Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists
Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists
Legendary Creature — Human Scientist · {2}{G}{W}{U} · Green/Blue/White commander
{T}, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Discover X, where X is the mana value of the exiled card. Activate only as a sorcery. (Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card with that mana value or less. Cast it without paying its mana cost or put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom in a random order.)
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What Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Activated ability{T}, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Discover X, where X is the mana value of the exiled card. Activate only as a sorcery.
What an Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists deck needs
Plays as graveyard. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- big creature cards in the graveyard (each one exiled discovers that mana value)
- self-mill
The Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 16× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 10× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 14× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 6× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 2× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
Best cards for Ellie and Alan, Paleontologists
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- Ulvenwald Oddity // Ulvenwald Behemoth4 mana
- Lavaspur Boots1 mana
- Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu2 mana
- Ellywick Tumblestrum4 mana
Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- Bear Umbra4 mana
- Freed from the Real3 mana
- Pemmin's Aura3 mana
- Sting, the Glinting Dagger2 mana
- Umbral Mantle3 mana
- Unstoppable Plan3 mana
- Genji Glove5 mana
- Copperhorn Scout1 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Aftermath Analyst2 mana
- Smuggler's Surprise1 mana
- Emry, Lurker of the Loch3 mana
- Six3 mana
- Argoth, Sanctum of Nature0 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
- Grapple with the Past2 mana
- Millikin2 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Beast Within3 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
- Neoform2 mana
- Worldly Tutor1 mana
- Reshape2 mana
- March of Burgeoning Life1 mana
- Mask of the Mimic1 mana
- Long-Term Plans3 mana
Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- Mindbreak Trap4 mana
- Fierce Guardianship3 mana
- Force of Negation3 mana
- Force of Will5 mana
- Flare of Denial3 mana
- Pact of Negation0 mana
- An Offer You Can't Refuse1 mana
- Arcane Denial2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Vanquish the Horde8 mana
- Supreme Verdict4 mana
- Wrath of God4 mana
- Day of Judgment4 mana
- Shatter the Sky4 mana
- Split Up3 mana
- Winds of Abandon2 mana
- Depopulate4 mana
Refill your hand
- Esper Sentinel1 mana
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Sylvan Library2 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Flowering of the White Tree2 mana
- Bastion Protector3 mana
- Gold-Forged Thopteryx2 mana
- Codsworth, Handy Helper3 mana
- Guardian Augmenter3 mana
- Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope8 mana
- Coppercoat Vanguard2 mana