Spells you cast from your graveyard or from exile cost less to cast.
Plotting cards from your hand costs less.
Doc Aurlock turns alternate casting zones into a discount engine—plot cards cheaply on early turns, then unleash them for free, and recast spells from your graveyard or exile at a steep discount. You durdle in the first few turns stockpiling plotted spells and graveyard fuel, then explode in card and spell advantage to bury opponents in value and big plays.
Powerful repeatable cost reduction on flashback, escape, foretell, adventure, and plot cards
Stacks with itself—plot for less, then those spells cast from exile also get reductions on other costs
Cheap two-mana commander that comes down early and snowballs value
Simic gives access to elite ramp, card draw, and recursion
Reductions don't help hard-cast-from-hand spells, so a clunky early hand can stall
Heavily commander-dependent; getting Doc removed repeatedly slows the whole engine
Grindy and slow—can be outraced by dedicated combo or aggro decks
Lacks built-in evasion or a direct wincon; needs the deck to supply finishers
Flashback to copy your best creature twice, both halves discounted by Doc.
Lean into a tight spellslinger-combo core—add Underworld Breach with rituals and zero/one-cost spells for a true combo kill, plus Brain Freeze or a mill payoff. Improve mana with fast rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, Mana Vault) and dual lands so you can cast Doc turn one and still hold up interaction. Round out with strong card selection (Brainstorm, Mystic Remora) and protection (Heroic Intervention, Swan Song) to keep your engine commander online.