A good place to start is knowing what kinds of mana-fixing lands are available, since that will decide which color combinations are and arent worth pursuing
First, the ones that can change their own creature type: As I said in my tribal article, this mechanic (designed by Mike Elliott) plays into a common blue theme, the ability to change things
A card such as Spell Pierce you play when you need specific solutions however Force Spike is playable much more generally as a way to improve your early game and tempo capabilities
If you do this exercise to find the "residual" for each card shown above, you get an average of 1.19 "additional MV" to get the cantrip.The cards in this image are sorted by undercostedness: a 1/1 with flying and deathtouch "should" cost 2 MV according to the model
Read More: Tricky Terrain Tricky Terrain appears to embody a Commander favorite: Simic Ramp with copy effects
Vren, the Relentless bends the archetype toward control: it exiles your opponents dying creatures and then hands you a pile of scaling rat tokens at each end step for doing it