Solemn Simulacrum has long been a Commander staple – but is it finally time to send it upstate to a farm? Is it time to wave it into the sunset? Or is it still a sneaky good card, provided you know what to do with it?
SOLEMN SIMULACRUM
Solemn Simulacrum (or Solemn Sim, or simply “Sad Robot”) first released back in 2003’s Mirrodin. It was designed by Jens Thoren for winning the 2002 Magic Invitational, and bears his likeness in the artwork.
It was actually submitted as a UG Elf Wizard, but was changed internally to make it fit into Mirrodin’s artifact focused set. The design certainly feels the most blue and green, but Wizards clearly decided four mana to ramp in colorless was fair enough.
A reprint in Commander 2014 solidified Solemn Simulacrum into the “canon”, and Sad Robot is probably as close to a mascot as Commander is gonna get – Sol Ring doesn’t count. It’s an inanimate object.
You can currently find a Sad Robot in 12% of all Commander decks on EDHRec, and if you look at how many times it’s been printed, you can see it’s still in a great many precon decks as standard. For the longest time, it was a card you’d see in basically every deck that wasn’t able to play Wood Elves and Farhaven Elf. These days, you don’t tend to see it quite as often. What changed?
IS SOLEMN SIMULACRUM A LITTLE SLOW THESE DAYS?
Sad Robot sees a lot less play due to various factors. The overall lowering of mana values in decks means there’s less need to keep ramping once you get to turn four – you’re more often much keener to draw cards so that you can make your land drops. In addition, artifact sweepers aren’t as common as they used to be, so mana rocks have gotten a little better. There’s also the introduction of treasure tokens en-masse to the format, a mana tool that non-green decks have leveraged extremely well.
As it stands, Solemn Sim isn’t as attractive a play as it used to be. You can do a lot more for four mana these days, and you have a lot of other ramp options lower on the curve. Even the full Talisman cycle wasn’t released until we got to the Modern Horizons era, right? Things have changed a lot.
The fact of the matter is that casting a Solemn Simulacrum in Bracket 3 or above can often feel pretty tame compared to what your opponents might be doing.
A SYNERGISTIC SIMULACRUM IS A HAPPY ROBOT
So, if the average deck isn’t reaching for a four mana ramp creature, what kinds of decks are still running our beloved Pepsi Man? Well, outside of colorless decks like Zhulodok and Kozilek, it’s all about running it alongside Commanders that can help you double dip.
In Boros, that’s the Jolly Balloon Man, paying one mana to make a token copy. It’s the Jeskai decks like Satya, Aetherflux Genius who love to get some value as they develop their board. It’s a Bello, Bard of the Brambles deck, who can play it the turn after Bello and immediately have it swing in as a 4/4 indestructible creature that’ll potentially draw another card.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE SIMULACRUM
The other thing that’s changed in recent years is that we’ve had a great many alternatives printed.
Knight of the White Orchid remains as good as ever, and alongside a Professional Face-Breaker, you’re making plenty of mana. There are more direct alternatives, though. Embermouth Sentinel is fantastic in a Dragons deck with a cheap Commander, and one I really love in a Rakdos Chainer, Nightmare Adept Dragons build. You also have The Regalia, a hasty vehicle that just digs until it hits a land. If you have some cool utility lands, it’s worth the gamble.
SOLEMN SIMULACRUM IS NO LONGER AN AUTO-INCLUDE
Solemn Simulacrum – in whatever form – is no longer an auto include. It’s something of a niche pick if you’re trying to optimize your deck, and there might well be better cards you could be running in that slot.
Just looking at a few of my own decks, I don’t run it in Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant Reanimator/Flicker, preferring instead to stick to making my land drops and reanimating lands out of the graveyard with Redemption Choir and Sun Titan. I do run it in my Hofri Ghostforge deck, as I can sacrifice it while Hofri is in play in order to immediately double dip, netting my extra cards as well as extra lands, and setting up Emeria, the Sky Ruin quicker. It’s similar for my Henzie deck – I can blitz it right away, netting me a land and two cards for three mana, which is a great deal.
Ask yourself whether you can double dip on it – and if not, then it’s maybe time to skip it for this build. Which Sad Robot art is your favorite? I’m partial to the Secret Lair one by the Metal Gear Solid artist Yoji Shinkawa.
Kristen is Card Kingdom’s Head Writer and a member of the Commander Format Panel. Formerly a competitive Pokémon TCG grinder, she has been playing Magic since Shadows Over Innistrad, which in her opinion, was a great set to start with. When she’s not taking names with Equipment and Aggro strategies in Commander, she loves to play any form of Limited.