Whether you’re repeating a valuable enters effect, or avoiding the downside of Warp, Blink engines have tons of uses in MTG. As if that wasn’t enough, Blink effects can occasionally be used to delay your opponent’s tactics, too. Lagrella, the Magpie is perhaps the best example of this, as she’s capable of detaining your opponent’s creatures while reanimating yours infinitely.
MTG Lagrella, the Magpie
Exiling up to one creature from each player’s battlefield, Lagrella, the Magpie is a fantastic repeatable removal engine. Unfortunately, this does make her a bit of a removal magnet herself, but there are ways around this. For starters, dodging removal with other Blink effects, like Essence Flux or Ephemerate, will let you keep Lagrella online, while potentially picking better targets.
Even with these cards helping Lagrella, however, they often won’t be enough to stop the sheer amount of removal your opponents throw at her. Fortunately, Lagrella can solve this problem herself by putting Sun Titan or Karmic Guide under her. When Lagrella dies, the entry trigger of these creatures can instantly reanimate her, putting your opponent’s cards back to jail.
You can even go further than this, using Containment Priest to stop your opponent’s creatures from re-entering the battlefield after Lagrella removes them. Unfortunately, Containment Priest will also shut down your Blink strategies, making this a risky strategy.
Since you’re naturally including tons of strong Blink shenanigans, including lots of powerful enters effects can give Lagrella redundancy. Aang at the Crossroads, for example, can find your other enters effects while creating extra value when exiled under Lagrella. All of the usual fixings, like Eternal Witness, Perigine Drake, and Aether Channeler are also excellent here.
With all the Blink creatures you’re including with Lagrella, you’ll want lots of ways to Blink them repetitively. Teleportation Circle, Soulherder and Conjurer’s Closet, for example, can recur your entry triggers and adjust the creatures that Lagrella has exiled. By Blinking Lagrella with your own creature under her, you can double up on Dour Port Mage triggers, drawing tons of cards.
Blinking Infinitely
While Lagrella can keep your opponent’s creatures locked down for extended periods of time, she still needs a way to win the game. Fortunately, alongside another Blink creature like Felidar Guardian, all you need is an Ephemerate effect to create infinite enters and leaves triggers.
To pull this off, you need to exile your Felidar Guardian under Lagrella, then cast Ephemerate to Blink her. This will cause both Lagrella and Felidar Guardian to enter play at the same time, triggering them both. Resolve Lagrella’s trigger first, putting Felidar Guardian back under Lagrella. Felidar Guardian will then Blink Lagrella, creating a loop. With an Altar of the Brood in play, this combo can mill your opponents out.
While this combo can be pulled off with a large assortment of cards, there are a few Blink combos that offer more than just infinite enters and leaves triggers. Pairing Lagrella with Karmic Guide and Phyrexian Altar, for example, will also offer you infinite mana. Alternatively, if you use Abdel Adrian, Gorion’s Ward as a Blink engine with the Felidar Guardian Combo, you’ll also net infinite 1/1 Soldier tokens.
A Powerful Budget Option
While a bit unusual, Lagrella, the Magpie can offer a somewhat unique take on the Blink archetype by exiling creatures on both players’ boards. With a fantastic color identity and lots of infinite combos to pull off, it’s shocking that this card isn’t more popular. Appearing in only 2,013 decks, Lagrella is extremely underplayed, especially considering how popular the Blink archetype is.
That said, thanks in part to being an uncommon, Lagrella excels as a budget Commander option. With copies of Lagrella only costing $0.35, and many of her infinite combos being available for under $5, this Commander is a fantastic option on a low budget.
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