Lydia FryeLydia Frye | Art by Mandy Jurgens

When it comes to old-school Magic, few creatures are as evocative and iconic as the sadly-not-legendary Royal AssassinRoyal Assassin. The stealthy throat-slitter has been removing threats over and over since Alpha, including plying its dark trade in the controversial Assassin’s Creed set.

While that set may have released a number of cards into the pool to little fanfare, due in part to a strange change in distribution, it did revitalize and coalesce the creature type. With several new legendary Assassins in tow, the creature type has been revolutionized.

One of these new commanders, Lydia FryeLydia Frye, acts as the perfect bridge between the old and the new, as wlll be shown in this deck tech!

Assassins kill stuff. In other news, people breathe air and water is wet. Whether reflected in mafia-style hit men in New Capenna or Shakespearean apothecary-style poisoners in Conspiracy’s Fiora, they largely stay true to that singular aim.

Some have targeted abilities that kill, while others imbue their weapons with poisons or magic that grants them deathtouch. No matter what, they turn sideways and stuff dies, both of which synergize with Lydia FryeLydia Frye.

So, who is this Kill Bill-style commander of killers? And what makes her so special?

What Does Lydia FryeLydia Frye Do?

Lydia FryeLydia Frye is one of the relatively new commanders from the Assassin’s Creed expansion, who kind of snuck under the radar, but perfectly straddles the old and the new.

She’s an aggressively-costed Dimir () commander - a 3/2 for , making her extremely easy to cast early and often. She also has built-in evasion, sneaking past opposing creatures with three or more power, so it’s unlikely that she'll die in combat without taking something with her.

Perhaps the most important ability of hers is the last, however: at the beginning of our end step, we surveil X, where X is the number of tapped Assassins we control. Whether they were tapped to kill creatures, like Royal AssassinRoyal Assassin, or tapped from combat, we’re getting a lot of card selection and creature-growing, forming a synergistic core.

Assassins have a bevy of options for commanders; there may even be enough playable legendary Assassins for a five-color legendary Assassins deck, which Ezio Auditore da FirenzeEzio Auditore da Firenze could helm!

Altaïr Ibn-La'AhadAltaïr Ibn-La'Ahad could make a strong Mardu Assassin Reanimator deck, while Queen MarchesaQueen Marchesa makes Assassin tokens and benefits off of Assassins connecting to reclaim the monarchy.

Within Dimir, Etrata, Deadly FugitiveEtrata, Deadly Fugitive has deathtouch and cloaks the top card of opposing libraries when an Assassin connects. Stealing opponents' cards is more Pirate-coded than Assassin-coded, however. Ramses, Assassin LordRamses, Assassin Lord has the title, deathtouch, and the Lord ability, but the alternate win-con ability, while cool, doesn't feel flavorful.

Key Cards for Lydia FryeLydia Frye

Lydia wants our creatures tapped, and there are two primary ways to do that: attacking and tapping to activate abilities.

Attacking safely is paramount to winning a game with small creatures, and Cover of DarknessCover of Darkness and LevitationLevitation are excellent ways to make sure our opponents can’t block. Fear and flying aren’t infallible, but they do put heavy limits on what can block. And they stack, making blocking less and less likely.

Evie FryeEvie Frye is an excellent Assassin, looting cards like the Incarnations, FilthFilth and WonderWonder, into the grave, so our creatures gain swampwalk or flying, respectively.

While some Assassins can tap themselves, like Evie FryeEvie Frye, and others can get through in combat with global evasive effects, there will be times when the setup isn’t there and we need to tap our Assassins some other way.

OppositionOpposition is an excellent external tapping ability, as it lets us tap our creatures to tap opposing creatures or lands. Since tapping our creatures is part of paying the cost, we can use our summoning sick Assassins to tap opposing blockers and sneak extra damage in, even if we don’t have evasion.

We can also tap lands in a pinch, in order to force or prevent counterplay so we can land key spells or avoid blowouts.

Speaking of sneaking, Assassins are known for being masters of disguise and deception, using these to protect themselves as they sneak up on their unsuspecting targets. For us, those abilities take the form of NegateNegate effects to protect our board, as well as global protection effects like Smoke BombSmoke Bomb to avoid removal.

We’re the masters of killing, after all, so it makes sense that we’ve mastered avoiding death as well!

Our nonbasic lands provide additional ways to tap our creatures that are summoning sick, helping us to meet our commander’s requirement. Holdout SettlementHoldout Settlement, Survivors' EncampmentSurvivors' Encampment, and Scene of the CrimeScene of the Crime all tap our creatures as part of paying a cost, rewarding us with mana of any color.

While fixing mana in a two-color deck isn’t terribly important, it does serve a relevant function, in addition to synergizing with our commander.

How Does This Lydia Frye Commander Deck Win?

The goal of the deck is to use card filtering to find mass evasion effects to break parity and enable open attacks. We have the ability to remove threats and protect our own, all while using our commander’s ability to grow our creatures.

Lydia Frye Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Assassins kill stuff, but these Assassins have a plan. We're looking to kill stuff and play a political game by picking and choosing our marks for ourselves and positioning ourselves to win the game.

But how would you build Assassins? And what are some hidden gems from Assassin’s Creed that have been overlooked?

More Assassins: