Does Universes Beyond Kill the Game's Magic?

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep" href="#" target="_blank">Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/rutkowski" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grzegorz Rutkowski</a></em></p>
<p>Each color in <em>Magic</em> has its own strengths and weaknesses. This is one of the first things you learn about the game when you start and is what keeps most people playing for years.</p>
<p>A green deck will have more mana than you thought was possible and so many creature tokens that you run out of board space. By turn two they’ll have as many lands on the board as you have in your deck. And every new land will trigger all of their hundreds of +1/+1 counters to double.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Llanowar Elves"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Doubling Season"></div></div>
<p>Though there are certain decks that throw this away and try new things, such as this series suggests. Such green players will control the board state with a non-combat engine, shaping the flow of play and dictating what everyone is and isn’t able to do.</p>
<p>They’ll probably have far too many artifacts and enchantments, to boot.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Deck of Many Things"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The First Iroan Games"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Epic Struggle"></div></div>
<h2>What Is Playing “Out Of Type?”</h2>
<p><em>Magic</em> is a game that doesn’t just allow for, but is fundamentally built around, the idea that each color is “special.” But that doesn’t mean you’re forced to play a specific way. While white has creature removal and black has its ways of gaining life, those are exceptions to the traditional ways of playing.</p>
<p>Red might be good at rush-down aggro strategies, but that doesn’t mean it <em>can't</em> play the long-con. It’s just not what the majority of its cards are designed around.</p>
<p>Playing out of type or “off-color” is throwing away those staple cards the color is known for and focusing on oddities that barely fit within the color pie. It’s less a matter of finding secret sleeper hits and more so turning table scraps into a meal.</p>
<p>And depending on what you grab or how good of cook you are, that can lead to something pretty compelling!</p>
<h2>A Quick Disclaimer</h2>
<p>You probably won’t win doing this, even at non-competitive pods or low brackets. After all, you’re going out of your way to ignore the best cards in your color.</p>
<p>But would you rather play the same rote deck over and over until the meta shifts, or actually have fun trying something new?</p>
<p>To properly play off-color, you have to go into a game with the mindset that you want to have fun. Winning certainly is fun and some of my favorite games of <em>Magic</em> have been desperate struggles to combat an excellent player with a finely-tuned deck.</p>
<p>But there’s more than one way to have fun, and so many people get lost in how competitive this game is. So talk to your gaming group, set up a Bracket 1 or 2 game, and get deckbuilding something no sane person would ever craft.</p>
<p>Because it’s one thing to skip the counters and the card draw and the milling blue is known for. There are plenty of strategies you can employ that will still control the board state without employing any of those. It’s another thing entirely to focus on creature-spam aggro builds where you crash out if you don’t win by turn four.</p>
<p>Oh, yeah, stompy’s coming over to blue.</p>
<h2>What Blue Does Well</h2>
<h3>Ruining Players’ Fun</h3>
<p>Blue’s largest strength, at least within the <em>Magic</em> community, is ruining the fun of other players. That’s really all you need to know. But the obligatory bashing aside, blue is fantastic at controlling the board state.</p>
<p>Counterspells are the most obvious example, in literally allowing you to remove the ability for opponents to cast spells. That type of card is called a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Counterspell" href="#" target="_blank">Counterspell</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for a reason.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Negate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Arcane Denial"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="An Offer You Can&#039;t Refuse"></div></div>
<p>But blue has other means of completely disrupting opponents’ plans. Flickers, or cards that remove a permanent only to return it immediately after, destroy the potential of developing strong creatures. Similarly, blue excels at returning cards to their owner’s hand — yours or your opponents’.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ghostly Flicker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Summon: Leviathan"></div></div>
<p>Then there’s the many abilities blue has which tap, restrain, or otherwise render inert permanents without removing them from the board. This can be a minor inconvenience or shut down a strategy depending on how it’s played. At its least useful, it can buy the blue player a few more turns. Which, by itself, is quite a good thing to do!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aboshan, Cephalid Emperor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lorthos, the Tidemaker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Breaching Leviathan"></div></div>
<p>And, of course, blue has the ability to mill your cards out from under you. Which you might be able to respond to… if you can draw a response before it’s removed from your library.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Mindskinner"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bruvac the Grandiloquent"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fractured Sanity"></div></div>
<h3>Deck Manipulation</h3>
<p>Drawing extra cards is one of the powerful things to do in <em>Magic</em>, and blue just so happens to be the color most suited towards doing that. While its mana production isn’t stellar in comparison to green, the sheer flexibility you’ll have available is astounding.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jin-Gitaxias"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Azami, Lady of Scrolls"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Memories Returning"></div></div>
<p>Not only that, but blue is also home to the scry and surveil keywords. While it lacks the consistency of tutors that black has, being able to alter which cards you’re about to draw is powerful in its own right. Then combine that with the ability to draw more and you have a scary degree of control over your deck.</p>
<h3>Copying</h3>
<p>Copying spells and/or permanents is almost entirely relegated to the realm of blue. While red can double-up on its spells by copying instants or sorceries, blue has the ability to wholesale recreate permanents. With shapeshifters and copycats abound, even if blue doesn’t have the answer to a problem it can oftentimes just copy that problem and have it solve itself in the most literal sense.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Orvar, the All-Form"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Relm&#039;s Sketching"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sakashima the Impostor"></div></div>
<h2>But What If…You Play a Blue Deck Where You Ungabunga to Victory?</h2>
<p>Blue requires a certain level of skill to properly utilize, particularly when you’re not able to rely on the other colors. So what if you just… didn’t? Didn’t plan or think or strategize. You just cosplayed a green player and got the biggest numbers you could find without considering the consequences of your actions.</p>
<p>And to my surprise, it’s actually not that hard!</p>
<h3>Creatures!</h3>
<p>While blue certainly isn’t the most aggressive color, it has access to creatures which are no joke, primarily Serpents, Krakens, and Leviathans. There’s far more heavy hitters than I gave blue credit for before writing this.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Watcher in the Water"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tromokratis"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Stormtide Leviathan"></div></div>
<p>Or just getting more creatures when playing other spells.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Murmuring Mystic"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Shark Typhoon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hermes, Overseer of Elpis"></div></div>
<p>Then, of course, there’s the synergy this has with other creatures, such the various Merfolk. Or just Merfolk and Faeries having typal synergies in general. And while chain-synergy between different creature types is a little too high-IQ for what we’re going for, it’s certainly not “stereotypically blue.”</p>
<p>So I say it should be fine!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Svyelun of Sea and Sky"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Talrand, Sky Summoner"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Alandra, Sky Dreamer"></div></div>
<h3>Sustainability</h3>
<p>Something I don’t think of when I imagine blue decks is sustainability. They can control the board state and stay flexible in their options, but they have a certain fragility to the decks most of the time.</p>
<p>If you can get a strong board presence and somehow stave off that presence being removed, most blue decks can’t effectively respond.</p>
<p>Thus, we must include cards in off-blue to keep the deck going through the fights we’ll be starting.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Staff of the Mind Magus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="High Tide"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kraken&#039;s Eye"></div></div>
<h3>Group Hug?</h3>
<p>My light-hearted bashing of blue earlier was really just to indicate that there’s a bit of a stigma against blue players. They’re assumed to be control players so they’re associated with ruining the fun of other players. Which isn’t always true!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kami of the Crescent Moon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Braids, Conjurer Adept"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Arcum Dagsson"></div></div>
<p>So to put your best foot forward in off-blue, I propose engaging in group hug. That is to say, offer benefits to other players.</p>
<p>No one will likely trust you due to the aforementioned suspicion. Good. Let them be suspicious.</p>
<p>Play it straight, don’t feel the need to politic or turn it around on them in the end. Just be nice to the other players and see what happens. Very quickly they'll realize you aren't the threat and will devote resources to the other players.</p>
<p>And <em>that's</em> when you strike.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Magic Damper"></div></div>
<h2>Blue Has Depth</h2>
<p>Maybe this was just my own experience with the color, but I hadn’t really considered just how good blue is at all the non-control options available to them.</p>
<p>Certainly, control is quite popular in blue because it’s quite effective. Most decks can’t respond quickly enough to being milled to put up a fight. Voltron gets shut down hard by flickers. Stompy and aggro either win fast or not at all.</p>
<p>So blue doesn’t often have much of an incentive to experiment outside of what works.</p>
<p>However, there’s real potential in off-blue for other, more aggressive playstyles. They don’t see as much play given they’re competing with the top of class, but they really aren’t the self-imposed restriction I assumed they’d be.</p>
<p>If you want to play off-blue, you’re in for a good time. You’ll be purposely holding yourself back from some of the best cards in the game, but that’s the case with playing out of type for any color.</p>
<p>At the very least, your pod will be glad you’re not running any control.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rhystic Study"></div></div>


