Over the years, copy effects in Magic: The Gathering have become notorious for enabling a wide range of combos, especially in Commander. Though a lot of these cards are well-known and well-played, there are some powerful options that have managed to fly under the radar in the format. Minion Reflector, for example, is a powerhouse MTG copy engine from nearly two decades ago, offering an effect that can generate huge value and close out games.
Minion Reflector MTG
As a potentially potent copy engine, Minion Reflector is naturally excellent alongside most creatures with powerful enters abilities. Paired with the likes of Eternal Witness and Loran of the Third Path, for example, it essentially doubles your valuable triggers. Throw in cards like Panharmonicon, and you can quadruple them instead, turning every creature dropped into a major event.
Though the two mana requirement on Minion Reflector does make it tricky to use, cards like Mana Echoes can help offset that. You can then mix in token doublers, like Anointed Procession, to get even more bang for your buck here. Add in cheap ways to copy your tokens in play, like Determined Iteration and Esika’s Chariot, and you can create a serious swarm of any creature you’d like.
You can even keep these copies around for good by dodging the pesky end step sacrifice trigger on Minion Reflector using Sundial of the Infinite or Obeka, Brute Chronologist. Alternatively, you can include sacrifice outlets like Ashnod’s Altar and Greater Good, to cash your tokens in before they die to their own unfortunate triggers.
Doubling Down
As with any MTG copy effect worth its salt, Minion Reflector enables a healthy suite of infinite combos. Paired with Worldgorger Dragon and two open lands, for instance, it lets you create an infinite blink loop by creating a second Worldgorger to exile the original. This can win on the spot with any damaging creature like Orcish Bowmasters, or with Mount Doom if you have enough mana to work with.
You can also make infinite tokens with Minion Reflector, alongside Peregrine Drake and Shrieking Drake. Resolve Drake’s trigger first, untapping five lands, then spend two of that mana to copy it, netting you another five mana. This gives you eight mana total, which is enough to cast and copy Shrieking Drake, bouncing both original creatures and leaving you two Hasty tokens up for each iteration of the loop.
If infinite death triggers are more your bag, Minion Reflector can get you those too with the help of Samwise the Stouthearted and Aluren. Copying Sam and letting the original die to the legend rule will let you recur the original to your hand with the copy’s ability. You can then repeatedly cast and recur Sam for free, due to Aluren, for an easy kill with Blood Artist or any similar effect.
An Overlooked Copy Classic
Despite its wide-ranging applications and the enduring popularity of other copy effects in the format, Minion Reflector doesn’t see much play at all in Commander. According to EDHREC data, in fact, only around 5,170 decks include the card. While some Commanders, like The Master, Multiplied, run it reliably, it has untapped potential far beyond that.
On the bright side, this low popularity means that Minion Reflector is a very affordable card to pick up, especially for a single-printing rare. You can grab near-mint copies of the card for just $1.89 on TCGplayer right now, with foils still very reasonable at $4.20. At these prices, Minion Reflector is an easy way to spice up a ton of different Commander decks.
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