Ellie, Brick Master
Ellie, Brick Master turns your opponents’ combat steps into extra bodies, rewarding the table for attacking anywhere but you.
Public decks: 4Bracket: 3
Overview
- Plays as a political combat engine: when someone swings at your opponents, they get an extra tapped-and-attacking token for that fight.
- Encourages constant pressure around the table while you stay relatively insulated from early chip damage.
- Often wants repeatable incentives to keep attacks flowing and ways to convert the growing mass of tokens into advantage.
- Can be built to profit from creature death, sacrifice, or token-count payoffs, especially if paired to expand colors.
- Games tend to revolve around keeping Ellie on board and steering combat toward the player who’s pulling ahead.
Common lines
- Deploy Ellie early, then leverage table politics to point attacks at the leading player to multiply damage and bodies.
- Use the extra attackers to force trades and keep boards unstable, then clean up with a well-timed sweeper when you’re ahead on resources.
- Convert expendable bodies into cards or drain effects if your build supports sacrifice and death triggers.
- In the late game, use a single big combat step (yours or an ally’s) to create a decisive swing by adding yet another attacker to the pile.
Strengths
- Strong political leverage: you can make attacking elsewhere more attractive than attacking you.
- Scales with multiplayer combat; the more the table fights, the more material gets generated.
- Creates immediate board impact without spending cards from hand (the attacker supplies the token).
- Can pressure life totals and planeswalkers quickly when the table is already inclined to turn creatures sideways.
Weaknesses
- Relies on opponents choosing to attack; if the table is passive or combo-focused, Ellie may generate very little.
- Commander-dependent engine; removal on Ellie can turn off your main incentive structure.
- Token production can unintentionally help an opponent snowball if they’re the one attacking most often.
- Board wipes and combat shutdown effects can undo the tempo you’re trying to create.
Rule zero notes
- Call out that Ellie creates extra tapped-and-attacking tokens for opponents when they attack your opponents, which can materially change combat math and table politics.
- If you’re pairing Ellie via Partner—Survivors, disclose the partner and resulting color identity upfront since it can drastically change the deck’s texture.
- If your list leans into sacrifice/death-trigger payoffs or mass removal to exploit the extra bodies, mention that plan before the game.
- Be clear about how you plan to avoid kingmaking if one opponent is benefiting more than others from the extra attackers.
Matchups
Best into
- Creature-heavy midrange pods that win through combat and board presence
- Tables where players routinely attack and block instead of holding back
- Decks that try to turtle behind a single defender rather than interacting broadly
Struggles against
- Fast combo pods that don’t need to attack to win
- Heavy control shells that can repeatedly answer your commander and reset the board
- Pillowfort-style setups that discourage combat across the table
Recent public decks
Staples
Browse all public decksFAQ
Who creates and controls the Cordyceps Infected token?
The attacking player creates it, and they control it; it enters tapped and attacking the same opponent they attacked.
Does Ellie trigger when someone attacks me?
No. Ellie only triggers when a player attacks one of your opponents, not when they attack you.
What if a player attacks multiple opponents in the same combat?
Ellie can trigger for each of your opponents that player attacks, creating a token attacking each such opponent.
Can I build Ellie as more than just a political commander?
Yes, but with very limited public data it varies; some builds may use token bodies as fuel for sacrifice/value engines (for example, cards like Bastion of Remembrance appear in at least one list).
How does Partner—Survivors change deckbuilding?
It lets you run a second commander with the same ability, which can add colors and give you a clearer engine or payoff package depending on the partner you choose.