How To Play Blue Differently in EDH

<h6 style="text-align: right;"><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider" href="#" target="_blank">Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Illustrated by <a href="https://www.daarken.com/">Daarken</a></h6>
<p>Each color in <em>Magic</em> has its own strengths and weaknesses. This is one of the first things you learn about the game when you start and is what keeps most people playing for years.</p>
<p>A red deck is going to be aggressive, even in a long-form format such as commander. It specializes in direct damage, swarms of cheap and hasted creatures, and an array of artifacts to support them. Not to mention enough mana-cheating and card draw to support a verifiable engine of war.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urabrask"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krenko, Mob Boss"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Raid Bombardment"></div></div>
<p>... unless you’re following this series, which is all about taking those traditional deck archetypes and turning them on their head. In that case, a red deck will play the long-game with traps, counters, and a dedicated plan of action to outplay your best maneuvers.</p>
<p>Or just straight-up randomness. That, too.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gamble"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tibalt’s Trickery"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chaos Warp"></div></div>
<h1>What is Playing “Out Of Type?”</h1>
<p>Every color in <em>Magic</em> has the ability to engage with every facet of play. Red can play stax while blue can buff your creatures, even if these aren’t the “intended” archetypes of those colors, and while black might lack the “lifegain” tag white is flooded with, it has other means of increasing its life total.</p>
<p>Just like white has some creature removal despite that being black’s “thing.”</p>
<p>Playing Out Of Type or “Off-Color” is focusing on those strange and wonderful exceptions to the color pie and diving into them. Forget the game changers your color is known for and turn a blind eye to the meta.</p>
<p>Grab the worst cards you can find and cram ‘em together with some tape, elbow grease, and a prayer, 'cause where we’re going, we don’t use staples.</p>
<h1>A Quick Disclaimer</h1>
<p>Doing this is not a surefire means of victory. In fact, some might say it’s “intentionally decreasing how effective your deck is.”</p>
<p>To those people I say: yeah, and?</p>
<p>This is a style of play to shake up the rut you might be finding yourself in. Whether you’re the top of your pod and burning out from defending your crown or just looking to craft a deck you’ve never made before, part of the joy of <em>Magic</em> is exploring new possibilities, and making more decks than you’ll ever be able to play!</p>
<p>But to do so, you just have to adopt the mentality that you aren’t playing “optimally.” So when playing Off-Color, it’s probably stick to Bracket 1 or 2 where games aren’t as competitive.</p>
<p>When your green deck has fewer creatures on-board than cards in your hand, your opponents will be confused. When you follow your mana curve religiously, they’ll start asking questions. And when all you have left on your board are artifacts and enchantments, they’ll just assume you’re colorblind.</p>
<p>And that’s when you win right out from under them.</p>
<h1>What Green Does Well</h1>
<h2>Mana Gain and <em>Landfall</em></h2>
<p>I’m throwing these two together because when I think green, I think lands and creatures cosplaying as lands. It’s more common than you’d think in other colors, but the absolute poster child of this is green.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Llanowar Elves"></div></div>
<p>Green breaks the mana curve regularly due to its fundamental hatred of economics. This, of course, stems from green players’ collective illiteracy, but it works out for us because when you can’t read the rules, you don’t need to worry about things such as a limit to how many lands you can play per turn.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Azusa, Lost but Seeking"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Greensleeves, Maro-Sorcerer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exploration"></div></div>
<p>Then green capitalizes off of this flouting of the rules with its rampant use of <em>Landfall</em> and its rampant use of non-<em>Landfall</em> land-based triggers.</p>
<p>So if a green player plays a land, they can benefit from it. If a green player has a lot of lands, they can benefit from that. If a green has lands in their graveyard, well that’s just a hand that takes some work to play from.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tifa Lockhart"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nissa, Resurgent Animist"></div></div>
<h2>Graveyard Reclamation</h2>
<p>Speaking of the graveyard, green is second to one in its ability to access the graveyard. Black takes the cake, but green has no shortage of fetch cards for a wide variety of targets. I have to give a special shoutout to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Eternal Witness" href="#" target="_blank">Eternal Witness</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> for having a blanket “grab whatever you want, on me” as an enter-the-battlefield effect.</p>
<p>Any ability that allows you to remove it from the field and return it, or otherwise play it again once it dies, skyrockets its value.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Conduit of Worlds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Multani, Yavimaya&#039;s Avatar"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Splendid Reclamation"></div></div>
<h2>Quantity AND Quality of Creature</h2>
<p>The only strength green can employ which would so much as rival its infamy in the mana market is its ability to create a frankly insulting amount of creature tokens or, with its mana production, simply play strong creatures ahead of the curve to dominate the battlefield.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Parallel Lives"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Doubling Season"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Druid&#039;s Deliverance"></div></div>
<p>Not only that, green strengthens and protects creatures with keywords such as reach, hexproof, and indestructible. Or it just increases their base stats with the humble +1/+1 counter, which is itself neutral on the color-pie but has a tinge of green in its alignment.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gaea&#039;s Gift"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Titania&#039;s Command"></div></div>
<p>Then there’s the various temporary strength increases green loves to hand out to its creatures, and in case you were wondering if that was “just” to inflict damage, think again! Green even makes sure to use that to also benefit itself economically.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Garruk&#039;s Uprising"></div></div>
<h2>Artifact/Enchantment Removal</h2>
<p>While this might be a bit needlessly restricting to playing Off-Color, I feel green’s hatred of artifacts and enchantments is core enough to its identity to include. Green struggles with removal of creatures, not removal of other types of permanents.</p>
<p>It has activated abilities, instants, and sorceries whose sole purpose are the removal of artifacts and enchantments, the lore being that they aren’t native to the natural world and so green rejects them, but still! Not the worst coverage, given the inherent strength of green’s creatures.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Naturalize"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Return to Nature"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sundering Vitae"></div></div>
<h2>But What If…</h2>
<p>… you play a green deck where you build a noncombat engine?</p>
<p>It’s time to exit the forest and enter the forge, because green has a surprising amount of noncreature permanents that are quite strong! Granted, they primarily scale off of having a strong creature-base, but don’t worry about it!</p>
<p>You have alt win-cons for that.</p>
<h2>Creature Removal</h2>
<p>Green can’t destroy creatures directly most of the time, save for artifact and/or enchantment creatures. However, it has access to multiple cards which allow your creatures to deal their power in damage to another creature. Similarly, green holds domain over the “fight” keyword, which forces two creatures to attack one another.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cosmic Hunger"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Prey Upon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Prizefight"></div></div>
<h2>Artifacts/Enchantments</h2>
<p>This one’s kind of cheating, but hear me out! Green has very little support for artifacts, so while it’s easy to say “having colorless artifacts in a green deck feels more like playing a colorless deck,” there isn’t the synergy a blue or red deck would have.</p>
<p>Green excels at removing artifacts. Remember the tidbit of lore I mentioned earlier? What’s more Off-Green than to focus on that which is not natural?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Deck of Many Things"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Oviya, Automech Artisan"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter"></div></div>
<p>Then following the same logic, we can also grab a few cheeky enchantments that’ll really help us set up a legitimate board state, and something that’s usually quite fun while still being Off-Green is Sagas, particularly those that field creatures.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Azusa&#039;s Many Journeys"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Boseiju Reaches Skyward"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jugan Defends the Temple"></div></div>
<p>Wait, no, those are VERY green. I meant more like these.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Argothian Enchantress"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The First Iroan Games"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Enchantress&#039;s Presence"></div></div>
<h2>Alternative Win Conditions</h2>
<p>Green seems to struggle with alternative win conditions, at least from what I’ve seen. And for the record, I’m uncertain counting poison counter. While they aren’t “core” to green’s color identity, they’re still quite common in it.</p>
<p>Poison isn’t integral to green, though green is integral to poison. The main other color that involves poison is black through the largely phased-out infect. While Phyrexia gave us poison across all colors, it’s still largely a Golgari exclusive.</p>
<p>So if that fancies you, here’s a few green cards to get the poison going.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fynn, the Fangbearer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Infectious Bite"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ichorspit Basilisk"></div></div>
<p>However, there are certain cards which simply allow you to win the game. They aren’t quite common to green and when they exist, they tend to focus on green’s strengths, so while many might bemoan their fielding, the fact you’re facing an uphill battle means it won’t be “cheap.”</p>
<p>You have to earn an Off-Green victory, because ignoring your ignoring your economy and board state aren’t markers of an easy strategy!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Helix Pinnacle"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Epic Struggle"></div></div>
<h1>Green Loves Fundamentals</h1>
<p>A primal part of my brain lights up whenever I see a big number and I make it get bigger, whether mana or a creature’s strength, so I’m a green player and have been since I first started playing.</p>
<p>Green has the basic loop of magic down to a science. It plays lands, lots of them. Gets lots of mana. Plays creatures and makes them hit harder.</p>
<p>But it struggles and loses scope the further from that core loop you stray. It has some enchantment support, life gain, and card draw if you build your board right, but it can’t control your opponent’s stack or board nearly as well as any other color.</p>
<p>If you want to play Off-Green, you’re using a wooden sword to enact drone warfare. It’s a blunt tool you’re trying to be clever with, so start your engines, begin the politicking, and be prepared to have a much more open board than you’d ever feel comfortable with.</p>
<p>I’ll stick to my big numbers in the meantime.</p>


