Pointed Discussion

Melek is doubtlessly THE BEST of the DGM guild champions. Not only Izzet was wanting a spellslinger general since forever (Tibor and Lumia don't count), he is also miles closer to the power level people want to see then dorks like Emmara Tandris. Play him with Galvanoth (and Leyline of Anticipation so you can curve onto him without missing Galv's first trigger). Have fun. Play him with Mystical Tutor. Win.

heheheh....hehehehHEHEEHEH.....HEHEHEHEHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHHHAHAHHHHAAAAHHHHAAAAAA!

Oh. Sorry. Was that me?

Let the experiments begin. >=3

While he isn't the card for me I can see why people will love him and he does look like a ton of fun. Can't wait to see the crazy stuff people do with him in Commander.

Melek, weirdest wizard 'round these parts.
RTR block has the best creature types, from simic creations to this.

Play him with Future Sight or Oracle of Mul Daya so you can clear away other cards on top of your library. Or Sensei's Divining Top.

Since he says "from your Library,"
He also copies any Instant or Sorcery cast with Unexpected Results or Temporal Aperture.

Notably, though, he doesn't help with Cascade, as those spells are cast from exile.

While not the objectively "best" guild champion, Melek is undoubtedly the most fun to build around. Future Sight effects are always good, effectively increasingly your hand size at all times, the copy effect could get insane with burn and draw spells.

Fantastic release, especially for Commander (as previously stated by others). Really is a great card that encompasses different kinds of Commander players, and appeals to different play styles as well as different play levels.

For novice players, Melek presents himself as kind of a "wow, that's really cool" kind of card, because of all the unusual text in the box. A card that might, for that exact reason, be a bit overwhelming to a new player, but may also inspire them to seek new horizons in Magic.

For intermediate players, Melek shows himself as a gateway to finding new cards that can really benefit from his ability. And this applies to Timmys and Johnnys alike. Looking for gigantic spells to double cast with him? Time Stretch for a pleasing result, or if you're a damage kind of person Searing Wind looks pretty nice too. For the budding Johnny, you can find ways to use him in conjunction with things like Brainstorm whilst holding Time Warp and Reverberate and find yourself extremely pleased.

For the experienced player, Melek just kind of makes you smile. He's not broken (not too many ways to go infinite, and doesn't win you games all on his own), priced well (considering the attractive body and nifty ability), he's unique, and as soon as you read him you can think to yourself "I know exactly how I want to build him", and the way that everyone builds him can be completely different.

And for you Vorthos folks.... I mean... he's an artificially created being that has come to have his own identity and even surpass his creators to become a guild champion. That's pretty cool.

Melek is best pony.

That's one weird wizard. But he's one fine general.

This dude's gonna be insane with all the fuse spells in DGM limited....

I enjoy that Melek is really, really good: But I also think that Mirko Vosk and Emmara Tandris were appropriate cards to print that are OK as they are now.

People expected WAY too much out of the Maze Runners. These are Not quite even Champions. These aren't, in every single case, the Guildmaster's Favored and Beloved Right Hands. These aren't the Darth Vaders to the Emperors. Their kinda more like Rogue Desperate Last Minute Heroes. Sometimes they're already well-known and established in the Guild, but actually, in the vast majority of cases, they're people who are sort-of borderline in their Guild and the Guild decides: "Here is your chance to be our Hero, plus if you fail we are willing to risk your death."

Massacre Girl is a crazy Zealot of the Guild that Rakdos sort of favors, but everyone is Expendable in Rakdos anyway.

Melek was Invented on the spot for the Maze Running, meaning neither Niv-Mizzet nor Ral Zarek felt like risking Ral Zarek.

Emmara Tandris is kind of a servant of Trostrani, but her Boyfriend is actually secretly one of the many disguises of Darth Lazav.

Mirko Vosk is totally Captain Needa of the Dimir. He's been given important assignments, but he has Screwed UP. Big Time. Lazav had him buried in a wall, and will be just fine with either success or failure in the Maze Running, since Lazav will probably be personally Cheating instead of caring about his not-so-reliable pawn.

