Top-Deck Frequency of The Unspeakable in Commander: Strategy Insights

Top-Deck Frequency of The Unspeakable in Commander: Strategy Insights

In TCG ·

The Unspeakable card art from Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Commander Strategy: The Unspeakable as a top-deck frequency engine

Blue fans, gather 'round 🧙‍♂️—we're looking at a legendary Spirit who strides into your Commander table with a heavy mana cost and a heavier payoff. The Unspeakable arrives on turn nine mana-drilled in with flying and trample, a rare combination that asks opponents to respect a big evasive behemoth. In the context of EDH, this card isn't just a vanilla bomb; it's a deliberate engine for top-deck manipulation and Arcane recursion. When it deals combat damage to a player, you may return target Arcane card from your graveyard to your hand. That clause turns a single swing into a mini-reload button for your Arcane suite 🔮, letting you rebuild your hand from the graveyard while your foes wonder who’s really in control. The flavor text—The rumors are horrifying; the truth is worse.—feels earned, and the art by Daarken adds a quiet mystery to the big blue arrival 🎨.

Why The Unspeakable matters in a top-deck-centric Commander build

Commander decks often chase two things: inevitability and card flow. The Unspeakable sits at an unusual crossroads. Its color identity is unmistakably blue, which means you’re likely to already lean on counters, counterplay, and tempo. But the real payoff is the recursion angle. Arcane cards—like Sift Through Sands, Peer Through Depths, and Reach Through Mists—live in a very Kamigawan sub-theme: a vintage set of spells that reward careful sequencing and graveyard planning. By pairing The Unspeakable with these Arcane staples, you can push for a surprising cadence: you swing, trigger a reclaim, and refill your options on the same turn. It’s not flashy in a single moment, but it compounds beautifully over a long game 🧩.

Top-deck frequency in practice: turn-by-turn pacing

In a typical blue-leaning Commander shell, you’ll want to reach nine mana with as much reliability as possible. Think mana rocks, land-funding plays, and perhaps a dash of a Jeskai-streak tempo if your table permits. Once you top-dice The Unspeakable into play, your next steps are deliberate. You want Arcane cards already in your graveyard, primed to come back to your hand after you land a hit. This makes your top-of-deck outcomes more valuable when you draw into Arcane spells, because each draw can feel like a potential chain-reaction rather than a single, isolated card. The math matters: if you’re seeing Arcane draws more frequently on top, you’ll feel that momentum swing sooner—especially when your opponents are stabilizing their boards 🔎.

“Blue players aren’t supposed to swing big and go home; they’re supposed to swing big, and then rewrite the rules.” 🧙‍♂️🔥

Deck-building notes: crafting the Arcane blue ladder

  • Arcane core: Include Sift Through Sands, Peer Through Depths, and Reach Through Mists to maximize Arcane recursion opportunities. The Unspeakable’s trigger rewards you for having Arcane cards in your graveyard ready to rebound to hand.
  • Graveyard control: Use effects that reliably mill or exile nonessential cards to shape your graveyard toward Arcane synergy, while keeping your library curated enough to hit your top-deck targets.
  • Top-deck tutors and shapers: Cards like Sensei's Divining Top or Scroll Rack can tilt the odds of hitting Arcane plays on the critical turns when you need them most, turning your late game into a controlled storm of draws.
  • A robust counter-suite: On the blue side, plan for permission and tempo to keep opponents from shutting down your top-deck rhythm before you can unleash The Unspeakable’s potential.
  • Late-game finishers: The Unspeakable doubles as a finisher if your mana is clean and you’ve stacked the graveyard with Arcane spells. When you swing and reclaim an Arcane card, you’re not just replacing cards; you’re reloading the arcane engine for another pass 🔥.

Flavor, lore, and art that keep the deck humming

Daarken’s art captures a spectral majesty that suits a card built to cheat knowledge from the dead. The flavor text hints at hush-hush rumors and deeper truths, a perfect mirror for the way Arcane loops feel in a long Commander game. The flavor pairings—flying and trample in blue, plus the arcane-graveyard synergy—offer both a thematic and mechanical thrill: you’re not just playing a big creature; you’re orchestrating a slow, elegant recycle of power 🎲.

In practice, the Unspeakable shines best when your table is already posting a board presence, and you can lean into the inevitability of a ton of card advantage piling up behind the scenes. It’s a reminder that in Commander, the biggest plays aren’t always the loudest. They’re the ones that keep reappearing, turn by turn, while your opponents adjust to new information you pull from the graveyard like a hidden library of possibilities 🧠💎.

With its rare status from the Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might set, The Unspeakable is a thoughtful, late-game pivot that rewards careful build decisions. If you’re drawn to a blue control deck that wants to leverage Arcane culture and a top-deck advantage, this card is a compelling cornerstone. The combination of 9 mana in a blue, 6/7 frame with both flying and trample creates an imposing battlefield presence, while the graveyard-to-hand clause adds an extra layer of inevitability as the game unfolds ⚔️.

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The Unspeakable

The Unspeakable

{6}{U}{U}{U}
Legendary Creature — Spirit

Flying, trample

Whenever The Unspeakable deals combat damage to a player, you may return target Arcane card from your graveyard to your hand.

The rumors are horrifying; the truth is worse.

ID: e956c695-bf0a-430c-a14e-196ae6ab7c9f

Oracle ID: 64e413c9-96e5-43c3-a182-84d53fef4327

Multiverse IDs: 426585

TCGPlayer ID: 129371

Cardmarket ID: 296212

Colors: U

Color Identity: U

Keywords: Flying, Trample

Rarity: Rare

Released: 2017-03-31

Artist: Daarken

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 19372

Penny Rank: 11230

Set: Duel Decks: Mind vs. Might (dds)

Collector #: 13

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — legal

Prices

  • USD: 0.16
  • EUR: 0.19
Last updated: 2025-11-16