How to Play Green Differently in EDH

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Midgar, City of Mako|fin|313" href="#" target="_blank">Midgar, City of Mako</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> by <a href="https://josusolanoart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Josu Solano</a></em></p>
<p><em>Final Fantasy</em> depicts grand adventures across different locales, time periods, and plotlines. It therefore makes absolute sense that the main land cycle of the new <em>Final Fantasy</em> set is a series of famous towns you adventure in throughout the series.</p>
<p>And, they’re even mechanically adventures! Or technically speaking “cards that have an Adventure” to use specific terminology.</p>
<h2>But What Is an Adventure?</h2>
<p>In <em>Magic</em>, certain cards have two different ways you can cast them. There’s the core spell, which takes up most of the card, and a subtype Adventure spell, located in the bottom left.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Murderous Rider"></div></div>
<p>In the example above, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Murderous Rider" href="#" target="_blank">Murderous Rider</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a creature that’s a Zombie Knight, has lifelink, and when it dies it gets put on the bottom of its owner’s library. All for three mana. Nothing out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>However, instead of casting this card as the creature Murderous Rider, you can instead cast the instant Swift End. This destroys a creature or planeswalker and you lose two life, also for three mana.</p>
<p>If you cast a card using its Adventure, you put it into exile. You can then play the non-Adventure portion of the card from exile. Which, aside from meaning you can effectively play two spells with a single card, also means that once you cast an Adventure, its associated creature is “safe” from forced discard effects.</p>
<p>Below are a few more examples of Adventures. Note how the mana costs, spell type, and sometimes even colors change.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Kellan, the Fae-Blooded"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Virtue of Persistence"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Monster Manual"></div></div>
<p>Broadly, Adventures are a very nice way to maximize your value per-card. It gives you the flexibility of having a permanent and non-permanent effect, oftentimes where the Adventure supports its associated spell.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gray Slaad"></div></div>
<p>Entropic Decay allows you to mill four cards before casting <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Gray Slaad" href="#" target="_blank">Gray Slaad</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, meaning you’re much more likely to have a 4/1 with menace and deathtouch. However, if you already have four creature cards in your graveyard, you can skip casting Entropic Decay.</p>
<p>In this case, it’s an optional cost to mill four cards for two mana. Which for black, is never a bad thing.</p>
<h2>Town Cycle</h2>
<p>There’s a specific cycle in the <em>Final Fantasy</em> set that I call the “Adventure Town” cycle. This is because it’s a series of lands, one of each color, each of which has the Town sub-type as well as an associated Adventure.</p>
<p>Also, they all enter the battlefield tapped, as most non-basic lands do.</p>
<p>I’m not a <em>Final Fantasy</em> fan, though I’ve certainly been interested in seeing what all of the hype is about. Though that does mean I won’t have the full lore implications of how the Adventures tie into their associated games.</p>
<p>That being said, let’s go on an adventure!</p>
<h2>Ranking the <em>Final Fantasy </em>Adventure Lands</h2>
<h3>#5 - Faith &amp; Grief (White)</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ishgard, the Holy See"></div></div>
<p>First up is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ishgard, the Holy See" href="#" target="_blank">Ishgard, the Holy See</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which unfortunately is my pick for the least impactful Adventure. A city-state in <em>Final Fantasy XIV</em>, it survives both the harsh snowfalls of winter as well as literal, actual dragons.</p>
<p>Seems to me like one of those is the larger threat, but hey! Snow-land synergy is real. And it’s coming for you.</p>
<p>For five mana, Grief &amp; Return allows you to return up to two artifacts and/or enchantment cards from your graveyard to your hand.</p>
<p>This is nice, but it’s overpriced. When playing a non-basic land, you have to ask yourself “Is this land’s effect worth the inability to access its mana the turn I play it?” Spending five mana to grab up to two artifacts or enchantments and put them in your hand is most certainly not. If it was cheaper? Not constrained to artifacts and enchantments?</p>
<p>Even if it was limited to a single artifact or enchantment but returned directly to the battlefield, it might be worth it. But as it stands, it only half-supports commanders such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cloud, Midgar Mercenary" href="#" target="_blank">Cloud, Midgar Mercenary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Therefore, I’d just pass.</p>
<h3>#4 - Lasting Fayth (Green)</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis"></div></div>
<p>Next up is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis" href="#" target="_blank">Zanarkand, Ancient Metropolis</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, which as a green player I was hoping to be able to put higher. Luckily, it isn’t the worst ability, just a bit expensive. This former metropolis is most known for its role in <em>Final Fantasy X</em>, where it occupies an odd double reality of being both a destroyed city as well as a perfect recreation of said city.</p>
<p>For six mana, Lasting Fayth creates a 1/1 colorless Hero creature token. Then you can put a +1/+1 counter on it for every land you have.</p>
<p>This is a lovely effect that absolutely does not work for six mana.</p>
<p>Green doesn’t hurt for mana production, meaning you could reasonably activate this effect earlier than turn six. However… Then you’d be limiting its growth. It needs lands to scale, meaning you need to wait until you can play a fair amount of lands. Which you already want to do, even if you’re not playing a commander like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tifa Lockhart" href="#" target="_blank">Tifa Lockhart</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>If you wait with this card dead in your hand or you just don’t draw it until later in the game, there are other things you can spend your mana on at that point.</p>
<p>A 7/7 is nice. For six mana it needs to be justified, which with this Hero’s scaling is certainly justifiable. However, it’s holding back the land it’s attached to. And because of that, I can’t say it’s fantastic.</p>
<h3>#3 - Mage Siege (Red)</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lindblum, Industrial Regency"></div></div>
<p>Running in the middle is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lindblum, Industrial Regency" href="#" target="_blank">Lindblum, Industrial Regency</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, though if you were to bump it up or down a spot on your list, I couldn’t blame you. A sprawling city in <em>Final Fantasy IX</em>, it pushes technological, mercantile, and even logistical boundaries as it advances ever forward.</p>
<p>For three mana, Mage Siege creates an 0/1 black Wizard creature token that deals one damage to each opponent each time you cast a noncreature spell. Something to note, this is also the only instant of the Adventures in this cycle, the rest are sorceries. How often that will come up, I’m not sure. But it’s worth noting!</p>
<p>Ping damage is always nice, though I don’t need to harp on how fragile a 0/1 creature is. The fact it’s a Wizard does actually hold some weight, as Wizard typal is an archetype that does encompass red.</p>
<p>It’s three mana, and with the mana cheating red does so efficiently, having this land enter tapped isn’t as bad as in some of the other colors. So I don’t see any reason to avoid bringing this along, particularly if you’re trying to capitalize off of its synergy with some of the <em>Final Fantasy</em> commanders, such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Cloud, Planet&#039;s Champion" href="#" target="_blank">Cloud, Planet&#039;s Champion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Lots of artifact support in this set!</p>
<h3>#2 - Overture (Blue)</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital" href="#" target="_blank">Jidoor, Aristocratic Capital</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is home to the wealthiest man in the world, at least in <em>Final Fantasy VI</em>. It’s an economic hub for players to stock up before setting out.</p>
<p>For six mana, Overture forces target opponent to mill half their library, rounded down.</p>
<p>This is probably the most niche of the Adventures, as six mana in blue isn’t cheap. However, any mill deck would love this. Even control decks might flirt with it, since disrupting an opponent’s deck can be quite powerful. Milling half their deck with Overture before clearing their board with a commander like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sephiroth, Planet&#039;s Heir" href="#" target="_blank">Sephiroth, Planet&#039;s Heir</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is absolutely devious.</p>
<p>And, of course, no color excels at returning cards to their hand like blue does. Lands are certainly trickier to return, but if you can do it? That’s high value, even if at a high cost. Definitely worth including in the right circumstances.</p>
<h3>#1 - Reactor Raid (Black)</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Midgar, City of Mako"></div></div>
<p>My pick for the best Adventure of this cycle is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Midgar, City of Mako" href="#" target="_blank">Midgar, City of Mako</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. And based on the popularity of <em>Final Fantasy VII</em>, where it plays a key role as the oppressive and struggling opening area, I shouldn’t be surprised!</p>
<p>For three mana, Reactor Raid allows you to sacrifice an artifact or creature to draw two cards. It's cheap, it draws you cards, and it sacrifices a permanent. All things black loves.</p>
<p>With all the artifact support this set is seeing, you could burn a disposable artifact. But my mind immediately went to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER" href="#" target="_blank">Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Again, for only three mana, you draw two cards, you gain a life, an opponent loses a life, and you are 25% of the way to transforming Sephiroth.</p>
<p>Reactor Raid gives you value in the early game, the mid game, even the late game. Card draw is invaluable, and sacrificing will contribute towards other triggers.</p>
<p>Far and above, Midgar is supreme.</p>
<h2>What Do You Think of the Adventure Lands?</h2>
<p>Let me know in the comments! I’m confident Faith &amp; Grief is the worst, even with the artifact support of the set. I’m also set on Reactor Raid, given how flexible it is. I could really shuffle the others around any order, so I’d love to hear what you think!</p>


