MTG Assassin's Creed's Ratonhnhaké꞉ton Sees Surprising Success in 397-Player Event

With the constant influx of legends in Universes Beyond sets, it’s easy for some Commanders to get overlooked. Yet some of these legends are powerful enough to make a splash in competitive formats when given a chance.

Ratonhnhaké:ton is a great example of a serious threat that many players don’t even remember exists, yet it just made the top 32 of a 397-player Duel Commander event.

A Unique Equipment Commander

Ratonhnhaké:ton, the engine behind this Esper deck, gets a lot of its power from being temporarily untargetable and unblockable. The goal is to use this window to land a hit, get your token, and immediately equip something massive to it.

To do that, you need ways to get Equipment like Meteor Sword Meteor Sword When this Equipment enters, destroy target permanent.
Equipped creature gets +3/+3.
Equip {3} ({3}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) and Dissection Tools Dissection Tools When this Equipment enters, manifest dread, then attach this Equipment to that creature.
Equipped creature gets +2/+2 and has deathtouch and lifelink.
Equip—Sacrifice a creature. directly into your graveyard. Unmarked Grave Unmarked Grave Search your library for a nonlegendary card, put that card into your graveyard, then shuffle. is the strongest tool in this department, since it gets the job done in one fluid motion.

Alternatively, you can use traditional tutors like Stoneforge Mystic Stoneforge Mystic When this creature enters, you may search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
{1}{W}, {T}: You may put an Equipment card from your hand onto the battlefield. , Steelshaper’s Gift Steelshaper’s Gift Search your library for an Equipment card, reveal that card, put it into your hand, then shuffle. , and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary Cloud, Midgar Mercenary When Cloud enters, search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
As long as Cloud is equipped, if a triggered ability of Cloud or an Equipment attached to it triggers, that ability triggers an additional time. to get the artifacts into your hand. From there, cards like Careful Study Careful Study Draw two cards, then discard two cards. , Ghostly Pilferer Ghostly Pilferer Whenever this creature becomes untapped, you may pay {2}. If you do, draw a card.
Whenever an opponent casts a spell from anywhere other than their hand, draw a card.
Discard a card: This creature can't be blocked this turn. , or any other discard outlet can chuck them into your graveyard.

Once everything is set up, a single Ratonhnhaké:ton attack should put you pretty far ahead, but you can cement your advantage further by continuing to connect in combat. You just need to pave a path with removal spells like Swords to Plowshares Swords to Plowshares Exile target creature. Its controller gains life equal to its power. or Fatal Push Fatal Push Destroy target creature if it has mana value 2 or less.
Revolt — Destroy that creature if it has mana value 4 or less instead if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn. , and the tokens will keep flowing.

Notably, if your Commander ever gets killed, replaying it does reset its Hexproof and unblockable abilities, making it easier to keep the token engine rolling. The same is true if you bounce it with Teferi, Time Raveler Teferi, Time Raveler Each opponent can cast spells only any time they could cast a sorcery.
+1: Until your next turn, you may cast sorcery spells as though they had flash.
−3: Return up to one target artifact, creature, or enchantment to its owner's hand. Draw a card. or exile it with Parallax Wave Parallax Wave Fading 5 (This enchantment enters with five fade counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from it. If you can't, sacrifice it.)
Remove a fade counter from this enchantment: Exile target creature.
When this enchantment leaves the battlefield, each player returns to the battlefield all cards they own exiled with it. , so make sure to keep this in mind.

Even if you aren’t resurrecting an Equipment each time Ratonhnhaké:ton connects, these tokens still wear Umezawa’s Jitte Umezawa’s Jitte Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, put two charge counters on Umezawa's Jitte.
Remove a charge counter from Umezawa's Jitte: Choose one —
• Equipped creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
• Target creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn.
• You gain 2 life.
Equip {2} quite well. Going wide also helps maximize Raffine, Scheming Seer Raffine, Scheming Seer Flying, ward {1}
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature connives X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. (Draw X cards, then discard X cards. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each nonland card discarded this way.) ‘s trigger and provides consistent fodder for Skullclamp Skullclamp Equipped creature gets +1/-1.
Whenever equipped creature dies, draw two cards.
Equip {1} .

When combined with other cheap, powerful threats like Psychic Frog Psychic Frog Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker, draw a card.
Discard a card: Put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Exile three cards from your graveyard: This creature gains flying until end of turn. and The Wondrous Wasp The Wondrous Wasp Flash
Flying
Wasp's Sting — When The Wondrous Wasp enters, tap up to one target creature. It loses all abilities for as long as The Wondrous Wasp remains on the battlefield. , you’re well-prepared to tempo out opponents. Counterspells ranging from No More Lies No More Lies Counter target spell unless its controller pays {3}. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. to Force of Negation Force of Negation If it's not your turn, you may exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target noncreature spell. If that spell is countered this way, exile it instead of putting it into its owner's graveyard. only make it easier to cross the finish line.

Tempo Takeover

What makes Ratonhnhaké:ton such a difficult Commander to play against is that once it’s in play, it’s nearly impossible to stop you from getting your money’s worth. Decks that rely on spot removal to keep the board clear can’t touch your Commander until it’s already made and has a token suited up.

Naturally, this gives you a massive edge against Aragorn, King of Gondor decks that rely on maintaining the Monarch. All your tokens have Menace, and once you claim the throne, you have plenty of removal spells to keep it.

At the same time, the combination of a token-spewing Commander and Umezawa’s Jitte makes it extremely difficult for Brigid, Clachan’s Heart Brigid, Clachan’s Heart Whenever this creature enters or transforms into Brigid, Clachan's Heart, create a 1/1 green and white Kithkin creature token.
At the beginning of your first main phase, you may pay {G}. If you do, transform Brigid. decks to ever gain traction. Even if the opponent removes Jitte, they’re forced to continue blocking your Commander, or you’ll just get it right back.

With access to lots of cheap threats and countermagic, this deck is also set up to get under combo shells like Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers Raph & Mikey, Troublemakers Trample, haste
Whenever Raph & Mikey attack, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card. Put that card onto the battlefield tapped and attacking and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. . Sometimes, just curving Frog into Ratonhnhaké:ton instead of spending time assembling Equipment synergies will get the job done.

Even with this elite versatility in mind, though, strategies can stop your Commander from ever getting going in the first place. Tasigur, the Golden Fang Tasigur, the Golden Fang Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
{2}{G/U}{G/U}: Mill two cards, then return a nonland card of an opponent's choice from your graveyard to your hand. decks, for instance, have plenty of counterspells to keep Ratonhnhaké:ton from hitting the board. When backed up by Sheoldred’s Edict Sheoldred’s Edict Choose one —
• Each opponent sacrifices a nontoken creature of their choice.
• Each opponent sacrifices a creature token of their choice.
• Each opponent sacrifices a planeswalker of their choice. and Dress Down Dress Down Flash
When this enchantment enters, draw a card.
Creatures lose all abilities.
At the beginning of the end step, sacrifice this enchantment. , it’s hard to get off the ground.

Facing down Deadpool, Trading Card Deadpool, Trading Card As Deadpool enters, you may exchange his text box and another creature's.
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 3 life.
{3}, Sacrifice this creature: Each other player draws a card. is even more nightmarish, since its enters ability doesn’t target your Commander at all. So, the opponent can simply cast Deadpool after you resolve Ratonhnhaké:ton, and steal its Hexproof clause.

In that sense, Ratonhnhaké:ton isn’t a perfect Commander by any stretch, but it lines up well against some of the format’s top archetypes. Given how few players run the Assassin, you may be able to catch your opponent off guard.

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