Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Deck overview

Commander: Ezio Auditore da Firenze

Primary colours: Black and blue

Colour identity: Five colours

Primary plan: Combat-tempo with mana compression through freerunning

Secondary plan: Dimir Assassin midrange with card advantage, Equipment and recursion

Deck composition:

• 100 cards
• 38 lands
• 35 creature cards including the commander
• 27 noncreature spells
• 34 Assassin creatures including the commander
• 13 artifacts
• 4 enchantments
• 5 instants
• 5 sorceries

This is not a conventional five-colour deck. It is a black-heavy deck with blue support that uses Ezio's colour identity to access a carefully selected group of off-colour Assassins.

Why Ezio?

Ezio Auditore da Firenze costs only 1B and is a 3/2 with menace.

After Ezio or another Assassin deals combat damage to a player, Assassin spells cast during the rest of that turn have freerunning BB.

This creates an exceptional form of mana compression:

• Four and five-mana Assassins can cost BB.
• Off-colour mana symbols are bypassed.
• Several noncreature spells also have reduced freerunning costs.
• The deck can deploy a threat while retaining mana for interaction.
• A two-mana commander begins applying meaningful pressure immediately at 22 life.

Ezio does not simply make expensive cards cheaper. He changes which cards can be played at all. The challenge is avoiding a list that becomes nonfunctional whenever Ezio is removed.

This build therefore uses a black-blue core and limits the number of cards that are completely dependent on freerunning.

Why not Templar Knight?

Templar Knight permits any number of copies, but maximum redundancy does not automatically produce the highest win rate.

A Templar Knight remains:

• A 3/1 without evasion
• Vulnerable to any point of damage
• Able to trade with a 1/1 token
• Unable to generate value when it enters
• Weak on congested battlefields
• Dependent on five simultaneous attacking copies to tutor an artifact

Haytham makes the Knights much stronger, but the deck becomes extremely vulnerable to sweepers, tokens and instant-speed removal on Haytham during combat.

Kassandra does not specifically reward Knights, so filling her deck with dozens of Templars sacrifices too much interaction and card quality.

Ezio has a less repetitive plan, but the competitive reason to choose him is flexibility, not aesthetics. He gives the deck access to threats, removal, card advantage, recursion and several different finishing lines.

Construction discipline

The first versions of this archetype played too many off-colour Assassins. That creates powerful ideal draws but a poor average game whenever Ezio is removed.

This version is divided into three groups.

The normal black-blue core

These cards can be cast normally with the mana base:

• Achilles Davenport
• Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains
• Assassin Initiate
• Basim Ibn Ishaq
• Brotherhood Ambushers
• Brotherhood Patriarch
• Brotherhood Spy
• Desmond Miles
• Evie Frye
• Ezio, Blade of Vengeance
• Hired Blade
• Hookblade Veteran
• Jacob Frye
• Loyal Inventor
• Lydia Frye
• Merciless Harlequin
• Poison-Blade Mentor
• Ramses, Assassin Lord
• Roshan, Hidden Magister
• Royal Assassin
• Adrestia

This is the deck's functional floor. Repeated removal on Ezio weakens the deck, but it does not prevent it from developing a battlefield.

Disguise creatures

Three off-colour Assassins have a generic fallback:

• Arno Dorian
• Aveline de Grandpré
• Bayek of Siwa

Each may be cast face down for three generic mana as a 2/2 with ward 2.

Their face-up abilities are much stronger, but they are not completely dead without Ezio. Roshan also gives face-down creatures menace and rewards turning them face up.

Selected freerunning payoffs

The remaining off-colour package is restricted to cards with a high-impact body, immediate value, resilience or a particularly strong engine:

• Arbaaz Mir
• Aya of Alexandria
• Edward Kenway
• Kassandra, Eagle Bearer
• Kelsien, the Plague
• Layla Hassan
• Mary Read and Anne Bonny
• Queen Marchesa
• Ratonhnhaké꞉ton
• Shao Jun
• Shaun & Rebecca, Agents

The list deliberately excludes Altaïr and both Eivors. Those cards need another combat or substantial graveyard preparation before they produce meaningful value.

