Over the past few days, a ton of Murders at Karlov Manor spoilers have been revealed. Some spoilers, such as No More Lies, are well-suited to become multi-format Constructed staples. However, one interesting aspect we’re beginning to notice quickly so far for the set is just how many strong legends there are for EDH.
Recently, we covered a cool Orzhov Commander centered around the Investigate theme. Teysa, Opulent Oligarch is far from the only powerful legend this new set has to offer, though. In fact, one particular newly revealed legendary Creature has everyone talking. This card is none other than Delney, Streetwise Lookout. As a three-mana Creature that can cause the enters-the-battlefield triggers of other Creatures you play to trigger twice, some are comparing it to
Panharmonicon
Panharmonicon
If an artifact or creature entering causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
.
That alone has a lot of players sold on the card, but as we will see, Delney has a few more tricks up his sleeve. Delney synergizes well with a ton of other Commander staples, making it a strong addition to the format. It even has some unique potential in a popular Standard deck that may help take the deck to the next level. To help understand what makes Delney so versatile, it’s important to break down the card’s various abilities.
Panharmonicon 2.0
Much like
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
Vigilance
If a permanent entering causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Permanents entering don't cause abilities of permanents your opponents control to trigger.
, Delney does a great job doubling enters-the-battlefield effects. While Delney only works in conjunction with Creatures with power two or less, there’s a surprisingly large number of Creatures with solid triggered abilities that fit the mold. Even if you choose to play Delney as your Commander and therefore are limited to just white cards, there’s plenty of ways to build a deck around him.
Cards like
Solemn Simulacrum
Solemn Simulacrum
When this creature enters, you may search your library for a basic land card, put that card onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.
When this creature dies, you may draw a card.
and
Knight of the White Orchid
Knight of the White Orchid
First strike
When this creature enters, if an opponent controls more lands than you, you may search your library for a Plains card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
help you keep up with opposing ramp decks, while
Loran of the Third Path
Loran of the Third Path
Vigilance
When Loran enters, destroy up to one target artifact or enchantment.
{T}: You and target opponent each draw a card.
,
Skyclave Apparition
Skyclave Apparition
When this creature enters, exile up to one target nonland, nontoken permanent you don't control with mana value 4 or less.
When this creature leaves the battlefield, the exiled card's owner creates an X/X blue Illusion creature token, where X is the mana value of the exiled card.
,
Werefox Bodyguard
Werefox Bodyguard
Flash
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target non-Fox creature until this creature leaves the battlefield.
{1}{W}, Sacrifice this creature: You gain 2 life.
and more provide a wide range of solid interaction. From there, you can utilize the likes of
Recruiter of the Guard
Recruiter of the Guard
When this creature enters, you may search your library for a creature card with toughness 2 or less, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
and
Karmic Guide
Karmic Guide
Flying, protection from black
Echo {3}{W}{W} (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
When this creature enters, return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
to generate tons of value.
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Triggered Abilities Galore
Where things really get interesting, though, is with the fact that Delney synergizes with ALL triggered abilities of your small Creatures. This drastically opens the door for a whole new wave of possibilities. For example, there are a ton of different cards that allow you to draw cards whenever you cast Enchantments.
Mesa Enchantress
Mesa Enchantress
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, you may draw a card.
,
Verduran Enchantress
Verduran Enchantress
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, you may draw a card.
,
Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
Sythis, Harvest’s Hand
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, you gain 1 life and draw a card.
, and
Argothian Enchantress
Argothian Enchantress
Shroud (This creature can't be the target of spells or abilities.)
Whenever you cast an enchantment spell, draw a card.
, to name a few, all allow you to draw two cards for each Enchantment you play.
Synergies like this give Delney a role alongside a ton of really powerful generals, even if Delney isn’t your Commander of choice. Delney is a really nice new tool for
Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle
Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle
Flying
Whenever you cast a historic spell, return target creature card with mana value 3 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
decks to have access to. As a legend, Delney adds to your historic spell count. As a three-drop, you can constantly bring Delney back to play every time you play a historic spell. Additionally, with Delney in play, every historic spell you cast will allow you to bring back two Creatures, keeping the value engine rolling.
Speaking of value engines, Delney is an incredible addition to
Brago, King Eternal
Brago, King Eternal
Flying
Whenever Brago deals combat damage to a player, exile any number of target nonland permanents you control, then return those cards to the battlefield under their owner's control.
decks. Brago decks are naturally filled with small Creatures that you can blink, so Delney already fits in nicely. On top of that, when you connect with Brago with Delney in play, you will get to blink all of your value-oriented non-Land permanents twice!
If that weren’t enough, Delney also makes all of your small Creatures, including Brago, difficult to block. Big Fliers no longer brick wall your chances to connect in combat, making it that much more likely you will be able to set off a cascade of triggers.
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Abusing Evasion
Clearly, getting to double triggered abilities of smaller Creatures is where most of the power from Delney lies. Still, giving those Creatures extra evasion can be a big deal for certain strategies. Perhpas no Commander makes better use of this portion of Delney’s abilities than
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
First strike
Whenever Alesha attacks, you may pay {W/B}{W/B}. If you do, return target creature card with power 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped and attacking.
. Alesha does have three power, so you won’t naturally be able to copy the ability to bring back more Creatures.
However, one potential weakness of Alesha decks is that because the Creatures you return are tapped and attacking, if all of your opponents have bigger blockers, your Creatures may have a tough time sticking around. Delney helps mitigate this problem, and as a two-power threat itself, it can be returned to play easily thanks to Alesha. Not to mention, Alesha decks are often jam-packed with small Creatures with triggered abilities, such as
Blood Artist
Blood Artist
Whenever this creature or another creature dies, target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
and
Judith, the Scourge Diva
Judith, the Scourge Diva
Other creatures you control get +1/+0.
Whenever a nontoken creature you control dies, Judith deals 1 damage to any target.
.
Even a deck built around
Najeela, the Blade Blossom
Najeela, the Blade Blossom
Whenever a Warrior attacks, you may have its controller create a 1/1 white Warrior creature token that's tapped and attacking.
{W}{U}{B}{R}{G}: Untap all attacking creatures. They gain trample, lifelink, and haste until end of turn. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. Activate only during combat.
could make use of Delney, making it easier for your 1/1 tokens have a higher chance of survival in combat. For only three mana, it’s incredible the amount of value Delney adds in an EDH setting.
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Beyond an EDH Environment
As a two-toughness Creature that requires other synergies to get going, Delney has their work cut out to see play in Constructed. Some niche decks like Bant
Soulherder
Soulherder
Whenever a creature is exiled from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
At the beginning of your end step, you may exile another target creature you control, then return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control.
in Modern could make use of this gem, but the number of tier one decks this card fits well into is limited. One interesting home that’s worth considering, though, is Bant Poison in Standard.
Delney can help this deck in multiple ways. First, as pointed out above, the combination of Delney and
Venerated Rotpriest
Venerated Rotpriest
Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell, target opponent gets a poison counter.
is certainly strong. Any removal spell your opponent casts or protection spell you cast on a Creature you control will cause your opponent to get multiple poison counters, which can add up fast. This combination of cards makes
March of Swirling Mist
March of Swirling Mist
As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may exile any number of blue cards from your hand. This spell costs {2} less to cast for each card exiled this way.
Up to X target creatures phase out. (While they're phased out, they're treated as though they don't exist. Each one phases in before its controller untaps during their next untap step.)
an extremely scary card, since if you have a big enough board, you can simply target a bunch of your small Creatures and kill your opponent out of nowhere.
With regards to other triggered abilities within the deck,
Annex Sentry
Annex Sentry
Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
When this creature enters, exile target artifact or creature an opponent controls with mana value 3 or less until this creature leaves the battlefield.
can exile multiple threats from the opponent and
Crawling Chorus
Crawling Chorus
Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
When this creature dies, create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature token with toxic 1 and "This token can't block."
can make multiple Toxic threats when it dies. This alone likely doesn’t earn Delney a slot, but the fact that Delney makes your Creatures impervious to big blockers is huge. A major weakness for this deck is that, even with
Skrelv’s Hive
Skrelv’s Hive
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature token with toxic 1 and "This token can't block."
Corrupted — As long as an opponent has three or more poison counters, creatures you control with toxic have lifelink.
pumping out attackers, it can be tough to get through the opponent’s board without a well-timed March of Swirling Mist.
Delney lets you freely attack into opposing copies of
Bloodtithe Harvester
Bloodtithe Harvester
When this creature enters, create a Blood token. (It's an artifact with "{1}, {T}, Discard a card, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
{T}, Sacrifice this creature: Target creature gets -X/-X until end of turn, where X is twice the number of Blood tokens you control. Activate only as a sorcery.
and
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life.
without missing a beat. It should be noted that there are some popular cards with low power and high toughness, like
Raffine, Scheming Seer
Raffine, Scheming Seer
Flying, ward {1}
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature connives X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. (Draw X cards, then discard X cards. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each nonland card discarded this way.)
and
Preacher of the Schism
Preacher of the Schism
Deathtouch
Whenever this creature attacks the player with the most life or tied for most life, create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with lifelink.
Whenever this creature attacks while you have the most life or are tied for most life, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
, that may still cause some problems. As such, it remains to be seen if Delney will indeed earn a slot here. Delney’s uniqueness and versatility can’t be denied, though, so it’ll be cool to see all of the different ways players make use of the elite legend.
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