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Dr. Ivo Robotnik, better known as Dr. Eggman, is a mechanical genius determined to conquer the world of Mobius by turning all its residents into robots. That makes him a good fit withMagic: The Gatheringvillains like Memnarch and the Phyrexians.
While Universes Beyond cards aren’t canon to the Magic multiverse, that doesn’t mean you may’t mix-and-match them with your favorite cards. Thankfully, there are a ton of good Robots, Constructs, and Vehicles that he can commandeer in order to conquer your Commander pod. Pay attention: We’re about to reveal his master plan.
Chief of the Foundry
Seat of the Synod
Watery Grave
Xander’s Lounge
This deck is designed forBracket 2 (Core), but can keep up with low-end Bracket 3 (Upgraded) decks. If you want to upgrade to Bracket 3, we recommend including Tergrid, God of Fright, Rhystic Study, and Cyclonic Rift as your Game Changers.
The Commander
Dr. Eggman is a3/6 Human Scientistwith a Grixis color identity,costing one red, one black, one blue, and two generic manato cast.
His only keyword ability is flying, which references his personal hovercraft, the Egg Mobile. In the games, the Egg Mobile docks into Eggman’s many inventions, allowing him to pilot them with a single set of controls.
Dr. Eggman’s main ability does two things. First, itgives you an extra card drawat the end of your turn. Then, itforces each opponent (in turn-order) to choosebetween discarding a card and allowing you to put a Robot, Construct, or Vehicle card into play from your hand.
Since each opponent makes that choice separately,you can end up with three chances to drop a big, expensive Robot each turn.However, that hinges on two things: first, your opponent must choose to allow you to put one into play, and second, you need a valid card in your hand.
There are a couple of big drawbacks to build around. First, the “villainous choice” effect actuallyallows your opponents to choose impossible actions. They can choose to discard a card even if they have none in their hand, and can choose to allow you to put a bomb into play, even if you don’t have any.
Secondly, savvy opponents are likely to watch you carefully to make their decisions, and since they don’t all make their decisions at once,they can see the impact of each other’s choices before making their own. If the first player chooses to give you a Robot, and you put down something small like Steel Overseer, or nothing at all, they’ll assume your hand is empty of better options and all choose that one.
Building The Deck
Whenever you build a three-color Commander deck, it’s tempting to fill it with all the good stuff in that color. The problem is that you end up with a generic-feeling deck. Dr. Eggman is not a generic villain, sothis build eschews a lot of staples to create a more flavorful deck, which also happens to have solid synergy.
You don’t lose anything if your opponents choose to discard at the end of their turn, butit’s better for you if they choose to keep their card and give you the option to drop a big Badnikonto the table. So you want to include a few things to discourage them from discarding.
At the same time, if they choose to let you drop a creature, you need to have one in your hand to drop. Three opponents meansyou should always have three Robots, Constructs, or Vehicles in your hand, so that you never miss an opportunity to put one directly into play for free.
Maintaining a hand full of bombs means thatyou need a lot of draw options. But you’ll need to be a little sneaky, because while your opponents may take a chance if they think you’ve got nothing in your hand, they’ll usually take the discard option .
If you’re playing Vehicles,you also need creatures to crewthem. Several of the creatures in this deck synergize with your army of artifact creatures, but won’t do much damage themselves. But they can crew your Vehicles, allowing them to contribute to combat safely, without losing access to their assorted effects.
Ramp
Ideally, Dr. Eggman should allow you to play most of your high-mana cards for free,eliminating the need for a lot of ramp. But it’s important to be able to cast your commander early, and cast spells outside his effect, so this deck contains no less than nine mana rocks, including all three available Talismans and Signets.
On top of those standard mana rocks, the deck only contains two real ramp effects. The first is on The Regalia, from Final Fantasy. This Vehicle can be free with Dr. Eggman’s effect, and can thendig out an extra land each time you attack, both giving you a bigger mana base and a thinner deck.
The other ramp effect comes from RMS Titanic, from Doctor Who. This flying, trampling 7/1 Vehiclegives you treasure based on how much combat damage it dealsto an opponent, but you need to sacrifice it at the same time. If you can get a clear attack, you’ll be up three mana, but you can get more by buffing it with something like Steel Overseer.
Draw
If you want to be able to play your free cards, you need to have them in your hand.This deck includes a robust draw package that should keep cards in your handall the time, allowing you to keep putting Robots and other toys into play.
Thopter Spy Network is a handy enchantment with two effects: Itcreates 1/1 flying Thopters, and it allows you todraw a card when your artifact creatures deal combat damage. It’s only one card, regardless of how many creatures land hits, but you can increase that by attacking more players and by counting first strike damage.
The Indomitable has a similar effect to Thopter Spy Network, but you can also attack with it. And while enchantments dodge a lot of staple removal effects,The Indomitable can be cast from your graveyardif you control three other tapped Vehicles. There are only eight Vehicles in the deck, so that’s situational, but still a nice backup option.
One of the strongest draw effects is on Jackdaw, a Vehicle from Assassin’s Creed. Jackdaw has a wheel effect, wherewhen it deals combat damage you can discard your hand and draw a card for each artifact you control. This will usually mean drawing more cards than you discard, but be careful not to toss something you really want to play.
Curie, Emergent Intelligence is a great addition. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, you get todraw cards equal to its base power. That’s a single measly card, with no evasion, but it can also exile a creature you control to become a copy of that creature, with the same draw ability.
Curie’s ability can be used tocopy a huge, evasive creature like the 8/8 trampling Cityscape Leveler, but it can also be used to save a creature. If an opponent is about to destroy or gain control of one of your creatures, you may use its ability in response to turn Curie into that creature. This can also be used to get around blockers.
Deter Discard
Making your opponents discard is never a bad thing.Unless they’re playing a madness deck. But it’s the worse of the two options for you, sothis deck includes a few ways to make it a worse option for them. With two or three of these effects in place, your opponents will think twice before choosing to discard.
Megrim is an older card, dating all the way back to 1998’s Stronghold. For three mana, it’s an enchantment thatdeals two damage to your opponents whenever they discard a card. Liliana’s Caress has an almost identical effect for two mana, but since that one is life loss, it won’t count for certain other effects.
Waste Notturns picking the discard option into another choice. If your opponent chooses to discard a creature, you get a 2/2 Zombie. If they toss a land, you’ll get two black mana. And if they discard anything else, you’ll get to draw a card. Mana is the worst outcome for you, but it will mean less land for your opponent.
Geth’s Grimoire doesn’t care what card an opponent discards, becausewhatever they toss will give you an extra draw. If your first or second opponent decides to discard, this can set you up in case your third opponent chooses to allow you to summon a creature.
The End (Step) Game
Dr. Eggman’s most powerful effect occurs during your end step, which only happens once each turn. But what if you could have more?
Y’shtola Rhul, from Final Fantasy, gives you exactly that. She blinks one of your creatures at each end step, giving you extra enter triggers on cards like Myr Battlesphere, and thengives you a second end step. That translates to another blink, and another round of villainous choices.
Along with Y’shtola Rhul’s extra endsteps is The Valeyard, from Doctor Who, whichforces each opponent to face the same villainous choice a second timeeach time it triggers. Are your opponents willing to discard two cards? Four? Or will you get to drop up to 12 of your bombs in a single turn? The choice is theirs, but the game is yours.
