Commander Overview
Etrata, the Silencer is a very interesting commander that truly embodies the overall feel of a Dimir deck. Having assassins and clones as well as Etrata’s overall ability, this is a truly Dimir-feeling deck that is a lot of fun. Etrata enables us to play a deck full of clones as well Mirror Gallery, which is always fun to include in a deck. The overarching goal of our deck is to copy Etrata as many times as we can, using their unblockable to hit our opponents and then kill them when they have three or more creatures exiled with hit counters, which is criminally easy to do in this deck. Etrata is a card that we solely rely on in this deck to have a lot of punch. If we are unable to keep them on the battlefield, we can use our clones to copy some of the other strong cards in the deck, but we are quite reliant on Etrata.
Creature 22
Instant 16
Sorcery 10
Artifact 10
Enchantment 6
Land 35
EDH BRACKET
Beyond the strength of an average precon deck.
- Late Game 2-Card Infinite Combos
- No Mass Land Denial
- Up to 3 Game Changers
- No Chaining Extra Turns
How to Play the Deck
This deck plays a lot differently than many other decks in the format, due to the high emphasis on clones and the high emphasis on our commander this is a pretty unique experience, I do love that this deck is a bit different than others and it leans very heavily into the assassin theme even though we don’t have a ton of assassins in the deck. This is a deck I would say is good for a player with a strong understanding of the rules and a bunch of games under their belt. This deck has a lot of stuff to manage and keep track of, and it can be very overwhelming for a newer player.
Synergy’s in the deck
Our biggest synergy in the deck is with clones, and we have some great ways to support our clone package with cards like Imposter Syndrome, which is a bit pricey but allows us to make a lot of easy copies of Etrata, and when this drops, we can end games extremely quickly. We also have a suite of protection spells on our deck that can also be used as copies with Vesuvan Duplimancy, which can be a great way to get more copies of Etrata and end the game easily. We have a ton of synergies in our deck around cloning that strengthen the overall deck, like Mirror Gallery, which can help us make as many legendary copies of Etrata as we want.
Phases of the Game
Early-Game: We don’t do a whole lot at this stage of the game, since we are so commander focused we spend a large portion of the early-game trying to get Etrata out, we aren’t super heavy on rocks or ramp so we are ok with playing a land and passing but dropping some nice support creatures early is great for our deck.
Mid-Game: The mid-game is where things start to get great for us, being able to use our unblockable Etrata to start to put hit counters on opponents creatures is great for the deck and allows us to put them on a clock that is only a few turns, with so many clones in the deck we can make that clock even shorter, protect Etrata and make as many copies as we can and you should be all good.
Late-Game: If you’ve made it to the late-game, it only means one thing: Etrata has been hated out of the game, but that’s alright with us, but not ideal. We do have some ways to get them out of the command zone easily in Command Beacon, and with all of the cloning effects in the deck, we can easily copy Etrata even if they don’t stick around. Just get Etrata back on the field, and hopefully by this point, our opponents have a couple of hit counters and are close to losing the game.
Card Breakdowns
Ramp
We don’t ramp at all in this deck; luckily for us, we have a pretty cheap deck overall, so we are perfectly ok with waiting until turn three or four to start doing stuff. Even though we don’t have a lot of ramp, we don’t just do nothing during our early game. We do have some good early-game creatures and permanents that can help us throughout the whole game!
Card Draw/Card Advantage
We are a lot more focused on our overall clone game plan, so we don’t have a ton of card draw, but we have some really effective ones like Eagle Vision, which is almost always cast for its freerunning cost, which feels super good. We also have Phyrexian Arena, which is just good, clean card draw and helps the deck immensely for only three mana. We round out our card draw package with Night's Whisper, which is another cheap and strong source of card draw for the deck with minimal feedback. While we don’t have a ton of sources of card draw in the deck, we have more than enough to work well for the deck while still sticking to the core gameplan.