Ruric Thar is sort of in open Rebellion against Borborygmos. Like Rakdos, this is kinda normal Gruul behavior. Ruric's in it for himself, not for Gruul. Well, he's in it so that Gruul might be His.

Teysa and the Obzedat are actively plotting each others' deaths/destructions, and the Obzedat are actually kinda PO'd that they need her.

Lavinia, like Mirko, has been somewhat demoted in the favor of her Guildmaster after Jace made fools of them both on separate occasions.

They are none of them Mythic Rare cards, but the way everyone was acting during Spoiler Season, you wanted them all to be the Darth Vaders to their Guildmasters and--- they just AREN'T. The only reason the IZZET one appears to be near-Mythic is that it's actually So Ridiculously Johnny (albeit more consistent than Knowledge Pool), that it is probably not seen so much as "A really tight solid card to smash the Pro Tour with", so much as "A REALLY exciting card with lots of high end Johnnyriffic POTENTIAL that is not going to be all that out of control at 6 mana for 2 power."

Bro, do you even science???

Why couldn't all of the guild runners be this cool.

I won't be satisfied unless I casted an Epic Experiment off the library with this champ out. It will be a glorious experiment indeed.

I really wish he copied all instants and sorceries. He is still fun and encourages top deck manipulation.

I always like seeing Generals who inspire unique deck builds.

Super fun with Sunforger.

@marmaris74: Good catch.

@RAV0004: I laughed at loud at your comment. "Bro, do you even science???" Should be his flavor text.

i think the rules under this guy will be fixed. When is the last time you CAST a land? His card also reads "You may CAST the top card of your library if it is an INSTANT or SORCERY."
Offense to Wizards, you dumb clucks need to fix the ruling under him. Remember RTFC. Jerks.

can work well with:
Brainstorm
Galvanoth
After this set, the izzet have become SOOOOO powerful.

@Silver-Paladin:
You could always tutor up for a Library of Leng and any basic draw and discard effects. Pretty insane combination. Also, you could use good ol' Scroll Rack to control your library stack on demand.

Melek, meet the Thrumming Stone. I'm sure you'll find its magic-resonating properties most interesting.

No, seriously, ripple is the thing you guys've been looking for. I've already planned a deck with him, the stone, a Nivix Cyclops, 4 Index, 4 Reminisce and a bunch of other 4-ofs.

Although, if you really wanted to go overkill, you could use Research to put more copies of a card into your library, have a Mirror Gallery and several copies of both Melek and the Stone and a way to continuously return cards to your library, like Paradigm Shift imprinted on Isochron Scepter with a bunch of Thought Eaters in play or some other thing.
And then someone casts a Mindbreak Trap and you kill everything.

Also works with, as has been stated, Unexpected Results, I guess.

sadly epic experiment does not work with him. it exiles the cards before you cast them.

Awesome ability, amazing art, but very small stats. He doesnt do anything on Turn 6, he also lets your opponents know what card you are drawing. So there is no longer a surprise factor for you. But... you are getting Free spells at the cost of building a spell-oriented deck.

The risks and rewards are there but this isn't a limited card. This is a kitchen table card and should be treated as such.

I doubt this will see much play in standard due to its 2/4 stats. With Mizzium Mortars being in standard I see this guy being easily removed and a waste of 6 mana and a turn for yourself. You often wish that creatures with abilities like Melek are 1/5 instead of 2/4 because they really aren't going to be attacking, they are commanders and generals of your army not fighters. 2/5 rating because of that.

I'm extremely bothered by the rulings that are claiming you are allowed to play Lands off the top of your library. There's absolutely no reason to believe his rules text enables that. It doesn't even enable you to play cards, rather to cast them, and we all know Lands are not cast. This is absurd and must be an error, or else we're beginning an era of Magic in which rules are entirely inconsistent.

Wizards, rectify this. Thank you.

Bowl, I believe that they did fix that. That was indeed a rather odd ruling. I don't see it there now.

I love this card but they need to correct the rulings on it. Melek doesn't mention land on it but the rulings say you can play the top card if its a land. The judge at the prerelease I played in ruled based on these rulings that I could play the land but I still think that's incorrect.

