Commander blueprint · Star Trek · Preview

How to build Scotty, Miracle Worker

During your main phase Scotty lets you cast any instant or sorcery in your graveyard for its mana cost, as long as you also return another creature you control to your hand. This list is built so the creature going back is one you wanted to cast again, and the spell coming back is one worth casting twice.

Art by Sam Kennedy

Sixteen of the twenty creatures are worth picking up

The return is part of the cost, and it costs most when the creature is only a body. So nearly every creature here has an enters trigger, and picking one up means that trigger happens again the next time you cast it. Fblthp, the Lost draws a card. Aether Channeler draws a card, makes a 1/1 Bird or returns a nonland permanent. Spellseeker searches your library for an instant or sorcery with mana value 2 or less, and 23 of the 33 qualify, Snap and Frantic Search among them. Archaeomancer puts a spell from your graveyard back in your hand. Man-o'-War and Pelia, Immortal Innovator each return a creature, Pelia only an opponent's, and Venser, Shaper Savant can send a spell back from the stack. Cloistered Telepath and Federation Probe each can put a card in your graveyard on the way in, which is fuel for the next cast.

Watcher for Tomorrow pays out twice. It exiles one of the top four cards of your library face down when it enters and gives you that card when it leaves, so returning it to Scotty puts a card in your hand at once, and casting it again hides another. Wait for the hiding to finish before you return it, because a Watcher that leaves first gives you nothing and still exiles a card. It enters tapped, which costs nothing in a list that was never going to attack with a 2/1.

An evoked Mulldrifter comes home instead of dying

Mulldrifter can be cast for with evoke, which draws two cards and then sacrifices it. The sacrifice is a trigger, so it waits on the stack. While it does, cast an instant from your graveyard through Scotty and return Mulldrifter as the cost. The sacrifice finds nothing to sacrifice, you keep both cards, and Mulldrifter is back in your hand to evoke again. It has to be an instant, because the stack is not empty, and it has to be your main phase. Brainstorm, Consider and Thought Scour each cost and are the usual partners.

Cloud of Faeries and Peregrine Drake give back the mana they cost

Cloud of Faeries costs and untaps two lands when it enters. Peregrine Drake costs and untaps five. Recast either one after Scotty returns it and the lands it untaps pay for it, so the spell from the graveyard costs nothing beyond its own mana. With Sapphire Medallion out both creatures cost one less, because they are blue spells, and each recast leaves you a mana ahead. Medallion also takes one generic mana off every blue spell you cast from the graveyard, since a reduction applies to the cost Scotty sets just as it would to a spell from your hand.

Snap and Frantic Search have the same habit. Snap costs and untaps two lands, Frantic Search costs and untaps three, so either is free to cast a second time. Snap also returns a creature of its own, and it can be another of yours. One Snap from the graveyard can pick up Peregrine Drake as the cost and Mulldrifter as its target, and then you cast both of them again.

Phantasmal Image turns that into profit. Cast for as a copy of Peregrine Drake, it untaps five lands, so each time Scotty returns it and you cast it again you finish three mana up. It is sacrificed the moment anything targets it, which matters less than it sounds on a creature you keep picking up anyway.

A token can pay the cost, and the next spell makes another

The creature you return does not have to be a card. A token returned to your hand stops existing, which is all you ask of a creature you are about to give up. Murmuring Mystic makes a 1/1 Bird Illusion whenever you cast an instant or sorcery, and Talrand, Sky Summoner makes a 2/2 Drake. Cast one spell from your hand with either of them out and you have a token to return for the first spell from your graveyard, and that spell makes the token for the one after it. The Bird from Aether Channeler and the Construct tokens from Metallurgic Summonings work the same way. Keep the 2/2 Drakes for attacking and spend the 1/1s.

Four creatures should stay where they are. Murmuring Mystic, Talrand, Archmage Emeritus and Mr. Spock, Science Officer do nothing when they enter, so returning one of them is the worst trade in the list. Archmage Emeritus draws a card for each instant and sorcery you cast, the ones from your graveyard included, and Mr. Spock makes each of those draws two cards instead of one.

Your main phase only, so counterspells need another way back

Scotty grants beam me up during your main phase and at no other time. Instants still work then, at any moment you could cast one, so you can answer a response on your own turn. On an opponent's turn every counterspell in your graveyard is out of reach, and the list handles that three ways.

The first is counterspells that do something else as well. Cryptic Command can tap every creature your opponents control and draw a card before you attack. Mystic Confluence can draw three cards, or return a creature and draw two. Archmage's Charm can make you draw two, or take an opponent's nonland permanent with mana value 1 or less, Sol Ring and the other one mana rocks included. The second mode of Consider the Prime Directive taps a creature, puts a stun counter on it and draws you a card. Each of those modes is one you want on your own turn, so a counterspell spent on somebody else's turn still has a job when it comes back.

