Wizards prints cards that excel in the 99 of cEDH decks fairly regularly,
Hexing Squelcher
Hexing Squelcher
This spell can't be countered.
Ward—Pay 2 life.
Spells you control can't be countered.
Other creatures you control have "Ward—Pay 2 life."
and
Gleaming Splendor
Gleaming Splendor
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you create a Treasure token.
{2}{W}: Two target players each draw a card.
are two recent examples; it’s much rarer for a new Commander to make a splash in the format. Typically, a legend needs a good color identity, low cost, and relevant abilities to make the cut, and even then it’s not a given. Reality Fracture has bucked this trend, however, by introducing Dack Fayden, Helping Hand: a legend with none of these typical qualities that may nonetheless be a banger in cEDH.
Dack Fayden, Helping Hand in cEDH
This bizarre new legend has been getting a ton of attention in the cEDH community over the last few days, with several players seeing success with it in events. Popular cEDH player and content creator ComedIan piloted it to a win in a local event, for example, and Goldsabertooth appears to have done the same.
The key to this deck’s success is its infinite combo potential, specifically the fact that it can win purely by casting Dack Fayden itself. So far, cEDH builds of new Dack run very limited creature suites, consisting of
Radiant Solar
Radiant Solar
Flying, lifelink
Whenever this creature or another nontoken creature you control enters, venture into the dungeon. (Enter the first room or advance to the next room.)
{W}, Discard this card: Venture into the dungeon and you gain 3 life.
and creatures like
Felidar Guardian
Felidar Guardian
When this creature enters, you may exile another target permanent you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
and
All-Fates Stalker
All-Fates Stalker
When this creature enters, exile up to one target non-Assassin creature until this creature leaves the battlefield.
Warp {1}{W} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)
that can blink creatures on entry. This means that, when Dack hits the table, you’ll be putting at least two blink creatures into play alongside him.
Since you still get their enters triggers before Dack donates them, you can blink Dack itself to spin into three more creatures, then repeat to get every creature out of your deck and into play. Once this is done, you can use two immediate blink creatures, like
Felidar Guardian
Felidar Guardian
When this creature enters, you may exile another target permanent you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
and
Restoration Angel
Restoration Angel
Flash
Flying
When this creature enters, you may exile target non-Angel creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under your control.
, to blink each other back and forth. This will net you infinite ventures into the Dungeon with
Radiant Solar
Radiant Solar
Flying, lifelink
Whenever this creature or another nontoken creature you control enters, venture into the dungeon. (Enter the first room or advance to the next room.)
{W}, Discard this card: Venture into the dungeon and you gain 3 life.
, which will win you the game via life loss from
Lost Mine of Phandelver
Lost Mine of Phandelver
Cave Entrance — Scry 1. (Leads to: Goblin Lair, Mine Tunnels)
Goblin Lair — Create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. (Leads to: Storeroom, Dark Pool)
Mine Tunnels — Create a Treasure token. (Leads to: Dark Pool, Fungi Cavern)
Storeroom — Put a +1/+1 counter on target creature. (Leads to: Temple of Dumathoin)
Dark Pool — Each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. (Leads to: Temple of Dumathoin)
Fungi Cavern — Target creature gets -4/-0 until your next turn. (Leads to: Temple of Dumathoin)
Temple of Dumathoin — Draw a card.
and
Tomb of Annihilation
Tomb of Annihilation
Trapped Entry — Each player loses 1 life. (Leads to: Veils of Fear, Oubliette)
Veils of Fear — Each player loses 2 life unless they discard a card. (Leads to: Sandfall Cell)
Sandfall Cell — Each player loses 2 life unless they sacrifice a creature, artifact, or land of their choice. (Leads to: Cradle of the Death God)
Oubliette — Discard a card and sacrifice a creature, an artifact, and a land. (Leads to: Cradle of the Death God)
Cradle of the Death God — Create The Atropal, a legendary 4/4 black God Horror creature token with deathtouch.
.
This being cEDH, you don’t need to wait until turn six to cast Dack and win this way, either. The deck runs all of the usual fast mana staples, from
Ancient Tomb
Ancient Tomb
{T}: Add {C}{C}. This land deals 2 damage to you.
to
Chrome Mox
Chrome Mox
Imprint — When this artifact enters, you may exile a nonartifact, nonland card from your hand.
{T}: Add one mana of any of the exiled card's colors.
. It also runs both
Basalt Monolith
Basalt Monolith
This artifact doesn't untap during your untap step.
{T}: Add {C}{C}{C}.
{3}: Untap this artifact.
and
Grim Monolith
Grim Monolith
This artifact doesn't untap during your untap step.
{T}: Add {C}{C}{C}.
{4}: Untap this artifact.
