DimirLegendary Creature — Vampire AssassinEtrata, Deadly Fugitive
Mana value3Rank#7,696
The Commander
Deathtouch
Face-down creatures you control have "
: Turn this creature face up. If you can't, exile it, then you may cast the exiled card without paying its mana cost."
Whenever an Assassin you control deals combat damage to an opponent, cloak the top card of that player's library.
Guide
Gameplan
Etrata steals from opponents' libraries by cloaking the top card whenever an Assassin you control connects in combat, then lets you flip those face-down cards face up or exile-and-cast them for free with her ability. You build a wide Assassin board, push through chip damage, and grind value off three opponents' decks at once while disrupting them. Win by snowballing stolen permanents and casting their bombs against them.
Strengths
- Turns combat damage into card advantage from opponents' libraries across multiple players at once
- Cloaked cards become 2/2 creatures that can attack, then flip into the real card for free value
- Deathtouch makes Etrata a strong attacker and defender that trades up against anything
- Built-in evasion synergy with Assassins and unblockable enablers creates a self-fueling engine
Weaknesses
- Heavily commander-dependent—Etrata getting repeatedly removed stalls the whole engine
- Slow without evasion; needs Assassins to actually connect to generate value
- Low impact in the first few turns and folds to fast combo decks
- Stolen cards are random off the top, so payoff quality is inconsistent
Key Cards
- Anowon, the Ruin Thief — A premier Assassin commander-tier creature that draws cards and mills when your rogues/assassins connect, doubling down on combat value.
- Aphetto Exterminator — A morph Assassin whose face-down state synergizes with Etrata's flip ability for a free Terror-on-a-stick.
- Coastal Piracy — Converts your Assassin connections into raw card draw on top of the cloak triggers.
- Notion Thief — Punishes opponents and turns extra draws your way while you grind their libraries.
- Cover of Darkness — Gives all your Assassins fear, ensuring combat damage—and thus cloak triggers—gets through.
Upgrade Path
Add unblockable and evasion enablers (Whispersilk Cloak, Rogue's Passage, Cover of Darkness) so Assassins reliably connect, plus protection like Swiftfoot Boots to keep Etrata alive. Lean into more efficient Assassins and morph creatures, and include extra-combat or unblockable doublers; top-end upgrades include strong card-advantage engines and tutors to find your evasion pieces faster.
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
- ▸Snowballing stolen permanents and bombs cast for free against their owners
- ▸Grinding opponents out of resources via repeated library cloaking and disruption
- ▸Going wide with evasive Assassins and assembling lethal commander/combat damage
Archetypes
- Tribal Assassins — Etrata rewards a wide Assassin board, triggering cloak every time one connects in combat.
- Theft/Value — Cloaking and free-casting opponents' top cards plunders their decks for permanents and spells.
- Face-down/Morph matters — Her flip ability gives morph, manifest, and cloak creatures a built-in payoff to turn up or cast free.
- Spellslinger Control — Dimir gives access to counters and removal to protect the engine while chipping away.
Combos
- Magar of the Magic Strings + Etrata, Deadly Fugitive + Brass's Bounty
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite colored mana
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
