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The murder mystery inMagic: The Gatheringdeepens with the Revenant Recon commander deck. Filled with both blue/black Dimir staples and exciting exclusives from the newMurders at Karlov Manor, the deck revolves around reconnaissance and surveilling cards into the graveyard to reanimate through multiple nefarious means.
Revenant Recon’s full graveyard sure seems suspicious, but rest assured the deck’s Vampire Detective Commander is on the case. There’s no escape from the long arm of the law, just as there’s no escape from the grave. Unless you’re playing Revenant Recon, of course. Then there are plenty of ways to cheat death. Read on to learn how.
Overseer of the Damned
Tocasia’s Dig Site
Revenant Recon Commander Decks Key Themes
As previewed in the name of Revenant Recon,the deck revolves around the surveil ability. By surveilling as often as you may, you canload your upcoming drawswhile alsofilling your graveyard with potential reanimation targets.
With the help of cheap reanimation cards like Reanimate, Necromancy, and Animate Dead, Revenant Recon is capable of putting out a terrifyingly huge threat far earlier than other decks.
Besides the potential for reanimation, Revenant Recon also hascards that take advantage of surveilmore directly.Dimir Spybug,Whispering Snitch, andMirko, Obsessive Theoristall have effects triggered by surveil, whileSyr Konrad, the Grimprovides an interesting alternate win condition that also still benefits from surveil.
How you play Revenant Recon will be highly dependent on your draw. Sometimes you’ll grab a handful of removal and counterspells where you’ll want to play passively as a more traditional control deck, surveiling cautiously until you can reanimate a threat.
On the other hand, some hands will let you pitch that Grave Titan into the yard to reanimate on your third turn.Keep your strategy flexibleas you discover more cards through your surveillance.
Revenant Recon Commander Deck Analysis
Of all the Murders at Karlov Manner commander decks, Revenant Recon might be the best out of the box. You’ve got asolid core of creaturesboth large and small,several good board wipes, a bunch oftargeted removal, lots ofcard draw, a decent amount oframp, andsynergies with all your potential commanders.
The most synergies are found withMirko, Obsessive Theorist, which only makes sense as he’s the box-topper commander. Every time you surveil, Mirko gets larger, and every turn he reanimates a dead critter with power less than his own. His toughness and vigilance keyword make him excellent for early-game defense while he becomes an escalating threat into the late game.
Revenant Recon also has two more options for commander.Lazav, the Multifariousis very close to Mirko in terms of power, coming in on the second turn without ramp and becoming whatever big bad you toss into your graveyard after surveilling. The benefit to Lazav is he doesn’t remove cards from your graveyard, but the downside is you still have to pay mana to turn him into a monster, making him less of an escalating late-game threat.
Our third commander isMarvo, Deep Operative. With all the surveilling going on in Revenant Recon, you should be able to set yourself up to win a clash or two, but Marvo doesn’t really do anything to help the deck’s reanimation theme. Marvo is still certainly viable as this deck’s commander, but he’s probablythe weakest of the three options.
Marvo would be a great commander for a deck manipulation strategyto get big-mana spells cast after winning clashes, but you’re better off making a fresh deck that better supports this strategy.
Since Mirko offers the best fit and is the box-topper for the deck,stick with Mirko as the commander.
Mission Briefing
Discovery/Dispersal
Although solid out of the box, there is still room for improvement.Whispering Snitch,Dmir Spybug, andThoughtbound Phantasmare relatively weakand are largely dead draws in the late game.Counterpointis a good card, butfive mana for a counterspell is asking a loteven in a casual commander setting, andOtherworldly Gazecould be replacedby a card that at least replaces itself after surveilling.
Marvois a doll, but it justdoesn’t quite fit the overall strategyof Revenant Recon and deserves its own deck to shine.Vizier of Many Facesis fine, but we’ve already got Phyrexian Metamorph andcopycat cards can be tricky to play.
It’s generally more important to surveil than to make surveilling better, soEnhanced Surveillanceis gettingcut in favor of another consistent surveillance source.Mission BriefingandDiscovery/Dispersalalso get the ax formore flexible instant-speed surveil cards.
Revenant Recon Commander Deck Budget Upgrades
Upgrading Revenant Recon involvesleaning into the surveil mechanicandensuring Mirko has a consistent source of surveil triggers. That means more surveil, but also more reanimation, bounce, a counterspell, and a bit of graveyard hate for other decks that might be trying a reanimation strategy too.
Reason
Blood Operative
Just because you’re a reanimation deck doesn’t mean you might not be competing against a similar strategy. Blood Operative helpspick out key cards from opposing graveyardswhile alsoreanimating itself whenever you surveil. Both good things.
Candlestick
Mirko wielding a Candlestickis pretty hilarious, but it’s also effective. A better first-turn play than Thoughtbound Phantasm.
Corpse Connoisseur
You can’t always rely on surveil to fill your graveyard with useful things.Corpse Connoisseur tutors a juicy reanimation targetinto your graveyard at least once, and maybe twice.
Doomed Necromancer
More reanimation? Never a bad thing. Also plays well with Lazav and Syr Konrad.
Sanguine Spy
You probably won’tsacrifice a creature to surveilunless they’re already targeted by removal, but it’s a useful ability to have. Plus, Sanguine Spyeventually starts drawing cards, too. Combine with Grave Titan for zombie sacrifices.
Search for Azcanta
Consistent surveil. It’s actually recommended that you don’t transform Search for Azcanta as the consistency of those surveil triggers is of greater benefit than a land that lets you search for noncreature, nonland cards.
Only transform if you’re desperate for another source of blue mana.
Counterspell plus surveil. Seems pretty great for Revenant Recon.
Starving Revenant
Starving Revenant’s draw is a little on the expensive side, but he’s anefficient creature with surveil andalso a source oflife gain. This Spirit Horror gets the nod.
Unauthorized Exit
Bounce and surveil. An instant-speed answer to a problem that deserves inclusion in Revenant Recon.
Sword of Once and Future
Moreconsistent surveil, but also protection, power, and toughness boosts. You’re not too likely to play instants or sorceries from your graveyard consistently, but if you do, consider it a bonus.
Other Budget Upgrades
Undercity Sewersis still fairly cheap as of the time of this writing. It provides both black and blue mana and surveils when it enters play. Could easily replace an island or a swamp.
If you’re finding surveil doesn’t fill your graveyard efficiently enough, try subbing inGolgari Thug,Obsessive Stitcher, orBurning-Rune Demonare good choices.Vile EntomberandUnmarked Graveare also good graveyard tutors.
FromRavinca: Clue Edition, keep an eye out forDimir Strandcatcheras another consistent source of surveil triggers and a potential card-draw source too.
