Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Lonis, Cryptozoologist
Lonis, Cryptozoologist
Legendary Creature — Snake Elf Scout · {G}{U} · Green/Blue commander
Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, investigate.
{T}, Sacrifice X Clues: Target opponent reveals the top X cards of their library. You may put a nonland permanent card with mana value X or less from among them onto the battlefield under your control. That player puts the rest on the bottom of their library in a random order.
Build a Lonis, Cryptozoologist deck →
What Lonis, Cryptozoologist 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 · etbWhenever another nontoken creature you control enters, investigate.
- Activated ability{T}, Sacrifice X Clues: Target opponent reveals the top X cards of their library. You may put a nonland permanent card with mana value X or less from among them onto the battlefield under your control
- Keyword · investigateinvestigate
What a Lonis, Cryptozoologist deck needs
Plays as ETB value. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- creatures and permanents entering every turn — cheap bodies, blink and recursion (its trigger fires on each one)
- haste and untap effects that reach the commander (a tap ability is unusable the turn it lands)
The Lonis, Cryptozoologist deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 9× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 6× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
- 17× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 7× Exile a permanent you control and return it — the button a value-ETB deck presses
- 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
Best cards for Lonis, Cryptozoologist
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
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Eternal Witness3 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Arboreal Grazer1 mana
- Thousand-Faced Shadow1 mana
- Reclamation Sage3 mana
- Rishkar, Peema Renegade3 mana
- Wood Elves3 mana
- Badgermole Cub2 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
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Beast Within3 mana
- Nature's Claim1 mana
- Emerald Charm1 mana
- Naturalize2 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
- Desynchronization4 mana
- Wave Goodbye4 mana
- Whelming Wave4 mana
- Consuming Tide4 mana
- Oversimplify5 mana
- Selective Obliteration5 mana
- Needle Storm3 mana
- Evacuation5 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Sylvan Library2 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Rhystic Study3 mana
- Faerie Mastermind2 mana
Combos with Lonis, Cryptozoologist
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Lonis, Cryptozoologist is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist + Shrieking Drake + Academy Manufactor3,309 decks
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist + Shrieking Drake + Urza, Lord High Artificer2,001 decks
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist + Jaheira, Friend Of The Forest + Deadeye Navigator + Academy Manufactor875 decks
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist + Deadeye Navigator + Academy Manufactor + Adrix And Nev, Twincasters847 decks
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist + Urza, Lord High Artificer + Deadeye Navigator + Academy Manufactor680 decks
- Lonis, Cryptozoologist + Academy Manufactor + Eternal Witness + Essence Flux523 decks
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