Final Fantasy Adventure Lands Ranked

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tibalt&#039;s Trickery" href="#" target="_blank">Tibalt&#039;s Trickery</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> by <a href="https://www.artstation.com/akreon" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Anna Podedworna</a></em></p>
<p>Each color in <em>Magic</em> has its own strengths and weaknesses. This is one of the first things you learn about the game when you start and is what keeps most people playing for years.</p>
<p>When playing against a white deck, you can expect that they’ll focus on protecting their permanents. The color lends itself to gaining life, exiling threats from your board, and creating far too many tokens for their own good.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Heliod, Sun-Crowned"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Giada, Font of Hope"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Swords to Plowshares"></div></div>
<p>Except, of course, if you’re following this series and are looking to do something a little different. Then you might encounter a white deck who is more inclined to sacrifice their own life and permanents than damage yours!</p>
<h2>What Is Playing “Out Of Type?”</h2>
<p>Despite the fact each color has certain playstyles it doesn’t support, it’s not common for a mechanic to be absent entirely. Green decks aren’t known for their creature removal spells, but there are options available to you. Not to mention alternate methods of accomplishing the same thing.</p>
<p>Playing Out Of Type or “Off-Color” is an exercise finding those technicalities and exceptions in the color pie and making a deck out of them. It isn’t always easy and oftentimes involves cobbling together mismatched mana curves with an odd distribution of cards.</p>
<p>But no one expects it.</p>
<h2>A Quick Disclaimer</h2>
<p>This (probably) won’t win you any games.</p>
<p>As a part of the <em>Commander Unoptimized</em> series, this is explicitly intended for lower-bracket games where the table is willing to explore flexible deckbuilding. The goal isn’t to make the best engine or unlock the potential of super rare sleeper hits.</p>
<p>That being said, the goal doesn’t preclude you from winning. Just because you’re taking the scenic route to victory doesn’t mean you won’t arrive. It just won’t involve staple cards of the color and your mechanics will feel unorthodox even to the most adventurous of players.</p>
<p>When you see a red deck burning through your life through a string of mana-cheating and impulse-drawing, you might want to change things. Or maybe you want to play the long game, patiently building a web of interconnected pieces that finally come down like an avalanche.</p>
<p>That’s where off-red shines.</p>
<h2>What Red Does Well</h2>
<h3>Gotta Go Fast</h3>
<p>Mono-red aggro is a dominant playstyle for a reason. Whether Goblins, Dinosaurs, or Werewolves, there are many different ways for red players to have significant board presence early. Red’s creatures are strong but cheap and often have haste, allowing them to achieve immediate value.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krenko, Mob Boss"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Muxus, Goblin Grandee"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin"></div></div>
<p>This doesn’t simply involve creating a ridiculous amount of creature tokens, though it certainly can. It also means high-value, low-costed juggernauts. Mana producers. And lots of haste.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Runaway Steam-Kin"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Faithless Looting"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Viashino Pyromancer"></div></div>
<h3>No, Seriously, It Goes <em>Fast</em></h3>
<p>Red specializes in generating floating mana, where you have to capitalize on it immediately or lose it. And often, red mana-cheating trails into other spells that continue to mana-cheat, meaning you effectively are playing that turn at a discount.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urabrask"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Neheb, the Eternal"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mana Geyser"></div></div>
<p>Combine this with the fact that red is known for impulse draw, exiling the top card of your deck and being able to play it that turn. And not always your own, sometimes you can even impulse draw from other players’ decks!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wrenn&#039;s Resolve"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Act on Impulse"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reckless Impulse"></div></div>
<h3>Direct Damage</h3>
<p>When it comes to direct damage, red is second to none. It has a range of effects that damage one, all, or multiple targets. This can affect players to deal enough burn damage it’s reasonable to win by dealing direct damage alone. Alternatively, it can involve discount boardwipes for anything that isn’t indestructible or unreasonably tough.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Red Sun&#039;s Zenith"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Blasphemous Act"></div></div>
<p>Sometimes, it even manages to combine damage with other, non-damaging effects. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Syr Carah, the Bold" href="#" target="_blank">Syr Carah, the Bold</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> comes to mind.</p>
<p>But red doesn’t stop there. It also has quite the streak of punishing its opponents for removing its permanents. And sometimes, it doesn’t even matter if your opponent is the one removing them! Primarily for Devils, so long as the blood flows they are happy to deal damage for you.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vengeful Devil"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Havoc Jester"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Forge Devil"></div></div>
<h3>Artifacts</h3>
<p>Red has some of the highest artifact synergy in the game. Aside from strong artifacts that are red-colored, it has abilities to make artifacts cheaper, equip them for free, or otherwise get them onto the board faster and easier than any other color.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bladegraft Aspirant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rhuk, Hexgold Nabber"></div></div>
<p>This even extends to trashing your artifacts to gain additional value out of them. Generally this manifests by gaining mana, which is always nice. And cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trash for Treasure" href="#" target="_blank">Trash for Treasure</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> give you multiple uses for them! But there's always more than one use for a tool if you're thinking creatively.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Scrap Welder"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Slobad, Iron Goblin"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bosh, Iron Golem"></div></div>
<p>Then there’s the many different artifacts you can properly utilize in order to gain value from the above mentioned cards. Some scale off of themselves while others rely on an expanding network of artifacts to bolster themselves.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dragonspark Reactor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Urabrask’s Forge"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reinforced Ronin"></div></div>
<p>On top of that, there are mechanics such as For Mirrodin! Bringing an Equipment onto the battlefield immediately equipped is certainly useful, but then you can start playing with them. Alter the stats of your Rebels and suddenly you have a flash-mob armed to the teeth.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Barbed Batterfist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hexgold Halberd"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hexplate Wallbreaker"></div></div>
<h3>Pumping Creatures</h3>
<p>Red quite enjoys mid-combat instants that juice its creatures power. Though while white grants indestructibility and green hexproof or reach, red focuses on first strike and raw power.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Titan&#039;s Strength"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Blazing Crescendo"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Storm Strike"></div></div>
<h2>But What If…<br />
… You Play a Red Deck Where You’re a Scheming Mastermind?</h2>
<p>It isn’t sustainable to fuel your deck off of rage and passion, see? You need sustainable mana production. Creatures that stick around. Forget that “direct damage” nonsense, that’s what your creatures are for!</p>
<h3>Scaling</h3>
<p>The one thing red struggles most with is sustainability. Planning. Setting something up on one turn and capitalizing off of it on another.</p>
<p>You know, core parts of the game integral to formats like Commander?</p>
<p>Whether oil or power counters, red actually doesn’t struggle to find scaling cards. Particularly on artifacts! However, the greatest support red finds is for disposable, flash-value permanents.</p>
<p>Red has enough artifacts and support for them that it’s too close to trad-red for my taste. Enchantments, however, are rare by comparison and therefore fair game. And it actually has a few powerful ones.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="All Will Be One"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Roiling Vortex"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Raid Bombardment"></div></div>
<p>Even if most of these revolve around dealing damage, it isn’t as if they’re staples for red. And if you want an alternate means of scaling, try your creatures with cards such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="First Day of Class" href="#" target="_blank">First Day of Class</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<h3>Removal</h3>
<p>By this, of course, I’m excluding “removal via damage.” Red’s strength is its ability to beat things into submission and burn its opponents down. But sometimes you just need to remove a threat without all the song and dance of damage.</p>
<p>Luckily, red can do this fantastically against artifacts. While that might veer a bit too close to trad-red for the taste of some, given how tied into red’s identity artifacts are, I see destroying them as well-enough out of type to be worth including. Plus, green loves its artifact removal just as well, meaning it’s not only red’s domain.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vandalblast"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Abrade"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="By Force"></div></div>
<h3>Copying</h3>
<p>This is a feature I honestly wasn’t sure how off-red it truly is. Red has a large amount of cards and mechanics that copy other spells, primarily instants and sorceries. But at the same time, that’s almost never the domain of mono-red, it quite often finds itself the backbone of Izzet decks.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dualcaster Mage"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Zada, Hedron Grinder"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rionya, Fire Dancer"></div></div>
<p>In fact, I would go so far as to say the copying of spells is more Izzet than red, though your mileage may vary. I feel it’s off-red “enough” to include in such a deck. Not to mention, it gives you more flexibility and responsiveness than "slap together some enchantments and buff your creatures."</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reverberate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Reiterate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Twinferno"></div></div>
<h3>Chaos</h3>
<p>Now, you might be wondering why chaos would ever be in off-red. After all, red is the color of chaos and spontaneity!</p>
<p>But have you ever built a red deck entirely around chaos?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Gamble"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tibalt’s Trickery"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chaos Warp"></div></div>
<p>Not only does this delve into a playstyle that isn't seen very commonly, at least not focused on, it also gives your opponents pause. You can't control what's going to happen. Do they negotiate with you? Take you out early? Or do they ignore you?</p>
<p>How big of a risk are you, really, if you're <em>random?</em></p>
<p>As integral as it is to red from a thematic sense, mechanically it doesn’t show up very often. Which makes sense, as adding randomness decreases the skill required to pilot a deck. But what’s life without chaos?</p>
<p>What’s a game without chance?</p>
<h3>Work Smart, Not Hard</h3>
<p>On the tails of chaos, red also has quite a few more options to directly interface with your opponents' plans than I expected. This is most obvious in the blue-red dichotomy through cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pyroblast" href="#" target="_blank">Pyroblast</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, with them having cards to specifically target one another.</p>
<p>But there are other ways to alter your opponents’ plans. If you use them at key moments during the game, you can turn your opponents' plans against them. Instead of overcoming them with strength, subtly orchestrate their defeat and then capitalize on it.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Red Elemental Blast"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Flare of Duplication"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Untimely Malfunction"></div></div>
<h2>Red Is Great</h2>
<p>It was actually surprisingly difficult to find things that aren't solidly covered by red. Which, for the color of passion and spontaneity, is actually quite thematic! I always think mono-red aggro or a splash of direct damage in a multicolor deck, but it has hidden depths I wasn’t expecting.</p>
<p>Certainly, it struggles with counterspells and permanent exiling is rare, if at all present in red. But it can handle early game with cheap spells it can draw consistently. Mid-game it has enough heft to continue its momentum assuming it pruned threats.</p>
<p>Even late in the game, a patient red player will be able to light the powder keg they set up earlier in the game. Whether this manifests as a massive scaled Dinosaur or a board of near-infinite artifacts, timing is the key to off-red’s success.</p>
<p>Though I suppose it’s much more fun to rush down the first person to deal damage to you, so the choice is yours.</p>
<h3>Other Colors:</h3>
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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="6ByKvWDm2Y"><p><a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/how-to-play-white-differently-in-edh/">How To Play White Differently In EDH</a></p></blockquote>
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How To Play Red Differently In EDH

