Silverquill Superiority (EDH / Commander)

Killian, Ink Duelist is an impressive uncommon from the powerful set Strixhaven: School of Mages. Two mana for a 2/2 with Lifelink and Menace is already a premium, but his real power comes from his ability to reduce all of our spells CMC by (2) generic mana - as long as they target a creature.

Killian naturally lends himself to a strategy including auras, since his two relevant keywords + cost reduction on pumps quickly makes him a huge beat stick. Auras like Holy Mantle and Mantle of the Ancients can suddenly come down easily on turn 3, the turn after we cast Killian. Should we cast Killian on a later turn, we can also buff him up immediately with little to no cost.

Furthermore, Killian reduces the cost of our targeted creature removal spells, making cards like Crib Swap viable/good, and stables like Generous Gift become 1-mana-answer-everything. This mana reduction, and the low mana curve of the deck (about 2.7 not including MDFC's), means we can also skimp a little on our ramp inclusions.