From the Brim to the Trim - Copying Opponents Without Mimicking Their Budget
August 23, 2023 by
Arnaud Gompertz 
(Moritte of the Frost | Illustrated by Eric Deschamps)
Moritte? And Then More Of It!
Greeting and salutations from somewhere... in Europe... hot... so hot... I'm Arnaud, and I’m thrilled to take you on a journey of uncanny brews, budget cards, and usage of EDHREC’s filtering features.
I'm glad we can meet again in the heat of summer holidays, and I hope you're all having a fantastic time. Two weeks ago, I asked you all if I should calm down or go full-throttle on my various ramblings. Trouble is, since this article has been written ahead of time before I get stuck in the middle of nowhere, we'll have to wait for the next article for the outcome.
Enough chit-chat, let's have a look at this week's beauty.
This is a difficult one. Moritte is essentially a glorified Clone. It copies any permanent you control, and comes with two +1/+1 counters if a creature is chosen this way. With such a generic ability, the possibilities are almost endless, so we'll have to find a theme and commit to it. I have a feeling we could try and go for a brew focusing strongly on Lords.
Let's see what the 281 cards of the full list hold for us!
First Trim: The Cardboard Chainsaw Massacre
Looks like there are indeed two major ideas emerging from this pile of cards: copying stuff to one's heart's content and a strong emphasis on certain creature types and their exclusive abilities. Before we get there, let's take a look at all the cards going into the void.
When trimming this list, I've been slightly shocked at the high price several Clones commanded. $20.50 for Sakashima of Endless Faces, I can get behind. But $9.60 for Shapesharer? $6.60 for Spark Double? $2.80 for Irenicus's Vile Duplication? That, I did not foresee, not that high anyway. Fortunately, there are several other choices that we can resort to, but still...
As usual, let's take a more critical look on the cards between $1 and $2. At the time of writing, there are 26 of those, many of which are either established staples (Return of the Wildspeaker, Farseek, Mystic Sanctuary, Eternal Witness). There are also several duplication spells that, sadly, we'll have to do without. Here's my top 10 picks from this list.
- Rooftop Storm: The more Changelings you play, the more this card will shine. Usually seen as a nasty combo engine (hello Gravecrawler!), this is a neat way to cast a bunch of spells for free.
- Elminster's Simulacrum: Want to copy your opponent's best creatures? No problem!
- Altered Ego: This has all you'd ever want from a Clone. It copies any creature, it can't be countered, and it can be pumped if you have the mana. Such a Jack-of-all-Trades...
- Progenitor Mimic: Make it a Lord, make it a big boy, make it a draw engine. And then get some more.
- Quasiduplicate: One Clone is good, two is better.
- Shared Summons: A great tutor, and at instant speed!
- Manaweft Sliver: A second Gemhide Sliver?
- Peer Pressure: Probably a bit anecdotal, but since you're running so many changelings, you're likely to get something good, if not more.
- Maskwood Nexus: Turning all of your Lords into every creature type to instantly give them all the advantages on the field? Feel the power!
- See Double: A Clone with an upside, at instant speed. Sign me up.
With all these tempting but sadly out-of-reach outlets, we're down to 172 cards. Given our colors, I wouldn't be surprised if the next section saw some major axing action.
Second Trim: Cardward Scissorhands
Well, well, well, who would have thought that Simic would have so many draw and ramp spells. I'm shocked (I'm not)!
On a more serious note, this is clearly a part we need not worry about.
Draw: 19.
Ramp: 19.
Removal: 11.
Wipes: 7.
Funnily enough, there are also currently 35 lands in the list. It's tempting to run it as is, but I feel like there is some cleaning to do. Well then.
| Draw | Ramp | Removal | Wipes |
There's not much to be said here. Aside from a few and frankly underwhelming Snow-specific spells, all the classic usual suspects are here. But again, what did you expect from Simic?
On a whim, I decided to forego all Snow lands. Sure, there is an underlying Snow theme, and a few of these cards are fun. Nevertheless, I'm building a budget deck, and at $0.70 on average for a single basic, that's a price I find unreasonable in our current circumstances.
