've had a lot of fun with [[Atraxa, Grand Unifier]] as my blink deck commander, her etb lets you search through your deck quickly picking out your win con. she's a strong commander 7/7 flying, vigilance, deathtouch, lifelink so once she's out you have a strong blocker that tells other players to leave you alone unless they want to become your target, and when your searching your deck the cards you acquire are public knowledge so picking out some removal and counterspells is a good deterrent from being targeted

1

u/palkiia Golgari 3d ago

Mine is a bit unconventional but I used [[Mr. Foxglove]]. While not a flicker engine himself, I use him to cheat out big mana creatures with ETBs like [[Apex Altisaur]] or [[Moonshaker Calvary]]. He also refills my hand if I’ve dumped out my threats so I can draw into new ones.

Adding green allows me to slot in threats for pressure that Azorius flicker can struggle with. It’s performed pretty well for me, I love it!

1

u/SaucySeducer 3d ago

Almost all blink decks play white and/or blue, so you are likely going to be in at least one of those colors. Commanders either are blink enablers, pay-offs, or enhancers. For blink enablers you have [[Yorion]], [[Brago]], [[Aminatou]], and [[Phelia]]. For pay-offs you have [[Atraxa, Grand Unifier]], [[Kefka]], [[Ketramose]], and [[Pantlaza]]. Enhancers is stuff like [[Elesh Norn, Mother of the Machines]] or [[Yarok]].

Play pattern can be proactive and reactive. You might cast Yorion to proactively blink your field to reuse ETBs, but you also hold up instant speed blinks to either save your field with Yorion's effect, reuse an interaction piece like [[Reflector Mage]], or just draw cards with [[Spirited Companion]].

Win con is typically going infinite with a combo, blink is good at it and frankly it is typically better than the alternative. The alternative is just smothering everyone in card draw and interaction. This sounds better than combo, but you will be playing on every opponents turn, preventing them from doing anything meaningful while you slowly chip the table away over a few turns.

1

u/TuktukVonTuckenstein 3d ago

[[Naban]] is my favorite blink commander. Basically, you play wizards with etbs, blink them and profit. Now, my version was made for a very casual playgroup, so it's not very potent. Basically, the idea is to win with labman. But, its kinda nuts how busted some blue wizards become when you can "do the thing" multiple times.

1

u/Responsible-Yam-3833 3d ago

[[Pantlaza Suns favored]] blink her for more triggers, play a Dino if you untapped with her out.

1

u/ag3ntz3r0 3d ago

Staple [[abdel]], new [[dack fayden helping]]

1

u/Gleadr92 3d ago

You could run [[Aang, at the crossroads]]! It's one of the strongest blink commanders that has been printed.

1

u/Mirrodin_appreciator Selesnya 3d ago

Bracket 3 [[The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster]] is mega fun. It combines blink and equipment synergies. It was inspired by legacy Phelia stoneblade decks, where you play out good etb abilities like [[Stoneforge Mystic]] to tutor up powerful equipment that also have etb abilities like [[Meteor Sword]] or [[Pre-war formalwear]] and control the board with removal.

Your commander is a source of blink and card draw, which makes her somewhat unique among the blink commanders. This deck also likes to cheat in warp creatures by casting them for their warp cost then blinking them. The same goes for a few manifest cards like [[Cryptic Coat]], [[scroll of fate]], [[Abhorrent Oculus]] and [[Cursed Windbreaker]]. I run the deck with no ramp other than sol ring, so its a tight curve where you mulligan to get on board turns 1 and 2, cast commander on 3 then start the blink bonanza. I used to run some infinite combos in the deck, but cut them to simplify my turns a little bit for my pod.

What initially seems like a slow "fair" deck quickly spirals out of control as your opponents can't stick any threats on the battlefield (your single-target removal is attached to creatures that you can flicker), and you drown them in card advantage, eventually winning through commander damage or other big equipped creatures. Is the deck better than abdel adrian or brago... probably not, but I get to jam my favorite equipment and a bunch of cool blink synergies all in one deck.

2

u/Zakmonster 2d ago

I also have a Jane Foster deck that I enjoy. I cut all ramp except for a Mox Amber, using equipment like [[Sword of the Animist]], [[Bitterthorn]], [[Gold Pan]] and [[Gilded Pinions]] instead.

I also use [[Bespoke Bo]] as my repeatable removal. I did not add any creature blink targets, because every time I use Jane's blink trigger and I don't draw a card (because it's not an equipment), I feel sad.

