Legendary Artifact Creature — ToyMarvin, Murderous Mimic
The Commander
Marvin has all activated abilities of creatures you control that don't have the same name as this creature.
Guide
Gameplan
Marvin copies all activated abilities of your other creatures, so you assemble a board where Marvin becomes a Swiss Army knife of activated abilities. You ramp into Marvin early, deploy creatures with powerful activated abilities, then untap him repeatedly to abuse those abilities or assemble an infinite combo. As a colorless commander you can build it in any color identity, but most lists go mono-colorless or add a single splash for tutors and protection.
Strengths
- Colorless identity means it slots into any deck and is castable off any mana, including artifact ramp
- Turns a single untap effect into an engine, enabling many two-card infinite combos
- Cheap 2-mana commander that comes down early and gives repeatable value
- Flexible toolbox: every creature you add hands Marvin a new mode
Weaknesses
- Heavily commander-dependent; Marvin dying repeatedly stalls the whole plan
- Needs a critical mass of creatures with activated abilities to do anything meaningful
- Colorless shell lacks access to premium interaction, board wipes, and counterspells
- Activated abilities still cost mana/taps, so you can be mana-starved without untap enablers
- Vulnerable to graveyard hate and creature removal that breaks combo lines
Key Cards
- Basalt Monolith — Marvin copies its untap-for-3 ability, and with the right mana-positive creature this becomes infinite mana.
- Pili-Pala — Its mana-filter untap ability copied onto Marvin alongside a mana rock creates infinite colored mana.
- Grand Architect — Its untap-an-artifact ability copied by Marvin loops with mana rocks for infinite mana and pumps your artifact creatures.
- Walking Ballista — Marvin gains its ping ability, turning infinite mana into infinite damage to close games.
- Voltaic Construct — Untap-an-artifact-creature ability lets Marvin untap itself with mana-positive rocks for infinite mana.
- Thousand-Year Elixir — Gives Marvin haste and an extra untap, letting you exploit copied tap abilities the turn it lands.
- Swiftfoot Boots — Protects your combo-critical commander from removal so the engine keeps running.
Upgrade Path
Add fast colorless ramp (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt) and protection (Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots) to deploy and shield Marvin earlier. Tighten the combo package around Basalt Monolith, Voltaic Construct, and a Walking Ballista or Blasting Station outlet, then add artifact tutors like Whir of Invention or Fabricate (or a color splash for Tinker/Reshape) to assemble pieces consistently. Round out with stax-light disruption and recursion such as Mishra's Bauble draw and Buried Ruin to grind back lost engines.
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
- ▸Infinite mana via Basalt Monolith/Voltaic Construct funneled into Walking Ballista for lethal damage
- ▸Infinite colored mana from Pili-Pala or Grand Architect into a mana sink outlet
- ▸Pumping Marvin with copied abilities and swinging as a colorless Voltron threat
- ▸Grinding incremental advantage with copied tap-for-value abilities until you out-resource the table
Archetypes
- Combo — Marvin copying untap and mana abilities enables compact infinite-mana and infinite-damage loops.
- Artifacts — As a colorless artifact commander he naturally headlines an artifact-creature toolbox with mana rocks and untap effects.
- Toolbox/Value — Each creature you control hands Marvin a new activated ability, giving flexible repeatable answers and value.
- Aggro Voltron — Copying pump and equip-style activated abilities can turn Marvin into a fast colorless beater.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.