The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester | Art by Jesper Ejsing

What's more fun than playing one player's cEDH deck? Well, if you answered playing everybody's cEDH deck, then boy oh boy do I have just the deck for you. Let's take a look at The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester, one of Mystery Booster Commander Edition's most interesting picks for cEDH.

What Does The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester Do?

For , The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester is a legendary 3/2 Clown Wizard creature with two triggered abilities. First, "Whenever The Madcap Jester attacks, each opponent exiles the top card of their library." Second, "Whenever a spell or ability you control causes one or more cards to be exiled from an opponent's library, you may play those cards until the end of your next turn. Mana of any type can be spent to cast spells this way."

While these are two distinct abilities, the first really only makes sense in light of the second. In short, attacking with The Madcap Jester is best comparable to drawing three cards — a pretty sizable resource — although the cards you draw aren't from your own deck. Thankfully, that second triggered ability colorwashes (allows any color of mana to be paid) each card exiled. Facing down a pod of nothing but mono-green decks? Well, The Madcap Jester has got you covered.

Key Cards for The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester

One-Off Exile Effects

Cards in this bucket largely fall into two categories: spells that tutor cards from your opponents' decks, and cards that hit so many cards in one go that they're basically another copy of Ad NauseamAd Nauseam.

As for the first bucket, ExtractExtract is about as clean an example as they come: for , you get to search an opponent's library for a card and exile it. With The Madcap Jester in play, that's basically a cheaper Demonic TutorDemonic Tutor that also colorwashes whatever you search for. Nothing like spending on a NecropotenceNecropotence, rather than .

Looking at the second bucket, the king of burst-exile is Tasha's Hideous LaughterTasha's Hideous Laughter. For , this sorcery has each opponent exile cards from the top of their library until they hit twenty mana's worth of cards exiled this way. With the run-of-the-mill cEDH deck having an average mana value close to two, Tasha's Hideous Laughter will routinely flip as many as thirty nonland cards once it resolves.

Exile Engines

Like all good cEDH decks these days, The Madcap Jester is also stuffed to the brim with its fair share of engines — Rhystic StudyRhystic Study, Mystic RemoraMystic Remora, etc. Sprinkling in some extra synergy are these two exile-based engines: Ashiok effectively draws you three cards a turn thanks to that +2 loyalty ability, while Psychic Surgery allows you to command the table's tutoring efforts. (If an opponent casts Mystical Tutor, for example, Psychic Surgery's exile effect will resolve after Mystical Tutor has placed a card on top of the now-shuffled library.)

How Does The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester Win?

Grixis Good Stuff

At the end of the day, The Madcap Jester is closing out games in the ways Grixis does best: through either an Underworld Breach pile or a Thassa's Oracle and an empty library. That said, the way it assembles those combos is what makes this deck unique.

First, tutors. Think of the one-off exile effects as a unique spin on traditional tutor effects. Every Grixis pile gets Vampiric TutorVampiric Tutor, Imperial SealImperial Seal, etc., but not every Grixis pile gets Extract.

Second, the alt-Ad NauseamAd Nauseam in the form of Tasha's Hideous LaughterTasha's Hideous Laughter. Cards like Ad Nauseam and Necropotence are essentially win conditions in and of themselves, since they provide access to so many cards in a single burst. Tasha's Hideous Laughter is exactly the same thing, with the only caveat being that — every now and again — you will be facing down a deck with cards you can't make much use of. On the whole, however, that is usually balanced by having three opponents and playing in such a powerful set of colors.

The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester cEDH Deck List

Wrap Up

At its core, The Madcap JesterThe Madcap Jester is a midrange Grixis list whose commander supports a few extra tutors and a potentially better Ad NauseamAd Nauseam (at the very least, it won't lose you any life). If that doesn't sound like the makings of a pretty viable cEDH deck, then I don't know what does.