While it feels like ancient history now, the MTG x Doctor Who Commander crossover was actually released only three years ago. Despite being well-received by both fan bases at the time, this set has slipped into obscurity somewhat since. This is a crying shame, since it includes a bunch of powerful cards for the 99, and powerful legends to lead them. Among these icons, Missy is undoubtedly one of the best for MTG Commander. Not only does it offer a Grixis Commander with a ton of flexibility, but it can do some dastardly stuff in Planechase, too.
Missy In MTG Commander
Though it’s pricey at six mana, Missy comes out of the gate swinging with that first ability. Getting any creature that dies, opponents’ creatures included, back under your control is massive. This lets you grind out value over time as creatures trade or eat removal, and make great use of board wipes. Give Missy Indestructible with something like Mithril Coat, for example, and a Damnation will swing the board for you.
This ability sadly doesn’t work on opposing Commanders, since they can go back to the command zone before it triggers. That said, it is still incredibly powerful, especially since the Cybermen you get here are artifacts. This lets you tap into artifact synergies, easily leveraging mechanics like Affinity and Improvise. You can also use artifact protection effects like Darksteel Forge and Krang, Utrom Warlord to keep your revived board safe.
You can even lean into face-down synergies to turn Missy’s ability into full-on creature theft. Ixidor, Reality Sculptor is by far the best option for this, letting you flip creatures for cheap while buffing your Cybermen. Etrata, Deadly Fugitive and Skirk Alarmist make nice backups here, providing some welcome redundancy. You can also leverage blink engines, like Thassa, Deep-Dwelling and Conjurer’s Closet, for the same effect.
Since it also works on your own creatures, Missy’s first ability supports an Aristocrats playstyle beautifully. Every creature you sacrifice will spring back right away, and cards like Grave Pact will net you multiple new Cybermen at once. Grixis isn’t a typical color combination for Aristocrats, but adding blue to the archetype gives it a lot of resilience via free interaction.
Flip-Floppin’ Fun
In addition to its more general applications, Missy is actually a solid combo enabler in MTG Commander as well. This is entirely down to its first ability, which interacts extremely well with Morph creatures. Ruthless Ripper, for example, can turn itself face-up for free as long as you have a black card in your hand.
Paired with Missy and a sacrifice outlet, you can sacrifice it to flip it face-down, then reveal a card to flip it face-up. With Ripper dealing two damage each time you do this, you can rinse and repeat to kill the whole pod on the spot. This combo also works with either of the other two ‘reveal’ Morph creatures, Horde Ambusher or Dragon’s Eye Savants. These won’t win by themselves, but you can throw in Blasting Station or Impact Tremors to add the killer edge.
Ire Shaman can combo off in a similar way, provided you have a sacrifice outlet that makes red mana. With either Phyrexian Altar or Thermopod, you can flip this Orc Shaman back and forth infinitely, Impulse drawing your whole deck. With enough spare mana, this can be a great way to find any given combo win in your deck. Alternatively, you can just get rid of everything and drop Thassa’s Oracle to close things out.
An Underrated Villain
While Missy is more than good enough as a Commander for regular games, it shines even brighter when you’re playing with Planechase. With this in the mix, Missy’s second ability becomes a much trickier dilemma for opponents, especially since you’ll likely have a big artifact board in most games. Though relying on the decisions of opponents is inherently risky, there are ways to build a Missy deck around it to an extent.
In most games, you shouldn’t need to politic a ton, since Missy’s Cyberman generation makes the damage option one most opponents would rather avoid. If you want to be really safe, however, you can leverage votes-matter cards, like Illusion of Choice and The Valeyard, to remove a lot of the uncertainty. You’ll also want to be very selective with the Planes you put in your Planechase deck. Prioritizing those with positive chaos ensues effects, like TARDIS Bay, will give you the best chance of success here.
Despite its general power and nifty Planechase applications, Missy isn’t widely played in MTG Commander at all. Right now, just 2,356 players run it in the command zone, and only 8,650 in the 99. This low play rate, while unfortunate, does mean the card is very affordable. The regular foil copy from the Masters of Evil precon is available for just $0.16 on TCGplayer currently, for example.
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