Blink decks win by reusing enters-the-battlefield abilities until value becomes inevitability. Each flicker is a card's effect bought ag...
Blink decks win by reusing enters-the-battlefield abilities until value becomes inevitability. Each flicker is a card's effect bought again for almost nothing, and the deck's creatures are chosen for what they do on arrival, not for their bodies. Protect the blink engines and the value never stops. This deck tech walks through the archetype's core pieces using real cards, so you can build, upgrade, or play against it with your eyes open.
Core pieces, in real cards
Ephemerate (mana cost {W}; Instant; rarity: common; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Modern Horizons): Exile target creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.) Flickerwisp (mana cost {1}{W}{W}; Creature — Elemental; 3/1; rarity: uncommon; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Double Masters 2022): Flying
When this creature enters, exile another target permanent. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step. Yorion, Sky Nomad (mana cost {3}{W/U}{W/U}; Legendary Creature — Bird Serpent; 4/5; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths): Companion — Your starting deck contains at least twenty cards more than the minimum deck size. (If this card is your chosen companion, you may put it into your hand from outside the game for {3} as a sorcery.)
Flying
When Yorion enters, exile any number of other nonland permanents you own and control. Return those cards to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step.
Notice what those cards have in common: each one either advances the plan by itself or multiplies a teammate. That is the test for every slot in the archetype — a card that only works when everything else is already working is a win-more card, and win-more cards are where cuts come from.
Build and check your list with the MTGBrew AI deck builder, and browse every card mentioned here in the MTGBrew card database on MTGBrew.
How the games actually play out
Every slot should argue for itself against the card it replaced. Test a new inclusion through the deck's normal sequence — early development, mid-game pressure, late-game closing — and notice where it helps and where it sits dead. Cards that only shine in the best case are the first cuts when a proven role-player needs the slot back.
If this topic is on your bench, keep going with Cyclonic Rift in Commander: The Overload Board Reset — it covers the neighbouring decisions from a different angle, and the two pieces together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.
Keep reading
Keep reading: Cyclonic Rift in Commander: The Overload Board Reset and Precon Upgrade Guide: Zimone, Mystery Unraveler — What to Cut, What to Add, by Role.
Tuning the list
Protect the plan, but do not smother it. A small protection package earns its keep when your commander or engine is the target; beyond that, extra protection dilutes the very strategy it guards. Run enough answers to stop a game-ending threat, and spend the remaining slots moving your own plan forward.
When you are ready to build your own version, start from a budget you are comfortable with and hold the line on it — the builder at MTGBrew's AI deck builder treats your budget as a hard rule, which is exactly how a real brew should behave.
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