The Commander
You may have Sakashima the Impostor enter as a copy of any creature on the battlefield, except its name is Sakashima the Impostor, it's legendary in addition to its other types, and it has "
: Return Sakashima the Impostor to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step."
Guide
Gameplan
Sakashima leads a mono-blue clone/control deck that copies the best creature on any battlefield, then leverages flexibility, card advantage, and tempo to grind the table down. You stall early with counters and interaction, develop value engines, then assemble a copy-based combo or take over with overwhelming card advantage and tempo. The bounce ability lets you reset Sakashima to dodge removal or re-copy a juicier target.
Strengths
- Endlessly flexible commander that becomes whatever's best on the board, even your opponents' bombs
- Bounce ability protects against targeted removal and lets you re-target a better creature
- Mono-blue gives access to the best counterspells, card draw, and clone effects in the format
- Synergizes with any powerful ETB or clone payoff already in your 99
Weaknesses
- Sakashima is mediocre on an empty board with no good creatures to copy
- Mono-blue lacks efficient removal and struggles against go-wide tokens and resolved enchantments/artifacts
- Vulnerable to board wipes since the deck leans on creatures and clones
- Can be slow and reactive, ceding initiative to faster combo/aggro decks
Key Cards
- Phantasmal Image — Cheap clone that doubles up on whatever value creature you want to mimic alongside Sakashima.
- Sakashima of a Thousand Faces — The other Sakashima can copy a legend (even your commander) and stay, breaking the legend rule for two impostors.
- Spark Double — Another flexible clone that can copy planeswalkers or your best creature without the legend restriction.
- Cyclonic Rift — The premier mono-blue blowout that resets opposing boards and protects your tempo lead.
- Rhystic Study — Best-in-color card advantage engine to fuel a grindy clone-control plan.
- Brago, King Eternal — A strong copy target and blink engine that abuses ETB clones for repeatable value.
Upgrade Path
Add the best blue cantrips and counters (Mystic Remora, Fierce Guardianship, Force of Will) plus fast mana like Mana Crypt and Sol Ring to lower your reactive curve. Lean into a tight clone-combo line—Spark Double or Phantasmal Image plus an infinite ETB or untapper—so Sakashima isn't just value but a wincon. Round out with strong copy targets in the 99 (Brago, Consecrated Sphinx, Urabrask-style payoffs) so there's always something worth becoming.
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
- ▸Copy a game-ending creature (e.g., a finisher or combo piece) to assemble lethal value
- ▸Grind the table out with overwhelming card advantage then close with a big cloned threat
- ▸Assemble a clone-based combo loop with cards like Spark Double plus untap/ETB engines
- ▸Beat down with copied evasive bombs while protecting them with counters and bounce
Archetypes
- Clones / Copy Value — Sakashima headlines a deck full of clone effects that duplicate the strongest threats and ETB abilities on the battlefield.
- Control — Mono-blue counters, bounce, and card draw let you protect Sakashima and grind out value over a long game.
- Combo — Copying or pairing with combo pieces (like infinite ETB or untap loops) closes games once you have the right body to mimic.
- Blink — Flicker effects re-trigger Sakashima's enter-as-a-copy choice and abuse cloned ETB creatures repeatedly.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (U), by popularity.