Primary game plan

The ideal opening sequence is:

1. Develop black mana and, when available, a cheap Assassin.
2. Cast Ezio on turn 2.
3. Remove, tap or bypass the relevant blocker.
4. Deal combat damage with Ezio or another Assassin.
5. Cast the most appropriate Assassin for BB.
6. Continue applying pressure while generating cards, Treasures or Equipment value.

A typical curve is:

• Turn 1: Assassin Initiate, Hookblade Veteran, or hold Fatal Push
• Turn 2: Ezio
• Turn 3: clear the path, attack, then cast a freerunning payoff
• Turn 4: protect the battlefield, equip, interact or cast multiple reduced spells

Freerunning is an option, not an obligation. Spending BB on a mediocre creature is worse than preserving removal or drawing three cards with Eagle Vision.

Choosing the right freerunning payoff

Queen Marchesa

Queen Marchesa is the strongest general-purpose payoff.

For BB, she provides:

• A 3/3 body
• Deathtouch
• Haste
• The monarch

Because she enters before the end step, the deck can draw from the monarch immediately.

She is strongest against control and midrange decks that cannot easily take the crown.

Kassandra and The Spear of Leonidas

Kassandra, Eagle Bearer puts The Spear of Leonidas directly onto the battlefield from the library, hand or graveyard.

A single freerunning payment therefore produces two permanents.

The Spear can:

• Give double strike
• Create Phobos, a legendary 3/2 Horse
• Discard two cards and draw two cards

Double strike is especially dangerous with Ezio, Bayek or Excalibur.

Edward Kenway

Edward Kenway creates Treasures at the beginning of the end step based on tapped Assassins, Pirates and Vehicles.

Edward is normally cast after combat, so he immediately counts the Assassins that attacked that turn.

The Treasures help:

• Recast Ezio
• Equip expensive Equipment
• Cast off-colour cards naturally
• Pay through commander tax
• Assemble Ezio's five-colour finishing trigger

Kelsien, the Plague

Kelsien, the Plague has haste and can use his activated ability immediately.

He is particularly effective against:

• One-toughness creatures
• Utility creatures
• Tokens
• Small commanders
• Creatures damaged during combat

Unlike many expensive Assassins, Kelsien does something during the turn in which he is freerun.

Layla Hassan

Layla Hassan returns a historic card from the graveyard when she enters and whenever the Assassins connect.

Relevant targets include:

• Legendary creatures
• Equipment
• Adrestia
• The Animus
• Hemlock Vial

She is one of the deck's best recovery cards after a resource exchange.

Shaun & Rebecca and The Animus

Shaun & Rebecca, Agents puts The Animus directly onto the battlefield from the library, hand or graveyard.

Freerunning Shaun & Rebecca for BB therefore produces:

• A 4/4 vigilant Assassin
• A legendary artifact
• A colourless mana source
• A graveyard and copy engine

The Animus is not included as an isolated value card. It is part of this direct two-card package.

It can exile legendary creatures from either graveyard and allow one of the deck's legendary creatures to copy them.

Arbaaz Mir

Arbaaz Mir drains the opponent whenever it or another nontoken historic permanent enters under your control.

The deck contains a high density of:

• Legendary creatures
• Artifacts
• Legendary Equipment

Arbaaz turns normal development into incremental damage and life gain.

Aya of Alexandria

Aya of Alexandria provides menace, lifelink and a continuing token engine.

She does not generate immediate card advantage, but she stabilises races and is difficult to block profitably.

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton is hexproof and unblockable until it deals damage for the first time.

Its first connection:

• Creates an Assassin token with menace
• Returns an Equipment from the graveyard
• Attaches that Equipment to the new token

It is one of the safest threats to deploy after the opponent has already spent removal on Ezio.

Shao Jun

Shao Jun is a straightforward tempo payoff.

During your turn she is a 3/3 with flying and first strike, giving the deck an evasive threat that can continue enabling freerunning after Ezio disappears.

The card-advantage core

Basim Ibn Ishaq

Basim Ibn Ishaq rewards the deck's high historic density.

The first historic spell each turn:

• Draws a card
• Makes Basim unblockable for the turn

Every successful connection then grows Basim.