<p style="text-align: right;"><em><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Zhalfirin Void" href="#" target="_blank">Zhalfirin Void</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | <a href="https://www.chasestoneart.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chase Stone</a></em></p>
<p>When playing <em>Magic</em>, there’s a certain separation of powers across the colors you can reasonably expect to see.</p>
<p>If you’re playing against a black deck, you can expect them to destroy your permanents. Some of your creatures may die, but that is a sacrifice they’re willing to make. Literally. They’ll sacrifice their own permanents all the same. Discarding. Direct damage. Graveyard retrieval. Hallmarks of a black deck and something you need to prepare for when facing one.</p>
<p>Except, of course, if you’re following <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/how-to-play-black-differently-in-edh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this series</a> and are looking to do something a little different. Then you might encounter a black deck who jealously protects its permanents while never so much as committing a crime.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smothering Tithe"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Teferi’s Protection"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Drannith Magistrate"></div></div><br />
<em>Let’s change the game without game changers.</em></p>
<h1>What Is Playing “Out Of Type”?</h1>
<p>While each color or combination of colors in Magic has its strengths, it’s rare for a mechanic to be completely devoid from a color. Certainly, lifegain in a mono-blue deck won’t be as common as white or green. But there are certainly <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lifetap" href="#" target="_blank">options</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Venser&#039;s Journal"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Aetherflux Reservoir"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cosmos Elixir"></div></div><br />
<em>Even if most of those options are synergies with artifacts</em></p>
<p>At its core, playing Out Of Type or “Off-Color” is actively seeking the mechanics that barely have any support and scrounging them together. Like some sort of ramshackle scavenger, greedily scraping the barrel’s bottom for nonsense.</p>
<p>And sometimes, fools find gold.</p>
<h2>A Quick Disclaimer</h2>
<p>This isn't intended to be competitively viable. It’s for EDH, not cEDH after all. Further, the theory-crafting that goes into this follows the assumption you're avoiding leaning into any of the strengths of the color you’re playing.</p>
<p>That isn’t to say you shouldn’t <em>attempt</em> to win, just that you’re actively making it more difficult for yourself. Which to some players is anathema. However, perhaps you want to reexamine your relationship with a deck archetype. Perhaps you simply want to handicap yourself to level the playing field in your pod.</p>
<p>Or maybe you think that white’s lifelinking, indestructible, flying token swarm which exiles your permanents isn’t fun. This, of course, is the correct answer.</p>
<p>No matter what your rationale behind it, put aside whatever staples you have and focus on a theme. What can you cobble together into a deck that should have never been?</p>
<h1>What White Does Well in <em>Magic</em></h1>
<h2>Staying Safe</h2>
<p>When it comes to gaining life, white is king. Lifelink. Gaining life on enter-the-battlefield effects. Instants and sorceries with the intended effect of gaining life.</p>
<p>Further, many of its cards scale or gain additional bonuses when you have more life. Most colors subscribe to the mantra of “the only life that matters is the last,” but white actually cares quite a bit about staying topped off. And so it has protections to boot.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Soul Warden"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Daxos, Blessed by the Sun"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ajani’s Welcome"></div></div><br />
<em>I’ll spare you the neverending list.</em></p>
<p>Which, to be fair, is mostly the fault of its host of Angels. Whether gaining you life directly or gaining bonuses based off of how much life you have, white’s Angels really care about keeping your life total high.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exemplar of Light"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Archangel of Thune"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Righteous Valkyrie"></div></div><br />
<em>That’s a lot of Angels.</em></p>
<p>No, really. I thought white had too much lifegain even without Angels, but they don’t mess around. Aside from their lifegain, they also fly and tend to scale off of one another.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Angel of Vitality"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Resplendent Angel"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Valkyrie Harbinger"></div></div><br />
<em>That’s a </em>lot<em> of Angels</em></p>
<p>From cards that give indestructibility to stat bonuses, white really takes offense when its creatures are destroyed. It even goes so far as to hide away from the game when pressured too far, which is comical in a vacuum, yet infuriating on the field.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bastion Protector"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Auriok Champion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mother of Runes"></div></div><br />
<em>White knows protection’s important!</em></p>
<h2>Neutralizing Threats</h2>
<p>White is one of the more directly aggressive colors in <em>Magic</em>, only beat out by red and green. That being said, it’s quite good at neutralizing its opponents’ permanents.</p>
<p>The most obvious and perhaps the least bemoaned is its use of <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Pacifism" href="#" target="_blank">Pacifism</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. In short, white has many different cards with the <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/building-a-commander-deck-around-pacifism-effects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">primary effect of preventing a creature from attacking or blocking</a>. This is quite frustrating in something like a <a href="https://edhrec.com/tags/voltron" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Voltron deck</a>, where the deck revolves around making one or two superpowered creatures.</p>
<p>But Pacifism isn’t the problem. It doesn’t prevent passive or active abilities and it can only affect creatures. The disrespect arrives when the White player upgrades.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Planar Disruption"></div></div><br />
<em>Note how this is just Pacifism, but better</em></p>
<h2>Exiling</h2>
<p>Then, of course, there’s white's propensity to simply remove things it finds undesirable. Blue returns permanents to your hand while black takes a more permanent solution. White, meanwhile, simply removes them from the game.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Swords to Plowshares"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Path to Exile"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Borrowed Time"></div></div><br />
<em>Regularly and with extreme prejudice</em></p>
<p>With a verified arsenal of enchantments designed entirely around exiling permanents, there are few things white can’t effectively deal with. Coupled with the protections mentioned earlier, white is a necessary color for any deck that wants to bolster its defenses.</p>
<h1>But What If…</h1>
<h2>… You Play a White Deck With a Scorched Earth Policy?</h2>
<p>Much like how the opposite of black’s fast-and-loose grasp of its permanents is to hold them close, white’s opposite is to do exactly that. Your life is a suggestion. Your hand is meaningless. Permanents are anything but.</p>
<p>It is time to invent Sui White.</p>
<h2>Alabaster Host Time</h2>
<p>I would be remiss if I didn’t immediately address that the white-aligned Phyrexian faction is perhaps the least similar to its traditional strengths. While it still involves quite a large amount of token generation and martial supremacy, the Alabaster Host focuses on toxic Mites and Incubator tokens*</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mite Overseer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Flensing Raptor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phyrexian Awakening"></div></div><br />
<em>*As of All Will Be One and March Of The Machine.</em></p>
<p>Despite the fact that Mite or Incubator creation is somewhat aligned with white’s regular strategies, poison tokens are a far cry from “archetypal white.” Artifacts growing over time feels more like a Gruul (red-green) archetype than a white one.</p>
<p>Which, thematically, actually fits quite well for a compleated color.</p>
<p>Allow yourself to suffer the sin of token generation in order to assign those poison counters your opponents so desperately deserve.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Charge of the Mites"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sunder the Gateway"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Skrelv, Defector Mite"></div></div><br />
<em>Who knew white decks were so toxic?</em></p>
<h2>Removal</h2>
<p>While it’s quite established for a white deck to exile or remove threats it doesn’t want to deal with, properly executing them isn’t really in its wheelhouse. Therefore, this should be one of the first things we look into incorporating into an off-white deck.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s because I dug too deep or because I misjudged how much removal white really has, but here’s quite the list!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Single Combat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Promise of Loyalty"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Celestial Kirin"></div></div><br />
<em>If you’re wondering about board wipes, we’ll discuss those later</em></p>
<p>While there are varying levels of permanency and flexibility, broadly speaking there’s a range of options available to you. You can focus on enchantment, artifact, or creature removal equally well, without relying on the “exile a permanent” enchantments white is so well-known for.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Generous Gift"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Disenchant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Crush Contraband"></div></div><br />
<em>Much more permanent than temporary exile</em></p>
<p>Though it should be noted that most of these options are more expensive or less flexible than other colors’ counterparts. Again, these aren’t ideal mechanics to build a white deck around, but that’s why it’s <em>Commander Unoptimized</em>!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Michiko Konda, Truth Seeker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Stroke of Midnight"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Catapult Master"></div></div><br />
<em>Keep their board clear!</em></p>
<h2>Sacrifice</h2>
<p>Unfortunately for us, self-sacrifice is an extremely “traditionally good” thing to do. That means that thematically, it doesn’t quite align without off-white ideals. However, white doesn’t mechanically engage in self-sacrifice often enough for this to be an issue.</p>
<p>Therefore, allow yourself to cache in on some good ol’ fashioned flagellation! Whether self-inflicted damage, discarding, or sacrificing permanents, all are fair game!</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Darien, King of Kjeldor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Duty Beyond Death"></div></div><br />
<em>Makes the off-white seem “Bone”</em></p>
<h2>Scorched Earth</h2>
<p>Single-target removal simply isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to remove everything, whether permanents or opponents. And that’s why white can share the pain, much in the same way it refuses to share lifegain.</p>
<p>Cards such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ankh of Mishra" href="#" target="_blank">Ankh of Mishra</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> spread pain and give you pinging direct damage. But anyone who has fought a white deck knows its propensity for board wipes.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Final Showdown"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Farewell"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hour of Reckoning"></div></div><br />
<em>Take them down with you!</em></p>
<p>This is where we run into an issue. If board wipes are so associated with white, is it not counterintuitive to include them?</p>
<p>I challenge this by drawing attention to our complete lack of protection. If you read the above cards, they don’t discriminate between friend and foe. And without white’s built-in safety net of indestructibility, these are legitimate threats that will affect you as well.</p>
<p>Exactly as off-white intended.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Heliod&#039;s Intervention"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mass Calcify"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Armageddon"></div></div><br />
<em>Burn their crops, salt their fields!</em></p>
<h1>To Push It Further</h1>
<p>In a similar vein, there are certain effects that have a nested synergy with white but deviate from the norm in key aspects. Are these off-limits?</p>
<p>Not always. Take <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Suture Priest" href="#" target="_blank">Suture Priest</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. This gives you life which, gross, lifegain in a white deck! But it also damages opponents for playing creatures, which is exactly the sort of direct-damage taxing that is just odd enough to work.</p>
<p>In a situation like this, the fact it’s a “may” effect means you can set your own difficulty. It's entirely reasonable to take the healing from <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Suture Priest" href="#" target="_blank">Suture Priest</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Even if you’re avoiding lifegain overall, you’re including it for the damage, so you might as well benefit from it.</p>
<p>But if you really wanted to play off-color? Ignore those healing effects. Life is gross and you want nothing to do with it. The only life that matters is the last and anything else is fluff that needs to be trimmed.</p>
<p>And even then, who needs life? <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phyrexian Unlife" href="#" target="_blank">Phyrexian Unlife</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is much more on-theme.</p>


