The Master of Keys Deck Tech
Once More, You Open The Door
After last week's sojourn into reflection, we return to the House of Horrors to see what's behind locked doors. No, we're not going into the Rooms, at least not yet. We're going to explore The Master of Keys. Building around this Horror is a scary proposition, but not because of the lack of options. In fact, this commander has so much going for it that it's difficult to find a clear direction to take it.
To start with, it's an Esper commander that's an aggressively costed flyer that grows, but Raffine, Scheming Seer is better at doing that. It also loads the graveyard, but Varina, Lich Queen does that better. It works with a critical mass of cheap enchantments, but Alela, Artful Provocateur exceeds it at that, too. Still, X spells intrigue me, so there has to be something here...
Core Synergy
The Master of Keys is certainly a tricky commander to unlock, but there is one thing it makes perfectly clear: it wants its controller to play a lot of enchantments. Enchantments are an interesting card type; they usually operate at sorcery speed, but they have a range of applications and power levels. The issues with timing can be offset by the raw power, synergy, and immunity to most removal that the card type enjoys. As a result, enchantment-based decks run the gamut from Aura-based Voltron to enchantress combo decks, so why not build an enchantment-based control deck?
With the commander operating as an Underworld Breach, a deck built around The Master of Keys can easily provide the inevitability that is needed to outlast multiple opponents. But how do we make sure we see enough cards? And what do we do if the commander isn't available? That's where the power of enchantments in commander come in. Rhystic Study is one of the more powerful card draw engines in the game.
What's more powerful than that? How about one that never dies? And just think about how beautiful it'd be to let a Mystic Remora die to the cumulative upkeep just to escape it back out?
While they may be hard to cast, Necropotence and Necrodominance are the closest things we have to Yawgmoth's Bargain in the format. And, if we can't cast it just now, we can always escape it out later. Either way, we drown in cards, especially if Phyrexian Arena can stay around for a turn or two!
Here's where I might lose some of you. Control is a difficult position to take in commander, and it takes some politicking. Dictate of Kruphix and Standstill might give our opponents cards, but we can control when they get them, and they create issues with timing and sequencing.
Standstill, in particular, threatens to draw us into interaction and can act kind of like a counterspell against opponents afraid of breaking it. And we can bring it back!
One of the big reasons for running mutual draw is Psychic Possession. With this card, we can steal the draws of another player. If someone has a solid draw engine going? Yoink. If they're going to draw extra cards from our Well of Ideas? Well, now they're ours!
Win Conditions
Control decks often struggle to win games, but ours have inevitability. We can freely cycle Shark Typhoon or Ominous Seas away, and then cast them to close the game out later. And the shared card draw goes perfectly with draw punishers like Underworld Dreams and Fate Unraveler!
Enduring Ideal is a beautiful Magic card, one which has spawned an entire combo/control archetype. While we can't count on drawing it here, it is an amazing way of finding exactly what we need when we need it. We do need to be careful, though: escape is a cast ability, so it cannot be done after an epic spell has resolved.
Removal
Control decks are kind of known for removing threats from the board, and some of the best answers happen to be enchantments. Imprisoned in the Moon turns a commander into a difficult-to-use permanent, effectively shutting it off. And Oubliette goes a step further, phasing it out until someone draws enchantment removal. Between these and the various functional reprints of Oblivion Ring, it's pretty easy to remove what we want.
We can even remove whole boards of tokens with Detention Sphere. This is especially relevant when a player goes wide with a particular kind of token, as Sphere scoops them all up, and then they cease to exist, so the opponents never get them back.
Cast Out helps with the timing issue of enchantment-based removal, as it has flash, and can be escaped at instant speed, even after being cycled early. Seal Away is similarly flexible, while Grasp of Fate deals with multiple problem permanents at once.
Soul Snare is a nasty bit of removal, as it sacrifices itself and can be escaped for a low mana investment. It does cost cards to exile, so it might not always be worth it. Still, it's a solid Rattlesnake card (a signal to not attack a player).
Ramp
We do need mana to keep casting things and escaping them. Smothering Tithe is a nasty, nasty Magic card, especially when we feed our opponents cards. Maybe, just maybe, their hands will be big enough for them to overlook our growing pile of Treasures...
We do need some regular ramp, although it's not without some controversy. This is a deck that arguably doesn't need Sol Ring, as there's very little an early Sol Ring does for us, and Land Tax is a better one-drop anyways, because of its Mana Severance effect and aid in filling the grave. While it's one of the worst cards in the deck, Sol Ring is still a role-player that helps cast multiple spells and provide extra mana for the X in our commander's cost.
The general plan is to put out cards that generate passive advantage while answering threats, largely on a 1-for-1 basis. Our commander gives us the ability to recoup anything lost and generate inevitability. If games go long, we have win cons that can take over the game with minimal effort and can be rebought from our commander as well.
