TLDR
Rasputin Dreamweaver is a strange old Azorius commander that turns dream counters into colorless mana. Blink effects reset those counters, which lets the deck jump from “cute Legends card” to “why do you have 21 mana?” pretty fast.
The best MTG Rasputin Dreamweaver blink Commander deck is usually built around flicker spells, ETB creatures, colorless mana outlets, and a few compact combo lines. It is not the cleanest Azorius commander. That is part of the fun.
Build Rasputin if you like obscure cards, old-card text, blink engines, and Commander decks that make the table read your commander twice.
Rasputin Dreamweaver looks like a card someone found in a shoebox, read aloud, and then slowly realized it might be broken with the right nonsense. Six mana. Four power. One toughness. Seven dream counters. Colorless mana. Damage prevention. A self-refill clause. A rule about not having more than seven dream counters. Normal stuff. Very clean.
That is the charm of building an MTG Rasputin Dreamweaver blink Commander deck. It is not just another Azorius value pile. It is a mana engine wearing a 1994 disguise.
Rasputin sits in a nice little Commander pocket: obscure enough that most tables will not have a prepared opinion, but strong enough that the deck can absolutely run away with the game. Blink him once and you get a fresh seven dream counters. Blink him repeatedly and suddenly your “fragile old wizard” starts powering Eldrazi, X-spells, loops, and the kind of turn where everyone asks how much mana you have and you answer with a shrug.
Why Rasputin Dreamweaver Is A Real Commander
Rasputin Dreamweaver enters with seven dream counters. You can remove a dream counter to add colorless mana, or remove one to prevent damage to Rasputin. He also has a upkeep clause that can slowly restore dream counters if he started the turn untapped.
That is already interesting, but Commander does not reward “interesting” by itself. The real reason to play Rasputin is that blink effects reset him.
When Rasputin leaves the battlefield and comes back, he returns as a new object with seven dream counters. That means your blink cards become mana rituals. A simple Ephemerate can turn into a burst of colorless mana across multiple turns. A repeatable blink engine can become a full combo.
That gives Rasputin three jobs:
- Ramp commander: Cast him, cash in counters, and jump into larger spells.
- Blink payoff: Reset him with flicker effects to keep the mana flowing.
- Combo piece: Pair him with repeatable blink cards to make infinite or near-infinite mana.
He is not efficient in the modern “three-mana commander that draws cards immediately” sense. He is an old machine with sharp edges. But if you build around those edges, Rasputin does something very few commanders do.
The Core Game Plan
A Rasputin blink deck usually plays in three stages.
First, you develop mana and set up your blink pieces. This is still a six-mana commander deck, so you want rocks, lands, and cheap interaction. Do not get too cute early. If you spend the first four turns casting cards that only work after Rasputin is in play, you may simply do nothing and die politely.
Second, you cast Rasputin and turn dream counters into a big turn. This can be as simple as casting Rasputin, removing several counters, then playing Teleportation Circle, Conjurer’s Closet, or another value piece. Or it can be more explosive: Rasputin into blink spell, blink spell into more mana, more mana into a large draw spell or threat.
Third, you close with a mana outlet, combo loop, or big threat. Azorius does not usually smash people with giant combat steps, but Rasputin lets you cheat on mana in a way that makes your finishers matter.
A good build should not rely on only one line. You want fair value, semi-fair mana bursts, and at least one clean way to end the game once the engine is online.
Best Blink Cards For Rasputin
The blink package is the heart of the deck. You want a mix of cheap one-shot flicker spells, repeatable engines, and combo pieces.
The cheap spells are your glue:
- Ephemerate
- Cloudshift
- Essence Flux
- Momentary Blink
- Ghostly Flicker
- Eerie Interlude
These cards protect Rasputin from removal, reset his dream counters, and reuse your ETB creatures. Ephemerate is especially good because rebound gives you another reset later.
Then you want repeatable blink:
- Teleportation Circle
- Conjurer’s Closet
- Thassa, Deep-Dwelling
- Soulherder
- Displacer Kitten
- Deadeye Navigator
- Eldrazi Displacer
This is where Rasputin starts acting less like a ramp spell and more like a deck engine. Teleportation Circle and Conjurer’s Closet are clean value cards. Thassa adds selection and blink pressure. Soulherder grows while blinking. Displacer Kitten can turn noncreature spells into resets. Deadeye Navigator and Eldrazi Displacer are the cards that start making combo players lean forward.
The important thing is not to overfill the deck with blink cards and forget the rest. Blink is only good when it has something worth blinking. Rasputin is one target. Your ETB creatures are the rest.
The Best ETB Creatures
Rasputin wants creatures that do something when they enter. That way, your blink cards are live even when Rasputin is not available.
The clean value package looks like this:
- Mulldrifter for cards.
- Solemn Simulacrum for ramp and cards.