Basim is the best secondary engine when Ezio is unavailable.

Ezio, Blade of Vengeance

Ezio, Blade of Vengeance converts successful Assassin attacks into cards.

It can be cast normally in a longer game or freerun for BB after an early Ezio attack.

Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains

Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains looks at the top six cards and finds an Assassin, Pirate or Vehicle.

The deck contains enough valid targets that this is reliable selection rather than blind hope.

Evie Frye

Evie Frye filters cards and can discard a creature to make a creature unblockable.

This turns an awkward off-colour Assassin into:

• Immediate evasion
• A future Restart Sequence target
• A Layla target if it is historic
• Graveyard material for The Animus

Mary Read and Anne Bonny

Mary Read and Anne Bonny has haste and can immediately begin filtering cards.

Discarding Islands, Pirates or Vehicles also creates Treasures, helping convert redundant cards into fixing and acceleration.

Eagle Vision

Eagle Vision draws three cards for 1U after freerunning is enabled.

It is the most efficient pure reload spell in the pool.

Petty Larceny

Petty Larceny provides cards from the opponent's library and creates a Treasure.

It offers both card advantage and the fixing needed to cast stolen cards.

Rooftop Bypass

Rooftop Bypass is not a defensive enchantment.

Whenever one or more nontoken creatures connect, it creates a 1/1 Assassin token with menace.

That token:

• Extends the battlefield without another card
• Carries Equipment
• Helps preserve future freerunning access
• Remains useful after Ezio is removed

The card is slower than a two-mana threat, but its function is directly connected to the deck's main plan.

Connecting with Ezio

The first successful attack is often the most important moment of the game.

Natural evasion

The deck includes:

• Ezio's menace
• Brotherhood Spy's unblockability
• Hookblade Veteran's flying
• Shao Jun's flying
• Ratonhnhaké꞉ton's protected first attack
• Face-down creatures with ward 2

Cover of Darkness

Cover of Darkness normally names Assassin.

It gives the tribe fear, making most of the battlefield difficult to block.

It is weaker against black and artifact creatures, but it is one of the cheapest mass-evasion effects available.

Brotherhood Regalia

Brotherhood Regalia gives:

• Ward 2
• The Assassin creature type
• Unblockable

Its reduced equip cost for legendary creatures makes Ezio the natural target.

It combines protection and connection in a single card.

Hookblade

Hookblade attaches when it enters and gives flying during your turn.

It immediately turns Ezio or another Assassin into an evasive threat without an additional equip payment that turn.

Assassin Gauntlet

Assassin Gauntlet attaches when it enters and taps the opponent's creatures.

The equipped creature also filters a card after dealing combat damage.

Gauntlet is one of the deck's strongest tempo plays against a developed battlefield.

Tranquilize

Tranquilize is not included because it is generically powerful.

For two mana, it taps a blocker and places three stun counters on it.

In a deck that needs one successful attack to unlock its engine, removing a blocker for several turns is often more valuable than conventional expensive removal.

Smoke Bomb

Smoke Bomb is one of the few legal protection effects that fits the mana base.

Its two functions are:

1. Cast it with flash in response to targeted removal, giving all creatures shroud.
2. Sacrifice it during the next upkeep to make one creature unblockable.

It has real costs:

• It requires three mana.
• Shroud temporarily prevents your own Equipment targeting.
• It does not stop sweepers.

It remains because it protects Ezio and then helps guarantee the next connection, not because it is a Commander staple.

Interaction

The removal package is deliberately concentrated in black and blue.

Fatal Push

The cheapest removal spell and the best answer to early creatures.

Revolt is easier to enable with Horizon lands, treasures and sacrificing Hemlock Vial.

Go for the Throat

Efficient against most creatures, although artifact creatures remain a limitation.

Chain Assassination

After combat it costs 1B.

If another creature has died during the turn, it also replaces itself.

Combat trades can therefore enable both the cost reduction and the card draw.

Murder

Three mana is not efficient by unrestricted-format standards, but it is unconditional, castable and does not damage the mana base.

The closed pool makes that reliability valuable.