, alongside
Manifold Key
Manifold Key
{1}, {T}: Untap another target artifact.
{3}, {T}: Target creature can't be blocked this turn.
and
Voltaic Key
Voltaic Key
{1}, {T}: Untap target artifact.
, allowing for huge bursts of mana. With the right opening hand, this deck can drop Dack Fayden and put a win on the stack as early as turn two.
Stax on Stax
So far, the Dack Fayden, Helping Hand cEDH lists are mainly focused on this powerful combo, but they’re not complete one-trick ponies. They also have a strong Stax element, which helps the deck compete with the rest of the cEDH metagame despite its Mono-White color identity.
Cards like
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
Each player can't cast more than one spell each turn.
and
Cursed Totem
Cursed Totem
Activated abilities of creatures can't be activated.
are absolutely fantastic here, for example. The former shuts down most cEDH combos and stunts board development, while the latter is brutal against ability-focused Commanders like
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy
Whenever you tap a nonland permanent for mana, add one mana of any type that permanent produced.
{5}{G}{U}: Look at the top five cards of your library. You may put a non-Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
. Alongide pieces like
Damping Sphere
Damping Sphere
If a land is tapped for two or more mana, it produces {C} instead of any other type and amount.
Each spell a player casts costs {1} more to cast for each other spell that player has cast this turn.
and
Trinisphere
Trinisphere
As long as this artifact is untapped, each spell that would cost less than three mana to cast costs three mana to cast. (Additional mana in the cost may be paid with any color of mana or colorless mana. For example, a spell that would cost {1}{B} to cast costs {2}{B} to cast instead.)
, most typical cEDH decks will struggle to win before Dack comes down.
In addition to these potent Stax cards, Dack Fayden pilots are running many of the clasic cEDH anti-interaction pieces, such as
Silence
Silence
Your opponents can't cast spells this turn.
and
Mandate of Peace
Mandate of Peace
Cast this spell only during combat.
Your opponents can't cast spells this turn.
End the combat phase. (Remove all attackers and blockers from combat. Exile all spells and abilities from the stack, including this spell.)
. These pull double-duty here, helping to shut down opposing combos in some games, while protecting your own Dack Fayden turn in others. You can even use
Scout’s Warning
Scout’s Warning
The next creature card you play this turn can be played as though it had flash.
Draw a card.
and
Emergence Zone
Emergence Zone
{T}: Add {C}.
{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: You may cast spells this turn as though they had flash.
to pop off at instant speed, opening up more windows for wins.
While Dack Fayden itself is definitely the deck’s primary win condition, it can push for a mill win using
Gleaming Splendor
Gleaming Splendor
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you create a Treasure token.
{2}{W}: Two target players each draw a card.
and
Smothering Tithe
Smothering Tithe
Whenever an opponent draws a card, that player may pay {2}. If the player doesn't, you create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
in a pinch. Copy Tithe using
Mirage Mirror
Mirage Mirror
{2}: This artifact becomes a copy of target artifact, creature, enchantment, or land until end of turn.
, and you can generate four Treasures with every Splendor activation, letting you force your opponents to draw themselves to death. You can prevent any interaction here with all your Silence effects, too, so this is a fairly reliable backup plan if Dack gets countered.
Meme or Dream?
Following its surge in success over the weekend, Dack Fayden, Helping Hand is the talk of the cEDH community. With real results on the table now, players are starting to take the deck seriously, which is wild considering how far from most cEDH Commanders the card looks. This juxtaposition has led to the deck becoming a bit of a meme, with players facetiously predicting a future where Dack is the dominant deck in the format.
While these posts are mostly in jest, Dack Fayden has real substance as a deck. Being able to guarantee a win from the command zone is incredibly powerful, especially when you can do it early. It’s a similar phenomenon to what we saw with
Aang, at the Crossroads
Aang, at the Crossroads
Flying
When Aang enters, look at the top five cards of your library. You may put a creature card with mana value 4 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
When another creature you control leaves the battlefield, transform Aang at the beginning of the next upkeep.
, where simply casting Aang could result in a chain of
Clone
Clone
You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield.
s that would ultimately secure a win. While Aang isn’t exactly a top-tier strategy, it’s still a viable deck in the cEDH format.
What will likely hold Dack Fayden back, however, is its color identity. While setting down early Stax pieces can help, being Mono-White means the deck often lacks tools to stop opposing wins. This means it can spin its wheels when it can’t land an early Dack, resulting in a glass-cannon playstyle that can probably be addressed with small adjustments to the top decks.
That said, it’s impossible to fully predict the future of MTG metagames, even in the largely-defined cEDH. We could well see Dack Fayden become a real player in the format, or it could burn out quickly as another new set gimmick deck. As always, only time will tell, but it’s exciting to see such a funky strategy in the cEDH format at all in any case.
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