- Archaeomancer for spell recursion.
- Mnemonic Wall for more spell recursion.
- Peregrine Drake for mana.
- Skyclave Apparition for removal.
- Reflector Mage for tempo.
- Agent of Treachery if your table can handle it.
- Spirited Companion if you want cheaper card flow.
- Wall of Omens if you like old-school value.
Peregrine Drake deserves special attention because it overlaps with your combo plan. It untaps lands, works with blink spells, and gives you another path to absurd mana. Archaeomancer and Mnemonic Wall also matter because they can rebuy Ghostly Flicker, Ephemerate, or other key spells.
A Rasputin deck should feel like an Azorius blink deck first and a Rasputin combo deck second. That keeps you from folding when your commander gets removed twice.
Combo Lines Worth Building Around
You do not need to make Rasputin a full combo deck, but you should understand the main lines.
Rasputin + Eldrazi Displacer
This is the classic line. Rasputin makes colorless mana by removing dream counters. Eldrazi Displacer uses colorless mana to blink a creature. If Rasputin has enough dream counters, Displacer can blink him, he returns with seven counters, and the loop repeats.
That can generate infinite colorless mana, infinite ETB triggers, and infinite blink triggers.
The catch is that Eldrazi Displacer needs true colorless mana, not generic mana from any source. Rasputin supplies that. Your lands and rocks should also help. This is where cards like Adarkar Wastes, Mystic Gate, Thought Vessel, Sol Ring, Ancient Tomb, Eldrazi Temple, and Urza’s Saga become more interesting.
Rasputin + Deadeye Navigator
Deadeye Navigator can pair with Rasputin and repeatedly blink him. This is expensive to set up, but Rasputin helps pay for the activations. Once the loop is established, you can generate a lot of colorless mana, and with the right board, that can become infinite or close enough for Commander purposes.
Deadeye is fragile because it asks for a creature to stick and the soulbond pair to survive. But if it does, the ceiling is high.
Ghostly Flicker + Archaeomancer Effects
Ghostly Flicker can blink two targets. If one of them is Archaeomancer or Mnemonic Wall, you can return Ghostly Flicker to your hand. Add enough mana-positive pieces and you get a repeatable loop.
Rasputin helps by producing the colorless mana needed to keep the chain moving. Peregrine Drake can also join this package by untapping lands.
This line is useful because the individual cards are not dead. Archaeomancer rebuying a counterspell is fine. Ghostly Flicker protecting two creatures is fine. Peregrine Drake ramping you is fine. Put them together and the deck gets dangerous.
What Do You Do With All The Mana?
Making mana is cute. Winning matters.
Rasputin decks need outlets. Otherwise you will generate 30 colorless mana and cast a Solemn Simulacrum with confidence.
Good finishers and outlets include:
- Blue Sun’s Zenith
- Stroke of Genius
- Walking Ballista
- Staff of Domination
- Finale of Revelation
- Approach of the Second Sun
- Aetherflux Reservoir
- Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
- Kozilek, Butcher of Truth
- Kozilek, the Great Distortion
The Eldrazi route is clean because Rasputin makes colorless mana anyway. It also gives your deck a way to win without needing a perfect loop. Sometimes the plan really is: make too much mana, cast Ulamog, ask the table to solve it.
X-draw spells are more combo-oriented. Blue Sun’s Zenith can draw your deck or deck an opponent if you have enough mana. Stroke of Genius does a similar job. Walking Ballista is the most direct colorless mana payoff, though it tends to make your endgame very clear.
Interaction And Protection
Rasputin is a six-mana 4/1. That toughness number is not a typo. Protect him.
You want a normal Azorius control shell around the blink engine:
- Swords to Plowshares
- Path to Exile
- Generous Gift
- Cyclonic Rift
- Swan Song
- Counterspell
- Arcane Denial
- Fierce Guardianship
- Teferi’s Protection
- Flawless Maneuver
Blink spells also double as protection. If someone aims removal at Rasputin, a Cloudshift can save him and reset his counters. That is the kind of overlap you want.
You do not need to counter everything. You need to counter the cards that stop your engine or kill you before your six-mana commander matters. That usually means board wipes at bad times, graveyard hate if you lean on Archaeomancer loops, and instant-speed removal when you commit to Deadeye or Displacer.
Mana Base And Ramp
Rasputin costs six, so the deck needs real ramp. Do not rely on your commander to be your only mana plan. You have to cast him first.
Use the usual rocks:
- Sol Ring
- Arcane Signet
- Azorius Signet
- Talisman of Progress
- Thought Vessel
- Mind Stone
- Fellwar Stone
- Thran Dynamo
- Worn Powerstone
You also want lands that support colorless costs without ruining your Azorius mana:
- Adarkar Wastes
- Ancient Tomb
- Urza’s Saga
- Eldrazi Temple
- Mystic Gate
- Command Tower
- Hallowed Fountain
- Prairie Stream
- Glacial Fortress
- Flooded Strand
You do not need every expensive land. The deck works at different budgets. But colorless sources get better than usual because Eldrazi Displacer and your big threats care about them.
