Quasiduplicate is a sorcery spell from Magic the Gathering’s Guilds of Ravnica set. In January 2024, it was reprinted in Ravnica Remastered. This three-mana spell not only can clone one of your creatures, but it also has the Jump-start mechanic. This mechanic was new to Guilds of Ravnica, allowing you to cast a spell from the graveyard by paying its mana cost plus discarding a card.

Because of its Jump-start ability, Quasiduplicate is very similar to an older instant spell from Innistrad called Cackling Counterpart. That card was functionally better in that you could play it at instant speed and was still a three-mana spell. It also had flashback for 5UU (seven mana). While it never saw much competitive Standard play, Cackling Counterpart did find its way into a few Delver decks.

But, what makes Quasiduplicate better than Cackling Counterpart is that it essentially can use flashback for only three mana. You do have to discard a card, but it could be a card you don’t even need, like an extra land. Seven mana was just too much for a commitment for a clone in Standard or other competitive formats. In this way, Quasiduplicate is better, although it can only be cast at sorcery speed.

What is the best deck for Quasiduplicate?

Dimir Quasiduplicate is a deck that could go on undefeated runs in Guilds of Ravnica Standard on Magic Online. It featured four copies of Quasiduplicate, plus three of the other best clone effect in Standard with Hostage Taker. Your primary targets for your Quasiduplicate and Hostage Takers would be Ravenous Chupacabra, Doom Whisperer,  and Dream Eater.

The Chupacabra helps you clear your opponent’s board, and being able to copy that ability for three mana is really solid. Copying Doom Whisperer gets you a 6/6 trampling flyer for three mana. Dream Eater lets you surveil 4, while also bouncing an opponent’s nonland permanent, and the copy does, too. Getting to throw dead cards from your top 4 in the graveyard and rearrange the order of the rest on top of your deck is already good – doing that plus bouncing something for three mana is absurd.

Quasiduplicate has also been tried out in Izzet Drakes, in order to copy one of your Enigma Drake or Crackling Drake. It’s a decent concept: copying your Crackling Drake draws you a card as well as a powerful attacker. However, this is a case where Quasiduplicate being an instant would make it a lot more relevant in that deck. It’s a bit superfluous in that deck.

Is Quasiduplicate an Infinite Combo With Beamsplitter Mage?

Many Magic players speculated that Quasiduplicate might be a great spell to play alongside with Beamsplitter Mage. While the Mage can copy spells, it doesn’t go infinite with Quasiduplicate. Even if you copy the Beamsplitter Mage, its ability to copy a spell only works on spells being cast, not being copied. Still, can certainly work in the same deck. Still, while a competitive deck utilizing those two at its core is still to be built, but there are some brewing possibilities with Beamsplitter Mage and Quasiduplicate in the same deck.

While Quasiduplicate can’t go infinite with Beamsplitter Mage, it’s a plenty useful spell. There are plenty of creatures with strong enter the battlefield effects that can benefit you with Quasiduplicate making a token copy. 

While it never found its way into Modern, it did make an appearance in Pioneer. In commander…