<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden, Helping Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jo_man89/">Josiah "Jo" Cameron</a></em></p>
<p>Do you love winning the game just by casting a single spell? Have you been missing <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> ever since his off-screen death during <em>War of the Spark</em>? Do you wish <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Godo, Bandit Warlord" href="#" target="_blank">Godo, Bandit Warlord</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> was a white deck instead of red?</p>
<p>Well, if you answered yes to some — or hopefully all — of those questions, then boy oh boy do I have a cEDH deck for you. Let's take a look at the format's newest one-spell boogeyman, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden, Helping Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand"></div></div>
<h2>What Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden, Helping Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Do?</h2>
<p>Coming in at <span class="mana-container-container"><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-4" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span><span class="mana-container"><i class="ms ms-cost ms-w" style="margin-left: inherit !important;"></i></span></span>, Dack Fayden, Helping Hand is a 4/6 legendary Human Advisor creature with one absolute beast of a triggered ability. "When Dack Fayden enters, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal X creature cards, where X is the number of opponents you have. Put those creature cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle. They're goaded for the rest of the game. For each of those permanents, choose a different opponent. Each opponent gains control of the permanent for which they were chosen."</p>
<p>First off, let's untangle the exact wording of that trigger. Because you control each creature when it enters, you will control any triggers that result from those creatures entering.</p>
<p>However, those triggers won't be put onto the stack until after all of Dack's ability resolves, which means that you won't select targets for those triggers until your opponents control whatever creatures Dack flipped into. This is going to matter a whole lot when we get to how this deck wins.</p>
<p>Zooming out a bit, making Dack Fayden cEDH playable boils down to one question: can the resolution of Dack Fayden's triggered ability win you the game?</p>
<p>Spoiler alert — if you cut out every creature except for the ones that contribute to the combo kill, then the answer is yes, deterministically. So, what does Dack Fayden do? He wins the game, which means the entire rest of the deck is built around supporting your Dack resolution.</p>
<h2>Key Cards for <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden, Helping Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h2>
<h3>Mana Accelerants</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lion&#039;s Eye Diamond"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grim Monolith"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jeweled Amulet"></div></div>
<p>Since the whole goal of this deck — that being to resolve Dack Fayden as quickly as possible — is a pretty intensive one, the first step in filling out the maindeck is to load up on any and every even quasi-playable mana accelerant.</p>
<p>White is starved as far as rituals go, so some of this deck's best cards are the likes of Lion's Eye Diamond (which, even as a bad <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jeweled Lotus" href="#" target="_blank">Jeweled Lotus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> impersonator, is still incredibly useful). I mean, if you squint hard enough then <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jeweled Amulet" href="#" target="_blank">Jeweled Amulet</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> kind of becomes a Mox...</p>
<h3>Stax</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Blind Obedience"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Deafening Silence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rule of Law"></div></div>
<p>When this deck can't go fast, then it's also perfectly happy to do what mono white does best in cEDH: grind the game to a halt. Sit back, piece together a stax lock that your opponents can barely maneuver through, then wait until you find yourself with six mana and an opening.</p>
<h2>How Does <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden, Helping Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> Win?</h2>
<h3>Flicker Loops and Venture into the Dungeon</h3>
<p>This is where things get complicated, as Dack's loops require resolving one complicated batch of triggers from the first Dack-enters-trigger, then flickering Dack, then having the second batch of flipped creatures interact with the first flipped batch (hence this deck's six total non-Dack creatures).</p>
<p>That means there are many possible combinations for how this can go, depending on which three creatures Dack flips into on the first pile. So, for simplicity's sake, we're going to break down the shortest possible combo with these six creatures as the "archetypal" Dack package and go from there.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Preston, the Vanisher"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Flickerwisp"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Radiant Solar"></div></div>
<p>So, in this line, the first three creatures you flip into are Preston the Vanisher, Flickerwisp, and Radiant Solar. Those creatures will enter, be goaded, and then get given away all as part of Dack's trigger.</p>
<p>By this point, you'll put those three creatures' enters triggers onto the stack as follows (<em>remember, you don't control those creatures at this point, but you do control their triggers. Additionally, each creature saw each other creature enter, so you'll get multiple triggers for the likes of Radiant Solar</em>):</p>