Budget Notes And Proxy Testing
Rasputin Dreamweaver is an old card, and some of the stronger support cards are not cheap either. That makes this a good deck to test before buying.
A proxy test helps answer the important questions:
- Do you actually like the deck’s play pattern?
- Is the combo package too strong for your table?
- Do you need more fair ETB value?
- Are you running enough colored mana?
- Are your finishers too clunky?
For this article, this proxy printing page is the best fit from the site list. A Rasputin deck is exactly the kind of Commander project where proxy testing makes sense: old commander, strange engine, lots of possible packages, and a few pricey cards that you may not want to buy until the list feels right.
I’d proxy the first draft, play a handful of games, then make real cuts. Rasputin lists can look brilliant on paper and feel too slow in practice. Or the opposite: you may find out your table is not ready for repeatable blink plus big mana.
A Clean Starter Shell
Here is a simple way to think about your first Rasputin build.
| Category | Count | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Ramp | 10-12 | Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Thought Vessel |
| Blink effects | 10-14 | Ephemerate, Ghostly Flicker, Teleportation Circle, Eldrazi Displacer |
| ETB creatures | 12-16 | Mulldrifter, Archaeomancer, Peregrine Drake, Solemn Simulacrum |
| Interaction | 10-12 | Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, Generous Gift |
| Mana outlets | 4-7 | Blue Sun’s Zenith, Walking Ballista, Eldrazi threats |
| Card draw/filtering | 8-10 | Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Ponder, Fact or Fiction |
| Lands | 36-38 | Mix of Azorius fixing and colorless utility |
That gives you enough structure to avoid the classic blink-deck trap: too many enablers, not enough payoffs.
Cards I Would Avoid At First
Not every blink-adjacent card belongs here.
I would be careful with expensive cards that only blink once and do not protect you. I would also avoid filling the deck with huge colorless spells unless you have enough ramp to cast them without Rasputin. Your commander helps, but you should not build a deck that collapses if Rasputin costs eight or ten.
I’d also avoid too many cute dream-counter cards unless they actually do something. Dream counters are fun because Rasputin uses them, not because “dream” is a full Commander theme. There are not enough strong dream-counter payoffs to make that the whole deck.
And I would not start with every possible infinite combo. Pick two or three. Build the rest of the deck so it can play. You can always add more nonsense later. Commander will provide opportunities. It always does.
My Recommended Version
My favorite Rasputin build is Azorius blink-control with two compact combo lines and a few big mana outlets.
The core would be:
- Rasputin Dreamweaver as the commander.
- Eldrazi Displacer as the cleanest combo piece.
- Ephemerate, Ghostly Flicker, and Displacer Kitten as high-impact blink cards.
- Archaeomancer, Mnemonic Wall, Mulldrifter, and Peregrine Drake as the ETB package.
- Blue Sun’s Zenith, Walking Ballista, and one Eldrazi titan as finishers.
- Enough counterspells to protect the turn that matters.
That version plays real Magic before it combos. It can draw cards, answer threats, blink value creatures, and then pivot into a mana engine when the table gives you a window.
Rasputin is not the smoothest commander in Azorius. Brago is cleaner. Yorion is easier to understand. Abuelo is newer and friendlier. But Rasputin has something they do not: old-card menace. The kind of card where the text box looks like a riddle and the answer is “I make infinite mana with this glowing Eldrazi crab person.”
That is worth building at least once.
FAQs
Is Rasputin Dreamweaver A Good Commander?
Yes, Rasputin Dreamweaver is a good Commander if you like blink, combo, and big mana decks. He is fragile and costs six mana, but his dream counters can produce a lot of colorless mana when paired with flicker effects.
What Is The Best Rasputin Dreamweaver Combo?
The cleanest combo is usually Rasputin Dreamweaver with Eldrazi Displacer. Rasputin makes colorless mana, Eldrazi Displacer blinks Rasputin, and Rasputin returns with seven fresh dream counters.
Is Rasputin Better As Blink Or Control?
Rasputin is best as a blink-control deck. Pure control does not use his dream counters enough, and pure combo can be fragile. Blink-control gives you value, protection, and combo pressure.
What Colors Is Rasputin Dreamweaver In Commander?
Rasputin Dreamweaver has a white-blue color identity, so he is an Azorius commander.
Is Rasputin Dreamweaver Budget-Friendly?
The commander itself and some support cards can be expensive, depending on condition and printing. The deck can be built on a lower budget by replacing premium staples with cheaper blink spells, mana rocks, and X-spell finishers.