“The herald of new age technology, an idealist who seeks to lift the people.”
Art:Melek, Izzet Paragon
by Jason Chan
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander Is:
With Melek’s recent downshift to uncommon in Commander Masters you know we had to build this super sweet commander! Melek is a combo machine which is what we focus on in this build! Melek allows us to get a crazy amount of value from the top of our deck! We can very easily cycle through our deck to find our combo pieces and use our counters to protect them. This deck is as Izzet as they come and is a true spellpile since we are rocking 42 instants in this list. Melek’s downshift is just another great spellslinger deck for Pauper EDH which is always welcome! Without Further Adieu Lets Get It!
The Deck:
Melek, Izzet Paragon Spellpile!
Why Melek, Izzet Paragon?
Melek was chosen, primarily because of his recent downshift but he is a ton of fun to play and is just a really sweet commander! Melek allows us to copy spells from the top of our deck and essentially double cast them. On top of ways we have to purposely set up the top we can use the double spells ability to cycle through our deck at rapid speed and find the combo. Melek is a real deal commander who is a ton of fun to play and is perfect for any spell lover!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! For explanations of the combos please refer to the “Main Win Conditions” section below!
Creatures:
The key creatures in the deck are the game-enders which are basically our cards that when we infinitely cast a spell allow us to deal damage to our opponents and end the game! These creatures are Thermo-Alchemist
, Guttersnipe
, Kessig Flamebreather
, Firebrand Archer
and Erebor Flamesmith
. Really any of these cards works when we combo off and since we have many instances of the same effect we can very easily put one of these out early to passively do damage!
A lot of our creatures help a ton with combo setup like Drift of Phantasms
which can be a great card to easily grab Ghostly Flicker
and prepare for the combo! Trinket Mage
allows us to tutor expedition map which we can use to grab Mystic Sanctuary
. Murmuring Mystic
is a great card especially against more aggressive decks since we can put up blockers from all of the spells we cast!
Instants:
We are a blue deck so of course we have counterspells, our counterspell package includes Counterspell
, Dispel
, Spell Pierce
and Arcane Denial
just to name a few. These are pretty straight forward and there are a bunch more in the deck. Whether it be stopping Melek from getting targeted or attempting to combo off there is always reason to have counterspells!
Since we want to ramp, we have pretty much every “ritual” effect that we can play in Pyretic Ritual
, Desperate Ritual
and Seething Song
. All of these rituals are just great ways to get some extra mana and cast some spells earlier!
We also need to interact with the board and since we don’t have a ton of creatures to commit to the board we can use Sulfurous Blast
to deal with smaller creatures on the board and this card is very good against aggressive strategies who often have smaller creatures! Fiery Cannonade
and Breath Weapon
are also both great ways to control the board!
Sorceries:
We want to always be doing stuff and cycling through the deck so we have a ton of ways to draw cards at sorcery speed like Preordain
, Ponder
, Portent
and Serum Visions
. We are pretty light on sorceries especially when compared to instants but all of our sorceries are important! Another interesting sorcery is Lórien Revealed
while we very rarely cast this card we almost always Islandcycle it to grab Mystic Sanctuary! Another great sorcery is Merchant Scroll
which in testing I pretty much used Scroll to tutor up Ghostly Flicker.
Artifacts:
We want to assemble the combo as soon as possible so we of course need to ramp, being outside of green ramp really isnt that easy so we have a bunch of sweet artifact ramp like Arcane Signet
, Izzet Signet
, Bonder's Ornament
and Manalith
all of these cards are great ways to ramp and get stuff done quicker!
One of the best artifact in our deck is Thought Vessel
not only is it a piece of ramp, but since we have a huge instant package we absolutely need the “no max hand size” benefit that Thought Vessel provides!
Land Base:
Our land base mostly has Islands and Mountains but we do have some important nonbasics. The most important nonbasic in our deck is Mystic Sanctuary since it is key to our main combo! Halimar Depths
is a great way to set up for a good cast with Melek on the field! Prismari Campus
is primarily just a Izzet dual but when we have Melek out we can use it to fix the top card of our deck!
Strengths of the Deck:
- Can cycle through the deck very quickly
- Easy to find our combo pieces
- Heavy counter and draw package allows us to always be doing something
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Weak to graveyard hate
- Deck is considerably worse without Melek on the field
- Weak against aggressive strategies
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We are an Izzet combo deck, our deck is filled to brim with ways to tutor or draw through our deck and find the combo pieces! We are in every way a combo deck and we win the game through the following combos! We win through these combos by utilizing our creatures who do damage on cast like Guttersnipe, Erebor Flamesmith, Kessig Flamebreather and Thermo-Alchemist
Melek, Izzet Paragon + Ghostly Flicker + Mystic Sanctuary
Requires:
Melek and Mystic Sanctuary on the battlefield. Ghostly Flicker in hand. You control at least three other Islands. 4UU available.
Steps:
- Cast Ghostly Flicker by paying 2U, targeting Mystic Sanctuary and any other land, blinking them.
- Mystic Sanctuary enters the battlefield, returning Ghostly Flicker from your graveyard to top of your library.
- Cast Ghostly Flicker from top of your library by paying 2U, targeting Mystic Sanctuary and any other land.
- Melek triggers, creating a copy of Ghostly Flicker, targeting any two other lands, blinking them.
- Resolve the Ghostly Flicker, blinking them.
- Mystic Sanctuary enters the battlefield, returning Ghostly Flicker from your graveyard to top of your library.
- Activate Mystic Sanctuary and three other lands, adding mana of any color that land can produce.
- Repeat from step 3.
Results:
Infinite storm count. Infinite colored mana. Infinite ETB. Infinite Damage if creatures listed at the top are on board
Melek, Izzet Paragon + High Tide
+ Snap
+ Bloodwater Entity
or Meldweb Curator
or Biblioplex Assistant
Requires:
High Tide in graveyard, Snap in Hand, One of the above creatures on the battlefield
Steps:
1.Cast Bloodwater Entity or any of the above creatures targeting High Tide and putting it on top of your library
2. Cast and Copy High Tide with Melek Islands now tap for 3 mana Untap two of them with Snap and bounce the recur creature back to your hand. Recast that creature and put snap on top of your deck
3. Cast Snap from your library and repeat process, Go infinite
Results:
Infinite Storm, Infinite Casts, Infinite Damage if creatures listed at the top are on board
Conclusion:
In conclusion Melek is a wonderful downshift that makes the Pauper EDH format even cooler! Pauper EDH is growing everyday and just gets more and more fun! Melek still feels like a rare card and the downshift was a great card that helped out this format a ton! Melek is a super fun Izzet spellpile deck that is great for any mages who love casting spells!
Thanks for reading to the end!