At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: Rusko, Clockmaker
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: Dimir draw-go spell-drain control (budget)
- Power tier: competitive
- Competitive Brawl: ⚠️ Not legal — banned/illegal: Rusko, Clockmaker (casual/regular play only)
Not Competitive Brawl-legal
This deck can’t be played in Competitive Brawl — it contains a banned/illegal card: Rusko, Clockmaker. It’s fine for casual/regular play.
Strategy
Rusko conjures a Midnight Clock so every noncreature spell drains an opponent for 1 and gains you 1, and this build keeps that engine humming with the cheapest possible pieces. Nearly every card is an instant, sorcery, artifact, or enchantment, so you play draw-go: counter, kill, and sweep whatever the opponent commits while a wall of common/uncommon cantrips (Preordain, Ponder, Consider, Opt, Night’s Whisper) refills the hand and ticks the clock. Budget spell-matters payoffs turn that volume into a board — Murmuring Mystic and Whispering Wizard pump out flyers, Flux Channeler proliferates, and Trawler Drake grows — while your still-owned bombs (both Kaitos, God-Eternal Kefnet, Sphinx of Forgotten Lore, Eluge, Massacre Wurm) close from the top end. Incidental Rusko drain plus Exsanguinate, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Corrupt let you win without ever attacking.
Upgrade path
This is the playable-now build: zero rare/mythic wildcards spent (the commander Rusko, Clockmaker is already owned). Every slot is an owned card or a freely-craftable common/uncommon. It swaps the ideal’s premium rares/mythics for in-role budget pieces — Counterspell/Sinister Sabotage/Saw It Coming for Archmage’s Charm/Swan Song/Mystic Confluence; Cry of the Carnarium + Golden Demise for Toxic Deluge + The Meathook Massacre; Whispering Wizard/Flux Channeler/Trawler Drake/Faerie Vandal for Talrand/Shark Typhoon/Metallurgic Summonings/Chrome Host Seedshark; owned Massacre Wurm + Consuming Aberration for Sheoldred + Liliana; and Gray Merchant + Corrupt for Aetherflux Reservoir + Torment of Hailfire. The power version at brawl-rusko.json (Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, The One Ring, Aetherflux combo, Sheoldred, Liliana) is the ideal upgrade path as wildcards free up.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 Rusko, Clockmaker
Deck
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Guardian Idol
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Counterspell
1 Drown in the Loch
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Spell Pierce
1 Sinister Sabotage
1 Saw It Coming
1 Make Disappear
1 Fatal Push
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Heartless Act
1 Long Goodbye
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Murder
1 Nameless Inversion
1 Languish
1 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Golden Demise
1 Opt
1 Deduce
1 Consider
1 Preordain
1 Ponder
1 Chart a Course
1 Read the Bones
1 Night's Whisper
1 Frantic Search
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Winged Words
1 Behold the Multiverse
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Murmuring Mystic
1 Whispering Wizard
1 Flux Channeler
1 Trawler Drake
1 Faerie Vandal
1 Mercurial Spelldancer
1 Archmage of Runes
1 Soulblade Djinn
1 Spectral Sailor
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Massacre Wurm
1 God-Eternal Kefnet
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Eluge, the Shoreless Sea
1 Tolarian Terror
1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
1 Daring Waverider
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Corrupt
1 Exsanguinate
1 Command Tower
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Restless Reef
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
18 Island
12 Swamp
Ideal build (upgrade target)
The power-ceiling build (multi-agent workflow output) — every premium payoff and the full combo/synergy package. The current list is the playable-now budget version; craft toward this as your wildcards come in.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 18 (7 mythic, 10 rare, 1 other)
- Mythic: A-The One Ring, Liliana of the Veil, Metallurgic Summonings, Mystic Remora, Rhystic Study, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, The Meathook Massacre
- Rare: Aetherflux Reservoir, Archmage’s Charm, Chrome Host Seedshark, Memory Deluge, Mystic Confluence, Shark Typhoon, Swan Song, Talrand, Sky Summoner, Torment of Hailfire, Toxic Deluge
- Other: Talisman of Dominance
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 Rusko, Clockmaker
Deck
1 Arcane Signet
1 Mind Stone
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Guardian Idol
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Counterspell
1 Archmage's Charm
1 Drown in the Loch
1 Swan Song
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Essence Scatter
1 Negate
1 Mystic Confluence
1 Spell Pierce
1 Fatal Push
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Heartless Act
1 Long Goodbye
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Into the Flood Maw
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Murder
1 Nameless Inversion
1 Languish
1 Toxic Deluge
1 The Meathook Massacre
1 Opt
1 Deduce
1 Chart a Course
1 Read the Bones
1 Frantic Search
1 Thirst for Knowledge
1 Winged Words
1 Memory Deluge
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 A-The One Ring
1 Talrand, Sky Summoner
1 Murmuring Mystic
1 Shark Typhoon
1 Metallurgic Summonings
1 Chrome Host Seedshark
1 Mercurial Spelldancer
1 Archmage of Runes
1 Soulblade Djinn
1 Spectral Sailor
1 God-Eternal Kefnet
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Eluge, the Shoreless Sea
1 Tolarian Terror
1 Sphinx of Forgotten Lore
1 Daring Waverider
1 Aetherflux Reservoir
1 Torment of Hailfire
1 Exsanguinate
1 Command Tower
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Restless Reef
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
19 Island
11 Swamp
Card images & data via Scryfall.