Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Legendary Creature — Octopus Noble · {3}{U} · Blue commander
What Llawan, Cephalid Empress actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · etbWhen Llawan enters, return all blue creatures your opponents control to their owners' hands.
- Static ability · taxYour opponents can't cast blue creature spells.
What a Llawan, Cephalid Empress deck needs
Plays as stax. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- blink and recursion aimed at the commander itself (its value is its own enter trigger)
- stax pieces, taxes and hatebears that break parity in your favor
The Llawan, Cephalid Empress deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 14× A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break
- 9× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 10× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 5× 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 Llawan, Cephalid Empress
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.
A tax, lock or hoser aimed at the opponents — the deck's parity break
- Propaganda3 mana
- Grafdigger's Cage1 mana
- Narset, Parter of Veils3 mana
- Cursed Totem2 mana
- Defense Grid2 mana
- Winter Moon2 mana
- Crawlspace3 mana
- Intruder Alarm3 mana
Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- Displacer Kitten4 mana
- Conjurer's Closet5 mana
- Gossip's Talent2 mana
- Thassa, Deep-Dwelling4 mana
- Nephalia Smuggler1 mana
- Voyager Staff1 mana
- Jill, Shiva's Dominant // Shiva, Warden of Ice3 mana
- Deadeye Navigator6 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Thousand-Faced Shadow1 mana
- Snapcaster Mage2 mana
- Wan Shi Tong, Librarian2 mana
- Archaeomancer4 mana
- Urza, Lord High Artificer4 mana
- Aether Channeler3 mana
- Spellseeker3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Umezawa's Jitte2 mana
- Titan's Presence3 mana
- Icy Prison2 mana
- Kozilek's Command2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Reshape2 mana
- Mask of the Mimic1 mana
- Long-Term Plans3 mana
- Whir of Invention3 mana
- Merchant Scroll2 mana
- Mystical Tutor1 mana
- Muddle the Mixture2 mana
- Personal Tutor1 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
- Desynchronization4 mana
- Wave Goodbye4 mana
- Whelming Wave4 mana
- Consuming Tide4 mana
- Selective Obliteration5 mana
- Evacuation5 mana
- Perplexing Test5 mana
- Cyclonic Rift2 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
- Faerie Mastermind2 mana
- The One Ring4 mana
- Combat Research1 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Lost in the Maze2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Combos with Llawan, Cephalid Empress
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Llawan, Cephalid Empress is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Llawan, Cephalid Empress + Painter's Servant1,781 decks
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