Removal
Removal is a great part of our deck. Etrata helps a lot here since we can exile any creature on the board and get them one turn closer to death. Repeating this effect with our clone effects lets us be pretty great at removing threats our opponents have. We also have Pongify and Rapid Hybridization, which are cheap ways to take care of opponents’ threats, and giving them creatures really doesn’t matter to us. While we don’t have a true board wipe, we do have Blasphemous Edict, which is a great card if we fall behind, and as long as we aren’t facing three-token decks, this is almost always a one-mana board wipe. We also have a suite of counterspells that we can use to stop our opponents from resolving key spells/permanents, which is another way to stop opponents from getting out of hand.
Protection
Our counterspells are cheap and easy pieces of protection for the deck that can be great to protect Etrata, since they are typically a heavy target for opponents, and if they don’t remove them, they could die very easily. We also have some cheap bounce spells that work really well, like Slip out the Back and Essence Flux, as well as a few others that allow us to re-ETB our clones if we want to select another target or want to protect Etrata. We are quite good at protecting what matters to us.
Utility / Support
Let’s go over some of my favorite cards in the deck! Nanogene Conversion is truly a stupid card in this deck, allowing us to turn all of our creatures into Etrata. I have ended many games with this combination of cards, and it is great, especially if we have counters to stop anyone from stopping us. I also loved Undercover Operative, which is an especially good clone since it gets a shield counter and is more resistant to removal, which is great to have in a removal-heavy format such as EDH. Two of the best cards in the deck by far are Ravenloft Adventurer and Mari, the Killing Quill, which are alternative ways to put hit counters on stuff but still count for Etrata and can be a cheap and easy way to get our opponents to the brink of death. Since Etrata is unblockable, we can get a lot of value out of Helm of the Host and Blade of Selves, which can allow us to amass hit counters easily.
Mana Base
Command Beacon is by far the best non-basic for our deck, we can grab Etrata after they cost so much for dying so many times. Overall, our manabase is mostly just dual Dimir lands and basics, and while it is simple, it does work great for the deck. I had no trouble with this matchup.
Win Conditions
Our primary win condition is hit counters and killing our opponents with Etrata, if they are unavailable or we cant keep them on the field we can win the game through clones and normal combat means but that’s not common.
Strengths of the Deck
We can end a game in just a matter of a few turns.
We have a lot of protection to keep Etrata on the field; they will likely still die throughout the game, but we do have the means to protect them.
Weaknesses of the Deck
We are very reliant on Etrata, opponents learn this quite quickly and then it becomes the battle to keep on the field.
We can struggle against board wipe heavy and removal heavy decks.
Deck Testing/Matchups
I tested this deck against three different decks
Game 1: Vs Radagast the Brown. Matchup Record: 2-2
We split this matchup, and it really comes down to who can be faster. Radagast is a true value engine, and if left unchecked, can absolutely run us over. Removal and counter-heavy hands are best in this matchup. Luckily, they always have creatures, and if we can keep Etrata before we get run over, we can exile their best stuff, including Radagast.
Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Blasphemous Edict, Adric, Mathematical Genius and Flesh Duplicate.
Game 2: Vs Spider-Man 2099. Matchup Record: 3-1
This was a good matchup for our deck; they are about on pace with us on turn four, and if they can’t one-shot us, we will typically get the win. Watch for their counterspells, as they do have some. We want to make sure we can counter them. They are packing a lot of combat tricks, too, so watch out for those Temur Battle Rages.
Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Lost Jitte, Nanogene Conversion and Gogo, Master of Mimicry.
Game 3: Vs Meren of Clan Nel Toth. Matchup Record: 3-0
Meren really can’t compete with this; they are far too slow, and exiling their creatures with Etrata’s ability can make sure they can’t be recurred, watch for their removal, and you should be just fine. Just keep swinging with Etrata.
Cards that worked really well in this matchup:
Mirage Mockery, Auton Soldier and An Offer You Can't Refuse.
Conclusion
Thanks so much for reading to the end! I hope you all enjoyed this one. Etrata provides a unique experience and definitely feels a lot different from the rest of EDH. At the same time, it’s not the strongest deck in the world; if left alone, it can go off, and being in Dimir allows us to ensure we are pretty left alone. I love unique and interesting decks, and this is no different!