It's the lab rat that got all the attention.
I think most Mizzium Mortars will be in Izzet decks and it's a crying shame that the Isochron Sceptre didn't make a return.
*Sniff*

@ marmaris74: Wait..land? I see it in the rulings..but not in the card. Did they just copy the Future Sight rulings and forget that one, or is Melek even more amazing than I already thought?

EDIT: They fixed it, it must have just been copy/pasted carelessly.

Solid Card. Super Johnny.
Also, fairly cheap to buy because people aren't using it in Standard.
Run with Nivmagus Elemental to exile anything you need (if you counterspell and only need one, for instance.) Helps you be more flexible.
I'm replacing Sphinx-Bone Wand as a finisher in a casual Nivix Cyclops deck.
Again, elegant design.

Combo with Oracle of Mul Daya and Garruk's Horde just because.
Is there anything that lets you cast planeswalkers off the top of your library?

Epic Experiment
Invoke the Firemind
Sleep
Spelltwine
Polymorph
Mana Geyser
Searing Song
Reforge the Soul

Can't wait to cast all of these a dozen times over in Melek EDH.

@ OrgasmAndTea, you could play Magus of the Future/Future Sight. It allows you to play any card (lands included) on the top of your library.

I was always wondering when they'd make a legendary Magus of the Future. And here it is, with less options to play, but the added "copy" ability stitched on.

And he's also a 2/4 vs. a 2/3. OMFG STRCTLEE BETR ROOROROROOLOOOWELROEOEFLAEWFL!!

Thanks for the previous help, folks. Having a problem now, what kind of win condition can I put in him in EDH? Most non-X burn is too small.

Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind

there's an EDH deck in there somewhere.

Melek must ride a Hypersonic Dragon! Edit: also Into the Maw of Hell two lands and up to two of their creatures! You could even deal that to your Boros Reckoners.. Probably taking them down to 5 lands if they have hit all their drops.

About time the Weird got their very own legendary.

I just played a 4 player EDH game last night with a recently built deck using Melek, Izzet Paragon as the commander...and something amazing happened. Now...there are hypothetical ways this could have played out slightly crazier, but this actually just happened.

T1: Snow-Covered Island Sol Ring
T2: Izzet Guildgate Extraplanar Lens(Exiling a Snow-Covered Mountain)
T3: Snow-Covered Mountain Melek, Izzet Paragon
(Revealing Brainstorm on top of the deck)
T4: (I draw Brainstorm revealing Mana Geyser)
Then: Snow-Covered Island
Mana Geyser off the top, dumping 16 into my pool off opponents' 8 tapped lands
Brainstorm to put Epic Experiment on top
Epic Experiment for 15!...COPIED

The best part being that most people at the table weren't really paying attention. (It was only turn 4 in a format that often doesn't start doing much till at least turn 6.) So the verbal exchange is more like:
Me: mumble mumble mumble
Them: ignoring you
Me: I cast geyser, getting 16
Them: Yeah, yeah, whatever
Me: mumble, mumble, Brainstorm mumble, mumble, Epic Experiment for 15.
One guy: Wait, what? What was that about 16 mana!?
Me: From the geyser - now I'm casting experiment for 15.
Them: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!?
Me: And it's copied.
Everyone at table: Mind Blown

Hey i got a question per say i have melek out if i played (survey the wreckage) from the top of my deck by his effect could i destroy all my opponents lands? O__o come on answer!!

Ever since I first saw this card, the heavy Johnny player in me has been going damn near bonkers with the vast possibilities of how to use(/abuse) this guy like no other. And after hours of searching and contemplation, here's some of the nifty/nasty tricks I've come up with.

As Strider said before me, if you don't mind running white wedge/America colors, Sunforger is probably the best thing that you could ever possibly use with this guy. Plus, since you'll be rolling white, throw in some artifacts and a Puresteel Paladin, and this guy goes from crazy to batsh!t insane.