With this out of the way, we're down to 147 cards, and off to the shores of Changeling and Clone lands. Excited?
Third Trim: Cutting off the rough edges
All right, time to decide which direction we want to take this ragtag list of goodies.
As I said before, there are essentially two routes we can take: Lords or Clones. The first one will essentially focus on accruing as many Changelings on the battlefield along with enablers to make them big and/or useful. The second one will focus on copying the best stuff from our opponents' boards. A bit as if you were saying, "Your deck looks cool, mind if I borrow it?".
I'm not saying these two routes are mutually exclusive. But the Lords/Changelings will certainly demand a certain form of commitment to be viable. After debating with myself for about ten seconds, I decided to follow the path of the ever-changing nobles. Sorry Clones. I love you, but maybe another time.
Since Changelings are the backbone of the deck, I'm not cutting any of them. Granted, some are a bit lackluster, and we're not playing the all-stars that were cut in the budget tsunami, but still, with 15 creatures in addition to our commander, and a couple of outlets to spew out additional shapeshifters, I feel like we should be fine.
On the Lords end, there might be a couple not really worth keeping, but the package seems quite solid overall.
Clones are where the axe will chop and chop hard, especially on the most mana-intensive ones. I'll still keep a decent chunk around, as they can serve to pump up our Lords retinue or grow our Changeling army.
Finally, as usual, there's a slew of various spells (while fun or interesting) that may not make the cut.
I'll leave the counterspells out of the equation for now. We'll see in the end if we have enough room for them.
| Clones | Lords | Misc. |
Well, that was a lot of... stuff, for lack of better word. I could see Biovisionary becoming a fun if clunky win-con, and I've longed to give Mocking Doppelganger a well deserved home.
I don't remember this section ever being this two-sided. Oh well, we're down to the final 10. Let's get this list on the snow!
Final Trim: Heart-Wrenching Choices
Here's an idea. Let's all write a nice letter to the Rules Committee and ask them nicely to bump the limit up 10 cards. Eh? Eh? No? No one? Ok then, plan B, time to cut those final 10.
In this final stretch, the regulars among you know that there are no good or bad choices here. All that I'm cutting could very well have stayed in the end.
Here are my final cuts:
- Counterspell, Decisive Denial, Negate, Plasm Capture, Wizard's Retort: What can I say, I'm not a counterspell player at heart. I'd rather be able to do stuff and also let my opponents play their game. Plus, I had a feeling there wouldn't be room for these, didn't I?
- Island: At 3.12, the curve is low enough that we can afford a now traditional land cut. More so since Hadana's Climb can also turn into a land, and will do so almost on the spot when you cast Moritte of the Frost.
- Replicating Ring: With no way to proliferate, this feels a bit odd here.
- Blue Sun's Twilight: It really, really looks like a fun two-in-one. But seven mana is a lot to invest and I fear diminishing returns.
- Imprisoned in the Moon: Since I'm already cutting stuff in almost every category, let's get one in the removals, shall we?
- Multiclass Baldric: This is my last cut, and my most painful one. I really wanted to give this Equipment a chance.
Done. This is done. Finished, finito, terminé. And with that, I give you our final list.
Moritte of the Cloning Shapeshifters
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Final Thoughts
Well, here we are. A fresh start awaits, with September looming not too far from now. While the frost Moritte is foretelling is still quite far, we're slowly getting to the colder days. Have you got your tightly knit sweater on? A cuppa joe? Any ideas on how to improve or totally revamp this list? Let me know below, and I'll see you in two weeks!
Arnaud Gompertz
Arnaud Gompertz has been playing Magic since 4th Edition, back in 1995. He's been an assiduous EDH enthusiast since 2012, with a soft spot for unusual and casual Commanders. He'll always favour spectacular plays against a boring path to victory. Aside from mistreating cardboard, he's a dedicated board games player, loves a challenging video game and occasionally tries to sing with his choir.
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