Even with nearly 3,600 Commander options available, it can be tricky to find a truly unique MTG legend to pilot your deck. While many Commanders cover the same core MTG archetypes, there are certainly hidden gems out there like Archelos, Lagoon Mystic. While it’s heavily underused in the format right now, Archelos offers a potent playstyle that’s wholly its own.
Archelos, Lagoon Mystic MTG
With Archelos untapped, tons of normally powerful but awkward-to-use cards, like Zagoth Triome, get supercharged, becoming all upside. The same is also true for cards like Evin, Waterdeep Opportunist and Geology Enthusiast, which normally create tapped tokens. As if that wasn’t enough, Archelos also boosts your ramp, as lands from Cultivate, Farseek, and Rampant Growth all usually enter tapped.
Once you’re done exploiting Archelos’ untap effect, tapping it with something like Cryptolith Rite will seriously punish your opponents. Forcing everything to enter tapped is already pretty devastating, but it only gets worse alongside cards like Winter Orb and Stasis. With Icy Manipulator catching any stragglers and Royal Assassin providing consistent removal, this game plan is downright mean.
While oppressive, slowing down your opponents won’t win you the game alone. As such, Archelos decks tend to lean into a Landfall strategy, thanks to its abundance of on-brand support like Retreat to Coralhelm. Beyond just being a capable core that almost any deck can use, Landfall cards like Scute Swarm synergize particularly well with Archelos’ combo potential.
Turtally Tubular Combos
Archelos also has a ton to offer in the infinite combo department, including several infinite mana and Landfall lines. With Archelos untapped, for example, you can have a bounce land like Simic Growth Chamber enter untapped, and tap it for mana before bouncing itself. You can then pay one to put it back into play with Patron of the Moon, then repeat the process.
If infinite life is more your thing, then Archelos can get you that too with Gourmand’s Talent and Nuka-Cola Vending Machine. Make and sacrifice a Food to start, and you’ll get a Treasure/Food token untapped thanks to Archelos. Sacrifice this token for mana to get another, then repeat for infinite mana, which you can then sink into future Food tokens for infinite life.
For a really funky combo, you can generate infinite Storm count using Archelos, Aluren, and Selkie Hedge-Mage. Make sure Archelos is tapped before you start, and then cast Selkie for free thanks to Aluren. Selkie will enter tapped, meaning it can bounce itself with its ability, letting you rinse and repeat for infinite life and a potential Tendrils of Agony win.
A Lesser-Spotted Turtle
Despite its unique, potent playstyle and wide range of combos, Archelos, Lagoon Mystic doesn’t actually see much play at all as an MTG Commander. According to EDHREC data, just 4,255 players run this top-tier Turtle in the command zone, which feels incredibly low. It fares a little better in the 99, with 11,000 decks including the card, but that still seems underwhelming for a card of this quality.
Fortunately, this low play rate means that Archelos is super cheap to pick up right now. Near-mint base copies of the card can be had on TCGplayer for as low as $0.11, and the fancy foil etched version isn’t much more at $0.72. At such low prices, Archelos makes for an easy addition to any collection, and a fantastic starting point for an offbeat Sultai Commander deck.
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