BantLegendary Creature — Bird WizardDerevi, Empyrial Tactician
Mana value3Rank#2,829
The Commander
Flying
When Derevi enters and whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent.
: Put Derevi onto the battlefield from the command zone.
Guide
Gameplan
Derevi grinds out advantage through repeated permanent tap/untap triggers off combat damage, often weaponizing creatures into mana, draw, or attack triggers while locking opponents out with stax pieces. You either go wide with cheap fliers and tokens to spam combat damage triggers, or build a hard lock with tappers and asymmetric resource denial. Derevi's command-zone recast for sidesteps commander tax, making her relentlessly available.
Strengths
- Command-zone recast avoids commander tax, keeping Derevi nearly impossible to remove permanently
- Bant colors give the best stax, ramp, and control tools in the format
- Tap/untap triggers enable powerful land/mana untap loops and combat shenanigans
- Cheap, evasive body that snowballs incremental advantage
Weaknesses
- Relies on connecting in combat or building a critical mass of permanents to do real work
- Stax builds can be slow and draw table-wide aggression
- No native card advantage engine in the command zone
- Vulnerable to board wipes that reset a go-wide plan
Key Cards
- Winter Orb — Derevi untaps your own lands on combat damage, breaking the symmetry of resource denial.
- Static Orb — Same asymmetric lock as Winter Orb, letting you operate while opponents stall.
- Seedborn Muse — Untaps your permanents each turn, supercharging tappers and mana for a control lock.
- Stoneforge Mystic — Fetches and cheats equipment to make Derevi or tokens lethal threats fast.
- Smothering Tithe — Premier white ramp that fuels Derevi's mana-hungry recasts and stax pieces.
- Opposition — Turns your creatures into a hard tapper lock, complemented by Derevi untapping them.
Upgrade Path
Lean harder into asymmetric stax (Winter Orb, Tangle Wire, Static Orb) since Derevi uniquely breaks their symmetry, and add fast mana like Mana Crypt and Sol Ring to deploy locks ahead of the table. Tighten the creature suite toward evasive bodies and tappers (Glen Elendra Archmage, Opposition) and add tutors like Enlightened Tutor for your key lock pieces. Top-end with a compact combo such as an untap-loop mana engine to convert your lock into a clean win.
Core Cards
- Thousand-Year Elixir100%
- Selesnya Guildgate100%
- Flickerform100%
- Darksteel Mutation100%
- Deceiver Exarch100%
- Fiend Hunter100%
- Faerie Conclave100%
- Blue Sun's Zenith100%
- Selesnya Sanctuary100%
- Stonecloaker100%
- Arcane Denial100%
- Azorius Guildgate100%
Played-with rates from 2 Mythicwyrm decks.
Win Conditions
- ▸Stax lock that grinds opponents out while you attack with evasive threats
- ▸Voltron beatdown with equipped Derevi or pumped fliers
- ▸Going wide with tokens backed by anthems and tappers
- ▸Combo finishes via untap loops (e.g., infinite mana into outlets)
Archetypes
- Stax — Derevi untaps your lands and permanents to break symmetry on Winter Orb, Static Orb, and tax effects.
- Tokens — Going wide with evasive tokens maximizes combat-damage tap/untap triggers and board presence.
- Control — Bant counters, tappers, and Derevi's lock pieces let you dictate the game from the top.
- Voltron — Equipment and evasion turn Derevi into a recurring, tax-free beater that keeps connecting.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (GUW), by popularity.
