Ezio Auditore da FirenzeEzio Auditore da Firenze | Art By Fajareka Setiawan

Hello, and welcome back to Beyond the Multiverse! This week we're tackling something on my short list, but also an actual deck I currently own (like The Fourteenth DoctorThe Fourteenth Doctor from the other week).

However, I must first address the elephant in the room. I'm talking about the recent announcement regarding the Spider-Man set. The Traversing the Omenpaths product line will have in-universe equivalents, but for digital only. I may be an ardent supporter of Universes Beyond, but I cannot condone this. I digress, though, because you and I want to delve into today's deck, and that I will deliver on that.

Greeting Your Mentor

Ezio, coming from the Assassin's Creed franchise, was a Florentine nobleman who's more well-known (to us real worlders anyway), as a master assassin. He came to learn of his assassin heritage at 17, with the death of several family members, including his father. From there, Ezio went on to thwart the Templars on numerous occasions. He died of a heart attack while visiting Florence with his wife and daughter, yet he would go on to become the ancestor of one Desmond MilesDesmond Miles.

Consequently, given his backstory, Ezio needs us to run a load of Assassins to take advantage of his first ability. This actually comes in handy, especially with the more expensive spells in the deck. In addition, don't rely on the second ability too much. It's neat when you pull it off, but Ezio himself is sitting with a 3/2 statline, meaning it'll take a while for you to be able to trigger. There's a faster, more impactful way of outright eliminating players - but we'll get to that in a moment.

Ezio Auditore a Firenze Commander Deck List

Advent Creed

I'm willing to bet you didn't think I was going to post the list this early in the article, did you? There's actually a story behind this list. It began when I had an idea of doing an advent calendar for Christmas last year. Originally I was going to do Foundations Jumpstart, but insatiable curiously killed it. Acting quickly, I went with a couple of boxes of the Assassin's Creed set, and the rest is history (I pulled a regular version of our commander on the first day. Talk about luck, right?). After the calendar was done, I finished it off with buying the few singles I needed from the set. In addition, this included a couple of cards from one of the Secret Lair drops.

Assembling the deck, especially towards the end, it was really difficult to make the last cuts, and I had to make some hard choices to finish the decklist. Some might say it's all of that Equipment the deck's using, but there's a reason for that.

The Team Across Time

Above all, the reason I started with the list early is because of the Assassin support. Before the Assassin's Creed set, Assassin support was sparse to nonexistent. Now, we have a truckload to work with, laced together with historic and Equipment subthemes. Unfortunately, Desmond MilesDesmond Miles (17,119 decks) is about the biggest hole in the list, and I'm currently trying to fit him in somehow. Like I said above, the list was tight enough for me to make some difficult cuts.

Most importantly, the Assassins are the backbone of our deck. Firstly, Altaïr Ibn-La'AhadAltaïr Ibn-La'Ahad (9,276 decks) ensures that, with time, we'll be swinging with a swarm of Assassins, albeit temporarily. Secondly, Edward KenwayEdward Kenway (8,200 decks) nets us Treasures to ramp us. However, it's a shame that he and Altaïr don't combo together, since the latter's tokens are gone post-combat. Arno DorianArno Dorian (14,539 decks) buffs even the token Assassins we'll be making enough to be block-worthy. Speaking of buffs, Bayek of SiwaBayek of Siwa (20,176 decks) gives our creatures double strike, capable of carrying out a devastating attack.

The most dangerous card in the deck is Ramses, Assassin LordRamses, Assassin Lord (reskinned as Basim, Master Assassin; 16,544 decks). This was the more impactful way I was alluding to of taking players out. Time him right, and you could potentially win out of nowhere. Otherwise, he's a decently sized anthem with deathtouch, which is good with Aveline de GrandpréAveline de Grandpré (8,568 decks). There's a few ways to give deathtouch to your other creatures, but it'll be just Aveline getting bigger most of the time.

Growing the Brotherhood

There are a few cards in the deck that produce Assassin tokens. Firstly, Rooftop BypassRooftop Bypass (11,901 decks) can give us up to three, given that we hit each player. Secondly, Aya of AlexandriaAya of Alexandria (16,061 decks) is similar, but has the potential to give us even more tokens. Meanwhile Queen MarchesaQueen Marchesa (reskinned as Amunet, Tyrant's End; ironic I mention her after Aya; 29,530 decks) introduces the monarch to the game. We'll get a card if we have it, and a hasty Assassin with deathtouch if we don't.

