Sophina, Spearsage DeserterSophina, Spearsage Deserter | Art by Bartek Fedyczak

Clue tokens were introduced in April 2016 with Shadows Over Innistrad, and originally only designed within the Bant color pie ().

In 2024's Murders at Karlov Manor, Wizards of the Coast released a preconstructed Commander deck around the investigate mechanic, and stuck to this color combination with Morska, Undersea SleuthMorska, Undersea Sleuth and Sophia, Dogged DetectiveSophia, Dogged Detective.

Blue and green have been the natural place for Clues to live, especially in Commander, but what if I told you that you could make a stronger and more interesting deck based around Clues without blue or green?

Today, we're exploring Mardu Clues, or should I say "MarCLUE"??

A groaner of a joke aside, this deck is a house. Let's get into it!

According to EDHREC, the most played color combination for Clues, unsurprisingly, is Bant with 5000+ decks in the database. Trying to steer away from green and blue, Mardu stood out to me, as it only had 75 decks in the database.

Enter: Sophina, Spearsage DeserterSophina, Spearsage Deserter and Wernog, Rider's ChaplainWernog, Rider's Chaplain

Sophina wants us to have consistent attackers, where Wernog cares about entering and leaving. These two things don't fit together so much, but the contrasting abilities allow us to pivot our game plan when needed, and that's extremely valuable.

Category #1: Attackers and Turning Clues into Attackers

Since Sophina wants us to attack, it's important that we have ways to generate attackers, and there are great ways to turn early Clues into an attacking-fueled, Clue-generating machine.

• A great attacker-generator is Loyal ApprenticeLoyal Apprentice, as it can make us new Thopters with haste every turn if our commander is in play. We have two commanders so this is an easy prerequisite to meet.
• Gut, True Soul ZealotGut, True Soul Zealot can turn Clues into attacking 4/1 Skeletons with menace, which rocks.
• Depthshaker TitanDepthshaker Titan can be a great way to close out a game if we have a ton of Clues in play.
• Teysa, Opulent OligarchTeysa, Opulent Oligarch rewards us with 1/1 flying Spirits every time we sacrifice a Clue.
• Jan Jansen, Chaos CrafterJan Jansen, Chaos Crafter can turn Clues into 1/1 Construct creatures or turn any artifact creatures we have laying around into Treasures when short on mana.
• Fain, the BrokerFain, the Broker can turn Clues into 2/1 Inkling creatures with flying, which are stronger attackers than they may seem.

Category #2: Sacrificing Our Clues...In Other Ways

Drawing cards with our Clues is a good way to accrue value over time, but there are other ways to sacrifice our Clues that may cost less mana...

• Braids, Arisen NightmareBraids, Arisen Nightmare turns our Clues into a semi-edict effect for artifacts unless our opponents give us cards.
• Tarrian's JournalTarrian's Journal lets us sacrifice one Clue at a time for card draw, but can transform into a powerful reanimation piece in the late game.
• Stormclaw RagerStormclaw Rager and Hardened TacticianHardened Tactician both let us draw cards for one mana instead of two.
• We can pump Evereth, Viceroy of PlunderEvereth, Viceroy of Plunder to be a massive attacking/flinging threat with our Clues.
• Thorough InvestigationThorough Investigation can turn all of our Clue sacrificing into value by introducing "venturing into the dungeon" to the game.

Category #3: Winning Outside of Attacking

Yes, our ultimate goal is to attack and generate a bunch of Clues, but we have multiple ways to cause incremental damage over time.

• Reckless FireweaverReckless Fireweaver and Ingenious ArtilleristIngenious Artillerist deal damage to each opponent when an artifact enters under our control.
• Nadier's NightbladeNadier's Nightblade and Mirkwood BatsMirkwood Bats both drain our opponents when any tokens enter under our control.
• Marionette MasterMarionette Master and Marionette ApprenticeMarionette Apprentice deal tons of damage when we sacrifice our Clues or any other artifacts.

Category #4: The "Secret Spice" = Big Combat

Nine times out of ten, our attackers will be pretty small. With this in mind, we've included a few ways to make a massive attacker out of nowhere.

Bronze GuardianBronze Guardian gets bigger equal to the number of artifacts we have in play and it has double strike and it's harder to interact with than our other threats (ward is crazy).

Cranial RamCranial Ram, Cranial PlatingCranial Plating, and NettlecystNettlecyst all buff creatures equal to our total number of artifacts in play. Put one of these on a Thopter and you're doing some serious damage.

Jor Kadeen, the PrevailerJor Kadeen, the Prevailer's metalcraft ability grants all of our creatures +3/+0, and that ability alone has killed me in more Commander games than I'm willing to admit.

Armed with ProofArmed with Proof and Merchant of TruthMerchant of Truth both support a Voltron plan, and with Sophina, Spearsage DeserterSophina, Spearsage Deserter having menace, this means getting a kill via commander damage is not impossible.

Closing Thoughts

No green or blue? No problem! MarCLUE is a pretty strong deck, and all within a budget of 100 dollars! If you want to stomp your friends for cheap, this is the deck to do it with.

I hope you enjoyed my exploration into the world of Mardu Clues. Check out my deck list below!

Sophina, Spearsage Deserter and Wernog, Rider's Chaplain Commander Deck List