Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Lydia Frye
Lydia Frye
Legendary Creature — Human Assassin · {2}{U/B} · Black/Blue commander
Lydia Frye can't be blocked by creatures with power 3 or greater.
At the beginning of your end step, surveil X, where X is the number of tapped Assassins you control. (Look at the top X cards of your library, then put any number of them into your graveyard and the rest on top of your library in any order.)
Build a Lydia Frye deck →
What Lydia Frye 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 · end_stepAt the beginning of your end step, surveil X, where X is the number of tapped Assassins you control.
- Keyword · surveilsurveil
What a Lydia Frye deck needs
Plays as assassin typal. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- pump, equipment and protection for the commander (it connects on its own — turn the hits into kills)
- assassin creatures (its text counts them)
The Lydia Frye deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 33× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 6× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 10× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 3× Answer a spell or ability before it resolves
- 2× Answer a whole board at once
- 8× Refill your hand
- 3× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Lydia Frye
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 body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- Iridescent Vinelasher1 mana
- Basim Ibn Ishaq2 mana
- Assassin Initiate1 mana
- Bile-Vial Boggart1 mana
- Guul Draz Assassin1 mana
- Hired Poisoner1 mana
- Hookblade Veteran1 mana
- Hullcarver1 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Reality Shift2 mana
- Pongify1 mana
- Rapid Hybridization1 mana
- Resculpt2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 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
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
- Desynchronization4 mana
Refill your hand
- Mystic Remora1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Curiosity1 mana
- Wizard Class1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Herald's Horn3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 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
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Dimir Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana