So, you’re interested in secrets? Well, you’re in luck. There’s a roguish Sphinx who lives on New Capenna named Tivit who has a well of classified details. But whatever you ask him to reveal will cost you. Every secret has a price and Tivit will only tell them to the highest bidder.
As far as Tivit’s card goes, it is the first legendary creature to interact with Magic’s voting mechanics, making him the perfect commander to lead a political deck focused on voting. But Tivit, Seller of Secrets, is more than just a voting-matters commander. He is also extremely competitive with several infinite combos!
Tivit, Seller of Secrets
Tivit skews votes in your favor by giving you an extra say in every vote. When it comes to his own ability, players vote for evidence or bribery. For each evidence vote, you investigate. And for each bribery vote, you create a Treasure token. Because you get two votes on the matter, you can vote for evidence twice, giving you enough mana to, for example, pay for Tivit’s Commander tax later down the road.
Regardless of how the vote pans out, Tivit puts 5 artifacts into play every time he enters the battlefield or deals combat damage. Both Clue and Treasure tokens are useful in their own way. But the fact that Tivit spews permanents onto the battlefield opens some interesting avenues when deckbuilding.
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Putting Things to a Vote with Tivit!
Until now, all Magic cards that used voting came out of Conspiracy sets. There have only been two Conspiracy sets, and each set had different styles of voting mechanics.
There are not many voting cards that currently exist in Magic: the Gathering. And they’re even more limited when looking at voting cards in Tivit’s color identity. Nevertheless, almost all of the white, blue, and black voting cards are good enough to play in a Tivit, Seller of Secrets, Commander deck. Plus, they become really fun when Tivit gives you extra votes.
Voting Synergies
Before initiating any votes, you should try to influence the vote as much as possible. Like Tivit, Ballot Broker and Brago’s Representative give you extra votes. And Grudge Keeper punishes opponents if they don’t align with your point of view.
Will of the Council
With Will of the Council, either one motion will pass or another. Whichever gets more votes wins.
Council’s Judgement is a classic Commander card used even outside of dedicated voting decks, but Tivit just makes the card better.
Master of Worth’s vote has two drastically different outcomes, either reanimating every creature in every graveyard to the battlefield or destroying all the creatures on the field except for itself.
And Plea for Power can potentially be a four-mana extra turn spell or a Harmonize depending on the vote.
Council’s Judgement
Council’s Dilemma is definitely the better voting mechanic. Unfortunately, there aren’t many cards with Council’s Dilemma in the game. But the few cards that have Council’s Dilemma, like Tivit, are insanely good.
With each vote, Expropriate will either give you an extra turn or steal an opponent’s permanent. With Tivit in play, at a minimum, you can ain two extra turns!
Capital Punishment will devastate your opponents regardless of how they vote. They’ll likely have to sacrifice a number of creatures and discard multiple cards from their hand.
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Clue Synergies
When it comes to Tivit’s Council’s Dilemma vote, your opponents will most likely elect to give you Clue tokens (since Treasure tokens are far more exploitable). You can use these clues to draw cards. But there are plenty of Clue-related cards in Magic that synergize with your investigations or use your Clues in different ways.
Tamiyo’s Journal
Every turn, Tamiyo’s Journal lets you investigate. But more importantly, this legendary artifact lets you use your Clues in a different way. By sacrificing three Clue tokens, Tamiyo’s Journal can search your library for any card and put it in your hand. This is a repeatable Demonic Tutor which Tivit can easily fuel.
Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth
Eloise has her own ability that can make Clues. But the real reason to include her in a Tivit, Seller of Secrets, Commander deck is for her second ability: “Whenever you sacrifice a token, surveil 1.” This will trigger whenever you use Tivit’s Clue or Treasure tokens, digging you through your library each time you do.
Thorough Investigation
Here’s yet another way to conveniently make more Clue tokens. But Thorough Investigation gives you another incentive to sacrifice your Clues; every time you do, you can venture into the dungeon!
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Artifact Synergies
Besides being a voting-matters commander, Tivit also plays well with artifact themes. There are plenty of cards that can take advantage of the fact that Tivit creates five artifact permanents whenever he enters the battlefield or deals damage to a player.
Kuldotha Forgemaster
Similar to Tamiyo’s Journal, Kuldotha Forgemaster can sacrifice three artifacts to search your library for a card. You aren’t relegated to sacrificing your Clue tokens, but Clues do make excellent fodder for Forgemaster.
Improvising with Aritfacts
With the waves of artifacts that Tivit creates, you can use them to help cast spells with improvise. Tap your Clue tokens to pump up the mana values of Whir of Invention or Universal Surveillance to either search your deck for a massive artifact or draw a TON of cards.
You can also play Herald of Anguish, which will often cost two black mana after Tivit populates the field with artifact tokens. The Demon will pressure your opponents hands every turn and can also use your Clue tokens to kill opposing creatures.
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An Infinite Turn Combo With Tivit, Seller of Secrets
All you need is Tivit and one other card to take infinite turns and win the game. (This is why so many tutor effects like Tamiyo’s Journal, Kuldotha Forgemaster, and Whir of Invention are necessary in this deck; they can find your combo piece.)
This combo is pretty simple. Here’s how it works:
- Cast or deal combat damage with Tivit to make five artifact tokens. It does not matter if they are Clues or Treasures.
- Sacrifice those five artifacts to take an extra turn with Time Sieve.
- In your extra turn, attack and deal combat damage with Tivit making another five artifact tokens.
- Repeat steps 2-3 to take infinite turns!
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