The second is Snapcaster Mage. It has flash and gives an instant or sorcery in your graveyard flashback until the end of the turn, which makes it the only way to cast Counterspell or Arcane Denial from the graveyard on another player's turn. By your next main phase it is a 2/1 with an enters trigger, ready to be picked up like the rest. Archaeomancer covers the same gap from the other side by putting a counterspell back in your hand to hold up.

The third is Rewind. It counters a spell and untaps four lands, so from the graveyard it costs nothing, and your main phase is when opponents tend to answer what you are doing. The return also protects your creatures. When an opponent points instant speed removal at one of them during your main phase, cast any instant from your graveyard and return that creature as you cast it. A cost cannot be responded to, and the removal finds nothing when it tries to resolve.

Scotty is the one creature he cannot rescue

His own text forbids returning him to pay for beam me up, so the trick that saves everything else in the list does nothing for him. Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots stop targeted removal before it starts, and shroud costs him little, because the list hardly ever needs to target him itself. Fierce Guardianship is free from your hand while he is on the battlefield and counters any noncreature spell, and Counterspell, Arcane Denial and Swan Song cover the rest. If he dies anyway, the graveyard is still full when he returns. Each cast from the command zone adds two to his cost, so the second cast is five mana and the third is seven.

Thirty three instants and sorceries, several of which bring others into the graveyard

Scotty does nothing with an empty graveyard, and the cheapest way to fill one is to draw into it. Thought Scour mills two of your own cards before it draws. Consider looks at the top card and can bin it. Strategic Planning keeps one of three and sends the other two to the graveyard. Test of Priorities surveils two and then draws. Fact or Fiction puts whichever pile you leave into the graveyard, so the split an opponent hopes will hurt you is fuel whichever pile you take. Frantic Search draws two and discards two, and the two it discards are often the next things you cast. Cephalid Coliseum, once seven cards are there, can make you draw three and discard three.

Twenty three of the 33 cost two mana or less, and the six sorceries are all cheap enough to share a main phase with something else. Gitaxian Probe carries a Phyrexian blue symbol in its mana cost, and that symbol carries over to the graveyard, so its second cast costs 2 life and a creature.

Energize and Open Communications are cheaper through Scotty than on their own

Two cards in the set already have beam me up printed on them. Energize returns an opponent's creature for , and its own beam me up costs . Open Communications draws a card for , and its own costs . Scotty gives both of them a second beam me up at the card's mana cost, and you choose which one you are using as you cast it, so from the graveyard Energize costs and Open Communications costs , the same as from your hand. The printed versions still earn their place on the turns Scotty is in the command zone.

Two High Tides make every Island three mana

High Tide costs and, until the end of the turn, makes every Island add an extra when it is tapped for mana, whoever taps it. Cast it from your hand, then again from the graveyard through Scotty, and both apply, so every Island taps for three. Thirty one of the 35 lands are Islands, the 30 basics and Mystic Sanctuary. Under two High Tides, Cloud of Faeries untapping two Islands is six mana and Peregrine Drake untapping five is fifteen. Turnabout untaps every land you control, and Frantic Search and Snap untap three and two.

That is the turn this list wins on. Aetherflux Reservoir gains you 1 life for each spell you have cast that turn every time you cast another, so the fifth spell of a turn gains 5 and the tenth gains 10, and once you are above 50 life it can deal 50 damage to any target. Talrand's Drakes and Murmuring Mystic's Birds are the slower route, a flying army built out of the same spells.

Treasure Cruise, Time Warp and Lier stay out

Three cards look made for this deck and are not in it. Treasure Cruise and the other delve spells pay for themselves by exiling cards from your graveyard, and those cards are the spells Scotty was going to cast. Time Warp from your hand and then from the graveyard is two extra turns in a row, and brackets 2 and 3 both ask you never to chain extra turns. Lier, Disciple of the Drowned gives every instant and sorcery in your graveyard flashback on any turn, which covers the gap in Scotty's text, but it also says spells can't be countered, and that switches off nine counterspells in this list.

Thirty seven blue sources for a commander with two blue in his cost

Every land but Reliquary Tower taps for blue, and Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone and High Tide bring the count to 37. That finds a first blue source by turn two in 98 percent of games on the play and a second one by turn three 91.6 percent of the time, just over the ninety percent you want. Scotty is one of thirteen cards here asking for two blue, Counterspell and Cryptic Command among the others, and the average mana value is 2.48.

Reliquary Tower is the exception for a reason: Archmage Emeritus and Mr. Spock can push you past seven cards in a single turn. Mystic Sanctuary's trigger puts a spell from your graveyard on top of your library, so save it for a counterspell you would rather draw again than leave where Scotty can only reach it on your turn. Otawara, Soaring City is a land when you need one and a bounce spell from your hand when you do not, and every legendary creature you control, Scotty included, makes that bounce one mana cheaper.

The core list

Scotty and the ninety nine around him, each card costed at the cheapest paper printing on sale. Hover a name to see which printing that is.

