Scrying is a sweet mechanic, and Magic was made a better game when it became evergreen. Smoothing out awkward draws, mitigating mana flood in the lategame, and giving you more interesting and relevant decisions throughout the game are just some of the things that scrying can do – but, as it turns out, it can do so much more when Eligeth, Crossroads Augur is involved.
This card turns humble crying cards into card advantage powerhouses – something like Preordain becomes a one-mana Divination! McDuckington put together a streamlined and synergistic list that looks to take advantage of Eligeth’s ability as much as possible – so much so that it doesn’t even have a second commander as a partner, despite that being an option!
Eligeth Scrystorm by McDuckington
Commander
Creature (22)
Sorcery (9)
Instant (9)
Artifact (11)
Enchantment (11)
Land (35)
There are all these weird creatures that have been printed over the years that allow you to scry, either when they enter the battlefield, attack, or even activate an ability of theirs. Some of these creatures are pretty good, but usually their scrying ability is incidental to their power level. Others are just… well, mediocre, not to put too fine a point on it. Augury Owl is fine, but a two-mana 1/1 that scries three is nothing to write home about.
But what if it’s a two-mana 1/1 that draws three? Oh boy, now we’re cooking – and that’s just what Eligeth does to cards like Augury Owl. Faerie Seer and Stormwing Entity draw two. Cryptic Annelid draws six. Sphinx of Foresight turns into a personal Howling Mine. Prescient Chimera tacks a card onto all of your instants and sorceries. The list goes on – all these marginal scry creatures receive an incredible upgrade when Eligeth is out and about.
There are even cards with repeatable scry effects, and it’s not just creatures – Jace’s Sanctum is another card that rewards you for playing noncreature spells, Jace, Mirror Mage ticks up to draw two, while Netherese Puzzle-Ward and Mystic Redaction are more personal Howling Mines.
The most satisfying part of the deck, however, is the spells that have scry tacked onto them as a bonus little freebie, that all of a sudden become ridiculously strong with Eligeth. Dissolve becomes Cryptic Command. Foresee becomes Tidings. Mystic Speculation becomes Ancestral Recall. Zhalfirin Void becomes… possibly the most broken land in existence, to be honest.
And then, beyond all these scrying shenanigans, there’s a flying subtheme as well! Wonder and Archetype of Imagination chuck everything up into the air, while Favorable Winds and Windstorm Drake juice ’em all up. It might be worth finding room for a partner, to be honest – Siani, Eye of the Storm seems like it would be a great fit!
If you’ve got a list like this you want to share, I’d love to see it – feel free to send any and all sweet Commander decklists my way, via DM on Twitter!
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/4447083#paper
I’ve been running eligeth and Siani for a while now, good fun drawing a lot of cards and attacking with flyers.