How To Play White Differently In EDH

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Diabolic Tutor" href="#" target="_blank">Diabolic Tutor</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | <a href="https://www.originalmagicart.store/collections/mark-winters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Winters</a>)</h6>
<p>Each color in <em>Magic</em> has its own strengths and weaknesses. This is one of the first things you learn about the game when you start and is what keeps most people playing for years.</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, you know what a “blue deck” can do and what it can’t. When they have untapped mana, you have to be careful not to get countered. If you have permanents that grow over time, you have to prepare for them to be returned to your hand.</p>
<p>You have to keep an eye on their hand size to ensure they don’t draw their whole deck by turn four. Or mill you out!</p>
<p>Similarly, if someone is playing Boros (red and white), you can expect a board-spanning conflict where they’ll attempt to win with martial superiority. Expect token generation, life gain, equipment, and pinging. All the wonders of white and red brought together.</p>
<p>So what if you threw all that to the wayside and did the exact opposite of what each color lends itself to?</p>
<h2>What Is Playing “Out Of Type?”</h2>
<p>The neat thing about the <em>Magic </em>color pie is that, despite the fact each color has its strengths, it’s rare a mechanic is completely devoid from a color.</p>
<p>For instance, countering is the domain of blue decks. But there are cards in other colors which either counter a card or cause a similar effect. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Tibalt’s Trickery" href="#" target="_blank">Tibalt’s Trickery</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is perhaps the most famous (or infamous) of such an example, but there are certainly others.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lapse of Certainty"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Red Elemental Blast"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Veil of Summer"></div></div><br />
<em>To varying degrees of how strictly it “counters” something</em></p>
<p>Certainly, there aren’t enough non-blue counters to have any other color reasonably claim to be a true competitor. The same is true with life gain in white or mana production in green. Each color has its competencies and its deficiencies.</p>
<p>But isn’t it interesting that other colors can flirt with mechanics normally seen as foreign to them? And does that not necessitate the exploration of such an idea?</p>
<h2>A Quick Disclaimer</h2>
<p>While it certainly wouldn’t be competitive - and I would argue it goes against common wisdom as well - there’s a certain joy to purposefully avoiding the strengths of the color you’re playing. It gives an emphasis to cards that aren’t traditionally given the time of day and completely overhauls how you interact with the game.</p>
<p>While you can certainly play out of type of a multicolored deck, the theme is most clear with a monocolored, which means you’re limiting yourself quite heavily by doing this.</p>
<p>So in order to exemplify how this might work, I wanted to choose what I feel is the most flexible of the colors: black.</p>
<h2>What Black Does Well in <em>Magic</em></h2>
<p>When I think of black in <em>Magic</em>, I think of needless sacrifice.</p>
<p>Your cards? Don’t need them.</p>
<p>Your creatures? Expendable.</p>
<p>Your life? The only one that matters is the last.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phyrexian Unlife"></div></div><br />
<em>And sometimes the last life doesn’t even matter!</em></p>
<p>But crucially, all of these sacrifices give massive benefits to the one making them. Whether life gain or card draw or token creation, black excels at spending one resource to make another. And then, of course, spending that new resource to create yet another.</p>
<p>That removal also extends to opponents’ boards! Primarily creature removal, but no one excels at clearing a board quite like black.</p>
<p>Other colors might have <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Blasphemous Act" href="#" target="_blank">“damage”</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Sunfall" href="#" target="_blank">“board</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Aetherize" href="#" target="_blank">“bounce</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. But it’s black that can do it cheaply, repeatedly, and at scale.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cut Down"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Murder"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Feed the Swarm"></div></div><br />
<em>There are a lot of black removal cards</em></p>
<p>As in, there are so many black creature removal spells that the fact Commander limits cards to a single copy per deck is functionally meaningless.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smother"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Terror"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Diabolic Edict"></div></div><br />
<em>There are a LOT of black removal cards</em></p>
<h3>Finding Cards</h3>
<p>While I don’t think of this as one of my first associations with black, I would be remiss not to mention its tutors. When it comes to building engines or putting together combos, few colors have the means to actually find what they need like black does.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grim Tutor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Diabolic Tutor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cruel Tutor"></div></div><br />
<em>Black literally caused the namesake of “tutors”</em></p>
<p>Further, while red is the home of impulse draw and blue has traditional drawing, black has access to more than tutors. With some surveilling and draw-discard, black can go through its library faster than most colors if not simply choose which cards to acquire.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sinister Starfish"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Seizan, Perverter of Truth"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Asmodeus the Archfiend"></div></div><br />
<em>Black certainly has options</em></p>
<p>It also has fantastic graveyard retrieval, bringing cards back for a second casting. Or, knowing black, out for the first time since it got discarded initially.</p>
<p>This can even extend to opponents’ cards, taking them from the battlefield and turning them against their former master.</p>
<h3>In Summary</h3>
<p>Black decks excel at hurting everyone. They hurt you, they hurt your opponents, they hurt the people temporarily aligning themselves with you.</p>
<p>Life totals are a suggestion, and the graveyard is a second hand. Creatures are a resource to be spent ruthlessly and without consideration.</p>
<h2>But What If…</h2>
<h3>… You Play a Black Deck Where You Jealously Keep Your Permanents Safe?</h3>
<p>Of all the colors, black is the one that plays the most fast and loose with its permanents. And hand. And life.</p>
<p>So to play against type in black, it’s a rather straightforward methodology. Instead of sacrificing your creatures and discarding your hand, minimize the damage dealt to you.</p>
<p>Play a game where more than just the last life matters.</p>
<h3>Protect Your Permanents</h3>
<p>Luckily - and somewhat surprisingly - black excels at this!</p>
<p>While black lacks many keywords such as hexproof in abundance, or protection from colors, it has quite a few ways to protect its creatures.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Offer Immortality"></div></div>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Offer Immortality" href="#" target="_blank">Offer Immortality</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a great demonstration of this on two fronts. The first is the direct indestructibility it grants. While not exceedingly common, black has a fair number of ways to impose temporary protections on its permanents.</p>
<p>But the mindgames start with granting your creatures deathtouch.</p>
<p>Assuming your opponents aren’t running a traditional black deck which sacrifices its creatures readily, they'll often be reluctant to sacrifice their creatures. Sure, a token deck might swarm you or an aggro deck might not have the patience to avoid deathtouch. But in a fair number of cases, opponents will hesitate to attack if they know you can give your creatures deathtouch, which has the pleasant effect of keeping your creatures safe!</p>
<p>And if that doesn’t work, just threaten your opponents. If you set up a series of enchantments to destroy their creatures or bring back yours, suddenly it becomes a lot less appealing to destroy your creatures.</p>
<p>All without having to get your hands dirty.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grave Betrayal"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grave Pact"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Not Dead After All"></div></div><br />
<em>Who said black never treated its creatures well?</em></p>
<h3>Environmentally Sustainable Mana Production</h3>
<p>Though it should be mentioned that sacrificing permanents is more of a symptom than the disease. Black decks sacrifice their creatures to achieve an end, whether that be damage, life gain, or mana. So perhaps instead of focusing on protecting your creatures, you focus on overhauling mana production?</p>
<p>The fact that green is the monarch of mana means nothing to the industrious black deck. While you can certainly invest in a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phyrexian Altar" href="#" target="_blank">Phyrexian Altar</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and commit a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dark Ritual" href="#" target="_blank">Dark Ritual</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to sit awash in your ill-gotten currency, those are your creatures!</p>
<p>How cruel could you be to sacrifice them for, what, temporary gains? You aren’t even holding onto mana between phases unless you’ve opted for a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Omnath, Locus of All" href="#" target="_blank">“very</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></p>
<p>Think sustainably! There are means for you to access additional mana that leaves your creatures unharmed.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cabal Coffers"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cabal Stronghold"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Crypt Ghast"></div></div><br />
<em>It’s incredibly green of you to get so much mana</em></p>
<p>Aside from the somewhat comical adherence to protecting your permanents, leaving your creatures alive and well has the benefits of… having a board full of creatures!</p>
<p>Many of black’s strongest creatures come with a cadre of negatives to offset their positives. Whether <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Carnophage" href="#" target="_blank">“costing</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> on the field or literally causing you to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archfiend of the Dross" href="#" target="_blank">“lose</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> if not dealt with, black often incentivizes you to cycle through creatures.</p>
<p>Resist the temptation.</p>
<h3>Choke the Stars With Life</h3>
<p>Black has some quite strong <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Bloodthirsty Conqueror" href="#" target="_blank">“life</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> often accompanied or preceded by damage dealt, but not always. Aside from the flat benefit of gaining life and reducing your chance of losing the game, black can synergize its life gain with damage dealing in order to have a legitimate win condition from this.</p>
<p>Now, this would involve direct damage which isn’t exactly playing “against” black’s color typing. But hey, we’re doing the best we can with what we got. The goal is to win, so unless you want to play alternative win conditions, this is your best bet!</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exquisite Blood"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sanguine Bond"></div></div><br />
<em>A simple spell, yet quite unbreakable</em></p>
<h2>When to Do This</h2>
<p>There are many ways to play <em>Magic</em>, and some are more likely to lead to victory than others. Commander damage, poison counters, alternative win conditions - all are valid and even can be competitive!</p>
<p>This is not one such strategy.</p>
<p>But if you felt you were struggling to connect to black decks or the monotony of the same <a href="https://edhrec.com/top/game-changers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Game Changers</a> was boring you, try to see what you can come up with when you push the bounds of the color pie. You might just find that building a deck out of type shines a whole new light on a color.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Exsanguinate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Creeping Bloodsucker"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nullpriest of Oblivion"></div></div><br />
<em>There’s always another way</em></p>


