Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares | art by Sam Wolfe Connelly

Threats and Resource Management

Article 1: How to Build a Commander Deck | Article 2: How to Choose Your Commander | Article 3: How to Win a Commander Game | Article 4: Commander Mana Curves |

Hello there, and welcome to the world of Commander, Magic: The Gathering's most popular format! My name is Brian, and I aim to be your guide for navigating this format that we at EDHREC know and love so much. In this series, we're focused on helping out players new to the format get started. If you missed the previous articles, make sure to check out the links above.

Today, we're talking about two somewhat related topics: threat assessment and managing your resources. The former has a big effect on the latter; if you're going to spend resources to deal with a threat, you need to make sure it's worthwhile. We touched on these a bit in Article 3, but I wanted to expand on them a bit further to hammer home their importance to your gameplay.

Definitions

I'm going to define a "threat" in two ways. The first is anything that will make you lose the game. For example, Impact TremorsImpact Tremors in a KrenkoKrenko deck. The other type of threat is something that stops you from winning the game, like an opponent playing Rest in PeaceRest in Peace against your graveyard deck. Both types of threats need to be dealt with ASAP if you're planning on winning (or not losing) the game. We'll get into how and when they're dealt with in more detail below.

Resources are a little more straightforward. In Magic, there are two main resources: mana and cards. Some players (especially black mages like me) might argue that your life total is also a resource, but we'll focus on the first two for today's article. Mana and cards go hand in hand. If you have a lot of mana and no cards (commonly called mana flood), you can't do much of anything.

Conversely, if you have a lot of cards but no mana to play them (mana screw), you'll be outpaced by your opponents.

Some of the most popular and powerful commanders are cards that increase access to these resources. For example, MuldrothaMuldrotha gives you access to more cards, while The Ur-DragonThe Ur-Dragon reduces the cost of your Dragons, giving you access to more mana.

Prosper, Tome-BoundProsper, Tome-Bound and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre StraitAesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait are examples of commanders that give you both, probably why they're so popular!

Threats

Threat assessment is an important part of Commander, especially given the multiplayer nature of the format. You'll have to be on the lookout for threats from three different opponents, all of whom need to be watching out for the threats coming from you and the rest of the table.

This means everyone will be adding and removing threats to the game. The tough part is deciding when you should be the one to deal with a threat.

Let's go back to the Krenko example. Impact TremorsImpact Tremors will become a problem real fast if the Krenko player can untap with it. All three of that player's opponents should consider it threat level midnight, and use their combined resources to take it out before it wins the Krenko player the game. It's an easy example, but as we'll see when we get to resources, it's important to asses it properly.

Other cases might have a little more nuance. Rest in PeaceRest in Peace might be a threat to your graveyard deck but not to the other players. You can't rely on them to deal with it for you. After all, why should they spend the resources to help you? For this reason you need to save resources for cards that really impede YOUR gameplan.

Of course, you probably won't have the luxury of dealing with only one threat at a time so prioritizing them is another skill you need to practice. Let's say you're playing your MuldrothaMuldrotha deck against KrenkoKrenko/Impact TremorsImpact Tremors and Rest in PeaceRest in Peace.

You've got ways in your deck to deal with both. In this case, I might aim for the Rest in PeaceRest in Peace first. Once it's gone, I can use leverage my commander's ability to then deal with the Krenko player while simultaneously opening up my avenue to win the game. In the meantime, my opponents might deal with the Impact TremorsImpact Tremors, saving me the need to do so.

As a game evolves, threats will come and go, shift their level of importance, and be the topic for table politics. Commander games can get very complicated for this exact reason, and there isn't really a "correct" formula. A lot of it will come from playing your deck and experiencing how other decks operate. Get into the habit of asking yourself "what stops me from winning?" and you'll get better and better at threat assessment.

Resource Management - Gameplay

Outside of win conditions, ramp and card velocity are the most important aspects to a Commander deck. Why? They give you access to more resources, which you desperately need. At the start of the game, it's your 100 cards versus your opponents' collective 300. At the beginning of turn 2, it's your one land versus your opponents' collective three.

This wild imbalance means you need to catch up fast, and if your opponents are good players, they'll be wanting to do the same thing. You can't just sit there and amass mana and cards without using them, (despite what many blue players might think) so let's look at a few ways to effectively use the resources you have access to.

This is where threat assessment plays a big part. Let's say you're holding a Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares in hand, and your opponent has some big monster like Ghalta, Primal HungerGhalta, Primal Hunger on their board. Do you fire off the Swords right away?

Heck, no! Ghalta might seem threatening, but I'd rather not spend my card to deal with it unless I absolutely have to. If it's likely to hit one of my opponents, I'm happy to sandbag my card and force my opponent to deal with the big Dino.

Here's another example: It's turn two, I've got five cards in hand and two lands on the battlefield. One of my cards is Reckless ImpulseReckless Impulse, a very efficient card velocity spell. If you've got nothing else to do on turn 2, it might be tempting to fire it off. But it's really unlikely that I'll be able to do anything with those exiled cards by the end of my next turn. It's probably better to take the turn off and wait to use Reckless ImpulseReckless Impulse later when it's more likely to be more impactful.

Both of these examples are simplified, but they work to demonstrate the concept of resource management during a game. Remember it's your cards and mana versus three times that, so keep it in mind during a game to maximize what you have!

Resource Management - Deckbuilding

If you didn't read Article 3 (and you should) we used the example of casting Swords to PlowsharesSwords to Plowshares versus Wrath of GodWrath of God. Using Swords will actually be resource negative for you: you spent your mana and card to deal with one opponent's creature, but the other two players spent no mana and no cards. On the other hand, casting Wrath of GodWrath of God into a big board allows you to spend four mana and a card to deal with far more than that from your opponents.

This is not me saying that you should never play targeted removal like Swords. In fact, Swords is one of the best ways to deal with a single threat because it only costs one mana. Imagine if the example was Utter EndUtter End versus Wrath of GodWrath of God instead. Would you rather pay four mana and a card to deal with one thing or a lot of things? It becomes a lot more clear which one is better.

In this way you can "manage" your resources via deckbuilding choices. Unless I'm paying a premium for flexibility, like Beast WithinBeast Within, I want my single-target removal under three mana. Otherwise, I want to be able to hit more than one target; Casualties of WarCasualties of War for example.

I want to write an entire article comparing types of interaction, so I'll leave it there for now. The lesson is to think about how you can include and use certain cards that will negate your starting 1:3 resource deficit, while simultaneously allowing you to deal with opposing threats

Wrap Up

Alright, I know that was a lot more conceptual than the previous beginner content you might have seen from me or other writers. If you want me to expand or clarify anything, drop me a comment below. Threat and resource management are skills that take practice, but I'll leave you with the two main things to consider:

1. What stops you from winning the game?
2. What is the best way to negate the resource imbalance between you and your opponents?

Look out for more beginner articles from me soon, and if you're looking for cheap and effective decks, check out my other series Brew For Your Buck here on EDHREC. Until the next time, have fun assessing threats and managing resources!

Brian Cain

Brian played Magic intermittently between 2003 and 2017 when he fully embraced his love for Commander. Finding ways to maximize the value of each piece of cardboard in the deck is one of his favorite things to explore, especially if it involves putting lands in the graveyard! Outside of Magic, Brian works as a consultant in the marine industry, turning his passion for boats and ships into a career.