Summary
Morph is aMagic: The Gatheringmechanic that’s been around since the early 2000s, but doesn’t feel up to snuff with the more powerful gameplay of modern-day Magic.Murders at Karlov Manorhad a simple but elegant solution to this problem: Ward 2. A tiny bit of protection goes a long way in making sure your three-mana 2/2s survive long enough to matter.
Disguise, or morph plus if you will, covers all five colors in Magic, with individual designs ranging from cheap value plays to late-game haymakers.The Deadly Disguise Commander preconeven uses disguise as the centerpiece of the deck. There are definitely some stand-out disguise cards, which might be problematic, given the whole disguise thing.
10Essence of Antiquity
Novel, But Fair
Not every day you see a 1/10. Quite literally, since Essence of Antiquity is the only 1/10 in Magic. That’s enough toughness to block virtually anything, sansflying. Ordeathtouch. Or 11 power. You get the point. It flips up to become a brick wall rather than an offensive threat.
You also gethexproofand a bonus untap on your creatures for a turn, which can blank incoming removal or let you reuse tap abilities. The ambush potential’s definitely here, tempered a bit by the fact that Essence of Antiquity does nothing of value if played face up.
9Hunted Bonebrute
Who’s A Good Pair Of Dogs?
The original Ravnica: City of Guilds set featured a cycle of over-statted ‘Hunted’ creatures that created tokens under an opponent’s control to combat that creature. As a callback to this cycle, Hunted Bonebrute adds a bit more finesse to the formula.
A 6/2 for three mana seems absurd, but the Dog tokens are likely to just trade off; or worse, your opponent Shocks your Bonebrute and keeps the Dogs as tokens of gratitude. Disguising Bonebrute skips the whole dilemma, and in Commander you can just give the Dogs to someone you don’t even intend to attack.
8Flourishing Bloom-Kin
Lean, Mean, And Monogreen
You don’thave tobe monogreen to make Flourishing Bloom-Kin work, but it excels in decks that bias towards Forests. Your reward for sticking to one color? A burly two-drop that’ll often rumble as a 4/4 or greater.
If you miss the window to land Bloom-Kin on turn two, you can set it up with disguise instead. That route costs a total of eight mana, but it also becomes a clean 3-for-1 and probably leaves you with a 6/6 or greater. It even provides late-game mana fixing since the disguise ability can fetchnon-basic Forests.
7Boltbender
Willbender’s Older, Cooler Big Brother
If Boltbender sends shivers down your spine, you’re probably well-versed in the art of losing to Willbender. It’s probably the most feared morph creature in Magic, spawning jokes about how “every morph is a Willbender”, since it seems to show up at the most inopportune times.
Boltbender looks like an improvement over its inspiration. The morph cost and flip trigger are essentially the same, but Boltbender turns into a much more aggressive 4/2. It is noticeably more expensive to play Boltbender face up, though why are you doing that in the first place?
6Fugitive Codebreaker
Crack The Code On An Effective Two-Drop
Fugitive Codebreaker serves reverse roles in Commander versus Limited or Constructed. In the latter two, theprowesstwo-drop is the main appeal, with disguise being a pleasant upside. In Commander, you’ll want to disguise this nearly every single time.
Regardless of format, Codebreaker only makes sense in decks with a heavy commitment to instants and sorcery, which isn’t usually how disguise decks are built. The average spellslinger deck should be able to get the disguise cost down to a single mana, making this the latest in a long line of similar creatures like Hearth Elemental and Bedlam Reveller.
5Unyielding Gatekeeper
All Right Then, Keep Your Gates
Unyielding Gatekeeper offers a great split of abilities depending on your situation. It either blinks one of your permanents or downgrades an opponent’s to a 2/2. You can also run it out as a two-mana 3/2 if need be.
That’s a lot of versatility from a disguise creature, allowing you to save or reset your own permanents or deal with a problem from an opponent. This even sneaks some much-neededartifact/enchantment hateinto your Commander decks, where the 2/2 Detective token isn’t likely to be that big of a problem.
4True Identity
Aha! The Villain Was Identity All Along!
The flavor’s definitely there in some capacity, just ignore the logistics of how the concept of True Identity can exist as a disguised creature on the battlefield. Magic requires some suspension of belief, after all. While Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer gets Secret Plans as a morph-centric draw engine, white decks get True Identity.
It’s nice utility that this actually has disguise, but you can also just cast it face up and have the effect ready for all your other face down creatures. It’s narrow, but effective in decks that want it, which is basically just Kaust, Eyes of the Glade.
3Branch of Vitu-Ghazi
For Disguise Decks That Want To Branch Out
Branch of Vitu-Ghazi is a modern take on Zoetic Cavern, which formerly held the distinction of being the only land with morph. Flipping up a Zoetic Cavern puts you up on mana, and it’s great in the face of oncoming removal.
The Branch works in much the same way, though it refunds the mana spent to turn it face up. Since the land can be tapped immediately after flipping up, you end up paying three mana to get three mana. After that, you’re just ahead on lands for the rest of the game.
2Pyrotechnic Performer
A Fiery Performance Indeed
If you’re doing anything even remotely related to a morph/disguise strategy, Pyrotechnic Performer’s one of your best cards. It deals passive damage without needing to get into combat, and ithits each opponent, the hallmark of a good Commander card.
It’s not even embarrassing to just cast Pyrotechnic Performer on turn two, since it can attack just fine as a 3/2 and its ability still applies to anything played after it. If nothing else, you can play this face down and flip it in the same turn, almost like a large Viashino Pyromancer.
1Aurelia’s Vindicator
A Deceptive Twist On A Forgotten Classic
Aurelia’s Vindicator is a modernized spin on Angel of Serenity from Return to Ravnica. Add in Ward 2, lifelink, and the fact that the ability can scale up or down with your mana, and you’ve got one of the meanest disguise creatures to come from Karlov Manor.
Vindicator can also target creature cards in graveyards, which will return to their owners' hand when theAngelleaves play. It’s wise to tuck a few of your own fallen creatures beneath this to dissuade your opponents from killing it too swiftly. Two toughnessisstill a liability, even with Ward 2.
