Moonstone, Harsh MistressMoonstone, Harsh Mistress | Art by Grace Zhu 

Hello, fellow supervillians! Marvel Superheroes is upon us, with more legendary creatures than you can count. While we have a bunch of flashy new multicolored mythics, my eyes went straight to a new mono-black (of course) uncommon:

I have no earthly idea who this character is. Someone from Moon Knight? My Marvel experience is primarily the Infinity Saga/MCU, so my apologies for my lack of fully flushed out lore knowledge.

From a Magic perspective, I do love me some self-discard. I've been trying to make Oskar, Rubbish ReclaimerOskar, Rubbish Reclaimer work for years. Let's see what we can whip up with Moonstone.

What Does Moonstone, Harsh MistressMoonstone, Harsh Mistress Do?

Starting with the stats, we have a four mana, 2/4 flyer. Four mana commanders are a nice sweet spot, because if we play a two-drop mana accelerant like Arcane SignetArcane Signet, we can cast her on turn 3 pretty consistently.

Evasion is some nice upside on a commander in case we need to take out the lifegain deck with commander damage, and it's something we're going to lean into a little bit in our build.

Her triggered ability is the true essence of the deck, letting us exile cards we discard and playing them until the end of our next turn.

This is pretty sweet compared to something like Containment ConstructContainment Construct which forces us to play the card the turn we discard it, or lose it forever.

This allows us to get a bunch of value by discarding our cards to pay for effects, but still having mana and to play them.

It's also important to note that if Moonstone leaves the battlefield after we exile something with her ability, we can still play it until the end of our next turn even if she's not around, giving us a bit of resilience to removal. We lose the commander but not the card advantage she provides.

Keep in mind that her ability will also trigger any "leaves the graveyard" effects, a theme that's been getting more popular. My last deck tech for Lluwen, Exchange StudentLluwen, Exchange Student had a ton of these, and I expect we'll add a few here as well.

Key Cards for MoonstoneMoonstone

Discard Payoffs

Obviously the first place to go are the payoffs for all the discarding we plan to do. Skirge FamiliarSkirge Familiar and Bone MiserBone Miser are two ways to make extra mana by discarding cards, so they're going in right away. They'll make casting all of our spells a lot easier.

Monument to EnduranceMonument to Endurance not only makes us mana in the form of Treasure tokens, but can draw additional cards and dome opponents too. We're going to plan on discarding a lot of cards, so we can get it to trigger on opponents' turns as well.

Archfiend of IfnirArchfiend of Ifnir is a key piece in any discard deck, acting as a repeatable, one-sided board wipe. Cryptcaller ChariotCryptcaller Chariot can make a ton of Zombies, which we can use as attackers, blockers (after we untap), or fodder for the usual slew of black sacrifice effects.

This is Madness!

This. Is. SPAR-- erm. sorry. I want to throw in a few madness cards, despite having a bit of a strange place in this deck. They'll work as usual if they're discarded, but won't if you exile them to Moonstone's effect.

We can't always count on having Moonstone out, so having some extra ways to get value from the discard effects keeps the deck more commander agnostic. I threw in Currency ConverterCurrency Converter and Containment ConstructContainment Construct for this reason as well.

Call to the NetherworldCall to the Netherworld is one of the best madness cards for us, since it can be cast for most of the time. Most of our creatures are black, including Moonstone, so it's an easy include as part of our suite of recursion spells.

Big Game HunterBig Game Hunter can be a one mana Ravenous ChupacabraRavenous Chupacabra in a lot of situations, and NecrogoyfNecrogoyf not only gives us a discard outlet, but starts to put the pinch on opposing hands too (more on that in a bit)

Leaves the graveyard

As I mentioned before, we can abuse two of the "leaves the graveyard" cards that we've gotten recently. We won't always be discarding creatures, so my focus will be on the ones that trigger when any card leaves the graveyard, like Teval's JudgmentTeval's Judgment, as opposing to Desecrated TombDesecrated Tomb and friends.

Like Monument to EnduranceMonument to Endurance, we can get additional value out of this the Judgment if we're discarding cards on opposing turns, not just our own. Fang, Fearless l'CieFang, Fearless l'Cie also keeps the gas flowing, important since we always need cards to discard.