How to Play Black Differently in EDH

Commander Unoptimized - The Journey Of Omnath

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>| Art by <a href="https://www.howardlyon.com/">Howard Lyon</a>)</h6>
<h1>Win Conditions Aren't Equal</h1>
<p>People show up to Commander to play intense games of <em>Magic</em>. Counterspelling counterspells to ensure commanders can set up engines. Intense rushes to deal damage before an opponent draws their perfect card. Four-way political discussions where everyone bargains for just <em>one</em> more turn.</p>
<p>But what if instead of perfectly constructing a deck to achieve victory, you just… <strong>Won?</strong></p>
<p>There are plenty of alternate win conditions, or alt win cons, to damage and decking. As you would expect, not all of them are created equally. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have a home in Commander.</p>
<p>Afterall, think of the value.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The One Ring"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Llanowar Elves"></div></div>
<p><em>All valuable in their own way.</em></p>
<h3>The Value</h3>
<p>In a Standard game, you have to deal twenty damage to a single opponent, or have them deck out a sixty-card deck. But in Commander, both the life pools and deck sizes are inflated.</p>
<p>But the cost of alt win cons stays the same.</p>
<p>They might not be efficient. Or advisable. They might simply be ineffectual when you have three individuals who can counter, remove, and respond to what you play.</p>
<p>But it would be so funny if it worked, wouldn’t it?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Here’s The Deal</h2>
<p>There’s a visceral reaction folks have when they see an alt win con being played. At least in my experience, a player is more likely to take aggressive action against someone about to play an alt win con than someone who will win by traditional means.</p>
<p>Whether via commander damage or poison counters or milling, these “mundane” paths to victory often leave wiggle-room to still try your hand at negotiations.</p>
<p>But no one will listen to a word you’re saying under the <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Despite the fact they’ll listen to someone fielding <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Atraxa, Praetors&#039; Voice" href="#" target="_blank">Atraxa, Praetors&#039; Voice</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> while they have nine poison counters!</p>
<p>So how do you get around this?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sheoldred, the Apocalypse"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rhystic Study"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Smothering Tithe"></div></div>
<p><em>Just a few Swords of Damocles some folks don't mind discussing under.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Misdirect Them</h3>
<p>Whatever your engine for winning the game is, set aside just a few cards to give the impression you’re shooting for a traditional victory. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, don’t add needless heft to your deck.</p>
<p>Could be as simple as having some <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heroes&#039; Bane" href="#" target="_blank">Hydras</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> to scale with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Doubling Season" href="#" target="_blank">Doubling Season</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Urza, Chief Artificer" href="#" target="_blank">Urza, Chief Artificer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> being kept dirt cheap with a powerful army due to <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Encroaching Mycosynth" href="#" target="_blank">Encroaching Mycosynth</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>Staple combos that are effective across two or three cards regardless of the subject-matter of your deck. Not necessarily two-card “win the game” combos like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Niv-Mizzet, Parun" href="#" target="_blank">Niv-Mizzet, Parun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Curiosity" href="#" target="_blank">Curiosity</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Just effective closed-loop combos that keep you relevant.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mossborn Hydra"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Bristly Bill, Spine Sower"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fabled Passage"></div></div><br />
<em>This is a personal favorite to get explosive growth.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Not only does this lead to your opponents suspecting nothing (the fools!), but it allows you to participate in the game normally. A problem with alt win con decks in casual Commander is that there’s not much to <em>do</em> until you are in a position to end the game.</p>
<p>Just a few cards to keep yourself an active participant alleviates that.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Be Disrespectful</h3>
<p>Alternatively, you could focus on denying victory to your opponents. Whether through <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Herald of Eternal Dawn" href="#" target="_blank">Herald of Eternal Dawn</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Platinum Angel" href="#" target="_blank">Platinum Angel</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, you have multiple preventative measures to ensure your opponents can’t steamroll past you.</p>
<p>None of these directly assist your chances of winning the game, but they do buy you time to achieve your own goals.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Everybody Lives!"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Book of Exalted Deeds"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cloudsteel Kirin"></div></div><br />
<em>With this and its lifegain, white stalls games longer than blue.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Of course, if you were to be truly diabolical you would grab a card that forces you to lose such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Archfiend of the Dross" href="#" target="_blank">Archfiend of the Dross</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Use any of the following cards to boot your Archfiend to an opponent once its usefulness (and oil) runs out.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fateful Handoff"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Coveted Falcon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Custody Battle"></div></div><br />
<em>Because Black’s removal is so useful, splashing into it isn’t even that bad!</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Actually Winning</h2>
<p>Below are just a few cards that allow you to win the game. Some are more viable than others, and certainly some require more support than others. It’s really up to you and your playstyle which ones you gravitate towards.</p>
<p>Just make sure to play it smart. One counter or removal spell or even any of the above-mentioned “win prevention cards” will ruin these strategies if you’re not careful.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Approach of the Second Sun" href="#" target="_blank">Approach of the Second Sun</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Approach of the Second Sun"></div></div>
<p>I can’t speak to if this is the most famous alt win con, but it certainly feels as though it’s had its time to shine since its release in 2017.</p>
<p>This alt win con really is quite simple, in that once you play the first casting of it, your goal is to not die. If any of your opponents have any milling capabilities, that’s something to be careful for, but generally that shouldn’t be a major issue.</p>
<p>Further, watch out for red’s propensity to exile the top card of opponents' decks with cards like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Etali, Primal Conqueror" href="#" target="_blank">Etali, Primal Conqueror</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. If they time it right, your second casting is exiled. So make sure you have access to counters, card draw, or a means of doing more than just waiting seven turns.</p>
<p>Also, a fun fact about this card is that the first casting doesn’t have to resolve for the second casting to win you the game. So if the first casting is countered and the second isn’t, you still win the game! Just make sure that second casting doesn’t get countered as well.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Biovisionary" href="#" target="_blank">Biovisionary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Biovisionary"></div></div>
<p>In a single-card format, having a creature requiring multiple copies of it seems ridiculous. And, frankly, it kind of is!</p>
<p>Which is exactly why no one will see it coming. Because tokens count towards this alt win con and it’s in your end step, all you need is a great deal of mana and a decent amount of cards in-hand. Fortunately for you, those are two things Simic excels at.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Croaking Counterpart" href="#" target="_blank">Croaking Counterpart</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> gives you two castings in a single card, if you can afford it. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Phyrexian Metamorph" href="#" target="_blank">Phyrexian Metamorph</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> allows you to pay with your life for part of it, which is a fantastic boon. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Three Steps Ahead" href="#" target="_blank">Three Steps Ahead</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> has the flexibility to act as a counter or card draw on top of advancing your alt win con.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phantasmal Image"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Flesh Duplicate"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Cephalid Facetaker"></div></div><br />
<em>Cheap copies’ downsides don’t matter if you win the turn you cast them!</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Barren Glory" href="#" target="_blank">Barren Glory</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span></h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Barren Glory"></div></div>
<p>This might be the most out-there of all these options. Afterall, how do you get to such a low point and still survive?</p>
<p>If you can get a board clear, you’re fine. Alternatively, do the math on how much damage your opponents can deal, Commander or otherwise. If you won’t lose as a result of that or something like poison counters, it doesn’t matter that you can’t defend yourself.</p>
<p>Don’t run the deck with too many permanents other than creatures, and all them to die before you play your alt win con. Then cast <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Armageddon" href="#" target="_blank">Armageddon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> or a similar means of removing your lands from play.</p>
<p>If your opponents’ boards are clear or if the math checks out, you’ll win next turn assuming you can trash your hand. If you have cheap instants and sorceries, that will allow you to burn through your hand in your final turn. Self-discard is even better.</p>
<p>Just make sure no opponent has a means of destroying an enchantment on the board when you cast <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Armageddon" href="#" target="_blank">Armageddon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Otherwise, even with a single mana from their next-turn land drop, they’ll just remove your alt win con and you’re stuck behind the curve.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>Various Counter-Building Cards</h3>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Azor&#039;s Elocutors"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Chance Encounter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Darksteel Reactor"></div></div>
<p><em>All variations of “keep this card in play to eventually win the game.”</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>You build counters on them, sometimes with ways for opponents to remove counters. Other times, they're just hoping not to be removed before their clock can reach its endpoint.</p>
<p>As with most things counter-related, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Doubling Season" href="#" target="_blank">Doubling Season</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is your friend and Proliferate is your new favorite mechanic. Look to All Will Be One and March of the Machine for plenty of cards to bump up your counter production.</p>
<p><div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ezuri, Stalker of Spheres"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Tekuthal, Inquiry Dominus"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Vraska, Betrayal&#039;s Sting"></div></div><br />
<em>Phyrexians are your friends when proliferation is your goal.</em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>And, of course, be on the lookout for removal. These are generally cards that take some time to mature, meaning there's plenty of time for them to be removed.</p>
<p>Particularly given that you're now the person seen as most likely to win, even if your alt win con isn't viable.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>A Fair Warning</h2>
<p>Just be aware that at any higher level of play, so much as the assumption you have an alt win con will put a target on your back.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter if someone has <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Solphim, Mayhem Dominus" href="#" target="_blank">Solphim, Mayhem Dominus</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and has been chipping away the pod’s life all game. Nor does it matter if someone went full Voltron and their <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Heliod, Sun-Crowned" href="#" target="_blank">Heliod, Sun-Crowned</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is a 20/20 with Flying, Trample, and Infect. Though I’d love to see someone pull that off!</p>
<p>The mere existence of an alt win con will have the entire table rally against you. Expect no more negotiating and for past deals to be reneged. Every creature on the table to be pointed at you.</p>
<p>So either win fast or enjoy the chaos you’re causing on the way down.</p>
<p>Alternatively, play a game where no one is allowed to win via life loss, decking out, or poison counters. An Alt Win Contest, if you will.</p>


