Despite playing a major role in the MTG storyline post-Brothers’ War, Mairsil, the Pretender has essentially been lost to time over the years. Nowadays, the character’s influence is largely confined to a footnote in Liliana’s story. Making things worse, Mairsil has barely been mentioned on a handful of cards in his entire 30-year history.
Unfortunately, a similar fate has also befallen Mairsil’s lone legendary creature incarnation. Since its release in 2017, Mairsil, the Pretender has failed to make any kind of impact in Commander. Given how much open-ended potential the card offers, especially for combo players, this feels like a grave mistake.
MTG Mairsil, The Pretender
Mairsil, the Pretender is a unique Commander that “collects” the abilities of other creatures and artifacts as the game goes on. What sets it apart from similar legends, like the recent Koh, the Face Stealer, is that it does so permanently. Since the cards it exiles get cage counters for tracking, Mairsil will still have access to their abilities even if he leaves play and re-enters.
This makes Mairsil more resilient than other options, and allows you to easily build up a huge cache of abilities through blink and bounce effects. With a Conjurer’s Closet, for example, you can “collect” a new card with Mairsil every turn. You can also recast it from your hand with cards like Cavern Harpy, or use copy effects like Spark Double to exile more abilities.
Unfortunately, Mairsil can only collect cards from your hand or your graveyard, which requires a bit of extra build-around. Graveyard tutors, like Entomb and Buried Alive, are perfect here, letting you grab exactly the pieces you want. Traditional self-mill, like Hedron Crab and Traumatize, works too, albeit less reliably.
Once Mairsil has built up a solid stash of abilities, you’ll want to make the most of those with some activated ability support cards. Discounters like Training Grounds and Heartstone are no-brainer additions here, letting Mairsil use more of his arsenal each turn. You can also include some ability doublers, like Rings of Brighthearth, to get around Mairsil’s pesky “once per turn” restriction.
Collectible Combos
With the above infrastructure in place, Mairsil, the Pretender can serve as an excellent value Commander. Where he really gets interesting, however, is when you start exploring the many, many infinite combo lines he enables.
A lot of these combos revolve around resetting Mairsil’s abilities so you can use them repeatedly. A caged Quicksilver Elemental is the best way to do this, essentially allowing the Commander to reset his abilities infinitely. With Gilded Lotus and Horseshoe Crab in the collection, you can easily generate infinite mana. Sub out Crab for Staff of Domination, and you’ll also gain an outlet for said mana.
Similar combo lines are possible with Endling and a sacrifice outlet. Mairsil can grant itself Undying via Endling’s ability, allowing you to reset its abilities on death. With Blood Pet also exiled, Mairsil can do this on demand, and refund the black mana required in the bargain. Throw in a creature that turns +1/+1 counters into damage, like Triskelion or Deathbringer Thoctar, and you can win the game on the spot.
Broad categories aside, Mairsil, the Pretender also enables a wide range of more specific combos. If you can exile Tree of Perdition and Spikeshot Elder, for example, you set up an instant kill. You can also exile Mirror-Mad Phantasm with Mairsil to easily mill your entire deck for just two mana. It’s even possible to take infinite turns with Mairsil if you exile Magistrate’s Scepter and Ventifact Bottle alongside an untapper.
Cracking The Cage
While we’ve mainly focused on his combo potential so far, it’s worth noting that Mairsil, the Pretender can work just as well in fair MTG decks. He’s particularly nice in Reanimator lists, where he can collect abilities from big hitters like Avatar of Woe, and come back via your reanimation spells for extra abilities, though there is some anti-synergy with the exiling clause. He also makes an interesting Commander for a Grixis Blink deck, if you can nail the balance between powerful activated abilities and powerful etbs.
Despite his wide-ranging potential, Mairsil, the Pretender barely sees any play in Commander at all. EDHREC data notes that only 1,865 decks run Mairsil at the helm. In the 99 things are even worse, with just 402 players slotting him into non-dedicated lists.
While this is an unfortunate and surprising statistic, it does mean that Mairsil is very affordable to pick up. Despite only having a single printing in Commander 2017, you can snag near-mint copies of Mairsil for just $0.30 right now. Considering how unique and powerful the card is, this feels like a steal. If you want a fresh take on Grixis for your next Commander night, consider taking this long-forgotten legend of MTG lore out for a spin.
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