Discard Outlets

Now that we've covered the payoffs, how will we be discarding cards? We've only talked about Skirge FamiliarSkirge Familiar so far. We could add a few of the other unlimited discard outlets like Putrid ImpPutrid Imp and Cabal InitiateCabal Initiate, but their effects are pretty minor in the grand scheme of things. Iron-Shield ElfIron-Shield Elf goes in because at least it can be a blocker. Otherwise, I want to be a bit more creative with our discard outlets.

Lethal SchemeLethal Scheme is one of my favorite spot removal cards lately, and it goes great here as well. It can be free, dig up to four cards deep, and pump our creatures.

Tortured ExistenceTortured Existence takes another recursion slot, because it more or less tacks Raise DeadRaise Dead onto any creature we discard and then play with Moonstone.

We even get lands that work as discard outlets with Geier Reach SanitariumGeier Reach Sanitarium and Spymaster's VaultSpymaster's Vault.

The connive mechanic is especially useful, since we can pump Moonstone and up her commander damage. Body LaundererBody Launderer and the new Baron Helmut ZemoBaron Helmut Zemo both get us repeatable connive triggers, with some additional value of being recursion pieces as well.

Since we want to pump Moonstone, we can also include some Equipment that play around in the discard space.

Mask of MemoryMask of Memory is a Commander classic, but can I interest you in Arm-Mounted AnchorArm-Mounted Anchor as well? Pip-Boy 3000Pip-Boy 3000 gives us some good options for whatever the game calls for at the moment, including card velocity, "ramp", or a bigger creature. Bloodthorn FlailBloodthorn Flail is super cheap and gives us a free discard outlet as well.

My favorite though, is Pact WeaponPact Weapon. It's a free discard outlet like the Flail, but also draws us an extra card and potentially pumps the equipped creature up quite a bit.

Plus, it has the potential to save us from dying to normal damage if we can keep the creature it's attached to safe (commander damage will still kill us).

Harsh Asymmetry

Now for the real evil Villian part. Deep in Magic's past are a bunch of symmetric effects that force players to discard cards. I love being able to break the symmetry on these types of cards, and Moonstone gives us a great opportunity to do so.

We can use these as discard outlets for ourselves and with Moonstone out, we still have a chance to cast the card we pitch. But for our opponents, well, it's a bigger problem for them.

We'll start with the most aptly named of these cards: OppressionOppression. Yeah, oppressive indeed. Opponents will really need to think about their spell sequencing while we have no problem casting anything we want.

Necrogen MistsNecrogen Mists and Bottomless PitBottomless Pit also force discarding for everyone, which we get an advantage from while opposing hands get whittled away to nothing.

Cunning LethemancerCunning Lethemancer and MindslicerMindslicer are creatures with symmetric discard effects, and creatures are much easier to recur than enchantments. Rotting RatsRotting Rats and Stronghold RatsStronghold Rats fill in some of the earlier parts of our curve, and get our opponents off balance that much faster.

Gameplay

Moonstone is fairly easily to pilot in my mind. Keeping a hand with mana acceleration is ideal, but not necessary. Spend the first few turns setting up, and cast Moonstone. Then, whether it's to gain value, disrupt opponents, or pump our commander, let the discarding begin!

I'd advise against stacking up too many effects that force opponents to discard, otherwise they'll quickly team up to take us out. One might even be enough, so prepare to protect Moonstone and your own life total while you push damage and accrue value.

We have plenty of card velocity thanks to Moonstone herself, so I doubt we'll run out of things to do. I threw in some cycling lands just in case. Cycle them away for some more gas and play them with Moonstone anyway!

Wrap Up

Moonstone, Harsh MistressMoonstone, Harsh Mistress has a lot of potential for a self-discard commander. I really like breaking the symmetry on some old cards, and the deck can switch between a more controlling strategy and a voltron strategy with its evasive commander.

The final deck list is below, and I’d love to hear your feedback about my choices or cool tech you found for the deck. Any sweet cards I missed or was wrong about (that's happened before)? Do you have some lore for Moonstone you want to share? Drop a comment below and fill me in!

Note: I didn't include any Game Changers to keep the price down and for the sake of being Bracket flexible, but you can always use them to power up the deck.

Happy brewing, and I’ll see you next time!

Moonstone, Harsh Mistress Commander Deck List