DimirLegendary Creature — Human Ninja RogueSatoru, the Infiltrator
Mana value2Rank#3,057
The Commander
Menace
Whenever Satoru and/or one or more other nontoken creatures you control enter, if none of them were cast or no mana was spent to cast them, draw a card.
Guide
Gameplan
Satoru rewards putting nontoken creatures into play for free—via ninjutsu, reanimation, blink, and "cheat" effects—drawing a card each time a creature enters that wasn't cast or had no mana spent. You assemble an evasive tempo board, refill your hand constantly, and grind opponents out with repeated value or chain into a combo finish.
Strengths
- Constant, repeatable card advantage that snowballs hard once the engine is online
- Cheap (MV 2) commander with built-in evasion via menace, enabling ninjutsu shenanigans
- Excellent synergy with blink, reanimation, and free-cast effects in the strong UB color pair
- Low commander tax means easy recasting after removal
Weaknesses
- Relies on enablers to actually trigger draw—Satoru alone does little
- Vulnerable to board wipes that erase your built-up creature engine
- UB lacks easy enchantment/artifact removal
- Can be a tempo deck without a clean closing threat unless built toward combo
Key Cards
- Ninjutsu — Returning attackers and swapping in ninjas like Satoru himself triggers the draw repeatedly since no mana was spent casting them.
- Yuriko, the Tenured Orochi — Backup ninja payoff and additional evasive damage that pairs perfectly with the bounce-and-reenter loops.
- Reanimate — Reanimation spells put creatures onto the battlefield without casting them, cleanly triggering Satoru's draw.
- Brago, King Eternal — Repeatable blink of all your nontoken creatures means a massive cascade of card draw each combat.
- Conjurer's Closet — End-of-turn blink of a creature triggers Satoru and resets ETBs every turn for free value.
- Ghostly Flicker — Flickering two nontoken permanents draws cards and combos with ETB value creatures for loops.
Upgrade Path
Add free-cast and recursion enablers like Aether Vial, Footfall Crater-style haste, and strong ETB creatures (Spark Double, Sakashima) plus repeatable blink (Deadeye Navigator, Eternal Witness loops) to weaponize the draw engine. Tighten the mana with fast rocks and dual lands, and include a dedicated combo line such as a sac outlet plus a recursive creature for an infinite-draw/damage kill. Layer in protection (Heroic Intervention, counterspells) to defend the engine against board wipes.
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
- ▸Commander and ninja damage through menace and evasion
- ▸Blink/flicker loops generating overwhelming card and board advantage to grind out opponents
- ▸Combo finish via infinite ETBs (e.g., looping creatures with a sac/damage outlet)
- ▸Reanimating an oversized finisher and beating down
Archetypes
- Ninjas / Tempo — Ninjutsu lets you swap evasive creatures into play with no mana spent, drawing cards while pressuring life totals.
- Blink — Flicker effects re-enter nontoken creatures for free, triggering Satoru's draw plus ETB abilities every cycle.
- Reanimator — Putting big creatures onto the battlefield from the graveyard counts as entering uncast, fueling draws and threats.
- Combo — Free-entering creatures plus blink loops can fuel infinite-draw and ETB combos to close the game.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
