Moritte of the FrostMoritte of the Frost | Art by Eric Deschamps

This Moritte of the FrostMoritte of the Frost Commander deck tech will to attempt to build on MTG Muddstah’s Mistform UltimusMistform Ultimus deck while leaning further into what makes Shapeshifters special and embracing the many options they enjoy.

Shapeshifter History

Over the last few weeks, these deck techs have gone on a sort of tour of Lorwyn’s creature types, in honor of the release of Lorwyn Eclipsed. It began with the revelation of High Perfect MorcantHigh Perfect Morcant Elfball, continued with the new Mass of MysteriesMass of Mysteries Elementals, followed up with Treefolk, Merfolk, and Faeries.

There’s only one creature type prominently featured in Lorwyn that we haven't dissected: the sneaky Shapeshifters.

Shapeshifters are an interesting type, mostly united around the changeling ability, which grants the creature all creature types. The ability hearkens back to Mistform UltimusMistform Ultimus in Legions, which meshed well with the Typal-focused Onslaught block. The Ultimus famously helmed a “Typal Typal” deck run by one of my content creation inspirations, MTG Muddstah.

Muddstah’s deck was a thing of beauty. Since Ultimus had all creature types, it could take on any boosts offered by Typal lords and any abilities that cared about creature types. It was the sort of fantastic, over the top decadence that Xzibit, would’ve loved. Xzibit was famous for embedding the preferences of the client into every aspect of their vehicle on Pimp My Ride, to the extent that it became a popular meme.

Shapeshifters themselves tend to lean into CloneClone effects, giving us a neat through line: we can clone our Typal synergies and lords, and then use those stacked boosts on our changelings. As a result, our board will be one of the most powerful and creative of any Typal deck we’ve built in the history of this column.

But how do we make the hodgepodge feel like a focused deck? And will it feel like a Shapeshifter deck or a deck with Shapeshifters in it? Let's find out.

What Does Moritte of the FrostMoritte of the Frost Do?

Moritte is a deceptively simple-looking card. It enters as a copy of any permanent we control, like any other clone, but is legendary and snow, and enters with two +1/+1 counters and has changeling if we have it clone a creature. Shapeshifters are mysterious and amorphous, and this is one of the few that can even be a land! In fact, its possibilities are only limited by what permanents we own.

It’s worth noting that it enters as a copy of the permanent, so any enters-the-battlefield (ETB) triggers it has or procs happen. It is still legendary, and it doesn’t keep its name, so we want to have cool permanents to copy that aren’t legendary.

But what type are our Shapeshifters masquerading as? Any type we want, and whatever we need them to be.

Key Cards for Moritte of the FrostMoritte of the Frost

Shapeshifters take on whatever form suits them best, even if they do have a base form. Our Shapeshifters use that craftiness to make tricky plays, get around weaknesses, and create weird but incredibly powerful board states.

One of Moritte’s weaknesses is that it can’t copy opponents’ permanents. But what if our permanent copied an opponent’s permanent? Phyrexian MetamorphPhyrexian Metamorph can be cast for a reduced cost and can copy any creature or artifact on the board, giving us a wide array of options. Progenitor MimicProgenitor Mimic can also copy anyone’s creature, but it makes a copy in each of our upkeeps, which can get out of hand really quickly, even if we don’t copy it with our commander.

The other major kind of Shapeshifter we’re running is changelings. Changelings have all creature types, so they gain all boosts and trigger all cards that care about creature types.

Chomping ChangelingChomping Changeling is a new card that gives all green Typal decks a Reclamation SageReclamation Sage. Since it triggers on ETB, Moritte can re-use it for extra value. RealmwalkerRealmwalker is part of the mysterious Kaldheim Shapeshifters. It lets us cast Shapeshifters from the top of our library, giving us a strong card advantage engine.

But what are we looking for?

We might not have a lot of ETB effects, but every CloneClone we run technically has one, and the weakness of cards like them and our commander is that they can only be one thing at a time. If a better target comes around later, they’re locked into what they’ve cloned…unless we bounce them, that is.

Shrieking DrakeShrieking Drake bounces a clone and leaves a flying blocker, while Absorb IdentityAbsorb Identity doubles as a finisher by turning all of our Shapeshifters into the bounced card!

Even our lands offer an opportunity for creativity by allowing us to utilize some of the strongest Typal lands alongside our changelings. Seraph SanctuarySeraph Sanctuary gains us life when Angels enter the battlefield, which our changelings can imitate, and SwarmyardSwarmyard lets us regenerate our changelings.

Notably, our commander remains a changeling when it copies a creature, and can even copy one of these utility lands in a pinch.

How Does This Moritte of the FrostMoritte of the Frost Commander Deck Win?

While copying our opponents’ permanents and then copying our own permanents that copied their permanents is a hilarious way to honor Xzibit’s legacy, it does put us at our opponents’ mercy in terms of the power level and ability to goldfish, or present a clock against a random opponent. What we can do pretty well is play lords of various types and then copy them, making our changelings truly scary.

Gilt-Leaf ArchdruidGilt-Leaf Archdruid straddles the line of good taste by pumping Druids and letting us steal the land out from under our now-helpless opponents, although that ability might be important to disclose in Rule Zero, if mass land destruction is an issue (technically not destroying them, but similar spirit).

Biowaste BlobBiowaste Blob pumps Oozes and makes more of itself each upkeep if we control our commander, which can get truly silly if we turn our commander into it!

Baru, WurmspeakerBaru, Wurmspeaker takes advantage of our changelings also being Wurms by double-pumping them and granting them trample, in addition to lowering the cost of his activated ability by the largest power among our shifty “Wurms.”

Tawnos, the ToymakerTawnos, the Toymaker, meanwhile, copies Birds and Beasts on the stack, which our changelings all happen to be. Notably, our commander is a changeling creature on the stack regardless of what it copies, so we can get a ton of value out of the big guy.

Moritte of the Frost Commander Deck List

Conclusion

Shapeshifters can be anywhere or do anything, which makes them remarkably flexible and open-ended. They can be a ton of fun to build, and, as long as more Typal cards are printed in their colors, provide an endless amount of customization and replayability.

That fun can also be a huge challenge, as an endless array of possibilities can create decision paralysis and can lead to “four-move-slot-syndrome” from Pokemon, where you want to include everything but can only fit so much in the deck and it becomes tricky to get all of the cool pieces you want.

For example, the deck needs a balance of lords, clones, and changelings to present a strong board. Cutting changelings for lords means that the lords may struggle to work together, while cutting clones removes the deck’s glue and makes it tough to ensure that we have what we need when we need it.

But how would you build this flexible type? And what are your favorite unusual synergies?