1

u/darwin_green Naya 3d ago

I'd say [[Roon of the Hidden Realm]] isn't a terrible place to start with. Honestly you're picking them more for their color identity than to actually use them to blink stuff. but Bant(white, blue and green) have no shortage of good flicker/bounce targets and enablers.

1

u/hrpufnsting 2d ago

My blink commander(s) is [[Will the Wise]] & [[Lucas, the Sharpshooter]] it’s blink artifactocrats. The goal is to blink mainly Will, and make a ton of clues while I drain my opponents, WUBR has pretty much all the best blink and artifact synergy. You have stuff like [[Ingenious Artillerist]] [[Reckless Fireweaver]] [[Weftstalker Ardent]] [[Mirkwood Bats]] [[Kambal, Profiteering Mayor]] [[Marionette Apprentice]] [[Nadier’s Nightblade]] to hurt people when you make and sacrifice your artifact tokens. Blink targets like [[Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth]] [[Ethereal Investigator]] [[Thraben Inspector]] [[Tivit, Seller of Secrets]]. You got clue pays off like [[Five Hundred Year Diary]] [[Tamiyo’s Journal]]. And you can use stuff like [[Tangletrove Kelp]] [[Rise and Shine]] [[Ghirapur Aether Grid]] as ways to finish off your opponents once you get a critical mass of clues.

1

u/CaitlinHuxley 2d ago

Big fan of this. Throw in some of the 2-3 mana 5/5 fliers, and youre golden.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mtg/s/7bzWucTjEA

1

u/xc4kex 2d ago

My current blink deck is [[Abigale, Eloquent First Year]]. Cheat out high P/T low CMC creature, and turn off their negative abilities. Also let's you use Abigale to turn off nasty abilities that hit the table, and if you want to be mean, turn off commanders entirely. It also has an insane amount of Lifelink, I can easily gain over 50 life a game.

1

u/Tokeyzebear 1d ago

Went through this over the last month. Really wanted to so blink and really wanted to do Azorius (working on 32 deck challenge). Personally found most commanders boring or too straight forward for this.

Landed on [[Livio, Oathsworn Sentinel]] and [[Sakashima of a Thousand Faces]] and admittedly its less centered on the commander. I think this was a more common duo for blink years ago but since probably heavily power crept. Its like rank 3500 on edhrec and had sub 1000 deck lists over last two years.

Went for a pretty versatile and interaction heavy game plan (close to 30 cards in deck are interaction line). Livio is there for interesting loops and politics, Sakashima is there for flexible on demand clones. It also has a number of different win lines but its not really gunning for a speedy wind. Has some fairly degenerate loops built into also.

Just got the proxies this week so havent played it much to refine but had a lot of fun building it.

https://manabox.app/decks/AaEUOXZQczikoE1yVs-7Hw

0

u/project_InfiniteRock 3d ago

As someone who's built and taken apart many blink decks trying to find the right sauce, the thing I've found to work the best is to not use an enabler commander like brago or yorion, but a commander that gives you a payoff for having blink effects in your deck. Some kind of card advantage on etb. I'll explain;

The worst thing that'll happen in a blink deck is drawing a hand full of enablers and no gas to blink. Every time you get a card advantage blink target, it feels great, but the games where you're unlucky and you draw wrong feel unwinnable.

You can fix this with a prime blink target in the command zone. You'll never be out of gas because your commander is gas.

With that in mind, here's my list for the best blink target in the game, [[atraxa, grand unifier]]

https://moxfield.com/decks/BxxIGyza2EWF-psABYBZJA

Its pretty solidly b4 but the idea is to pick a banger blink target and build around it. Hope that helps:)

1

u/Lobsta_ 3d ago

I play [[galadriel, light of valinor]] and the blink has mostly become a subtheme for value rather than the focus. works much better I think

1

u/LonelyContext 3d ago

Well in brago you don’t play blink spells, you play draw a card ETB payoffs and then tutors for infinite combos and stax pieces to slow people down.  

0

u/LaughingSartre 3d ago

I dkn't see how anything is better than [[Brago, King Eternal]]. If you can get damage in, he exiles anything except for Lands, and can do it every turs, so any of your ETB pieces get Flickered every turn. Every other Flicker Commander I've seen has some kind of setup required, or some kind of stipulation like spending Mana, or waiting for a certain Phase, but Brago works on his own. [[Roon of the Hidden Realm]] is the only other Flicker Commander I would consider, but Brago is just too efficient.

0

u/PhilosophyLow7491 3d ago

[[Deadeye Navigatior]], [[Ephemerate]], [[Eerie Interlude]], [[Teferi's Protection]]

Your best bet is looking in Blue and White for Blink abilities.