<ul>
<li>Bottom of Stack: Preston's initial trigger, copying Flickerwisp.</li>
<li>Flickerwisp's trigger targets Preston.</li>
<li>Preston's second trigger, copying Radiant Solar.</li>
<li>Radiant Solar's enters trigger (1).</li>
<li>Radiant Solar's enters trigger (2).</li>
<li>Top of Stack: Radiant Solar's enters trigger (3).</li>
</ul>
<p>At this point, begin resolving the stack.</p>
<ul>
<li>Venture into the dungeon three times thanks to Radiant Solar. As you venture, make sure to always move into the Dark Pool room via <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lost Mine of Phandelver" href="#" target="_blank">Lost Mine of Phandelver</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, thus draining the table.</li>
<li>Preston copies Radiant Solar, giving you a new trigger onto the stack (venture into the dungeon). Resolve it.</li>
<li>Flickerwisp's trigger resolves, exiling Preston until end of turn.</li>
<li>Preston's initial trigger resolves, copying Flickerwisp. You now have a new Flickerwisp trigger, which will exile your Dack.</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, move to your end step. Both of the Flickerwisp triggers you resolved earlier in the turn will now bring the creatures they exiled back into play under your control (as you owned the exiled creatures).</p>
<p>You'll get a Dack trigger and a Preston trigger; resolve Dack's first. This is where the other three creatures in the deck come out.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="All-Fates Stalker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fiend Hunter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Felidar Guardian"></div></div>
<p>Now, it's time to start stacking more triggers. Here's what it'll look like:</p>
<ul>
<li>Bottom of Stack: Preston's trigger (to create a copy of Dack, although this will never need to resolve).</li>
<li>Preston's second trigger (to create a copy of Felidar Guardian).</li>
<li>Felidar Guardian targets any noncreature permanent.</li>
<li>Preston's third trigger (to create a copy of All-Fates Stalker).</li>
<li>All-Fates Stalker trigger targets Radiant Solar.</li>
<li>Preston's fourth trigger (to create a copy of Fiend Hunter).</li>
<li>Top of Stack: Fiend Hunter targets Felidar Guardian.</li>
</ul>
<p>Now, begin resolving triggers. Fiend Hunter will exile Felidar Guardian, then Preston will create a copy of Fiend Hunter, which will place its own enters trigger onto the stack. Use that trigger to exile the original Fiend Hunter.</p>
<p>Felidar Guardian comes back under your control (as the Fiend Hunter that exiled it is now gone), placing its own trigger and Preston's trigger onto the stack. Use its own trigger to flicker (i.e. exile and then return) your Radiant Solar, and use the trigger from Preston's token-copy of Felidar Guardian to flicker the original Felidar Guardian.</p>
<p>This presents a loop where each Felidar Guardian that enters both flickers Radiant Solar thanks to its own enters trigger and is copied by Preston, with the token-copy Felidar Guardian flickering the original. This progresses you through the dungeon an infinite number of times, draining the table.</p>
<h2><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dack Fayden, Helping Hand" href="#" target="_blank">Dack Fayden, Helping Hand</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> cEDH Deck List</h2>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="archidekt-export-10-7-2026" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Dack Fayden, Helping Hand
[/Commander]
[Enchantments]
*1 Absolute Grace
*1 Blind Obedience
*1 Charitable Levy
*1 Deafening Silence
*1 Gleaming Splendor
*1 Paladin Class
*1 Rest in Peace
*1 Rule of Law
*1 Seal of Cleansing
*1 Smothering Tithe
*1 Static Prison
*1 Touch the Spirit Realm
[/Enchantments]
[Creatures]
*1 All-Fates Stalker
*1 Felidar Guardian
*1 Fiend Hunter
*1 Flickerwisp
*1 Preston, the Vanisher
*1 Radiant Solar
[/Creatures]
[Instants]
*1 Angel&#039;s Grace
*1 Bilbo&#039;s Gambit
*1 Calamity&#039;s Wake
*1 Eldrazi Confluence
*1 Enlightened Tutor
*1 Flicker of Fate
*1 Kozilek&#039;s Command
*1 Loyal Tutor
*1 Mana Tithe
*1 March of Otherworldly Light
*1 Orim&#039;s Chant
*1 Razorgrass Ambush // Razorgrass Field
*1 Reprieve
*1 Reverent Mantra
*1 Silence
*1 Slip On the Ring
*1 Soul Partition
*1 Swords to Plowshares
*1 Warping Wail
[/Instants]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Basalt Monolith
*1 Bucknard&#039;s Everfull Purse
*1 Chrome Mox
*1 Coalition Relic
*1 Component Pouch
*1 Cursed Totem
*1 Defense Grid
*1 Expedition Map
*1 Fellwar Stone
*1 Grim Monolith
*1 Jeweled Amulet
*1 Lion&#039;s Eye Diamond
*1 Lotus Petal
*1 Mana Vault
*1 Manifold Key
*1 Mox Diamond
*1 Mox Opal
*1 Pearl Medallion
*1 Portable Hole
*1 Serum Powder
*1 Sol Ring
*1 The Mind Stone
*1 Thorn of Amethyst
*1 Thran Dynamo
*1 Tooth of Ramos
*1 Trinisphere
*1 Vexing Bauble
*1 Void Mirror
*1 Voltaic Key
*1 Worn Powerstone
[/Artifacts]
[Sorceries]
*1 Emeria&#039;s Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave
*1 Sunscour
[/Sorceries]
[Planeswalkers]
*1 Tezzeret, Cruel Captain
[/Planeswalkers]
[Lands]
*1 Ancient Tomb
*1 Cavern of Souls
*1 City of Traitors
*1 Command Beacon
*1 Crystal Vein
*1 Emergence Zone
*1 Gemstone Caverns
*1 Mishra&#039;s Workshop
*1 Petrified Hamlet
*1 Remote Farm
*1 Ruins of Trokair
*1 Scorched Ruins
*12 Snow-Covered Plains
*1 The Mycosynth Gardens
*1 Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper
*1 Urza&#039;s Cave
*1 Urza&#039;s Saga
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<h2>Wrap Up</h2>
<p>Well folks, that wraps up cEDH's newest (and potentially most complicated) entry to the format. Who knew mono white could be this good?</p>


venture into the dungeon

Building Dack Fayden, Helping Hand for cEDH