commander · The Mimeoplasm
Devour for Power (CMD).
A Sultai graveyard reanimation deck from the original Commander set, led by The Mimeoplasm, exile two creatures from any graveyards to enter as a copy of one plus counters from the other, combining the best creatures from multiple libraries.
The Commander
Devour for Power is one of the original 2011 Commander precons, and The Mimeoplasm is one of the most flexible reanimation commanders in the format. When he enters, you may exile two creature cards from graveyards. He enters as a copy of one of them with a number of +1/+1 counters equal to the other's power. Exile a 12/12 Eldrazi and a Vorinclex, and Mimeoplasm comes in as Vorinclex with twelve counters, an 18/18 that doubles your mana and halves your opponents'.
The Mimeoplasm rewards filling up every graveyard: yours through looting and self-mill, your opponents' through the usual trades. Whatever the best creature is in any graveyard, it's a possible Mimeoplasm. The deck runs Buried Alive to drop three creatures straight into your bin so you can line up the exact combination you want.
Key Cards
Buried Alive
Search your library for up to three creature cards and put them in your graveyard. It's the ideal setup spell for The Mimeoplasm. Pay three mana and bin exactly the two creatures you want him to combine, plus a third as insurance or a later reanimation target. Usually that's one huge creature for the power, one with a backbreaking ability to copy, and something to bring back down the line. A single Buried Alive can set up a Mimeoplasm that ends the game the moment he lands.
Living Death
Each player exiles their graveyard, sacrifices all creatures, then puts the exiled creature cards into play. It's the classic recovery spell. After a board wipe clears your threats, Living Death returns everything in your graveyard, which is stacked with top-tier creatures from Buried Alive and normal trades, while your opponents sacrifice their boards and only get back their smaller bins. One-sided and brutal when you time it right.
Damia, Sage of Stone
At the beginning of your draw step, you may skip your draw. If you do, draw cards until you have seven. In a deck that wants a full graveyard and a full hand, Damia tops you back up to seven every turn no matter how much you've spent. She's also an alternate commander for the package. As a 4/4 deathtouch that refills your hand on her own, she doesn't need the Mimeoplasm plan and can just grind opponents down in combat while you outdraw them.
Grave Pact
Whenever a creature you control dies, each other player must sacrifice a creature. In a deck that sacrifices and recurs creatures all game, Grave Pact makes opponents throw away their best blockers every time one of yours dies. Damia keeps you at seven cards a turn, so you field more creatures than anyone else, and each death peels another one off their boards. It turns your steady stream of sacrifices into a board wipe nobody can climb out from under.
Mulldrifter
Draw two cards when it enters the battlefield. Evoke for two mana. In a Mimeoplasm deck Mulldrifter does two jobs at once: it draws you two cards and leaves a 2-power creature in the graveyard as a counter source. Evoke it for two mana, draw your two, and later Mimeoplasm can come in as something else with two free counters off the Mulldrifter carcass. The draws keep your hand full and the body in the bin sets up Mimeoplasm on the cheap.
How to Play
Fill graveyards as fast as you can. Buried Alive lines up the combination you want: the biggest-power creature for counters and the nastiest ability to copy. Common picks are any creature with power ten or more for the counters, Vorinclex for the mana swing, or Lord of Extinction for a copy that scales off every graveyard. Cast The Mimeoplasm on the setup and you've got an immediate game-ender. If he gets removed, the graveyard is still there and Buried Alive can build the next one. You win on Mimeoplasm's raw size, on a Living Death mass reanimation, or on Grave Pact attrition that strips everyone else's board while yours keeps refilling.