Escape Detection

Escape Detection returns a blue creature you control as its freerunning cost, then returns a creature to its owner's hand and draws a card.

Useful applications include:

• Saving a blue creature from removal
• Reusing Adéwalé
• Reusing a blue legendary creature
• Removing a blocker
• Replacing itself

It cannot return the commander Ezio, because Ezio is black rather than blue.

Brotherhood Headquarters may produce blue mana for Escape Detection because the spell has freerunning, even when its alternative cost is not being paid.

Auditore Ambush

Auditore Ambush costs four mana, but it can perform both modes:

• Return a creature to its owner's hand
• Find Ezio, Blade of Vengeance from the library or graveyard

This is a specific two-for-one rather than a generic four-mana bounce spell.

Recursion

Restart Sequence

After freerunning is enabled, Restart Sequence returns any creature from a graveyard to the battlefield for 1B.

This is particularly important for off-colour Assassins. Once they reach the graveyard, they no longer depend on Ezio to return.

Layla Hassan

Layla returns historic cards on entry and on future successful Assassin attacks.

The Revelations of Ezio

The Revelations of Ezio combines interaction, pressure and eventual Assassin recursion.

It is slower than the instant removal, but each chapter contributes to the same combat plan.

Jacob Frye

Jacob Frye can copy an Assassin card or a card with freerunning from the graveyard after Assassins connect.

The copied spell must still be cast for its printed mana cost, so Jacob is strongest with inexpensive black-blue cards rather than expensive off-colour payoffs.

Ratonhnhaké꞉ton

Its first connection can return an Equipment directly to the battlefield.

The Animus

The Animus turns graveyards into a library of legendary creature forms.

The artifact package

The artifact section is not a generic Equipment package. Every inclusion has a defined role.

Loyal Inventor

Loyal Inventor is the only non-Assassin creature in the deck.

It remains because its entry ability searches for any artifact and puts it into the hand whenever an Assassin is already controlled.

Typical targets:

• Brotherhood Regalia to connect
• Assassin Gauntlet to open combat
• The Animus when Shaun & Rebecca are already available
• Phantom Blade for removal
• Sword of Feast and Famine for a long game
• Excalibur for a finish

Three mana for a 2/3 is not efficient by itself. The artifact selection is the entire reason for inclusion.

Adrestia

Adrestia is a 4/3 Vehicle with crew 1.

When crewed by an Assassin, it draws a card on attack and becomes an Assassin for the turn.

Islandwalk is highly relevant against blue opponents.

Hidden Blade

Hidden Blade has flash and attaches when it enters.

It functions as both a combat trick and a permanent Equipment.

Phantom Blade

Phantom Blade is expensive, but it:

• Destroys another creature when it enters
• Attaches immediately
• Leaves behind a menace-granting Equipment

It is a five-mana two-for-one, not an early tempo card.

Sword of Feast and Famine

After an equipped creature connects:

• The opponent discards
• All lands untap
• Freerunning is enabled
• The postcombat main phase begins with full mana

This is the specific reason for its inclusion.

Conqueror's Flail

While equipped, opponents cannot cast spells during your turn.

It protects:

• Ezio's combat
• Equipment investment
• Freerunning sequences
• Excalibur attacks
• The Spear's double-strike line

Excalibur, Sword of Eden

Excalibur, Sword of Eden gives +10/+0.

The deck's high historic density reduces its casting cost.

Ezio becomes a 13/2 commander when equipped. Two successful attacks exceed the commander-damage threshold.

With double strike from Bayek or The Spear of Leonidas, one unblocked attack can be lethal.

Hemlock Vial

Hemlock Vial is the weakest retained card, but it is not unrelated filler.

It:

• Replaces itself
• Triggers Basim as a historic spell
• Triggers Arbaaz when it enters
• Helps enable revolt for Fatal Push when sacrificed
• Allows equipped creatures to trade with almost anything

The cost is two mana, one life and minimal immediate board impact.

It is included because the remaining legal alternatives are either off-colour, significantly more expensive or even less connected to the deck.

