Conditions Allow - Lazav, Familiar Stranger EDH
(Lazav, Familiar Stranger | Art by Tyler Jacobson
A Familiar Face
Hello, and welcome back to Conditions Allow, the series where I take a legendary creature with a drawback and turn it into a strength. Today I'm diving into the wild land of Thunder Junction with an old friend as a guide. Lazav, Familiar Stranger is our latest sighting of the elusive Dimir guildmaster. His exact reasons for leaving Ravnica are unknown, but one thing is certain: he's going to commit some crimes.
As usual, Lazav, Familiar Stranger can copy creature cards in graveyards, but this version of Lazav adds a few wrinkles you'll have to account for when building his deck. First and most importantly, Lazav, Familiar Stranger exiles the creatures he copies, and his transformation only lasts until end of turn. Any creature you copy will be gone forever and only gets one turn to leave its mark.
Additionally, this Lazav can only shapeshift once a turn. This isn't as big a deal as creatures getting exiled, but it does mean Lazav, Familiar Stranger lacks some of the utility of his previous two versions. Luckily, the Dimir aren't short on options when it comes to creatures that make an impact. First, though, we're going to need to plan the perfect crime spree to make the most of Lazav, Familiar Stranger.
Planning the Heist
You can't get Lazav, Familiar Stranger's full effect until there are creatures in graveyards, so milling your opponents is the perfect way to get the ball rolling. Jace's Erasure and Drowned Secrets are perfect for this because they turn all your instant-speed draw spells into targeted mill. This makes it very easy to have Lazav copy a creature whenever you need, but Lazav, Familiar Stranger doesn't have to exile a creature, either. You can exile noncreature cards, to keep Artifact and Spellslinger decks under control, or exile nothing at all. In either case, Lazav gets a +1/+1 counter, so there is some value in triggering his effect on each player's turn whether you exile anything or not.
All of your classic removal spells are automatically crimes, so I'm going to focus on effects that automatically trigger Lazav, Familiar Stranger on your own turn. Court of Cunning is one of the most valuable, since it mills every player to give you the most options for what Lazav can copy. You'll just want to be careful about if, and what, you turn Lazav into in your upkeep since he won't be able to copy anything else for the turn. Palantír of Orthanc is a little more convenient, but Tergrid, God of Fright[/el] is the most flexible. You can activate it whenever you want, and you can pay four mana to use it on another player's turn in a pinch. It can even let you get a big creature out of your own hand.
Getting the Gang Together
With a plan to fill your graveyard in place, it's time to consider the best creatures for Lazav, Familiar Stranger to copy. Turning your commander into Massacre Wurm in response to a board wipe, or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse in response to a wheel, can win you the game. You can also mitigate the downside of exiling those powerful creatures by including additional versions of those effects. Vein Ripper is arguably better than Massacre Wurm in this case, and Fate Unraveler can still make a sizeable dent in life totals.
There are also plenty of aggressive options to take advantage of Lazav, Familiar Stranger on your own turn as well. Wrexial, the Risen Deep takes advantage of milling your opponents, a notable crime, while Archpriest of Shadows brings back a creature from your graveyard. Ancient Brass Dragon has a similar effect, but it isn't limited to just your graveyard, and if you're ever short on cards in hand, Ancient Silver Dragon has a lot of potential.
When it comes to actually winning the game, you have a few options. Turning your commander into big Dragons with +1/+1 counters is one option, but you can get a little fancy with it, too. Copying Phage the Untouchable is a great way to get around her lethal enter-the-battlefield effect to take a player out in one hit. Consuming Aberration and Fell Beast of Mordor also take excellent advantage of the +1/+1 counters Lazav, Familiar Stranger accrues.
Finally, this deck isn't trying super hard to mill itself, but winning with Laboratory Maniac isn't impossible. Hedron Crab and Fleet Swallower are powerful mill engines, and Lazav, Familiar Stranger can easily copy Laboratory Maniac once your library is empty.
Finalize the Plan
To round everything out, I'm picking as many draw effects that either target something or discard cards as possible. Instants are particularly valuable since they let us trigger Jace's Erasure and Drowned Secrets to easily commit crimes on other player's turns. Of course, all your standard interaction triggers Lazav, Familiar Stranger as well, so there aren't too many strange inclusions here.
Lazav 4
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When I started to brew Lazav, Familiar Stranger, I wasn't as concerned with him being bad as much as boring. I thought it would always be best to exile the same creatures, but that didn't turn out to be the case. Once you get a few creatures into graveyards, not just your graveyard, you have a lot of flexibility in how you respond to your opponents. Having access to counterspells means you can stop them outright while growing Lazav, but you can also remove something and punish your opponents at the same time, and, of course, you can tailor the creatures you include to be more or less aggressive, depending on your playstyle.
But what do you think? Are there any cards or synergies I've overlooked? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading.