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Cheaper fodder at bracket 2, and a loop at bracket 4 that does not need him

Both rungs leave the mana engine alone. Cloud of Faeries, Peregrine Drake, High Tide, Snap and Frantic Search are in all three lists, and so are Murmuring Mystic and Talrand, Sky Summoner. What moves between them is how much each list can find on purpose, and what it does on the turns Scotty is not there.

Nine swaps bring the price down from at least $341.88 to at least $69.32. The three Game Changers leave first, Cyclonic Rift, Rhystic Study and Fierce Guardianship, and the budget list holds none at all. Mr. Spock, Otawara, Aetherflux Reservoir, Spellseeker, Snapcaster Mage and Swan Song are most of the rest of the saving. The replacements keep the graveyard working. Augur of Bolas and Mnemonic Wall are creatures that put a spell in your hand when they enter, so both are still worth picking up. Mission Briefing surveils two and lets you cast one instant or sorcery from your graveyard that turn, and since it is an instant, that can be on any player's turn. It is the budget answer to the main phase limit that Snapcaster Mage used to cover. Docent of Perfection takes over from Aetherflux Reservoir as the finisher. It makes a 1/1 Wizard for every instant and sorcery you cast, and once you control three Wizards it turns into a 6/5 that gives all of them +2/+1 and flying. Merfolk Looter fills the graveyard every turn it untaps, and Dive Down, Mana Leak and Aetherize take over protection and the sweeper from Fierce Guardianship, Swan Song and Cyclonic Rift. Lonely Sandbar is the one land in all three lists that always enters tapped, and it cycles for when a card is worth more.

Nine different swaps lead up to bracket 4, at a cost of at least $779.28 and with eight Game Changers aboard. Mana Vault and Ancient Tomb can put Scotty out a turn early, Force of Will and Mana Drain take the places of Arcane Denial and Swan Song, and Mystical Tutor puts any instant or sorcery on top of your library, with High Tide the usual pick before a big turn. Mystic Remora and The One Ring draw cards without needing the graveyard at all.

The loop is what makes this rung bracket 4 rather than a stronger 3. Ghostly Flicker exiles two of your artifacts, creatures or lands and returns them at once. Aim it at Peregrine Drake and Archaeomancer, or Mnemonic Wall: the Drake untaps five lands and Archaeomancer returns Ghostly Flicker to your hand. The Flicker costs three, so each lap leaves you two mana up and casts one more instant, which is another Bird, another Drake and another card from Archmage Emeritus, as many times as you want. Aetherflux Reservoir is still in this list, and a long enough loop turns it into 50 damage at a time. None of it needs Scotty, so the deck still wins with him in the command zone. Bring it to a table that plays at that speed and nowhere else.

FAQ

Can Scotty, Miracle Worker cast creature spells from the graveyard?

No. Only instants and sorceries can be cast with beam me up. Every card in your graveyard has the ability during your main phase, but a creature, artifact, enchantment or land card cannot use it, so Scotty brings back instants and sorceries and never permanents.

Can Scotty return himself to pay the beam me up cost?

No. His text says Scotty can't be beamed up to cast a spell this way, so the creature you return has to be another one you control. Tokens count, and a token returned to your hand simply stops existing, which makes Murmuring Mystic's Birds and Talrand's Drakes free fuel.

Is Scotty, Miracle Worker good?

He is a strong engine for a player who likes cheap instants and creatures with enters triggers, and a weak one for anyone hoping to recast big spells. Each cast from the graveyard costs the spell's full mana cost plus a creature, and only on your own turn, so he does most for a deck in which both halves of that cost are things it wanted to pay anyway.

Does Scotty let you cast spells from your graveyard on an opponent's turn?

No, only during your own main phase. Instants still work at any point in that phase you could cast one, including in response to an opponent's spell, but once your main phase ends the graveyard is closed until your next one. Snapcaster Mage is the list's way around that.

Can you overload Cyclonic Rift through Scotty?

No. Casting through beam me up means paying the beam me up cost instead of the spell's mana cost, and a spell can only use one alternative cost. Overload is another one, so a Cyclonic Rift from the graveyard costs and returns a single nonland permanent. Kicker is an additional cost and still works, so Into the Roil and Blink of an Eye can still draw their card on the second cast.

How much does this Scotty deck cost?

At least $341.88 for the core list with every card bought at its cheapest paper printing. Seven Star Trek cards in it have no price yet, so that is a minimum, and the two new cards that are priced are preorder figures. Cutting down to the budget rung brings it to at least $69.32, and going up to bracket 4 raises it to at least $779.28.

What bracket is this Scotty, Miracle Worker deck?

The core list cannot sit below bracket 3, since Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift and Fierce Guardianship are Game Changers. The budget rung has none, and the bracket 4 rung has eight plus an infinite loop with Ghostly Flicker. Scotty is not a Game Changer today, but Wizards only revises that list when the brackets are updated, so all three numbers are floors that could rise.

When will Scotty, Miracle Worker be legal in Commander?

On 13 November 2026, when Star Trek is released. Until then a deck checker will reject him and the eight other new cards in this list because they are not out yet. Nothing about any of them is banned.