Spark Double in Commander.

[Brosmanj]

While looking through a good portion of Commander decks I have seen that most Commander decks that have blue access do not play Spark Double. Why is this? I am running it in every deck I own with blue in it except for Slivers because I haven't found the time to just find a spot for it and the deck runs smooth AF as is, but other that that I have tried to implement that card into any deck I can. To me its essentially an extra commander at the least and in a format where your commander is key, isn't it better to have two of them on the field instead of one? Not to mention the fact that it can copy a Planeswalker as well that alone should be enough to want to run it. Am I missing something on this card that makes it worse than what it seems? Should this be considered a staple in blue commander decks? 

[ApothecaryGeist]

Clones, in general, do not get a ton of play in commander.  I also feel like they are underrated.  When people do use "clones", they tend to use the ones with a little more utility - Evil Twin for removal, Phyrexian Metamorph to clone artifacts, Clever Impersonator to copy any permanent, Progenitor Mimic to keep getting copies. 


If you're just going for a straight up copy.  Spark Double is a fine option.  I also like Stunt Double to get a copy at instant speed.  And I like Body Double to get a copy from the grave.

[Xaarvaxus]

Spark Double is a perfectly legit card but not every commander benefits that much from having a second copy in play.  I run it in my Atraxa Superfriends deck because doubling up Atraxa's proliferate trigger is exactly what the deck wants to be doing as well as having 15+ planeswalkers to copy.  But I feel it would be a suboptimal draw in my Tasigur deck because having a second copy of him doesn't result in doubling up his power, in fact the mana used to cast the Double is an activation of his ability wasted.  And while I do have 2 planeswalkers to copy, they're more for troubleshooting than win cons so I don't really need to make another copy.  Not being able to target opponents' creatures and planeswalkers is also a significant downside.  So for Tasigur, I think I'd be more likely to run Clever Impersonator or Phyrexian Metamorph for the flexibility [if I were to run a clone effect at all].

[ApothecaryGeist]

Back to the original question ...


Clones used to be a bit more prevalent before the Legend rule change.  It used to be that there could only be ONE of any given legendary on the battlefield at a time.  Phantasmal Image was a very popular commander spot removal card.


Then the rule changed to permit each player to have a copy of the same legendary.  Clones became less popular.