dingus egg (designer arc)

That performance from Craig Pawson and the Referee's Cabal is going to make me fail my blood pressure test at 3.40pm TOMORROW.

That's how atrocious it was.

There's not many better feelings as a control player than finding the weird card that solves the issue you have in the meta.

Whether it's standard, modern, tiny leaders or Kaladesh Block Constructed.

I imagine this a Ronseal game, does exactly what it says on the tin?

Morningtide's Light is another in a long list of "cards that let survive another turn".

ML can target your opponents creatures to clear the way for a big swing and then lets you sit all comfy for a turn cycle (note it prevents all damage, not just combat damage).

This is not just for blink decks.

It's so resilient, generates incredible amounts of value and is starting to pick up real diversity of win conditions.

I think it wants a couple of ways to make the 0/1 Illusions into actual combat threats, but don't want to shoehorn in just anything.

Possibly time to bring back Moonshaker Cavalry?

02 [W] Blinking Like Rabbits - Commander (Preston, the Vanisher) Created - February 2023

Christ, I do love playing this Preston deck.

moxfield.com/decks/K6_Xbu...

Kinbinding {3}{W}{W} Enchantment Creatures you control get +X/+X, where X is the number of creatures that entered the battlefield under your control this turn. At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 green and white Kithkin creature token.

Fully expect Kinbinding to quickly become one of the best cards in Otharri.

Despite it's strengths, Otharri has had trouble with closing power without the Impact Tremors.

This will help in that regard immensely.

moxfield.com/decks/MNlopu...

Thank you. She's seen a lot of change over the years, but the biggest one was the full lean to all nonland permanents being legendary.

That direction was chosen in response to Shorikai being previewed, to really set the distinction between what I was doing, and what others were doing with Shorikai.

So much.

Love the deck to pieces, to the point where even participating in 0 games in 2025 did not result in any desire to retire her.

I just didn't have the right pod at the right time to play her last year, as games with her can end up being upwards of 12 turns on average.

14 [BG] Old Rusty's Snake Oils and Vigors - Commander (Old Rutstein) A deck created using Moxfield.

I never partook because my general approach to deck building is rarely about collective obscurity, but instead finding the cards for the archetype that function best with specifically my chosen commander.

Like a Spymaster's Vault in Vogar, or building around Verdant Succession in Old Rutstein.

Bang on mate.

I don't discourage people who want to build the "Best in Show" commander.

Heck I have a couple of those myself - looking at you 4c Omnath.

But sometimes I just love a card for more than the rules text, or want to enjoy the discovery of building something less explored.

07 [WU] The Resurrection Legend - Commander (Niambi, Esteemed Speaker) A deck created using Moxfield.

The current state of Niambi in 2026

moxfield.com/decks/tWtBxO...

My forever deck is Niambi, Esteemed Speaker. It's a legendary reanimator deck and I built the first version of it probably 2 years before we got Shorikai.

I could have pivoted to Shorikai, but chose not to because of this kind of mindset.

But that would've removed the magic of Niambi.

While I'm not one for typal decks, I do apply this way of thinking to archetypes.

Are there better mono-black control commanders than Vogar? Yes.

Are there better Rakdos Reanimator commanders than SOI Olivia? Yes.

Are there better Enchantress commanders than Zacama? Yes.

Do I care? No.

Apprentice Wizard {1}{U}{U} Creature — Human Wizard {U}, {T}: Add {C}{C}{C}. 0/1

Batwing Brume {1}{W/B} Instant Prevent all combat damage that would be dealt this turn if {W} was spent to cast this spell. Each player loses 1 life for each attacking creature they control if {B} was spent to cast this spell. (Do both if {W}{B} was spent.)

Elenda, the Dusk Rose {2}{W}{B} Legendary Creature — Vampire Knight Lifelink Whenever another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Elenda. When Elenda dies, create X 1/1 white Vampire creature tokens with lifelink, where X is Elenda’s power. 1/1

I would love to talk about how all Richard Kane Ferguson art is probably amazing on the wall in a frame, but I can just never figure out what's supposed to be happening.

And this is why I have long believed, on a pure "allow you to play as little magic as possible"* metric, that Mono-Red is the best control deck.

*Which is what most people pretend Control Decks are there to do.

Moonshadow {B} Creature — Elemental Menace This creature enters with six -1/-1 counters on it. Whenever one or more permanent cards are put into your graveyard from anywhere while this creature has a -1/-1 counter on it, remove a -1/-1 counter from this creature. 7/7

Iron-Shield Elf {1}{B} Creature — Elf Warrior Discard a card: This creature gains indestructible until end of turn. Tap it. 3/1

Moonshadow is both a good play to the board with all the mill and surveil, but also a nice cheap option to get a big Lazav.

Iron-Shield Elf is a fine play to the board but is very good to protect Lazav and pitch key creatures to the GY. Doesn't seem fancy but will absolutely glue the deck together.

08 [UB] Your Face or Mine? - Commander (Lazav, the Multifarious) A deck created using Moxfield.

The new update adds 7 creatures to the list, a couple from Lorwyn, but mainly just options that give the decks a couple different angles.

But the fun additions are the Lorwyn Eclipsed cards.

Not just with removal, or graveyard interaction, but just simply attacking me.

The deck didn't play many creatures, and most of the ones it did were chosen for being good Lazav targets.

It was rare to have more than a couple impactful creatures in play.

Phage the Untouchable {3}{B}{B}{B}{B} Legendary Creature — Avatar Minion When Phage enters, if you didn’t cast it from your hand, you lose the game. Whenever Phage deals combat damage to a creature, destroy that creature. It can’t be regenerated. Whenever Phage deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game. 4/4

Ancient Silver Dragon {6}{U}{U} Creature — Elder Dragon Flying Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, roll a d20. Draw cards equal to the result. You have no maximum hand size for the rest of the game. 8/8

The play patterns ended up devolving into "make Lazav an Ancient Silver Dragon, protect it while generating card advantage, then make Lazav into Phage and pick off players one by one."

Which is both incredibly slow, but also plays its hand so incredibly clearly, it's easy to counterplay

A nice chunky update to Lazav off the back of Lorwyn (but not entirely Lorwyn cards).

The main issue with the deck has been a lack of creatures limiting the available lines the deck was capable of, making the deck feel one-dimensional, easy to counterplay if you knew it, and generally hit or miss.

17 [WUB] Stacking the Odds - Commander (Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign) A deck created using Moxfield.

Finally got around to building the queen. Still an absolute work in progress, but I think there's some fun lines we can put together here.

Also, Penance reprint, when? Please WotC! In the meantime, I need an alter.

moxfield.com/decks/0Olm5W...

And I'm so glad Wirtz is now showing what all the fuss was as about. Had been my dream signing for a couple years before this, the lad is very special.

Was adjusting to a new league in an underperforming team, but is going to be someone to build around for the long term.

Special player.

I'm not going to complain about a player of Isak's quality being at my club, but I said from the moment we signed Ekitike that the Isak money could've been better served elsewhere.

Lad is consistently proving me right.

Though it'd be frightening if we got the best version of Isak on his return.

Wirtz and Ekitike!

Fuck off Hooper, we'll score despite you playing for Newcastle.

Magic performance ❌
Magic packs ✅

And I think this might be the glue that actually means control can function in this format.

Not a great performance, going 1-2. Made some predictions on the possible meta that didn't come to pass, and it meant the build here was not set up properly.

That's a death knell for a control deck, being reactive means the spells, and their quantities have to be spot on.

And we all know Yennett is the queen.