Ancient Arsenal

In addition to the historic element of the deck, you'll notice a lot of Equipment there. The main reason is not just flavor (which works, too), but they're to work with a pair of Boros legends we covered a while ago: Eivor, Battle-ReadyEivor, Battle-Ready and Kassandra, Eagle BearerKassandra, Eagle Bearer (7,363 and 8,656 decks, respectively). Eivor is a threat in her own right, dealing damage equal to our Equipment stash, and having a sizable body to work with. Meanwhile, Kassandra works specifically with legendary Equipment, hence why we run a few here. I'd use Eivor, Wolf-KissedEivor, Wolf-Kissed, but I didn't have enough targets to make her worthwhile.

However, those aren't the only creatures working with Equipment. Ratonhnhaké:tonRatonhnhaké:ton (8,301 decks) brings back Equipment, which is automatically equipped to the Assassin token he creates. Meanwhile, Bureau HeadmasterBureau Headmaster (16,232 decks), our only non-legendary creature in the deck, helps us cast our Equipment, and makes equip costs more manageable. Lastly, Equipment can be tapped for Shao JunShao Jun (8,787 decks)'s ability while Arbaaz MirArbaaz Mir (20,652 decks) will drain opponents since Equipment are also historic by their nature.

Our Equipment suite mostly draws from the Assassin's Creed set, but there's some good stuff here. We have access to the likes of Sword of Feast and FamineSword of Feast and Famine (136,870 decks) down to the lowly, but useful HookbladeHookblade (5,615 decks). The colored Equipment cycle (and Hidden BladeHidden Blade (12,493 decks)) all enter and equip themselves to a creature automatically, so there's no equip cost to worry about initially. Moreover, we have Excalibur, Sword of EdenExcalibur, Sword of Eden (60,260 decks) and the ever-useful The Spear of LeonidasThe Spear of Leonidas (21,116 decks), both of which can make our commander into a major threat. Lastly, both Caduceus, Staff of HermesCaduceus, Staff of Hermes and Brotherhood RegaliaBrotherhood Regalia (39,122 and 86,747 decks, respectively) work to protect our creatures, if not our commander.

Beyond the Franchise

Trying to build a deck using exclusively cards from the Assassin's Creed deck is a fool's errand: we have basics, yes, but outside of those, there's really only nine nonbasic lands to its name. In addition, your access to the essentials, like ramp, are minimal at best.

Besides the obvious includes of Sol RingSol Ring, Arcane SignetArcane Signet, and Command TowerCommand Tower, we also have format all-stars like CultivateCultivate and Rampant GrowthRampant Growth (1,226,154 and 940,197 decks, respectively), which both help ramp us to keep up with our opponents. Card draw has a stronger presence within the set, but it could be a bit better. In that vein, this is where cards like Guardian ProjectGuardian Project (229,853 decks) come in handy. Similarly, Unexpected WindfallUnexpected Windfall (181,542 decks) provides us with both ramp and draw; not many cards in the list can do that.

Where the Assassin's Creed set excelled was in its removal. There was a lot of removal in there, so I took a bit to see what was worth adding. While some of the Equipment count as removal, we need more of it, especially more superior options. While the set had Assassin's TrophyAssassin's Trophy (376,282 decks), it's hard to pass up Anguished UnmakingAnguished Unmaking (321,075 decks). Meanwhile, Crush ContrabandCrush Contraband (35,439 decks) has the capacity to hit two targets instead of one.

On the other hand, the two-ish wipes the set had were very good. DesynchronizationDesynchronization (39,827 decks) is a one-sided Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift in this deck, and will hit very few of our cards. Secondly, What Must Be DoneWhat Must Be Done (7,867 decks) is flexible utility, though you'll mostly choose the wipe option. I felt like the deck could benefit from one more wipe, and I picked Austere CommandAustere Command (337,633 decks) for its adaptability.

Lastly, for the mana base, I mostly drew from the Doctor Who release, since the precons there had some of the best mana bases to exist. While we have access to the enemy-colored Horizon duals, forming a panorama (more bonus points if you're using the full-art Ezio to complete it), that release came with nearly the full cycle of slow duals (ex. Haunted RidgeHaunted Ridge), finished only by a couple of scry lands for now.

Back to the Present

Like The Fourteenth DoctorThe Fourteenth Doctor with Doctor Who, Ezio Auditore da FirenzeEzio Auditore da Firenze mostly just needed some stuff from beyond the release to help stabilize its foundations. For a small set, with its setup similar to the much-maligned March of the Machine: Aftermath release, there were a lot of cool cards in Assassin's Creed.

Return next week, when we'll take center stage in another franchise. Until then, if you're reading up on something historical, perhaps you can learn about the respective time periods the Assassin's Creed franchise drew its inspiration from.