Legendary Creature — Bear Druid

Doc Aurlock, Grizzled Genius

Mana value2EDHREC#2,417

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The Commander

Spells you cast from your graveyard or from exile cost {2} less to cast.

Plotting cards from your hand costs {2} less.

Guide

Gameplan

Doc Aurlock turns alternate casting zones into a discount engine—plot cards cheaply on early turns, then unleash them for free, and recast spells from your graveyard or exile at a steep discount. You durdle in the first few turns stockpiling plotted spells and graveyard fuel, then explode in card and spell advantage to bury opponents in value and big plays.

Strengths

Powerful repeatable cost reduction on flashback, escape, foretell, adventure, and plot cards
Stacks with itself—plot for less, then those spells cast from exile also get reductions on other costs
Cheap two-mana commander that comes down early and snowballs value
Simic gives access to elite ramp, card draw, and recursion

Weaknesses

Reductions don't help hard-cast-from-hand spells, so a clunky early hand can stall
Heavily commander-dependent; getting Doc removed repeatedly slows the whole engine
Grindy and slow—can be outraced by dedicated combo or aggro decks
Lacks built-in evasion or a direct wincon; needs the deck to supply finishers

Key Cards

Snapcaster Mage — Flashing back an instant/sorcery from your graveyard for less is pure value with Doc out.
Underworld Breach — Turns your graveyard into a spell engine that Doc makes dramatically cheaper, enabling explosive turns and combo finishes.
Mizzix's Mastery — Casts a big spell from exile, and Doc's reduction applies to the impulsed copy for absurd tempo.
Past in Flames — Gives mass flashback so your whole graveyard becomes castable spells at a discount each.
Dig Through Time — Cheap card selection that fuels the graveyard and exiles cards Doc can later recast cheaply.
Cackling Counterpart — Flashback to copy your best creature twice, both halves discounted by Doc.

Upgrade Path

Lean into a tight spellslinger-combo core—add Underworld Breach with rituals and zero/one-cost spells for a true combo kill, plus Brain Freeze or a mill payoff. Improve mana with fast rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault) and dual lands so you can cast Doc turn one and still hold up interaction. Round out with strong card selection (Brainstorm, Mystic Remora) and protection (Heroic Intervention, Swan Song) to keep your engine commander online.

Core Cards

The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.

Win Conditions

▸Underworld Breach plus cheap spells looping into a lethal storm or mill finish
▸Recurring big threats and value spells to grind opponents out of resources
▸Casting copied or X-spell finishers like Comet Storm or Stroke of Genius from exile/graveyard cheaply
▸Plot-fueled explosive turns deploying multiple threats at once

Archetypes

Spellslinger — Doc slashes flashback and exile-cast costs, letting you chain instants and sorceries from the yard for value and burst.
Graveyard Value / Recursion — Every recastable spell from the graveyard becomes a discounted resource, rewarding self-mill and escape effects.
Plot Tribal — Cheap plotting plus discounted plot payoffs lets you set up free-feeling explosive turns.
Combo — Underworld Breach and similar loops become far easier to assemble when casts cost less.