Arcane Foundry › Commanders › The Master, Mesmerist

The Master, Mesmerist

Legendary Creature — Time Lord Rogue · {2}{U}{B} · Black/Blue commander

{T}: Target creature an opponent controls with power less than or equal to The Master's power gains skulk until end of turn. Goad it. (A creature with skulk can't be blocked by creatures with greater power.) Whenever a creature with skulk deals combat damage to one of your opponents, put a +1/+1 counter on The Master and draw a card.

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What The Master, Mesmerist 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}: Target creature an opponent controls with power less than or equal to The Master's power gains skulk until end of turn. Goad it.
• Triggered ability · deals_damageWhenever a creature with skulk deals combat damage to one of your opponents, put a +1/+1 counter on The Master and draw a card.

What a The Master, Mesmerist deck needs

Plays as combat trigger. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.

• counter doublers and proliferate (it grows only itself with +1/+1 counters)
• cards with skulk (its trigger only counts them)
• haste and untap effects that reach the commander (a tap ability is unusable the turn it lands)
• evasion and protection for the commander (the trigger needs its combat damage to connect)

The The Master, Mesmerist deck plan

The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.

• 8× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
• 16× A creature that HAS the keyword the commander's trigger counts — a card that merely says the word is not one
• 6× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
• 5× Untap the commander so the tap ability is an engine, not a one-shot
• 6× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
• 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

Best cards for The Master, Mesmerist

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.

Build this deck in the Arcane Forge →

Arcane Foundry is free to join and every tool is included: the Arcane Forge deck builder, the ARCANE Analyzer that scores a deck by simulating games rather than counting staples, a card scanner, a collection vault, and live webcam Commander tables. Read the guide · Browse all commanders · Pricing