Mana base

The deck plays 38 lands:

• 22 Swamp
• 10 Island
• Brotherhood Headquarters
• Fiery Islet
• Nurturing Peatland
• Silent Clearing
• Submerged Boneyard
• Waterlogged Grove

Black sources

Unrestricted black sources:

• 22 Swamp
• Nurturing Peatland
• Silent Clearing
• Submerged Boneyard

Total: 25

Brotherhood Headquarters adds a twenty-sixth relevant source for:

• Ezio
• Assassin spells
• Spells with freerunning
• Abilities of Assassin sources

Blue sources

Unrestricted blue sources:

• 10 Island
• Fiery Islet
• Submerged Boneyard
• Waterlogged Grove

Total: 13

Brotherhood Headquarters adds a fourteenth conditional source for blue Assassins and spells with freerunning.

Land quality

Only Submerged Boneyard always enters tapped.

The four Horizon lands enter untapped, provide useful colours and can later be sacrificed to draw a card.

Their life cost matters at 22 starting life. Use basic lands when the additional colour is unnecessary.

Why Abstergo Entertainment is excluded

Abstergo is useful in long games, but it is not a true coloured source.

To produce coloured mana, it consumes itself and another available mana. It therefore damages the turn-2 Ezio and turn-3 BB sequences.

The deck values a twenty-second Swamp more highly than Abstergo's late-game graveyard ability.

Approximate pre-mulligan mana probabilities

These calculations use the 99-card library and do not include the London mulligan.

• At least two lands and a relevant black source among the first eight cards: approximately 85.5%
• At least three lands and two relevant black sources among the first nine cards: approximately 66.0%
• The same requirement among the first ten cards on the draw: approximately 73.7%
• At least one unrestricted blue source among the first nine cards: approximately 73.4%

The London mulligan improves the practical frequency of the turn-2 Ezio and turn-3 freerunning sequence.

Ezio's five-colour trigger

When Ezio damages a player at 10 or fewer life, WUBRG may be paid to make that player lose the game.

This is an opportunistic finisher, not the deck's primary mana plan.

The colours can occasionally be assembled through:

• Horizon lands
• Treasures
• Normal black and blue sources

Brotherhood Headquarters cannot pay this cost. The payment occurs during the resolution of a triggered ability, not while casting an Assassin or activating an ability of an Assassin source.

Do not weaken the mana base to make the trigger more reliable.

Mulligan guide

Strong hands

A strong hand normally contains:

• Two or three lands
• A black source for turn 2
• A likely second black source by turn 3
• One connection enabler or removal spell
• One normally castable threat or one strong freerunning payoff
• No more than one card that is completely dependent on Ezio

Example:

• Swamp
• Island
• Brotherhood Headquarters
• Fatal Push
• Brotherhood Regalia
• Queen Marchesa
• Brotherhood Spy

Mulligan hands

Return hands with:

• Zero or one land
• No relevant black source
• Two lands that cannot cast Ezio
• Several off-colour Assassins
• Multiple expensive Equipment
• Excalibur without early development
• No way to attack or interact before turn 3
• Too many Horizon lands against a fast opponent

The commander is always available. The hand must enable Ezio, not merely contain an impressive payoff for a connection that may never happen.

Sequencing

Turn 1

Preferred actions:

• Cast Assassin Initiate
• Cast Hookblade Veteran
• Hold Fatal Push
• Play Submerged Boneyard when it does not sacrifice necessary interaction

Turn 2

Ezio is the default play.

Delay Ezio when:

• An opposing threat must be removed immediately
• A normal creature creates a safer future attack
• The opponent clearly represents cheap removal and Ezio would accomplish nothing

Turn 3

The ideal sequence is:

1. Remove or bypass the relevant blocker.
2. Attack with Ezio or another Assassin.
3. Enable freerunning.
4. Choose between pressure, cards and interaction.
5. Preserve mana when the opponent represents a stronger response.

The largest creature is not automatically the correct freerunning target.

After Ezio is removed

Do not automatically recast him into open removal.

Develop Basim, Adéwalé, Lydia, Roshan, Adrestia or the Equipment package first when appropriate.

Recast Ezio when a protected or immediate connection is plausible.

How the deck wins

Combat pressure

Cheap Assassins, menace, evasion and reduced postcombat threats overwhelm the opponent before they can stabilise.