But if you just want to keep it with Izzet colors, I'd recommend pairing this guy up with an arsenal of spells/permanents that will let you stack the crap out of your library to get all those instants and sorceries where you want them. Here are a few that I would recommend looking into:

Creatures: Raven Familiar, Sage Owl, his older brother Spire Owl, their owner Sage of Epityr, his friend Descendant of Soramaro , or their mentor, Information Dealer. Court Hussar, the incredibly overcosted Aven Fateshaper and Crystal Seer, and Orcish Librarian if you're feeling reckless, just to name a few,

Instants/Sorceries: Ponder, Trickery Charm, Spy Network, Index, Second Sight, anything/everything that uses scry, and if you're not using this with Mystical Tutor, there's something wrong with you.

Enchantments: Soothsaying and Ancestral Knowledge.

And least we not forget about the deliriously broken Sensei's Divining Top.

For digging through you deck faster, you can also pair him up with a lot of draw once you've already used all the instants and sorceries from the top of you deck. Or if you really want to go all-out Izzet, try using Electrolyze, Prophetic Bolt, and/or Blast of Genius so that you're burning up you enemies at the same time that your wielding your whole deck like no other.

And if you get stuck with a card on the top of your library that isn't an instant or a sorcery, pair him up with his buddy/paradigm, Magus of the Future so you can get all those permenents out of the way to get to your delicious spells. (Future Sight works, too.) Hell, while you're stacking the crap out of your deck, why not let him fight along side his familiar, Galvanoth, and then use that mana that you would've used to cast that first instant or sorcery from the top of your deck for your turn to cast even more instants and/or sorceries from the top of your deck throughout your turn?

But what about those spells in your hand? Well, if you want to get truly evil with Melek, you can use cards like Brainstorm, Scroll Rack, or the epitome of deck-stacking wickedness, Jace, the Mind Sculptor. (Though if you can cast him, you probably don't need Melek by that point.) Dig into you deck, put all your spells right on top of it, then unleash a barrage of magic upon your foes.

Hell, you really want to get crazy? Employ the same kinds of insane drawing tactics that every Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind EDH deck in the known universe employs to load your hand with cards (or just have this guy in that deck), use Scroll Rack to put every instant and sorcery spell in that hand onto the top of your deck, then drop the biggest Epic Experiment that your mana resources will allow.

And I haven't even mentioned what you can do with that kind of deck-stacking abilities and Miracle...

Somewhere out there is a Johnny player whose reading this with the biggest damn smile on their face, because I just gave them the best idea they've have for a deck in years.

This, Oracle of Mul Daya, and Garruk's Horde: Oh excuse me while I just play this entire game off of the top of my deck.
Just need one for enchantments and planeswalkers now...

I have cast him with: Epic Experiment, Banefire, Lightning Bolt, Ponder, Merchant Scroll, Mizzium Mortars and More. He is epic 5/5

Rules question: If I cast a counterspell off the top of my library with Melek, because his copy ability is a must not a may, does that mean my copy of the counterspell has to counter my counterspell because it doesn't have any other targets? Or would I cast two counterspells to counter the original target? How does it resolve?

Thanks!

Kind of a shame this guy was so short-lived storywise. Ral Zarek just sort of killed him off as soon as Niv-Mizzet announced that the Maze Runner was going to be this Weird wizard instead of Ral.

I love how he looks like he could pull some sweet Izzet moves but in the lore he just got killed by Ral before he could do anything.

"We must science this at once!"
-Melek

WotC, you need to make weird tribal a thing. Or else.
Seriously, I would throw out all my magic cards for a playable Weird tribal deck.
Melek is beautifully abusable. Add Epic Experiment for absolute silliness.

"We don't just SHOW the spells; we put them to the test!"

If you want to trade/fork out some money for it, Scroll Rack is even crazier than normal. Say you have a seven card hand with Spelltwine, Chaos Warp and other goodies in hand. Activate the Scroll Rack, get a new hand of seven and reorder your old hand back on top for Melek to reveal them and cast them with additional copies. Next round, whatever was in your new hand can be reordered on top and you're still on roughly seven cards as long as you're not casting from your hand and instead playing instants and sorceries off your library.

