Illusion Typal MTG Legend Unlocks Infinite Mana and Landfall Combos

As much as typal strategies are popular in Magic: The Gathering, many potential archetypes don’t get much love. Thankfully, just because not everything is as well supported as Elves or Dragons doesn’t mean there’s not fun to be had. Even with a meager amount of support, Illusion Typal can be a seriously strong deck, largely thanks to Minn, Wily Illusionist.

MTG Minn, Wily Illusionist

Originally released in the Dungeons of Death precon from the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set, Minn, Wily Illusionist is an insane typal Commander. So long as you’re consistently drawing cards, you’ll quickly develop your board, which will even buff itself. Thanks to this, technically, you don’t even need to run extra Illusion Typal support; however, more synergy is hardly a bad thing.

Between Lord of the Unreal Lord of the Unreal Illusion creatures you control get +1/+1 and have hexproof. (They can't be the targets of spells or abilities your opponents control.) and Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive Creatures you control with power or toughness 1 or less can't be blocked. , it’s easy to make your board of Illusions more threatening. While these two cards don’t work together, either Hexproof and a buff or evasion is fantastic in isolation. Technically, you can even use Phantasmal Image Phantasmal Image You may have this creature enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except it's an Illusion in addition to its other types and it has "When this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it." to copy Lord of the Unreal, or even Krovikan Mist Krovikan Mist Flying
Krovikan Mist's power and toughness are each equal to the number of Illusions on the battlefield. in a pinch.

Outside of these direct support options, you can also leverage cards like Mysterio, Master of Illusion Mysterio, Master of Illusion When Mysterio enters, create a 3/3 blue Illusion Villain creature token for each nontoken Villain you control. Exile those tokens when Mysterio leaves the battlefield. . While you’ll need something like Maskwood Nexus Maskwood Nexus Creatures you control are every creature type. The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren't on the battlefield.
{3}, {T}: Create a 2/2 blue Shapeshifter creature token with changeling. (It is every creature type.) to make your Illusions also Villains, this Mysterio can effectively double your board. Alongside Roaming Throne Roaming Throne Ward {2}
As this creature enters, choose a creature type.
This creature is the chosen type in addition to its other types.
If a triggered ability of another creature you control of the chosen type triggers, it triggers an additional time. as well, Mysterio, not to mention Minn, can get even more out of hand. 

Speaking of Minn, to really maximize her, you’ll want plenty of consistent card draw. Naturally, iconic spells like Archmage’s Charm, Brainstorm Brainstorm Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order. , and Frantic Search Frantic Search Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Untap up to three lands. work wonders, but ideally you want consistent engines. Thankfully, Faerie Mastermind Faerie Mastermind Flash
Flying
Whenever an opponent draws their second card each turn, you draw a card.
{3}{U}: Each player draws a card. , Nezahal, Primal Tide Nezahal, Primal Tide This spell can't be countered.
You have no maximum hand size.
Whenever an opponent casts a noncreature spell, draw a card.
Discard three cards: Exile Nezahal. Return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step. , and even Skullclamp Skullclamp Equipped creature gets +1/-1.
Whenever equipped creature dies, draw two cards.
Equip {1} can work wonders here. With Teferi’s Ageless Insight Teferi’s Ageless Insight If you would draw a card except the first one you draw in each of your draw steps, draw two cards instead. in play, too, hitting the two-card draw threshold is trivial.

While these support pieces can make your board obscene threatening, Krang, the All-Powerful Krang, the All-Powerful If a player drawing a card causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Whenever a player draws their second card each turn, put a +1/+1 counter on Krang. , Fractured Realm Fractured Realm When you unlock this door, create a token that's a copy of target creature you control, except it's a Reflection in addition to its other creature types.
(You may cast either half. That door unlocks on the battlefield. As a sorcery, you may pay the mana cost of a locked door to unlock it.) , and Wizard’s Staff Wizard’s Staff Equipped creature has prowess. (Whenever its controller casts a noncreature spell, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
If a triggered ability of equipped creature triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.
Equip Wizard {1}
Equip {3} push Minn even further. With any one of these in play, your board will be nigh unstoppable, and altogether, winning should be trivial. If a board of supercharged Illusions isn’t enough for your liking, however, Minn, Wily Illusionist also has a potent second ability.

Infinite Mana, Landfall, and Sacrifice Combos

Since Minn, Wily Illusionist makes it trivial to establish a wide board of high-powered Illusions, you can almost always cheat in something big when one dies. With this deck loving card draw, too, you’ll rarely lack a solid option to cheat in. Since you can be killing off your own Illusions anyhow with Skullclamp Skullclamp Equipped creature gets +1/-1.
Whenever equipped creature dies, draw two cards.
Equip {1} , you can easily exploit this synergy.

When it comes to what to cheat in, Minn decks have tons of compelling options. Since card draw is plentiful, for instance, cards like Oneirophage Oneirophage Flying
Whenever you draw a card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. and Psychosis Crawler Psychosis Crawler Psychosis Crawler's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand.
Whenever you draw a card, each opponent loses 1 life. can hit especially hard. Hell, if you’re running Game Changers, you can even cheat in Consecrated Sphinx Consecrated Sphinx Flying
Whenever an opponent draws a card, you may draw two cards. to provide even more cards for Illusions.

As if that wasn’t enough, even if you’ve got nothing on the board, Minn’s second ability will always let you cheat in lands. This then opens up the door for infinite combos alongside Meloku, the Clouded Mirror Meloku, the Clouded Mirror Flying
{1}, Return a land you control to its owner's hand: Create a 1/1 blue Illusion creature token with flying. . Thanks to this Moonfolk’s ability to exchange lands for an Illusion token, all you need is a sacrifice engine, and you’re off to the races.

In theory, since the land Minn cheats in can be tapped to pay for Meloku, any sacrifice engine will do here. No matter what you use, you’ll always get infinite Landfall triggers, plus infinite enters and death triggers. With Ashnod’s Altar Ashnod’s Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}{C}. or Phyrexian Altar Phyrexian Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add one mana of any color. , however, you can get infinite mana, while Altar of Dementia Altar of Dementia Sacrifice a creature: Target player mills cards equal to the sacrificed creature's power. lets you mill everyone out.

Even if you’re not going for a combo win, Meloku is well worth running in the 99 anyhow, since it’s a sweet Illusion generator. The same is true for Ashnod’s, too, as having a reliable way to turn an Illusion into a free permanent is always valuable.

An All-Around Gem

Thanks to the main game plan and combos working so well together, Minn, Wily Illusionist is an exceptionally cohesive and powerful Commander. The only real downside to Minn is that many MTG players already know this. According to EDHREC, Minn is already fairly well played, though the same can’t be said for Illusion Typal decks in general.

Unfortunately, this popularity does come with a pretty impressive price tag, as Minn has never been reprinted. As a result, a near-mint copy on TCGplayer will cost around $9.50 on average. While there is an extended art variant, this isn’t any cheaper, as a near-mint example will run you closer to $12.

All in all, while Minn, Wily Illusionist isn’t the most affordable MTG Commander, it still offers a thoroughly entertaining game plan. As such, if you’re looking for a more novel strategy that can definitely keep up, Minn might just be for you.

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