PacifismPacifism | Art by Robert Bliss

Hello, and welcome back to Singleton Shmingleton, where I bend the singleton rules of Commander by building decks with as many functional reprints of a certain card as possible. This week we're looking at one of the defining pillars of white removal: PacifismPacifism.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Pacifism Effects in Magic

Always a high pick in Limited, and every so often making its way into constructed formats, this little Aura and the dozens of cards it has inspired come with a ton of strategic quirks that are much less interesting with other types of removal spells. The basic tradeoff is simple: PacifismPacifism and friends offer fairly efficient removal in a color that is sometimes lacking (at least in Limited), but the creature you pacify doesn't actually go away. If you're just enchanting a Colossal DreadmawColossal Dreadmaw that might be fine, but PacifismPacifism doesn't stack up well against cards with other abilities, like Elesh Norn, Grand CenobiteElesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or even the humble Llanowar ElvesLlanowar Elves.

There's a reason the old adage is "Bolt the Bird" rather than "Pacify the Elf."

On top of this are more layers, usually also downsides: PacifismPacifism is vulnerable to a DisenchantDisenchant effect drawn at any point during the game, the creature's controller can bounce it back to their hand, and they can still use it to power some spells like Rabid BiteRabid Bite, or to sacrifice to cards like Village RitesVillage Rites.

Most of the interactions I've listed so far are most relevant in Limited games, where PacifismPacifism sees most of its play, and where people are likely to run cards like Rabid BiteRabid Bite. Commander is a much larger format, and in many ways it's much more forgiving. People are less interested in eking out marginal advantages by leveraging UnsummonUnsummons to make your removal spells worth only half a card. Most players would rather go over the top, treating PacifismPacifism like a MurderMurder and moving on. Plus, Commander is an open enough landscape that we might be able to harness the advantages of filling our deck with cheap creature removal that also happens to be enchantments.

By my count, there are exactly fifty cards that enchant a creature and stop it from attacking and blocking. Here they are:

The most played of these cards, in 22,165 decks, is Planar DisruptionPlanar Disruption. It has some nice improvements over PacifismPacifism, stopping activated abilities and being able to enchant planeswalkers and artifacts as well, but most of the time it'll be the same thing. I'm heartened to see that the OGthe OG is coming in second place, in 17,284 decks, despite having several strict upgrades in the past couple years. When people reach for this kind of card, they reach for what they know, and PacifismPacifism has some of the best name recognition in the game. The only other version to hit five digits is PetrifyPetrify, another strict upgrade that sees play in 11,550 decks.

The least played card on the list, in only 36 decks, is Serra BestiarySerra Bestiary. It certainly is the Homelands special: hard to cast, exorbitant to keep around, and outclassed within a year. A more interesting bad card is Lost in ThoughtLost in Thought, which sees play in 205 decks. Putting this effect into blue is a color pie break, and the card quality suffers heavily, but the workaround for the opponent is at least weird.

One other card I wanted to mention is Krasis IncubationKrasis Incubation, which sees play in 414 decks but is probably better than a few of the cards that outrank it. It's a victim of pushing in two directions at once: players see the PacifismPacifism mode alongside the ability to grow the creature and perceive each mode as a downside on the other ability, rather than marginal flexibility.

Choosing the Commander for Our Pacifism Deck

My first step in building this deck was to look at the top commanders page for PacifismPacifism. Number one was Eriette of the Charmed AppleEriette of the Charmed Apple. While I do think this deck is fun and powerful, I'm not sure it's the right fit for a deck full of PacifismPacifisms. The commander adds PacifismPacifism's defensive strength to all our Auras anyways, so we'd be better off playing things that have more extra text when we have our commander out.

Down the list, there are a few Enchantress commanders, and a surprisingly high number of Flying and Angels decks. But a ways down the list, I saw Zedruu the GreatheartedZedruu the Greathearted, and it was love at first sight. We can use Zedruu the GreatheartedZedruu the Greathearted's ability to DonateDonate our PacifismPacifisms, which won't change their effects at all but will give us tons of cards every upkeep. Zedruu the GreatheartedZedruu the Greathearted also lends herself well to a slower, more controlling strategy, and PacifismPacifism certainly slows things down.

Obviously we can't play all fifty of the PacifismPacifisms on our list, and one nice thing about Zedruu the GreatheartedZedruu the Greathearted is that she lets us narrow our list down based on which versions don't work well with being donated. Cards like Spectral GraspSpectral Grasp, Cage of HandsCage of Hands, and Prison TermPrison Term, which normally have upsides, are a liability if we give control of their additional abilities to our opponents. On the other hand, Detention VortexDetention Vortex becomes much better. If we give it to the controller of the creature, then they'll have to find another player to collude with them to get rid of the enchantment.