I would have loved to see this as a Mythic Rare for 3 u r or u u r r. I know that may be a bit undercosted but it would have made him a top-tier EDH Commander. But a CMC that low probably would have caused problems with other formats which is Wizards primary focus. Either way I still give him a 5/5 for flavor, art, and mechanics.

Ral Zarel can't even kill him. Flavor fail!

Question, when exactly does Melek create the copy? For instance, if I have negate on the top of my library (I call it, "in the pocket") and I attempt to counter a spell, and someone counters negate, can I use the copy Melek creates on the NEW spell? Or will I have to simply target the original spell with the copy, thus creating to counter spells that would need to be countered.

I am really liking the possibilities of this card with my R/U Heroic Deck. The ability to double cast some of my Heroic enablers, e.g. Triton Tactics or Coordinated Assault, makes this a wonderful and currently standard legal option. This is especially nice when coupled with control heroes like Wavecrash Triton or Triton Fortune Hunter, but works well enough with Labyrinth Champion as well.

Doesn't hurt with the new Dissolve either.

Galvanoth.

Why yes, I WOULD like to cast Time Stretch for free twice.

Any combination of Djinn Illuiminatus, Guttersnipe, Goblin Electromancer, Galvanoth, or either Guildmage... the more the better!

@Jesus

After the original spell gos on the stack. So for your example, you could target their spell with negate, then before your negate resolves, a new copy is made. You may choose the same targets for this new spell. So the copy negate resolves first, counters their spell. Then the original negate resolves, and fizzles.

Using this method you can cast negate and make sure they cant counter it back, or else they would need to counter 2 things. You can also counter 2 different things if someone uses a cascade spell, like bloodbraid elf for example.

But normally there is only 1 spell on the stack at a time, so doubling counters will sometimes accomplish nothing, but in the above examples can be situationally good.

I'm surprised nobody said Rewind or Snap

@sojouner202: Doesn't work with either heroic. Heroic only triggers on casting a spell, not copying it, so copying a spell will never give you more heroic triggers. Dissolve has definite uses because of scry, but copying it this way won't get you an extra scry, if you were thinking that, unless there are two spells on the stack you want to counter.

This guy does some insane things in my Riku of Two reflections EDH deck. Especially when I get him out at the same time as Galvanoth.

Needless to say, if I get both of them out, things can get pretty ridiculous.

Topdecking power sink with this is great. be sure that x = CMC-1 of the spell you counter and you tap out a whole lotta lands (2x) for the turn.

its creature types could be a black sabbath song title

Goes great with Galvanoth.
I had the luck to have both of these out, and have a Cruel Ultimatum, followed by a nice Reverberate.
Aaaand game!

made an edh deck around him. the catchphrase for said deck is..."if im not scryin im cryin"

This post used to be praise for Melek, but honestly I've changed my mind. Melek's pretty boring as a commander.

Every Melek deck is incredibly similar. Its just the best red and blue instants and sorceries plus tons of artifact mana ramp and sometimes the Wee Dragonauts/Talrand/Kiln Fiend etc. suite of "instant/sorcery matters" as well as other support creatures and some library manipulation artifacts/enchantments. The power levels of Melek decks can vary a lot but the decks are all still really similar and that gets bland pretty fast.

The fact that you've probably got 20-30 draw cards, a lot of them cantrips with some library manipulation, means you're going to be doing the same exact thing every game, which is good if you only want to win, but Melek's not that good in competitive commander, and consistency actually makes casual commander less fun imo. There aren't even that many "Timmy spells" in these colors; you can't tell a fun story about copying Army of the Damned a bunch of times or putting every basic land in your deck on the field with Boundless Realms-all you can do is draw and burn.

This is pretty hilarious with Blue Sun's Zenith.
Here's how my Melek EDH deck goes off.
End of your turn, I'll draw 26 cards. My upkeep, Tap Ghoulcaller Bell if I don't like the card that's up to make us both mill, tap my land enchanted by Tin Street Market, tap this guy with Epiphany Storm.
Then, I do more draw spells and pass turn. Your upkeep, Psychic Spiral for 67 :P

Question; If I have Melek on play, my turn begging. Can I use the sorcery on top of my library before the draw step? Or I have to draw first and use the next card if able?