Have You Tried Simply "Winning?" A Guide to Alt Win Cons in Commander

<h6 style="text-align: right;">(<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dimir Machinations" href="#" target="_blank">Dimir Machinations</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> | Art by <a href="https://www.gregstaples.com/">Greg Staples</a>)</h6>
<h1>The Truth Hurts</h1>
<p>In Commander, it doesn’t make much sense to mill your opponents. There are certainly synergies and combos you can put together, but milling just can’t keep up.</p>
<p>Most mill cards are designed around a sixty-card deck in a one-on-one format. In Commander, you have to account for three 100-card decks.</p>
<p>Even if you go hard on politics so you only have to mill one or two opponents, you’ll likely run out of steam halfway through the game.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you can always build some alt-win contingencies into your deck. But then you’re making it even harder to focus on milling your opponents. This creates a negative feedback loop, where you need to focus even more on non-mill strategies.</p>
<p>The best way to combat this is to shift your mentality...</p>
<p><strong>Bring only chaos. Leave only suffering.</strong></p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Millstone"></div></div>
<h6><em>The titular millstone, old but not forgotten.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Mill Yourself</h2>
<p>The most straightforward way to bring milling to any game of <em>Magic</em> is to simply mill yourself. Afterall, who’s going to stop you?</p>
<p>From Golgari’s unhealthy obsession with recycling to blue’s misunderstanding of delayed gratification, you have plenty of options at your disposal.</p>
<p>Even red looks at the graveyard and thinks “yeah, that’s where I want my cards to be.”</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Octavia, Living Thesis"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Anger"></div></div>
<h6><em>Self-mill may not be wise, but it can be effective.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h3>But Why Do That?</h3>
<p>The main reason to self-mill is to expedite your ability to access certain abilities.</p>
<p>You can speedrun your cards from the library to the battlefield with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Muldrotha, the Gravetide" href="#" target="_blank">Muldrotha, the Gravetide</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>. Or you can create a horde of fungus zombies with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="The Mycotyrant" href="#" target="_blank">The Mycotyrant</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<p>You might prefer a less overtly fast-tracked influence on the game. Then a <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Grim Discovery" href="#" target="_blank">Grim Discovery</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> can always return the graveyard back into your hand.</p>
<p>Or you might prefer exciting and explosive turns. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Underworld Breach" href="#" target="_blank">Underworld Breach</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> facilitates exactly that, assuming you can pay the costs.</p>
<p>At its core, self-mill facilitates <strong>efficiency</strong> in your deck. Whatever you’re trying to do, self-milling will make it happen faster. Not only for Golgari colors, but across the color pie.</p>
<p>And if you’re playing against a black deck, maybe they’ll force some discards on you to help you out... if you ask nicely.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sidisi, Brood Tyrant"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grist, the Hunger Tide"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Lost Monarch of Ifnir"></div></div>
<h6><em>Allowing these cards anywhere near a graveyard is a mistake.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Trash Your Cards</h2>
<p>But there’s more ways to get cards into your graveyard than just milling. Self-inflicted discarding and surveilling are the obvious choices.</p>
<p>But you can always sacrifice permanents that come back for round two. You can draw too many cards, being forced to discard at the end of your turn. The world is your oyster, if throwing away your hand were a pearl.</p>
<h3>Self-Discard</h3>
<p>Lowering costs a la <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer" href="#" target="_blank">Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> helps offset the wonky hands you’ll have trashing your cards. Discarding cards from your hand is basically playing them for free if your graveyard is accessible.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist" href="#" target="_blank">Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> even lets you convert that into a small army! Combine this with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Temmet, Naktamun&#039;s Will" href="#" target="_blank">Temmet, Naktamun&#039;s Will</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and you can have an army of superpowered Zombies for the low cost of your entire hand.</p>
<p>A full graveyard can empower something like <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Rielle, the Everwise" href="#" target="_blank">Rielle, the Everwise</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, but these sorts of cards’ strengths aren’t fully unlocked until you’re actively discarding cards.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hashaton, Scarab&#039;s Fist"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Temmet, Naktamun&#039;s Will"></div></div>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Rielle, the Everwise"></div></div>
<p>Assuming you have an idea in-mind for a graveyard-centric deck, any combination of self-milling, surveilling, sacrificing, and self-discarding will be useful. So how do you actually go about discarding cards?</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Blood Tokens</h4>
<p>Blood tokens give limited discard while also synergizing with artifact and Vampire decks. While not the most mana-efficient, token generation can always be expedited.</p>
<p>Plus, these have enough synergy with certain Vampire cards to keep you alive as you put your library in a shredder.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Anje, Maid of Dishonor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Blood Fountain"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Odric, Blood-Cursed"></div></div>
<h6><em>These bloodsuckers are undead, the graveyard is their second home.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Activated Effects</h4>
<p>Certain commanders, such as <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Anje Falkenrath" href="#" target="_blank">Anje Falkenrath</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> have activated abilities to discard. Others happen passively.</p>
<p>Whether used as your commander or not, having a few activated abilities to cause discards can ensure you have flexibility in your plays.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Malfegor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Flubs, the Fool"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Sauron, the Dark Lord"></div></div>
<h6><em>If you’re already milling your library, why not discard your hand?</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Draw, Discard</h4>
<p>Any number of “draw a card, then discard a card” effects exist in the game. Sometimes, you even end up with net positive card draw!</p>
<p><em>Other times</em>, they have an alternative effect which is just as diabolical.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thirst for Discovery"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Locust God"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Thrill of Possibility"></div></div>
<h6><em>Izzet really does like tinkering with trashed cards.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h4>Surveil?</h4>
<p>Surveilling is really just self-mill but with the added benefit of walking-back your choice if you want what’s on the top of your deck.</p>
<p>Generally speaking, you surveil in smaller quantities than you self-mill. Further, your graveyard is going to be accessible if you’re self-milling.</p>
<p><span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Lazav, the Multifarious" href="#" target="_blank">Lazav, the Multifarious</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is nice to have in a deck that involves self-mill, self-discard, or anything similar. But surveilling as a whole isn’t really required.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Nyx Weaver"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Magar of the Magic Strings"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Grolnok, the Omnivore"></div></div>
<h6><em>Your graveyard really is just a second hand at this point.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>What About Them?</h2>
<p>Up until now, this article was focused on self-mill, self-discard, and similar attributes. The reason is simply because mill on a three-way split with 100-card decks isn’t as feasible as other formats.</p>
<p>However, that isn’t to say you are <em>unable</em> to implement it.</p>
<p>There are really two specific flavors of targeted milling when it comes to Commander. You can either focus on milling one person at a time. Or you can focus on milling everyone at once.</p>
<h3>One Person</h3>
<p>While not the fastest method of winning, focusing your mill on a single player at a time gives you the ability to negotiate who you’ll mill and when. You aren’t making enemies by accidentally ruining the plan of the person next to you.</p>
<p>Just be aware, this means you’re vulnerable to “one-and-done” syndrome. That being, where you make an alliance with one player, you each take out a target, and then you’re in a one-on-one.</p>
<p>Given that in order to properly mill a 100-card deck you likely spent most of your resources, you might not be able to mill your former partner fast enough. Particularly given how late in the game this confrontation would take place.</p>
<p>Just don’t focus all your mill on a single player and you’ll be fine. <strong>Always have a contingency</strong>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Captain N&#039;ghathrod"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Phenax, God of Deception"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Mindskinner"></div></div>
<h6><em>A selection of cards to ensure one specific player has a bad time.</em></h6>
<h3>Everyone</h3>
<p>Certainly the more expressive option of the two options, this very might paint a target on your back. You might not be the largest threat, but you’re quite the large and painful thorn in the side of everyone.</p>
<p>That being said, there’s a few ways to go about this.</p>
<p>The most straightforward is to play cards that mill everyone. Or if you’re feeling protective of your own library, cards that mill everyone else.</p>
<p>This won’t tend to win you games on their own, but multiple of them add up over time. Particularly when paired with a more targeted approach.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ruin Crab"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Fractured Sanity"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mindcrank"></div></div>
<h6><em>None of these are subtle, though they certainly are effective.</em></h6>
<p>Further, there are cards that scale off of milling or otherwise have some sort of synergy with it. Use these to supplement your main sources of milling.</p>
<p>Don’t pivot away from your core strategy, but make sure you can support yourself while working through it.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Syr Konrad, the Grim"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="The Wise Mothman"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Consuming Aberration"></div></div>
<h6><em>Not every card that mills is about the sheer volume.</em></h6>
<p>You can put the pressure on the pod, decreasing hand sizes across the board in order to make every decision count. Afterall, you can make a deck that thrives off of your hand size being slashed in half. Why can’t they?</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dark Deal"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Winter, Misanthropic Guide"></div></div>
<h6><em>This is certainly the most direct of the various methods.</em></h6>
<h3>Just Exile Them</h3>
<p>Sometimes you don’t want to mill your opponents, you want to remove them from existence. Their cards, not the opponent's. Though when I go up against an Eldrazi deck, I certainly would prefer if my opponent ceased to exist.</p>
<p>Which is why it’s so fitting that the Ingest keyword is typical to Eldrazi Drones. Exiling the top card of your opponent’s deck when you deal damage to them isn’t a lot. But anything that copies creatures or can transfer Ingest?</p>
<p>Or even just using <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Crumbling Sanctuary" href="#" target="_blank">Crumbling Sanctuary</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> with otherwise normal beatdown strategies? That’s how you remove a library from existence.</p>
<p>Pair it with the aforementioned milling strategies and even a Golgari player can’t turn it to their advantage. Blue players will help you along with all their card draw. White’s ability to exile and gain life doesn’t help when you’re playing off the battlefield.</p>
<p>Even red players will get hesitant to impulse draw if you’re slashing their deck.</p>
<p>While they can exile the top card of their deck and play it that turn, should they? When they’re just speeding their time to deck-out?</p>
<p>If this specific strain of milling appeals to you, check out <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/too-specific-top-10-mill">this article</a> all about exiling-as-milling, plus a listing of some of the most notorious milling cards out there.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Jace, the Mind Sculptor"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger"></div></div>
<h6><em>If you see these, I hope you aren’t too attached to your library.</em></h6>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Why Mill?</h2>
<p>To mill in Commander is to show up to a game with chaos in your heart and an underdog mentality. You are purposely putting yourself at a disadvantage in order to make a more interesting game dynamic.</p>
<p>I respect that. I’ll curse your name and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Murder" href="#" target="_blank">Murder</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> any <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ruin Crab" href="#" target="_blank">Ruin Crab</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> on sight, but it’s certainly a respectable way to play! Particularly in the case where targeted milling is used as a force of negotiation.</p>
<p>The ability to promise “not” to do something is <a href="https://edhrec.com/articles/commander-unoptimized-group-hugs">just as powerful as anything a Group Hug can provide.</a> It’s much like countering in that respect, but that’s for another article.</p>
<p>Remember to always mill responsibly!</p>


Sikora