Card and mana advantage

Queen Marchesa, Basim, Ezio Blade, Eagle Vision, Petty Larceny, Edward and Layla allow the deck to continue producing resources after the first attack.

Commander damage

Brotherhood Regalia, The Spear and Excalibur turn Ezio into a credible commander-damage threat.

Ezio's alternative win condition

Treasures and Horizon lands occasionally assemble all five colours after the opponent reaches 10 life.

Attrition

Layla, Restart Sequence, Jacob, Ratonhnhaké꞉ton and The Animus allow the deck to recover creatures and Equipment after repeated interaction.

Main weaknesses

Repeated commander removal

This remains the largest structural weakness.

Several off-colour cards become difficult to cast when Ezio is removed before combat and commander tax eventually becomes prohibitive.

Wide battlefields

Menace is strong against one blocker but weak against several disposable creatures.

Gauntlet, Cover of Darkness, Tranquilize and Equipment-based evasion become especially important.

Sweepers

The deck has recursion but no efficient counterspell or complete protection from mass removal.

Do not deploy every creature when two threats already represent enough pressure.

Artifact and enchantment engines

The black-blue legal pool has poor universal answers to noncreature permanents.

Some engines must be raced rather than removed.

Graveyard hate

Layla, Restart Sequence, Jacob, Ratonhnhaké꞉ton and The Animus all lose value when graveyards are exiled.

Life pressure

Horizon lands, Black Market Connections and Hemlock Vial consume life.

At 22 life, Black Market Connections should not automatically use every mode.

Least certain slots

The least certain cards are:

1. Hemlock Vial
2. Royal Assassin
3. Smoke Bomb
4. Roshan, Hidden Magister

They remain because each performs a relevant function and the closed pool lacks clearly superior replacements.

Hemlock Vial

Low-cost historic cantrip and combat utility, but little immediate tempo.

Royal Assassin

Castable black Assassin and repeatable removal threat, but slow and vulnerable.

Smoke Bomb

Rare protection plus connection effect, but costs three mana and interferes temporarily with Equipment.

Roshan

Normally castable 4/4 Assassin with real disguise synergy, but its text is modest when the face-down package is absent.

These should be the first cards judged through organised playtesting.

Cards deliberately excluded

Leonardo da Vinci

Not an Assassin, no immediate value and requires a much deeper artifact engine.

Towering Viewpoint

Does not attack, does not enable freerunning and requires three additional mana to give flying.

Propaganda

Does not help Ezio connect, protect him, generate cards or close the game.

Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad

Needs graveyard preparation and another combat before generating value.

Eivor, Wolf-Kissed

A large body with haste is much less effective when normally cast during the postcombat main phase.

Eivor, Battle-Ready

The deck does not contain enough Equipment to justify another delayed payoff.

Bureau Headmaster

A two-mana 2/2 that only reduces future Equipment costs is not a strong enough freerunning target.

Mjölnir, Storm Hammer

Four mana to cast and four to re-equip is excessive without Kassandra as commander.

Sword of Light and Shadow

Five mana before the first connection is too slow.

Darksteel Plate

Five mana before protecting a creature and no protection against exile or bounce.

Whispersilk Cloak

Too much setup and shroud conflicts with the rest of the Equipment package.

Large Templar Knight package

Highly redundant, but fragile, narrow and strategically polarised.

Final assessment

This is one optimized Assassin's Creed example build.

Its strengths are:

• A two-mana commander
• A stable black-blue core
• Access to the entire Assassin pool
• Large mana savings through freerunning
• Multiple ways to force combat damage
• Strong card advantage and recursion
• A functional plan when Ezio is unavailable

Its weaknesses are:

• Dependence on combat damage
• Vulnerability to repeated commander removal
• A limited number of answers to noncreature permanents
• Several off-colour cards that can become stranded
• Genuine uncertainty in the final marginal slots because the format does not yet have a mature tournament dataset

The commander, mana core, interaction package and main freerunning engines are the stable part of the build. Hemlock Vial, Royal Assassin, Smoke Bomb and Roshan are the first slots that should be challenged by actual match results.