One of the most beloved things about Commander is the wide range of legends players can utilize. Dig deep enough, and you can find a powerful option that even the most experienced veteran hasn’t seen. Even at bracket 5 cEDH tables, there are some surprisingly sneaky competitive options.
For example, just this past weekend, one player made the top four of a 142-player tournament rocking a sweet Jacob Hauken, Inspector list. Despite making little noise in the format up to this point, this Crimson Vow legend is capable of taking over games if left unchecked.
Setting Up Free Spells
The main goal behind this Mono-Blue deck is to cast big haymakers for free. Jacob Hauken is the centerpiece of this game plan, functioning as a looter early that can put your game-breaking spells into exile. Once you get to six mana, you have the luxury of transforming your Commander into Hauken’s Insight, which enables you to immediately cast one of the exiled spells without paying its mana cost.
In some games, simply casting one spell from exile will set you up to win. Cheating out Omniscience while you have Enter the Infinite in hand, for example, makes it trivial to end the game with Thassa’s Oracle. Even getting a huge monster like Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur or Ulamog, the Defiler into play and protecting it with counter magic will often do the trick.
In longer games, Hauken’s Insight’s upkeep trigger ensures you’ll never run out of spells to cast for free. With the help of library manipulation effects, including Mystical Tutor and Sensei’s Divining Top, it isn’t hard to ensure your most impactful spells are the ones to get exiled.
The only downside to this game plan is that Hauken’s Insight only produces one discounted spell per turn, which might not be enough for cEDH. Fortunately, the deck offsets this with extra turn spells like Time Warp, creating second attempts after countered spells. Add Mnemonic Deluge into the equation, and you’re in great shape to take a bunch of turns in a row.
A Promising Finish
Despite not seeing much play in recent months, Jacob Hauken decks certainly have plenty of strengths. Right off the bat, having access to a cheap hand smoother early on is quite useful. Given this creature’s incredible efficiency, it’s also trivial to replay should it get hit by removal or get countered.
Once transformed, Hauken’s Insight is built to overwhelm opposing counterspells, powering through interaction later in the game. Combine this with lots of free countermagic, and lands like Mistrise Village, and Jacob Hauken is prepared to beat traditional cEDH interaction.
However, this deck can run into major problems when facing down permanent-based hate. Simple trinkets like Vexing Bauble or Drannith Magistrate render Hauken’s Insight useless. Similarly, a resolved Cursed Totem shuts down Jacob Hauken’s looting ability, and thus its potential to transform.
With these weaknesses in mind, it’s understandable that Jacob Hauken hasn’t emerged as a tier-one cEDH option. At the same time, though, this deck’s elite performance this past weekend showcases its dominant potential in the right setting. Don’t be shocked if this underplayed legend starts to creep up more and more moving forward.
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