Giving Pacifism Effects with Zedruu

In addition to Zedruu the GreatheartedZedruu the Greathearted's activated ability, there are a few other cards that can give our PacifismPacifisms to our opponents, while getting us something in return. Most effects in the lineage of SwitcherooSwitcheroo can only target creatures, but both Shifting GriftShifting Grift and Role ReversalRole Reversal can swap enchantments, as long as that's also what we're stealing. If our opponents don't have any juicy enchantments to take, these cards are generally quite flexible, and we wouldn't say no to trading an Arcane SignetArcane Signet for a Wurmcoil EngineWurmcoil Engine. Confusion in the RanksConfusion in the Ranks turbocharges the chaos, but will still be to our advantage, since we can steal an enchantment whenever we cast a PacifismPacifism, while our own spell will do its thing no matter who ends up controlling it.

Sudden SubstitutionSudden Substitution is a little trickier, but is also very flexible. We can cast it in response to our own PacifismPacifism to trade it for a creature, but then our opponent can re-target PacifismPacifism. Luckily, this deck has very few creatures, and none of them want to get into combat anyways, so we should be okay there.

On the top of the curve, ScrambleverseScrambleverse is incredibly powerful here, though unfortunately it is a huge pain to resolve with Auras. We can break symmetry because most of our permanents will be Auras that work no matter who controls them, and they'll still stay attached during the scrambling.

Enchanting Engines

In addition to the value of DonateDonate-ing our PacifismPacifisms, we can gain advantage with enchantments the old fashioned way, with Enchantresses. Cards like Mesa EnchantressMesa Enchantress and Entity TrackerEntity Tracker let us draw a card whenever we play any enchantment, and are staples in any enchantment-themed deck that can run them.

We miss out on some Enchantresses because we're not playing green, but since we're so focused on Auras, we can make up for that loss by running Sram, Senior EdificerSram, Senior Edificer and Kor SpiritdancerKor Spiritdancer as additional draw engines. Finally, we've got a new card that fits this deck perfectly in Voracious BibliophileVoracious Bibliophile. It will draw us a card whenever we cast an Aura, since Auras target when they're cast.

Winning the Game With Pacifism

For our win conditions, I decided to lean into the two themes of the deck: swapping control of permanents, and enchantments. On the gaining control end, we can play Invert PolarityInvert Polarity, a card that has incredibly high upside without much downside. We can point it at a huge creature spell, and cross our fingers that we'll end up casting it. More deterministically, WillbreakerWillbreaker is incredibly powerful in this deck. It lets us gain control of everything we pacify, and even if those creatures won't be able to get into combat, we can profit from all of their abilities. Puca's MischiefPuca's Mischief also allows us to swap our permanents out for value, picking and choosing the most valuable cards at the table.

On the enchantment side of things, we've got tons of enchantments that make tokens every turn. These engines work very well in our deck that's designed to play a drawn-out game, since they provide value every turn. Assemble the LegionAssemble the Legion is a classic of patient engines, as it accelerates its power every turn. Court of GraceCourt of Grace and Court of EmberethCourt of Embereth also make a token every turn, while also introducing The MonarchThe Monarchy to the game, which should also benefit us since we're locking down attackers. Finally, I had to include Elspeth, Sun's ChampionElspeth, Sun's Champion, one of my favorite cards and a token generator that gets out of hand fast.

Zedruu's Pacifism Decklist

This deck can create some ridiculous scenarios. It rewards threat assessment and politics, two of the most difficult parts of Commander, and it often has to prioritize extending the game over actually having control over it. The strengths and weaknesses of PacifismPacifism are on full display here, and it's always an interesting decision whether to lock down a creature that has value outside of combat or whether to just try to point it in another direction.

In terms of logistics, it can become difficult to track who controls what, especially if we cast Confusion in the RanksConfusion in the Ranks or ScrambleverseScrambleverse, but that's true to some extent with any Zedruu the Greathearted deck. I love decks that mess with who controls what because it means I get to play with more than just what I brought to the table, and every game is different.

Until Next Time

Time to get big and green! This was one of the first cards I ever bought as a single, to put in my mono-green deck that was so precious I used two rubber bands to keep it safe. Were my fond memories just a result of rose-colored (forest-colored?) glasses, or is this big beater the real deal? Find out next time on Singleton Shmingleton!

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