Cipher! by Arcadius_Grey

Format: Commander

Commander: Inquisitor Greyfax

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 31

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper midrange strategy led by Inquisitor Greyfax that combines token creation, Clue investigation, and Cipher combat spells. The early game focuses on developing mana rocks and establishing low-cost investigators like Erdwal Illuminator, Piper Wright, Publick Reporter, and Teysa, Opulent Oligarch. Once Inquisitor Greyfax enters the battlefield, she provides a board-wide +1/+0 anthem and vigilance while tapping down opposing blockers to generate Clue tokens. These Clues provide steady card advantage, reduce spell costs through Inspiring Statuary, and power up mana sources like Five Hundred Year Diary. In the midgame, unblockable creatures like Cephalid Facetaker repeatedly trigger encoded Cipher spells like Stolen Identity and Undercity Plague. The deck closes out games through wide combat pushes backed by Commissar Severina Raine and For the Emperor!, or via an alternative upkeep win with Mechanized Production.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Academy Manufactor
  • 1 Alquist Proft, Master Sleuth
  • 1 And They Shall Know No Fear
  • 1 Arcane Heist
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Bastion Protector
  • 1 Call of the Nightwing
  • 1 Callidus Assassin
  • 1 Cephalid Facetaker
  • 1 Collective Effort
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Commissar Severina Raine
  • 1 Company Commander
  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Deny the Witch
  • 1 Disorder in the Court
  • 1 Dovin's Veto
  • 1 Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth
  • 1 Erdwal Illuminator
  • 1 Exterminatus
  • 1 Five Hundred Year Diary
  • 1 For the Emperor!
  • 1 Hands of Binding
  • 1 Hidden Strings
  • 1 Inquisitor Eisenhorn
  • 1 Inquisitor Greyfax
  • 1 Inquisitorial Rosette
  • 1 Inspiring Statuary
  • 12 Island
  • 1 Kambal, Profiteering Mayor
  • 1 Last Thoughts
  • 1 Launch the Fleet
  • 1 Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy
  • 1 Martial Coup
  • 1 Mechanized Production
  • 1 Mental Vapors
  • 1 Merchant of Truth
  • 1 Midnight Recovery
  • 1 Mortify
  • 1 Officious Interrogation
  • 1 Paranoid Delusions
  • 1 Path to Exile
  • 1 Piper Wright, Publick Reporter
  • 13 Plains
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Search the Premises
  • 1 Shadow Slice
  • 1 Sister of Silence
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Stolen Identity
  • 1 Supreme Verdict
  • 8 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Talisman of Progress
  • 1 Tamiyo's Journal
  • 1 Teysa, Opulent Oligarch
  • 1 The Golden Throne
  • 1 Thorough Investigation
  • 1 Time Sieve
  • 1 Trait Doctoring
  • 1 Undercity Plague
  • 1 Utter End
  • 1 Verity Circle
  • 1 Void Rend
  • 1 Voidwalk
  • 1 Whispering Madness
  • 1 Writ of Return