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Elim Garak, Simple Tailor
Legendary Creature — Cardassian Rogue
Menace Whenever you face a dilemma, each opponent loses 2 life and you gain 2 life. (You face a dilemma as you choose one or more modes for a spell or ability.)
3 / 3
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Control
Intermediate
Life drain, Commander damage
Spellslinger, Control
Strategy
Elim Garak, Simple Tailor is a modal-spells-matters commander that punishes your opponents every time you face a dilemma—that is, whenever you choose one or more modes for a spell or ability. He drains each opponent for 2 life while you gain 2, making him a life-swing engine that scales with how many modal spells you play. His menace makes him a respectable threat in the red zone, but the real payoff is in the passive drain.
Build around cards with modal options: commands like Collective Override, Encounter the Unknown, Kobayashi Maru Scenario, and Brazen Bluff turn on Garak's trigger repeatedly. Assimilate effects from Borg creatures also count as facing dilemmas when they're modal, giving you even more triggers. The deck leans control-ish with lifegain, playing interactive instant-speed modal cards to pivot between defense and offense while slowly closing out games via drain.
You're not racing—you're chipping away at your opponents' life totals while staying alive and flexible. Stack multiple modal triggers in a turn (instant-speed modes during opponents' turns) to maximize drains and grind toward victory.
Strategy generated by Tapped Decks AI. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
Key Synergies
Budget Build
Use budget modal staples like Collective Override, Brazen Bluff, and Encounter the Unknown instead of pricey Star Trek cards; core Garak strategy works with any modal spell, so older blue-black modal cantrips and instants work fine.
Signature Cards
Inclusion = % of Elim Garak, Simple Tailor decks running this card. +lift = percentage-point boost over the format average.
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Art Variants
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