Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries | Art by Jeff Miracola

Elemental History

Elementals are an inherently mysterious creature type, representing raw forces of nature and the living embodiments of emotions. Perhaps the biggest mystery, to me, surrounds that last role: how are Elementals different from Incarnations? Why is FuryFury an Elemental Incarnation, but AngerAnger is just an Incarnation? Am I the only one who finds this weird? Probably.

Even the Elementals of Lorwyn are mysterious. On one hand, there’s the rainbow-colored variety, which I used in my first-ever Pro Tour Qualifier during Shadowmoor Block Constructed, which featured Horde of NotionsHorde of Notions. On the other hand, there’s the Flamekin, a mono-red variety, featuring live-fast, die-young cards like Nova ChaserNova Chaser.

Interestingly, the Elementals of Lorwyn Eclipsed take inspiration from both variants, adding key redundancy with utility pieces, as well as many more strong enters-the-battlefield (ETB) effects. And if there’s one thing modern Magic design has done a lot of recently, it’s multiplying ETB effects. As a result, this Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries Commander deck tech will revolve around creatures that live fast, die young, and leave an impact.

But how can we build around evoke, when our creatures will barely be around? And how do we amass an offense?

What Does Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries Do?

Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries is a creature with a decent rate, a 5/5 for five mana with first strike, vigilance, and trample, although requiring all five colors means that casting it on-curve is unlikely.

The key ability is that it grants another target Elemental we control myriad until the end of the turn. Myriad means that, when the creature attacks, it makes a token copy for each other opponent that's attacking that player. This seems to work nicely with evoke, as most evoke creatures have abilities that trigger when they enter or leave the battlefield.

The problem is…evoke also means our creatures die right after they ETB. So, how do we get them to live long enough to attack?

That’s where the rest of the deck comes in.

Key Cards for Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries

First and foremost, we need to decide which Elementals we want to include. With all five colors at our fingertips, there are a wide range of possibilities. Even refining the search to only those with evoke gives more than 30 options. As a result, we want to narrow the evoke Elementals to those who we would want to cast as spells for the evoke cost, looking at them as sorceries with upside.

One category we’re looking for is card draw. MulldrifterMulldrifter and its cousin NulldrifterNulldrifter are clear additions, digging us a couple cards deep for minimal cost. WistfulnessWistfulness and WavesifterWavesifter loot and investigate, respectfully, sowing some newer ways that blue and green draw cards nowadays.

Another category we’re looking for is removal. Some are specific in what they remove, like WispmareWispmare and Ingot ChewerIngot Chewer, which will usually find juicy targets. AethersnipeAethersnipe and SolitudeSolitude are solid answers to a variety of threats, and ShriekmawShriekmaw has long been the poster child for this sort of role, inheriting that title from NekrataalNekrataal.

Here’s where we have to deal with the elephant-like-creature in the room: we need ways to keep our creatures around and/or get them back, in order to use them with our commander’s myriad ability. Sundial of the InfiniteSundial of the Infinite is the first place to look, as ending our turn with the delayed sacrifice trigger on the stack lets us keep our Elementals and copy them next turn. Bloodline BiddingBloodline Bidding lets us use the bodies that are out to reduce the cost while bringing back a huge board and triggering all the ETBs!

While we’re triggering all of these ETBs, we could use some ways to multiply them, as well as other Elementals that can trigger them. Risen ReefRisen Reef and Flamekin HarbingerFlamekin Harbinger are potent effects to trigger early and get our game going. Yarok, the DesecratedYarok, the Desecrated, Roaming ThroneRoaming Throne, and PanharmoniconPanharmonicon make our deck go from quirky silliness to legitimate threat in a heartbeat. They also stack, so we can multiply our triggers and really go nuts.

Being in five colors, however, we need to be careful not to be too greedy. FlamebraiderFlamebraider complements the existing SmokebraiderSmokebraider, giving us another mana-creating creature ("mana dork"). Nature's LoreNature's Lore and Three VisitsThree Visits also work well with our Forest-heavy manabase, fetching up TriomesTriomes and ShocklandsShocklands with a Forest subtype.

In addition to the Triomes and Shocks, we can use lands that make any color, such as Ancient ZigguratAncient Ziggurat and Unclaimed TerritoryUnclaimed Territory, to fix our mana. We can feel comfortable using these because most of our spells are creatures.

Primal BeyondPrimal Beyond, and its new friend Abundant CountrysideAbundant Countryside, both work with Elementals and help to fix our mana with upside.

How Does This Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries Commander Deck Win?

As with many ETB-based decks, like Blink decks and Bounce decks, we’re looking to accrue advantage over the course of the game.

Card advantage itself doesn’t win games, but multiplying removal, card draw, and board state create inevitability, which means that we can eventually overwhelm our opponents by just doing what we’re already doing. It’s a similar concept to sports teams that rely on defense and reducing opportunities for opponents’ offenses.

Mass of Mysteries Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Elementals, like their art, are a fun mess of different abilities that can be mixed and matched into a variety of fun combinations. You can focus on one or two colors or embrace the rainbow with any of a few different commanders, picking and choosing your favorites.

But how would you build Elementals? And how do you differentiate them from Incarnations?