Dr. EggmanDr. Eggman | Illustrated by Nathalie Fourdraine

If you've reached this Dr. EggmanDr. Eggman deck tech with legitimately anything but the most villainous intentions, you may be disappointed to know that this deck, based around that most dastardly villain, is true to form.

This deck revolves around Sonic the Hedgehog's mad scientist antagonist and his Construct and Robot minions. Are you strapped in and ready for a ride? Let's go!

What Does Dr. Eggman Do?

Dr. EggmanDr. Eggman is a discard commander, first and foremost. His ability to either cause a discard or force your opponent to allow you to put a Construct, Robot, or Vehicle onto the battlefield is a fairly intuitive one for your foes.

Spoiler alert: unless an opponent has a vital response to something and need to keep it in hand, they will generally opt to discard before they'll allow you to cheat in a Construct.

In addition, Dr. Eggman draws you a card at every one of your end steps. This further fuels the options you have handy for cheating in an artifact of some sort.

Finally, as a 3/6 body for , Dr. Eggman won't swing in for much damage, but he's a fantastic flying blocker much of the time.

Which Commander Is Dr. Eggman Most Comparable To?

On the surface, Dr. Eggman feels fairly similar to Davros, Dalek CreatorDavros, Dalek Creator. Off the bat, they're both legendary Scientist creatures in the blue-black-red (Grixis) color identity. They're both Universes Beyond villains, and they are both relatively evil. These comparisons can't be ignored. Nevertheless, the biggest differences they share are in the villainous choice they offer your opponents.

Sure, both have something to do with board state advantage, card draw, and opposing discard. The buck stops there, however. Dr. Eggman affects all of your opponents automatically; Davros needs opponents to lose life before their pain can truly begin.

As for the way this deck wants to operate, the strategy is that of an overwhelming force of Construct creatures, many of which are easy to cheat in with Dr. Eggman himself. With over 50 sources of mana and a glut of robotic creatures (if not Robot creatures), it's plausible to think the pilot of this deck will be able to power out the good Doctor sooner than players may expect, and then begin churning out value.

With the versatility of Constructs, the deck should be well-equipped to present many different tough situations for opponents.

Key Cards for Dr. Eggman

Various good choices exist for a Dr. Eggman deck. Here, I'd like to highlight two key aspects of the deck:

• Strong Constructs and Robots for when your opponents make the wrong decision
• Cards that punish opponents for making the right decision

It's no surprise that, as soon as many people looked up this Secret Lair drop, they were encouraged to "always choose discard" when they face down Dr. Eggman. This is widely the right decision; after all, better the devil you know, right? ...Right?

A Construct Toolbox for Your Hand

Fret not, for there is hope! There are those foolish enough to forgo discarding without the foresight to properly estimate the versatility of the cards Dr. Eggman can and will eventually cheat into play. To that end, here are but three notable Constructs you could see in a Dr. Eggman deck many turns too early:

Cityscape LevelerCityscape Leveler is less scary when cast outright, but it can still spook your opponents enough into reconsidering the merits of discarding that pivotal counterspell or combat trick. Furthermore, its talents aren't completely lost if you don't cast it, for it also triggers on the attack. To that end, you're going to decimate many different permanents with this thing.

Scrap TrawlerScrap Trawler will also allow a Dr. Eggman player to keep a sizable grip on the deck's artifacts. If you've lost the aforementioned Cityscape Leveler, you might be consoled with the Roaming ThroneRoaming Throne you lost a couple of turns prior. Lost a Myr BattlesphereMyr Battlesphere? Here's a Noxious GearhulkNoxious Gearhulk for your pains. The possibilities are expansive and oh, so diabolical!

Let's also discuss CryptothrallCryptothrall. With as simple an ability as giving your artifact creatures hexproof, Cryptothrall is an unassuming threat in a deck with quite a few haymakers. However, when your opponents find they can't AbradeAbrade your other options, they'll realize they have to focus down a less overt card to get to anything else.

That's pretty evil, in all the best ways!

Forcing Discards

Plenty of cards exist in the general realm of Constructs for a commander like Dr. Eggman, and we'll get to them shortly. But how do we encourage opponents to decide to forgo discarding?

Three kinds of cards exist to assist this line of discard discouragement. Two are extremely familiar to most players experienced with discard themes in Commander. There's one more kind of card in this overarching category that is less obvious, although it's on the more salt-inducing end of things.

Damage Upon Discard: Cards such as MegrimMegrim, Liliana's CaressLiliana's Caress, and similar all deal damage to an opponent upon discarding. These can add up to more damage than an opponent may feel comfortable taking. At the same time, they're also losing a valuable card in hand, so this eases the stress of a painful decision.

Benefits Upon Discard: Roughly in the same vein as dealing damage upon discard, cards like Waste NotWaste Not provide you with bonuses for making your opponent discard.

As such, perhaps your opponent doesn't want you to have an extra Zombie token blocker or draw an additional card. So, they'll discard a land (or allow you to cheat in a Construct) instead. Forcing the decision to make itself is a very strong tool in your arsenal.

Informed Hand Control: This is a more subtle way to force your opponents to discard cards. If your opponents' hands are pretty full, it helps to know why. Therefore, cards like TelepathyTelepathy or Glasses of UrzaGlasses of Urza are prime pieces to use here. They allow you to both make informed decisions and strongarm opponents with a political factor.

Of the two, I prefer Glasses of Urza. With it, you can focus the fear upon other opponents by looking at one opponent's hand and monitoring their otherwise hidden hand. You're snooping, as usual, and that's only fair!

How Does Dr. Eggman Win?

Put simply, Dr. Eggman wants to run your opponents well out of options while slowly amassing a robotic legion and then overrunning them with said legion.

Notably, there are a few cards that allow you to double up on villainous choices and other abilities. When you have a critical mass of automatons and your opponents have no ready means of dealing with them, you'll be able to win in practically no time at all.

Dr. Eggman Commander Deck List

Conclusion

In short, Dr. EggmanDr. Eggman is a pretty imposing commander. He's similar to Davros in his triggering of a tough villainous choice. He's also very similar to Kefka, Court MageKefka, Court Mage in many related ways as well. If you're a fan of either of those commanders, you're certain to like Dr. Eggman.

So now, I'd like to hear from you, dear readers. Are you excited about the new Secret Lair drop series, out July 14th? Would you play a Dr. Eggman deck? Do any of the other mechanically unique cards pique your deckbuilding interest? Sound off below!